ACTS 8 25-40

 Luke wrote “of the things fulfilled among us” paraphrased  [ ] ref  { } thots

Book of the Acts of the First Believers

25 - After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the good news to many villages of the Samaritans along the way.

     26 Now at about this time an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

     27 So he went and he came upon an Ethiopian eunuch who was an official of the court of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. He was the official in charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28 And he was now returning home, seated in his chariot, reading the book of the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit{/Presence of God} said to Philip, “Go near to this chariot.”

     30 So Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

     31 And the eunuch answered, “How can I? Unless someone tell me what it means?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him in the chariot.

     32 The passage of Scripture he was reading was, “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter. And like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he said not a word. 33 He was humiliated and justice was denied him. And who can describe his descendants? For his life was taken away from the earth.”

     34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “If I may ask, who does the prophet say this about? About himself, or someone else?”

     35 Then Philip, beginning with that verse, told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to a body of water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized!?” 38 And so he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

     39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the LORD carried Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more, and he continued on his way rejoicing.

     40 Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he went on, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Next: 9:1-20

ISAIAH

 a reading & study, verses R paraphrased [  ] references {  } thots

Book of Isaiah - a try at briefly summarizing - though this is only Part 1, it’s all the Isaiah study for this year, and it gives a good picture of the entire book.

Next: Micah

1:1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the years of four kings. (Listed in the verses.) 2 The LORD (God) has said, "Listen, oh heaven and earth! The children I raised have turned against me. {Surely(?) Israel is the micro, global is the macro.}

Isaiah saw God’s throne in the temple.. his radiant train of light fills the temple as well as smoke from the glory.. Seraphim call “holy, holy, holy” to one another and the sound causes the foundations of the earthly temple to shake..

  - - - - - - - 

Isaiah’s message was a calling to Judah to turn back to God, and then to declare the coming Messiah.

      CHAPTERS 1-39, Isaiah points out the errors of both North and South Kingdoms of Israel, and declares consequences to them and the neighboring nations.. “Cease to do evil” (1:16). “The Lord Himself will give you a sign! LOOK! A virgin will be with child (Rev.12:1-2) and will birth a son. She will call His name Immanuel” [shem - name, renown (“God with us”) 7:14, Mt:1:22-24].

     CHAPTERS 40-55 - the return and restoration after the exile from Babylon. “There is no God besides Me” (44:6,8; 45:5,6,14,18,21). Messiah will come and bring new life through His death, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet didn’t speak in defense. He was like a lamb going to slaughter. And like a sheep, silent before its shearer..” (53:7).

     CHAPTERS 56-66 - The new Heavens and Earth, great reward for trusting and obeying God.. hope for the suffering and judgment for the evil - “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things {waywardness} will not come up in the heart nor come to mind” (65:17).     

ISAIAH 1:3 The ox knows its owner. The donkey its master’s manger/trough/supply, but Israel {and humanity} don’t know ..don’t understand.” 4 ..They’ve forsaken ..turned their backs.. and (thus?) they err. {Translated sin.} 5 ..The whole head/reality is sick ..the whole heart faint. 6 From sole of foot to top of head there is no soundness/battered— only bruises, wounds, sores, not cleansed, bandaged nor soothed with olive oil. 7 Your country lies in ruins, your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields as you watch like overthrown by strangers. 8 City abandoned.. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors.. 11 ..I take no pleasure in your sacrifices.. 12 who asked you to trample my courts? 13 ..wickedness in the councils.. 14 the new moon feasts, the holy day festivals.. a burden to me.. 15 {For} Your hands are full of blood, I don’t hear your prayers though they become many. 16 ..Stop doing wrong.. 17 Learn to do right. Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins [chet - wrongs, from chata - to miss, go wrong, wrongs] are like scarlet - I - will make them as white as snow.. as white as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land! 1:20 But if you turn away and refuse to listen, the sword devours {entropy, is wrath kindled lightly, imo, whereas fiery conflagrations of war and armageddon, is wrath/cause and effect, greatly kindled}. 

And thus, has spoken the LORD..

1:21 - The city.. a prostitute, streets used to be of righteousness and justice, but now murderers lodge.. 22 The value of your silver/money has fallen away.. 25 I will turn my hand upon you and purge away your dross. {N.T. “chaff off the kernel of wheat”.} 28 The crashing [sheber - breaking, fracturing, breaching, crushing (or) crashing] of the rebels and sinners [chatta - from chata - to miss, go wrong] will be together. Those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed {earthly, via entropy or fiery flames of war and destruction; nowhere does it say afterlife.}. 30 ..Like an oak tree whose leaves have faded, like a garden with no water.

