When and How Did the Change in Worship From Saturday to Sunday Occur? The Duke of Windsor once wrote, “The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.”. Update.

For “”Scripture Sunday”:

Thank you to all who served and those who waited for them, too.

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When and How Did the Change in Worship From Saturday to Sunday Occur?

“The vast majority of mainstream Christians go to church on Sunday. Yet the Bible speaks of observing the seventh-day Sabbath. Who changed the Sabbath?

The vast majority of mainstream Christians rush off to church on Sunday and are shocked to hear about some Christians actually going to church on Saturday. However, the Bible teaches the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. So, how did this come to be? History provides some shocking details.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ observed the Saturday Sabbath, and His apostles also observed the Sabbath after His death.

Many defenders of mainstream Christianity try to attribute the origin of keeping Sunday to the apostles. Even so, many Sunday-keeping churches have to admit that there is no scriptural basis for switching to Sunday, nor is there any command by the apostles to not keep the Saturday Sabbath.

So what made the mainstream Christian church change the day of rest and worship from Saturday to Sunday so long ago? The major causes seem to be a combination of church authority overriding scriptural principles and the influences of sun worship and anti-Semitism.

Church claiming authority to change scriptural principles

Around A.D. 400, Augustine, a respected Catholic theologian, proclaimed that “the holy doctors of the Church have decreed, that all glory of the Jewish Sabbath is transferred to it [Sunday]. Let us therefore keep the Lord’s Day as the ancients were commanded to do the Sabbath” (quoted by Robert Cox in Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, 1853, p. 284).

The Catholic Encyclopedia section on “Sunday” mentions St. Caesarius of Arles reinforcing this teaching in the sixth century as well. These men put the changing of the Sabbath in the hands of the doctors of the church (post-apostolic church officials).

In its section on the “Ten Commandments,” the Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment [we count it as the Fourth] refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day.” Here is another instance in which Sunday worship was put into practice based on the Catholic Church’s claim of authority to change a scriptural principle. Again, mainstream church authorities will assume it is what the apostles wanted.

Other Catholic writers made it clear that Sunday services and worship are not endorsed by biblical teachings, but only by their church’s authority:

The Catholic Universe Bulletin said in 1942: “The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”

The Catholic Virginian said in 1947: “All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible.”

Thomas Aquinas, a very influential theologian, wrote: “In the New Law the observance of the Lord’s day took the place of the observance of the Sabbath, not by virtue of the precept but by the institution of the Church and the custom of Christian people.”

These examples make it clear that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday by Jesus Christ or the apostles, but rather by those who believed they had the authority to change biblical principles. Since Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” it is hard to understand why a change Christ never authorized was made.

Mithraism (sun worship)

Constantine was the first so-called “Christian” Roman emperor. Though he did stop much of the persecution of Christians as a whole, it seems he did more to introduce sun worship into Christianity than any before him.

Historian Paul Johnson details some of this influence: “Constantine was almost certainly a Mithraic, and his triumphal arch, built after his ‘conversion’, testifies to the Sun-god, or ‘unconquered sun’. … Constantine never abandoned sun-worship and kept the sun on his coins. He made Sunday into a day of rest, closing the lawcourts and forbidding all work except agricultural labour” (A History of Christianity, 1976, pp. 67-68).

So, a royal decree to rest and worship on Sunday instead of Saturday was made by the Roman emperor, a sun worshipper. Now, thanks to Constantine, Christians were celebrating on the same day the Mithraics worshipped the sun. This is a blatant example of pagan influence in Christian practices.

Christians, now holding services on the venerable day of the sun, became so confused in their worship that, during the reign of Emperor Julian, Johnson notes: “The Bishop of Troy told Julian he had always prayed secretly to the sun” (p. 67). Thus Christianity took on a major facet of pagan sun worship that lives on today due to Constantine’s influence: worshipping on Sunday.”  More at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/10-commandments/sabbath/saturday-sunday/

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Yes, Sir.

“The Duke of Windsor once wrote, “The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.”

Emma Bauso/Pexels

Loving your children is keeping control. It is in rearing children who do obey their parents.

He had observed how little respect there was towards the elderly and one’s parents. It is not a new phenomenon that children are unruly. Isaiah 3:4 notes that “babes shall rule over them.” Adults can control children, but the fear of losing the love of our children makes it difficult for us to discipline and control them. The Bible has much to say about that matter. It is the children who are commanded to honor their parents (Exodus 20:12). Paul wrote that one quality of a leader was to rule his house well, with his children in submission to him (1 Timothy 3:4).

The fear of losing a child or the love of our children is very great. All our love is placed on the children we have. We adorn them with our affection and love without realizing that we are robbing them of the qualities that make their life full and complete. Funny as it sounds, children sense that parents who sometimes correct them and say “no” really do love them (Proverbs 13:24). Loving your children is keeping control. It is in rearing children who do obey their parents. That takes effort and time, but it prevents the use of a lot more effort and time trying to appease a child. Parents must rule well.”  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/blogs/this-is-the-way/yes-sir

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Update.

My week doesn’t have much to show for itself.  Chris took me to the chiropractor twice, but my back still isn’t adjusted.  Now that the bone scan showed that I do have osteoporosis, all he will do is that prickly thing, Tens?, and massage my back.  So I still have hip pain and have to be very careful not to bend my right hip when bending down or going up or down steps.

I did finally get my van back, he said that there was one bolt that was really stubborn and that is why it took so long to get the new water pump on it.  He used my Dremel with the flex-shaft attachment and a cutting wheel to cut the stubborn bolt out of that tight space.  I took it on a trial run into our town, 5 miles each way, and also for me a trial run, I mean walk, around some of the store without using an electric cart. I did OK, but I didn’t go as far as I used to.

The next day the van went on another trial run, but to the emergency room in Conroe.  Zack, my neighbor, had walked out of his back door and a loose dog bit his hand.  He was given a tetanus shot and antibiotics.  I had been cleaning it with an iodine-type cleaner so it was in good shape, and should heal well.  The police and animal control are tending to the folks who hadn’t securely tied up the dog because now it has to go into quarantine at their expense.  Hopefully they will pay Zack’s expenses, too.

For the church potluck I made a Bison Impossible Pie, and while I had the oven on, I made a Cranberry-Apple Pie, too.  I had too many cans of Cranberry Jelly, and couldn’t think of what to do with them before they expired, so I cut up some apples mixed them with the jelly and made it into another Impossible pie with Bisquik. The Bible readings were Psa. 95, Exo. 18:1-27, Isa. 61:1-6, Luke 4:14-30 and all of Matt. 18.  The subject of the teaching was “Obeying the Truth Can Be Life Changing”, based on 1 Pet. 1:22, 23.

