Category: bible

Posted in bible, end time, gay marriage, prophecy

New York State approves gay marriage law

Posted on by elizabethprata

NY legalizes gay marriage 42 years after Stonewall

“Champagne corks popped, rainbow flags flapped and crowds embraced and danced in the streets of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village as New York became the sixth and largest state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill shortly before midnight Friday, almost 42 years to the day that the modern-day gay rights movement was born amid violent encounters between police and gay activists at the Stonewall Inn.”

According to secular experts,When New York became the sixth and by far the largest state to legalize same-sex marriage, following a grueling overtime session in the state Legislature on Friday, it immediately transformed the national debate over the issue, legal experts said. … “I think that having same-sex marriage in New York will have tremendous moral and political force for the rest of the country — in part because New York is a large state, and in part because it hasn’t come easily,” said Suzanne Goldberg, a professor at Columbia Law School. The New York Assembly passed same-sex marriage legislation twice before, in 2007 and 2009, but in both cases it stalled in the state Senate, as it nearly did again this week. The bill passed late on Friday after legislators agreed on language allowing religious organizations to refuse to perform services or lend space for same-sex weddings. The new law’s impact can be measured in part by the numbers at play: New York is home to more than 42,000 same-sex couples, according to an analysis of U.S. census data conducted by the Williams Institute. This means, among other things, that the number of same-sex couples living in states allowing same-sex marriage has more than doubled overnight.”

Wasn’t that nice of them, to provide a footnote acknowledging that at the moment at least, the law won’t force people who honor God to dishonor Him by performing unbiblical marriages.

The photo above of the “revelers” in the streets exulting in the passage of the gay marriage law reminds me of what it will look like during the Tribulation, when revelers do all sorts of ungodly celebrating. One of those ungodly celebrations will be when the Two Witnesses are killed and they dance in the streets and send gifts over their dead bodies. “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.” (Revelation 11:10)

The bible regards homosexuality as immoral. Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27; and in 1 Corinthians 6:9 it is noted that the homosexual will not inherit the kingdom. Because of their unbelief, God gave them over to their degrading lusts. (Romans 1:24). The model for our marriages is the first marriage and that was between a man and a woman.

We can no longer think of the NY gay marriage law, which failed two times previously, as a Sisyphean effort. Sisyphus was the mythological man who was condemned by the ‘gods’ to eternally roll a rock up a mountain, only to have it roll back to the bottom again just as it reached the top. The rock has reached the top and has been loosed on the other side. It will gather steam as the forward progression of immorality continues ever faster in this labor pang world.

Our Jesus is a forgiving Savior and will open His arms to anyone who repents. God hates sin but He loves His children, and He wants to help them remove themselves from their degrading lusts with the aid of the Holy Spirit. He is gracious, and will send the Spirit to all who repent. He will regenerate that person into a new creation, one that is righteous and pure in His eyes.

For those who refuse to repent however, Jesus is the Rock.

As Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar ‘s dream: “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. “The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:31-35).

It’s obvious the world is fallen and I believe the NY gay marriage law is indicative of that. Further, the passage of the law in that state means that we have pushed the rock to the pinnacle of the mountain and the next phase will be a fast downward slide that soon roars into a pell mell tumble into depravity. Revelers take note! Jesus is the rock who will crush the world’s fallen governments and establish His righteous Kingdom on earth!
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-york-state-approves-gay-marriage.html

http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-4df8df7d18b59150

Posted in bible, brain chemistry, dopamine, lust, satan, sin

Eve’s sin: lust. A very special kind of lust (part 2)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday we looked at the biblical background for the moment when Eve sinned. That was Part 1, and I recommend you read it or at least skim it to get the context and flavor if what I am going to say next.

The central verse we’re exploring is this one, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” (Gen 6:6a).

We mentioned yesterday that biologically, the eyes see the world but in the verse it is a metaphor for the mind’s eye, and that mind’s eye is connected to the heart. It is a heart connection. Jesus said “Where your heart is there your treasure shall be also.” That verse in Matthew 6:22 is preceded by talk of eternal treasure and followed by talk of a good eye and a bad eye.

We noted yesterday that the Hebrew word for ‘pleasant’ to the eyes was much more than the seemingly benign pleasantness of a piece of fruit. It means literally she saw the fruit through eyes that were lusting exceedingly and greedily. Wait, all that over fruit? I’d asked, Eve saw that fruit every day. Why were they drooling over it now? What was the difference? Satan. I have an idea of one of the schemes he uses to reduce the unwary to a lusting, slavering greedy sinner. He doesn’t use it every time with all sinners, it actually is a method that is used in few instances, but of that moment with Eve, I think he did it. What is it, then? For the answer, let’s look at vampires.

I am sure that you have heard, or read, or watched a movie or even a crime show where the conversation revolves around a criminal or an evil person, and they say “He has such a hypnotic stare”. Or the sociopath has “such penetrating eyes”, “piercing eyes.” “One glance and she was under his spell,” as they say in the romance novels. The current fascination with vampirism firmly centers on how the vampire looks at the hapless woman, “pinned under his penetrating gaze.” Accompanying the hypnotic stare is the erotic element so familiar to any vampire aficionado.

