Exodus 17 – 20

Need Charlton Heston to help me on this one. The talk about how long the movie “The Ten Commandments” played over Easter with commercials was. Think about it a movie that runs 3 hours and 40 minutes before commercials must have been agonizing to watch with commercials every 20 minutes. Anyway, if you haven’t already figured it out, Moses comes off the mountain in todays reading.

Chapter 17 has two stories which blend together, first is him bringing water from a rock and the battle with the Amalekites where he holds his staff over the battle. I find it interesting how I read these stories today and remember them being different. The water from the stone I though was in more detail and I did check back other versions to ensure I was not missing something in this translation. Same thing when I read the story with the staff and getting the 10 Commandments. I wonder how much Hollywood and sermons expanding on these stories have altered what I expected to read?

Verse 19:5 is a powerful verse:

Now if you will hear My voice, obey what I say, and keep My covenant, then you—out of all the nations of the world—will be My treasured people. After all, the earth belongs to Me.

These are simple rules to follow until you let other distractions get in the way of God’s voice. If I knew for real what God was saying to me all the time this would be simple. But all too often my inner voice or a more sinister one gets heard. Now to balance the inability to discern God talking to me, I read the Bible. It helps me to filter what is being said verses what I know from the Bible.

Verse 20:3 opens with the first commandment (or as this translation calls them “directive”):

You are not to serve any other gods before Me.

People often say the church is all about money, that’s all they talk about. I agree to a point but remember Jesus talked about money more than any other subject so it’s Biblical. Now you may ask why I am talking about money here! Simple, in modern civilization we talk about God or dismiss any supernatural beings altogether. Jesus saw this happening and hence why he talked about it so much. Our “other gods” are no longer idols, but rather dead presidents on paper. So be careful with your walk in life not to focus on the Jackson’s or Franklin’s, but on God. Manage the money well, but don’t let it manage you or you will be in violation of number 1.

AND NO WE ARE NOT OUTSIDE THE LAW!! But that’s another LONG study.

One other quick note about these Directives, notice God has inscribed them on all mankind’s heart. These are universal across all cultures and tribes.

2 Corinthians 1 – 3

Verse 1:13 makes me laugh:

We are not writing to you in anything resembling codes or riddles; we only write those lessons you are ready to read and understand. I hope you will study them, value them, and truly understand them until the end.

I get a chuckle from this since I read much of Paul’s writing and see riddles. I get confused and this next few verses show this. He said he was coming and then he said he wasn’t, I am confused. You need to study his writings to understand them. The idea of a parable makes sense when you see actual application of theology. When I read Paul, he confuses me more than makes sense.

Verse 2:14 is one I can relate to:

Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth.

My subject is science, I believe knowledge in science will strengthen faith and not destroy it. The problem is everyone pushes faith in naturism is really science. See that is no different than saying Genesis 1 is a science. Follow me, science is based on data where naturism is based on a belief. The data shows a diamond can be radiometric dated to be either billions of years old or 10,000 years old. What do you choose? The “truth” is based on your view of the world and not the data. You will say the Carbon 14 is a contaminate if you believe the earth is old or it’s proof the world is young if you are so inclined.

My point is we don’t have to shy away from some aspects in fear of God not being there. He is in subtitle ways; we have to stand up (stand up) for Jesus in all arenas. I am marching into the coliseum with the lions to battle science with passion. You may think I am insane, but I believe science shows God just as much as a beautiful sunrise.

Verse 3:1 expresses Paul’s frustration:

Are we back to page one? Do we need to gather some recommendations to prove our validity to you? Or do we need to take your letter of commendation to others to gain credibility?

I can imagine how God must feel with me. Seems like I go back to page one all too often. Glad I don’t have a “Paul” around who will be honest;-)

Ok, something that has bothered me over the years is something I saw Pastor Joel Osteen say in a moving sermon about beginning again. I was moved but also wanted to see the full quote in context. Never found it, but kept it in the back of my mind. I do not want to judge Mr. Osteen, but after reading three different versions and working on my forth, I still have not found the “begin again” quote.

Today it was bothering me after watching Mr. Osteen preach the good news about how God did not want us to be poor or suffering. This may be true, but it doesn’t mean you sign on to God and everything will be sunshine and blue skies. We only need to look at Jesus and the disciples  to see this is not true. They suffered, were poor and fought for Jesus. Sure in the end it may be sunshine and blue skies, but today we are in a battle.

Now after hearing this I did another look to see if I just did not remember the Osteen quote. Sure enough he is still using it, in a powerful way! This is from Joel Osteen’s blog on 11/15/13 at

http://m.blogs.christianpost.com/joel-osteen/begin-again-18826/

or

http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/BlogItem.aspx?item=00cf4ce3-e041-4ce2-9cbb-ad8f62279e02#.U1ZkseZTY4o

One day a prophet by the name of Zachariah showed up. He said, “Zerubbabel, God sent me all this way to give you two words: begin again.” Faith shot up in his heart. He said, “You mean God can still bring it to pass? Do you realize it’s been ten years? Do you know how many people are against me? Do you really think that I can still do it?” Zachariah said, “I don’t think you can do it; I know you can do it. And God says, ‘Get started.’”

So after reading this I assumed I was wrong and either missed it or did not have the right version. Note how these words are in quotes and the only record we have is the Bible of Zachariah’s words, so I can only assume they are there. So off to Biblegateway to search ALL the English versions they had … each one … one after another did not have “begin again” being spoken by Zachariah. Not one had these word spoken and only a few had the sting mostly in Ezekiel or 1 Corinthians,

Is Mr. Osteen a false prophet? I don’t know, I do know I cannot find what is in quotes from this lecture anywhere in any version Bible. And the versions I have read are not in context. Mr Osteen is powerful and had a huge church, so he must be saying something right. I just hope all the messages are not twisted like this one.

Heck the story of Jesus is powerful enough without having to add things!!

Mark 13 – 14

Chapter 13 starts with Jesus talking about his return and the end times. What signs will be happening and that we will not know the day or time. Interestingly verse 13:30 lays out a timeline in a way:

It’s true—this generation will not pass away before all these things have happened.

Unfortunately what he says will lead to His return is very generic, if you look at time there has always been wars and talk of wars plus many natural disasters. I believe when Jesus returns it will be clear to those who know. I have an internet friend who insists President Obama is the anti-Christ. I know many in the conservative world and Christian community believe this may be true, but I don’t think it’s so. For support you are going to have to wait for the Revelations study starting in 7 or 8 months (otherwise check out TheFuelProject’s YouTube channel for his study).

Verse 14:8 is one of those verses that should have had the disciples wondering:

She has done what she could for Me—she has come to anoint My body and prepare it for burial.

Normally you don’t “anoint” a living body for burial, so why did they not question that?

I need to lay out the time line for Jesus’ crucifixion and the Passover Lamb sacrifice. But we get a good picture in chapter 14 that Passover has been celebrated before Jesus is laid on the cross. Many say they celebrated it early while others say Jesus died at the time of the Passover sacrifice. Verse 14:12 seems to verify the idea that Jesus was sacrificed after the Passover Lamb:

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the customary day when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, His disciples wondered where they would celebrate the feast.

Jesus was welcomed as the Passover Lamb when he entered Jerusalem, which many believe was Monday and not Sunday. It’s very difficult to get into the timeline of Jesus’ death, but it’s clear the symbolism God was using. Jesus’ blood will allow God to Passover us in time of Judgment.

One interesting difference in Mark is the story of Peter’s three denials. Luke and Matthew say before the cock crows, where Mark says before the cock crows twice (v 14:30). We get to his first denial and in brackets it says a cock crowed with a note saying some manuscripts deleted this section (v 14:66). On the third denial it says in brackets the cock crowed “a second time” (v14:77).  I notice it says “earlier” manuscripts omit this portion which makes me wonder when it came in. Was it to resolve the fact this was different that Matthew and Luke or was never there in the first place? This is one of those places the Bible that people look at and question the validity. Personally it concerns me that there was stuff not in earlier versions that showed up in later. The twice thing doesn’t bother me since anyone who has heard a rooster crow, they don’t stop at one. I wonder what the original manuscript says?

Jeremiah 22 – 26

We as people somehow think we have evolved mentally into superior beings than Biblical times. Look at how they though the earth was created or the number of diseases that have been cured in recent times. But then I read verse 22:3 and wonder:

This is what the Eternal has to say: ‘Do what is just and right. Rescue those poor ones being robbed by the extortionists. Protect the outsiders, orphans, and widows in your land from any oppression, for they have no one. Stop the violence and the shedding of innocent blood in this place.

This is still going on today, the only difference is how much more sophisticated they have gotten. Now they never have to meet you face to face, but do it in the comfort of their bedroom. With this I say technology has evolved and our understanding of technology but if you trained a toddler from Biblical times they would have the same understanding as anyone today. We just know more, not evolving into greater men.

I read this verse and verse 22:13 and wondered if this was not a prophecy for then and potentially now. Again a Babushka Doll Prophecy, where they may apply to other times. Or is this just a common sickness with mankind and it is so generic it could be applied to all times. Like the “blood red moon” which happens ever lunar eclipse.

Verse 23:5 is another one of these only a bit more specific:

Watch! The days are coming when I will raise up a righteous Branch of David—an heir of his royal line—who will rule justly, act wisely and make things right again in the land.

Is this talking about another king to save Israel and Judah or is this referring to Jesus? Or both? See how reading prophecies can be difficult at times. You get out your map of history and today to try to apply them to a point so you can say, here it was fulfilled. Hence why many say trying to understand God will lead you to insanity, it’s best to ride with faith. Although at the same time the greater you understand God the stronger your faith shall be.

Another thing with prophecies is highlighted in verse 25:3 where Jeremiah says:

I have been warning you since the word of the Eternal started coming to me in the 13th year of King Josiah (son of Amon), ruler of Judah. For these last 23 years, I have been telling you again and again what was coming, but you never listened.

For 23 years he has had his “The End Is Near” placard and people stopped taking notice. Just like all those who are saying this today. I think Harold Camping blew this for many, since he predicted a day that The End would happen and it didn’t. I can look to Jonah and wonder if Mr. Camping experienced that or if he really blew it. We may never know, but you have to really study the apoplectic prophecies to get a true understanding of the signs to come and what they could be.

When you look at prophecies that have been fulfilled and their signs before, it was clear what the signs were. Like the 10 horned beast in revelations is a New World Order with 10 “districts” and on “horn” in the middle east district will rise up to control the world. If that were to happen, guess you’d have to bend over, put your head between your knees and kiss your … well you understand.

We look at Easter and many images come to mind. Honestly thanks to effective marketing the Easter Bunny is the iconic symbol on the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. As harmless as this little bunny may seem, it has pagan underpinnings and may have evil attached. Think about how almost everyone focuses on the egg hunt, a celebration of the fertility god and not on what happened today some 2000 years ago. You can dress it up with all the prayers you want and make it as fun as you can, Satan would not making something unappealing.

A stone was rolled from a tomb and Jesus was alive. This was the conclusion that had to be to show that He was the pure sacrifice for all our sins. It’s that simple!! Jesus came, taught, lived and was crucified like many before Him, the difference was he was God in flesh! He was a pure sacrifice and by his empty tomb proved this to all mankind.

Remember today is a celebration not of eggs, bunnies, chocolates, dresses, hats or even the cross. Yep, the cross led us here, but the stone rolled from the empty tomb and Jesus being alive should be our focus today. It’s not a solemn event, but a celebration that Jesus is who He said He is and is alive in all of us today. All you need to do is accept this as true and confess your transgressions so you can follow Jesus with a redeemed heart.  

PRAISE GOD!!

Job 33 – 34

Verse 33:2 makes me think Elihu thinks he’s something special:

Wait for it! I am about ready to part my lips;
        even now, my tongue begins to stir within my mouth.

