Sunday, September 23, 2018

Why Should Christians Celebrate the Day of Atonement (Also Known as Yom Kippur)? Update.

   

“For Scripture Sunday”:

Why Should Christians Celebrate the Day of Atonement (Also Known as Yom Kippur)?

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Long after Jesus Christ’s death, the Day of Atonement continued as an important Holy Day for the New Testament Church of God. What does the Day of Atonement mean for Christians today?    

When the meaning of the Day of Atonement is fulfilled in the future, it will set the stage for the sixth festival of God, the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The Day of Atonement is the fifth of God’s annual Holy Days (Leviticus 23:26-32), following shortly after the Feast of Trumpets. Observed by fasting (verse 27; compare Isaiah 58:3), which means not eating or drinking (Esther 4:16), this day portrays the human race finally becoming at one with God.

At the return of Jesus Christ, Satan the devil, who now leads all of mankind astray (Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9), will be bound (Revelation 20:1-3) so all humans of all nations can be reconciled to God.

In the New Testament Luke referred to this Holy Day as “the fast” in Acts 27:9.

When the meaning of the Day of Atonement is fulfilled in the future, it will set the stage for the sixth festival of God, the Feast of Tabernacles.

For more information, please read our booklet God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope For All Mankind.     From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/why-should-christians-celebrate-the-day-of-atonement

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Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement is unique among the other annual festivals because it is a day of fasting. Following shortly after the Feast of Trumpets, Christians observe the day by fasting, which means not eating or drinking for the day. This solemn day of reflection portrays the human race finally becoming reconciled with God after millennia of rebellion against Him.

The Day of Atonement also pictures that Satan the devil, who now leads all of mankind astray, will be bound for 1,000 years so all humans of all nations can be reconciled to God.

(See: Leviticus 23:26-32; Isaiah 58:3; Esther 4:16; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:1-3

The progression of these festivals throughout the year vividly portrays the glorious plan of God to bring many children to glory in His family (Hebrews 2:10). There’s much more to learn about God’s festivals, and we recommend you read God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .

From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-do-christians-observe-the-biblical-festivals-guide-god-holy-days

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Update.

DSCF2223On Sunday, Zack and I dug up the old conduit-covered cables going to the old breaker boxes in the mini-house so that the electrician could hook them up to the new outside breaker box on his next visit last Friday.  Here it is done!  The only thing left is power to the dryer, because that cable was damaged some time ago. 

Then Zack mowed.  I don’t like to mow on Sundays, it is some people’s Sabbath and day of rest, but Zack didn’t show up to do it last Thursday, and it had to be done.  All this rain had really made it grow, so much that he had to raise the deck on the mower.

On Monday, it was a doctor’s appoinment for me, and she ordered an unltra sound to look at my stomach, kidneys, liver etc., which I had done on Thursday.  No results yet.

To make sure that I stay as limber as I can, I have been doing the ‘Sit and Be Fit’ exercises on PBS channel on TV.  https://www.sitandbefit.org/ Once in a while, even the standing exercises make my heart rate go up.   It is on early in the morning here, but I am up anyway.  It meant that I had to do Bible Study a little later on a different channel, but that is OK.  Also, Hans, from down the street, and I have walked down to the mail boxes a couple of times.  Walking down there is fine, but it is always uphill to my house because I am at 272’ on top of a hill, but it is good exercise.

For the church potlucks, I cooked some more of the frozen chicken cluttering up my deep freeze.  This time served with Royal Quinoa, that is black quinoa.  I made two full bowls of salad with organic chicken, quinoa, peas, spices and oranges, one for each church.  There was only a little bit left over, and I thought Zack would turn his nose up at black colored food, but he had seconds. He had never had quinoa before.

For the Bible readings we had Psa. 34, Deut. 21:10-25:19, Isa. 54:1-10, Matt. 5:27-30 and 1 Cor. 5:1-5. The teaching was about “The Law Has Not been Done Away”  (Matthew 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) Christ Came to Fulfill the Law. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”   Because it was lunchtime, I ate a little bit there before I went on to the afternoon church. 

Their message was about “The Gift of Peace”. ‘Shalom’ means ‘Peace Unto You’.  At their potluck we had quite a discussion about where the linen came from for the tabernacle curtains when they were in the wilderness.  Exod 26:1-6 "Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits.”

We finally concluded that as they weren’t in one place long enough to grow the flax,  they must have brought it with them from Egypt.  Exodus 12:35  “The Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.”  The Egyptians wanted them outta there, pronto, after God’s curse of their firstborn being killed, and so they loaded them with all kinds of precious things, and flax must have been one of them.