The first story in English of a vampire was written by John Polidori. This publication also spawned the Gothic genre of literature. Not only was the story in English for the first time, but up until the publication of The Vampyre, the undead beast had been universally seen as a demonic kind of thing, to be feared and run away from. Polidori’s depiction introduced the vampire as: “characterised in folklore: from the peasant classes, living a rural existence, uneducated, dirty and quite frankly having no appeal whatsoever for its victims. This is clearly the Nosferatu, a violent scavenger, a brainless revenant seeking only for the blood it needs to survive. … At this time however the Nosferatu was the familiar shape for the vampire to take.”

“With the advent of Polidori the figure of the vampire took a dramatic leap forward, leaving behind the shabby, stupid, blundering image of the Nosferatu for a more sophisticated and refined social animal, the Toreador or Byronic vampire. Here is a creature in strictly human form, with no huge teeth in the front of its mouth (the canine fangs were a later invention), and no bald head or pointed ears, a creature with human emotions and human drives, a creature that can pass freely in the world of men and need not fear detection in the enlightened society through which he stalks. The aristocratic figure who mingles in high society, delighting and thrilling all with his strange mannerisms and moods, is a far cry from the lonely beast rampaging through the forest tearing out the throat of any passing creature in order to carry on his vile existence. Here instead we have a creature altogether more terrifying in its sheer plausibility: it looks human, acts almost human, talks like a human, and moves among the highest echelons of society. Surely the menace inherent in such a creature is of a more insidious and horrifying kind than that of the weird, supernatural entity of the Nosferatu.” (Source)

Who’s going to get further with a woman, the lumbering beast or the dashing gentleman with the hypnotic gaze? That when he gazes at you, makes you swoon with eroticism and lust? We are all familiar with the cultural references of the link between eroticism and the pull of the vampire’s gaze. It is the same across cultures, the vampire is lusty. I believe that cultural ubiquitousness exists because there is a germ of truth to it. I believe satan (and all the fallen angels) have an ability to gaze into a human’s eyes and manipulate the physiology to the degree where you are reduced to a puddle of lusting flesh, insensible to your true surroundings to the point where you simply succumb to the sinful pheromones now coursing through your body. I think satan did that to Eve.

Angels have a different physiology than humans. They exist on a different plane or dimension than we do. They are endowed with powers that far outstrip ours. I mentioned some of their powers in the essay on Angels. All these are biblical facts. That satan could look into our eyes and manipulate the brain chemistry is something that is entirely possible.

Biologically, the optic nerve is the pathway to brain and then the central nervous system. It IS the lamp of the body. We know that human interaction includes chemistries and one of those are pheromones, which are simply secreted or excreted chemical factors that trigger a social response in members of the same species. Dopamine is the brain’s natural neurotransmitter in triggering arousal and desire. Suddenly Eve ‘saw’ the fruit, it was ‘pleasant’ to the eyes, and she ‘desired’ it. How easy would it be for an evil angel to manipulate brain chemicals within our biology? Let loose a little dopamine and watch us swell up with sexual desire, swooning for more and tied begging for more of that pleasant drug that is behind the fallen angel’s eyes? Easypeasy. The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve II, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. This is interesting news from 2007: “A neuroscientist believes a little-known cranial nerve may be the secret to lust, and evidence suggests it may be the conduit for sex pheromones.” Hmmm.

Dr. Robert Hare wrote in his book “Without Conscience, The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us” that psychopaths often make very intense eye contact, or have unusually piercing eyes. Other researchers have also mentioned the “reptilian gaze” of the psychopath, resembling that of a predator about to consume his or her prey. Victims of the psychopath also often refer to the ‘laser beam stare.’ Strangely enough, women often confuse this gaze with sexuality, and find it attractive. Many films depicting seductive yet immoral creatures such as vampires, often depict the vampire as having a very strong, psychopathic stare. Some psychologists have compared the psychopath to the vampire, or state that the psychopath has a ‘vampiric personality’ or lifestyle, as well as being parasitic.” Note that the author chose to present his book with a cover illustrating the hypnotic eyes.

What if satan pierces Eve with his gaze, inducing a lustful response – one which we know was different from all the other times she had looked at the fruit- and after all, the bible shows that she had a strong and inappropriate reaction to it?

“Pheromones are odorless, airborne chemical signals that are released by an individual into the environment. These chemicals affect the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species. Although pheromones have been shown to exist in virtually all species of insects and mammals, they also control the behavior of humans, acting as sexual attractants.” (Source) More on brain chemistry here.

There is a reason vampires and romance heroes are said to have a hypnotic, powerful, penetrating, or otherwise piercing gaze. There is a reason why eroticism and loosened inhibitions are included in the descriptions and depictions of vampires. Remember at the beginning of this essay when Polidori’s Vampyre story showed not a lumbering beast but a ‘sophisticated and refined social animal, … a creature in strictly human form, …with human emotions and human drives, a creature that can pass freely in the world of men and need not fear detection in the enlightened society through which he stalks. The aristocratic figure who mingles in high society, delighting and thrilling all with his strange mannerisms and moods…” And we are reminded of the Hebrews 13:2 verse that says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” “And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14) so we know they delight in appearing as human and for the fallen ones, they delight in tricking us.

Remember the verse that says “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest __ the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them” (2 Cor 4:4) and here blinded the mind means “blowing smoke which causes (spiritual) blindness, i.e. experiencing “clouded vision.”

