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The Scriptures

Evil, Israel

Dems show true colors calling for funding for Hamas

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It may seem strange that Democrats love Islamists, since they also love things that Islamists hate, such as gay marriage, etc. But Democrats crave power above all else. Islam is all about submission, in fact the word itself means “submission”. Therefore, Islamists and Democrats share a common objective: the subjugation and subjection of people that God desires to be free.

There’s another thing that Democrats and Islamists have in common. They share the same master, specifically, the deceiver of nations himself, who is Satan.

Here’s an article about a US Congressman who supports funding for the terrorist organization Hamas and its puppet organization, the so-called “Palestinian Authority”.

The lines are becoming clearer. Ultimately, everyone is either a servant of God or a servant of Satan. It seems to me that as time goes on, it is becoming easier and easier to distinguish between the two.

Bible, Evil, Israel

Land for peace is a lie

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It gets tiresome to hear the current WH administration constantly harping on Israel for building houses on their own land.

Here is a link to a NY Times article (yes it bothers me to even link to the NY Times, in case you’re wondering) which discusses the latest exchange between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama.

Mr. Obama, who in my opinion is an adversary of Israeli interests, is ever scolding Israel for building houses on land that they captured fair and square when they were attacked in 1967 and in 1973. However, no matter how much land Israel “gives up”, they will never have peace because the Muslims will never be satisfied with anything but Israel’s annihilation. This has been demonstrated time and again as every previous “peace” agreement in the past was broken by the Muslims.

May God continue to bless Israel and may Jerusalem have true peace. May the leadership in Israel be courageous and determined not to compromise. May Israel’s Messiah return soon to reveal Himself in power to His chosen people and to destroy their enemies and reign on the throne in Jerusalem over all nations.

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Fleeing to a City of Refuge

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On my car ride into work today I listened to Joshua 20 as one of the    selected chapters for my daily dive into the Word. This chapter is about the Cities of Refuge throughout the Kingdom of Israel, where one who accidentally killed someone could flee without fear of being taken and killed for vengeance in the eye for an eye punishment laid out in Exodus.

As I was listening to this, it occurred to me that these cities and this specific type of asylum had been brought up multiple times before in the bible. These cities or the idea behind them are all described Exodus 21: 12-14, Numbers 35: 11-24 and Deuteronomy 19:3 before we get to Joshua. With the sudden realization of this repetition and the idea that everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus, I started to think about what this meant.

Starting with the obvious, Jesus: He was killed, however his death wasn’t accidental. It was planned since the beginning of time. Those crying out for his blood could not seek this asylum even if they wished to, and in an abstract sense, they did pay with their blood in AD 70 when the Romans came through and wiped out the temple in Jerusalem, fulfilling eye for an eye punishment. But we know that it was because of Jesus’ sacrifice, that we have a path to heaven and forgiveness through His grace.

If you accept the Lord into your heart, and trust in Jesus, then path to heaven is clear, much like the roads that lead to the cities of refuge. These roads were twice as wide and smoother than normal roads to make travel to the cites as unhindered as possible, this is according to the Talmud, to which I admit, I have not read but did come across that description while researching this essay.

But the path we’re on is not always clear and easy, is it? There are obstacles. There is the enemy. There is sin. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he teaches that the wages of sin is death, and while someone may not die due to my being prideful of the new television hanging up on my wall, there is a degree of spiritual death in sin. It’s not purposeful. I’ve gotten a new toy and I’m excited about it. I tell all sorts of people about it. The size, the picture clarity, features, etc. It’s boasting, and I don’t even realize it’s happening until after the fact. What happens when someone gets a bigger TV, or a newer one than mine? Will I be envious? Probably. It’s in our nature, and it’s another sin. Something else that comes naturally, and is unintended. Another accidental killing off of a part of my spiritual being.

Now look back to Jesus. He showed us death is overcome. We too can and will overcome death. He laid out an obvious path that is clear and easy to see. Our walk with the Lord is our own walk along the wide road to the city of refuge fleeing all of the spiritual manslaughter that takes place on a daily basis in each of our lives. The Lord commanded that once the perpetrator arrived at the city he was to tell the elders what happened and why he needed their refuge. Someday too, I will arrive in heaven, and present to the Lord all I have done. He will find a place for me in his kingdom of refuge.

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Who gets the glory?

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Psalm 109:26 Help me, O Lord my God;
Save me according to Your lovingkindness.
27And let them know that this is Your hand;
You, Lord, have done it.….

