This is the first week after the Bible movie on History Channel culminated. And like I said, I want to continue this new trend of visualizing the Bible. I happen to be reading Ezekiel this week and read chapters 25-28 today.
In chapter 25, Ezekiel denounces Moab, Philistia, and Ammon.
The next three chapters is a long lament over Tyre and Sidon in the country of Phoenicia. In chapter 28, this is the chapter that people interpret to mean that Satan started out as an angel, became arrogant, and God threw him out of heaven.
Now that I've read verses 11-19, I do now see that interpretation. I think most of those chapters really are about the Phoenicians and their arrogance. But verses 11-19 of chapter 28 specifically mention Eden and a person falling from heaven's height.
I struggle with this because there is no obvious passage that tells us the origin of Satan. It's alluded to when prophets denounce prosperous nations who have turned their backs on God.
While those passages are vague, Genesis 1-3 are very specific that God created a beautiful and perfect world with no flaws, death, sickness, thorns, or pain. All that occurred as a curse to the earth when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree. To blindly follow the secular scientists who were not there when the earth was created and more than the creationists were, and try to harmonize absolute contradictions of long ages of death and suffering before man even existed is to destroy the Gospel and our faith in a God who is truly good.
But here is what I know: The earth is not old. Adam and Eve really did eat fruit God told them not to eat. Eve really was prompted by Satan speaking through a serpent. Satan is a real being who really is the source of all evil which will all be destroyed when Christ returns to earth.
So, God created a perfect world. But in his wisdom, he allowed Satan to live there as a chance for his two new humans to truly decide between right and wrong, between following God's Word or following their hearts. These were the only people ever created who had free will. No one else has had it since then.
So we can rule out the possibility of tragedy before Adam sinned. But we can also see that God always planned on man sinning and sending his Son to live and die in their place, and then to rise from the dead showing that evil is only a passing trend.
Why did God plan this? He never told us. He never really made a clear story of Satan's fall either, though it is between the lines. God revealed enough to us that we needed to know, but there is no more we need to know. We simply must trust that he has the only authority to define a day and that the earth was truly his prize creation and that death and evil are not natural. They are just here for a time in God's wisdom. We must only remain at Jesus's feet in awe at his wisdom and generosity.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
F is for Fast
Today was the 5K for the crisis pregnancy center where I volunteer. 99 people were faster than me, but I did not get last place sadly. But it was good. We trailed all over Olde Town Conyers, this year going by Rockdale County High School. I was also sad that the trail did not lead us through the cemetery.
Also different this year is a lot of the Refuge regulars were missing. There were only 5 people I knew who were running and then three staff at the registration tables. The people who did come seemed very enthusiastic to raise money for the center.
Now I just need to stop noticing my legs every time I stand up. And also see if I can train for more 5Ks.
Also different this year is a lot of the Refuge regulars were missing. There were only 5 people I knew who were running and then three staff at the registration tables. The people who did come seemed very enthusiastic to raise money for the center.
Now I just need to stop noticing my legs every time I stand up. And also see if I can train for more 5Ks.
Friday, April 5, 2013
E is for Ezekiel Eight
This is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible. In this chapter, the Lord takes Ezekiel in spirit to the temple and shows all the corruption going on inside it. He also sees the perpetrators saying, "God doesn't see!" Verses 7-18 show the image of priests in a dark room burning incense to these idol images on the walls, women on the temple porch weeping over Tammuz, and priests on another porch worshiping the rising sun.
This corruption did not happen overnight. Probably some revolutionary guy came and told one guy that drawing images on the wall would enhance the worship of YHWH, and so he started doing it, and before you know it, there's a trend of burning incense to images in the temple when God clearly said you shall not bow before graven images. Maybe they justified it because they weren't bowing. I don't know.
I don't have the time to research Tammuz, but if I recall, she was some nature goddess who died every year. The women mourned over her at God's temple, the temple of the God who said you shall have no gods before me. I don't know if maybe some woman came along and decided that God could be portrayed as a woman, and when seasons change, it's like she's dying. But they find some justification for giving some woman equal or higher status to God and probably still insist that they don't worship her.