I think satan and his fallen angels, when they incarnate and pass for human to do their work of lying and destruction, can look into a human’s eyes and make them drip with lust and swoon with cloudy brain to do and say all sorts of things they might not otherwise.

NO, I am NOT saying that Eve is not at fault. She is. We all are responsible for our own sins! But vampires have to be invited in, (According to the lore anyway), and that old fallen angel Lucifer would not have gotten as far as he did if Eve had done the correct thing and responded to satan’s question “Hath God really said…” with “YES, HE SAID, now go away.” She didn’t, and this was satan’s invitation to press further. We know the rest.

The verses in Matthew 6 about the eye being the lamp of the body allude to a heart condition. Satan severs the eye from the heart and suddenly when you look at something you are lusting for it and excluding God. Your eyes should not be on the things of the earth but on the treasures of heaven. That is the doctrinal message of these two part of the essay about Eve. The supernatural message is that the vampire stories in my opinion have a grain of truth and that grain is in the ability of fallen angels to look into our eyes and manipulate our brain chemistry to sway under their spell. I think this will be a common method for them after the rapture, with so many willing participants in the lusts of the earth that post-rapture living will be. Third, I think they are here now, doing it in smaller measure. If you run across someone who has this marvelous way of looking at you that excites you beyond normal capacities and for no reason…RUN! Like Joseph shedding his cloak from Mrs Potiphar, run away immediately. Do not look, for entertaining their double-tongued talk and gazing into those hypnotic eyes will only lead to destruction.

Prayer: O, Lord,
“Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.”
Psalm 119:36-37
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/eves-sin-lust-very-special-kind-of-lust_24.html

Posted in bible, end of days. prophecy

Eve’s sin: lust. A very special kind of lust (part 1)

Posted on by elizabethprata

Eve is in a perfect garden having a perfect marriage. We know it was perfect because everything before the Fall (when sin was introduced into the world) was perfect (Gen 1:31). She had a perfect husband (Gen 2:18; 20b). Adam had dominion over all the animals. (Gen 2:19) There was no confusion of gender roles. (Eph 5:25). She had a perfect body image. (Gen 2:25). She was spiritually perfect and walked with God in the cool of the day. (Gen 3:8). All was well.

Now Lucifer the fallen angel came to Eve, that old serpent, who is the devil- so Revelation 20:2 reminds us of his names. Satan means adversary and devil means blasphemer. That old serpent who is the fallen angel Lucifer came to Eve and talked with her. His first recorded words are “Hath God really said…?” (Gen 3:1). They had a conversation. Then…

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.” (Gen 3:6)

OH, NO!! And people usually stop there in the study of this eternal take-back moment. But let’s go a little deeper.

‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food…’ Saw means discern, behold or make to enjoy. (More on this in part 2.) Well, they weren’t starving, were they? Presumably they had had food before this, all that they wanted from all over the garden. Why was she seeing THIS tree as good for food all of a sudden?

“…and that it was pleasant to the eyes”. This is the second time we see the verse mention ‘eyes’. (She saw…pleasant to the eyes.” The word for pleasant is usually translated desire, but it really means “exceedingly, greedily, lusting.” Wait, all of a sudden Eve is reduced to an exceedingly lusty state of greediness, panting after…fruit? More on how in part 2.

The word for pleasant in verse 3 is ‘avah’, or ‘taavah’. There is a parallel event in the bible that talks about lust of this kind. The parallel is named Kibroth-Hattaavah, alternately spelled, Qibrowth hat-Ta’avah. It translates to “the graves of lust.” The graves of lust, one of the encampments of Israel in the wilderness, where they desired of God flesh for their sustenance, declaring they were tired of manna, Numbers 11:34,35; 33:16. Quails were sent in great quantities; but while the meat was in their mouths, God smote so great a number of them, that the place was called “the graves of those who lusted,” Psalm 78:30-31, a monument to warn mankind against the sin of discontent, 1 Corinthians 10:6. (Bible Dictionary).

In Mark 7:22 there is a list of the unclean things in a man: “Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” But in most translations the evil eye is translated ‘envy’, with the Greek word for it being ophthalmos. You will recognize our word opthamology, the branch of medicine for anatomy, physiology and treatment of the eye. You get envious of things you see that other people have. The eye again.

What is all this about the eye? “Eve saw that it was pleasant to the eye,” the evil eye, lust and envy coming in through the eye? There are a lot of warnings in the bible about the eye.

  • Proverbs 3:7 – “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. Eve wanted to be wise in her own eyes.” Eve did not depart from the devil
  • Proverbs 15:30a “The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
  • Proverbs 22:9 “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”
  • Mathew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.”

It is talking about the mind’s eye. There is a connection between your eyes and your heart. What you look at betrays your heart condition. The moment when Eve ‘saw’ the fruit and she lusted for it, she betrayed her heart condition. She turned away from Godly things to lusting after the things of the world. THAT is when the first sin came. “She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes” and not just pleasant to the eye, but wanting that fruit heartily, greedily, exceedingly. All of a sudden, that is ALL she wanted, her world focused on that fruit- to the exclusion of God.

The verse immediately preceding the eye being the lamp of the body in Matthew 6:22 is “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” (KJV) Because at that moment Eve saw the fruit and lusted after it, became double minded. Single here does not mean having one eye, lol. It means being singleminded. Wesley says, “If thine eye be single – Singly fixed on God and heaven, thy whole soul will be full of holiness and happiness. If thine eye be evil – Not single, aiming at any thing else.”