1:31 - The mighty will be as tinder and their works a spark. Which no person can put out. (Verse 15 - Even if you offer prayers, I will not listen, your hands are full of blood. Micah 3:6,7 - “The day will go dark for them, they will cover their faces because there is no answer from elohim {the gods? they served?}

     2:1 This {great vision} is what Isaiah, son of Amoz has seen concerning Jerusalem and Judah. 2 It shall come to pass, in latter days [acharith - the after-part, end] the mountain, of the house of Yahweh, will be established and exalted. All nations will flow to it, 3 and many will say, “Come! Let us go up to the mountain of Yhvh! To the house of the God of Jacob! He will teach us his way! And we’ll walk in his paths! ..For out of Zion will go forth his law [torah - direction, instruction, law, from yara/yarah) - to throw, shoot (at a target)] and will go forth the word [dabar - speech, word] of Yahweh from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between nations, and settle disputes. They will beat their swords into plowshares {into V plows} and their spears into gardening tools. 5 Come! Let us walk in the light of Yahweh!

 The ‘great ones’ sowed, now reap. 

  Disclaimer - The Prophets May Not Be For The Timid

    2:6 LORD, you have abandoned your people.. ..They are full of superstitions from the east, and practice divination ..they embrace pagan customs. 7,8 The land is full of silver and gold, full of chariots and idols ..no end to their treasures.. [but poor toward God]. 9 So people are brought low ..everyone humbled.. 10 Go into the rocks {Rev.6’s sixth seal, though veiled by its description. For the description is of its fuLL effects - first to last - but is given at the very beginning of the vision. Also confusing much of the revelation vision, for things that occur at the very ‘end’ are described at the beginning and intro to the vision} hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty! {Code for fiery capabilities of war, fiery judgments. All were earthly, not afterlife. Is there anything that truly humbles? Other than ones own consequences? ..Both individual and collective.} 11 The great arrogant will be humbled, human pride brought low, the Lord alone will be exalted. 12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store for the proud and lofty, and all who are exalted ..every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. {Trade. In Revelation, the $ity and Tower Babble “on seven hills”/continents.} 17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and pride humbled 18 ..the idols will pass away. 19 People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the earth ..when he rises to shake the earth. 20 In that day people will throw away their idols of silver and gold, they made to worship. 21  They will flee to caves {and shelters} and to the high cliffs.. 22 Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nose. Why look to them?

3:9 they parade their sin {the ‘great ones’ setting the trends?} 9 .. They have brought disaster upon themselves. 10 Tell the righteous - it will be well with them - for they will enjoy the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe to the wicked, for disaster is upon them. They will be paid back for what theiR hands have done. 12 Youths oppress the people, women rule them. My people, your guides lead you astray, they turn you from the path. 4:5 Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion, and over those who gather there, a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of fiery flames by night, over everything, the glory will be a covering.  {In prophecy Mt. Zion is often a spiritual ‘place’. Whereas Mt. of Olives, the literal Earthly place.} 6 The covering will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the {fiery?} storm and {acid?} rain {Is.24:20/Rev.10:4} [Rev.7:16, “..no scorching heat shall fall upon them.”]

5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until you live alone in {and own all} the land. 9 Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left empty. 17 Sheep will graze there, as in their own pasture. Lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich. 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil ..23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent ..30 if one looks at the land, there is only darkness and distress, even the sun will be overshadowed by clouds. {Prophet Joel’s smoky day? Revelation’s sun covered, red moon/moon reflecting red? In shorthand? The mighty of Earth will indeed ignite Armageddon battle. Which will turn out to be their, and the world’s, and the wrong way’s judgment/reaping what you sow. Other bible speak, drinking a cup.. Rev.16:13-16, Mt.13:30, Is.24:20.)              