And then the men on the back porch worshiping the sun. Religious groups have always loved nature. I like nature. It definitely reflects God's majesty. However, nature is not god. God is like the sun, but the sun is just a ball of gas he created to give light and seasons to the earth. I think what started as spiritual nature walks slowly turned into nature worship.
These things still happen in our churches. People will bring something like yoga, practice it in church and assure the people that they are only stretching and relaxing. Next thing you know, they are following Hindu prayer rituals that actually invited demons into their lives, and all inside the house that goes under Christ's name, the one God revealed to the world as His salvation and God's body on earth. The same God who said there shall be no other gods before me.
Then it slowly grows into the church accepting homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, affairs, pedophilia, following your hearts, and anti-Christians such as Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Rob Bell, and even go so far as to endorse Planned Parenthood.
Israel went into exile after this episode. Our Church is about to undergo a serious cleansing, and it breaks my heart to see the people I love give into these new age practices and teachers without consulting the Bible. In fact, if they read the Bible, they would be able to identify them in all their subtlety. But I hope the ones I love still in these kinds of churches find protection in Christ's blood and his mercy to lead them away from the false practices and teachers who deny that Christ is the only way to God the Father.
This corruption did not happen overnight. Probably some revolutionary guy came and told one guy that drawing images on the wall would enhance the worship of YHWH, and so he started doing it, and before you know it, there's a trend of burning incense to images in the temple when God clearly said you shall not bow before graven images. Maybe they justified it because they weren't bowing. I don't know.
I don't have the time to research Tammuz, but if I recall, she was some nature goddess who died every year. The women mourned over her at God's temple, the temple of the God who said you shall have no gods before me. I don't know if maybe some woman came along and decided that God could be portrayed as a woman, and when seasons change, it's like she's dying. But they find some justification for giving some woman equal or higher status to God and probably still insist that they don't worship her.
And then the men on the back porch worshiping the sun. Religious groups have always loved nature. I like nature. It definitely reflects God's majesty. However, nature is not god. God is like the sun, but the sun is just a ball of gas he created to give light and seasons to the earth. I think what started as spiritual nature walks slowly turned into nature worship.
These things still happen in our churches. People will bring something like yoga, practice it in church and assure the people that they are only stretching and relaxing. Next thing you know, they are following Hindu prayer rituals that actually invited demons into their lives, and all inside the house that goes under Christ's name, the one God revealed to the world as His salvation and God's body on earth. The same God who said there shall be no other gods before me.
Then it slowly grows into the church accepting homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, affairs, pedophilia, following your hearts, and anti-Christians such as Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Rob Bell, and even go so far as to endorse Planned Parenthood.
Israel went into exile after this episode. Our Church is about to undergo a serious cleansing, and it breaks my heart to see the people I love give into these new age practices and teachers without consulting the Bible. In fact, if they read the Bible, they would be able to identify them in all their subtlety. But I hope the ones I love still in these kinds of churches find protection in Christ's blood and his mercy to lead them away from the false practices and teachers who deny that Christ is the only way to God the Father.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
D: Death is not Natural
If you read the third chapter of Genesis, you will plainly see that there was no death in God's good creation until man sinned. When Jesus comes and takes us to the New Jerusalem, there will be no death after that.
I cannot understand the people who think that there were millions of years of death and suffering before man was created, much less before he sinned. You people baffle me. It was this fact alone that made me a Young-Earth Creationist. It baffles me still that even those who believe the Bible will still insist that the earth is older than 6000 years despite the wonderful research presented by Answers in Genesis that makes long ages not only impossible but laughable.
But you must remember, if there were death and cancer and thorns before man sinned, then God's good creation would not have been very good. And when Jesus came to save us, there would really be nothing to save us from since somehow, there was already death and sin didn't bring it. We could no believe Paul when he says the last enemy to be defeated is death as death was in God's perfect design after all.