Fellowship with the others in the congregation always makes for a great day. 

Questions About Heaven Answered From the Bible. Feast of Trumpets. Update

For “Scripture Sinday”:

Questions About Heaven Answered From the Bible

“There are many ideas about what happens after we die. But the best place to find the truth is in the Book inspired by the One who knows the most about heaven. 

A lot of people have ideas about heaven, but no human being has been there except Jesus Christ. Let’s see what God says about it in the Bible.

Am I going to heaven when I die?

No Bible passage speaks of heaven as the destination of “saved souls.”

No. Quite the contrary. Your future is right here on planet earth.

Yet many people believe that when they die they will go to heaven. That’s what the Holy Bible says, doesn’t it? Well, there are indeed plenty of books on library shelves that say that, but amazingly, the Bible isn’t one of them.

Scriptures forecasting the earth’s future put the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, not in heaven, but rather on earth in the holy city Jerusalem, governing the many nations of this planet (Revelation 5:10; 11:15; 20:4; Matthew 5:5).

The holy instruction manual provided by the Architect of the cosmos, Jesus Christ, makes it clear: We’re not going to heaven. Rather than all of us being transported up there; Jesus Christ is coming down here (see John 3:13; Zechariah 14:9).

But what about the many references to “heaven” in the Bible?

Many of those refer to the place where God’s throne is now. It is His headquarters, where many of His angelic staff serve Him, and it will be relocated to the earth in the future (Matthew 6:10; Revelation 21:1-4). Most of the biblical references to heaven are about earth’s atmosphere or about the starry skies.

No Bible passage speaks of heaven as the destination of “saved souls.” Going to heaven or hell is one of the cardinal teachings of mainstream Christianity. If the teaching really came from the Bible, wouldn’t we expect to find many references explaining about heaven clearly?

Astonishing as it may seem, not one Bible verse says outright that your, my or anybody else’s immortal soul (if we had one) will go there when we die.

Do a search yourself for these common phrases in a reputable, word-for-word translation of the Bible (like the King James Version or the New King James Version):

• Going to heaven.
• When I get to heaven.
• Those in heaven.
• Getting to heaven.
• Men in heaven.
• Souls in heaven.
• Heavenly gates.
• Pearly gates.
• Our future in heaven.
• Eternity in heaven.
• Saints in heaven.

Not one of those catchphrases—so popular in most Christians’ faith experience—appears in the King James Version. They’re not in the Bible. The Bible does use the phrase “kingdom of heaven,” but it doesn’t refer to people going to heaven. To learn why, read our article “The Kingdom of Heaven.”

Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/blog/questions-about-heaven-answered-from-the-bible/?

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Feast of Trumpets

“The progression of the biblical festivals throughout the year vividly portrays the glorious plan of God to bring many children to glory in His family.

The Bible lists seven festivals that God gave to the nation of Israel for them to celebrate each year (Leviticus 23). The New Testament shows many examples of Jesus, His apostles and the Church of God observing them as well. Each festival is full of rich Christian symbolism, pointing to God’s plan for humanity and Jesus Christ’s role in each step.

Most of the festivals are also special annual Sabbath rest days, which are observed in addition to the weekly Sabbath day.

The fourth festival of God is the Feast of Trumpets . The Bible describes the day as a “memorial of blowing of trumpets.” In Israel, trumpets were used as a way of announcing special, very important messages. 

Jesus Christ reveals that before His return to the earth, seven trumpets will be blown, announcing the downfall and overthrow of this world’s kingdoms and the return of Christ to take possession of the earth and establish the Kingdom of God. Christ’s return is announced by the seventh and final trumpet. This day also pictures the ultimate fulfillment of every Christian’s hope: the moment when faithful Christians will be resurrected to receive the gift of eternal life at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. A Christian’s eternity with God begins with the opportunity to reign on earth with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years.

(See: Leviticus 23:24-25; Numbers 10:1-10; Revelation 8:2; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 20:4-6; 1 Corinthians15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16)” 

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:

Last Sunday I drove quite a way to see a senior who was having some problems.  They convinced me to bring them over here, which was OK, but as they have some dementia, they and their relatives kept on calling each other on my phone.  I had to dial the number for them.  It was obvious that they really needed to be back in familiar surroundings, so I took them home.  But they left me a fully stuffed down jacket to wash, as they didn’t know how to do that.

Monday, Zack, my neighbor and I worked on a few things like re-connecting a refilled 5 gallon propane tank so that my cook top will work.  I can manage quite well without it as I have many electric cooking things, but I like to have the propane just in case of a power failure.  We also tried out the two flat TVs that I had bought, and they both worked.  Now maybe I can find someone who wants four tube-type TVs!  We also sanded the floor in the mini-house where we had patched it.

Tuesday, on my way to a chiropractor appointment and to deliver the washed down-filled jacket, my van started sputtering, backfiring and died.  It took 3-1/2 hours for the wrecker to arrive to take it to the mechanic.  My friend Chris came and picked me up at the mechanics, so we delivered the jacket at the Seniors Center, stopped for some groceries, then she took me home.  I still don’t have my van.

Wednesday was a Holy Day, The Feast of Trumpets, so Lauri from church who lives down the road, took me and my food for the potluck.  I had made Roasted Cubed Potatoes with Onions and Bell Peppers, Sliced Bison and Gravy, and also Sautéed Cabbage, so I took three crockpots that day.

The Bible readings were Gen 21:1-34 about Isaac, 1 Sam. 1-2":10 about Saul and the Teaching was about “Are We Just Waiting, Or Are We Looking for Him?”  We need to be ready.  One of the elders, Jeff, sounded the shofar, (ram’s horn) and did the blasts like they would have done on that day.  Jeff is really good on the horn, and better than Dr. Schneider on TV, http://discoveringthejewishjesus.com/ .  We all enjoyed the service, food and fellowship.

Thursday, Zack and I finished washing my vintage motor-home, and he mowed. 

Friday, I spent cooking and studying.  Hans, the German gentleman from down my street stopped by, wondering where my van was.  As I had already bothered Chris and Lauri this week, I asked him if he would take me to church on Saturday.  I know he likes to go to my church once in a while.  It is easier for me to go in Hans’ car, because I can’t wear cologne or hairspray when I ride with Lauri.  So I brushed my hair up into a banana clip, sprayed it so it wouldn’t drop, and had several compliments.  I took Turkey in Tomato Sauce, and gluten-free, organic, Spaghetti Pasta in separate crockpots.  Don’t forget that I come from Europe, and we don’t mix the two until we get on our plates because some folks want more sauce and some want more pasta.  I made one little dish of organic sauce for Lauri because she says she has to eat organic or she will get a migraine.  The pastor’s wife had made organic ground beef, and organic refried beans for the tacos, so Lauri had some of that, too.