Even though it rained heavily while I was traveling, it would stop when I stopped, so it was an interesting day.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

9/11 Attack on Islamic New Year. Church History: Constantine, an Emperor Who Defied God. Update

For “Scripture Sunday”:

Why Hasn't New York Been Attacked Since 9/11?

image“Today marks six years (now 17) since the attacks on America by Islamic jihadists. On that day America woke up to the reality of an enemy intent on destroying our way of life. That we have not suffered another attack of that magnitude is due to the vigilant efforts of the many within the law enforcement, military and government agencies that sprung to the walls that day. Here is one assessment from the Daily Telegraph :

Why has al-Qa’eda not repeated the attacks it staged in New York and Washington six years ago to the day? Because it can’t. That is the only partly reassuring consensus of some of the experts who tried hardest to warn Washington about the danger posed by al-Qa’eda and militant Islam prior to its devastating strikes on September 11.

Richard Clarke, the anti-terrorism adviser to two American presidents, Michael Sheehan, New York’s former deputy police commissioner who headed the State Department’s anti-terrorism effort, and others who sensed the danger long before it became obvious, assert that offensive and defensive measures taken since that terrible day have not only severely degraded al-Qa’eda’s ability to stage another terrorism “spectacular”, but have made American cities and targets less vulnerable.

Thanks to such steps, “we are safer than we were on September 11, 2001,” John Scott Redd, a retired vice-admiral who now leads the intelligence community’s National Counter-terrorism Centre, told anxious legislators on Capitol Hill yesterday. “But we are not safe,” he added. “Nor are we likely to be for a generation or more.”

This is the great danger we face as a nation, that we will forget the dangers that exist. This enemy has not retreated nor can we afford to let down our guard.

For one brief moment in 2001 the nation forgot the issues that divide and drew together in grief, shock and anger. Remember the scene of the congressmen and women standing on the Capitol steps, arms linked and singing God Bless America?  We are far from that poignant moment.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/blogs/why-hasnt-new-york-been-attacked-since-911

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The 11th. of September is the Islamic New Year.

Islamic New Year celebration (4453839979).jpgMuharram

Islamic New Year celebration in Nawa-I-Barakzayi, Afghanistan (2010)

The Top 4 Reasons September 11th is Significant to Islam

Read: https://onepeterfive.com/the-top-4-reasons-september-11th-is-significant-to-islam/

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Another person who thought they were greater than God!

Church History: Constantine, an Emperor Who Defied God

One of the most profound episodes affecting Church history involved Emperor Constantine and his decrees against God’s laws. Yet the Church of God held fast.

In A.D. 321 Constantine decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest.

Many of the New Testament writers warned that a great deception was coming that would corrupt the true Christianity instituted by Jesus and taught by the apostles

Church History: Constantine, an Emperor Who Defied God

Jesus Christ warned His followers, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). His words have proven true throughout the centuries, and especially during the fourth century in the Roman Empire.

Another article on Church history discusses the loyalty of Polycarp and Polycrates in their defense of the New Testament Passover being kept on the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar. But persecutions continued against the Church. This article focuses on the decrees Constantine made regarding his interpretation of religious doctrine and the aftermath of his pronouncements.

Persecution toward the Church

In the years prior to Constantine, a number of Roman emperors had persecuted the Church Jesus established. One such campaign was sanctioned by Emperor Trajan after he received a letter from Pliny (A.D. 111-113). Pliny was a young lawyer and governor over the territory of Bithynia and Pontus, along the southern edge of the Black Sea where some in the Church had originally settled (1 Peter 1:1-2).

Following is a portion of Pliny’s letter:

“It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate, and to what extent. …

“I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished.”

Trajan responded: “You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it—that is, by worshiping our gods—even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance.”

So, in the early part of the second century, we see persecution directed toward the Christians in the area of Asia Minor. This persecution continued, but the Church of God remained firm and loyal.”

Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/the-church/church-history-constantine/

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The faithful held fast

“As a result of these man-made edicts, a large portion of the world has been following false decrees, but not all people changed their beliefs to worship on Sunday. As persecutions over the Sabbath intensified, members of the Church of God migrated to the west, and history reveals that the Church thrived in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. But that is another story for another article.

In the meantime, take time to confirm what the Bible teaches about the seventh-day Sabbath. The following resources can help: “The Sabbath, Sunday, Every Day or No Day at All?” and “Which Day Is the Seventh Day?

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Update. 

