Chicken Whaling

Post 283

Perhaps the #1 response I get from readers of The Uncommon Christian Walk is that I didn’t resolve the question about the Saturday Sabbath for Christians.
How can I simply move forward from the last post, without further explanation, from the obviously “Are you kidding?” kind of statements that I proclaimed there? Do I really believe that America is now on Death Row because of the day of the week we choose to worship God, or the kind of meat we choose to eat, or the decorations we put up in our homes and churches? “I thought this blog was centered around the title “When Did Reason Die?” so what kind of “reason” is this legalistic religious garbage you are trying to sell?”

Here’s the thing: If it’s religious, then it is garbage. But I am not speaking religiously:
IS there REALLY a God who ACTUALLY made reality?
Did he REALLY write his instructions in what we now call the Bible?
Do you REALLY believe it?
I do.

“But how can these silly “disconnected religious practices of the Old Testament law” actually affect current reality in such a temporal way?”

Well, primarily because God does not figure them silly… or religious… or disconnected… or non-reality, and the connection between the spiritual and the temporal is not “second-hand” as we too often imagine (I Corinthians 1:27-29+2:12-14).
It’s not as if I just sprung this wild concept on you; we have been carefully and logically coming to this conclusion. But now, finally this is tangible; it’s not ethereal or vague or symbolic; this applies in a way that is actually real to you. This actually demands a change in your life. Real, Unpleasant, Actual, Change. We’re not talking about murderers or thieves or sodomites now; Now we are talking about you and your Christian condition of stiffnecked disobedience in grace. And that’s not fun anymore as you ask;
“Can I really be found guilty?”

Do I think America has fallen because of these simple and seemingly disconnected things? N-nn-nnno-o-o-Yes. These “things” are simply the outward “acts” of an inward perspective. It’s the perspective that has caused America’s demise; the acts are only the tangible evidences of the perspective. But because they are tangible then they are what is pointed at to declare; “GUILTY!” And though a nation pays the price for the acts of immorality by its heathen, it’s the people of God who hold the power of destruction or life for the nation through theirs.

The thing is; these three idols are merely the few that I specifically pointed out in this post; there are many others (Ezekiel 18:10-13 vs. 5-9 as one example, Psalm 15 as another). By the time God sets up to destroy a nation it’s not just about three things (Proverbs 30:15,18, Proverbs 30:29), but three things are all it takes to disquiet the earth:

“For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:”… Proverbs 30:21.

But by context we understand that this is meant conceptually and not specifically… though if we read the specifics listed in the passage we can glean some very important prophetic wisdom that turns conceptual lists quite specific. But for now let’s just move on.
Until now, in spite of my efforts to the contrary, for the most part my writing has been sometimes personally irritating but nonetheless generally interesting:

“…the children of thy people… speak one to another…saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they…sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness (1215). And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not” Ezekiel 33:30-32.

Covetousness 1215 betsa’; from 1214; plunder; by extension, gain (usually unjust):-- covetousness, (dishonest) gain, lucre, profit.

That last Post’s “particular song” does not set well in the belly, but give it time, I know you will make it settle; Did you actually change your ways for Christmas? NOPE! So now how real is this historical Ezekiel prophesy to us today? As real as if it were written about you reading this. And that’s pretty real!

“Don’t be ridiculous!” you contend; “how can the ChristmasTree decoration I bought on the corner last week have anything to do with the collapse of the national economy?”

Have I not made that clear?
It shows that you don’t actually believe in God anymore (Jeremiah 2:11-13), but instead believe in a warm-and-fuzzy concept of God that fits your desires. And that green Pagan idol long traditionally in your home and now on the Church’s front stage is a very accurate description of how America changed her God by the “virtue” of tolerance to sin. And as Bill Gothard has said:

“Tolerance is the virtue of a man without conviction.”

America has made a premier virtue of tolerating virtually everything and everyone but God and the godly.