All this talk about the eye doesn’t mean just to look. Christians go window shopping every day, looking at all sorts of goods. If you have the right heart condition, you look at a boat or a new house or a dress or golf clubs and you say, those are nice, but you don’t suddenly turn into a puddle of exceedingly lustful slavering desirous people like Eve did wanting the fruit. You have the right heart condition. What makes the difference then? Satan, and I have an idea of how he did it. More in part 2.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/eves-sin-lust-very-special-kind-of-lust.html

Posted in bible, emergent church, end times

Let’s have a conversation

Posted on by elizabethprata

I want to make a tough post. Some of you will not like it. If you chafe at the following words, then please pray, and “examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. More about what that means and how to do it, here.

We are in post-modern times. That is “a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by a problem of objective truth … It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place.” If you have heard someone say “that may be true for you, but it isn’t true for me,” then you have the essence of post-modernism. The emergent church movement is a match made in hell with post-modernism in that suspicion of objective truth is central. Emergent Christians claim that biblical truth is impossible to achieve, know, understand or interpret. It is something that invites arrogance and intolerance is divisive, and prevents unity. The bible is old and ‘not relevant’, and is subject to be changed to conform with these times. All are buzz words stemming from the pit. Satan is the original perpetrator of “Hath God said?” when he asked Eve if not eating the fruit in the Garden was what He really meant.

As for unity: there is no such thing. Rather, there is unity. All false religions are united but Christians are not supposed to conform to the world. Jesus came to bring a sword and that sword divides. (Mt 10). It does not unite.

Now, to the meat of the post. I am increasingly impatient with the emergent church’s phrase “Let’s have a conversation with…” Muslims, Wiccans, Buddhists, Hindus. etc. They point to Paul’s appeal at Mars Hill, in Acts 17:22-33. They say that Paul went to Mars Hill and talked, conversed, shared, with the idolaters there. It was all so friendly and a tea party. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Paul went in and told them they were all wrong, and introduced them to Jesus.

Now, about a conversation. I am setting this next paragraph within the context of a witnessing, Christian conversation. Secular conversation is not the issue here. The definition of conversation is “oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas”. The key part is exchange. It assumes that within the conversation, any Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu has an equal idea to share back. That the exchange will occur on an equal basis. It doesn’t.

I was tweeting another Christian the other day and he was so happy to share about his talk with a Muslim, saying to me, “Hey, “they believe in Jesus too!” I reminded him that their version of Jesus (Isa) was a non-Resurrected Jesus and that their religion was therefore false. He (a bit haughtily) said that Paul talked with the people on Mars Hill.

This is a terrible watering down of the Gospel. The Christian frog has been sitting in water that has warmed up by incremental degrees as satan is wont to do, and so many people are hardly aware of how close they are to boiling. You know, when water boils, it heats up until 212 degrees. But if it stays at 211 degrees, it will not boil. Christians who entertain Isa are at 211 degrees and they don’t even know it.

Let’s make a picture analogy. If you are of the ilk that wants to share, have a conversation, and accept what the other religions have to offer, then this is what you are doing.

You sit at a table across from a Wiccan, Buddhist, or Muslim. In front of you is a plate of gold. On top of this golden plate are crackers of such a pure white, they almost hurt your eyes to look at them. They gleam. When you pick one up and offer to to the person across from you with whom you are having this conversation, the cracker almost sings as an angelic choir.

Likewise, since conversing is sharing and exchanging, the Muslim picks up a cracker. It is moldy, so moldy it has green spots on it that have actually grown hairs. They have a plate too. It is made of compressed sewage and atop this plate is a big, steaming pile of warm turds. There are maggots crawling over it. They take a filthy, dirty encrusted knife, dig into the pile of poop, and spread it on the moldy cracker. They hand it to you. Hey, it’s an exchange. We are all at the same table, sharing, aren’t we?

I want to be clear. Our Wiccan and Buddhist and Muslim friends are our friends. Jesus died to save them and we love them as our neighbor. They are not the enemy. The lie they have swallowed is satan’s lie. He is the enemy.

A lot of Christians are eating the poop, believing that they are helping the cause of the Gospel by sharing in conversation at the same table. It isn’t. Jesus doesn’t need the plate of crap. What Christians need to do is share the Truth, the ONE truth, in love and humility but with certainty. Other religions and other people sharing their religions with us have nothing to share. There is Jesus, Who is the Truth, and there is every other religion, which is the lie. Period. I hope I’ve been clear.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/lets-have-conversation.html

Posted in angels, bible, end time

Angels, God’s other creation

Posted on by elizabethprata

We often look at Genesis and marvel over the creation of the universe. We look at humankind as another of His marvelous creations. But what of His other creation, angels? The bible has a lot to say about them. This is a rudimentary summary, because there is so much to be learned about these created beings, but here is an overview:

Angels are shown throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelation. We learn that they were present at the creation in Job 38:7, “When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy.” We meet our first angels in Genesis 18:2. After the LORD appeared to Abraham, three ‘men’ appeared to him, and Abraham bowed low. More on the bowing at the end. A parallel verse here is Hebrews 13:2, “entertaining angels unawares.” We see clearly that angels can look like men or they can look utterly like something that is unable to be described, like the wheel within wheel, four faced angels Ezekiel saw. (Ez 1:10-18, Revelation 4:6, “they had eyes all around”). Wow!