It has been a hurry-up-and-wait week. First waiting, twice, for the light company to come to make the new mast at the mini-house hot.  When the bucket truck driver arrived he looked it all over, and said that we would have to trim some trees for him to be able to get his bucket through.  I called our Property Owners Assoc. and made sure that it was OK to trim their trees.  He disconnected the power from my old pole to make it safer for us to trim the trees.  Fortunately, as I had sold my gas chain saw because I couldn’t start it, I still have one of those electric Worx tree trimmers with the big jaws.  That made light work of trimming off those branches, but we had to string a heavy duty cord from the main house. 

DSCF2202On the bucket truck’s second trip he hooked the wires to the new mast.  That just makes it live to the main breakers in the new breaker box on the outside of the house.  Then the electrician has to come back to run wires from those breakers through a hole he has made into the inside breaker box.  Zack and I removed the old mast, meter can, breaker box and weatherhead off the little temporary pole, which has been there for 23 years.  Then we dug up the conduit covered wires which went from that pole underground into the mini-house.  The electrician plans to re-use that wire to attach the new outside breaker box to the one inside.   Wire really has gone up in price, no wonder thieves like to steal copper wire out of derelict houses.

As we didn’t have power in the mini-house, we took some shelves outside into the carport and Kilzed and painted them out there.  Then one day I went to Conroe Hospital to visit a church friend and do a bit of shopping.

Zack has a habit of not showing up, so I know that if he doesn’t arrive by 8.00 am that he had to work elsewhere.  He doesn’t have a phone or cable.  But, to his credit, he is always here by 7.30 on Sundays, as there is a religious program on TV that he likes to see, Mannafest with Perry Stone.

On Friday, Preparation Day, as I had planned to go to both the morning church on FM 1097 and the afternoon church on FM 830 on the Saturday Sabbath, I made two separate dishes for the potlucks.  They were both made out of organic chicken, lentils and veggies. The first one was a salad with added apples pieces so that the pastor’s wife wouldn’t have to tend to it, and the second one was a hot dish in a crockpot which I could plug in as soon as I got there. 

The Bible readings were Deut. 16:18-21:9, Isa. 51:12-52:12, John 1:19-29 and Acts 3:22,23.  The Teaching was about Rosh HaShanah, it is a time of prayer and penitence and to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

After the service, I stayed a short while to eat a quick bite, talk to my friends and help with the potluck, then drove south to the other church.  The person that I was concerned about at that church, is now in Hospice and did not have chemo nor radiation, he just wishes to go the way God intended with quality, not expensive quantity of life.  The pastor’s Message was about that too. 

Everything is still green even though it has been hot because we have had quite a few humid, rainy days.

 

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Happy Grandparents Day. How Will War End? One Cup of Water. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

imageHAPPY GRANPARENTS’ DAY

Congress passed the legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents' Day in the U.S. and, on August 3, 1978, then-President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation.

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How Will War End?

“World War I, which ended a century ago, was so brutally horrifying that it was soon called “The War to End All Wars.” Yet it was anything but. It was followed a generation later by World War II, and countless wars since then. What is the root cause of war? Can mankind ever find peace?

God is not uninvolved or uncaring. He cares deeply about His creation, about His children of all nations and races.

An old WWI photograph showing a church service in the field with soldiers watching a priest.British Army

British soldiers gather for a religous service near the front lines during World War I.

During World War I many German soldiers marched into war with their imperial motto Gott Mit Uns —“God With Us”—emblazoned on their helmets and belt buckles. Priests, pastors and chaplains on both sides encouraged the men to fight in their side’s righteous cause, proclaiming it was God’s will that they emerge victorious.

At home, the Anglican bishop of London, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, declared this “a holy war” and urged British soldiers to “kill Germans … not for the sake of killing, but to save the world, to kill the good as well as the bad, to kill the young as well as the old … As I have said a thousand times, I look upon it as a war for purity, I look upon everyone who died in it as a martyr” (quoted by Philip Jenkins, The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, 2014, p. 71).

In Germany, pastor Dietrich Vorweck rewrote the Lord’s prayer to say:

Our Father, from the height of heaven,
Make haste to succor Thy German people.
Help us in the holy war …
Lead Thy German Reich to glorious victories.
Who will stand before the conquerors? …
Lord, Thy will be done! …
Smite the foe each day with death and tenfold woes …
Lead us not into the temptation
Of letting our wrath be too gentle
In carrying out Thy divine judgment.
(quoted on p. 13)

Such pleas apparently went unanswered as millions died or were permanently maimed on muddy, bloody battlefields in four years of fighting during which the border barely moved.