The Bible readings were Psa. 100, Deut. 31:1-30, Isa. 55:6-56:8 and Rom. 10:14-18. And the Teaching was about “Trumpets”, not the feast, but the times in the Bible where it says that the trumpets will sound when He arrives, and we had better be ready.  Also the trumpets will sound when we are getting ready for The Feast of Taberbacles which we will be celebrating soon.  Different people calculate from different new mons, that is why this church is a month behind some of the others.  We will be keeping the only fasting feast, The Day of Atonement, on Friday.

It Is A Young Earth After All! Coal Creation. Coal, A Memorial to The Flood. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday:

To Decay or not to Decay?

These trees are fossilized in the UPRIGHT position!

“To the “man on the street,” one of the most impressive arguments for an ancient Earth is the testimony of sedimentary-rock layers. Scientists (and park rangers) show us examples like the Grand Canyon and present their theory so effectively that—as we observe layer after layer of sedimentary rocks piled one on top of another—the only explanation seems to be that vast amounts of geologic time must have been involved. Each division of the rocks, we are told, represents a time long ago, and an ancient world that long since has ceased to exist. Creationists, however, beg to differ, and suggest that a closer look at the “record of the rocks” suggests youth, not antiquity, for our home planet.

Embedded in sedimentary rocks all over the globe are what are known as “polystrate” fossils. Polystrate means “many layers,” and refers to fossils that cut through at least two sedimentary-rock layers. Probably the most widely recognized of the polystrate fossils are tree trunks that extend vertically through two, three, or more sections of rock that supposedly were laid down in epochs covering millions of years.

However, organic material (such as wood) that is exposed to the elements will rot, not fossilize. Thus, the entire length of these tree trunks must have been preserved quickly, which suggests that the rock layers surrounding them must have been deposited rapidly—possibly (and likely) during a single catastrophe like Noah’s Flood.

Trees, reeds, catfish, whales, and the other organisms with which the fossil record abounds—and that exist as polystrate fossils—did not die and lie around for hundreds, thousands, or millions of years while slowly being preserved. Truth be told, polystrate fossils testify loudly to a young Earth whose layers formed rapidly—and not very long ago! It is a young Earth after all.”  From: http://thecreationclub.com/to-decay-or-not-to-decay/

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Coal Creation.

“Recently someone asked a question that went something like this “If the earth is only thousands of years old, how did dinosaur bones turn into coal and oil?” After reading this question, I realized that a lot of people really don’t know what coal and oil are made of and how they are formed. In this article, we will talk about coal, and next time, we will talk about oil and natural gas.

First, let’s do some “myth busting”. Here are three common myths about coal:

1. Fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas – come from dinosaur bones
2. It takes long periods of time (millions of years) to make coal
3. Diamonds are made of pressurized coal (learn about the origin of diamonds here)

Dinosaur. From Pixabay.com

Without a doubt, coal is made of plant material – not dinosaurs. If you look through coal deposits, you will find lots of plant fossils. Where in the world did people come up with the idea that coal came from dinosaurs? Maybe because people automatically think “dinosaurs” any time they hear the word, “fossil”. But, there is so much more to fossils than just dinosaurs! Coal can be found in many different layers, or coal seems, around the world.  It can be found in layers below the rocks that contain dinosaur bones, in rock layers alongside dinosaurs, and in layers above them.  The most popular rock unit to find coal in is the carboniferous group, made up of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian units (more about rock units and the order of the rock layers here).

The global flood, mentioned in the Bible, offers a much better model for coal formation than the ancient swamp explanation and actually fits better with what we see happening today. In this model, the violent flood waters would have gathered many different types of plants, turning them into peat. We see lots of different plant fossils in coal – including plants that don’t live in swamps. The peat would be deposited between layers of mud, where it would get the right amounts of heat and pressure, thanks to the mud layers on top of it and other flood factors. This flood model for coal is a “catastrophic transport” model, in which the plant material was transported away from where the plants grew and buried quickly.

Mount Saint Helens eruption. From wikimedia commons

Excerpts from: http://thecreationclub.com/coal-creation/

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Coal: Memorial to The Flood

“The Gippsland Basin, deposited at the edge of the Australian continent.

South-East Australia’s Latrobe Valley has some extremely thick deposits of brown coal which are mined to fuel several huge power stations. One bucket-wheel excavator removes the relatively thin overburden and exposes the coal seam. Another excavator digs the coal and drops it onto a moving conveyor belt for the power-station boilers.¹

The machines are immense, towering over the people who work on them. Indeed, a person could easily disappear inside one of the many buckets. Each excavator can dig up to 60,000 tonnes of coal each day.¹ Yet the coal seams are so thick that they dwarf these massive excavators, which must traverse the seam several times before the coal is completely removed.

Huge coal basin

The coal seams occur within thick layers of clay, sand and basaltic lava, which together form a 700-metre (2,300-foot) sequence of rocks, known as the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures.² These lie in a large, deep depression, called a ‘basin’, shaped like a triangle 300 km (190 miles) long and 300 km (190 miles) wide (see diagram below). Most of the basin lies under the ocean off the southern coast of Australia. Offshore the coal measures are estimated to be almost 5 km (3 miles) thick.

Latrobe Valley coal consists of a mass of very fine plant debris containing partly-decomposed plant remains.¹ It is clear that a great quantity of plant material accumulated in the past to produce such huge deposits of coal. 

This huge tree trunk, broken and dumped by watery cataclysm, is now coalified.

How did the coal get there?

How would such a great amount of vegetation collect together in one place? No-one alive today has ever observed such a process. All scientists can do is to invent plausible explanations based on what they think may have happened.

“It is consistent with the devastation of Noah’s Flood, which would have uprooted the entire pre-Flood biosphere and buried it with huge quantities of sand and mud.”

For those who believe the Bible, the presence of such great quantities of buried vegetation is easily explained. It is consistent with the devastation of Noah’s Flood, which would have uprooted the entire pre-Flood biosphere and buried it with huge quantities of sand and mud.

However, geologists who do not believe the Bible base their explanations on a different philosophy. They are committed, from the outset, to explaining the evidence using what we see happening today. There has only ever been one global Flood, and according to the Bible it occurred some 4,300 years ago. Since it can’t be observed today, these geologists will not accept that it happened in the past. Thus, they try to explain everything by slow and gradual processes over millions of years.