Though in our culture angels are depicted as having wings, only two kinds of angels are shown in the bible to have wings – Cherubim (Exodus 25:20; Ezekiel 10) and Seraphim (Isaiah 6). Many other times they are shown to look like men, and as a matter of fact, pass for human when we are entertaining them unawares.

Speaking of the cherubim, the famous painting detail from the Sistine Chapel in Rome, by Raphael, shows two typical cherubs but that is far from how cherubs really look! Cherubim are involved in the praise and worship of God. Two cherubim also guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden after the fall. (Genesis 3:24). It is a sure thing they aren’t roly poly little tots flying around having a grand old time! Forget Cupid.

Ezekiel 28:14 refers to Lucifer as an angel who covers (guards). It is an allusion to the cherubim over the mercy seat, which was covered with their wings. They are a sort of an Honor Guard at God’s throne. We know that the LORD can defend Himself but as with the Highest Sovereign, it is fitting to have a guard nearby to Him to give the honor due Him.

Gabriel is depicted as the angel who brings messages but all angels are messengers, really, their name in Greek means messenger (Aggelos, Hebrew,‘malak’). Archaggelos means chief of angels of ruler of angels. This reveals the hierarchy in the angelic order.

Did you know there are only three named angels in the bible? Can you guess who they are? I’ve already mentioned all three: Gabriel and Michael are easily remembered but we often forget that Lucifer is an angel too. He is now fallen in his status with God, being his opposer, satan. That is what satan means, adversary. So satan is the title, and Lucifer is the actual name. One of his other names is the Devil, which means slanderer. I wrote about the satan’s celestial slander here: It is the story of how he got that title and why.

Other names in general for angels besides messenger are morning stars, sons of God, and curiously, The Watchers. They are mentioned in Dan 4:13, Dan 4:17, and Dan 4:23, where it says that “a watcher” a “holy one” “came down” so we assume that since they are a holy one and live in heaven and come down at the behest of God, they are another class of angels. But that is an assumption, the Aramaic for the word watcher is…watcher, and since nothing else is stated about them in the bible that is all I can say!

Angels have many duties, numerous duties actually. One angel is in charge of the fire. (Revelation 14:18) and another is in charge of the water (Revelation 16:5). We know they come to earth to minister to the saints. 1 Kings 19:5 is a good example where a ministering angel was sent to help Elijah. He woke Elijah, gave him food and drink as he lay exhausted in the wilderness, having fled from Jezebel. Angels also attended Jesus after his ordeal in the desert. (Matthew 4:11). Despite being depicted tenderly in these scenes, angels are extremely powerful. In Revelation, four are seen holding back the four winds. (Rev. 7:1), and another thrusts his sickle into the earth and all humankind is reaped (Rev. 14:17). One stands on the sun! (Revelation 19:17). One is seen flying at midheaven (the stratosphere) and declaring the Gospel in such a loud voice every nation, tribe, and tongue hears it. (Revelation 14:6). Satan is an angel too, and therefore is this powerful. Don’t think you can resist him on your own! But enough about that guy.

They announce the will of God. The most famous is the Annunciation by Gabriel to Mary, of God’s plan for her to beget Jesus, the Savior and promised Messiah. They also announced the Savior’s birth to the Shepherds on that silent, holy night.

They participate in the judgments of God. They have done so throughout time but Revelation depicts with ghastly specificity of their roles in aiding God to execute the judgment of man. (Revelation 14:14-18).

Angels worship God night and day in His temple (Nehemiah 9:6). They fight for God. “And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). They delight in the Gospel and they sing for joy over one repentant sinner (1 Peter 1:12; Luke 15:10)

There are fallen angels. The ones who listened to satan’s slanderous accusations against God and followed satan in hopes of something better. They are forever damned (2 Peter 2:4).

Last, that verse we began with in Genesis 18 when three ‘men’ appeared to Abraham. Abraham bowed low. We know that these were angels because later they went to execute judgment on the 4 sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:23). But if the angel said to John the Revelator not to bow to him nor worship him (Rev 19:10) then why didn’t these angels tell Abraham not to bow down to them? Because one of them was Jesus! Jesus made pre-incarnate appearances in the Old Testament. When you read “The angel of the Lord” it is Him, which is different from “An angel of the Lord.” In the Genesis 18 verses, we see it played out:

“Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.” (Genesis 18:1-3).

The verse begins with an appearance to Abraham by the LORD, all capitals. In the Hebrew translation that word is Jehovah. Then in verse 3 it says “My Lord” with a capital L. The word in Hebrew is Adonai. The Angel did not rebuke Abraham because Abraham had the proper response: worship of Yahweh.