I mean get real, he is saying eagerly await what I am about to say. How arrogant can one be!! Just say it, don’t waste a bunch of air making sure people understand you think what you have to say is important. At the same time when talking with children you often have to preface what you are about to say, but that’s different. He’s trying to make sure his elders actually listen.

As with most of what his friends say there is a lot of truth, mixed in with flawed opinions. You need to carefully read each statement to determine the truth and confusion.

Verse 33:25 makes me think of a future tense in Jesus:

He has instead paid that ransom
        and spared me from descending into the pit
        and my life now sees the light.”

Sometimes I try to force evoking Jesus’ name in OT scripture and there was no reference in this Bible. My justification is the only ransom God paid was through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

In chapter 34, after offending the elders in chapter 33, he changes his approach to get a consensus. Verse 34:23 sounds nice, but I think it’s in error:

God does not need to scrutinize people further
        or bring them before Him for judgment.

He is saying all God needs to do is watch the path we are on and can see when it will lead to folly. It all sounds logical, but I believe God does scrutinize people more because often the path they may be on is from false teachings. As you can see reading Job is difficult, because there are many half-truths and things that seem logical, but are not. I can see making a whole devoted study on Job and still not answer things like why did God allow this in the first place!

Psalms 48 – 50

Verse 48:1 sums up what our adoration towards God should be:

The Eternal is great and mighty, worthy of great praise
    in the city of our True God, upon His holy mountain.

God is worth of all praise, period. We need to learn to realize that and see how everything works together for the good, even if in the moment it seems bad. My ability to worry has been maxed out the past 13 years and through it all things seem to work out. God has had this perfectly orchestrated all the time and although it has not gone the way I wanted or expected things are still good today.

I think my worry comes from more trying to control the situation more than anything. I think too much and try to analyze each move way before it happens, guess that’s why I am good at chess. But in life that leads to angst and worry, so I am being taught over and over again to stop worrying. God is in control NOT me … the control freak!

Verse 49:17 somberly reminds us the uselessness of following our vanities:

For they cannot take anything with them when they die.
    Their fame and glory will not follow them into the grave.

We can’t take it with us but we live like we think we can. We work ourselves to the grave thinking it’s more important to provide than to live. For some reason “providing” gets in the way of all the other major components of family life to the point a week vacation is meant to fix it all. No, we need to focus on our legacy in our children and not in our work because work will end but our children live on.

Verse 50:3 shows the end times:

Our God will come, and He will not enter on a whisper.
    A fire will devour the earth before Him;
    the wind will storm wildly about Him.

God judged and destroyed the world with water when Noah built the ark. This time God will do the same, but with fire and unfortunately the time is coming soon I fear. So back to the second Psalm, what are we focusing on? Are we hoarding and hunkering down or making sure our friends understand the love of Jesus? That is the key to all this … make our time on this earth matter and do God’s will, not ours!!

dailybibleverse365:

It breaks my heart knowing that so many people still chose to not to believe in anything related to God or Christianity. They fight so hard against it and chose to believe in nothing! When the reality is, you can’t escape the TRUTH! God = The TRUTH! How can you not believe in the Truth that will give you a freedom greater than you can ever imagine? And that saves so many lives?

2 Samuel 1 – 4

Saul is dead and now the conflict on who will be heir to the throne. We see David the anointed one or Ish-bosheth Saul’s son struggle for the leadership. Interesting point, while watching this is to see David’s response. Verse 1:15 shows the first response:

So David called for one of his soldiers to come forward and kill the Amalekite soldier, which he did.

This was a soldier who basically put Saul out of his misery and yet David considered this murder and killed him per Hebraic Law. He does this a second time with the men who killed Ish-bosheth and freed David to be king over all Israel. Both cases these men made David’s rise smoother, yet David did not want to be king by murder, but by God. Wonder if God’s hand was in this killing and we just are not told. If so I think David’s response would have not gone unpunished.

Verses 4:9-11 is David’s response to the men who killed Ish-bosheth:

David: ⁹ As the Eternal One lives, the One who has redeemed my life from every danger, ¹⁰ when the messenger brought me the word, “Saul is dead”—as though that would be some reason for me to rejoice, that would get him a reward—I seized him and had him killed at Ziklag. That was his reward for bringing me such news. ¹¹ How much more do you deserve to be punished, you wicked men who kill a righteous man in his own bedroom? Don’t you imagine that now I’ll make you answer for his blood with your own and wipe you from the face of the earth?

Instead of doing the earthly thing David does not put his convenience before God’s Laws. He punishes the men for what they did, not for how they made life simpler for him. With the Amalekite I questioned his response since it was on the battlefield, but these two did the act as a murder.

We see top leaders assassinated throughout history and often wonder how many were judged the same way? And were the “patsy’s” to cover a greater conspiracy. Don’t need to go there today, but we see David follows the Law and not his benefit.

SourceURL:file:///J:New_Book3-April.doc

Exodus 13 – 16

There are three definitive stories in the Bible that are historical accounts that people question. The first is Genesis 1 where God creates everything, either God is real or he does not exist. That is the number 1 most debated chapter in the Bible. Coming in tied for second is the great flood (Genesis 7) and the parting of the Red Sea we will look at today.

Before getting into that we need to look at chapter 13 for a bit. Verses 13:1 & 2 really get into where we need to be with God:

Eternal One (to Moses): ^1-2 Set apart all of the firstborn and dedicate them to Me. The first male offspring—both human and animal—that opens the womb among the people of Israel belongs to me.

Ever wonder why Cain’s offering was rejected and Abele’s was not? They both brought an offering to God, yet Cain’s was not “first” but rather “some of the crops” (Gen 4:3).  See we need to get God first and in everything we do. I fail at this constantly where I give God my seconds or the left overs assuming they were not used. Rarely is the first thing I do with money in is write my tithe. My accountant would say I tithe well, but like Cain I give what I can. That is the point of the tithe, not that God needs the money, but we demonstrate He is first; this is the key to this chapter. We are not to give 1 of 10 dollars, but the first dollar.

One other note about the first born, God gave his first son, his first born for salvation of mankind. That is a key point where God is following his own law. 

Without any more fanfare time to look at the parting of the Red Sea. Verse 14:21 really describes what happened well:

Moses then took his staff and reached out over the sea. The Eternal parted the sea with a strong east wind, which blew all night and turned the floor of the sea into dry ground between the divided waters.

One thing that often is missed is the time the wind blew to dry the ground. Based on earlier verses it blew all night before they crossed and God kept Egypt busy and confused during this time. It did not say, the sea parted and they went like Hollywood depicted. God is above nature and used nature to do the impossible, but there were still limits on what he could do supernaturally. I have seen models on how this may have been done, granted not like Hollywood, but cool all the same.

I would love the present day archeologists to do a deep exploration of the Red Sea to determine if there are a mass of chariots underwater. This would require ground penetrating sonar, but could prove that this event happened. Maybe a grant would be in order!!

Verse 16:2 is interesting for two reasons:

As soon as they got to the desert of Sin, the entire community of Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron.

First one is the desert of “Sin” I notice that is in italics so it may be an addition. After reviewing verse 16:2 with other translations it was clear the name was not included in all but the Message, which was 1-3 and not just 2 … in looking at KJV verse 1 it states that they were in the “wilderness of Sin”. So the question is why is sin named after this wilderness? It’s used before or was it called that due to their comments?

Second is how quickly the Israelites started to complain. Think about it, they just have been singing praises on how God did the miraculous and saved them from bondage and in short order are wishing they had never left. This shows God’s not always going to give us a freshly paved road with a fully stocked limo to get to where we are going. Sometimes we have to demonstrate faith. Unlike Israel, the more you learn to lean into God the less worry takes over your life.

SourceURL:file:///J:New_Book3-April.doc

1 Corinthians 15 – 16

Verse 15:6 should dispel any ideas that Jesus is not who He said He was:

If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Now Christianity grew wildly after the death of Paul and was a thorn in the side of Rome and the established Jewish system. If any of those wanted to disprove Jesus surely one of the 500 would “break ranks” and snitch. We don’t see this in history, rather we see it grow. Remember both parties would have done anything to prove this movement to be false, it couldn’t.

One quick note on Rome, many believe that Christianity was a fabrication to control the Jewish people. First off Christianity was exploding before Rome turned. Second, if it was to control the Jews, why did they make a story that did not match their “Messiah”. Instead they went with the most unlikely of storylines that on the surface did not match their perceptions of who the Messiah was.  Third, if it was to control the Jews, they did not do a very good job, since the story spread more with “gentiles” than the Jews.

It wasn’t until Constantine in 324 AD that Rome stated to turn and the Catholic Church was formed. If it was to control the Jews why did it take 324 years of persecuting Christians, not Jews to turn? Was it heart or was it control. The fact they quickly ended all translations of the Bible to Latin leads me to believe it was a control issue, but not by changing the story but manipulating it to control the people. Wycliffe changed everything when he produced an English version. By that time the church for the most part had been to two basic factions until this time, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. After this it spilt and after the reformation there are upwards of 33,000 today. I will not judge if this is good or bad, but it seems to fit the message of Jesus into a package more can understand.

Paul gets into end times and how things will finally play out. The key is do you want to be on the sidelines missing out or in the game watching your friends on the sidelines missing out. The key here is we need to work more at salvation for our friends than just go on our own way. I think Paul’s urgency is not to remain self-centered, but rather focus on God and expanding His kingdom. How are you living? I know I am not living with passion to save my friends who do not believe.

Mark 11 – 12

Verse 11:11 has Jesus riding into Jerusalem:

To the sound of this chanting, Jesus rode through the gates of Jerusalem and up to the temple. He looked around and saw that evening was coming, so He and the twelve went back to Bethany to spend the night.

This is a prophecy that Zechariah 9:9 predicted and was fulfilled. Now the “nay sayers” will always point to this and say Jesus knew of this prophecy and was forcing the situation. This may be true, but at the same time God made the prophecy and Jesus had to fulfill it. Also, most ignore the fact that Jesus knew where the colt would be showing supernatural abilities.

Verses 11:15 – 17 Jesus clears the temple of money changers (will not print all the verses) and I wanted to make a quick note of this. One of my favorite plays is Jesus Christ Superstar and this scene is depicted in the play. In the play the temple looks more like a brothel than a house of God, where in all the scriptures the people are just selling sacrifices. Granted both are wrong, but I think the JC Superstar depiction was over the top to deceive people, or maybe it was just “artistic license” to make the point of the corruption.

Verse 11:21 is Jesus’ only time he used his supernatural powers in wrath:

Peter (remembering): ²¹ That’s the fig tree, Teacher, the one You cursed just yesterday morning. It’s withered away to nothing!

Jesus’ response was simply “trust in God” and you can do anything. How many of us have tried to move a mountain in faith or uproot a tree or heal someone and failed? I know I have and this honestly bothers me since it implies my faith is not strong. At the same time is moving a mountain literal, or is there a hidden meaning lost in translation? Don’t know?

Either way this was the first time wrath of God rained from heaven and killed a fig tree. Interesting how Jesus could have done this more for “effect” but did not. Heck He could have saved himself, but followed God as he should. I wonder if this was done to show everyone the power He could call on not only for healing, but destruction also.

Verse 12:6 is part of the story of the vineyard owner:

He had a son whom he loved above all things, and he said to himself, “When these thugs see my son, they’ll know he carries my authority. They’ll have to respect him.”

This was pointed right at the religious leaders who were plotting against Jesus. Jesus is the son and God is the owner, just in case you missed the analogy. The salves beforehand I assume were the prophets who told Israel what they did not want to hear.

Verses 12:30 & 31 are in response to a question on the “greatest” commandment:

³⁰ You should love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” ³¹ The second great commandment is this: “Love others in the same way you love yourself.” There are no commandments more important than these.