It may seem that I have been running long in expounding on this concept of Dirty Grace that was sufficiently covered in the posts of “The Uncommon Christian Walk”… and that is true.
But the reason why I continued to write even more detail expounding on the sin of Simon found in the first chapter of that book (post 227 “On Tongues”), is because of the unfathomable hold that an addiction of sin has over a person once it’s iniquity is rooted in the heart;

“For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” Acts 8:23.

My heart breaks for those caught in the addiction of iniquity for whatever reason, and though they try earnestly and meaningfully, seeming to make progress, they find themselves suddenly back in the confusion at the first available temptation (post 239 “Stuck at the Law”), they simply cannot let it go. The American Christian’s primary iniquity is Intellectual Faith that allows the secondary iniquity of Dirty Grace. (Post 279 Intellectual Faith http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2012/12/intellectual-faith.html).

So we talk, and you happily “get it,” and become excitedly committed to the strait path, and then suddenly you find yourself right back in what you left. So we talk some more, and you “get it” again, but somehow can’t keep it as your faith returns to intellectual information and concepts unapplied by your toxic Dirty Grace Heroin, yet still excitedly you are eager to teach others about what you know but don’t do. So like Caleb in the desert, we talk some more…
There is after all, a very hopeful concept in the scriptures that yet remains: It is that although America, as a Hypercube, has been judged and sentenced to Death-Row without the option of appeal or parole because of the Jerusalem-like murdering rejection of Christ Jesus (“…no longer a Christian nation” -Obama, Ezekiel 9:5), If we unroll the hypercube we see individuals that can still find last-second redemption through a “presidential pardon” if they would but repent of their self-love and turn to a new life of service to the kingdom of heaven (Ezekiel 9:4).

By the long-winded cry against Dirty Grace my compassion is great and longsuffering, because I have fought such impossible addictions myself (Post 240 “Rehab”). But even though Our Lord’s compassion and longsuffering is far greater than mine, his too has an end when the addicted gives up the fight and chooses the drug over a life of sobriety at exactly the wrong time (Post 238 “Nine Times Forgiven”:

“In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD” Ezekiel 24:13-14.

Most of the addicted I know are simply guilty victims; Yes, they disobeyed God and used the “free sample” of the personal Knowledge of Good and Evil that the serpent offered them, but the addiction that came with it was not at all what they thought they were getting into. But regardless of the degree of understanding, the act has fundamentally changed their life; much as fallen man in general must now deal with the struggle to eradicate the addiction to sin. How much worse is the confusion of addiction when that “free sample” comes at the hand of a loved one such as Eve to her husband… or God forbid, a mother to a child?:

“"Mommy, I'm trying to rule my spirit and give my heart to Jesus, but all I can think about are monster trucks!" Said a four year old Wes, in tears and torment over a wrapped present under the tree.” - FB post 12/21/2012.

This is a problem of the Ezekiel 33:31 covetousness that will exist in this child’s life whether there is a ChristmasTree or not; it’s a human condition that must be dealt with, individual by individual. But what is this very solid Christian family doing compounding this problem by bringing the god of covetousness into their Christian home and willfully heaping this human problem on a four-year-old as if it’s a wonderful thing related to the celebration of Jesus’ birth? (Ezekiel 20:24-26);
“It’s traditional; we ALL do it.”

And somehow, that’s reason enough?
The real reason is because we, the parents, are intoxicated by the idol’s spirit of covetousness and want to share it with our children! This is why a broke drug addict offers some of his precious drug to a friend… But the reason why the serpent-Dealer offered it free to Eve is another reason all together; for him it’s about a future client!
Is he lying when he says; “You’re going to REALLY like this!”? No, but by the delightful presentation he neglects to tell you that even when you love it, it will remain your hated enemy that you both know wants to destroy you!

