What are a pygarg, chamois, coney, glede, ossifrage, and cormorant?
What does it mean to seethe (as in, thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk)?
In Deuteronomy 15:4, we have mention of a lack of poor, which upon inspection isn't contrary to Matthew 26:11 (For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.), as it refers only to the children of Israel.
And I started to seriously consider this.
Can you imagine a society built on this promise? They'd have no poor!
Can you imagine a nation with no poor?
Can you imagine a family, group, fellowship, or brotherhood, truly standing on the Lord's words and promises, claiming all the many wonders that God has clearly set aside for the children of Israel (and by proxy all earnest believers in Christ), and living in accordance with His commandments? No dissension, no strife, only love, and service!
Praise the Lord!
Also - there is an abundance propensity in the modern church, especially those fellowships built around public followings, like charismatic tele-pastors, which focus on the idea that you can lay hands on anything you desire. Abundance and prosperity are blessings, to be sure - but they have a purpose. That purpose is revealed in Deuteronomy 15:10 - Thou shalt surely given him [thy poor brother], and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
So abundance is intended to be used in blessing others with.
Another something I mentioned happened in Luke 8:43, with that woman who had an issue of blood twelve years. Of all the publicly known events a man and woman, as individuals, go through, the oddest has to be of which her disease was a magnification. The fact that she experienced it for such a prolonged state suggests a kind of anointed curse for her - to survive that long with that curse must have been unusually hard, experiencing a perpetual internal cleansing as it were - and to suffer for over a decade must have made her, much like so many of the people Jesus healed, a well known example of suffering that people just had to "take for granted".
So we have an archetypal sufferer, approach Jesus by faith (harder than most, probably had to push through more intensely than most to even touch the border of his garment because she was probably publicly shunned), and Jesus notices. Jesus is quite literally THRONGED by people, and he notices a small bleeding woman touching a small corner of his shirt. How much of a miracle is that?
Soon after, Jesus gives His disciples power and authority over devils and to cure diseases.
- What made then the right time to give His disciples that power and authority? Is it related to the fact that they could now enact their own healing, after seeing Jesus heal the woman with the dozen-year blood issue?
- Given its proximity, outside of the pointed mentioned in the last line, is there to be some implicit, or explicit, connection between the woman with a prior issue of blood twelve years and the power and authority over devils and to cure disease.
- What exactly is a disease? Is it defined the same in Greek as it is in English? Are there states or experiences we call diseases that the Greeks wouldn't, and thus aren't under this category?
- As an example - this likely includes leprosy. Does it include myopia? acne? Anything and everything ?
- Can we, as believers and followers of Christ, be deemed modern-day disciples, and thus able to lay claim on those promised premise of the power and authority over devils and the curing of diseases?
- Is the use of the word "cure" with respect to animals (as in to keep them) an intentional cultural misappropriation to reduce the efficacy of the church in the use of the word "cure" with respect to diseases?
diseases.
Psalm 71:7 "I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge" is, to my knowledge, David pouring out his heart to God. There has been an assumption in my life, that if one were to earnestly proclaim the Word as true in your life, it would be quite literally true. I believe it is one of the devices that God can use to increase your faith. If this assumption is true, I have to wonder if every verse of scripture applies to everyone. In particular this verse: Is every believer a wonder unto many?
Psalm 71:9 "Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth" is something I too am assuming is David sharing his thoughts and fears. Are we to assume that in old age, it is standard practice for God to cast us off - as if, because we're then weaker than we have been, we can't worship or praise Him as thoroughly, so it is worth less? What other edifying perspective can one bring to the table that would clarify this? What Holy-Sprit-inspired-paradigm can resolve this?
The end of this list of observations comes from Proverbs 12:5-7 ... which lists a few character associations of the righteous, as well as the wicked. The difference between those in Proverbs 12:5-7 and the earlier ones is that these seem to be retroactively descriptive ... as in, if you seek to have right thoughts, if you deliver those whose blood the wicked like in wait for, if your house stands, then the chances are you are righteous. You certainly can't guarantee, in and of yourself, that your house can stand, but you can certainly focus on right thinking and possibly be proactive when you notice others trying to pick on or do away with others - a kind of defending the weak.
How much of your own understanding of scripture comes from someone you respect, and not from reading the Word yourself?