Why did Jesus not say one, but rather two commandments? Simple, you follow 1 and 2, the rest come simple. You love God and the commandments are not some legalistic mumbo jumbo, but something you know pleases God. If you love your neighbor, murder, coveting and other laws against others would not be a problem. I like the way the law is love others as you love yourself. Again this is one of those translational things, I have heard some equate it to masturbation, but in reality it’s the care for others as you would yourself.

This is a problem with the “Emo” crowd, who seems to hate themselves but is an opportunity to show God’s love also.

SourceURL:file:///J:New_Book3-April.doc

Jeremiah 17 – 21

As I read through Jeremiah I tend to drift easily, since there is a bunch of stuff that applied to his time and through the Babushka Doll Principle could apply to the future and even today. In verse 17:25 you start seeing how this is:

The family of David will always reign on his throne here. The kings and rulers of this land will pass through these gates in chariots and on horses. As for their officers, the people of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem, they will live securely in this city forever.

This was an accurate prophecy for the time and future since Jesus now reigns. This is why I get lost reading these … I look at that and wonder what else I missed, so I reread it … and then forget the context of the original quote and have to go back. Finally I just start reading words and get lost in what’s being said. Sometimes I just need to be spoon fed this meaning.

With that said go to Revelations and I can say the same thing. I have also been spoon fed many different stories that show the antichrist is (fill in the blank) and we are in the end times. I agree we are in the end times, but again I get lost with muti-headed beasts and horns that talk. But check out TheFuelProjects Revelations playlist. It’s the only one that applies Revelations to today and makes perfect sense. His main point is that when it goes down there will be no confusion on who or what is happening.

Now I need to get back to Jeremiah.

Interesting how in verse 19:5 a favorite ancient god shows back up:

They have built high places and altars to Baal where they have sacrificed their own children as burnt offerings to this dark and pagan god. How could this be My people? I never taught them to do such unspeakable evil. It never even crossed My mind.

Again I refer you to TheFuelProject and their Know Your Enemy play list for an understanding of Babylon and the ancient gods. But Baal keeps showing up again and again in scripture. I wonder how Baal is represented today. I often believe science has changed that since Satan realizes worshiping a lesser god never worked, so if he can’t be worshiped, one must dismiss the supernatural altogether. And here we are today where science explains the natural and therefore dismisses the supernatural altogether. Satan wins.

Verse 21:5 is interesting when you look at what God is saying:

With My strong hand and powerful arm I will rise up and fight against you, fueled by My great wrath, anger, and fury. Do you think I will fight beside you? You misunderstand.

God will fight, but not for Israel this time rather against. I don’t want to be on the other side of God’s wrath and hence why I read the Bible. I want to ensure I understand the context and what is being said. I am afraid of what is being taught is incomplete or cleaned up many times in order not to offend someone. 

SourceURL:file:///J:New_Book3-April.doc

Job 31 – 32

Job lays out his case before the Lord asking what he has done wrong. Verse 31:1 is an example of this:

Job: I have made a sacred pledge with my eyes.
        How then could I stare at a young woman with desire?

Job uses 8 areas of potential sin in his life and ask why the punishment does not fit the crime. Over and over Job makes his case before the Lord, questioning his problems with the Lord. It must be awful to have no idea why you’re being punished or going through major trials.

I see this today and have mentioned many before. I keep going to one friend who has been successful and the prime example I have used for reading the Bible so much since at the time I started he was on his 8^th read through. During a fun vacation in the snow his son went off the trail and hit a tree. Since this accident he has been confined to a wheel chair. We all battle why God could allow something like this … and I do often, but we also must understand that we are not immortal and sometimes things just happen.

We know this is not the case with Job, but often we use this story wondering if our hardships are Job events.

Verse 31:27 points to a reference we don’t explore often:

If such sights secretly seduced my heart
        and made my hand throw kisses to the false gods of sun and moon,

We need to look closely at the sun and moon gods since they really stem from the time when mankind rebuilt after the flood. Babylon was one of the cities that came from Noah’s children. Babylon has often been Satan’s city while Jerusalem has been God’s. Nimrod and his wife Semiramis ruled. Somehow his wife who may have been the brains behind his rule, was eventually elevated to god of moon. Nimrod became the personification of the sun god. All this formed what has been come to be known as the mystery religion. The sun god may be Baal or Ra, but always exist in some form.

Chapter 32 we are introduced to Elihu, a younger silent observer who had to state his mind. In chapter 32 he is setting the stage for his comment. He is basically saying he cannot remain silent any longer since the “wise” have failed to see the obvious. It will be interesting what he has to say. Again stay tuned!!

Psalms 45 – 47

One thing as I read the Psalms and hear the how they sound in English I have often wondered how they sounded in their original language. Since you would get the tone and flow better since I assume they would not have used words that did not flow. The one time I did this I was disappointed in the flow … It may be the one I picked, but it sounded rough.

Verses 45:6 & 7 are ones that makes you wonder if we are personifying God too much:

⁶ O God, Your throne is eternal;
    You will rule your kingdom with a scepter of justice.
⁷     You have loved what is right and hated what is evil.

Is God really on a throne or do we have to imagine that to understand God? If we tried to understand Him on His level would it just blow or minds so therefore we must make Him in our image? As you know I look at God more as a conscious energy and therefore all over the place like described other places in the Bible. Guess we have to have an interface, for some it’s a burning bush, for others it a donkey and for me it’s a small voice I am trying to filter better.

Verse 47:1 is something we need to do more:

Clap your hands, all of you;
    raise your voices joyfully and loudly.
Give honor for the True God of the universe;

We need to really honor God more and rejoice in Him. I know we sing three songs, get a sermon and then sing another during the offering, but is that the only time we do this. I am in a funk where distractions seem to keep me away from doing this outside the 3, preach, 1 formula weekly. Pray I can regain focus so I remain true to God.

1 Samuel 26 – 31

Stories like this in the Bible are great history lessons. We see David, who is the 25^th great grandfather of Jesus was a honorable man. In chapter 26 we see he has another chance to kill Saul, yet he does not and spares his life once again through honor and not murder. I believe this is why David was blessed, because for the most part his faith was in God and God’s plan.

I think about how I would go about it. At a young age he was blessed to be king of Israel, but still had some learning to do. Instead of being a brash young buck and taking the throne at his will, he actually trained under Saul and learned how to be king. He trusted God and followed His path without forcing one of his own. We see this often in the Bible, like with Moses. God spent 40 years correcting and training him before he was ready to lead Israel.

I think the key we need to learn is all these stories is to trust God and not take things into our own hands. Heck, somewhere down the line I had this vision of being the one to restore our family’s fortune. MY solution was play the lottery and wait for Ed to show up on my door step. What God wanted from me was hard work and diligence. What I gave him was a half assed effort, since that was more than enough in the working world.  I walked away from conflict or strife instead of learning through it. I question if that was a idea from God or just a selfish young kid who wanted to race motorcycles instead of working for a living? I don’t know, just do know where we are today doesn’t suck.

Saul dies with his sons and now we will see the struggle David has taking the throne. Stay tuned, same bat time .. same bat channel.

Exodus 9 – 12

This story includes the final six plagues and Israel being released. I am not going to clip scripture this thought since expanding out each plague and god associated with that is going to take some space. The next plague was the death of cattle and livestock which was to show superiority over the goddess Hathor, which was originally worshiped in the form of a cow. She was also the symbolic mother of Pharaoh.

The 6^th plague was abscesses’ to break out on all the people of Egypt. This was a “finger” in the face of Isis. The almighty Isis (sorry had to – from the 70’s show) was the goddess of medicine and peace and is the Egyptian equivalent of Semiramis or the Queen of Babylon. The next plague was fire and hail from the sky to show God superiority over the Egyptian god of the sky Nut. Also, this plague was an affront to Shu the wind god and Horace the hot headed sky god. Also, note this was the first plague Pharaoh starts to negotiate with them and appears to soften his heart.

The eight plague was locusts send from the sky to devour everything. This was a show of superiority over Seth or the god of crops. Seth was also abused in the previous plague, but God finished him off here. Again Pharaoh tried to negotiate the release, but his heart hardened. The ninth plague was three days of complete darkness and was showing superiority over the sun god Ra and various other gods. This time Pharaoh set himself up for the final plague.

The final plague was death to the first born of Egypt, which was Pharaoh’s own curse trying to destroy Moses kill all first born males. This was to show superiority over all the gods of Egypt and to show how helpless they were against God. This was also considered an attack on the god that was considered the greatest of them all, Pharaoh. We see Pharaoh as the most dangerous of gods since he is a man being elevated to godlike status and is where the flaw is in most beliefs outside the Bible. Heck evolution has us evolving to gods, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to be God-like in eating the fruit. The current movie/book The Secret instructs one on how to elevate themselves to a god and get lots of goodies.

All this is an attempt to dismiss the one true God.

Now I lied and will insert one verse, verse 12:6 where God is discussing the Passover celebration:

Keep this chosen lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight.

Remember the “Last Supper” was the Passover meal and Jesus was the Passover lamb. I have not researched the exact timing, but believe it will match the ritual laid out by God here in Exodus. Jesus is the lamb that was slaughter for our salvation. On judgment with His blood over our doors (figuratively of course) we will be passed over for eternals judgment. How cool is that?

1 Corinthians 13 – 14

All we need is love! This is the famous love chapter where Paul talks about it in detail so we can understand what it really looks like. It’s not just a sex act, but much deeper than that. Verse 13:7 I think is strong on this aspect:

Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.

This is tough when you think about it. How many marriages would “put up with anything”? That never justifies infidelity, but can be twisted that way. No love is a two way street and putting up with anything has a different meaning when you are both in the same mindset. “Anything” is life’s bumps and problems, sure it may be a season of no sex, but can never be justified to do anything. It loves no matter what comes along in life. Even if “lust” is a problem, as long as both work on it and not drift it can be handled.

I would advise everyone read this a few times and see how it applies to your own context. Consider also the Greek love used here is Agape, or true unconditional love. So it’s not just Eros or the romantic love, but an all-encompassing love.

Chapter 14 focuses on prophecy over “tongues”. This is something we need to be conscious of, tongues are not for public display unless there is an interpreter. It tends to freak non-believers out and even many died in the wool believers. Verse 14:4 describes why:

Those who speak in an unknown language only strengthen themselves, but those who prophesy strengthen the community.

I am sensitive to this since a few churches around the south feel that if you do not flop around like a fish and speak in tongues you are not saved. This is not Biblical and is dangerous.

Verse 14:20 is interesting based on yesterday’s reading:

Brothers and sisters, don’t think like children. Be innocent of malice but mature in understanding.

Jesus says have faith like a child and Paul says don’t think like a child. What is it? Well two different contexts, Jesus is addressing how people need childlike faith in their walk, where Paul is addressing the childish squabbling between people. We need to act like adults and become mature, but do it as a child with eyes open wide and a pure questioning spirit.

Paul also goes round and round on verse 14:22 – 25. Paul implies one thing and says another. I often don’t get this but find it his style to point out the opposite as foolish before stating how it should be.

SourceURL:file:///J:New_Book3-April.doc

Mark 9 – 10

Once again Peter, James and John get to go on an adventure with Jesus. I often read this and wonder why all of them did not go. Why those three? James and John were the sons of Zebedee a well-respected fisherman. Peter was the one Jesus paid attention to, the only other one to walk on water. They see Jesus transformed and visit with Elijah and Moses so they can witness this when he has left. So I guess he kept it with the trusted ones.

In verse 9:23 we once again we stumble upon some misquoted prosperity gospel verses:

What do you mean, “If there’s anything?” All things are possible, if you only believe.