Next time you are in church, look up to the rafters and imagine if the Lord would open your eyes as He did for Elisha at Elijah’s request. How many angels would you see? Do the same for your home. Look around and wonder if they are present. When you pray, remember to thank God for sending them to smooth your way and prevent the bad things that could have happened to you. Thank God for sending them to comfort you and minister to you. They help you, rejoice with you, sing for you. They may be standing next to you in line, sitting next to you at the coffee shop. They are in heaven singing with loud voice that shakes the rafters, HOLY HOLY HOLY is our mighty God. He is a mighty God, who ordered the hierarchies of heaven with the heavenly hosts, angels, another of His magnificent creation.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttp://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/angels-gods-other-creation.html

Posted in bible, messiah, prophecy

Pray boldly, in confidence and thankfulness

Posted on by elizabethprata

We are humble before the Lord, but we should also look to the examples of our fathers and mothers in the bible to remember how strongly and boldly they prayed. In 1 Samuel 2, Hannah is praying in thanks to the LORD for the gift of her son, but the song is so much more than that. Did you know that this prophetic prayer is the first time we read of a someone uttering the “MESSIAH’ or the “Anointed” in the bible? Here is the song, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, then some commentary about it, to encourage you

Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Beautiful! In the bible, ‘horn’ is the symbol of strength. Hannah is not magnifying herself when she says that her horn is lifted high. She is saying that in Him, she is strong.

Clarke says, “she describes the promised Savior of the world as a King, before there was any king in Israel; and she first applied to him the remarkable epithet Messiah in Hebrew, Christ in Greek, and Anointed in English, which was adopted by David, Nathan, Ethan, Isaiah, Daniel, and the succeeding prophets of the Old Testament; and by the apostles and inspired writers of the New.”

As Barnes Notes describes, “The song of Hannah is a prophetic Psalm. It is poetry. And it is prophecy. It takes its place by the side of the songs of Miriam, Deborah, and the Virgin Mary, as well as those of Moses, David, Hezekiah, and other Psalmists and prophets whose inspired odes have been preserved in the Bible. The special feature which these songs have in common is, that springing from, and in their first conception relating to, incidents in the lives of the individuals who composed them, they branch out into magnificent descriptions of the Kingdom and glory of Christ, and the triumphs of the Church,”

Matthew Henry says, “Hannah’s heart rejoiced, not in Samuel, but in the Lord. She looks beyond the gift, and praises the Giver. She rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, and in expectation of His coming, who is the whole salvation of his people….And here is the first time that we meet with the name MESSIAH, or his Anointed.”

Pray boldly, pray confidently. Know that your Savior, long prophesied from the time of Hannah, has come. The Kingdom she has alluded to, is soon to come. Picture the words from her mouth as musical notes wafting through time, woven throughout the pages of the epochs of the bible, to land in your heart, today. Love the Lord in all praise and confidence.

A biblical study on Hannah, here.

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
http://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/pray-boldly-in-confidence-and.html

Posted in bible, savior

Jesus knows us, remembers us, will not forget us

Posted on by elizabethprata

Many times in the bible, there are appeals for the Lord to remember a person. ‘O Lord, remember me’ is a common entreaty. Here are just a couple of examples from the New Testament and the Old Testament.

“Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people. (Nehemiah 5:19)

“O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors.” (Jeremiah 15:15a)

“Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people; Visit me with Your salvation,” (Psalm 106:4)

“Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Thief on the cross Luke 23:42)

The entreaty speaks to a private concern. Even though we know that God’s ways are not our ways and that His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8), we still worry that He won’t remember us. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. I can’t remember the title of the last book I read. Because we are human and we filter all our experiences and thoughts based from the last experiences and thoughts we’ve had (connecting the new to the known), we project understanding out from ourselves. It’s a habit. So we can’t conceive of how the Lord will remember each and every person who ever lived…deep down. We have a little niggling worry. From early rock art painting hand stamps to Kilroy Was Here, we all do things to imprint our impression upon the world so that the world will remember that we were here. Can God really remember each and every person? Hard to conceptualize. Easier to sink back into fleshly bewilderment that there just may be one tiny crack that I slip though, forgotten.

NOT SO! Do not worry. In many scriptures, the Lord says He will remember us. He knows us! He knows us each by name. He knows us inside and out. He knows the hairs on our head. He cares for us, shelters us, and will not forget when we are called to go. He will greet us by name.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14)
“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)

“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” (Nahum 1:7)

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” (2 Timothy 2:19a)

“But the man who loves God is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3)

He not only knows your name, but He has prepared a place for you and will give you a new name when he greets you!

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17)

It is a beautiful miracle that the God of the universe, Creator since always, Savior of all humanity, knows us. Take comfort. He will not forget you. But here is the question of the day: do you know HIM?

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
http://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/06/jesus-knows-us-remembers-us-will-not.html

Posted in bendandi, bible, earthquake, rome

Raffaele Bendandi earthquake predictions: Rome citizens are fleeing the big one

Posted on by elizabethprata

Some guy almost 100 years ago predicts a quake will level Rome on May 11, 2011 and today the city residents are fleeing. They believe.

Italians evacuate Rome over ‘big one’ fears
Italians will on Wednesday flee Rome over fears a giant earthquake is coming following a seismologist’s 1915 prediction that “the big one” will strike on May 11, 2011.

“Businesses have reported requests from one in five people to have time off work and many are also keeping children away from school and heading to the beach or country for the day. Romans are taking it so seriously that local newspapers have even been publishing survival guides with tips of what to do – if – the ground starts to tremble. The panic has been fanned by Facebook, Twitter and text messages around a prediction by Raffaele Bendandi, a seismologist who forecast in 1915 that a “big one” would hit Rome on Wednesday. He is also said to have predicted other earthquakes which hit Italy during the last hundred years before his death in 1979. Massimo La Rocca, headmaster of a school in the Trastevere district, said: “We have had quite a few parents calling in and saying they will not be sending their children in.”