How much of your appreciation of scripture comes from appreciating how righteous or anointed someone appears, instead of appreciation as administered by the Holy Spirit?
It is common, in these (I believe) end times, to trust in the perception of other learned men. I am not saying there is no place for such things ... but if your understanding and doctrine come from men, their perceptions, their writings, and THEIR walk in Christ, I would seriously consider setting aside some time to pray about having your OWN relationship.
I believe that each of us are called to have a personal connection with Christ - which is why I post. I'm sharing my stumbling meandering through the scripture because I claim it as a blessing to myself as well as anyone who reads it.
So that is today's call to action: Read scripture daily.
You can read the passages I reference above
You can read through one book a month, dwelling on the intricacies inherent in that book.
You can do a character study, pick one major character, and track his or her activities throughout scripture.
You can do a nation or region study, pick one major area, and track their references or uses throughout scripture.
You can do a journey study, and track exactly where various people traveled.
You can do a miracle study, evaluating where miracles happened, to whom, and how long they lasted.
You can do a promise study, evaluating all the various promises that God (or others) promise, whether they come to pass and (especially God) the list of conditions for each promise.
You can do a chronological study, comparing each character/nation/region's activities during certain time or reigns.
You can do a war study, whereby you pick a conflict, observe who was involved, what caused it, what resolved it, and what the winners and losers did.
You can do a base scripture study, which have overlap (like the first four new testament books) and track where they are the same and where they differ.
Whatever you do, my challenge is simple:
Adopt a daily habit of reading scripture. And if you pick one of the above, keep to that method, and likely your faith and relationship with God will grow.
Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
And There Were Giants...
Undoubtedly, the topic which captured me today was that of the giants that lived in the Promised Land. The sons of Anak, the Zamzummims of the Ammonites, Og the king of Bashan in the land of the giants.
From early in Genesis, the Bible mentions how the Sons of God came down to earth and had intercourse with the daughters of men, their offspring being giants which roamed the earth. The Bible mentions that Noah, the selected of God to survive the flood which would destroy the entire earth, was perfect in all his generations.
To me, this has always meant that he had no Nephilim in his bloodline; he was 100% human with absolutely no angel. According to a very interesting website I referred to during some research on this topic, the writer argued that because there were giants after the flood that a Nephilim MUST have survived the flood, possibly even stowing away on the ark.
My counter argument is this: Only Noah is touted to be perfect in all his generations. There is nothing mentioned about Noah’s wife, and therefore his sons, or his sons’ wives. In my mind, any of these other seven people could have carried the seeds/lineage of supernatural beings which surfaced after the flood.
There are a few mentions of giants prior to Deuteronomy, but once the Children of Israel arrive at the Promised Land, out pops the whole story as the many races of giants are mentioned. Based on God’s desire to wipe out a world infested with fallen angels, the women they defiled, and their half-human, half-angel offspring, it is understandable that He would also wish the remainder (living in the Promised Land) to be eradicated as well.
Not only this, but God had already given express instructions on how to eradicate them and every shred of their corrupt and unnatural culture.
In my brief research on this topic, I came across one of the most electrifying pieces of information ever. I am fascinated by the larger-than-life structures erected all around the world, many of which cannot be reconstructed using all of today’s technology and machinery. I speak of the monolithic structures of South America, of the colossal creations of ancient England, of my favorite wonder… the Pyramids at Giza, specifically the Great Pyramid.
Bereft of markings and indications of its creator, seeming to lack a reason for existing, loaded with astronomical and geophysical wonder and positioning, hinting at wonders and intense depth of knowledge of its creators, the Great Pyramid at Giza has baffled mankind from the moment of discovery.
To this day, we cannot figure out how to build such a wonder, much less who built it or why it was created. On the website I discovered, the author posited that the Nephilim were, in fact, the builders of these great structures, possessing the physical size and strength to maneuver those massive blocks into position.
Knowing what I’ve learned about the hidden knowledge within the Great Pyramid and coming from the point of view that it could have been built by these half-human, half-angel beings, is it not possible they may have carried a level of knowledge and information not all humans were privy to?