                    ~*~

Prophecy Studies

(The Order is w/ Largest For Winter)

4 - SPRING -- after restoration / 536-400 -- Haggai Zechariah Malachi

1 - SUMMER -- pre-assyria / 9-800 BC -- (Elijah Elisha) Jonah Joel Amos Hosea

2 - FALL --assyria / 900-625 -- Isaiah Micah Nahum Zephaniah

3 - WINTER -- babylon / 625-536 --  Jeremiah Habakkuk Ezekiel Obadiah Daniel

Romans 10 16-21

  02/18 ~ From New Testament Letters

  🕊️ (In the Order Believed Written)

         Paul’s Letter To The Romans

(Paul is grieved because the majority of his kinsmen are not understanding the message.) 16 - But they have not all obeyed the message of God, the gospel [euaggelion - gospel, good news]. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the words [rhema - utterance] of Christ. 18 But I ask, have they heard? Indeed, “the voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I ask, did Israel understand? {Outer law/rules couldn’t work for even one nation. Couldn’t work with the first pair. So what is God’s other options for creation? How do you create genuinely able to think and reason beings, aNd, keep paradise/perfection intact? For thinking includes at least some power of choice. God as Life, witnesses and lives through all that ever occurs, and he endowed thinking anyway!}

     First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those not a nation. By a nation without understanding I will make you angry.” 20 And later Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who didn’t look for me. I’ve made myself known to those who didn’t ask for me.” 21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” {Israel, smaller scope, humanity, full scope -> pattern of prophecy, and more.}

                          ~ * ~

🗝️ [  ] - word/language insights, usually from biblehub dot com - peering through translator partial unbelief; facts, cross references, etc.

      {  } - thots

Tomorrows verses - Romans 11:1-6

My own studies. Verses paraphrased.

JOHN 1 19-28

  🍃🕊️01/01 - GospeL Verses 🍃🕊️

19 - And this is the testimony of John (the Baptist/baptizer) when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He answered them, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked, “Who then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” [Isaiah 40 - 3 The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the LORD! Make a straight path in the desert for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked places will be made straight, and the rough places will be made smooth. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it.] 24 They had been sent from the Pharisees, 25 and they asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

     26 John answered, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know! 27 Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I’m not worthy to untie.” 28 This was in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

                       ~ * ~

🗝️ [  ] - word/language insights, usually from biblehub dot com, and facts, cross references, etc.

      {  } - thots

Tomorrows verses - John 1:29-34

By Necessity Paraphrased

Annual Daily Reading & Study

Feb-18 From Jn-6 Ro-10

    Enter The Story Daily 

a paraphrased scripture study

          - - - - - - - - - - - -

GospeL Verses ~ John 6:1-13

[Jesus will feed his sheep.] 1 - After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which over there, it’s called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd was following him, because they had seen the miracles he did by healing so many sick and wounded. 3 He went up on the mountain and sat down with his disciples.

     4 Now the Passover feast was approaching, 5 and seeing such a large crowd coming toward him - (for Passover is a pilgrimage to Jerusalem feast) - Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so all these people can eat?” 6 Though he knew what he was planning to do. 7 Philip said, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have even a little!” 8 Then one of the other disciples, Andrew, who is Peter's brother, said, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what is that for so many?”

     10 It was a grassy area, and Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” So they sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves and gave thanks, and distributed the bread. And then also the fish, as much as everyone wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their full, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftovers, so that nothing [mé - not, that...not, lest, used for qualified negation/not] is lost.”  [Apóllymi  - from apó - away from - which intensifies ollymi - to destroy – properly, fully destroy, cutting off entirely, note the force of the prefix, apó] (!the prefix meaning not, “that NOT be destroyed”.. prophecy simply states, things built on sand come to ruin. I’ve always thought saying this about the leftovers is strange so some sort of parable.) 13 So they - bonafide followers/disciples (mt.25:1-13) - gathered all that was left and filled twelve baskets from the five barley loaves. [Like Mt.13:33, key word 3, with 1Cor.15:22-24,28! =‘s 3 loaves, 3 harvests, barley, wheat, and grape.] (Wow, this feeding the 5000, provides a snapshot of the Lord’s long second advent. Jesus breaks the bread, gives it to the disciples to give out.. Humanity is “one lump”.  And the disciples of us gather all who are left of us. None lost. Lof, of course being earthly prophecy, first one manmade..)

         - - - - - - - - - - - -

From New Testament Letters

     (In the Order Believed Written)

                  ~ Romans 10:16-21 ~

16 - But not all obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who believes what is heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the message of Christ. 18 But I ask, have my kinsmen (Paul’s aka, Israel) not heard? Indeed they have, for “The voice has gone out to all the land, and their words to the very ends.” 19 So I (Paul) ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of a people (group) who are not a nation (the fast growing in the world christianity). With a foolish nation I will make you angry.” (We are pretty foolish.) 20 Isaiah even said, “I have been found by those who didn’t look for me. I’ve shown myself to those who didn’t ask for me.” 21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” [The Law of Moses as a way of life is very societal preserving. But it cannot earn anyone the unfading Life. ThAt, is and can only ever be, a Gift. That’s because God iS life. Can’t be earned as one’s own. But only shared, aka, a gift.] (The thorn - which isn’t a thorn after all - is God also “is perfect” mt.5:48, which is why the “wage/result of imperfect is” the opposite of Life, an unbreakable Truth. Truth being the iron rod/measure Jesus will rule with. It unavoidably, is unbreakable, like iron (code). Which means ultimately life hAs to be perfect. It’s not so much an issue of what God created (and oh my something went wrong, lol) but an issue of what God iS creating. — “Behold I make all new!”  ..“The lion will eat straw like the ox, the bear will graze with the cow and their young will lie down together” Rev.21:5, Is.11:7.)

