Archive for March, 2023
I’m That Guy at Times
Saul’s failure in this caused his downfall. In 1 Samuel 14, he makes another mistake. There, he vows that anyone who ate anything until he was avenged on his enemies would be cursed (v 24). So here he is telling his fighting men that they cannot eat anything. Not a good decision when men need strength to fight. This created a problem for his own son, Jonathan, who had not been aware of Saul’s decree. We see in that same chapter that God had already withdrawn from Saul in refusing to answer his queries (1 Samuel 14: 37).
Day of Vengeance?
In Romans 1:20-23, Paul goes onto explain that we can know God exists because His attributes are clearly seen in His Creation. It is inherent in each person. Because God knows His attributes are clearly visible (and He did that so there would be no excuse), it means that people who reject Him do so deliberately. Because of this, God is righteous and just in eventually giving them over to become fully enveloped by their growing delusion so that they cannot see truth at all.
Revelation 16: Bowls of Wrath
These seven bowl judgments of God are symbols of His power and justice. He is demonstrating that He is in control of all things. He is a just and righteous God and will not allow those who reject Him to go unpunished. God is love, but He is also a righteous judge who will ultimately bring justice to those who oppose Him. In the end, we must all stand before God and give an account of our actions. May we all seek to live our lives in a way that honors and pleases Him.
Honest Appraisal
To approach God, we must be honest. He sees our dishonesty anyway, through our lies and excuses just like Adam and Eve. The serpent is the only one who did not offer an excuse. In fact, never replied to God and note God never asked the serpent a question. Both Adam and Eve had excuses for their sinful behavior. Yet, God’s love was abundantly apparent. He gave them eternal hope that day in the garden, that they would be extricated from their circumstances and it would come through a Savior.
Like a Fungus…
I’m sure the powers that be intend to ultimately cancel God altogether and even lock that closet door with secure locks forcing all believers into the underground, out of mainstream society. While today’s society is little different from Sodom and Gomorrah or Gibeah of Judges that we’ve discussed, there’s a tremendous amount of violence and a growing percentage of it seems to be gratuitous, meaning it’s people attacking people based solely on race or culture or just because they feel like it. This is exactly what the residents of the three cities mentioned did. They went after people who were outsiders, because they wanted to send a strong message – “You’re not wanted here. Go away!”
Avoid Sinking
As if all this is not enough to become incensed over, the Levite has the audacity to bring the concubine home, then he uses what happened to her (as if he really cared), to exonerate himself! Instead of giving her a proper burial, to show some sense of honoring her, he cuts her up into 12 pieces as though he’s cutting up an animal sacrifice and sends one piece to the elders of each tribe of Israel. They get the message and wonder aloud what to do about it.
Easy to Fall
Now Micah was by no means innocent and clearly deceived because he rejected God’s rule. He knew what he was getting and incorrectly believed that God would bless him because he now had a Levite in his house. He was clearly deceived into thinking this but why? It all started back in Judges 17:3 when we learned Micah had a habit of worshiping idols and using divination to gain knowledge and “wisdom.” Too many Christians can’t find their way around the Bible, but they all want God to “speak” to them and above all things, “bless” them.
Our New Default…
Before we became Christians, we had specific “defaults” in how we reacted to situations. These often stemmed from the way we were brought up, at least in part, as well as the personality we had and how that personality developed in us over the years. How things impacted us as a child and how we saw our parents react toward one another and God (if God was in that equation), created a pattern for the way we ourselves learned to deal with situations. Interestingly enough though, our default to the many situations we faced in life was a learned process. We may have seen how our parents handled stress for instance, and we began imitating that reaction so that it stayed with us and carried us over into adulthood. Now, that pattern may be firmly established within us so that we find ourselves reacting to stress nearly the same way our parents did and taught us through osmosis.
It’s Been Happening for Awhile
A reader sent me a link to a fairly long article but very much worth the read and I would encourage readers to read it.[2] The article starts out with an introduction written by Dr. Stanley Monteith for Thomas Horn years ago, but what is fascinating about that it is that it is still pertinent today, if not more so. I would encourage readers to head over there when done here to read the article for themselves. It goes into great detail about how powerful people chose to do what they could to create a feudal system for the entire world where there would be two levels to society: the lords and the serfs. Anyone who doesn’t think that this plan is very much under way is deceived or non-thinking. It is happening and the Bible indicates that it will happen and will come to fruition. When it does, the son of perdition himself – the Antichrist – will step up to rule that global kingdom.
Will AI Be Part of the Coming Deception?
Satan will create such awe-inspiring supernatural signs and wonders through Antichrist that people will be easily deceived by them because there will be no rational or natural explanation for them. Clearly, at least to my way of thinking, those supernatural signs and wonders will not be AI. They will be far, far above what AI can produce and that is what will deceive people all over the world because in comparing it to AI, there will be no comparison. Satan can create tornadoes (Job 1), and other things (pitting armies against armies). He didn’t use AI for that. He actually had the power to create those things. Why would he need to use AI? He doesn’t and won’t.
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