“I’ve told them the school will remain open and there is nothing to be scared about but they are adamant – although this is not a justifiable absence for a pupil.”

“A barman named Massimo said: “People have been talking about this for the last week. I know dozens who are taking the day off – I’m going to sleep in the camper van with the wife to be on the safe side.” Bendandi believed movement of plates and therefore earthquakes were the result of the combined movements of the planets, the moon and the sun and perfectly predictable. In 1923 he predicted a quake would hit central Italy on January 2 the following year – he was wrong by two days. For his work Bendandi was even given a knighthood by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini – and ordered not to make any more predictions on pain of exile as officials feared he would create immense panic. However seismologists have been quick to step in and say his theories are without any scientific proof and despite his claims earthquakes are completely unpredictable. Seismologist Alessandro Amato, who works at the Italy’s National Geophysical and Volcanology Institute, said: “There is absolutely no evidence to say that an earthquake will hit Rome on 11th May and we have told that to the hundreds of people who have called.”

Bendandi was wrong lots of times but the world will go after a false prophet rather than the true Prophet who was NEVER wrong and has been proven over and over. O come Lord Jesus!

I fully admit that if a quake hits Rome tomorrow that it will be totally ironic but also a total coincidence. For those who insist on objective evidence and ignoring the bible because it supposedly has none, I remind you that Bendandi developed his own unscientific theory, without any objective evidence, of the nature of earthquakes and the alleged causes that determine them. His studies and his predictions are considered invalid empirical and theoretical justification from the scientific community.

The only reliable predictor for prophecy is the One who delivered it: Jesus in the bible. If the quake does not hit I challenge readers to allow the bible as the standard for prophecy. If the quake does hit tomorrow I still challenge readers to seek the bible as the only barometer of truth and only reliable predictor 100% of what is to come.

If only the world would take the bible as seriously as they do some unscientific guy who was wrong half the time!!

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in bible, end time, god particle, gravity, science

God in a particle, gravity doesn’t exist, and the world will end soon: all say … physicists?

Posted on by elizabethprata
Credit

Some interesting physics news this week, and I balance that news against the scientific word found in the bible.

TV Scotland reports two titans of Astronomy though having divergent views, both agree that it’s likely the earth won’t survive the next few years.
Top astronomers warn the world could end within 90 years
“Two leading astronomers will put forward their stark predictions for mankind at the finale of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. The end of the world is nigh. That’s what top astronomers will claim during a debate to end the 2011 Edinburgh International Science Festival. Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, believes civilisation has only a 50 per cent chance of surviving to 2100 without suffering a man-made catastrophe. And the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Professor John Brown, has an equally bleak outlook, fearing a random event from outer space is the most likely cause of our demise.”

In one sense, they are right, the world won’t survive; “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). But there is nothing man can do to cause its demise. It is God who erases the earth. All one needs to do is look in the bible to see the truth of this science.

In 2 Peter the word for ‘great roar’ is roizēdon, a word that sounds like what it is. The word ‘boom!’ is a word that evokes the sound of that the verb is doing. Roizēdon is ‘whizzz’ or a ‘rushing sound’ like a balloon being quickly deflated. I am thinking that since Jesus is before all things and in Him all things hold together, (Colossians 1:17) then at His word he collapses all the forces of the universe, including thermodnynamics, and the universe along with the earth, melts. The bible is a great book of science.

In this next piece, a top theoretical physicist muses that gravity may not really exist. Is gravity there, or it is a force that we assume is there? It is not seen, only the effects are noted. What happens when gravity is not assumed? In other words, where does gravity come from?

Brilliant Physicist Explains: Guess What? Gravity Doesn’t Exist
“[H]e was also not very happy with the fact that we should just, well, assume that these things, these planets, attract each other and without even anything in between. So if there are two masses and empty space, there’s no, nothing that really happens between them, but still, they’re attracting each other. And he thought that was kind of mysterious and that it was something he would have liked to explain in a better way.”

Mysterious is a good word for it!

In this NYT article, the question is posed, “But what if it’s [gravity’s] all an illusion, a sort of cosmic frill, or a side effect of something else going on at deeper levels of reality? “For me gravity doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Verlinde, who was recently in the United States to explain himself. Not that he can’t fall down, but Dr. Verlinde is among a number of physicists who say that science has been looking at gravity the wrong way and that there is something more basic, from which gravity “emerges,” the way stock markets emerge from the collective behavior of individual investors or that elasticity emerges from the mechanics of atoms.”

This is so intuitive it’s blindingly clear. That the notion that gravity does not exist on its own but emerges FROM something else is the big ‘aha’ moment, in my opinion. And we who accept the bible as total truth know that the something from which gravity emerges is Jesus. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3) and “In Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17).

This next article has to do with the Higgs Boson particle and the Large Hadron Collider (particle smasher)  under the Alps at Switzerland and France. The Higgs boson is a hypothesised particle which, if it exists, would give the mechanism by which particles acquire mass.

World’s Largest Atom Smasher May Have Detected ‘God Particle‘
“A rumor is floating around the physics community that the world’s largest atom smasher may have detected a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, also known as the “God particle.” … The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by prevailing particle-physics theory, which is known as the Standard Model. Physicists think the Higgs bestows mass on all the other particles — but they have yet to confirm its existence.”