                       ~*~

🗝️ [  ] - word/language insights, facts, cross references, etc.

      (  ) - thots

Tomorrow’s Verses:

Matthew 14:15-21

Romans 11:1-6

Acts & Rev - weekly

And currently Daniel

FROM Isaiah 1

1:21 - How the faithful city has become a prostitute. Her streets used to be full of righteousness and justice, but now murderers lodge in her. (So tell me history doesn’t repeat, thus prophecy. Story of every city.)  [Think of prophecy as prophecy. Not a curse being proclaimed.]  22 The value of your silver/money has fallen away.. 25 But I will turn my hand upon you and purge away your dross. 28 The crashing [sheber - breaking, fracturing, breaching, crushing (or) crashing] of the rebels and sinners [chatta - from chata - to miss, go wrong] will be together. Those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed. (Cross reference - 2Pet.3:10, 2Thes.1:7-8, a first mention of a lake of fire. 🤔Order, crash, fiery event, a seal six event, but what the seal is, is veiled by its description as its entire effects, first to very last.) 30 You will be like an oak tree whose leaves have faded, like a garden with no water.. [In the prophets, usually the order is, the path of destruction pointed out, that the city, the people are on, and what will occur if the way isn’t changed - prophecy, cause and effect, not a curse - followed by verses about restoration, reconciliation and blessing. Rescue! Through a Messiah, and “savior of the world”.] (God’s other option? To avoid such calamity? A robotic ant farm?)

                  Part 2

1:3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger/trough, but Israel (and humanity) does not know, my people do not understand.” (And any nation, especially its leaders, though separated (“set apart”) to birth the Messiah/Savior would have also rejected him when he showed up humble, homeless, and threatening of their worldly status.) 4 ..They have forsaken ..turned their backs.. and (thus?) sinful they are. 5 ..The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness/battered from head to foot— only bruises, wounds, and sores, not cleansed, bandaged or soothed with olive oil. 7 Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes as overthrown by strangers. 8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned.. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors.. 11 ..I take no pleasure in your sacrifices.. 12 who asked you to trample my courts? 13 ..wickedness in the sacred meeting.. 14 the new moon feasts, the holy day festivals.. a burden to me.. 15 Your hands are full of blood, I do not hear your prayers though they become many. 16 ..Stop doing wrong.. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins [chet - wrongs, from chata - to miss, go wrong, wrongs] are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.. as white as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. 1:20 But if you turn away and refuse to listen, the sword devours. And accordingly has spoken the LORD. 

_____________________

Isaiah Part 1

1:1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the years of four kings. (Listed in the verse.) 2 The LORD (God) has said, "Listen, oh heaven and earth! The children I raised have turned against me. (Israel is the micro, global is the macro.)

                     ~*~

(The Order is w/ Largest For Winter)

4 - SPRING -- after restoration / 536-400 -- Haggai Zechariah Malachi

1 - SUMMER -- pre-assyria / 9-800 BC -- (Elijah Elisha) Jonah Joel Amos Hosea

2 - FALL --assyria / 900-625 -- Isaiah Micah Nahum Zephaniah

3 - WINTER -- babylon / 625-536 --  Jeremiah Habakkuk Ezekiel Obadiah Daniel

PROPHETS - Isaiah Part 2

1:3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger/trough, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” (Are you going to tell me that’s not true of humanity as a whole? And any nation separated to birth the Messiah/Savior would have also rejected him when he showed up humble, homeless, and threatening of their power.) 4 ..They have forsaken ..turned their backs.. and (thus?) sinful they are. 5 ..The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness/battered from head to foot— only bruises, wounds, and sores, not cleansed, bandaged or soothed with olive oil. 7 Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes as overthrown by strangers. 8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned.. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors.. 11 ..I take no pleasure in your sacrifices.. 12 who asked you to trample my courts? 13 ..wickedness in the sacred meeting.. 14 the new moon feasts, the holy day festivals.. a burden to me.. 15 Your hands are full of blood, I do not hear your prayers though they become many. 16 ..Stop doing wrong.. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins [chet - wrongs, from chata - to miss, go wrong, wrongs] are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.. as white as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. 20 But if you turn away and refuse to listen, the sword devours. And accordingly has spoken the LORD. 