For these brown coal deposits, they say that the vegetation accumulated as peat in a swamp during ideal climatic and geologic conditions.¹ They say the swamps formed on floodplains near the coast,² which were slowly sinking and eventually inundated by the ocean.³

Then there are a number of distinct ash layers that run horizontally through the coal. If the vegetation had grown in a swamp, these distinct ash layers would not be there. After each volcanic eruption, the volcanic texture of the ash would have been obliterated when the swamp plants recolonized the ash, turning it into soil. Not only is there no soil, but the vegetation found in the coal is not the kind that grows in swamps today. Instead, it is mostly the kind that is found in mountain rainforests. The best match for the mix of vegetation in the coal occurs in the mountains of the western half of the island of New Guinea some 1,200–2,200 metres (4,000–7,000 feet) above sea level.⁴ Similar vegetation is also found in the mountains in Australia, Malaysia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The kinds of plants that make up the coal did not grow in a swamp on a floodplain.”   

Excerpts from: http://thecreationclub.com/coal-memorial-to-the-flood-tas-walker/

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Update:

On Monday, Roy did some more floating on the new wall between the living room and bedroom, and while that was drying he installed the light fixture that goes in the pass-thru bar, and started to wire the similar one which will go over the kitchen sink.  It will also have it’s own switch, too.  I bought some energy-saving LED light bulbs for these light fixtures because the ones that came with them gave out a lot of heat, so you know they were making the meter spin faster.

One afternoon my front door lock seized up. I couldn’t open the front door, so I took the screws out and took the handle off. I had to slide the latch bolt over with a screwdriver each time I had to go out until Roy arrived the next day, then he fixed it.  The house had moved and the strike plate was catching on the lock’s bolt.  I had filed at the strike plate a little, but he took it off, put it in the vise to straighten it and then put it back.  But the strike plate for the deadbolt was also off a bit, so we had to fix that.  The house had moved during the hurricane with all that rain going under it, and then moved back again as everything dried up.

Zack showed up one morning, so we started to get the house ready for winter while Roy did some more floating the wall.  Another day, we moved and inspected some of the stuff stored here, discarded some, and took pictures of other items to list them for sale.  Zack and Roy had Friday off, as they were working other places, and I was getting ready for the church the next day, like doing my hair, setting out my clothes, etc, and cooking.

As my freezer is full, I had cooked a big batch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I had been given.  Some was donated to Zack, but I knew I would never eat the rest of them, as I am not really that crazy about chicken.  I prefer organic foods like bison, lamb, some beef, cod or salmon.  Often I am given food by the other people at the church.  We share when we have an over-abundance of anything, so the best place to use up the chicken breasts was for the church potluck.  So I sautéed onion, green and orange bell-peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, mixed that with Cream of Mushroom soup and the chicken.  It was a great hit.  I also made some Brown Rice in Chicken Bone Broth, Broccoli with Fontina Cheese Soup and some Crockpot Apples for dessert, so I went to church with four different sizes of crockpots.

The Bible readings were Gen. 12:1-17:27, Isa. 40:27-41:16, and Rom. 4:1-25.  and the Teaching was more about Martin Luther’s life and accomplishments which have shaped a lot of religious beliefs over the last 500 years.

We had a good crowd and some visitors from the sister church in Cisco TX who haven’t been here for a year as he has been battling cancer, and won.   It was so good to see him, his wife, daughter and granddaughter again.  When we all went into the dining room we had lots of good dishes to eat, some chicken, some lamb, some beef, many veggies, salads and desserts.  As usual there was more than we could eat so some folks had ‘doggie bags"’.   Sometimes we put left over food in the freezer for the next week.   Waste not, want not!

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the United Kingdom

“Guy Fawkes Night is annually held on November 5. It is sometimes known as Bonfire Night and marks the anniversary of the discovery of a plot organized by Catholic conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605. Many people light bonfires and set off fireworks.” More at: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/guy-fawkes-day

The weather is still crazy, and we are having to run the AC each day.

Mark of the Beast. Resisting Satan’s Influence Now. Satan Will Be Bound. Satan’s Future. God’s Body Armor. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

Mark of the Beast

“Will you accept the mark of the beast? Without it, you won’t be able to buy or sell. With it, you’ll suffer the plagues of Revelation. What should you do? 

There has been much speculation about the mark of the beast mentioned in Revelation. What do you need to know about this mysterious mark?

It seems that no subject has intrigued and baffled people more than this mysterious mark spoken of in the book of Revelation. Many books have been written and many sermons have been preached about this subject. Scholars and theologians have offered many different ideas about it. Some suggest it is a microchip implanted in one’s forehead or an invisible mark or a visible mark. Some even think it could be one’s credit card or debit card.

But what does the Bible reveal about this puzzling mark?

The key passage reads: “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).

If one does not have this identifying sign, he or she will not be able to legally transact business. This person will find it difficult to earn a living, to hold a job or to run a business.

What is the beast of Revelation?

John, the one God chose to write down the book of Revelation, saw a vision of the future. Here is what he wrote concerning this beast: “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority” (Revelation 13:1).

To understand what this beast in the book of Revelation is, we need to begin in Daniel 7:1-8, where we find the imagery of four animals, representing the four great historical empires. These were a lion (Babylon), a bear (Persia), a leopard (Greece) and a fourth beast (Rome).

It is this fourth beast described by Daniel and recorded by John that would have “ten horns” and receive a “deadly wound” before rising again before the end of this age (Daniel 7:7-8; Revelation 13:3). This empire is the “beast” of the book of Revelation. We should note that the human leader of this revived empire is also referred to as “the beast” (Revelation 19:20). The mark of the beast is the mark or identifying sign of this empire.

The book of Revelation explains that the dragon gives the beast its power and authority. This dragon is Satan the devil (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2). Satan uses this beast to rule and deceive the world.

A second beast

Let’s now turn our attention to the word “he” in Revelation 13:16. The passage says, “He causes all … to receive a mark.” Who is “he”? Verse 11 says, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.”

These characteristics indicate a false religious leader who “causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast” (verse 12). This second beast is called the “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20). This mark or sign represents a final revival of the Roman Empire at the time of the end. The religious leader that supports the beast “causes” people to accept it.”

Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/revelation/mark-of-the-beast/

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Resisting Satan’s Influence Now

1 Peter 5:8-9

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Satan the devil is the enemy of God and of humanity. He is powerful, hateful and deadly. But God does not leave us defenseless. He tells us to resist Satan with faith that the all-powerful Creator God will back us up.