But I know God is good. And I know he sent Jesus to die to save us no only from sin, but from sickness and death. Therefore death is not natural, and we are free from compromising our faith with mythological science fiction by atheists who are not impressed by us anyway.
People will give one good argument: what about Satan? God had him roaming the earth before man sinned. God also is good and plans all things for his glory. Clearly, he gave Adam and Eve what no one else had: free will. He preferred his creatures to come to him when they have another choice, and he always planned on Eve and Adam making the wrong choice and always planned on sending Jesus to die for the sins of his elect so that the universe would know God's compassion and forgiveness, giving Him the glory. But I'll close this with Genesis 3 and God's curses upon the sinners of Eden to show us the unnatural things that occurred to show the opposite of what God sees as perfection.
Genesis 3:14-19,
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
I cannot understand the people who think that there were millions of years of death and suffering before man was created, much less before he sinned. You people baffle me. It was this fact alone that made me a Young-Earth Creationist. It baffles me still that even those who believe the Bible will still insist that the earth is older than 6000 years despite the wonderful research presented by Answers in Genesis that makes long ages not only impossible but laughable.
But you must remember, if there were death and cancer and thorns before man sinned, then God's good creation would not have been very good. And when Jesus came to save us, there would really be nothing to save us from since somehow, there was already death and sin didn't bring it. We could no believe Paul when he says the last enemy to be defeated is death as death was in God's perfect design after all.
But I know God is good. And I know he sent Jesus to die to save us no only from sin, but from sickness and death. Therefore death is not natural, and we are free from compromising our faith with mythological science fiction by atheists who are not impressed by us anyway.
People will give one good argument: what about Satan? God had him roaming the earth before man sinned. God also is good and plans all things for his glory. Clearly, he gave Adam and Eve what no one else had: free will. He preferred his creatures to come to him when they have another choice, and he always planned on Eve and Adam making the wrong choice and always planned on sending Jesus to die for the sins of his elect so that the universe would know God's compassion and forgiveness, giving Him the glory. But I'll close this with Genesis 3 and God's curses upon the sinners of Eden to show us the unnatural things that occurred to show the opposite of what God sees as perfection.
Genesis 3:14-19,
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
C is for Can't Sleep
So, it's not exactly a bad reason I can't sleep. It was my birthday today, so for lunch I had a whole lasagna, and for dinner I had a shake from Steak and Shake. I think this is why I'm not tired plus the hour nap I took at 2:30.
But I did visualize what I want in a wedding reception. Once I realized that it does not need to be a full sit-down meal, a load went off my shoulders. Now thinking of a wedding is keeping me up.
I am very blessed this year. For so long I've wanted a companion to go through my life with me. I did not find that person until this year. Before I met many people who were friends but did not keep in touch with me. I tried to make some people a companion and they thought I wanted more. Now, Tim is here, his family absolutely loves me, I feel whole again, and I thank God every day for him.
My only thing now is to continue to love God more. No person is worth the exuberant praise I could give them. They are simply gifts from God. But God is worthy, and I praise him for the people he sent into my life in the past year who brought me back to confidence when I was hurting. The people who didn't abandon me in my most insane times.
But I did visualize what I want in a wedding reception. Once I realized that it does not need to be a full sit-down meal, a load went off my shoulders. Now thinking of a wedding is keeping me up.
I am very blessed this year. For so long I've wanted a companion to go through my life with me. I did not find that person until this year. Before I met many people who were friends but did not keep in touch with me. I tried to make some people a companion and they thought I wanted more. Now, Tim is here, his family absolutely loves me, I feel whole again, and I thank God every day for him.
My only thing now is to continue to love God more. No person is worth the exuberant praise I could give them. They are simply gifts from God. But God is worthy, and I praise him for the people he sent into my life in the past year who brought me back to confidence when I was hurting. The people who didn't abandon me in my most insane times.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
B is for Bible movie and Birthday
It's April 2, my birthday! And that means the Bible movie from History is coming onto DVD!
