No More Death Nor Graves

COLOSSIANS 1:20 - "..through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven.."

JOHN 12:32 - (Jesus said) "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.."

1 TIMOTHY 4:10 - "God is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe."

1 CORINTHIANS 15:22 - "..as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."

REVELATION 21:4,5 - "..God will wipe away all tears.. there shall be no more death.. Behold, I make all things new.."

Jesus Prayed Earnestly

Christians are losing the battle (Christendom? the culture? what has been Western Civilization) because we're so divided. All behind our doctrinal fences. And Jesus prayed so earnestly (on the eve of His crucifixion, no less) that we would all be one.. That we would be close.. Even "as He and the Father are one". But look at us! We see all the differences, rather than common ground. When perhaps unity would rub off some of those rough edges!

Truth Will Win

I don't know why untruth (untrue things) get such a deep hold within people and within institutions. Why?

If Christians (the churches) think they are going to, or are supposed to "subdue the world" they're wrong! Jesus said His kingdom was/is not of this world"! Yes, I'd like to see the mad dash toward collapse,etc slowed down (my interest in politics). But that's about all I can hope for. This world is going to, and actually is supposed to, collapse! Why? So God can be proven right! God is life. A person (or angel, or any other rational creature) cannot wander away from God. That's the whole thing/lesson in a nutshell, this chewing upon the knowing of good from evil (life from death, true from untrue).

Yes, God could have spared us all this! Himself too! He being Life, lives through and experiences it all! Why'd he put Himself, and all of us, through all this? I can only assume, through logic, that it's because He's not creating robots or an ant farm. And this life is a unavoidable journey and lesson, if there's to be thinking ability or rational creatures that is! Because, thinking ability sooner or later includes being able to choose and make choices, etc.

"It pleased God to reconcile ALL things to Himself through Him (Jesus), all things whether in heaven or on earth" Colossians 1:20

"For even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive, 23 but each in his proper order, " 1 Corinthians 15:22

Resurrection of all - Contemporary English Version (CEV)
"22 Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. 23 But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. 24 Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father." [oh! 1st, Jesus was resurrected, then 2nd, the resurrection of all believers at His return, and 3rd, another raising to incorruption and immortality at the 'end' when ALL things are made new.. after the millennium and its purpose, and what is commonly called judgment day, and its purpose.]

"25 Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, 26 and the last enemy he destroys will be death. 27 When the Scriptures say that he will put everything under his power, they don't include God. It was God who put everything under the power of Christ. 28 After everything is under the power of God's Son, he will put himself under the power of God, who put everything under his Son's power. Then God will mean everything to everyone."

"God is the savior of all, especially those which believe" 1 Tim 4:10

God's Awesome Plan

For some reason I ended up reading about rebellion under Moses, in Numbers, and rebellion against David, in Chronicles, all in one day. I'm struck with how the message was 'if you rebel against my King, you cannot live' and how that is ultimate reality! (Psalm 2)
- God is life itself, the life force. To rebel against Him, to wander from Him, (surely?) is to wander from life and living. After both resurrections and the long day of 'judgment' (of all human history, etc) perhaps there might be some hold out, who says 'no, I choose not to believe, keep my name out of that book of life!'
- Maybe someone will have hardened their heart so hard against God, and hate Him enough to choose non-existence for their self. And all the crowd that does live, both heavenly and earthly, would mourn deeply. And no one would mourn more than the Father and the Son.. But wait! There's the Lake Of Fire! Put him in the lake of fire for an age and even another age if need be.. for cleansing by God's spiritual fire. For our God is a consuming fire.

They Are Just Plain Wrong

Surely the 'judgments' of God are nothing more than results? Or so I am prone to think. But every once in a while you happen across someone who says God is cruel or hardhearted, why just look at the flood (of Noah's day) they say! How could God do such a thing! Well they completely overlook the verse which says the thought of every person was only continuously evil.
- And I still think, even this, was a natural result and consequence. For how could it continue? And if it were to continue on and on, how would that be merciful?

