Posts
post 089
One significant topic of argument that always seems to come up with those Americans resistant to Christianity is the idea that Christianity tries to force its view on everyone else. This could not be further from the truth.
But the argument is quite valid in that most American Christians are also confused about this concept.
I have gone to great lengths in previous posts to show that by far the majority of our founders were Christian, and intentionally created a nation based on Christian values found in the Bible.
But the legitimate opposing argument shows that they also intentionally kept Christianity from being legislated to the people by our laws. To them this means we were not created as a Christian nation.
This has created confusion among both Christian and non-Christian Americans only in the last few generations. The confusion is a result of ignorance, and that ignorance is the reason why both views are apparently championed by the 1st Article of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abidging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So today I attempt to shed some light on this issue and what it means both nationally and personally.
1. By documented evidence throughout my blog I have shown that our founders were at least extremely learned in the doctrine of Christianity though an education of the Scriptures.
2. Therefore we can safely conclude that they understood the Principles of Christianity. *1
3. From cover to cover the New Testament is the story of Jesus as the Messiah, which is the core value of Christianity.
4. Nowhere, not one time, does the teaching of Jesus suggest anyone, anywhere, at any time be forced to follow the values or doctrine or teaching of Christianity.
5. Yet Jesus does teach the natural principle of cause and effect, or consequences for actions. And the scriptures are quite clear at explaining the cost of neglecting these principles, both personally, and nationally. *2
6. Understanding this concept, and having seen the proof of this in history *3 as well as in action, *4 our founders created a nation, which at the very least allowed for the free exercise, (first amendment) and encouraged the instruction and practice of these principles. *5
7. Our founders followed the example and teaching of Jesus by ensuring that the government could not, and would not force any religion on the people, including Christianity, while at the same time ensuring the government could not restrict the practice and influence of the same. This is the point of the First Amendment.
8. But having insured that, there are substantial proofs that they never intended restraint for the values of the people from influencing government. In fact they expected it. and went so far as to warn that for this nation to prosper, the people must continue the Christian influence on the government. *6
9. The entire concept in question is a matter of authority; Does the Government rule our lives? Or do the people rule the Government?
* * *
If the government is to rule the lives of its people, then Americans are obligated to obey the decisions of the government. If this is the case then most assuredly the first Amendment keeps Christianity out of the lives of the people;
• Congress makes laws we are to follow,
• Congress cannot make laws respecting a particular religion,
• Therefore the people are not allowed to practice religion because there is no law written allowing it.
But if the government is to be ruled by the people, then the religion-less laws written will reflect the values of the people. If the people are Christian then the laws will reflect Christian values. If the people are Pagan the laws will reflect Pagan values.
It is quite clear, that our government has always been of the second variety; ruled by the people as evidenced by the laws written showing the reflective changes from Christian to Pagan values over time;
Less than one generation ago the word “pregnant” was not permitted on broadcast TV, and married couples were shown sleeping in separate beds, all because of lawful government regulation influenced by Christian values held by the authors of the regulations.
Today... well you get the idea.
Christians are not trying to legislate their views onto Americans, Yet agreeing with the founders, they can see that America is paying a very high price for violating the Principles of Christianity just as Jesus has warned. *7 And so Christians are begging for America to return to her previous values, not through legislation, but through individual reformation which will influence regulations because the regulators will be reformed men voted in by reformed citizens which have again become the majority of Americans.
Christians know that if you put men with Christian values back in government, the government would again be influenced by their values. But to put such men into government, the majority of the people must desire those values, and cast votes for these men.
This influence of values is not a State Church, though the results are laws based upon certain values perhaps held by some religions. If the Laws are primarily based upon Christian values, then the nation can be called Christian even though the government has no direct Christian connection.
So if you cannot directly legislate morality, how does a society reign in those with dishonorable values destructive to the community, yet not actually unlawful?
In the old days they shunned such a person.
There is no law, there is no demand to conform. That person is free to conduct their lives as they choose. But the people of that society, choosing a standard for their society, simply shun the individual, making their life uncomfortable to remain while maintaining unacceptable conduct.
That person has several choices; change behavior, remain shunned, or leave.
The individual is still completely free, but consequences are met.
The fear of such was quite a motivation to refrain from poor choices.
This refrain most often successfully resulted in the avoidance of nature’s consequences, which in principle were supposed to be worse than the action of being shunned.
Of course this too was abused and corrupted in time as all things are.
Today our Pagan values look on such action as disgusting and reprehensible, narrow minded and barbaric. That is because our values have changed. And with it, our standard of living. Today America’s values are proud to accept every evil imaginable under the pretence of Tolerance. *8 The only values we do not accept are the Christian ones. Today those with Christian values are shunned in circles where they are not wanted. The action is the same, only the values have changed.
This is how our government was designed.
It is working exactly as it was intended to work.
The values of the people governed, influence the government.
I have no problem with this design,
even though the governed are now primarily Pagan and therefore the government is now influenced primarily with Pagan values.
Yet apparently our present Administration still has a problem with our form of government;
They cry; “We need change.”
Why?
Because it is clear to all, that things here have gone very, very wrong.
But the Christians and their values are blamed!
Incredible!
Christ says in effect;
Live and do whatever you want. The choice is completely yours.
But know that the laws of nature cannot be broken, I know, I wrote them.
If you follow my suggested way of life, you will be blessed. If you reject my suggested way of life, you will be cursed and destroyed, Just as the law of gravity works; you can kick against it, or adapt to it. The choice is yours, and so are the consequences.
I am not doing this to you! It is the law of nature. I am simply trying to help you by showing it to you before you have to experience it!
In our great wisdom we understand the law of gravity. We even play around with experimentation to overcome it, but we never deny it. and we don’t hate God for it.
Yet we are still too slow minded to recognize most of these other principles Jesus has shown us, even though the consequences stare us right in the face!
This is because in our stubbornness we blame God for our troubles, just as a child in the store screaming; “You hate me!” when his mother will not buy him candy.
In his simple, stubborn, self-centered mind he cannot see the wisdom of the one who loves him.
Jesus is actually weeping over the condition of our ruined nation, just as he wept over Jerusalem 2000 years ago. *9 The reason is the same: The rejection of our Savior.
This entire concept works for America as it does for Israel, it works for the individual as it does for the nation, that’s because these are universal laws of nature.