This also becomes one of the most abused verses when discrediting the Bible. Since many awful illnesses have fallen on Godly people. I know my friend’s son broke his back in a skiing accident. Our church prayed over him for healing, yet he is still bound in a chair. Did we not believe or are we delusional in our beliefs? Neither, it’s just the way it was. God did not use him for his miracle and we are not delusional. Life just happens.

I get slammed on this from time to time, but life on this planet is not controlled daily by God. He set this in motion and gave us free will. Sure earthquakes will kill good people, but we would not have the Rockies if it were not for violent movements in the earth. That’s by design. Sometimes God will interject himself in subtitle ways to ensure the one involved know the truth. And occasionally a miracle will happen, like my friend who had breast cancer. She was in immense pain one evening and prayed without ceasing. The morning the pain subsided and the next visit the doctor declared it was a “miracle” since the cancer was gone. Proof the body heals or in God? I pick God.

Verse 10:15 is one I love:

Truly anyone who doesn’t accept the kingdom of God as a little child does can never enter it.

This has a different meaning to those who have children. They tend to believe anything with blind faith, but at the same time they ask some pointed questions. I don’t think this means just blindly have faith, but rather ask deep and honest questions. Don’t come to God trying to disprove Him, but rather trying to know Him. Keep asking and never stop, just like any NORMAL child!! Questions are not evil when asked by a child, where adults often have hidden agendas. Don’t hide your agenda and be bold like a child.

Verse 10:27 makes me feel better about money:

For human beings it is impossible, but not for God: God makes everything possible.

This is the story of the rich man who was asked to give it all to the poor and walked away sad. Jesus used the camel through the eye of a needle as an analogy. But did he say the man was destined to hell? No, this is often forgotten from the story since it is used for giving to the church. The blood of Jesus saves all, including the poor and rich alike. Where the problem comes is wealth causes a distraction from God, but if the person truly seeks God he can help. Remember it is how you use it, not how you save it that God cares about. And NOTE savings is a component of using.

Jeremiah 12 – 16

Verse 12:1 opens a huge question:

Jeremiah: Eternal, You always do what is right
        when I bring a complaint Your way.
    So now let me put a case before You:
        Why do the wicked prosper so much?
        Why do all the untrustworthy have it so easy?

Or why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people? First we have to look at the overarching factor of nature. We see good people crushed in earth quakes or swept away in Tsunamis’. Why is that? Nature just is. God designed it that way, if not we would not have the purple mountains majesty or our swamps would be toxic and not swarming with life. It’s just unfortunate that people die when things happen.

As for evil prospering, what would you expect? God is not of this world and is above nature. If we determined our standing based on our bank account what would that mean? It would mean God is of this world. Who is of this world? Satan! So sure evil will succeed in the world, he wants us to divert from God. So what’s the best way to say there is no God? Have success without Him. Satan loves success for that reason!!  

Verse 13:10 has God saying why He is upset at Israel:

I will ruin these haughty and wicked people who ignore My words, who follow their own stubborn hearts, who run after other gods, who bow down to lifeless idols. They will end up like this rotten undergarment in your hands—completely worthless!

The analogy God had Jeremiah do was wear his underwear for a while, then burry it and then get it back to see the filth and rot. This is how God viewed Israel. They were once pure, then became corrupt, then walked away and buried themselves from God. It’s a great analogy when you look at it in detail. Now I on the other hand would probably was the undergarment and still find use for it and that is what God eventually does.

Again read this with the perspective of short term prophecies with a potential longer term one embedded. We need to know and see this as a potential flashing red signal for today.

Job 29 – 30

Before we start I just wanted to say I saw my cardinal yesterday. It was not in a place we normally see birds either, one had flown into the barn and sat within 10 feet of me. He hung out for a bit and flew away, never to be seen again. Was I looking for any cardinal or did God say HI on his schedule and where it was more apparent it was not random like the one outside my window this morning?

As we start this reading the first thing I notice is Chapter 29 starts with Job’s status in society. Everyone likes to complain about their “Job moments” but after reading chapter 29 how can any of us keep saying that. It wasn’t that Job was rich, but he was also compassionate and generous. He did not use his power and influence to take advantage of people but rather for good. When we think “Job moments” it’s more selfish and much less catastrophic.

Verse 29:12 is a key to Job’s charity:

After all, I rescued the poor when they cried out for help
        and assisted the orphans when they had no one else.

Great virtue is often troubled by naysayers who feel those in need are taking advantage of someone’s generosity. Jesus says we will always have the poor and that is a reality we must live in. God did not say judge the poor as to who was capable of working and who was not. God said be generous and kind to anyone in need. Again as we look at Job’s plight do we see a rich guy getting his due, or a righteous man being unjustly punished?

Chapter 30 shows how quickly people change. Verse 30:1 has Job talking about that aspect of humanity:

Job: But now they mock me,
        these young men whose fathers I hold in such contempt.
    I wouldn’t trust them with my herds
        as I do my dogs.

We often turn our heads to the down trodden. Consider the drunks on the corners victims of their own poor choices. Much of the time we don’t look as them in need. Job was a “pillar” of his community, yet in a very short time he was mocked. How sad this is and how quickly we forget the past and focus on the present. I think the saddest part of this story is where Job would have been compassionate to a person in his condition, he has none who will comfort him in his time of need.

I think when we have “Job moments” it is more like Job’s friends than Job himself. I know I find myself on the judgment side of life more than the grace side. I see a person in need and wonder why they are not finding work. At the same time I sit in judgment, without a job and not able to provide. 

Psalms 42 – 44

Verse 42:1 opens my prayers yesterday:

My soul is dry and thirsts for You, True God,
    as a deer thirsts for water.

I was in one of those funks where I was questioning everything including my faith. My prayers included a sign of a cardinal, which I heard but never saw. I saw blue jays, robins and even a bird I could not identify but was like a scarlet tanager but inversed. When I read these Psalms, they stuck to my soul and realized I was not the only one who was a believer. I didn’t need to see the cardinal, just wanted to.

The voice I got was “you spoiled little brat, I have laid a huge plan before you and you still want to see a little bird”.

Verse 43:2 caught me and gave me a little voice:

You are the True God—my shelter, my protector, the one whom I lean on.
    Why have You turned away from me? Rejected me?
Why must I go around, overwrought, mourning,
    suffering under the weight of my enemies?

Oh woe is me, I have life so rough. When in reality my life is going great. Sure I don’t have a job right now, but am being provided for quite well. The story is long, but it started in 2001 and is still unfolding to this day. It includes layoffs, failed land deals, huge credit card debt, getting a job, paying off debt, more layoffs, selling a home and another land deal. It has been an emotional roller coaster, but didn’t have to be if my faith was more solid and I trusted God.

I think that’s why I am at peace more during this time. Because even if it doesn’t go as “I” plan, it IS going as HE planned!! Worry just wastes energy, I need to trust God more.

1 Samuel 21 – 25

This has one of my favorite stories between Saul and David in Chapter 24. Verse 24:3 has Saul in a compromised position:

When he came to the sheep shelters beside the road, a cave was there, and Saul went inside to relieve himself. Unguarded, he was especially vulnerable to attack.

David and his men are in this same cave. So while Saul is taking a poo, David debates with his men on if he should kill him. First thing I wonder is most caves I have been in echoed and I wonder how they could have kept this conversation from Saul hearing it. First thing I wonder is most caves I have been in echoed and I wonder how they could have kept this conversation from Saul hearing it. Second thing is how did they have time for this conversation? I mean there were a bunch of them and to debate where everyone gets their say would take time, more than a poo would take.

Anyway as we read David spares Saul’s life and only cuts a small patch from his gown. Verses 24:9 & 10 have David return this patch to Saul:

⁹ My lord, why do you listen to those who say I plan to harm you? ¹⁰ Look! Today the Eternal One placed you at my mercy in that cave. I could have done anything to you, and some said I should kill you. But I refused. I said, “I will not raise my hand against my lord, the Eternal’s anointed king.”

Interestingly for a brief moment this brings Saul to his senses and he has mercy on David. I find stories like this interesting since it gives us an example to live by and shows us how David is following God and not his own desires. A “normal” person would have killed Saul (since he was trying to kill David) and taken the throne they were anointed to be on. David is not normal, he knows how to honor God and follow his ways and not those of the world. He also is learning how to lead, since his men all want to kill Saul.

What would you do in this position? 

And yes there is a subtle JOKE in this;-)

Exodus 5 – 8

Now we get to have some fun and understand why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart!! After being a Christian and church goer for most of my 50+ years I finally learned this year why God kept hardening Pharaoh’s heart. So now I get to share that with you!!

Chapters 5 and 6 are the “set up” to the plagues and Israel’s eventual release. Moses and Aaron ask kindly to let the people go worship in the wilderness. Pharaoh considers them lazy and ups their work. Notice even after hard labor and torment the people refuse to listen to Moses and Aaron (v6:9). Then in verse 7:3 God tells Moses what He will do:

But I am going to harden Pharaoh’s stubborn heart so that I can perform sign after sign, wonder after wonder in the land of Egypt.

 

I use to always think this was only for show and to prove to Israel that God was supreme, but as you will see it goes much deeper than that. God says He will do amazing things and will continue to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Before the plagues, God shows His superiority over the Egyptian mystics and gods by having Aaron’s staff turn into a snake, when theirs turned into snakes God’s snake consumed them all.

 

The first plague God turned the water of the Nile into blood and in turn Pharaoh’s mystics did the same to the remaining water. Now two points need to be noticed here, first is the mystics could NOT change the water back. The second is deeper and showing God’s superiority over all. God was showing he was over all, including the Egyptian God Hapi and Osiris. Hapu is the God of the Nile while it is said the Nile is the “blood stream” of the God Osiris. So God made the Nile real blood for Osiris and showed Hapi to be unable to stand to God.

The second plague was with frogs which poked the finger at Heket. The Egyptian god Heket was a frog like goddess who was the god of fertility, water and renewal. Notice again this showed Heket was powerless and although Pharaoh’s mystics could make the frogs once again they could not get rid of them.

The third plague was gnats or lice from the dust of the earth. Again this was showing the Egyptian god of the earth, Geb, to be powerless before the Eternal Almighty God. Again Pharaoh’s mystics could not repeat this plague. Notice how when their god’s have the power to repeat the plague they cannot reverse them and quickly they cannot even repeat the plague.

The fourth plague and final for this reading is the swarms of flies. For the most part I never considered this a big deal until we got horses. Flies BITE, even the small ones!! The gnats were annoying, the flies stated to inflict some pain I am sure. This was to show God’s superiority over the Egyptian god Khepri. This god had a head of a fly and was god of creation, the movement of the sun and rebirth.

Now we see why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it was not to show boat but rather to show superiority over all the Egyptian gods. As you will see over the next 6 plagues God has reason and purpose for this show. It was to humble Egypt and to show Israel their God is over all.

http://journeythroughbible.tumblr.com/

1 Corinthians 11 – 12

Context rears his ugly head again in Chapter 11. I was incredulous reading the first part and thinking Paul was out of line. Katy was not going to even consider wearing a veil in prayer. So I had to take these words out of modern day USA and go back to Roman Corinth. First if you read it’s not all women, just married ones. And it was custom then, because if not it would be like wearing a t-shirt today that said “I’m a SLUT”. So before you get up in arms like I did, we must learn context to clearly understand.

Verses 11:28 & 29 talks about our mindset while celebrating the Lord’s Supper:

²⁸ Examine yourselves first. Then you can properly approach the table to eat the bread and drink from the cup; ²⁹ because otherwise, if you eat and drink without properly discerning the significance of the Lord’s body, then you eat and drink a mouthful of judgment upon yourself.

 

I don’t believe the significance of the Lord’s Supper is stressed. We are symbolically take Jesus’ body and blood in remembrance of His sacrifice. We need to ensure we are cleansed and in the right mindset before doing this. Why?