“A striking commentary on the war was offered by Britain’s Harry Patch, the last soldier to have fought in the war’s trenches and who died in 2009 at the age of 111. He felt the war had not been worth a single life … He recalled seeing half-savage dogs fighting over biscuits taken from dead men’s pockets and wondering, ‘What are we doing that’s really any different? Two civilized nations, British and German, fighting for our lives.’ In summary, he commented, ‘What … we fought for, I now don’t know’” (pp. 2-3).

This is not to say that World War I was without result. Four empires fell, the world’s first communist state came into being, the world that existed before 1914 was destroyed and the stage was set for even greater carnage in the Second World War. One effect that continues to this day is that millions of people lost their faith in a God who could allow such indescribable suffering.

But God is not uninvolved or uncaring. He cares deeply about His creation, about His children of all nations and races. One of the Bible’s best-loved passages tells us, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

And God will bring about offering the opportunity for salvation to all mankind—just not in the way most people expect. As explained in this issue, God is not offering salvation to the entire world now. Nor is He trying to end human suffering now. He knows that human beings the world over must learn some very painful lessons before being willing to admit that “the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:17, quoting Isaiah 59:8).

Why do we not know the way to peace? Because “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25). The way that seems right to our thinking has led to generations of bloody wars in which we have learned to kill each other in increasingly efficient ways!

But it will not always be this way. As also explained in this issue, a time is coming in which Jesus Christ, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people …” (Isaiah 2:4). As a result, “… 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 anymore” (same verse).

This is describing the coming Kingdom of God—the same Kingdom for which Christ tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). We hope you’ll join us in that prayer.  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/how-will-war-end

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One Cup of Water

An Amazing Fact: “Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary-General, was the founder of the Global AIDS and Health Fund to support developing countries in their struggle to care for hurting people. He was born on April 8, 1938, and currently serves as a Ghanaian diplomat. In his effort to raise global awareness on how people live in the world, he has presented incredible statistics from the United Nations Human Development Report.

These numbers really put into perspective how we live in America!
• Four percent of the 225 richest men’s wealth could provide for the entire globe: basic education, basic health care, adequate food, clean water, and safe sewers.
• Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics—$2 billion more than the estimated total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world.
• Americans each consume an average of 260 pounds of meat a year. In Bangladesh, the average is 6.5 pounds.
• The world’s 225 richest individuals, of whom 60 are Americans, have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion—equal to the annual income of the poorest 47 percent of the entire world’s population.
• Europeans spend $11 billion a year on ice cream—$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world’s population.
• The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least-developed countries.
• The richest fifth of the world’s people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services, while the poorest fifth consumes just 1.3 percent. Indeed, the richest fifth consumes 45 percent of all meat and fish, 58 percent of all energy used, 84 percent of all paper, has 74 percent of all telephone lines, and owns 87 percent of all vehicles.
Annan encourages us to not look at faceless statistics, but think of the condition of how many people in our world truly live. When we consider the world’s consumption bill of $24 trillion a year, the numbers seem overwhelming.

Yet, in God’s eyes, even a cup of cold water given to a thirsty child is not beneath His notice.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Mark 9:41

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Update.

Zack and I got some more shelves ready for the mini-house, some were sanded, some were stained, and some Zilzed.   The electrician mounted the mast, ran the wires up to the weatherhead and mounted the new outdoor breaker box on the side of the mini-house.  Now the light company has to come to transfer the juice from the pole to the new mast.  Then I found out that it costs more for the electrician to come and connect the mini-house to the new wires.  Oh, The Joys Of Ownership!

Chris, my sweet neighbor took me for my eye exam, thank goodness, because I know I couldn’t have driven home after they dilated my eyes.  In fact it took a couple of days to really get over that, but my eyes are troublesome anyway.  Their office is going to let me know when they can schedule my eye surgery.  I didn’t really need anything, but I drove to the store on Friday, just to make sure that my eyes would be OK for the trip to church on Saturday.

Some organic cooked cut up chicken breast was defrosted, and a white sauce made with green olives, pimentos, celery, onions, any seasonings that looked good, and a pot full of spaghetti pasta cooked, and there was Chicken Spaghetti for the church pot luck.

The Bible readings were Deut. 11:26-16:17, Isa. 54:11-55:5, John 7:37-52 and 1 John 4:1-6.  The Teaching was about “Teachableness”,  or having humility and willingness to learn and be receptive to receive the Word.

It is still hot, but it seems to be a little cooler each day.

Sunday, September 2, 2018