We expect gravity to work here as it does there. This is a no brainer.
Unlike Allah, God has no desire to force you to do anything. It is not He who makes your life miserable for his own pride, it is the law of nature which you have violated. God simply uses the consequences to gently lead you back into the right way if you are willing. The more stubborn you get, the harsher the consequences, not because he is forcing you to bend to his will, but because you kick against the principles of nature. This too should be a no brainer.
God begs you not to do bad things.
But he gives you freedom to do whatever you want.
So men do bad things because they want.
And people complain that if there was a loving God, why did he let it happen?
He must.
Because if he didn’t let it happen, he would be a tyrant.
The choice is not God’s, it is ours.
And so are the consequences.
Which breaks God’s heart.
God loves you with all his heart.
If your life sucks,
Turn to him for answers, try following his suggestions.
You will be shocked at the results!
This is the Christian way.
This is all Christians want for America.
This is what our founders had in mind when they established this nation.
Recap:
God instructs us in successful principles.
We establish a government based on those principles.
We follow those principles and are blessed.
We get proud of our success and forget the principles.
We turn from those principles and are then ruined.
We blame God for our condition.
And so demand “change” from the original principles… which we failed to follow!
Show me again, where is the wisdom in this?
* * *
*1 http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/01/part-2-of-4-religion-in-government.html
Part 2. Our founders created our form of government based on values they intentionally got primarily from the Bible.
*2 Leviticus 26:1-13 the blessing of doing the right thing
Leviticus 26:14-39 the curses of doing the wrong thing
Joshuah 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Judges 2:10-15 “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of the spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.”
Etc. etc. etc.
*3 The Scriptures are an incredible documentation of history from God’s point of view. Our founders were keenly aware of God’s provision through obedience, and his wrath through disobedience as evidenced by many quotes such as this one:
“It is to be regretted, but so I believe the facts to be, that except the Bible there is not a true history in the world. Whatever may be the virtue, discernment, and industry of the writers, I am persuaded that truth and error (though in different degrees) will imperceptibly become and remain mixed and blended until they shall be separated forever by the great and last refining fire.” John Jay - First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - - to Jedidiah Morse, 28 Feb 1797 from the book "John Jay" by Walter Stahr
*4 The documented miracles during the time of our war of Independence resulted in the miraculous success and subsequent “appeal(ing) to the Supreme Judge of the world, for the rectitude of our intentions,” and “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”. (Declaration of Independence) This was not a course taken by men of desperation supported by ancient records. These men had just seen a success of the impossible. Their God had shown them first hand that he was worthy of all confidence. -See Wallbuilders.com; “America’s Godly Heritage” and the fact of the existence of America.
*5 The Supreme Court of 1892:
The intent of the founding fathers and the 1st amendment was so sure that in 1892 the Supreme Court ruled in; the Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States
“No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people… This is a Christian nation.”
To give explanation for this finding they provided 87 different historical precedents that this was indeed a Christian nation. They quoted the founding fathers, the acts of the founding fathers, the acts of the Congresses, the acts of the State governments, and others. The Court noted they could quote many more but found 87 to be sufficient to establish clear precedents. - Source Wallbuilders.com
*6 http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/01/part-3-of-4-religion-in-government.html
Part 3. Our founders expected us to intentionally use religion to keep our government healthy.
http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/01/part-1-of-4-religion-in-government.html
Part 1. Our founding fathers were in deed religious, and believers in a responsibility to their Creator.
*7 Matthew 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
John 15:2 “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:”
John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches….”
John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
*8 While tolerance is a valuable and commendable attribute, it makes a lousy virtue as the following saying testifies:
“Tolerance is the Virtue of a man without conviction.” - Bill Gothard
*9 Luke 19:41-42 “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!...”
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Missing The Whole Point
Seems To Be A Trend
Line By Line - Zechariah 7:1-14
Post 088
Historical Background with Present Application
For those completely void of Christian education, it should be understood that those who accept Jesus as the Messiah are as Christians adopted into Abraham's faith of the Creator God (Colossians 3:11). We study the history of the Jews recorded in scripture as well as modern history to learn how God moves among men. We learn by their successes and their failures then apply that learning to our own lives. Our founding fathers were richly educated in this study. Now lets look at just such an example:
Zechariah 7:1 “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;” Historically this was in 420 BC *1.
Zechariah 7:2-3 “When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
Before we look at the answer to their question, we need to review the first declaration of God through Zechariah, found in chapter 1:1-6
…“The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers, Therefore say thou unto them (the children of the fathers), Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers,…”
Zechariah did not appear until 100+ years after the Babylonian return in the second year of the second Darius just before the second temple was finished *1.
Now the temple was near completion and the people wanted to know if they needed to continue the ceremonial weeping which they had done in the 5th month of every year while in captivity and for 100 years after while the temple was being built. Notice the emphasis on; “as I have done these so many years”, you can just hear the self-absorbed heart here in this question. But before we criticize them, can you not see your own negotiations with God; “How long?” or “Have I not…?” We tend to assume somehow that our actions of letter-of-the-law-obedience, earns us some respect from God just as they did. Let’s see how God answers them and apply it to ourselves:
Zechariah 7:4 “Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?”
Notice that God told him to speak to everyone openly, not just to the rulers who came asking. The message from God was not to the rulers alone but to all the people. The failure was not that of the leaders alone, the failure was by everyone. “Failure? What failure?”
Clearly they had done the letter of the law; They did fast, and weep, and mourned twice a year, every year as instructed. But was that good enough? No. They were accountable for their lack of heart unto God in their performance. Remember, this was a whole generation after the return from Babylon, Not a person alive remained from those who had been captive in Babylon. Their fasting and weeping over the years had become generationally traditional and actually directing their actions toward really beseeching God had been long forgotten!
Do you go to church every week? And somehow you think by fulfilling this generational tradition that God is pleased with you though you party every other night of the week? Are you seeing the relation? Ouch! I know.
The perspective we can glean is that the Jews were not released from captivity because they had repented, or reformed, or fasted and wept enough. They were released because their sentence was up. 70 years was the price for the sins against the land. Simple as that.
Zechariah 7:6 “And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?”
They were asking about their fasting, and God was questioning their eating! This is the same concept as Proverbs 21:4 “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” If your heart is wicked everything you do is wicked, even the good stuff like plowing your fields for planting; i.e. going to work to support your family. God is holding them guilty of their heart while they are performing their duties or not. Duty is not the goal; a right heart is the goal.