In some of the books of the Apocrypha and other ancient writings, the Nephilim are referred to as having knowledge which it was never meant for man to have. Because of their fall and subsequent breeding with human women, the knowledge they possessed became shared with mankind… The Book of Enoch tells how knowledge of warfare and all uses of metals was shared, along with the beautifying of the eyelids and costly stones and all coloring tinctures. Also how the people were taught enchantments and root-cutting, astrology, constellations, knowledge of the clouds, signs of the earth, signs of the sun, the course of the moon by the Nephilim.
Man fell in the Garden of Eden by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Could it not be that some of this knowledge was taught by these fallen angels? Might it not be that the fruit was but the first step in a history of learning that which was never meant for man to learn?
It is sad that the pursuit of knowledge was what separated man from God; that driving curiosity to know more and more…
From early in Genesis, the Bible mentions how the Sons of God came down to earth and had intercourse with the daughters of men, their offspring being giants which roamed the earth. The Bible mentions that Noah, the selected of God to survive the flood which would destroy the entire earth, was perfect in all his generations.
To me, this has always meant that he had no Nephilim in his bloodline; he was 100% human with absolutely no angel. According to a very interesting website I referred to during some research on this topic, the writer argued that because there were giants after the flood that a Nephilim MUST have survived the flood, possibly even stowing away on the ark.
My counter argument is this: Only Noah is touted to be perfect in all his generations. There is nothing mentioned about Noah’s wife, and therefore his sons, or his sons’ wives. In my mind, any of these other seven people could have carried the seeds/lineage of supernatural beings which surfaced after the flood.
There are a few mentions of giants prior to Deuteronomy, but once the Children of Israel arrive at the Promised Land, out pops the whole story as the many races of giants are mentioned. Based on God’s desire to wipe out a world infested with fallen angels, the women they defiled, and their half-human, half-angel offspring, it is understandable that He would also wish the remainder (living in the Promised Land) to be eradicated as well.
Not only this, but God had already given express instructions on how to eradicate them and every shred of their corrupt and unnatural culture.
In my brief research on this topic, I came across one of the most electrifying pieces of information ever. I am fascinated by the larger-than-life structures erected all around the world, many of which cannot be reconstructed using all of today’s technology and machinery. I speak of the monolithic structures of South America, of the colossal creations of ancient England, of my favorite wonder… the Pyramids at Giza, specifically the Great Pyramid.
Bereft of markings and indications of its creator, seeming to lack a reason for existing, loaded with astronomical and geophysical wonder and positioning, hinting at wonders and intense depth of knowledge of its creators, the Great Pyramid at Giza has baffled mankind from the moment of discovery.
To this day, we cannot figure out how to build such a wonder, much less who built it or why it was created. On the website I discovered, the author posited that the Nephilim were, in fact, the builders of these great structures, possessing the physical size and strength to maneuver those massive blocks into position.
Knowing what I’ve learned about the hidden knowledge within the Great Pyramid and coming from the point of view that it could have been built by these half-human, half-angel beings, is it not possible they may have carried a level of knowledge and information not all humans were privy to?
In some of the books of the Apocrypha and other ancient writings, the Nephilim are referred to as having knowledge which it was never meant for man to have. Because of their fall and subsequent breeding with human women, the knowledge they possessed became shared with mankind… The Book of Enoch tells how knowledge of warfare and all uses of metals was shared, along with the beautifying of the eyelids and costly stones and all coloring tinctures. Also how the people were taught enchantments and root-cutting, astrology, constellations, knowledge of the clouds, signs of the earth, signs of the sun, the course of the moon by the Nephilim.
Man fell in the Garden of Eden by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Could it not be that some of this knowledge was taught by these fallen angels? Might it not be that the fruit was but the first step in a history of learning that which was never meant for man to learn?
It is sad that the pursuit of knowledge was what separated man from God; that driving curiosity to know more and more…
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Echoes of an Erased Past
It jumped out at me and grabbed my attention. So many times I’ve read this verse, yet now it struck me with a depth and level of profundity I had never before experienced. Numbers 33:52 set forth this mandate from God, “Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:”
Over the past week or so, I have watched several movies which interconnected on the plane of ancient Egypt, its history and rediscovery. One of the most amazing documentaries I watched was a BBC mini-series on the rediscovery of Egypt through its pharaohs, its architecture, and its writings and paintings.
