My Thoughts

My Thoughts on Christianity and Other Things

Archive for the month “August, 2013”

27 Aug 2013

Following The Lord Is Hard To Do

But why? And why is it so hard to trust the lord?

We all know about the Ten Commandments as listed in Exodus 20:3-17. A lot of dos and don’ts. It true we don’t like rules, but what about the fourth commandment?

Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

You would think we would have no problems with this one. Laying back and taking it easy for the day. But we do work. Or we think about work. Some of us think more about work on our day off than we do when we should be working.

When Adam and Eve first sinned, why did they do it? They knew they were created. They knew everything around them was created. They knew God personally. So why would they make the decision to stop following God. Why would they decide to trust a snake more than they trusted God?

Moses did trust God enough to follow Him, and because of it lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, across a sea bed after the waters had been parted, through the wilderness with God feeding with food from Heaven, and on to the promise land.

King David committed adultery, then murdered the man whose wife he had the adultery with. Yes David sinned. But David repented. David trusted God enough to follow Him. Even to the point of standing before a giant to kill him when he himself was only a boy.

What about Joshua at the town of Jericho? The Lord told him to walk around the town with his men for 7 days then shout on the 7th day, and the walls of the town will fall. How does that work? When I was in the military, if my commanding officer told me to do this; I would wonder if my commander had flipped his led. And everyone else would wonder the same thing. Yet Joshua trusted God enough to follow orders. No matter what.

Joshua 6:20 said what happened when Joshua trusted God.
When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

When a woman was net by Elijah, she trusted him because of God. God had told her to feed Elijah.
1 Kings 17:8-9
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

The widow and her son were about to run out of food. But even though it made no sense to do so; she trusted God and fed Elijah anyway. Read what happened next.
1 Kings 17:8-16

I would like to say I am good at trusting the Lord. But I’m not. Instead I am like one of the very many Israelites that roamed around for 40 years after leaving Egypt. After everything God has done for His people, they were still whining about this and that, not trusting God and therefor not always following Him.

In the book of Haggai chapter 1, it talks about how things may not go well for you if you don’t take care of God’s temple. We all know the temple is in ruins, and it’s not yet time to rebuild it. But we still go to a church or a synagogue. Is there something you can do to help fix it up if it needs it? Paint, cut grass, maintain the church or synagogue van, upgrade something? Fix the lawn mower maybe?

I choose to do something. It doesn’t always make sense, but I choose to trust my Lord, my God, and follow Him.

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12 Aug 2013
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What Happened?

Jeremiah 52:17
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:20-23
20) The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon. 21) Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick. 22) The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7½ feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around. 23) There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 on the network around the top.

So my question is, “What happened? Why?” I don’t mean why the Babylonians took the stuff, I mean why were they not able to measure the weight of them. What happened to their education?

Let’s start with the pillars. I am not an engineer, but I’m sure it was a real engineering feat to move the pillars from where they were made to the temple. Otherwise why would they be made hollow if not to cut down the weight so they could be moved?

So if Judea and Israel had the skill to make the pillars, why did they lose the skill to even calculate the weight? Why did they become ‘dumbed down’? What happened to them?

The Jews are God’s chosen people. But they sinned greatly from time to time. Sometimes because of their sin God allowed their enemies to attack and rule over them.

So did this dumbing down happen before the enemies attacked and conquered them, or after? Has this ever happened before? Has it happened since?

Job 26:7-8
7 God stretches the northern sky over empty space
and hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He wraps the rain in his thick clouds,
and the clouds don’t burst with the weight.

Many people including me believe Job lived shortly after the world wide flood, about 4,500 years ago. Yet they knew that the earth hang in empty space with nothing holding it up. They also knew that clouds are not just light fluffy stuff floating in the sky and they are in fact very heavy. Yet for maybe a few thousand years we have forgotten this knowledge until a couple hundred years ago.

Like I said I believe Job lived shortly after Noah’s flood. Did he live before or after the fall of Babel? I’m thinking maybe before, but I honestly don’t know. I do know that the great flood and the fall of Babel was because of people’s sin. The number one sin I can find for them is in Genesis 9:7 when God said, “Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.” They didn’t do this but instead stayed in one area. Did people became dumbed down before or after the fall? I’m not sure.