Everything they did was for themselves; eating and drinking or fasting and weeping. In your heart it is all about you. Then he drives the point home showing them they are missing the entire point!
Zechariah 7:7 “Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?”
God through Zechariah is saying to them; You are not hearing me yet! Your fathers failed to hear me before I sent them into captivity, and now that you are returned from captivity you also turn a deaf ear to what those prophets were saying just as your fathers did. The question they asked was not even related to what they were supposed to be seeing. Now of course we can throw stones at them but still miss our own application of this answer from God just as they also missed their application of their fathers missing theirs. Through history the problem is the same and the consequence is the same and the solution is the same. God does not change; “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” I Corinthians 11:29. The eating and drinking is not the focus of the communion cup, and if I eat and drink with myself as the center of the action, I too am missing the point. The heart before God is the topic God is interested in from us just as it was from them. Their weeping on a specific day every few months was a lot of show but lacking serious contemplation, which was supposed to be the point of the scheduled weeping. No different than us going to church on Sunday then heading down to the bar on Monday night but appealing to God; “Didn’t we got to church every Sunday?” So in answer to their question, God tells them what ought to be on their minds;
Zechariah 7:8-10 “And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”
Septuagint: “…and let not one of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother.”
Failing to execute judgment is not the accusation here; failing to execute true judgment is. For a people who do not need this list of very clear “rules”, it seems obvious; Of course we should not do these things. But to the people who need these guidelines, their actions and excuses make perfect sense to them; To have no compassion on your brother because of something he did to you? To oppress the widow because you can, or the fatherless because they have no defense? To take advantage of the stranger because he means nothing to you personally, or to abuse the poor because he is such an easy mark? Even for the crass it might be hard to lack mercy for your own brother, but we can overcome this weakness if we just “feel” he is evil. Then we can have lack of mercy without feeling bad, heck he deserves it! All these are showing judgment for the ulterior motive of self-centered gain. And the Judgment is false.
The Septuagint here makes even more clear the concept that your brother may indeed have done you wrong, but to be merciless because of it is retribution which God does not allow from his followers. The best example of the right perspective I know of is found in Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, (my brother) ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
This verse is speaking about the vast difference between the imagination of our heat as we see reality, and true judgment according to God’s perspective. It has been said; “There is no sin so great, that the human mind cannot rationalize it away.” The scripture says it like this; “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
It is easy for the heart to rationalize why your actions are Just, but that rationalization does not make it Just. Sometimes true judgment might be hard to find because our own interests are in the way. But we are accountable to find the truth so that we can exercise true judgment and not what we imagine or simply want truth to be. This instruction to the Jews at that time is very applicable to the world today.
George Bernard Shaw wanted everyone to come before a board to provide evidence that they are beneficial to society. If not they should be terminated *2. This seemed reasonable to him and there are many signs this will soon seem reasonable to our present Administration. There is no end to the wickedness resulting from judgment without God. But God is not talking to the wicked heathen in this passage, he is talking to his own children the Jews and he is talking to us the nation that has until now claimed to stand “Under God” (Pledge of Allegiance).
Zechariah 7:11 “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.”
Again we need to remember that God through Zechariah is speaking to the Jews after the Babylonian captivity. He was talking about their fathers who gave cause for them to go into captivity.
Picture your young son who doesn’t want to hear your council and he jerks away his shoulder from your touch… And you thought he invented that! The clear image here is that they did not want to hear due to their own stubborn will conflicting with God’s. God through Zechariah is showing this returned generation their own dangerous heart is not so different from that of their fathers. Our application shows us that our dangerous heart is no different either.
Zechariah 7:12 “Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: Therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.”
This is not a description of ignorance. This is not a description of inadvertent slippage into sin. This is pure stubborn, willful, rebellion.
This is the sin of American Christians today. We have no time to earnestly seek God, we rarely crack open his book, we drink to excess, and speak with unbridled tongues, we deal deceptively in business and cheat those whom we don’t love and even those we do. We openly fill our minds with utter abominable filth from the TV and fornicate without apology. We live so much like the heathen that we are welcome in their circles and hide our faith so even those closest to us don’t see it. Yet we are offended when a fellow believer makes a gentle suggestion this is not Christ-like (James 1:14-16, Mark 8:38, I John 1:6 Ephesians 5:3-7).
Zechariah 7:13-14 “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
Their father’s refusal to listen cost them 70 years of captivity, and then a return to a destroyed land. The rebuilding actually took longer than the captivity, and the end result was not even as good as the original (Ezra 3:12), showing that sin always has a permanent consequence even after restoration. This is evidenced by Jesus’ wounds of crucifixion even after the resurrection (John 20:27).
But this passage has more to it than what we see on the surface. The wording of this passage is a bit awkward, indicating some hidden meaning. So lets have a look at the original Greek translation wording to see if this has a more explanatory wording:
Septuagint: Zechariah 7:13-14 “And it shall come to pass, that as he spoke, and they hearkened not, so they shall cry, and I will not hearken, saith the Lord Almighty. And I will cast them out among all the nations, whom they know not; and the land behind them shall be made utterly destitute of any going through or returning: yea they have made the choice land a desolation” *3.
The tenses in this original translation shows clearly this verse was speaking of a time not yet fulfilled at the writing but the original Hebrew words used allow for application when it was written as well.
About 550 years after this prophesy to the returned Jews, they would again fully reject all the efforts of God to lead them right. All the scriptures, all the prophets, all history past, and present at their time was showing the arrival of the Messiah. But while performing the actions of the letter, they like their fathers, missed the whole point and rejected the Messiah though he fulfilled hundreds of prophesies, and presented himself on the exact day (Daniel 9:25) in the exact way which was prophesied (Zechariah 9:9). This rejection is like after 3000+ years of loving yet volatile courtship the bride does not show up to the alter on the day of their wedding because she is looking for another man!
Jesus made it clear that what happens after that was a direct result of this rejection; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:37-39
The following 2000+ years of scattering (its still not over) abuse and horrors was not unjust, it was the punishment which was due for their rejection of the very center of all their faith; the Messiah (Ezekiel 4:5-6, + Leviticus 26:27-39 a multiplier). God has not forgotten them even though they began to cry in earnest when the horrors began but they got no relief. This verse applies from then to this time today. It applies to them and it applies to us. God is not mocked (Isaiah 28:22, Galatians 6:7).