30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord;
And in the midst of many I will praise Him.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from those who judge his soul.

==

Our purpose, like all of creation,  is to bring glory to God. When we pray, let’s be clear that God will help us, that we may glorify Him.  May we never forget that after he helps us, we are to give thanks and praise him in the midst of many.  Praise God for revealing this to us.

Bible, Evil

Prayer is our primary battleground

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Engaging in Spirtual Battle through Prayer

Paul says in 1Cor 15:46 that the natural comes first, then the spiritual. Deuteronomy 20 instructs the Israelites regarding how to go into battle against natural (physical) enemies. This came up on my ipod shuffle about a week ago, just a few days prior to our prayer meeting at church. I think my iPod shuffle is directed by the Holy Spirit!

Deuteronomy 20: 1-8 (interspersed with my comments marked by “–“)

When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

— The Lord likewise brought us out of slavery to sin

When you are about to engage in battle

— Make note of this phrase it is going to come up again and again,

the priest is to come forward and address the army.

He is to say to them: “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

The officers are to address the army, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man dedicate it. Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. Has any man become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.

— The battle is serious – when you become a THREAT to the enemy, you become a TARGET. We need to be prepared when we enter into spiritual battle, both for the battle itself and for the wrath of the enemy after we plunder his camp.

The officers will continue to address the army and say, “Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers’ hearts won’t melt like his own.”

— We need to approach God and the work of prayer with hearts of confidence, boldness and faith, as Hebrews 10:22 says “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from and evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.”. Lets pray with confidence, knowing that HE WANTS TO SHOW HIS POWER IN RESPONSE TO OUR FAITH!

After hearing this passage from Deuteronomy 20, my thoughts immediately went to Ephesians 6, which talks about the armor of God. At first I thought to myself, hmmm if prayer is spiritual battle, why aren’t there any pieces of armor that deal specifically with prayer? Then I turned to Ephesians 6 and found a surprise.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness of the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…

OK so here I am I’m all decked out in my armor. What’s next? Everybody seems to stop here – but Paul goes on!!!

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel… PRAYER IS THE BATTLE!

Likewise Paul gives instruction to Timothy: 1Timothy 1:18, 2:1, 2:8

Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may strongly engage in battle

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for EVERYONE

Therefore, I want THE MEN in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting.

Contrary to popular opinion, prayer isn’t just for little old ladies. Prayer is the primary battleground for the MEN of the church. We need to equip ourselves for spiritual battle and fight like men!

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May the eyes of your heart be enlightened

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In Ephesians 1:15-21, the apostle Paul gives keen insight into his prayer life:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the is incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

I had a conversation with someone recently, who as we were discussing the faith of Peter when he grabbed a totally crippled man by the hand and raised him up, declared “I wish I had more faith”. The preceding passage came to my mind immediately. I find it interesting that Paul didn’t pray for the believers in Ephesus to have more faith. Rather, he prayed that God would open the eyes of their heart. He says elsewhere that “we walk by faith and not by sight”.

In 2Kings 6:15-17, Elisha’s servant is literally freaking out as a great enemy army encircled the city where they were staying. Like Paul, Elisha didn’t pray “Oh Lord give him more faith”. Instead, he prayed “open his eyes”, and the servant was able see into the spiritual realm (i.e. the REAL reality) and the vast superiority of the heavenly armies. Sometimes I think we mistakenly see faith in terms of quantity — something we either have a lot of or a little of, and we wish we had more. I think faith is a by-product of having the eyes of our heart opened to “see” the heavenly realities. Faith came easy to Elisha’s servant once his eyes were opened. Jesus himself said “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you”. Clearly here Jesus is saying it is not about quantity, as a mustard seed is the tiniest of all seeds.

I think our problem is that we are looking at situations with the WRONG SET OF EYES. As Pastor Duke says, we need to be “seer throughers, not looker at’ers”. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened to see into the realities of the spiritual realm, which are far more real and lasting than what we see with our natural eyes. I think this may be one very important key to increased faith.

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We should all Prophesy!