So here we are in the year 2013 after Christ, many of us in the United States of America. And we are being dumbed down. Everybody knows this, but no one wants it. We have some very good teachers. I’m even related to a few. So what’s happening? For some reason, some young people aren’t learning. I have seen this first hand when I went back to school in my early 50s.

Is America sinning? The first commandment is “You must not have any other god but me.” Exodus 20:3 Yet we worship false gods. Hindu gods, witchcraft, Allah, reincarnation, fantasy science called evolution (I’m not against real science, only the fantasy of evolution) and others. We also worship fancy cars, money, sex, power, you name it, whatever we put before God.

Exodus 20:7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” how many times have we heard God’s name used in cussing? Since Jesus is God, how many times has His name used as cussing?

Exodus 20:13 “You must not murder.” Think you’re OK here? Guess again. Everyone has their own DNA. (I know identical twins share one) But your human DNA is different from your parents. Your human DNA is different from your mother when you were only a toddler. You had your own DNA the moment you were born. You had your own DNA the moment before you were born. You had your own DNA the moment you were conceived. Killing a being with this human DNA is scientifically murder, morally murder, Biblically murder. And anyone who approves of this murder… well it’s not good.

This was only three of the Ten Commandment and we as a nation failed. We also failed the others too. Is this country falling? I honestly don’t like saying this but, it might be. Is there hope for us? YES!!! But this nation need to change our hearts to God. The God of the Bible, and as a nation it won’t be easy. Another thought I just thought of, what if God’s judgment to this country is to fall under the attacks of terrorist. This would be shameful.

The good news is God is still God and His loves us and will be with us if we turn to Him through His son Jesus. Our Lord Jesus will come for us. Hopefully very soon.

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06 Aug 2013

Truth About the TV Show “Zero Hour”

I have watched everyone of the episodes of the TV show Zero Hour, and the best thing I can say about it is the writers had imagination. The other thing I can say is not so nice.

When Hank Galliston in Zero Hour starts looking for his wife after she had been kidnapped, he finds all kinds of shady characters who are suppose to be ‘believers’. The show suggests that the believers are leaders of Christians who are willing to kill and destroy to protect the truth. What truth? Basically the only thing the show got right is that there is a book called the Bible and that there was a man on this earth 2000 years ago named Jesus. Everything else they seemed to got wrong.

Half way through the series, you find that some of the people wanted to clone Jesus using drops of blood from the cross. This cloned Jesus would be his second coming. So let’s look at what the Bible says about all this.

Many times in the New Testament, it talks about Jesus being God. One example is John 1:1 combined with John 1:14.
John 1:1
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:14
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

After Jesus died on the cross He rose again physically from the dead, with his own body. Luke 24:37-43 talks about his disciples seeing Him after He physically rose from the dead with His own body complete with holes in His feet and hands. He even ate in front of them!

Luke 24:37-43
37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he ate it as they watched.

Another important thing to read is Mark 16:15-20.

Mark 16:15-20
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

This is important because He told them to spread the Good News to everyone. Plus it shows Jesus is still alive in His own body in Heaven. Then His disciples went everywhere and preached. The TV show Zero Hour said that Jesus needed to be cloned for His second coming. Why? His still alive. He will return on His own when it’s time.

Luke 21:27
27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.

There is no weird plan as in the TV show Zero Hour to help God. There are not 12 disciples today running around trying to kill people to keep God safe. God is God and we are not and never will be. There is no great secret to protect, it’s all in the Bible for everyone to read. There is no need to clone Jesus. He is still alive, he is Lord, and He will return when He sees fit, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Two other things were important in Zero Hour, the cross and the 144,000. First let’s start with the cross. Does it exist still? I doubt it. But if it does, it does. More likely it have either decayed back into the dirt, or maybe it was cut up and burnt. The 144,000 is talked about in Revelation 7:4-8. What follows is something that many people for some reason refuse to see. Revelation 7:9-10 says:

Revelation 7:9-10
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

The 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes definitely are not be alone. A whole lot of other people will be there. By the way, in case some of you don’t know, the Lamb is Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God’ because He was killed for our sins. In the Old Testament they killed lambs as a sin offering to God so they could be forgiven. However a lamb is only a temporary solution to an eternal problem, which is sin. Since Jesus is eternal, He is the solution to the eternal problem, sin. If we believe in Him, we avoid judgment and are forgiven of our sin.