Today, at the end of America and the world under her care, this green Christmas idol is not tolerated; it’s loved, and loved with an intoxication that is unbreakable. Yesterday, when it first showed up in the Church foyer, it was loved by the few who put it there and tolerated by the others, but through a transformation from tolerance to love by the experience of familiarity, the church leaders and the people moved it from the foyer to the front stage (Ezekiel 44:6-8). This is precisely how Obama was elected back into office; no longer forced on us by unlawful ballot stuffing, now he was actually chosen by the majority votes of Americans who liked his candy of covetousness prettily wrapped as free gifts (Ezekiel 20:39).
Likewise the Antichrist will not force his way into the Holiest place; Christ’s Swine people will put him there with love, hope, and expectation that he will fundamentally change the faith for the better! (meaning according to their covetousness).
And frankly, this transformation of tolerance-to-love scenario played out even earlier when the tree first showed up in our Christian homes a few generations ago; a day when the Christian home was indeed as sanctified as the church and it was a shock when it first arrived there… but it was tolerated for the pleasantries it brought… until the family was no longer sanctified; we passed that buck on to the organized church so we could enjoy our non-Jesusy things of a delightful life at home and periodically make our way to the “more holy place” to perform our worship.
And now the green tree is there too.

This has happened without opposition because the thing is beautiful, harmless, defenseless, non-aggressive, and delightfully gift-giving until it is eagerly invited yearly like a rich uncle to a birthday party. Being invited it shows up and stands there silently spilling gifts until it is loved by a four-year-old who battles a family-encouraged-covetousness by celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Talk about confusion in the Church!
Do you suppose after opening presents they might all head into the dining room for a wonderful Pork Roast dinner and bow their heads giving thanks to God for the gluttonous consumption of God’s symbols for apostasy?

Am I being legalistic? Am I abusing or misusing God’s Grace by the word of God? Does disobedience even matter to God now that Jesus his Son has been slain…by our sin? Is my song irritating? Are you starting to hate me for bringing this truth up and forcing you to face it? Or do you nod righteously in full agreement but do virtually nothing to actually change? Please open your heart to God and let him have whatever he wants. Is your eternal soul really worth the addiction to a ChristmasTree, or the day you go to church, or what you will have for supper?
By your uncontrollable clinging to a perverse rooted perspective of Grace in the face of my reasonable argument, you begin to understand how the idols of the Jews found their way into the temple (Ezekiel 8:7-12, 11:18-21, 23:37-39)…and how they have again: They loved them, they could not give them up because they brought delight. And it even broke their hearts because of the conflicted war they could not win in their soul. And they wept, but God would not hear them (Isaiah 59:2).

If you decide not to continue eating Pork it won’t change a thing but to deny you a tasty meal and win you condemnation by the burden it creates (Jeremiah 23:38-40). But if you understand why God made the commandment, then by voluntarily not eating Pork you have a loved tangible practice that reminds you that hypocrisy is so hated of God that Jesus Christ will vomit it from his mouth as a revolting pretense for food! (Revelation 3:15-16). Like Meth, you love it because you tried it, and now Christ’s bride is an addict just like God’s. But addictions can be broken!

Legalism is simply obeying the commands without a clue as to why (Ezekiel 18:31a). Obedience is obeying the commands with understanding and heart (Ezekiel 18:31b). But show me a verse in scriptural context that actually warns against the law and not simply the “Chicken Whaling” (*1) of the Law by the hypocrites. (Matthew 15:7-9, try Galatians chapters 3,4,5, or I Corinthians 10:23-24). Be careful that you do not reject what is pure because the hypocrite has made it seem perverse! (Post 237 “Laws of faith and liberty”).

“For not the hearers of the law are justified before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)” Romans 2:13-15.

Am I suggesting we should return to legalism? Of course not! We have an answer far greater than the law. But that answer is not anarchy! A legalist, though greatly troubled by his ignorance as a child under a schoolmaster, is not a Swine! And shockingly; in all reality, though unclean, a Muslim is not a Swine either: They ruminate on the Mosaic Law but don’t even pretend to be God’s people (though they are Typed as the unclean camel that puts on a good show of confusion. Leviticus 11:4 *2). The above passage actually implies that there is far more hope for a murdering Muslim than an American Christian Swine!