My birthday wish: for you to read the actual Bible. Roma Downey and her husband did the best job trying to honor the Word of God despite the countless liberties taken. They did show that man is truly sinful, that Jesus is truly God (finally, when he told the Pharisees "I am"), and that he's truly alive. I loved the last hour of the resurrection and Acts. Now, like most movies, the book is even better.
I think I was more offended by their sponsors. I think both Roman and Protestant Catholics can both uproar when they showed a frickin' IUD commercial! AGGHHH! Why did they show that during the Bible movie? I bet they even had a Catholic Come Home commercial right after it. It's like, even History Channel can find better, more respectful ways to support abortifacient techniques.
There's also the honorable mention of Wal-Mart, Captain Morgan, DirecTV, and a millions Christian Mingle commercials.
And finally, they had a PSA for "No Church Left Behind." Who should be in charge of that but TD Jakes? The same TD Jakes who does not believe the three members of the Trinity co-existed from eternity as 3 persons but one God. He preaches prosperity ministries that always leave people dissatisfied with God. And Roma and Mr. Roma want to continue the Bible TV-series with "experts" like Jakes and Rick Warren. AAAGGGHHH! We have so many good theologians out there such as R.C. Sproul and Voddie Baucham. Why do we need the aforementioned Bozos?
But yeah, it's my Birthday. Read the real Bible and see how fulfilling it really is.
My birthday wish: for you to read the actual Bible. Roma Downey and her husband did the best job trying to honor the Word of God despite the countless liberties taken. They did show that man is truly sinful, that Jesus is truly God (finally, when he told the Pharisees "I am"), and that he's truly alive. I loved the last hour of the resurrection and Acts. Now, like most movies, the book is even better.
I think I was more offended by their sponsors. I think both Roman and Protestant Catholics can both uproar when they showed a frickin' IUD commercial! AGGHHH! Why did they show that during the Bible movie? I bet they even had a Catholic Come Home commercial right after it. It's like, even History Channel can find better, more respectful ways to support abortifacient techniques.
There's also the honorable mention of Wal-Mart, Captain Morgan, DirecTV, and a millions Christian Mingle commercials.
And finally, they had a PSA for "No Church Left Behind." Who should be in charge of that but TD Jakes? The same TD Jakes who does not believe the three members of the Trinity co-existed from eternity as 3 persons but one God. He preaches prosperity ministries that always leave people dissatisfied with God. And Roma and Mr. Roma want to continue the Bible TV-series with "experts" like Jakes and Rick Warren. AAAGGGHHH! We have so many good theologians out there such as R.C. Sproul and Voddie Baucham. Why do we need the aforementioned Bozos?
But yeah, it's my Birthday. Read the real Bible and see how fulfilling it really is.
Monday, April 1, 2013
A is for Achoo
It looks like I'm going to unofficially do the A to Z challenge for April. I don't have the logo on my website, but I can still do it.
A is for Achoo. This is a video of my cats. Most of the time they are eating, but at the end, there's some action, and they show one of the many reasons I love them.
My cats, Leah and Rachel, are the first best thing that happened to me last year. First as in chronological order. With pets, you have more to talk about with people. With pets, you start to realize some of God's love. One cat, Rachel, is a southern belle and kind of ditzy. Leah, on the other hand, is always in trouble. I still let them live with me and still delight in them because they're like sheep without a shepherd, you can't really train them, or at least I don't have the patience to do so in a consistent manner, and you must find many ways to get them to stop some of their bad habits.
But they're my ninny-heads, and they are here to stay.
A is for Achoo. This is a video of my cats. Most of the time they are eating, but at the end, there's some action, and they show one of the many reasons I love them.
My cats, Leah and Rachel, are the first best thing that happened to me last year. First as in chronological order. With pets, you have more to talk about with people. With pets, you start to realize some of God's love. One cat, Rachel, is a southern belle and kind of ditzy. Leah, on the other hand, is always in trouble. I still let them live with me and still delight in them because they're like sheep without a shepherd, you can't really train them, or at least I don't have the patience to do so in a consistent manner, and you must find many ways to get them to stop some of their bad habits.
But they're my ninny-heads, and they are here to stay.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)