So why am I fussing about a TV show that ended August 3 in the US? Over the years I have noticed that for some reason people seem to love a lie. Often times when people hear a lie about the Bible or Christians and Jews in general, they will most likely to believe it than to check out the facts for themselves. I am trying to spread the truth. After all Jesus did say in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”

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01 Aug 2013
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Into The Future III

Isaiah 42:9
Everything I prophesied has come true,
and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”

As I have said before, there is so much I don’t understand about Bible prophecies. Well here I go again.

I was reading Isaiah 19 and, well, it brought up a lot of questions. Isaiah 19:2-4 talks of a lot of unrest in Egypt. Could this be Egyptian Arab Spring? If so, what about the other countries in the Middle-East that are going through turmoil? Like Syria? Why would Egypt be singled out?

During the Egyptian Arab Spring there was riots in the streets then the Muslim Brotherhood took over. But now only a short time later, there is trouble in Egypt again. This group is against that group, and there are so many groups that are against each other that I can’t keep up with it. (To be honest, I really haven’t tried.) All I know is you hear about it on TV news and the internet.

So now Isaiah 19:2-4 is starting to make sense.

2 “I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian—
brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
province against province.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will confuse their plans.
They will plead with their idols for wisdom
and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
4 I will hand Egypt over
to a hard, cruel master.
A fierce king will rule them,”
says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

But what about Isaiah 19:5-10 where it talks about the Nile River drying up? I have done some research on this and found that the Nile River has never failed to flood. It also has never completely dried up either. So obviously this part of the prophecies hasn’t happened yet. But I wonder; will this be because of climate change, or because somebody built a dam.

But what really interests me is Isaiah 19:17-25 where Egypt becomes afraid of Israel. Then some of the Egyptian cities will start speaking Hebrew and start worshiping God. How can this be? I have never known or heard of Jews forcing their beliefs on others. So why would Muslims give up and willingly abandon Allah and willingly follow the true God of Israel?

Here are my thoughts about how this might happen. Of course I’m no expert, but looking over my notes I think I can put together a possibility.

In Jeremiah 30:20, talking about modern Israel, God says He will punish any who will hurt Israel. With the Obama administration seemingly wanting to under cut Israel as far as security and it’s capital Jerusalem; I believe the United States will either fall or at least not be a great nation any more. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe I am. With the US out of the way some of the Muslim countries may feel empowered to attack Israel, and they will. Right now, many of them are already quoting Psalms 83:4.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
However they will fail. Psalms 83:13-18 says Israel’s enemies will become terrified, ashamed, and utterly disgraced. They will learn the Lord God of Israel, alone is Most High.

Psalms 83:13-18
13 O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind!
14 As a fire burns a forest
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
15 chase them with your fierce storm;
terrify them with your tempest.
16 Utterly disgrace them
until they submit to your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace.
18 Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
that you alone are the Most High,
supreme over all the earth.

Psalms 83:5-8 has a list of the countries involved. According to the maps I looked at, the modern names of the countries involved are Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. These are the countries that will go to war against Israel and lose. Big time. In the end people from both Egypt and Syria will be worshiping, freely the God of Israel and not Allah. They will also be at peace with Israel according to Isaiah 19:23-25.

I believe the war that the Anti-Christ creates against Israel will come later and it will be a very bad war involving many of the countries of the world. It will look very bad for Israel. But then God Himself will step in and fight for Israel. Israel will again win. Then the Lord Himself will sit on the throne as King in Jerusalem, Israel. He will come from the line of David. Many people today know Him as Lord Jesus. He will be our King.

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