Carter, financed by Lord Carnarvon, believed in the existence of an unrobed tomb; he searched his entire life to find the actual remains of Tutankhamen. Giovanni Belzoni struggled to understand Egypt from the perspective of architecture, statues, and artifacts, racing against his arch-nemesis, the ruthless trader Drovetti, to preserve them for posterity. Champolion sought to know the ancient Egyptians through their writings, translating the Rosetta Stone and unlocking the key to their world while seeking answers to his own search for the origins of mankind.
It wasn’t until I read this verse in the Bible that I realized the importance of God’s instructions written there. Without the people, the architecture and statuary, the writings and pictures, a civilization will be completely lost and forgotten. If none of these things remain, how will anyone ever piece that civilization back together again years hence?
I suppose it was my immersion in the importance the way a civilization records daily activities and sets them down in such a way as to be understood years down the road that made me to realize the utter horror that verse in Numbers describes.
God knew the importance of these three areas in the preservation of a people and culture. He also knew the inhabitants of the Promised Land were completely corrupt and evil in His sight, referring to this fact earlier in the Bible when He said the wickedness of the people was not yet complete.
God had once destroyed the entire world because man was continually evil and did no good; only one man was righteous enough to be chosen to repopulate the earth after its destruction… he with his wife, three sons and their wives.
Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed suddenly and so completely that only powdery ashes remain to this day in the midst of a completely unfertile piece of land. God would have saved the city if ten righteous people had been within it, but all the inhabitants were extremely wicked and had to be destroyed.
Now, here at the Promised Land, the wickedness of the inhabitants had come to full flower and God instructed the Children of Israel how exactly to remove them not just from the land, but from history itself. They were to drive out the people and remove them. They were to destroy all pictures, and I believe this includes any form of writing and engraving. They were to tear down all statuary and idols. They were to “quite pluck down” every shred of architecture.
The people, the culture, the civilization was to be completely obliterated, never to be remembered or reconstructed again. A very intense picture of what happens to a people who forgets their God and goes a whoring after others.
Over the past week or so, I have watched several movies which interconnected on the plane of ancient Egypt, its history and rediscovery. One of the most amazing documentaries I watched was a BBC mini-series on the rediscovery of Egypt through its pharaohs, its architecture, and its writings and paintings.
Carter, financed by Lord Carnarvon, believed in the existence of an unrobed tomb; he searched his entire life to find the actual remains of Tutankhamen. Giovanni Belzoni struggled to understand Egypt from the perspective of architecture, statues, and artifacts, racing against his arch-nemesis, the ruthless trader Drovetti, to preserve them for posterity. Champolion sought to know the ancient Egyptians through their writings, translating the Rosetta Stone and unlocking the key to their world while seeking answers to his own search for the origins of mankind.
It wasn’t until I read this verse in the Bible that I realized the importance of God’s instructions written there. Without the people, the architecture and statuary, the writings and pictures, a civilization will be completely lost and forgotten. If none of these things remain, how will anyone ever piece that civilization back together again years hence?
I suppose it was my immersion in the importance the way a civilization records daily activities and sets them down in such a way as to be understood years down the road that made me to realize the utter horror that verse in Numbers describes.
God knew the importance of these three areas in the preservation of a people and culture. He also knew the inhabitants of the Promised Land were completely corrupt and evil in His sight, referring to this fact earlier in the Bible when He said the wickedness of the people was not yet complete.
God had once destroyed the entire world because man was continually evil and did no good; only one man was righteous enough to be chosen to repopulate the earth after its destruction… he with his wife, three sons and their wives.
Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed suddenly and so completely that only powdery ashes remain to this day in the midst of a completely unfertile piece of land. God would have saved the city if ten righteous people had been within it, but all the inhabitants were extremely wicked and had to be destroyed.
Now, here at the Promised Land, the wickedness of the inhabitants had come to full flower and God instructed the Children of Israel how exactly to remove them not just from the land, but from history itself. They were to drive out the people and remove them. They were to destroy all pictures, and I believe this includes any form of writing and engraving. They were to tear down all statuary and idols. They were to “quite pluck down” every shred of architecture.
The people, the culture, the civilization was to be completely obliterated, never to be remembered or reconstructed again. A very intense picture of what happens to a people who forgets their God and goes a whoring after others.
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