HEALING

A lot of people believe in God - it's not that hard, well perhaps a little for some, in these days of modern invention and busyness. But to see the Great Spirit and Presence of Life (often perceived in moments of quietness) is to receive some portion of healing just in the perceiving.
- Add to this, that he sent a son (a unique first Son) to gather all things back to God and perfection. What was done was done, and now this Son says he has the keys to life, death and the grave.
- "Grave" is the proper translation of what some have translated 'hell', a preChristian idea and far cry from the "Sheol" of B.C. and the Old Testament.
- Jesus said "it is finished". After the consummation of mankind's history (or did we think man's empire, "house of merchandise" and self seeking could endure and smother the planet forever?) We are told we "will be like Jesus" ..who healed everything he touched. Just read the Gospel (testimony) of Mark! The chapter begins with Christ's introduction by wild man, John the Baptist. And by the end of that first chapter, Jesus has healed so many that great crowds are following him everywhere he goes, so much so that he can no longer enter the towns but remains outside the towns. (Which he seems to prefer anyway!)
- Jesus is "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature." Hebrews 1:3.
- "The cow and the bear shall graze.. together; and the lion shall" (once again) eat straw like the ox." Isaiah 11:7
- "..they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; Everyone will find rest beneath their own fig trees or grape vines, and they will live in peace. This is a solemn promise of God All-Powerful." Micah 4:3,4
- "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.^"  Psalm 22:27
His Spirit Heals each of us, the whole planet.. and life. 
There is creative POWER in our thoughts and WORDS, and also of course, in our prayers for one another... 

True Peace

 Everyone will find rest beneath their own fig trees or grape vines, and they will live in peace. (Micah 4:4)

Scattered Over The Earth

Genesis 11:6-8

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

⁶ And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

John 11:51

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 

~ "The City" with its mean streets, dark alleys and bright avenues - man's power - "responsible for all slain" since Cain slew Abel. [Revelation 18:24 "all slain"]

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]

Goofy Account Of My Morning

I had such a funny morning this morning. It was morning Quiet time and I was feeling very blessed. (I've been out of sorts lately and the Lord has been straightening me out. Thank Goodness.) So I was just sittin' there reading and contemplating, etc, feeling very wealthy. (I'm very rich in the people I know and get to go through life with! We're second only to the Lord in this, don't you know!!)
- I heard such great preaching (messages) on the radio the other day when I ran to town for weekly errands.. One being "the Seal of God on our heart, which, as we know, is the down payment and ``pledge`` of what shall be and all that is to come.. the Seal (loving thumbprint?) of the LORD on our heart-which cries 'my Father!' ..The Spirit being in our life proves we are His and all that brings" and the other message on Philippian's verses "rejoice in the Lord always! ..And again! I say rejoice! - It had been midnight, Paul and Silas were in jail (chained in jail) after having been beaten, and they were singing joyful songs to the LORD, when the earth shook and all the doors and chains of the jail opened.. the jailer and all his house was saved/believed, and it was to these folks/this 'church' the teacher on the radio said, who Paul wrote these words to: rejoice in the Lord always! And again - he said - rejoice!"
- So there I was this morning, in my recliner watching the birds eat out the window, with the cat all comfy beside me on the footrest part of the recliner, when I noticed the big spread wings of a bigger bird, or rather one wing, was all I saw of the bird. One of the big birds which fly higher.. and of course I thought of the "birds of midheaven" in the Book of Revelation. After a few moments I saw the top of the pine tree rustle. I had been looking, trying to see where the bird, likely a 'turkey buzzard' had gone. Although it's possible it was a hawk, but the color looked pretty dark. (I'm going to google 'turkey buzzard'. They have to have another name than that!)
- I can't help it, whenever I see a deer or other wild animal, or a big bird soaring, I always think of it as a 'hello' from 'above'. And I had just been particularly blessed.. Felt like I could almost see the peaceful stream of God's peaceful and joyful Spirit, the Holy Ghost (I love to call it!) His presence like a fountain of light and rich love, or stream from 'above' which fills us. I wanted to get up for a moment, but the cat was just so comfy! But it was right then she decided to try to sneak into my lap, don't you know, so I decided to get up. I was closing the footrest very slowly, giving Tipper a chance to get down, but even so, when I closed it, there she was with her tail softly trapped in the fold of the footrest. She looked at me like "what!" so I laughed, upon which the dog, big ole black lab, jumped up with a snarly bark, ready for whatever. Well now, the dog and cat are mortal enemies. (Tipper's not too friendly even after they've been living in this place together for three years or more now.) So she's very paranoid right about then! But we avoided calamity. I released the cat and she ran behind the other recliner and the dog laid back down after I laughed at him and told him too. (By this time Tipper knew I hadn't for some reason deliberately trapped her.. yes, we had that pet/person eye to eye thing going on and had reached an understanding.)
- Okay, so it's not as exciting as a blockbuster movie or anything, but I thought it was kind of kool and a bit funny ..and I've been neglecting this blog a bit lately.. (Have a Good day!:)