This 2000 years of apparent abandonment by God should be an additional strong sign to the Jews that the Messiah was indeed Jesus whom they rejected, otherwise it would seem God has failed them for 2000 years without cause, which of course they rightly believe he cannot do, but did (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Even back when Jesus was born they should have know he had come, because Genesis 49:10 was apparently proven wrong when in 7 AD the Romans took the power and authority from the Sanhedrin and yet the messiah had not come as promised.
He had come, as a child, but he was rejected outright because of their preconceived expectations *4. The Jews would rather believe the scriptures were proven wrong than to accept Jesus as the messiah. They were demanding scripture to fit their interpretation, and all this time later they still are. How stubborn, how foolish, but can you not see yourself in this? How long have you been trying to make Christianity work in your own life, fully convinced that it can, but constantly failing to achieve the goal? Somehow you are satisfied with tiny and periodic markers of success that do nothing more than keep you perpetually chasing that carrot on the stick. But we look at Jewish history and wonder at their blindness?
Now the recent historical Diaspora is officially over, the Jews have miraculously returned to their homeland, but as before, the rebuilding is still a long and difficult struggle… And there will yet be another falling and punishment because they still have not figured it out!(Daniel 12:1, Matthew 24:21).
* * *
So how does this passage apply to America today?
Our government is made up of individual people making decisions. So the application fits both nationally and individually just as it did for Israel.
America, Do not pull your shoulder away from the Holy Spirit as he speaks to us about some things in our nation we need to deal with. Do not automatically turn to blame others for the situation. Train your heart to listen and immediately obey in humility. But first you must come to terms with the truth shown by history; That God is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
It is important that we listen to God while life is still good and comfortable, because after our life crashes in on us and we then come to God hat-in-hand for relief, we will find the heavens brass and God’s ear not hearing. We then wander lost and aimless for the duration of our “captivity” until our sentence is paid, when by God’s grace we may be allowed the motivation to seek Him again and begin the restoration of the wasteland of our lives.
In my own life, after realizing I had wandered away for some time while thinking I was OK with God, I eventually began an earnest seeking of God again. I returned to all the right ways and cleaned my life diligently of all ungodliness… and still the curse would not leave. For 2 years I was diligent and determined, and for 2 years there appeared to be no relief.
I was quite confused by this but through diligence, eventually after I had stopped seeking “so that my problem would go away”, and found myself seeking because I desired God’s presence, I finally began to see the slow and gradual changes of restoration taking place.
Likewise, although the sentence of 70 years had been paid by the Babylonian captives, that did not mean everything was all good again for the Jews. God was making clear to this new generation the reason for the captivity in the first place and warning them they tended to the same problem that caused it.
The Jews today are still incapable of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, thus making it impossible for them to say; “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:39) which will end their suffering as promised *5.
Israel’s present state of “lostness” even though they have again been returned to their land is the result of the years of punishment no different than a convict being released after serving most of a life-sentence of incarceration; There is a difficult transition back into freedom. The Jews today, though having not personally experienced the horrors of the holocaust, are still so skittish they are often accused of having a “persecution complex”, this is fulfillment of Leviticus 26:36-37.
The miraculous restoration of the destroyed nation of Israel on May 14, 1948 was done on the exact day their sentence was paid. But because in their “incarceration” they failed to turn back to God in earnest since he refused to hear their cries, now thy find a lack of faith in their new freedom unable to really trust a God who seems to have abandon them long ago. So they begin additional crimes against God by their additional lack of faith. This lack of faith is because instead of searching for the cause of their incarceration, they choose instead to bang their heads on the ruins of their temple-mount begging God to come around as if he was neglectful. This has delayed the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:25-31.
Over and over the scriptures show that Jesus the Christ is the very core of all things, and the rejection of him is very costly. The Jews will not get it right until they recognize this. America knew all this history and its meaning at one point, but has now forgotten it too. All this background is vital to understand prophecy related to current events.
My next post will address how it applies specifically to America, but in the mean time have a look at the History of the Jews and take it as a warning for what is coming on America for the same reasons.
* * * * * * *
*1 When in time?
We know that the first temple was destroyed in 597 BC and that the Jews were released to return and begin construction on the second temple in 536 BC, that is 61 years. Ezra 3:8 tells us the laying of the foundation began in the second year of the return (535 BC) and that the foundation was laid most probably in that same year.
Ezra 1:12 Tells us there were very old men present at the laying of the second temple who had seen the first temple, so how do I come up with another 100+ years until the temple was complete? Ezra 4:11,23 tells us that after a period of cessation from the work in the time of Artaxerxes, the Jews again began to build in the days of Darius (Ezra 5:5). This means that the Darius here had to be the one that came after Artaxerxes which means it was Darius II (Ochus) who ruled in 423-404 BC. Ezra 6:15 tells us the temple was finished in the 6th year of Darius making it 418 BC.
597 - 418 = 179 years from temple to temple. 179 - 61 = 118 years from end of captivity unto temple completion. Ezra 5:1-2 tells us it was in the time of the re-energized effort to completion that Zechariah prophesied.
*2 George Bernard Shaw speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQvsf2MUKRQ
*3 Note: the future tense and the presence of Jesus in this Zechariah 7:13 prophesy; “And it shall come to pass, (later) that as he (God) spoke, and they hearkened not, so they shall (future) cry, and I (“I” Jesus, not “he” God) will not hearken,” This passage was written regarding a still distant event. Being sent into “all the nations” was not actually fully fulfilled at the time of the writing. This verse has since been fulfilled by the Diaspora, and the years of Jewish weeping, while the LORD would not hearken.
*4 Luke 19:11 "...because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear."
*5 Hosea 5:15 “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
*6 Leviticus 26:36-37 “And upon them that are left alive of you will I send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.”
*
Line By Line - Zechariah 7:1-14
Post 088
Historical Background with Present Application
For those completely void of Christian education, it should be understood that those who accept Jesus as the Messiah are as Christians adopted into Abraham's faith of the Creator God (Colossians 3:11). We study the history of the Jews recorded in scripture as well as modern history to learn how God moves among men. We learn by their successes and their failures then apply that learning to our own lives. Our founding fathers were richly educated in this study. Now lets look at just such an example:
Zechariah 7:1 “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;” Historically this was in 420 BC *1.