James adds: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8). By submitting to God and drawing close to Him, we will have His protection, and Satan won’t be able to destroy us.

But if we wander off from God, like a lone animal straying from the herd, we will be easy prey for Satan, the roaring lion.

Until the time when Satan is locked away, pictured by the Day of Atonement, we must be constantly alert and aware of Satan’s deceptive and alluring tactics. We must use the armor of God to defend against Satan’s attacks.

To learn more about how to fight against sin in your life, read “How to Resist Satan, the Roaring Lion,” “Seven Steps for Overcoming Sin” and “Habitual Sin: How to Overcome.”

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/resisting-satans-influence-now/

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Satan Will Be Bound

Revelation 20:1-3

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

In Revelation 12:9-12 John described Satan being cast down to the earth “having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” In Revelation 20:1-3 we see the end of that “short time.” Satan’s wrath will have brought a deceived humanity to the brink of destruction, to the point of even fighting against Jesus Christ, our Savior, at His return.

But Christ will easily defeat the combined firepower of humanity, and Satan will be no match for Him either. In order to bring a time of peace and utopia to the earth, the deceiver must be locked up. Satan’s deceptive influences will be blocked for a thousand years, making it much easier for humanity to make the right choices without interference and diabolical temptations.

For more about God’s plan to bind Satan, read about the Day of Atonement or watch the video “Atonement: The Root of the Problem.”

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Satan’s Future

Revelation 20:7-8, 10

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. …

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

In Revelation 20:1-3 we see that Satan will be bound and kept from deceiving people for 1,000 years. (This is also pictured in the symbolism of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16:21-22). But he will be released and will again show his deceptive power, even on people who have lived under God’s beautiful Kingdom.

But finally Satan and his demons, as immortal spirit beings, will be locked away forever. The lake of fire will burn up those who are physical and mortal, but it is described as torment for those angelic beings who have permanently chosen the way of evil. Since physical fire cannot hurt spiritual beings, this torment must be mental torment.

For more about Satan’s fate, see “Satan Destroyed? How?”

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/satans-future/

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God’s Body Armor

An Amazing Fact: “Kevlar is a synthetic fiber developed in 1965 and was first used commercially in the early 1970s as a substitute for steel racing tires. It has a high tensile strength-to-weight ratio, making it five times stronger than steel. It is used for making a variety of items such as canoes, racing sails, and bicycle tires. It’s most well-known application is in body armor.  

When Stephanie Kwolek first invented poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide, the solution was a cloudy substance that was usually thrown away. But she decided to persuade the technician she was working with, Charles Smullen, to test the solution. They were amazed to find the solution did not break like nylon. Her supervisor and lab director realized her discovery was significant because it opened the door to a new field called polymer chemistry.

In body armor, Kevlar fibers actually “catch” a bullet in a multilayer web of woven fabrics. Different layers in the weave perform different tasks. The “engaged fibers” absorb and disperse the energy of the impact, transferring it to other fibers at “crossover points” in the weave of the body armor. Of course, if you don’t wear the vest, it won’t protect you. The Department of Justice estimates that 25 percent of state and local police are not issued body armor. Of the 1,200 officers killed in the line of duty since 1980, more than 30 percent could have been saved by body armor.

The risk of dying from gunfire is 14 times greater for an officer not wearing body armor.
Paul writes, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). The bullets we face are not ballistic missiles from guns. We need body armor that cannot be pierced by Satan because “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” (v. 12). God offers you something stronger than poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide. Take time today to put on the protective gear that will withstand the most powerful fire of the enemy.    

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:13”

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Update:

Another week when not much was done to the mini-house as Roy was working elsewhere.  I don’t know when he will be back. I get so discouraged trying to find competant workers.   Sometimes I think I would like to sell the whole place and go somehwre else that doesn’t need so much work.  Like the sign that I have on my porch:  “So When Do I Get To Retire?” ! 

Zack, my neighbor helped me for a couple of days.  We put up a temporary wire fence between the mini-house and the road.  That is a pie-shaped lot, so the house had to be built at the back of the lot, only 10’ from the busy road.  The back door is so close to people walking by, that it felt vunerable.  A permanent fence cannot be installed until someone, the county maybe, puts the back the poles that hold up the flashing yellow traffic light at the entrance to the subdivision.  Each pole holding up the wires for the traffic light on either side of the road, fell over due to all the rain during Harvey.  They just toppled over like an uprooted tree.  One of the pole’s guy wires is anchored in the minihouse back yard, so my permanent fence can’t be built yet.

Zack also put some urethene on some of the window sills and trim in the mini-house, and then he just disappeared.    I hoped that I was helping him by hiring him as he has no income.  Folks want to get paid, but just don’t want to work for it anymore.   Early on Wednesday I was ready to take him to Conroe for his blood tests, and he didn’t even show up.

On Monday afternoon, my dear daughter Wendy brought me the residue of her yard sale.  One item was a 32” TV.  Right now my largest is 27”, so it will be a nice change,  My TV’s sit in corners on triangular corner cabinets, so it doesn’t matter if they are not the new flat screens.  I like to watch certain shows on TV, but I am not that into it, so spending money on flat screen TV’s is not a priority with  me.  It is a very heavy and awkward TV, so we called Hans to come help us unload it.  We managed to get it on a four-wheel hand-truck and into my living room, and that’s where it has stayed because there hasn’t been anyone here to help put it up on the corner cabinet.

The items in the boxes that Wendy brought were bedspreads, shelves, knick-knacks etc. and other things in a ‘cottage’ theme that she thought I could sell.  Now that Wendy and Richard have a new home at Lake Somerville, she is going with a different decor.  They sold their lakeview place at Lake Palestine, so she wants water themed items now.  She took her pick of my collection of large and small shells from around the world, a bookshelf with oars for legs, beach pictures and sheets with boat and nautical themes. 

Then Wendy and I went thrift-shopping.  I needed a digital bathroom scale for weighing parcels and found one.  She needed a bathroom cabinet and found one.  We also found a really lovely door for the bathroom in the mini-house. 

Once home here, I quickly defrosted and cooked some ground bison,  made a good British ‘Bisto’ gravy, sweet potatoes, Italian beans and yellow squash.  Wendy had never had bison before and loved it.  We had a great afternoon and evening, then it was time for her to go home to her husband and grown-up son in College Station.

One morning was spent defrosting my deep freeze.  This is the worst it has ever been.  The door had somehow become blocked slightly ajar, the freezer defrosted a bit and then everything became frozen in place.  It took two hairdryers on stands, and stack of towels to get it done, then the ensuing laundry!