 

Pastor Miller of West Side Bible explained it where I could understand. If we continue to partake in the Lord’s Supper without properly confessing and honoring God, we build scar tissue like a wound. If a wound isn’t treated properly, it heals wrong and creates scar tissue which will never be the same without major intervention. More and more you have the more difficult it is to fix it. So come to the table prepared not just to eat and drink.

 

Verse 12:12 sums up the chapter of spiritual gifts:

 

Just as a body is one whole made up of many different parts, and all the different parts comprise the one body, so it is with the Anointed One.

 

Spiritual gifts are one of those subjects I struggle with on many levels. The first is why I cannot develop ones I don’t have. How many times have we seen the lame or sick and wanted to lay hands and heal them? How many times have we done this and failed? I have and feel foolish, but maybe that’s not my thing with God and I just have to find it. When doing spiritual gift tests, coach seems to rise to the top of ever one. So maybe I just need to embrace my role as coach and learn to communicate.

 

The other problem was highlighted in a church Veronica went to at UGA. They were charismatic and loved to flop around. Not bashing that at all and believe that the spirit manifests itself in people many ways. Where it became “dangerous” was when they were telling her she was not saved and filled with the spirit since she could not speak in “tongues.” Interestingly ignoring every scripture that says “some can” and “while others can.” While I do not wish to judge a church in their practices, this was one I was concerned with since it did not follow Paul’s message in this and other chapters he writes on gifts.

Address: 381 PANDA RD

Mark 7 – 8

Verses 7:18 & 19 are one of those verses that get my interest:

¹⁸ Do you mean you don’t understand this one either? Whatever goes into people from outside can’t defile them ¹⁹ because it doesn’t go into their hearts. Outside things go through their guts and back out, thus making all foods pure.

Think about it you have a nation that has taken some great guidelines and made the hard and fast sins. Jesus is here to point out that it’s not a sin to eat outside the Hebraic Law, but rather a sin to become legalistic and ignore God in the process.

As you know I am a big fan of the food laws. I believe God passed them to the Israelites and it protected them in epidemics. If you look at history the Jews were not affected by the “Plague” mainly because of their dietary and cleanliness laws. God does map out what’s best for our system, but does not say it’s a sin to go outside that diet. He is just giving us a way to live life to the full.

Starting at verse 8:14 there is a great story about food. The disciples are concerned that they forgot to buy provisions for their journey. In verse 8:17-19 Jesus asks:

Don’t you remember when I broke the five rounds of flatbread among the 5,000? Tell Me, how many baskets of scraps were left over?

And remember this was just after feeding 4000 just before and having 7 baskets of scraps. How soon they forget. Was that miracle a parlor trick or was it God providing? It’s hard to believe that they would question God’s provision, but they did! How many times have you been there and forgot that God provides? Let me count the ways!!

In verse 8:29 Jesus asks Peter who He is:

Jesus (pressing the question): ²⁹ And who do you say that I am?

Peter: You are God’s Anointed, the Liberating King.

Think about Peter and this statement. He dropped everything and has followed Jesus as one of his closest confidants. Yet he still puts his foot in his mouth and gets things wildly wrong. In this case he “nailed it” with the answer. We all can see a little bit of Peter in our lives. We make rash statements and decisions, only to be correct in private later.

Because of this, Peter is the apostle that most everyone can relate to in their life. We do not have it perfect. I still read the Bible and learn new stuff, you’d think after 30 years of doing this I’d have it down! That is the problem with Satan, he will attacks us on all sides and keep on hitting us. We have to stay in the word and study His will in our lives always!

Jeremiah 7 – 11

Verses 7:5 -7 is the start of God chastising His people:

⁵ But if you genuinely change your ways and stop what you are doing; if you deal with each other fairly; ⁶ if you don’t oppress foreigners, orphans, and widows; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this land; and if you don’t practice the self-destructive worship of other gods; ⁷ then I will let you live forever in this land I promised your ancestors long ago.

God is giving the people a way out, over and over again throughout history we see this happen. God is not one of shunning us away. Think about it, He could easily commune with nature and enjoy peace on a mountain top but instead is an integral part of this mess we call mankind.

Verse 8:5 may be another example of the Babushka Principle:

So why have these people turned away from Me
        and refused to come back?
    They hang onto lies that lead them further away
        instead of embracing the truth and coming home to Me.

How many times has he said this to His people? How many times have we seen them drift away radically before “embracing the truth and coming home”? I see this being the way again. Israel was restored after this before it happened again and Rome demolished it. Now once again the nation is reunited after WWII, so are we on a continuing cycle. In this case I don’t think the people will be worshiping Baal, but rather just ignoring God with the distraction of prosperity.

Verse 10:5 is talking about idols:

This is what they worship? The idol just stands there—
        lifeless, powerless like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch.
    It cannot speak. It cannot move. They must pick the thing up and bring it along.
        Do you see why there’s nothing to fear from these dead pieces of wood?
    They cannot harm you, and they cannot help you either.

To God these idols are nothing, but I get concerned about possible “demonization” of these objects. We don’t think of this much in the purchase of daily things for the house. I think of Monster Energy Drink for one since I consume it often. The claim is the “M” logo is three instances of the Hebrew letter Vav which is the 6^th letter in their Alphabet. So 3 of these make the M and the motto is “Unleash The Beast” it MUST be a demonized product. Is it for real? No idea, but I can say it’s suspicious. They sponsor a bunch of BMX and motocross riders and their gloves with the M/666 logo is said to be the mark of the beast.

Dream catchers are another possible “demonized” product. As with Osiris shoes which Devon is sponsored by, are they demonized with the Egyptian God Osiris? Or are all these companies taking advantage of a sensitive mindset to mock or get more publicity? You see “Illuminati Symbolism” in many of today’s pop artists work. Is that to gain publicity or are they tools of this ultra-elite to corrupt society for their ultimate take over? Who knows there, but I tend to believe it’s just an example of us going the way of Rome, where more and more become acceptable until persecuting those who are faithful completes the demise of the society.

Read prophecies with the Babushka Principle in mind, but don’t make that the sole focus.

Job 27 – 28

Verses 27:4 & 5 is the root of Job’s frustrations with his friends:

⁴     My lips will not let lies escape them,
        and my tongue will not form deceit.
⁵     So I will never concede that you three are right.
        Until the day I die, I will not abandon my integrity just to appease you.

In this case Job is right, but how many times have these words left or lips and we were dead wrong? I know it has for me on many occasions, where most of the time I must humble myself and admit the fault. Job has had a ton of dialog between these three and they just remain trenched in their beliefs. I must commend Job, since most would eventually say these three says it’s so therefore it must be.

Think about that today, in the world of “propaganda” it’s called “the bandwagon” where everyone is “jumping on” since that’s the truth. We see this often used in elections where the right view will be suppressed, since the other candidate creates a “bandwagon” that is going the wrong direction but is too pretty not to want. Unfortunately you say “propaganda” and you imply Nazi, because of their effective use leading up to and in WWII. Study what all the techniques are and you’d be surprised how they are used today, by almost everyone wanting your money.

Verse 28:28 talks about wisdom:

And to humankind, He said, “Now, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
        and to depart from evil is understanding.”

I think the most undervalued gift of God’s is wisdom. We see Solomon can be granted anything he wanted by God and he asks for wisdom. He saw its value! With us on the other hand, we tend to ask for stuff. Wisdom is something that age doesn’t bring, especially if wasted in life’s purists. No we must strive for obtaining it. Sure in my case I may have some wise thoughts, but most of mine are from a “wise guy” and have little value.

The best way I have found to gain wisdom is to read, and read a bunch. Each night I have put aside the television and focuses on reading my Bible and other helpful books. It’s amazing the peace you have sleeping after doing that. Avoid the idiot box, and learn everything you can!!

Psalm 39 – 41

Verse 39:12 stood out to me this reading:

Right now I can’t see because I am surrounded by troubles;
    my sins and shortcomings have caught up to me,
    so I am swimming in darkness.
Like the hairs on my head, there are too many to count,
    so my heart deserts me.

Think about what David is saying here, he feels deserted by God, yet as we know in the reading prior as a young man he was anointed by God and His spirit fell on him. Imagine this, a person who had limitless access to the spirit of God, yet feels alone. Imagine how the other billion or so people around the world feel who do not have an anointing from God or His spirit with them. Sure we have been anointed and have the Holy Spirit, but I believe David’s relationship is different.

So if David can complain, do feel so bad when you complain. Just know much of our complaining about God not being there is RIGHT TO HIS FACE!! And since the conditions are not what we expect they are therefore without God’s guidance … IN OUR MINDS!!

This has been revealed to me sometimes decades later and we just live to live without realizing or faith should be in God and HE is always right.

Verse 41:1 shows sometimes there are spiritual truths in the Psalms:

Blessed are those who consider the helpless.
    The Eternal will stay near them, leading them to safety in times of bitter struggle.

The key is the word “blessed” here. Think about David whining about now having God do what HE wants while pondering this. Now think about what “blessed” means in our world. Finally think of “blessed” in the apostles world.

What images do you get? Our world “blessed” mean tons of money, spare time and stuff. In the apostles world it was constant work for the kingdom with an occasional beating and finally martyrdom. We tend to believe the world view since the kingdom view sucks to the world. But we must be able to give away our lives to gain life. I bet the ones blessed by the kingdom view were at peace where the world’s blessing caused strife.

Think about it, are you blessed by the world or the kingdom? What’s you focus? I will say mine is changing rapidly!!

1 Samuel 16 – 20 

This reading has one of the famous stories of the OT, David slaying Goliath. But something gets missed here. Chapter 16 God has given up on Saul and has Samuel anoint David as the new king. As we see, the youngest of Jesse needs some training. But verse 16:21 has Saul actually requesting David:

David came to Saul and served him. The king loved him greatly and made David his armor-bearer.

David was the youngest of 7 sons, therefore not the most prominent in the family. From this God chose him to lead Israel as king. Because Saul was still king, this was done rather covertly without the kings knowledge. Once the spirit of God came on David, scripture says it left Saul. He was tormented by God with evil spirits and sent for David to soothe his mind with a harp. So David went from the youngest of 7 out in a field shepherding sheep to the court of King Saul.

God works in amazing ways, not just with David against the giant. Sure we look at that since Goliath can represent our fears, concerns or mountains of debt yet David being quickly ushered into Saul’s court is just as incredible. It’s not like there were just a hand full of people to pick for the task, I am sure they had plenty yet David was the one God moved Saul to pick.

We see through this story how Saul’s tormenting becomes worse as he grows jealous of David. Through this he tries to impale David with a spear more than once. It’s amazing that David hangs tough and does not try to defend himself. He quickly learns to humble himself before God and his king. Notice this throughout the story of Saul and David, he never tries to take what is his.

Exodus 1 – 4

All Jacobs brothers are dying away leaving their children to multiply, which they do quite well! By verse 1:11 the king of Egypt is concerned:

When you arrive in Egypt, I want you to pay Pharaoh a visit. Make sure you perform all the wonders that I have entrusted to your hand. But I am going to harden Pharaoh’s stony heart, so that he will not free the people.

So we see how the people become enslaved. It was not from Egypt conquering them, but rather the king getting worried they would revolt. When rulers throne is threatened they tend to do stupid things, as seen throughout history. In this case it was all part of the plan.

Think about it Jacobs 12 sons would have all died in their land if Joseph was not sold into slavery. They would have remained in comfort in Egypt and not inhabited the Promised Lands as God promised if they were left to grow. No, we look at God’s plan in very short time slices, not generations. God works wonders over time and you just have to open your eyes to see this. My story over the last 15 years may be proof of that, life was not smooth at all, but we are in a wonderful spot today.

Verse 2:9 shows the funny way God works:

Pharaoh’s Daughter (to the nurse): Here! Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you for your services.