Zechariah 7:2-3 “When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
Before we look at the answer to their question, we need to review the first declaration of God through Zechariah, found in chapter 1:1-6
…“The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers, Therefore say thou unto them (the children of the fathers), Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers,…”
Zechariah did not appear until 100+ years after the Babylonian return in the second year of the second Darius just before the second temple was finished *1.
Now the temple was near completion and the people wanted to know if they needed to continue the ceremonial weeping which they had done in the 5th month of every year while in captivity and for 100 years after while the temple was being built. Notice the emphasis on; “as I have done these so many years”, you can just hear the self-absorbed heart here in this question. But before we criticize them, can you not see your own negotiations with God; “How long?” or “Have I not…?” We tend to assume somehow that our actions of letter-of-the-law-obedience, earns us some respect from God just as they did. Let’s see how God answers them and apply it to ourselves:
Zechariah 7:4 “Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?”
Notice that God told him to speak to everyone openly, not just to the rulers who came asking. The message from God was not to the rulers alone but to all the people. The failure was not that of the leaders alone, the failure was by everyone. “Failure? What failure?”
Clearly they had done the letter of the law; They did fast, and weep, and mourned twice a year, every year as instructed. But was that good enough? No. They were accountable for their lack of heart unto God in their performance. Remember, this was a whole generation after the return from Babylon, Not a person alive remained from those who had been captive in Babylon. Their fasting and weeping over the years had become generationally traditional and actually directing their actions toward really beseeching God had been long forgotten!
Do you go to church every week? And somehow you think by fulfilling this generational tradition that God is pleased with you though you party every other night of the week? Are you seeing the relation? Ouch! I know.
The perspective we can glean is that the Jews were not released from captivity because they had repented, or reformed, or fasted and wept enough. They were released because their sentence was up. 70 years was the price for the sins against the land. Simple as that.
Zechariah 7:6 “And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?”
They were asking about their fasting, and God was questioning their eating! This is the same concept as Proverbs 21:4 “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” If your heart is wicked everything you do is wicked, even the good stuff like plowing your fields for planting; i.e. going to work to support your family. God is holding them guilty of their heart while they are performing their duties or not. Duty is not the goal; a right heart is the goal.
Everything they did was for themselves; eating and drinking or fasting and weeping. In your heart it is all about you. Then he drives the point home showing them they are missing the entire point!
Zechariah 7:7 “Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?”
God through Zechariah is saying to them; You are not hearing me yet! Your fathers failed to hear me before I sent them into captivity, and now that you are returned from captivity you also turn a deaf ear to what those prophets were saying just as your fathers did. The question they asked was not even related to what they were supposed to be seeing. Now of course we can throw stones at them but still miss our own application of this answer from God just as they also missed their application of their fathers missing theirs. Through history the problem is the same and the consequence is the same and the solution is the same. God does not change; “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” I Corinthians 11:29. The eating and drinking is not the focus of the communion cup, and if I eat and drink with myself as the center of the action, I too am missing the point. The heart before God is the topic God is interested in from us just as it was from them. Their weeping on a specific day every few months was a lot of show but lacking serious contemplation, which was supposed to be the point of the scheduled weeping. No different than us going to church on Sunday then heading down to the bar on Monday night but appealing to God; “Didn’t we got to church every Sunday?” So in answer to their question, God tells them what ought to be on their minds;
Zechariah 7:8-10 “And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”
Septuagint: “…and let not one of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother.”
Failing to execute judgment is not the accusation here; failing to execute true judgment is. For a people who do not need this list of very clear “rules”, it seems obvious; Of course we should not do these things. But to the people who need these guidelines, their actions and excuses make perfect sense to them; To have no compassion on your brother because of something he did to you? To oppress the widow because you can, or the fatherless because they have no defense? To take advantage of the stranger because he means nothing to you personally, or to abuse the poor because he is such an easy mark? Even for the crass it might be hard to lack mercy for your own brother, but we can overcome this weakness if we just “feel” he is evil. Then we can have lack of mercy without feeling bad, heck he deserves it! All these are showing judgment for the ulterior motive of self-centered gain. And the Judgment is false.
The Septuagint here makes even more clear the concept that your brother may indeed have done you wrong, but to be merciless because of it is retribution which God does not allow from his followers. The best example of the right perspective I know of is found in Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, (my brother) ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
This verse is speaking about the vast difference between the imagination of our heat as we see reality, and true judgment according to God’s perspective. It has been said; “There is no sin so great, that the human mind cannot rationalize it away.” The scripture says it like this; “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
It is easy for the heart to rationalize why your actions are Just, but that rationalization does not make it Just. Sometimes true judgment might be hard to find because our own interests are in the way. But we are accountable to find the truth so that we can exercise true judgment and not what we imagine or simply want truth to be. This instruction to the Jews at that time is very applicable to the world today.
George Bernard Shaw wanted everyone to come before a board to provide evidence that they are beneficial to society. If not they should be terminated *2. This seemed reasonable to him and there are many signs this will soon seem reasonable to our present Administration. There is no end to the wickedness resulting from judgment without God. But God is not talking to the wicked heathen in this passage, he is talking to his own children the Jews and he is talking to us the nation that has until now claimed to stand “Under God” (Pledge of Allegiance).
Zechariah 7:11 “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.”
Again we need to remember that God through Zechariah is speaking to the Jews after the Babylonian captivity. He was talking about their fathers who gave cause for them to go into captivity.
Picture your young son who doesn’t want to hear your council and he jerks away his shoulder from your touch… And you thought he invented that! The clear image here is that they did not want to hear due to their own stubborn will conflicting with God’s. God through Zechariah is showing this returned generation their own dangerous heart is not so different from that of their fathers. Our application shows us that our dangerous heart is no different either.
Zechariah 7:12 “Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: Therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.”
This is not a description of ignorance. This is not a description of inadvertent slippage into sin. This is pure stubborn, willful, rebellion.
This is the sin of American Christians today. We have no time to earnestly seek God, we rarely crack open his book, we drink to excess, and speak with unbridled tongues, we deal deceptively in business and cheat those whom we don’t love and even those we do. We openly fill our minds with utter abominable filth from the TV and fornicate without apology. We live so much like the heathen that we are welcome in their circles and hide our faith so even those closest to us don’t see it. Yet we are offended when a fellow believer makes a gentle suggestion this is not Christ-like (James 1:14-16, Mark 8:38, I John 1:6 Ephesians 5:3-7).