“And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel (a specific kind of unclean) to go through the eye of a needle (see Matthew 7:14), than for a rich man (Revelation 3:17) to enter into the kingdom of God.
And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee” Mark 10:24-28.

Were the disciples physically rich or retaining the human dreams of prosperity? No; Peter declared this point for us (see Matthew 4:20,22). Then why were they so completely astonished beyond measure at what Jesus said? Because they understood what Jesus meant by the use of “camel” and “rich man.” And so I have stated. They were thinking; “If this is so; then Who was going to accept their message of salvation? It is virtually impossible for people to accept its difficulty, Jew/Christian or Gentile!”: The Jew because their riches are a gift from God, and the Gentile because they don’t even know this God who requires so much devotion… but the Muslim can go in with ready comprehension.
Jesus made very clear to them what it would take to be among those who enter the kingdom of God and his example was not received as vaguely symbolic. Even as his followers, who had given up everything to follow him; the disciples were suddenly shocked beyond expression at what Jesus was requiring; that which they themselves had willingly given up without previously knowing this truth; i.e. their very lives and dreams and ambitions, yet even they could not conceive that anyone but them would do such a radical thing! They were indeed astonished beyond measure that Jesus would require such exclusive faith! (Mark 10:19-23, Matthew 22:21-22).

…“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:66-67 (read from v.60, and don’t miss Peter’s profound answer in the continuing verses).
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“Who then can be saved?” Matthew 19:25,
So what just happened to all that easy grace where all you have to do is say the magic words asking Jesus into your heart and then just like that you have a free confirmed ticket to heaven where what you do cannot affect it? It seems evident that this easy faith concept is not what Jesus had in mind:

“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” Ezekiel 44:23.
(Please review Post 031 http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2009/11/as-i-said-obama-shows-himself-to-be.html).

Who are these that teach such things? They are those “well balanced” (Ezekiel 44:20) that kept the charge of God’s sanctuary when His people went astray (Ezekiel 44:15).

In 1948 the Jews returned to their homeland-- the Holy Land of Israel-- but not understanding the grace that brought them home without a temple, they still have no idea how to comprehend the difference between the holy and the profane. And although America was gifted a similar glorious land under the protection of Jesus Christ’s grace without the law, they now have likewise forgotten the distinction between unclean and clean.

If there is no law (I have no law to obey but the obedience to God), then we are not talking about the law but the Romans 2:15 work of the law. So then being free from the law, how does the law actually apply? It applies by understanding the heart of our God through a loving knowledge of the law:

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet…Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” Romans 7:7-12.

If I find a need on the Sabbath and fill it on the Sabbath because the need requires it on the Sabbath, my heart might condemn me for offending what I know to be God’s desire regarding the Sabbath, but my conscience, by understanding God’s love in practice, excuses me for filling the need, and God confirms his approval (I John 3:20) which I knew he would (v.21).
So what good is the law if I am not bound to the law? It shows me the heart desire of God; and Frankly, God hates Pork and ChristmasTrees and a reasonless Sunday Sabbath.
And though your heart does not condemn you because you have cast off the law as clothes on a nudist beach, your I Timothy 4:2 seared conscience should be pained because of your nudity, but it is not (Ezekiel 16:36-38, read all of chapter 16). Your spiritual public nudity is a great offense to your supremely moral husband and God, but it’s even more an offense that you don’t even see it as a problem because “as the greatly loved bride of Christ, you can do no wrong!” (I Corinthians 10:23, I John 3:9; seen through willing blinders to justify self-will and ignoring v.10).

I know you are better than that, and that’s why I expect better than that from you. I know the strong pull of your addictions that feel so good and comfortable that you can’t actually see yourself living without them, but that is a choice that I cannot make for you. And until you choose to see your addictions as the enemies of your God and soul, you will never be free from your iniquities though you will weep and cry about how much you wish you were.
Jesus came to buy you back from your addictions; to redeem you to a drug free life, to give you life from the death of your intoxications. But every time you “try” through rehab and fail, is another of the nine nails in your coffin that you yourself drive home. Stop playing games with God through the excuse of Dirty Grace. That is an illusion of the drug. There is no such thing.