So the woman took the child—who was secretly her own son—and nursed him just as Pharaoh’s daughter had instructed.

Here she abandons her child to spare his life and God arranges it so she can raise him in the palace. How cool is that?

Verse 3:14 is one that we need to really absorb:

Eternal One: ¹⁴ I AM WHO I AM. This is what you should tell the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to rescue you.”

First “The Eternal One” is derived from the Hebraic word meaning “I am”. This is one of the most powerful statements when you think about it. Who is God? You can write a novel and just scratch the surface of who God is or just say “He IS”. God is so far above our understanding, yet can be described so simply.

Now this is part of the Bible that excites me because we get to see God triumph over lesser gods. This will unfold over the next few readings from Exodus and understand more fully verse 4:21 where Pharaoh’s heart is hardened:

When you arrive in Egypt, I want you to pay Pharaoh a visit. Make sure you perform all the wonders that I have entrusted to your hand. But I am going to harden Pharaoh’s stony heart, so that he will not free the people.

Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart and allow such destruction? Wait and see!! It’s COOL!!!

1 Corinthians 9 – 10

Interesting how Chapter 9 opens with Paul asking for pay, or at least justifying it for pastors and then saying he is not asking for it since he was called directly by God. Verse 9:24 has an analogy I get:

We all know that when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line, but only one will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize!

Fortunately, salvation in a way is outcome based, since we will all work for the prize and obtain it. This is a great analogy, but at the same time when you think about it, it’s kind of odd. The race of life, we are “bolting” for the finish line which in life’s case is death. How many can say they are racing for death? I can’t but when you think about it our salvation and the salvation of others IS a life and death struggle. The finish is death and communing with God in eternity.

Verse 10:13 is always one we look at in hope:

Any temptation you face will be nothing new. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. But He always provides a way of escape so that you will be able to endure and keep moving forward.

How many have said, “God must think I can handle a lot” in their lives? I sure have. I think many read this as “trials” and not “temptations” and that’s the hook. We all like to think this is trails, which since God has let his followers be martyred shows that is not the case. NO this is just “temptations” which can be easily dealt with. The next verse has the key work to dealing with “temptations” and that is “RUN”.

As a married guy a fear I have had is an attractive woman coming on to me, I pray I could handle that pressure. And the second verse shows I can and studies show I have a 3 second window to act and that action is “RUN”. Don’t think about it again and just run, it’s that simple. I know PK tells the story about a woman who came on to him early on and he did just that. Left her, ran out the front door and went home, without telling anyone, he just RAN. Nothing tempting us is so great we can’t run from it!

Verse 10:31 is one of those “anything goes” verses:

Whatever you do—whether you eat or drink or not—do it all to the glory of God!

I really don’t think Paul was saying its ok to do anything; rather legalistic stuff from the Law is no longer need to be adhered to “religiously”. Also, once you open the door to gentiles, who don’t live under the law things like eating pork, does not suddenly become a sin. No Paul did not say party down in the glory of God, but rather don’t get stuck on the Law, but do what is right and give glory to God.

As you may know I am an odd one on the Law. I look at the food laws as important, not as sins, but rather as a way to fuel or bodies. God gave us the perfect foods for our bodies to be at their optimum, sure we don’t have to abide by the food laws but it is what is best for our health. The key is whatever we do, do it to honor God. If you think pork is ok, and give it to me for dinner. I will thank God and enjoy the meal. Paul is just saying don’t get hung up on the small stuff and focus on the one true prize of salvation for all.

Mark 5 – 6

I have always loved the story that opens chapter 5, with Jesus casting “Legion” from the crazy man in the cemetery. Verse 5:13 points out one of the most telling verses on this story:

Jesus granted the request. The darkness swept up out of the man and into the herd of pigs. And then they thundered down the hill into the water; and there they drowned, all 2,000 of them.

Interesting through this story Jesus addresses and talks with the demons and actually grants their request to go into the herd of pigs. Now the big question is did they go into the pigs and Jesus made them drown or did they make the pigs drown? The end result was amazement, but eventually running Jesus out of town because a large part of their financial holdings were laid to waste. It’s logical that Jesus would not have done this since once the host dies, the demons just move on. Also, the demons knew that the loss of capital would discredit Jesus. The only question is if Jesus knew this why did he allow it?

Verse 5:42 Jesus raises a dead girl:

Immediately the 12-year-old girl opened her eyes, arose, and began to walk. Her parents could not believe their eyes.

The first question I had is why did He only take Peter, James and John? Also, I read this and often wonder why it’s not happening today? Why if we are commissioned to cast our demons and raise the dead is it not happening? I think that is one of the biggest killers of faith today, sure you can talk all you want about God’s providence but when a friends son becomes crippled and no matter how many hands are laid on him, he remains in a wheel chair. This hurts the faithful!

I cannot explain why, I just know life sucks sometimes. At the same time if you watch Wanderlust Productions videos, they follow healers who do actually heal. So it is happening, just not on the scale I think it needs to. But I am not God and therefore know my opinion is just that, mine.

Verse 6:44 has Jesus feed 5000:

That day, 5,000 men ate their fill of the bread when Jesus fed the hungry crowd.

I read this and can’t help but remember the debacle we had a few years back. 12 Stone used the Gwinnett Braves Stadium to “feed the 5000” which brought out many. The traffic jam made the local news and many waited for hours only to be turned away. Why were we not able to feed everyone? That, like healings, becomes a problem with the faith of many.

It hurts my faith often, since it’s very hard to explain. That could lead into a book, or actually has many already. Harold Kusher’s book “When Bad Things Happen To Good People” is a good one to start with. His son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease and this is his walk. Don’t know if it answers all the questions you will ask, but it will help understand the journey we are all in.

Jeremiah 1 – 6

Learned a new theological concept yesterday and it applies immediately to today’s reading. It is called the Babushka Principle. To boil it down God gave the prophets visions that most often had a short term fulfilment, which gave the prophet credence. At the same time these prophecies often would have a broader scope and a long term fulfilment. There are two ways to look at this, one is God is setting up history and giving us clues on what to watch for. The other one is man is just stupid and keeps repeating history and never learning from it.

Often times I get the argument that the Bible is an antiquated book and it does not apply to today. The claim is we have “evolved” past this book. On the contrary we have not evolved past it, but rather have just made it easier to do as thou wilt while in the comfort of our jammies. We no longer have to pursue someone outside a relationship by going out, but rather can do so through online dating or chat rooms. Our lustful desires can be feed via a myriad of porn sites. War can be waged from a “game” console and with no fear of looking at your enemy face to face. About the only thing we still have to do by hand is murder, but with the onset of personal drones it only a matter of time before that is done remotely.

No this book and the prophecies in it apply today as much as they did 3000 years ago. People have not changed just the technologies that enable us. The closer we get to understanding God the further we seem to get from Him. Science is a perfect example; the Theory of Evolution which tends to show God’s creative powers is being used to pull people away from God. There is a “U” on understanding where each end is knowledge and distance from the truth. The pure theologian ignores science and claims the Bible as fact. The scientist ignores the Bible and claims random acts of nature as fact. Balance realizes both prove each other.

Today’s reading is full of nuggets about what was happening then and what appears to be happening today. Verse 2:11 is one that can apply to many times in history:

Has a nation ever exchanged its gods for some others,
        even if they weren’t really gods in the first place?
    But My beloved people have done just that: they have exchanged their glory
        to pursue worthless idols in their vain attempt for greater prosperity.

This can go on so many different levels today and being a conspiracy theorist with the foil hat, I will explore that rabbit trail. There is an idea that a group of rich globalist is controlling society from the shadows. These men are Satanist or Luciferian in doctrine and have replace their idols of Baal and Ra, with trinkets from Porsche and Nike. We have replaced God with naturalism and worship the successful and their stuff.

I hate to admit I still get that idol worship with people sometimes. Devon is friends with some of the top BMX pros in the world. They are much younger than me, but I still stammer around them. I was working parking at an event last week and PK drove by and said thanks, I stopped what I was doing (directing a busy intersection) to say something dumb. We do this all the time without thinking, PK rides a Harley like everyone else, slowly!! He is a talented speaker trying to keep our focus on God and not him.

The key is learn from the past so we don’t repeat it and when we notice the present fulfilling prophecies we need to ensure others understand our faith in God.

Job 25 – 26

Verse 25:2 has Bildad keeping on point with his misguided beliefs:

Bildad: God rules over all things;
        dread is His domain,
    God—who makes peace and order on His own heights.

Blah, blah, blah … this is almost getting old now. Job tells his friends they are wrong, they ignore him and ratchet up their opinions. The problem with theology outside the Bible is truth can be twisted into false beliefs very quickly. God is over all, this is true, but God did not afflict Job. So it becomes a back and forth between them.

Verse 26:2 has job respond and notice how this translation states his response:

Job (sarcastically): What a great help you are to the powerless!
        How you have held up the arm that is feeble and weak.

Sounds like the way I would get after this much repeated “help” like this from my friends. It’s draining sometimes when things are now simple and what seems logical is not right. In this case Occam’s Razor is not correct since the simplest explanation is not right. So on we go.

One interesting thing you need to look at is the notes The Voice have after verse 26:2 … the section they add talks about hell, sheol and Abaddon. This is something I want to start exploring, if hell is real or something from pagan religions since many of the words translated as hell are not true translations. Like Lucifer being a Latin transliteration for the Morning Star, eventually becomes a name of Satan. May not be 100% correct when you really start parsing it out. So be on the lookout for verses that address, hell and the lake of fire.

Psalms 36 – 38

Verse 36:1 speaks to all:

Sin speaks in the depths of the soul
    of those who oppose God; they listen closely to its urgings.
You’ll never see the fear of God
    in their eyes,

The Psalmist continues to ensure we understand sin will not remain concealed. This is one of those major problems with character where we let sin slip into our lives. We never think we oppose God, nor do we think it is that big of a deal. But as I learned with DEBT, things tend to snowball when not addressed immediately. The inadvertent click on a porn video ends up being watched, which results in more clicking and thinking its ok. I have seen relationships demolished because what started out as innocent ends with an empty savings and broken trust. Character matters even when you are alone!

Verse 38:13 is an attempt to make me feel better:

The righteous are better off with the little God blessed them with
    than living under the curse of the wealth of the wicked.

I read stuff like this and think great I am ok not being where I want. At the same time I have recently been laid off and because of a rental home sale we are going to survive for a while. In my eyes we are struggling, in the eyes of many we are “living under the curse of the wealth.” I tend to think of it as a curse and less like a blessing, since my focus is on the lack and not on the plenty. This is the fundamental problem with today, people think $1M is enough, then $10M, and then that greed snowballs. In this country CEO pay to worker ratio is 475:1 which is over 10 times any other industrial nation. The “blessing” has become an insatiable curse which is snowballing into hurting nations and not just the little guy.

Verse 38:1 is something I wish I could have controlled:

O Eternal One, please do not scold me in Your anger;
    though Your wrath is just, do not correct me in Your fury.

As Vern and Devon grew up I tended to lash out at them in anger way more often than I should have. I would blow my top and spank in anger, not in correction. I have learned to catch the blood boiling before it blows and release the pressure. Unfortunately it has only started to happen in the late teens and early 20’s.

God on the other hand does not freak out like I have, I think God is more a slow boil. He will eventually get angry, but it’s from a loving way. Again character ensures one does not lose their cool quickly, which I hope I am gaining. Just in time for the grave .. ouch, I sound like Solomon now;-)

1 Samuel 11 – 15

We see the problems when Saul moves from following God. His story interests me since he blows it and begs for forgiveness, yet God blesses him, he does not keep the blessing. I know this sound odd, but Saul never really wanted to be king. Chapter 11 opens with “the king” plowing his field and finally having to take the position. He quickly messes up by not waiting for Samuel and taking things into his own hands.