Pentecost

Pentecost (the day of) was the Opening, or beginning, of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon believers. A Greek Parallel New Testament I have says it like this, "and it will be in the last days, is saying the God, I shall pour out from the Spirit of me upon all flesh, and will prophesy the sons of you and the daughters of you..."
- These verses (surely?) Acts 2:17-21, prophesied by Joel (2:28-32) apply to every generation since that first outpouring in Jerusalem, at Pentecost. We know for sure, or so it's commonly accepted, that it fits the often occurring pattern of Bible prophecy, having an immediate escalation or peak, and a 'last' days peak. In this instance, the 'immediate' of what Joel prophesied, occurred forty nine days after the ascension of Jesus (as Peter claimed and was saying in Acts 2) and of what Jesus said when He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, saying, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem.. ..and to the ends of the earth".

Little Things

I prayed.. I asked God, "please.. if I'm wrong about these things (warnings and signs relating to the trend of fulfilling Bible prophecies of a coming world governing gone tyrannical, what the Bible calls worst time ever, but plain and specific signs given so its worst days, 45, can be avoided) please let me know.. don't let me teach in any tiny way, anything which is not true.."
- The Lord 'speaks' to me (if you're a believer, you know what I mean) sometimes, quite often, actually, using my birth date in various ways - 5,5,55. It's amazing how many times I wake up at 5:55 or look up at the clock and it's 2:22 or 3:33, or something :55... Silly perhaps, to some.
- I like to relax by reading a short romance or adventure story written by Christians. My favorites are old world, simpler life style settings of settlers or other old fashioned, reverent type stories where good triumphs, etc. and faith is common to the culture and the families. My latest one was an adventure set in the days of the rising of Hitler in Germany... It all started out sort of slow, those days, and all the while the news reported how good things were. And Hitler did actually rise to power by doing some very good things. Promised prosperity for all, education for all, fitness programs for all.. And he resurrected their very ailing currency and economy. The nation went from chaos to order, and the people idolized him. He was great, he was for the common person, they lauded him with rapture and spellbound faces. But the heroine of the story stumbled upon the ugly truth of the first ghettos where the Jewish citizens were imprisoned after much of the nation was stirred up into hatred of them (first beginning as condescension and disdain?). Every problem of life and society the nation had experienced was their fault, so the party line went, first they were ignorant, against progress and then they were evil intentioned and finally "vermin". They were forced from their homes, and government confiscated their businesses. And soon they were to be trucked off to death camps. At a pivotal moment in the story, our heroine noted the time, 5:55.
- The hero and heroine of course went on to live happily ever after, having rescued one such ghetto of residents from being ex-terminated. And at the end of the story as grandparents they visited the Holocaust Museum. As they left that place they said "I can barely stand to think of the holocaust, but thank God for this memorial". And, "God willing, the world won't forget, so it will never happen again"....
- A touching moment in the story, after the daring rescue and escape, an elderly gent said "Baruch atoh adnoy, elohaynu melech ho-lom shee-osoh li nays bamokm hazeh. You are blessed. Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place."