Scientists have postulated the existence of the particle as a means of resolving inconsistencies in current theoretical physics, and attempts are being made to confirm the existence of the particle by experimentation, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and the Tevatron at Fermilab. The Higgs boson is the only Standard Model particle that has not been observed in particle physics experiments. I’ve always been curious as to a supposed metod by which scientist can’t figure out something so they make something else up and then go looking for it, to the tune of millions of dollars. Now that’s faith! But I am even more interested in why they call it the God particle, hmmm?

“One of the most brilliant simplifications I’ve ever come across is the term “the God Particle.” Physicists think this subatomic speck of matter, if it is ever found, could explain the mysterious code at the origin of the physical world. To know this would be to “know the mind of God,” as Einstein wanted to do. The Nobel Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman wrote a book with that name 15 years ago that was so interesting that even a physics klutz like myself (I almost failed it in high school…) read and enjoyed it.”

Thus it becomes really obvious that science is its own kind of faith.

“SCIENCE IS FOUNDED ON FAITH”
“Since our perspective determines what we expect to see, our physical senses are an almost worthless guide to the ultimate realities of life. This is why a person’s philosophical perspective, or more to the point, the person’s faith, is what really shapes his view of reality. This is also why science — the study of the physical creation — is always based on our spiritual or philosophical presuppositions. In other words, science is founded on faith.”

If you want to know the mind of God, read the bible. If you want to know how the universe and the earth was created, read the bible. (Genesis 1) If you want to know why it holds together, read the bible. (John 1, Colossians 1) If you want to know why it is decaying, read the bible. (Romans 8:21). If you want to know how it will end, read the bible. (Rev 21-22). It’s all there.

Friend, the God who melts the heavens and the earth with a fervent heat is the same God who holds your soul in His hand and gently awakens you to His presence. That is power! That is love! And He revealed Himself to us, through the Holy Word. All truth is there. It is a trustworthy Word. I applaud scientists in their search for understanding of how the universe works, but their search should begin with the bible. The Holy Spirit will take it from there.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Posted in bible, end of days. prophecy, minor prophets

This is how cool our bible is

Posted on by elizabethprata

Our pastor preached a prophecy sermon last week and I was thrilled with reading the many Day of the Lord references in the minor prophets of the Old Testament. I know that Isaiah preaches the Millennium Kingdom in Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 65. Ezekiel 38-39 shows us the Gog-Magog war to happen at the opening of the Day of the Lord and then chapters 40 & 41 the Kingdom. The Joel 3:2 command is well-known to prophecy students as the one where the Lord is angered because they have divided Israel, and as a result He will gather them all on the last day for judgment. Zechariah 12 promises all of Israel’s enemies to be destroyed at the end of time, when Israel stands alone. Psalm 83 is a prophetic prayer and appeal for the smiting of Israel’s enemies in a war yet to come.

But our pastor had preached on Obadiah 1 and the borders of the Land to be Israel’s in the future. And Hosea 2 where the Israelites regain the “My People” status. And in reading Zechariah again, I noticed this:

Take a look at Zechariah 6:1-7

Four Chariots – “I looked up again—and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze! The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?” The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.” When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.”

Does that passage remind you of anything? It should.

First Seal: The Conqueror
1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Second Seal: Conflict on Earth
When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
Third Seal: Scarcity on Earth
When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
Fourth Seal: Widespread Death on Earth
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Are the 4 chariots of Zechariah the same as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? I don’t know. I just started reading. But isn’t the bible a wonderful and infinite trove of new wisdom from God for us to learn? In His kindness, He testifies to Himself and in unfolding fashion, every time we open the Word we have an opportunity to learn something new. Compare these verses:

Revelation 1:5-8 –
“To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Zechariah 12:10-11 –
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”

In a Sunday School class I used to attend a while ago at a former church, a lady used to come with her New Testament-only bible. It irked me to no end. And she was a pastor’s wife! What message does it send to leave half the Word at home? Has not God told us of Himself in the entire book? Isn’t all scripture profitable for teaching?

The entire bible is a jewel unparalleled. Jesus identified Himself as Truth (John 14:6). It is said in John 17:17: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Therefore His word is truth and entirely wonderful from Genesis to Revelation, the first and the last. Don’t be afraid to delve into the beauty and wonder of the Old Testament books, especially the prophets. They are speaking to us now, this generation! They have words for us to hear truths for us to uncover. Though Obadiah, Hosea, Micah, Joel, Amos and the rest have entered into their eternal rest, their work in being the human instrument speaking His truth lives on.

Try this: get your bible. Pray. Be quiet and still. Concentrate, preparing your heart to have truth, wonder, and beauty revealed. Ask the Spirit to give you wisdom and it shall be given, without reproach! (James 1:5). The Lord blesses a seeking heart, opens the ears and widens the eyes. He didn’t make His word unclear, but we are sinners who  see through a glass darkly. But remember, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1 John 2:27). The same Spirit that breathed out the Word lives in YOU, and will help you understand.

After you pray, and be still, see where the Spirit leads you in the bible, and read. Don’t worry if you do not understand it on first pass. Read slowly and meditatingly, savoring each word. Ask yourself questions. ‘What does that mean?’ ‘Why was that word used there?’

And repeat, each day. Like stitching together a quilt, it gradually takes shape, with patience, attention, and diligence. And let the wonders unfold!

“Watercolor Cross” Wall Hanging Made for the St. Patrick School 2000 Auction

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js