One day, just out of boredom, even though I have plenty to do, I went to the store to buy some watercress.  It is supposed to be the new kale!  They didn’t have any. 

Then I finally got my foster-cat’s worm medicine down her!  It has taken me three weeks! (not this way  http://www.pawsperouspets.com/humor/catpill.shtml  ha-ha)  I found a canned food that she really liked and emptied the capsule in it.  I had tried that a couple of times before, but she took one lick and then wouldn’t touch it.  (that food was given to stray cats outside, so they should feel better now).  I had tried wrapping her up in a thick bath mat and using my pill-popper, but she spat out the capsule twice.  She is such a timid, formerly abused cat that I didn’t want her to be scared of me, so this worked out best.

Thursday and Friday afternoons I spent in the kitchen making different dishes for the church potluck.  One recipe was for cooking any veggies that are laying around doing nothing.  It was very easy-peasy! Just cut them into chunks and dump them in a crock pot with one tablespoon of liquid for 3 hours on high.  They came out very juicy and tender, but one recommended liquid was sodium-free soy sauce, which is what I used, but they came out looking an awful color brown, so they stayed home.   So for the next batch I used a tablespoon of chicken broth, and they were terrific.  I have some chicken broth powder which cames in handy for making something small like a tablespoon of broth.

For a dessert, the rest of the starfruit was cooked, in apple juice this time, and put in a jello mold with some vegan 100% natural BAKOL Jel gelatin-free dessert.  This is one brand that you can be sure that there is absolutely no pork in it, which I will not eat.  (Lev.11:7)  Most gelatins, including Jello, contain pork.

I tried a recipe for “Crispy Turnips Fries”, but like many reviewers said, it is difficult to get them crispy.  So I put a mixture of cooked Beef, Ground Bison and mushrooms in a Pyrex baking dish, covered that with some of the above cooked veggies, sliced small, and put the turnips fries on top, like a Shepherd’s Pie.  I took a tiny crockpot of gravy to go with it.  I like to keep them separate or the Shepherd’s Pie gets all soupy.  It was the rave of the potluck.  Another favorite dish was made by one of the husbands with layers of long grain rice, beans, ground beef and cheese.   We had several other tasty dishes, so we all had a great meal and an enjoyable time discussing different topics around the table.

The Bible readings were Gen. 1:1-6:8, Isa.42:5-43:10. and John 1:1-14. That scripture includes the debatable translation of John 1:1 where it says in some translations that ‘the Word was God’ and in others it says ‘the Word was a god’, or others say ‘the Word was Divine’.  But I don’t think that anyone disputes that Jesus (Yeshua) was there at the beginning and is God’s (Yahweh’s) Son.  The Teaching was ‘About Trust in Yahweh, and Put On The New Man.’

Can you believe that we are still having to use air conditioning at the end of October.  Hardly any cool days these days.

Three Days and Three Nights. Did Jesus Die Good Friday, Rise on Easter? Update.

 

For “Scripture Sunday:

I feel very remorseful, guilty and sorrowful, because I missed going to church this last week.

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Three Days and Three Nights

“How do you get three days and three nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning?

Why would Jesus make a point of saying three days and three nights if He didn’t mean it? Is this a contradiction in the Bible or is there a simple explanation everyone would understand if they celebrated the festivals of the Bible as Jesus and His disciples did?

Matthew 12:39-40

But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

In our Fundamental Beliefs “8. Three Days and Three Nights,” we state, “Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the Father after His body lay for three days and three nights in the grave. The length of time that He was in the grave was the only sign He gave to prove He was the Messiah.”

Jesus had done many miracles, but still the Pharisees sought “how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14). So Jesus didn’t offer them more miracles as a sign, only this reference to the length of time He would be in the grave.

Strangely, though, most Christians today do not believe that Christ was literally three days and three nights in the grave as He promised, since it is not possible to count three days and three nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

For a detailed explanation of the biblical chronology of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, including a helpful chart, see “Sign of Jonah: Did Jesus Die Good Friday, Rise on Easter?””

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Sign of Jonah: Did Jesus Die Good Friday, Rise on Easter?

Jesus and His disciples followed the command found in Leviticus 23 describing the “feasts of the Lord.” “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover” (verses 4-5). Biblical days started in the evening, so after that Passover ceremony, but still on the Passover day, Jesus was arrested, beaten and crucified. He died around 3 p.m. (“the ninth hour” of daylight in the Jewish system of time keeping; Matthew 27:45-50;Mark 15:33-37; Luke 23:44-46) and was buried before sunset. In fact, the Jewish leaders were urgent that Jesus’ body not remain on the cross the next day.

“Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31).

Most people today would see the word Sabbath and assume this means Saturday, since the regular weekly Sabbath day taught in the Bible is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. But most miss the fact that John called it a “high day.” What did he mean? Let’s quickly go back to Leviticus 23. What comes right after the Passover (the 14th)?

“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (Leviticus 23:6-7).

This First Day of Unleavened Bread was an annual Sabbath day—a high day. And it can come on different days of the week.

So the logical explanation is that Christ was exactly right about the three days and three nights. People today are just confused about when He died and was resurrected. It couldn’t have been on a Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

The accompanying chart shows the math that works—the chronology of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection that matches the biblical festivals and confirms the sign of Jonah—the only sign Jesus said He would give!

You can learn more in the section “Holy Days vs. Holidays.”

You can also see above detailed infographic that you can copy on the “Chronology of Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection” on our infographics page.

More at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/holy-days-vs-holidays/sign-of-jonah/

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The Chronology of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

chronology-of-events-jesus-christ-death-burial-resurrection-3-day-3-nights-tomb(1.6 MB)

“Jesus Christ said He would be in the tomb for three days and three nights. What is the biblically accurate chronology of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection? This time line perfectly accommodates three full nights (Wednesday night, Thursday night and Friday night) and three full daylight periods (Thursday, Friday and Saturday). This is the only time that fits Jesus' own prophecy of how long He would be in the tomb. And fits perfectly with all the details recorded in the Gospels.”

 

UCG.org

What does the Bible really say about the timeline of events for Jesus' death?

Tuesday

Jesus Christ ate an evening Passover meal with His disciples (at the beginning of Nisan 14, Jewish reckoning) and instituted the New Covenant symbols (Matthew 26:26-28). Jesus was then betrayed by Judas, arrested and during the night brought before the high priest.