Zechariah 7:13-14 “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
Their father’s refusal to listen cost them 70 years of captivity, and then a return to a destroyed land. The rebuilding actually took longer than the captivity, and the end result was not even as good as the original (Ezra 3:12), showing that sin always has a permanent consequence even after restoration. This is evidenced by Jesus’ wounds of crucifixion even after the resurrection (John 20:27).
But this passage has more to it than what we see on the surface. The wording of this passage is a bit awkward, indicating some hidden meaning. So lets have a look at the original Greek translation wording to see if this has a more explanatory wording:
Septuagint: Zechariah 7:13-14 “And it shall come to pass, that as he spoke, and they hearkened not, so they shall cry, and I will not hearken, saith the Lord Almighty. And I will cast them out among all the nations, whom they know not; and the land behind them shall be made utterly destitute of any going through or returning: yea they have made the choice land a desolation” *3.
The tenses in this original translation shows clearly this verse was speaking of a time not yet fulfilled at the writing but the original Hebrew words used allow for application when it was written as well.
About 550 years after this prophesy to the returned Jews, they would again fully reject all the efforts of God to lead them right. All the scriptures, all the prophets, all history past, and present at their time was showing the arrival of the Messiah. But while performing the actions of the letter, they like their fathers, missed the whole point and rejected the Messiah though he fulfilled hundreds of prophesies, and presented himself on the exact day (Daniel 9:25) in the exact way which was prophesied (Zechariah 9:9). This rejection is like after 3000+ years of loving yet volatile courtship the bride does not show up to the alter on the day of their wedding because she is looking for another man!
Jesus made it clear that what happens after that was a direct result of this rejection; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:37-39
The following 2000+ years of scattering (its still not over) abuse and horrors was not unjust, it was the punishment which was due for their rejection of the very center of all their faith; the Messiah (Ezekiel 4:5-6, + Leviticus 26:27-39 a multiplier). God has not forgotten them even though they began to cry in earnest when the horrors began but they got no relief. This verse applies from then to this time today. It applies to them and it applies to us. God is not mocked (Isaiah 28:22, Galatians 6:7).
This 2000 years of apparent abandonment by God should be an additional strong sign to the Jews that the Messiah was indeed Jesus whom they rejected, otherwise it would seem God has failed them for 2000 years without cause, which of course they rightly believe he cannot do, but did (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Even back when Jesus was born they should have know he had come, because Genesis 49:10 was apparently proven wrong when in 7 AD the Romans took the power and authority from the Sanhedrin and yet the messiah had not come as promised.
He had come, as a child, but he was rejected outright because of their preconceived expectations *4. The Jews would rather believe the scriptures were proven wrong than to accept Jesus as the messiah. They were demanding scripture to fit their interpretation, and all this time later they still are. How stubborn, how foolish, but can you not see yourself in this? How long have you been trying to make Christianity work in your own life, fully convinced that it can, but constantly failing to achieve the goal? Somehow you are satisfied with tiny and periodic markers of success that do nothing more than keep you perpetually chasing that carrot on the stick. But we look at Jewish history and wonder at their blindness?
Now the recent historical Diaspora is officially over, the Jews have miraculously returned to their homeland, but as before, the rebuilding is still a long and difficult struggle… And there will yet be another falling and punishment because they still have not figured it out!(Daniel 12:1, Matthew 24:21).
* * *
So how does this passage apply to America today?
Our government is made up of individual people making decisions. So the application fits both nationally and individually just as it did for Israel.
America, Do not pull your shoulder away from the Holy Spirit as he speaks to us about some things in our nation we need to deal with. Do not automatically turn to blame others for the situation. Train your heart to listen and immediately obey in humility. But first you must come to terms with the truth shown by history; That God is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
It is important that we listen to God while life is still good and comfortable, because after our life crashes in on us and we then come to God hat-in-hand for relief, we will find the heavens brass and God’s ear not hearing. We then wander lost and aimless for the duration of our “captivity” until our sentence is paid, when by God’s grace we may be allowed the motivation to seek Him again and begin the restoration of the wasteland of our lives.
In my own life, after realizing I had wandered away for some time while thinking I was OK with God, I eventually began an earnest seeking of God again. I returned to all the right ways and cleaned my life diligently of all ungodliness… and still the curse would not leave. For 2 years I was diligent and determined, and for 2 years there appeared to be no relief.
I was quite confused by this but through diligence, eventually after I had stopped seeking “so that my problem would go away”, and found myself seeking because I desired God’s presence, I finally began to see the slow and gradual changes of restoration taking place.
Likewise, although the sentence of 70 years had been paid by the Babylonian captives, that did not mean everything was all good again for the Jews. God was making clear to this new generation the reason for the captivity in the first place and warning them they tended to the same problem that caused it.
The Jews today are still incapable of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, thus making it impossible for them to say; “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:39) which will end their suffering as promised *5.
Israel’s present state of “lostness” even though they have again been returned to their land is the result of the years of punishment no different than a convict being released after serving most of a life-sentence of incarceration; There is a difficult transition back into freedom. The Jews today, though having not personally experienced the horrors of the holocaust, are still so skittish they are often accused of having a “persecution complex”, this is fulfillment of Leviticus 26:36-37.
The miraculous restoration of the destroyed nation of Israel on May 14, 1948 was done on the exact day their sentence was paid. But because in their “incarceration” they failed to turn back to God in earnest since he refused to hear their cries, now thy find a lack of faith in their new freedom unable to really trust a God who seems to have abandon them long ago. So they begin additional crimes against God by their additional lack of faith. This lack of faith is because instead of searching for the cause of their incarceration, they choose instead to bang their heads on the ruins of their temple-mount begging God to come around as if he was neglectful. This has delayed the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:25-31.
Over and over the scriptures show that Jesus the Christ is the very core of all things, and the rejection of him is very costly. The Jews will not get it right until they recognize this. America knew all this history and its meaning at one point, but has now forgotten it too. All this background is vital to understand prophecy related to current events.
My next post will address how it applies specifically to America, but in the mean time have a look at the History of the Jews and take it as a warning for what is coming on America for the same reasons.
* * * * * * *
*1 When in time?
