Reasons for Hope in a Cynical World

The Bible teaches us that this world is not the alpha & omega, but that there is another world beyond where God will reign forever and ever. This alone - the prophecy of the undoubted Tanakh, and the sublime language in which it is written - should be enough to convince even the most hardened atheist not to cry - for there is another life to come. Some atheists, on the other hand, seem to insist that there is no God at all - and in order to maintain this fiction, they insist on indoctrinating our kids in the soul-destroying poison of Darwinism. Darwinism, if you haven't heard about it already, is the idea that humans evolved from mud over millions of years, and that there is no God. Well, if you can buy into that, you will believe anything.

There's a new science on the block called Intelligent Design, which is rocking the scientific establishment and pioneering research which shows the hand of God in every nook and cranny of nature. Now some thoughtful folks are beginning to merge I.D. Theory with a new revolution in physics that will forever upend the pseudoscientific ideas Darwin, Einstein, Newton, Marx and other atheists, who were desperate to avoid the gaping maw of Hell with their lame excuses about atheism. I'd appreciate learning more about these revolutionary and amazing research programs which are reaffirming God's place in nature!

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 2:17-22

" 17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
18And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?"

What does this mean to YOU?

Each day the Lord sets me out a verse from the Bible and asks me to explain it terms a modern person might understand. Today the Lord gave me this:

Exodus 21
1 "These are the laws you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants
2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. [a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

7 "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, [b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. "

All of us think that slavery is bad, but most of us sell ourselves into spiritual bondage nonetheless. Why do we do this? SIN. Here the Lord is telling us that even if we do sell ourselves into sin, we can be freed with the blessings of the Lord. What we must not do is fall in LOVE with the wives and children that SIN has wed us to: we must flee from Sin and the blessings of sin or else be marked for all Eternity as a sinner. The Lord will redeem those who are free in their hears.

Yesterday the Lord gave me this gosple to share and learn from:

"Habakkuk 3
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
2O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
9Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
11The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
12Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
13Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
16When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."

I think we can all agree with that. When the Lord enters your life, you KNOW it!

Bible Study for Today

Amos 7

Perhaps I should ask - what does this verse mean for you? I see it is a woeful prophecy for America - Israel in this age. We are rapidly being lost to pagan folk!

Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line
    1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"

    3 So the LORD relented.
      "This will not happen," the LORD said.

    4 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"

    6 So the LORD relented.
      "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.

    7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"
      "A plumb line," I replied.
      Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

    9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
       and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
       with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."

Amos and Amaziah
    10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
       " 'Jeroboam will die by the sword,
       and Israel will surely go into exile,
       away from their native land.' "

    12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."

    14 Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' 16 Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say,
       " 'Do not prophesy against Israel,
       and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.'

    17 "Therefore this is what the LORD says:
       " 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
       and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
       Your land will be measured and divided up,
       and you yourself will die in a pagan [a] country.
       And Israel will certainly go into exile,
       away from their native land.' "

The Righteous Judgement of the Lord

Today's Bible study comes from Ezekiel chapter 5. Ezekiel was the Lord's true prophet and his amazing prophecy's are being revealed as truth each day now as we approach the end times and the great Changing which will be in 2012. Note that in this passage Jerusalem is truly America and especially Utah, but that otherwise it is literal truth.

1 "Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel.

    5 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

    7 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even [a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

    8 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9 Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10 Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. 11 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 12 A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

    13 "Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal.

    14 "I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the LORD have spoken. 16 When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. 17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken."

Praise the Lord -- The Lord Returns

This is the Verse the Lord has given me today for meditation. What does it mean to you? Who are the detestable idols that you worship? The Lord sees all and awaits the Return!

Jeremiah 4

¹ "If you will return, O Israel,
return to me,"
declares the LORD.
"If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,

² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
then the nations will be blessed by him
and in him they will glory."

³ This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
"Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
circumcise your hearts,
you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem,
or my wrath will break out and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done—
burn with no one to quench it.

The Voice of the Prophet

Isaiah 40
Comfort for God's People
1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD [a] ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God. [b]

4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

The Voice of the Prophet

Isaiah 40
Comfort for God's People

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Blessings on you and your brothers and sisters!

This is my new begining - a path to bring the Words and Deeds of God to my living human kin! The Lord has blessed this day! Praised be! This blog will be the story of how I came to know the Lord God and serve in the ministry of God who reigneth in this age! The Lord is risen! I am awakened to the Lord! We are all to waken in this era to the praise of the Lord! Praised be!