I have always found it odd that a king could not handle the offering, only a priest. Either way it took the God’s favor from Saul. Now as we read he continues to do as he wishes and does not kill everything in a battle and spares the king and his heard.  Again Saul ticks God off.

Verses 12:14 & 15 are straight forward commands:

¹⁴ If you will revere and serve the Eternal, if you listen to His voice and do not disobey His commands, then you and this king who rules over you will follow the Eternal One, your True God, and all will go well with you.

¹⁵ But if you ignore His voice, if you disobey the commands of the Eternal, then His mighty hand of judgment will be raised against you and against your ancestors.

I wonder if Saul was doing this out of pride, forgetfulness or just impatience. I read stories like this in the Bible and see their importance, but often don’t get them. Why was Saul in so much trouble? Why was he not forgiven? Why did they have to kill off every part of this kingdom? Were the animals “demonized” having been for offerings to other gods?

Also, he makes his troops not eat by cursing anyone who does, and inadvertently curses his son who did not know the “rule”. Again this is another story that I don’t always get. In the end, it is a set up for David to come on the scene and as we will see God needs to grow David to be king before allowing him to take Saul’s spot.

Genesis 48 – 50

We finish out Genesis with Jacob and Joseph’s last days. We also see how the 12 tribes changes slightly, at least for land ownership, since the Levites cannot own land. I don’t understand why Joseph gets edged out, but his sons Manasseh and Ephraim take Levi’s and Joseph’s places in the inherited lands. Interesting how the 12 disciples lose Judas but add Paul to keep the number at 12. I assume Joseph being removed was since his two sons would each get the inheritance.

Anyway when Jacob is blessing his family, he runs through each one with their flaws and virtues. Verses 49:10 & 11

¹⁰     The scepter will not depart from Judah;
        the ruler’s staff will rest securely between his feet.
    Until the One comes to whom true royalty belongs,
        all people will honor and obey him.
¹¹     He ties his foal to the vine
        and his donkey’s colt to the choicest vine.
    He washes his clothing in wine
        and dips his robe in the blood of grapes.

From Judah comes King David and eventually Jesus. It’s amazing how God inspired Jacob to speak these words so far in advance of either person walking the earth. This is what I talk about when it’s cool to see how this all connects between the various books and times.

Genesis ends with Joseph’s life ending and Israel living in peace in Egypt. We will see in Exodus how this changes quickly, all because of paranoia. Keep reading!!

1 Corinthians 7 – 8

Chapter 7 is the sex chapter, you know the one either the preacher will never touch or have a bunch of fun with. Or sometimes they just focus on the abstain parts and ignore the have sex parts. Either way I am going to just make a comment that sex in a marriage is ok and healthy; outside can get you into trouble. The Biblical idea of the union has been proven in the secular world, just look at how many “just sex” relationship have issues with emotions. That bond is more than just a penis into a vagina; there is an emotional aspect that one cannot escape no matter how cold one may be. It is God’s programming in our lives and why it should never be taken lightly.

Verse 7:19 is key to following Jesus:

You see, whether you are circumcised or not—these outward signs aren’t the issue—the way you live out the commands of God is what really matters.

To a Jew this may seem contradictory since one of the “commands of God” is to be circumcised, but it’s more than outward. He gets into the food laws and basically everything else in pointing out the proper focus. See it’s not what we eat, or how we slice up our pee-pee’s but rather the inward love and thanks for God. If you love God and are thankful for the pork plate before you that is ok, if you abstain from pork to honor God that is fine to. Oddly neither is wrong until you apply the must do this for a proper relationship with God.

I’ll pick on pork since I don’t normally eat it. My belief is pigs are designed to be the processor of waste and toxic stuff in our environment. They produce waste that is purified and can be used as fertilizer for our lands. They also feed our animals. The problem with this is their digestive tract is so simple, the environmental toxins they consume go right to their flesh and eating pork means you’re consuming those toxins. Do I do it because of the Law? No I feel the Law is a guideline for living healthy. If someone serves me pork, I eat it. It’s not going to kill me and I do not want to make a person feel I am pious because of my eating habits.

Paul moves back to marriage and sex and then back to food in chapter 8. Honor God as you feel led, assuming it falls under the fundamental path God has set for us. Don’t become like the Pharisees thinking that your outward acts bring you closer to God while others are not.

Mark 3 – 4

Verse 3:5 shows Jesus has emotions and sometime ones we today call “negative”:

Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.

Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.

The man stretched forth his hand; and as he did, it was completely healed.

I think of this and the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) wrist bands and I bet not one person though getting “furious” was an option. I like it though since in this case he heals a person’s hand. So when wearing the WWJD band don’t get “furious” and act, if you don’t follow it up with an act of compassion. See in this case Jesus got mad, but he also did something amazing at the same time. I know when I get mad, its most often used as a bad example … also it is most often for selfish reasons.

I wanted to make a quick comment on verse 5:22 where the scribes accuse Jesus’ powers “by the power of Beelzebul—the ancient Philistine god—the prince of demons.” We read this and think a false God, but I question if there is not a demon called Beelzebul. We seem to dismiss the idea that all those fallen angels with Satan may have been these false gods.

Also, this made me think of a movie Beatlejuice, where then messed up calling for Beelzebul. Instead they get this humorous character who eventually does good. I wonder if this was not Hollywood’s evil calling Satan in a roundabout way. Think about it if Satan where before you, he would most likely not be noticed and maybe attractive. In the end the family welcomed Beatlejuice into their home, don’t make that same mistake!

Verses 4:18 & 19 is where I feel I am sometimes:

¹⁸ Still others are the seed tossed among weeds and brambles. The word has reached them, ¹⁹ but the things of this life—the worries, the drive for more and more, the desire for other things—those things cluster around close and choke the life of God out of them until they cannot produce.

This does not happen slowly for me, no I get caught up fast and sucked away from God. I have found my daily reading and this ramble is the only thing that keeps me centered on God. Otherwise I tend to wander and go astray quickly, following whatever butterfly Satan puts before me. I like to think the word is in fertile soil, but honestly I have to wonder. I feel like I am pulling weeds and hacking thickets with my machete all the time.

I argue creation often with evolutionists, but wonder if I am doing it to find proof in God and not just live in faith. I can take any of the possible scenarios and show God’s hand, or is it to satisfy my doubt? Evolution can be shown to be God inspired and if creation just happened I can show old earth and young earth models that prove both having Genesis 1 100% correct. My latest is praying to see “behind the veil” into the “second heaven”. I know of a few that can do this and believe it would help my ministry, but at the same time the “I” and “mine” are still to prevalent in this discussion. So my question to myself is do I have strong faith or do I just have strong justifications for my beliefs, while waiting for indisputable proof?

I can say over my life that have been so many odd events that I can say that there is as close to 100% belief as one can have. But I still want that .00001% proven! I want a vision, I want God’s voice, I want a burning bush, I want … I want … stronger faith! That is where reading the Bible over and over has helped, I see every time the intricate details that only God could have inspired in these 66 authors!

Isaiah 62 – 66

As we finish out Isaiah we get a glimpse of hope, but at the same time one has to wonder if this is a promise already met or if this is still in our future? Verse 62:1 opens the reading with hope Jerusalem will be restored:

I will not keep quiet for Zion’s sake;
    I will not remain silent
Until Jerusalem’s justice shines like the light of a new day
    and her liberation blazes like a torch in the dead of night.

I look at verses like this and 62:8 only to wonder if these events happened and Israel blew it again. In reading it sounds like after the “end times” when the earth will be restored to its intended glory which have not happened yet. At the same time knowing how man messes things up I wonder if we are on the restored earth and just blew it again. Sure God is all powerful, but Adam was as close to God as one can get and he blew it, so why not a redeemed man who came in flawed?

Chapter 63 starts God vengeance on Israel’s enemies and that goes for a few chapters. Into verse 65:9 we see Jacob’s people regaining their lands:

But I will bring up children from Jacob’s line to inherit this land.
        To Jacob’s son Judah I will give My mountains.
    These, My chosen ones, will inherit it;
        these, My servants, will live there and call it home.

He is promising, but has not delivered and it verses 66:7 & 8 we see it will not be easy:

    Have you ever heard of a woman who gave birth before she went into labor?
        Have you ever seen a woman who delivered a son without feeling a thing?
    Do you think it’s possible for the land to go through labor in an instant,
        or to bear a nation, to be new and strong, in a single day?
    Nevertheless, Zion suffered only a moment
        before she gave birth to her children!

This is what many know as “Jacob’s Trouble” or the tribulation before the lands are restored. I often wonder where the Gentiles who believe in Christ will go during this time. Some believe in the rapture while others believe that is a metaphor for the ones who die. In the end we will find out, until then I am not going to worry too much about it since it’s nothing I can control anyway!!

Job 23 – 24

Verse 23:2 has Job starting to rebuke his friends for their misguided ideas:

Job: So once again you are telling me my complaint amounts to rebellion,
        that the heavy hand I feel upon me is smothering my groans?

Everyone always tried to voice their opinion when things are bad, not taking into account what is really happening. They assume that since their view and beliefs say it must be, that an objective view is often impossible. God says “judge not lest ye be judged” (Misquote of Matthew 7:1 KJV) but we still tend to judge situations without knowing the full story.

Verse 24:5 seems to be reflecting today’s environment:

Look at how the poor are forced to live!
        Like wild donkeys in the desert,
    They spend all their energy scrounging for food,
        hoping the desert provides enough to feed their children!

The whole of chapter 24 seems to talk about society in the world today, it’s almost creepy. We tend to keep the poor down more than try to lift them up. Look at how this started in the New Deal and one had to work for their handouts, now one does not have to do anything more than place their hand out to survive. Unfortunately, the system no longer shows how hard work can make significant gains, it shows a system gamed into keeping you down. This removes the desire to work and only play the lottery.

Our prayers then focus not on blessing others, but winning the big game so you can THEN bless others. If you do not forget to bless others first, then blessings MAY come our way. I don’t want this to become a give to win, but rather a give to learn to manage money, if others come first then we must live to win for others. It then naturally falls into place. When we can be trusted with a little then we can be trusted with more.

Verse 24:10 again makes me think of today:

They force the poor to wander naked, no clothing to be had,
        carrying the very bundles of grain they long to eat.

Think of how many the “uber-rich” could feed and house if they just sacrificed a small percentage of their wealth? Instead they live for themselves and ignore the poor altogether assuming their taxes are helping. What they do not see is the truly poor that have benefits reduced since a large number are gaming the system.

I am sorry for taking today’s reading into a rant on our social ills, but we see this over and over again. There is one thing the OT surely has taught us is the history keeps repeating itself. This is why the Bible is such a relevant document. Many argue that we have evolved past it, but at its root man’s nature has not changed from the Garden, we have just become more sophisticated at how we sin. The only read difference is Baal and Satan has replaced worshiping them, to worshiping the dollar. 

Psalms 33 – 35

Verse 33:12 stood out to me today:

The nation whose True God is the Eternal is truly blessed;
    fortunate are all whom He chooses to inherit His legacy.

I thought about our nation today and how blessed we were in our founding and how far off track we have gotten. Israel has gone through many cycles of prosperity and failure and it seems today we are going through the failure cycle in the USA. Unfortunately, because of the global climate we are no longer the shining light, but rather the torrent seas that sink all boat. Our economy props up so many third world nations as we abuse their poverty and sink them back into it as we struggle.

We lost our focus on God and are focused on the “almighty  dollar.” We are not worshipping Baal but rather dead presidents, aka dollars. Satan has won a major battle, instead of having us worship him or one of his demons, he has taken away worship of God by distracting us will stuff. Our definition of blessing in the church today is based on the dollar. It’s creeping in everywhere and is dangerous. Our government has lost sight of who is in control and thinks they have the only input.