We know that the first temple was destroyed in 597 BC and that the Jews were released to return and begin construction on the second temple in 536 BC, that is 61 years. Ezra 3:8 tells us the laying of the foundation began in the second year of the return (535 BC) and that the foundation was laid most probably in that same year.
Ezra 1:12 Tells us there were very old men present at the laying of the second temple who had seen the first temple, so how do I come up with another 100+ years until the temple was complete? Ezra 4:11,23 tells us that after a period of cessation from the work in the time of Artaxerxes, the Jews again began to build in the days of Darius (Ezra 5:5). This means that the Darius here had to be the one that came after Artaxerxes which means it was Darius II (Ochus) who ruled in 423-404 BC. Ezra 6:15 tells us the temple was finished in the 6th year of Darius making it 418 BC.
597 - 418 = 179 years from temple to temple. 179 - 61 = 118 years from end of captivity unto temple completion. Ezra 5:1-2 tells us it was in the time of the re-energized effort to completion that Zechariah prophesied.
*2 George Bernard Shaw speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQvsf2MUKRQ
*3 Note: the future tense and the presence of Jesus in this Zechariah 7:13 prophesy; “And it shall come to pass, (later) that as he (God) spoke, and they hearkened not, so they shall (future) cry, and I (“I” Jesus, not “he” God) will not hearken,” This passage was written regarding a still distant event. Being sent into “all the nations” was not actually fully fulfilled at the time of the writing. This verse has since been fulfilled by the Diaspora, and the years of Jewish weeping, while the LORD would not hearken.
*4 Luke 19:11 "...because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear."
*5 Hosea 5:15 “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
*6 Leviticus 26:36-37 “And upon them that are left alive of you will I send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.”
*
6th 7 Principle
post 087
I woke up this morning with a strong sense of loss. I was missing something this morning that I went to bed with last night, but I could not put my finger on it. In my mental searching and asking God, with relief it became clear to me what had happened and how to fix it. So today’s post begins a turning point in my blog which has actually been the purpose of the blog in the first place.
Since my last post I have been very apprehensive of posting my next one for a number of reasons. How will it be taken? How can I be sure I am right? What will be the result? Will my writing discourage people?
I have been trying to make this shorter, without success. I have already pared it down to as short as possible yet retaining the message and still it will be too long for most. But if I make it too short, you will have the impression I have no support for my view as I am already concerned by the brevity now. If I leave it too long you will not bother reading it.
But in my searching and asking this morning, it became clear to me that because I have not published my next post, I have failed the purpose for which I am doing this. All that has been published before has been leading to what comes next.
What I woke up missing this morning was the close presence of God because I have failed to do as I was shown. By my delay, and the resulting absence of the close presence of God, and then my searching for the cause of the loss and the clear answer given, all this has led to affirmation that what I have to post next is of God.
But the evaluation of what you read is up to you and so I post this preparation as a primer for the next phase of my blog.
A few months ago I was actually shocked the day Glenn Beck crossed the un-crossable line in the media when he openly told America that God was the only solution to our problems now. In fact I had previously posted that I didn’t think he would go there, but that if he continued in his direction he would have to eventually, and so he did.
Today I am posting, that like me, Mr. Beck has been fearful of crossing the next line. I see signs in his program that he is taking the safe rout.
Mr. Beck has been preaching that God is the only answer. This is the message from God. But Mr. Beck falls short when he repeatedly declares; “I don’t care which god, you just need to return to your god.” This is the Mother Theresa approach.
Back when America was primarily Christian, the nation could handle the odd collection of small sects believing in whatever. But today, any god you choose is not good enough to save America. Why? Because America was actually founded on the principles of Jesus the Christ, not on generic religion. It was the Principles of Jesus the Christ that made God pleased with America, and blessed her with success.
Am I suggesting our government should force Christianity on everyone?
Of course not! The government was never meant to run our lives. Our nation was set up for each man to run his own life as he sees fit, our founders were very clear on that. But they did go so far as to recommend the Christian Faith as the tool to ensure success. It was with this recommendation that they introduced the study of the bible into our public schools, allowing for necessary foundational understanding before each person made adult choices as to their personal values.
But by wholesale rejection of Jesus today the other option is national faith in some other god, which had little or nothing to do with our foundation.
If you and your wife don’t spend time together because of conflict, will your marriage be saved if you pick up with just any woman?
This is neither logical nor reasonable. Choosing to take up with just any god is just as illogical and unreasonable.
The 6th/7 Principle:
There are many examples in scripture of a principle I call the 6th/7 rule *1. The implication is that nothing is finished when it hits "the bump" at the almost point. This hurdle or conflict must be pushed through to finish the last 7th before success is achieved.
It is my humble opinion that Glenn is now at the 6th of 7 in his mission from God. It is a big bump, but only in the mind. All that is needed to push through is a choice in faith to finish what he was called to do. If he continues to follow this safe course, God will be done with him because he is no longer a useful tool as His messenger to America.
I do not blame him for taking the safe rout, but I pray that he remains firm and continues to follow where he is led by God. If not, he will soon be watered down and washed up as God’s messenger, though perhaps even more successful as a leader. Please pray earnestly that Glenn Beck will remain true as God’s messenger. He must take this next step as I do now.
It relates to my previous post of Prophecy. Where are we going and why?
The clear revelation that Jesus the Christ is the only answer.
Hang on for a bizarre ride in reality.
I have shown the evidence of the way things are. I have shown the history of the way things were. I have shown the changes of how we got from one to the other. The one thing I have not spent sufficient time showing is the validity of scripture to this line of history but there are many books written on this subject and a few more blog posts will not have much affect changing your mind. You really need to be reading it for yourself. Yet many details of these validities should come up in the following posts but don’t expect to be eventually shown sure convincing proof that will force your change of mind. You must use reason and logic and knowledge and history and science in your evaluation of truth, but then all by yourself you have to choose to accept what you see. This choice is true faith.
I am not selling you a pipe dream. I have been using reason and logic and knowledge and history and science to show you what you need to see. What are you doing with it so far? Waiting for more?
* * * * * * *
*1 This principle is not an easy one to reveal, it takes a bit of study through the entire bible to find it. It is easiest to find in the patterns of 7s in the book of Revelation showing an interval, or “bump” between the 6th and 7th element. Something unexpected that disrupts the pattern and almost derails it;
Revelation 7:1-17 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Seals
Revelation 10:1-11:14 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Trumpet
Revelation 16:15 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Vial
Genesis 11:31 Shows Abram’s father intending to move his family from UR to Canaan but stopped in Haran to live instead. Haran is 6th/7 the distance, but he failed to reach his goal.