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1 Cor 14 “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one[a]understands, but [b]in his spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. 4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. …  however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue….39 Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy”

Because of the extreme disagreements on the gift of tongues, we often miss the discussion of prophecy in this chapter.  Both here and elsewhere, we are instructed to EDIFY others in the church. One of the ways this is done is through the gifts of prophecy.  This passage is one of those puzzling ones where we are to earnestly desire to prophesy. So what is prophecy? In our current day, we think of prophecy as ‘foretelling,’  but our founding pastor has mentioned in the past that it is actually ‘forth-telling.’  Grudem (a continualist, for those who aren’t aware) defines prophecy as “telling of something which God has spontaneously revealed to us.”  Preachers often experience this while speaking in the pulpit, where they are prompted that someone in the congregation has to hear a particular message.  This sometimes causes them to toss their prepared sermon in favor of a more direct answer to this revelation.  So the question is, how do we who aren’t preacher supposed to seek this gift?  Personally, I believe this is all part of walking in the Spirit, or as we discussed last night from Romans 13, putting on of Christ.  As we spend time in prayer, worship, and in the word, we become more in-tune with the Holy Spirit, and He is able to reveal to us things that we have no way of knowing.  We also need to be practiced in sharing these revelations, and I think we practice this by sharing what God is currently revealing to us personally in prayer and study.  I, like Paul, eagerly desire that you all prophesy.  May we all listen to the Spirit, and willingly share what we hear.

Bible, Evil

Hugo Chavez is the model for every Democrat politician

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Apparently they are now worshipping the departed Hugo Chavez in Venezuela by creating their own version of the Lord’s prayer and directing it to him. Here is the article.

Makes the stories in Daniel about kings demanding worship and prayer that much more believable.

I’ve always noticed that Democrat/Socialist/Communist types are particularly oriented toward the worship of human leaders/celebrities/personalities. Look at our own Democrat voters how they direct their worship toward “the One” President Obama, who has never accomplished one positive thing but has devoted his entire administration toward creating crises that serve as a justification to usher in a totalitarian regime. Notice the sycophantic adoration of Hillary Clinton, who likewise cannot name a single legislative accomplishment yet has the undying devotion of the masses. Trust me we are not far behind Venezuela. Every Democrat politician dreams of being worshipped in this same way. Hugo Chavez represents for them the ultimate fulfillment of their own plans. Too bad they will never get what they want — God has never been big on sharing His Glory with others. Think of Nebuchadnezzar whose mind was changed to that of a beast after praising himself as a creator. Think of Herod who was eaten by worms after basking in his brief moment of deification just before being sent to his eternal destiny.

While the American nation originally replaced feudal patronage systems with a meritocracy, the Democrats have succeeded in destroying that meritocracy and returning us to the dark ages of a feudalistic monarchy. The Democrat system consists of the power cravings of the leaders, supported by the craven cowardice of the people, who refuse to trust God and instead happily trade their liberty for “protection”. This is nothing other than UNBELIEF. Democrat leaders want to become God, and Democrat voters despise their creator and want to worship and rely upon men instead. It is a perfect combination. Unfortunately the whole happy little party only continues because they’ve succeeded in making the rest of us their tax SLAVES so they can all eat for free while we do the work. Sadly for us, the so-called opposition party consists largely of phonies such as John Boehner, Chris Christie, etc. who have joined in on their share of the government gravy train rather than representing our interests.

There is an undeniable connection between so-called “political” views and so-called “religious” views. The notion that political affiliation is independent of one’s understanding of the Bible cannot be justified. I’m sure there are plenty of believers out there that are also Democrat voters because they’ve been fooled by the lies of the demagogues. My question though is this: if they’re so gullible when it comes to the lies of men, how will they recognize the lies of Satan when it comes time to receive the mark of the beast? How on earth will they possibly avoid the following warning from 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (which is soon to take place) “The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Mr. Obama may not himself be “the lawless one”, but he is definitely one of the warm-up acts! Get ready people. If you liked the warm-up act, you’ll LOVE the main attraction. That is, until you discover that its too late to repent… Beware Christian of whom you put your trust in.

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God’s Providence and Love Trump the Law

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1 Cor 7:17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. 18 Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

Verse 19 is fascinating.  Circumcision is certainly a commandment of God. Sure Jesus explained what the greatest commandments are back in Matt 22

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

And showed us how these principles work in real life, particularly as His love for people was more important than obedience to the Sabbath.   But this particular passage is very interesting because it speaks to thing that only affect self.  Paul calls for each of us to “remain,” rather than strive to become legalistic.  He goes on to apply this to being a slave or free, which I think applies to our vocations as well.  Christ certainly said that anyone who forsakes their own family and belongings to follow him would reap great rewards, but it seems the vast majority of us are in another boat, and in the words of a late friend, ‘bloom where you are planted.’

Be motivated primarily by by Love.  God is Love.  This is walking in the Spirit.