Verses 34:13 & 14 hit home with me:

¹³ Take care with the things you say.
    Don’t lie or spread gossip or talk about improper things.
¹⁴ Walk away from the evil things of the world,
    and always seek peace and pursue it.

There is a whole bunch here that needs to be considered, much of which James deals with in his book. First is controlling your BS! Why do we need to lie or gossip when there is so much cool happening? Also, it says “walk away from the evil things”, I say run! We do not need to be absorbed in what distracts us from God, no we need to pursue Him whenever we can.

This makes me think about a story our pastor, PK, told. It was early on in our church and he was counseling a woman, who suddenly turned and propositioned him. He just left, ran out of the building and ran home. No telling anyone what was up. Fortunately for him he did not have a Joseph moment where she accused him of wrong doing, but he ran and did not just walk. See I think walking is casual, where running is on purpose and that is what we should be in fleeing evil.

Verse 35:18 brought an interesting question:

Then I will praise You and thank You at the great gathering,
    in the company of the entire congregation.

 

I wonder why just there? Why not always? Why not when you are alone in prayer? Also, it sounds like he is “bargaining” with God when you read the verses before. We don’t need to do that and should never use something we should do anyway as a “bargaining chip” with God!

1 Samuel 6 – 10

The Philistines are trying to decide what to do with the Covenant Chest and in verse 6:6 the priests and fortune tellers give their view:

Why would you be as stubborn as the Egyptians and their Pharaoh were? You’ve heard the stories, haven’t you? When this God had taught them a lesson, didn’t they release the people of Israel? Didn’t they go?

Think about what they have been enduring and what they know. Then consider why they are even thinking about keeping it. At this point logic should have taken over and the only option would be return the chest. But no, they have to rely on mystics to give them the ultimate decision.

Now the meat of this reading is in Israel getting a king. Verse 8:20 has the people ignoring what Samuel is telling them:

so that we will be like all other nations and will have someone to judge us and to lead us into battle.

Sometimes I wonder if this was not the best thing for them, because left on their own they tended to drift to other gods and practices. At the same time once you allow this, the king has the power to be a tyrant, removing all freedoms. This is why when the USA was formed the leaders wanted limited power and election by the people of the “kings” to represent them. When you think about it this model is ideal where people have freedom yet are lead to stay on track. As we will see with Israel and all other systems in history, they get corrupted and rarely survive unless a sharp turn to the roots is made.

In chapter 9 Saul is selected by God and anointed by Samuel which is something we often forget. I have heard from many churched people that David was the first anointed king, but we see Saul is really the first. But where the problem comes in is in verse 10:22 when Saul rejects his calling:

So they asked the Eternal One if the man had yet arrived.

Eternal One: Look! He has hidden himself among the baggage.

Saul was anointed king before this and hid from his God given responsibilities. How many times have we done that? I still kick myself for that one prompt where someone had come to the front during an alter call. The pastors were all busy and she kept searching right in front of me. I was called to speak to her, but instead hid in the baggage and continued to worship and sing. She left shortly after and I have no idea if she ever resolved her salvation, but I hid. And this is the real problem with Saul!!

Genesis 44 – 47

As we move forward in Joseph life we now see how they became slaves in Egypt. Joseph again attempts to trick them, but this time He sends someone after them to accuse them of thievery. Verse 45:5 is after he reveals his identity to his brothers:

Don’t be upset or angry with yourselves any longer because of what you did. You see God sent me here ahead of you to preserve life.

If you think about the sequence it’s very odd, but it becomes amazing at the same time. His brothers are going to kill him for being a bit pompous and braggadocios. Instead they sell him into slavery. He rises to serving in a very high place, yet while he remains true to God he gets falsely accused and tossed into prison. Even there he remains in a good spot and grows to eventually be second in command to the Pharaoh, which puts him in a position to save his brothers.

God did that!

Verse 46:2 has God addressing Jacob/Israel as Jacob, but in verse 1 he is mentioned as Israel. How confusing does that get when his name is interchanged even after God changed his name. Wonder why that is?

As we close out the reading you see the Pharaoh trusts Joseph and protects his brothers. It’s also unclear if all the people end up in slavery to the Pharaoh or if his brothers are protected, but either way most of the people end up as slaves to Pharaoh. The other thing I notice in verse 47:26 is the first mention of a tax system:

So Joseph made a law regarding the land of Egypt—which stands to this day—declaring Pharaoh is due one-fifth of all the land produces. Only the land of the priests remained personal property.

Here you have the start of property and income tax with the church exemption.

Notice how when things get tough people have no problem submitting to authority and becoming slaves. Once that is done they have no problem paying taxes to maintain that authority. I wonder if we are seeing this today. Think about when the economy failed in the 30’s and Roosevelt enacted the New Deal, much of the nation submitted to programs like the WPA to become slaves for the USA. They were fed and housed, for labor.

We see this in our relationship with God, we need to completely submit to his authority and become a slave for Jesus. Once you become dependent on God, you find yourself being less dependent on man. Look at Joseph and his brothers, they depended on God and in a twist of events God showed His faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 5 – 6

Verse 5:1 hit home to many churches today:

Because of my deep love for you, I must express my concern about the report brought to me regarding the lewd and immoral behavior exhibited in your community. This scandal has come to my attention because this kind of thing is unheard of even among the outsiders around us: I understand a man is having sexual relations with his father’s wife.

This is something I can see happening often in churches. We get into a trap where say someone is a great teacher and then divorces for an affair. Do we just say ok, he’s a great teacher and ignore that sin or do we oust him from his position? As you read deeper Paul is not saying salvation is lost, only that Satan is in control of this man and that his spirit “might” be saved on Jesus’ return (v5:5). Again it’s not clear his salvation is secure, just that he is following the wrong leader.

Verse 5:10 is interesting in this translation:

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not telling you to hole up and hunker down from the rest of the world. That’s impossible. The world is filled with immoral people consumed by their desire for more; they steal from one another without hesitation and will worship man-made idols with no shame at all. If you attempted to avoid these people, you would have to leave the world itself.

I can’t imagine Paul saying “hunker down” without a deep slow southern drawl. I first read this and got an image of “Larry the Cable Guy” speaking. I did go back and check the NKJV, NIV and NLT to ensure something was not being lost or added. In this case the italics help clarify the meaning quite well. Paul is not saying avoid the sinful in the world, heck we have to interact to ensure salvation of the lost. They key is not to allow the evil to corrupt the body. Again I use the example of pastor who commits adultery, giving this a pass in the body is like allowing a wound to fester. If you go too long it will kill you, it’s best to clean it out immediately before allowing it to destroy anything.

We have to wait 8 more months before I get to talk about Malachi, but you may want to read it now. You will see a church that has disintegrated because of allowing just this action. It’s an interesting book to review in light of what Paul is saying today.

Verse 6:2 was on that got me wondering and concerned:

Don’t you know that His people are destined to judge the world? If you have the authority to judge the world, can’t you handle these small matters and render a better judgment than the civil courts?

This thread is logical since we, as a body of Christ, should police our own before going to the “earthly authorities” but what got me was the first sentence of this verse. Where does it say that “His people are destined to judge the world”? Where? I tend to like the KJV more that say “the saint will judge” and not the people. Sorry, but I don’t think any living person is really qualified to judge the world outside of Jesus! This has been one of the only points in the Bible I have to take Paul to task for and believe it’s was wrong to say.

In context we need to judge our own, to a point. But we are in no way “destined to judge the world”. Heck we can’t even come to a consensus on what is wrong in the world right now. Homosexuality is one that gets everyone’s knickers in a twist. The Bible is clear it’s a sin, in the OT and NT, but it breaks down from there. If it was a sin that why did God make people that way, since it does appear to be something people are “born with”? Or we are not to judge others (directly in conflict with this statement). I have even heard that Paul was not talking about loving homosexual relationships, but rather promiscuous “bath-house” acts. Heck, I have even heard the “thorn” in Paul’s side was homosexuality.

I pick this because I don’t know the answer. I am leaning towards it being a sin since the fall created a sin nature and flaws in our character, doesn’t matter if we are born with it or not, we need to control it as Christians. Now if I am not a believer or follower of Jesus is this allowed? Or is this part of the world we block for our walls? Again, I am personal not sure since I know a few homosexual who profess Jesus, but not the church.

I know most detonations outside Catholic’s follow giving up something for Lent, but this is key to any walk with God:

20 things you might consider giving up this Lent. And these are things to give up not just for Lent, but for the rest of your life.

• Guilt – I am loved by Jesus and he has forgiven my sins. Today is a new day and the past is behind.
• Fear – God is on my side. In him I am more than a conqueror. (see Romans 8)
• The need to please everyone – I can’t please everyone anyways. There is only one I need to strive to please.
• Envy – I am blessed. My value is not found in my possessions, but in my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
• Impatience – God’s timing is the perfect timing.
• Sense of entitlement – The world does not owe me anything. God does not owe me anything. I live in humility and grace.
• Bitterness and Resentment – The only person I am hurting by holding on to these is myself.
• Blame – I am not going to pass the buck. I will take responsibility for my actions.
• Gossip and Negativity – I will put the best construction on everything when it comes to other people. I will also minimize my contact with people who are negative and toxic bringing other people down.
• Comparison – I have my own unique contribution to make and there is no one else like me.
• Fear of failure – You don’t succeed without experiencing failure. Just make sure you fail forward.
• A spirit of poverty – Believe with God that there is always more than enough and never a lack
• Feelings of unworthiness – You are fearfully and wonderfully made by your creator. (see Psalm 139)
• Doubt – Believe God has a plan for you that is beyond anything you could imagine. The future is brighter than you could ever realize.
• Self-pity – God comforts us in our sorrow so that we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
• Retirement – As long as you are still breathing, you are here for a reason. You have a purpose to influence others for Christ. That does not come to an end until the day we die.
• Excuses – A wise man once said, if you need an excuse, any excuse will do.
• Lack of counsel – Wise decisions are rarely made in a vacuum.
• Pride – Blessed are the humble.
• Worry – God is in control and worrying will not help.

Mark 1 – 2

Verse 1:13 shows the differences between the Gospels:

and there in the desert He stayed for 40 days. He was tested by Satan himself and surrounded by wild animals; but through these trials, heavenly messengers cared for Him and ministered to Him.

Mark is more a “Reader’s Digest” version of the Gospel of Jesus. He first chapter says nothing of the virgin birth or his early days, it starts with John the Baptist. The 40 days in the desert has no mention of the three temptations or fasting. This book is just simple and to the point. You will notice it’s more for a “spiritually educated” audience, since a new believer should work with Matthew or Luke as their first Gospel.

Notice the “first” miracle in Mark is not changing water into wine, but casting demons and healings. So did Mark figure the water to wine thing was a parlor trick?

Verse 1:37 gives people an idea of the life Jesus lived:

They finally tracked Him down.

People: Everybody wants to know where You are!

How would you feel if you could not even slip away to pray in the early morning? If you had someone who was ill and you know a man had God given ability to heal, you would do what it took to get them to this man. So even early morning before dawn he is tracked down and bothered. Just because Jesus is God in flesh doesn’t mean his flesh does not need sleep, He has to live the same rules of food and rest that everyone else does or the flesh will die before His work is complete. So he could not rest and that frustrated Him.

Verse 2:22 got me thinking (and many now cringe;):

And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.

I have read and listened to this Parable many times over my life and now wonder the wording. The context is Jesus is being questioned by the scribes about his not adhering to Hebraic customs. He is talking about the new things he is teaching and in context it could be implied that the new teaching will not work on old beliefs. So His teachings could be for the new covenant which differs wildly from the old one.

Could Jesus be saying the old covenant and the new covenant do not mesh at all and those who live under the OC are fine and should not mesh the NC doctrine, if they do it will cause problems. Or are we all to become NC wineskins? Out with the old altogether?