Wednesday

Jesus was crucified and died around 3 p.m. (Matthew 27:46-50). This was the preparation day for the annual —not weekly—Sabbath, which began at sunset (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:31). Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb just before sunset (Matthew 27:57-60).

Thursday

This was the high-day Sabbath, the first day of the biblical Feast of Unleavened Bread (John 19:31; Leviticus 23:4-7). It is described as the day after the “Day of Preparation” (Matthew 27:62). Wednesday night and the daylight portion of Thursday were the first of three days and nights Jesus’ body was in the tomb.

Friday

The high-day annual Sabbath now past, the women bought and prepared spices for anointing Jesus’ body before resting on the weekly Sabbath day, which began at Friday sunset (Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56). Thursday night and the daylight portion of Friday marked the second of three days and nights Jesus’ body was entombed.

Saturday

The women rested on the weekly Sabbath day, according to the Fourth Commandment (Luke 23:56; Exodus 20:8-11). Jesus rose near sunset, exactly three days and three nights after His body was placed in the tomb, fulfilling the sign of Jonah and authenticating the sign He gave of His messiahship.

Sunday

The women brought the prepared spices early in the morning while it was still dark (Luke 24:1; John 20:1). Jesus had already risen (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:2-6; Luke 24:2-3; John 20:1). He did not rise on Sunday morning, but near sunset the day before— three days and three nights after being put in the tomb, just as He foretold.”

From: https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/the-chronology-of-the-crucifixion-and-resurrection-of-jesus-christ

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Update:

We have been gradually cleaning up the yard at Roni’s place, which I inherited.  It will be a bigger job to clear all the mess out of the buildings.  She had stuff strewn everywhere. 

Sorry this wasn’t done on Sunday like it usually is.  We had been having a four-day yard sale here, and anyone who has had a yard sale knows how much work that is, especially if you haven’t had one for a couple of years.  I have been sorting out stuff that I don’t need for those two years and storing it in a 10 x 20 enclosed carport.  It took ages to get it all out and displayed.

But after two days the intermittant rains came, which meant covering and uncovering the 20 tables of items.  Well, not really, as four tables were in the carports.  For one more time, I will say that I won’t have another yard sale!!  My helper had a bunch of stuff stored in that carport, too, and he sold some fishing stuff and tools, but he also said “I’ll never have another yard sale”  It took several days to get the remnants of the sale in boxes to be donated or put back in the carport.  I have kept the ‘cream of the crop’ to take to a Sunday sale at the great big flea market about 15 miles from here.  There are some of the best items that I still have to sell to get some income, so I put the larger things on Craigslist.

On Saturday, when I was getting ready to go to church and the Yard Sale was supposed to be closed, people who had been there on Thursday and Friday kept on uncovering the tables to look for items that they had seen and wanted to buy them.  My helper had wanted to go bass fishing but had to come here and tell people about his items, just like I did.  But I had managed to make some ground bison and onions into a pretty tasty potluck dish, but as I couldn’t get to church we ate some, then I froze the rest.

But sales were slow due to the rain and I wish we could have put everything under lock and key for the Sabbath.  So that we could sell things while sorting it out and putting things away, we opened again on the rainy Sunday, but it was a dismal day, and we got tired and closed it up early.  Then we were clearing all the tables and items out of the yard Monday and Tuesday.

Fulfilled Prophecy: Jesus Born in Bethlehem. When Was Jesus Born? Part 1. Jesus’ Jewish Heritage. Update.

 

Belated, but for "Scripture Sunday." 

Fulfilled Prophecy: Jesus Born in Bethlehem.

Matthew 2:4-6

"And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

The New Testament records dozens of Old Testament passages that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. (The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 1, lists more than 100 such Old Testament passages on pages 1037-1040.) Matthew includes four quotes about Christ’s birth and young life, including this one.

Jealous and paranoid, King Herod was greatly disturbed when the wise men asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2).

Herod realized that they were talking about the coming of the Messiah (Christ in Greek), and he asked the religious leaders what the Bible prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. They accurately pinpointed the prophecy about Bethlehem in Micah 5:2  "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past."

(Ephrathah, or Ephrath, is the ancient name for the town of Bethlehem, in Judah, in the southern part of the land of Israel.)

Though Herod was willing to turn to Scripture to try to find the One he felt threatened by, he was not willing to recognize God’s power and authority. In fact he tried to thwart God’s plan, first through deceit, then through a terrible act of mass murder, killing all the male children from age 2 and under in the area of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). This was prophesied in Jeremiah 31:15 and depicted in Revelation 12:4 where Satan, the dragon, was ready “to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” But Christ was protected from this onslaught, as we will see.

You can find more background about these events in the article “The Birth of Jesus.”"

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When Was Jesus Born? Part 1

Luke 1:5

"There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

The Bible does not tell us exactly when Jesus Christ was born. The closest hint, found in this verse, seems to point to Christ’s birth in the fall of the year.

What’s the connection? Verse 36 shows that Jesus Christ was born about six months after John the Baptist was born. And John the Baptist would have been conceived nine months earlier (15 months before Christ’s birth), shortly after his father Zacharias had received a message from an angel while serving at the temple.

When did Zacharias serve at the temple? One source says he probably served one-week stints around mid-May and mid-November. (E.W. Bullinger uses the dates June 13-19.) King David had divided the priests into 24 courses, of which the division of Abijah was the eighth (1 Chronicles 24:10). These divisions each served a week at a time, so that each division served two weeks at the temple each year according to the sacred calendar, in addition to the festivals.

A number of commentators lean toward a May or June date for Zacharias’ meeting with Gabriel. Adding 15 months to that would put Jesus Christ’s birth in perhaps August or September. (If Zacharias met Gabriel around November or December, Christ’s birth would have been in perhaps February or March.)

Either way would not support a Dec. 25 birth date.

For more about why Jesus Christ’s birth could not have been Dec. 25 and how it came to be celebrated that day, see our article “Christmas: Should Christians Celebrate It?”"

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Jesus’ Jewish Heritage

Matthew 1:17

"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

The genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 give context to the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who also was the descendant of Abraham and David. Both David and Jesus were of the tribe of Judah (verse 3), the tribe promised the scepter—the symbol of rulership (Genesis 49:10). As Jesus said, He was born to be a King, and He will rule all nations in the Kingdom of God (John 18:37; Revelation 11:15).

Jesus was ethnically a Jew and grew up with a Jewish heritage. The genealogies help to link the Old and New Testaments into the unified whole that God intended. Though Jesus argued against many human traditions that had grown up around the religion of the Bible, He always showed respect for the inspired writings of what we now call the Old Testament and the laws revealed in it. This only makes sense when you consider that Christ was the “spiritual Rock” that followed and worked with ancient Israel (1 Corinthians 10:4).