_____________________

Isaiah Part 1

1:1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the years of four kings. (Listed in the verse.) 2 The LORD (God) has said, "Listen, oh heaven and earth! The children I raised have turned against me. (Israel is the micro, global is the macro.)

                     ~*~

(The Order is w/ Largest For Winter)

4 - SPRING -- after restoration / 536-400 -- Haggai Zechariah Malachi

1 - SUMMER -- pre-assyria / 9-800 BC -- (Elijah Elisha) Jonah Joel Amos Hosea

2 - FALL --assyria / 900-625 -- Isaiah Micah Nahum Zephaniah

3 - WINTER -- babylon / 625-536 --  Jeremiah Habakkuk Ezekiel Obadiah Daniel

THE PROPHETS Isaiah Part 1

1:1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the years of four kings. (Listed in the verse.) 2 The LORD (God) has said, "Listen, oh heaven and earth! The children I raised have turned against me. (Israel is the micro, global/the world is the macro.)

                     ~*~

(The Order is w/ Largest For Winter)

4 - SPRING -- after restoration / 536-400 -- Haggai Zechariah Malachi

1 - SUMMER -- pre-assyria / 9-800 BC -- (Elijah Elisha) Jonah Joel Amos Hosea

2 - FALL --assyria / 900-625 -- Isaiah Micah Nahum Zephaniah

3 - WINTER -- babylon / 625-536 --  Jeremiah Habakkuk Ezekiel Obadiah Daniel

Ragged Soul

An ode to lost loved ones..

In a piece of my heart,
There is a hole.

Too many friends and loved ones
Have left the fold.

They've passed away.
My spirit's cold.

But I have listened..
On the wind it's been told,
The first gene pool,
It shaped us all..
A shining perfection,
   .....A silent call.

Perfect makes no mistakes,
Loses nothing at all.

"The lion will eat straw like the ox,
The bear, will be seen grazing with the cow."

My heart is at peace.

But I miss them anyhow.

[Verse is Isaiah 11:7]

What A Long Day!

Can I even remember what was in my mind to blog this morning..?
I came across this sort of, well known saying, recently, "Once abolish the God and the government becomes the God." --G.K.Chesterton.
- And I thought of it later when I read "..the hireling when he sees the wolf, leaves the sheep and flees.." John 10:12,13.
- I hate to leave it at that, after all I don't want to focus on the negative! It's simply preparing just a bit 4 the negative.. and maybe not even us, but maybe our kids and grand kids..
Matthew 24:29-31 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days.. shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds.. He will send His angels with the great sound of the trumpet and they shall gather His elect from the four winds.."
- "The cow and the bear shall graze,
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." Isaiah 11:7
- He will settle arguments
between distant
    and powerful nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never again make war
    or attack one another.
 Everyone will find rest
beneath their own fig trees
    or grape vines,
and they will live in peace.
This is a solemn promise
    of the Lord All-Powerful." Micah 4:4
                   (Contemporary English Version)
- "...from the four winds.." Some versions read "from the four corners" (of the world) and some have used this verse to claim Jesus thought the world was flat. (Rofl! North, South, East, West! dah.. Oh well, I wasn't born believing either!)
-  "The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.." John 10:11. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.." John 10:27. ["..the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." John 10:11]

Will God Lose Lucifer?

~ Colossians 1:20, New King James Version (NKJV)
"..by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."
 ~ Colossians 1:20, Contemporary English Version (CEV)
"And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God."
~ Isaiah 14:12,11, New King James Version (NKJV)
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! Your pomp is brought down to Sheol" (translation="the grave") "And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you."
~ All the people were born after Adam and Eve and inherited their imperfect nature. (To turn from God in any teeny, tiny way is to turn from Perfection - which is God - and away from Life, which too is God.- So God sent "the Firstborn of all creation" to rescue us with His 'paid in full for all of us, death upon the cross'. His totally innocent death overcoming death.
~ Therefor we get to thank God for His rescuing us from death. Yet also (for a time) we get to thank Him for death (as an impersonal thing that is) because if it hadn't come to be, it would mean we had all been created as robots or (perhaps?) as forever very small children.
- - Perfection makes no mistakes.