God called his son Abram to finish the journey and become the father of the children of Israel. Genesis 12:1
Abram finished the job and got the reward for completion. We never hear of Abrams father again who failed his mission after achieving so much.
(II Kings 5:9-14 Na’aman with leprosy had to bath in the river 7 times before receiving the cure. Yet because he was Pagan he found the struggle through the entire process, not just near the end. This too has significant meaning if we find ourselves in this place.)
In our spiritual life we should not be discouraged when the distraction comes but rather expect it as confirmation that our endeavor is really of God, then push through the distraction to get to the 7th part before we can receive the blessing.
*
I woke up this morning with a strong sense of loss. I was missing something this morning that I went to bed with last night, but I could not put my finger on it. In my mental searching and asking God, with relief it became clear to me what had happened and how to fix it. So today’s post begins a turning point in my blog which has actually been the purpose of the blog in the first place.
Since my last post I have been very apprehensive of posting my next one for a number of reasons. How will it be taken? How can I be sure I am right? What will be the result? Will my writing discourage people?
I have been trying to make this shorter, without success. I have already pared it down to as short as possible yet retaining the message and still it will be too long for most. But if I make it too short, you will have the impression I have no support for my view as I am already concerned by the brevity now. If I leave it too long you will not bother reading it.
But in my searching and asking this morning, it became clear to me that because I have not published my next post, I have failed the purpose for which I am doing this. All that has been published before has been leading to what comes next.
What I woke up missing this morning was the close presence of God because I have failed to do as I was shown. By my delay, and the resulting absence of the close presence of God, and then my searching for the cause of the loss and the clear answer given, all this has led to affirmation that what I have to post next is of God.
But the evaluation of what you read is up to you and so I post this preparation as a primer for the next phase of my blog.
A few months ago I was actually shocked the day Glenn Beck crossed the un-crossable line in the media when he openly told America that God was the only solution to our problems now. In fact I had previously posted that I didn’t think he would go there, but that if he continued in his direction he would have to eventually, and so he did.
Today I am posting, that like me, Mr. Beck has been fearful of crossing the next line. I see signs in his program that he is taking the safe rout.
Mr. Beck has been preaching that God is the only answer. This is the message from God. But Mr. Beck falls short when he repeatedly declares; “I don’t care which god, you just need to return to your god.” This is the Mother Theresa approach.
Back when America was primarily Christian, the nation could handle the odd collection of small sects believing in whatever. But today, any god you choose is not good enough to save America. Why? Because America was actually founded on the principles of Jesus the Christ, not on generic religion. It was the Principles of Jesus the Christ that made God pleased with America, and blessed her with success.
Am I suggesting our government should force Christianity on everyone?
Of course not! The government was never meant to run our lives. Our nation was set up for each man to run his own life as he sees fit, our founders were very clear on that. But they did go so far as to recommend the Christian Faith as the tool to ensure success. It was with this recommendation that they introduced the study of the bible into our public schools, allowing for necessary foundational understanding before each person made adult choices as to their personal values.
But by wholesale rejection of Jesus today the other option is national faith in some other god, which had little or nothing to do with our foundation.
If you and your wife don’t spend time together because of conflict, will your marriage be saved if you pick up with just any woman?
This is neither logical nor reasonable. Choosing to take up with just any god is just as illogical and unreasonable.
The 6th/7 Principle:
There are many examples in scripture of a principle I call the 6th/7 rule *1. The implication is that nothing is finished when it hits "the bump" at the almost point. This hurdle or conflict must be pushed through to finish the last 7th before success is achieved.
It is my humble opinion that Glenn is now at the 6th of 7 in his mission from God. It is a big bump, but only in the mind. All that is needed to push through is a choice in faith to finish what he was called to do. If he continues to follow this safe course, God will be done with him because he is no longer a useful tool as His messenger to America.
I do not blame him for taking the safe rout, but I pray that he remains firm and continues to follow where he is led by God. If not, he will soon be watered down and washed up as God’s messenger, though perhaps even more successful as a leader. Please pray earnestly that Glenn Beck will remain true as God’s messenger. He must take this next step as I do now.
It relates to my previous post of Prophecy. Where are we going and why?
The clear revelation that Jesus the Christ is the only answer.
Hang on for a bizarre ride in reality.
I have shown the evidence of the way things are. I have shown the history of the way things were. I have shown the changes of how we got from one to the other. The one thing I have not spent sufficient time showing is the validity of scripture to this line of history but there are many books written on this subject and a few more blog posts will not have much affect changing your mind. You really need to be reading it for yourself. Yet many details of these validities should come up in the following posts but don’t expect to be eventually shown sure convincing proof that will force your change of mind. You must use reason and logic and knowledge and history and science in your evaluation of truth, but then all by yourself you have to choose to accept what you see. This choice is true faith.
I am not selling you a pipe dream. I have been using reason and logic and knowledge and history and science to show you what you need to see. What are you doing with it so far? Waiting for more?
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*1 This principle is not an easy one to reveal, it takes a bit of study through the entire bible to find it. It is easiest to find in the patterns of 7s in the book of Revelation showing an interval, or “bump” between the 6th and 7th element. Something unexpected that disrupts the pattern and almost derails it;
Revelation 7:1-17 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Seals
Revelation 10:1-11:14 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Trumpet
Revelation 16:15 is the interval between the 6th and 7th Vial
Genesis 11:31 Shows Abram’s father intending to move his family from UR to Canaan but stopped in Haran to live instead. Haran is 6th/7 the distance, but he failed to reach his goal.
God called his son Abram to finish the journey and become the father of the children of Israel. Genesis 12:1
Abram finished the job and got the reward for completion. We never hear of Abrams father again who failed his mission after achieving so much.
(II Kings 5:9-14 Na’aman with leprosy had to bath in the river 7 times before receiving the cure. Yet because he was Pagan he found the struggle through the entire process, not just near the end. This too has significant meaning if we find ourselves in this place.)
In our spiritual life we should not be discouraged when the distraction comes but rather expect it as confirmation that our endeavor is really of God, then push through the distraction to get to the 7th part before we can receive the blessing.
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