For more about the inspiration and unity of the Bible, see “Who Wrote the Bible?” and “What Is the Bible?”

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Update:

After a lot of looking and phone calls, the linoleum for the new kitchen and bathroom in the guest house is finally bought.  As there would be sheetrock chunks, loose screws and stuff on the floor while we are changing out the windows, we decided to do that before we installed it.  It is a white lino with a faint grey marble look to it.  OK, so it might get dirty, but I didn't want brown.  I am used to having a light colored lino here, and it always looks clean, even if it is dirty.  Anyway, I would rather see the dirt so I can clean it, than worry about looking at a brown floor and wondering if it is dirty.  I don't clean house on any set schedule, so dirt gets cleaned when it shows !

Worker David came back and worked a couple of mornings, so he got the old tall window out of what will be the new kitchen, and the new wide window in it's place.  He even fixed the sheetrock inside, but I got a'thinkin', and realized he hadn't put any insulation in the top and bottom where the old window had been, so I unscrewed the new sheetrock and put it in myself.  The new kitchen and bathroom will both have a few modifications and additions to the wiring, so there is no sense in taping, floating or painting yet.

Jay has been hung over, but still came to work.  We got the new wide bathroom window installed where there hadn't been one before.  It goes across the outside wall fairly high up. We have also taken out the side window in the new kitchen because it is just in the way of the plans. A smaller window will be put in on that side, only closer to the front.  Then there will be room for a stove, kind of an important asset !  It should be a good view from the kitchen with these two new windows.

Jay didn't go to church with me, so I had to load the crock-pots full of chicken gumbo and brown rice by myself.  The Bible readings were Gen. 23:1-25:18, 1 Kings 1:1-31, Luke 9:57-62.  The Teaching was about Looking Further and Deeper, about studying and getting deep into the Word.

The potluck was great and everyone enjoyed the beef roast, other dishes, and pies. It seems to fall upon me to make the garlic bread when I get there.  All my chicken gumbo was eaten.  Just a little brown rice and veggies were left in my second crock pot, so I had that with some ground buffalo the next day.

Christianity’s Hidden Apostasy. Speaking In Tongues. Update.

 

For Scripture Sunday:

Christianity’s Hidden Apostasy

"Do today’s prominent Christian doctrines and practices have biblical roots? Did the New Testament writers warn of false doctrine entering Christianity?

Several of the foundational apostles of the Church warned of non-biblical beliefs creeping into the Church.

Thousands of Christian denominations around the world are convinced that their belief system is based on the Bible—and the New Testament in particular. Are they right to believe that?

Do they have the same beliefs and practices as Jesus Christ, His apostles and His New Testament Church? Does it matter?

Many are unaware that just a few hundred years after the New Testament was completed, non-biblical doctrines moved stealthily into Christianity. At the same time many of the God-ordained biblical doctrines were belittled and abandoned. For example, religious leaders thought they could take the place of God and make certain days holy.

The great Christian apostasy had begun, and it has continued down through the ages.

The right source for doctrine

In the New Testament we find doctrines of the early Church that are utterly different from present-day mainstream beliefs.

Why do so few Christians today really look to the Bible for God-given doctrine? Why, instead, do humanly devised beliefs prevail?

Instead of teaching obedience to the Bible—as Christ and His apostles did—the later system of doctrines and beliefs abandoned biblical teachings. Thankfully, the true Church has survived the centuries and today still practices the true religion—biblical Christianity. But it is small and widely unknown."

Complete article at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/blog/christianitys-hidden-apostasy/

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 Speaking in Tongues.

"Is it unintelligible babbling no one can understand or talking in known languages for the purpose of edifying and educating?

Do you have to speak in tongues to prove you have the Holy Spirit of God?

The word for language or tongue here is the word, “glossa.” It’s in Greek and it means a known language. They were speaking in the “known languages” of the day, not mysterious babbling that no one could comprehend.

The disciples had moved from their original location to another public area where they encountered pilgrims who had come from the far reaches of the Roman Empire to be in Jerusalem during this festival season. There, there were Jews and others who were interested in the faith of Abraham. And among those nations that were gathered there, people from Parthia, Media, Mesopotamia, Libya and Rome—there were Jews and others who were called God-fearers—people who would be the seedbed for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

God, in this dramatic moment and this miracle, was showing that the message of salvation was going to go to all nations in the world, not just to Israel—the descendants of Abraham.

Now let’s go back to what was happening.

Acts 2:8 tells us everyone heard in their own dialect or language.

So again, it was a clearly understood language. There was no “new tongue” or unknown tongue here. They were new to those who spoke them—the disciples—because they had never spoken those languages before.

Their ability to speak the language of another nation had nothing to do with human training or learning—it was a miracle from God. It says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:4, NRSV).

Complete article at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-television-program/speaking-in-tongues

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Update:

We got a bit more work done on the floor in the guest house.  We replaced five more rotten floor joists. The new plywood is still just laying on the top of the joists as there is still a lot to do before it can be screwed down. 

Today we started installing the new front door.  Mostly because a weed-whacked rock hit one of the panels of the patio door and shattered it.  This happened back in June, but the little tiny pieces have been clinging together all this time.  It stayed together until we took out the door, and now there is a pile of little diamonds.  I had bought a regular front door with a leaded light panel in it and two long windows to go on each side. It should be a lot more practical than the patio door.

Jay was sick and didn't go to church with me.  I took a tomato, onion, new potato, apple, ground buffalo and quinoa casserole which was the first thing to disappear. 

The Bible readings were Psa. 103, 104, Deut. 21:10-25:19, Isa. 54:1-10, Mat 22"1-23:33. The teaching was about Christ being called the Cornerstone. 

There were a couple of new young ladies there, they had seen Perry Stone's Teaching at a local church and became interested in the 7th. day Sabbath.  We all had good food and fellowship in the dining hall. 

I left the dining hall earlier than usual as I have been wanting to go to Huntsville (TX) Church of God for quite a while now.  It is about 20 miles north of here on the freeway, and I arrived in time for the 2.30 service. 

After a couple of hymns, the short talk was about "What is Concupiscence" and about the times that it is mentioned in the Bible and how it applies to us.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concupiscence 

After three more hymns, the main teaching was "Rules for Bible Study Plus".  It was good to see old friends again.  I haven't been there for a couple of years, and some remembered me.  We had a good chat afterwards, and I finally headed back down the freeway to Willis.  It was a busy day.