Destiny And Trinity

Father, Son and Holy Ghost..
"In the beginning, God.."
Father and Son are One,
But are also Two..
"Father" Jesus prayed, "let them be one, as You and I are one.."

Word of Life

Hebrews 2:1-4

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

"Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. ..It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony, by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will."

1 John 1:1-4
King James Version (KJV)
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."

Prophecies of Christ and Their Fulfillment

Prophecies of Christ and Their Fulfillment
This will be a work in progress. These (prophecies of Messiah) form a thread through the Bible.
Genesis 3:15 - Luke 22:53 (hour of darkness), Hebrews 2:14, 1 John 3:8
Genesis 12:3 - Acts 3:25-26, Gal 3:8 (all earth blessed through "the seed" Jesus)

Blessing and Cursing

My grand-daughter, early this morning as she was waiting for the school bus told me, basically, what she was being taught is the the United Nations (all the world?) is for peace but Israel refuses, saying "my God told me no". And that the six days war was a number of nations simply standing around Israel doing nothing (didn't mention their joyful communications they were saying to one another about what their plans were) but Israel said if we're going to win (survive?) we better attack now. (Well that last part's true. And they prayed.) And, she was told, Israel is keeping Palestine. [Israel has agreed to peace a number of times and it's always been broken, and they've given back land (people left to allow for the war when said nations were 'standing' surrounding Israel) and they get rocket fired upon from that land now.] ..Who's the 'good' guy? "..the tree is known by its fruit" Matthew 12:33. (An extremist Islamic beheading takes about 4 minutes of sawing.) "..the god of this world.." 2 Corinthians 4:4, is not the creator and father God. [Jacob/Israel, "cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee" Genesis 27:29.]
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(Will finish the prophecy formula (#s) after the New Year.)

Psalm 119 is Epic!

For years I have pretty much bypassed Psalm 119.. It's so long you know.. But now I see it is epic! Psalm 119 comes up at the end of November, because Psalms 110 to 119 is in my suggested readings schedule for November.
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Related: Is The Bible And Bible Prophecy Literal?

Is The Bible And Bible Prophecy Literal?

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 11:3
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
2 Peter 3:5
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
1 John 2:14
I have written to you... ..because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
Revelation 6:4 (NKJ) "..a fiery red horse.. granted to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword" (Greek word "mega" sword, and fiery-red, Greek word "purros", from root word "pur").

Not Imminent but Important

It's not that I think the culmination described within the Book of Revelation of the Bible is imminent. It's that I think all of us, the people of God, should know the message and pass it on.

The World's Rejection of Christ

The Book of Revelation is the completion of the world's rejection of Jesus. The story of mankind and life as we know it, is a complete story. It's a drama written in flesh and blood. This story would have ended long ago, if God had not confused the languages at Babel Tower.
(To be continued..)

Exact Likeness Of The Unseen God

Some of the greatest verses! Yes? http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=colossians%201:15-20&version=KJV;CEV;NKJV;AMP;YLT

An Extremely Important Crossroads!!

The USA (and thus the world) is at a very important crossroads, many are praying. But we mustn't get complacent. For this spiritual war has new things every day. I pray "all" God's children are earnestly praying, daily seeking His face & repenting on behalf of this nation which has made a lot of offerings to Satan. Surely the Spirit of Elijah cries "turn back! turn back!" See Malachi 4:6, as we know, closing prophetic words of the Old Testament..