Ask yourself why Jesus never condemned the Jews for the phylacteries; but only for their pride in displaying them (Matthew 23:5). What is a phylactery? (http://judaism.about.com/od/prayersworship/a/What-Are-Tefillin.htm). It is the law implemented in legalism. And this legalism did not save the Jews from the Holocaust. Why?

It’s because even while religiously wearing them as the law “obviously” commands, they completely forgot to wear on their hearts what was in them. Did God really intend the Jews to wear these silly boxes? I honestly don’t think so, but because the law “obviously” commanded it, Jesus did not condemn the “accurate” application even though it completely missed the point. Jesus condemned the pride that misapplied the misapplication of the law. Even the misapplication of the law can be useful to some as they earnestly seek to understand God; we call this legalism. Jesus declared this law was as being under a schoolmaster while we tried to comprehend what he was teaching:

“But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” Galatians 3:23-24+.

But what happens when those who have graduated out from under the schoolmaster raise children who never went to school? The parents fail the children for a lack of “home schooling” and the children fail God in a faith they don’t understand.
Since that “school” in America was closed in 1963-64 by the removal of God from our institutions of education, we are that generation of children, now grown with children of our own. I am simply showing you the schoolbooks of an education long abandoned, in the hopes to teach you the difference between the holy and the profane, to help you discern between the unclean and the clean.
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So, About the Sabbath:
I find it interesting that honoring the Sabbath Day is the only one of the Ten Commandments not specifically reconfirmed by Jesus. This is often the excuse of “Sunday worshipers” who explain how grace replaces the law (though contrary to Jesus’ own words in Matthew 5:17). So why did Jesus leave this “loop hole” by the omission? I believe it is explained in the departure of God from the godly man Hezekiah:

…“Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land (by his obedient faithfulness to God), God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” II Chronicles 32:31.

Of course Hezekiah failed that testing, as we know by the prophet Isaiah:

“Then said he (Isaiah), What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them” Isaiah 39:4.

“Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon” Isaiah 39:5-7.

“Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days” Isaiah 39:8.

Don’t forget that this Hezekiah was one of the Godliest kings of all times! (II Kings 16:20…18:1-7) But that didn’t mean that everything went wonderfully (II Kings 18:13-37); This trouble was because of the wickedness in the land that Hezekiah worked hard to drive out...even from his own heart.
God performed a wonderful and miraculous work for Israel because of Hezekiah’s faith (II Kings 19:34-37) and therefore God expected Hezekiah to be strengthened in what he saw of God’s divine protection. And so he was. And in that strength, when it came time to die, Hezekiah was not yet ready to go, and so in his power with God, Hezekiah convinced God to let him live another fifteen years (II Kings 20:1-6).
This should already be a red flag to notice that something doesn’t “smell right” in his thinking, and by study we learn that Hezekiah had SO much experiential faith in God’s divine protection, and the specific promise of 15 years, that he was utterly careless as to what he showed the Babylonians. Can we blame him? God utterly blessed him with miracles and “can do no wrong” kind of leadership for his nation and then he even talked God into giving him 15 more years of life! This guy was on fire! What did he have to be afraid of?!

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Psalm 118:6.

But what happened?
Hezekiah had succumbed to the perverted Dirty Grace perspective from his personal Divine protection and promise. In essence, He had lived out his life carefully obedient to God and reaped the temporal and spiritual rewards, but now, having received a pre-allotted promised fifteen years of borrowed time, Hezekiah lived as if what he did couldn’t matter anymore; He had lived his appointed life, and lived it holy. God even promised him peace in his extended time. In fact his reply to Isaiah’s harsh judgment for his carelessness shows that his heart was completely self-absorbed in knowing that nothing could touch him for 15 years, when he would die anyway by divine schedule! What happened to the great king of God? What happened to the great national leader? What happened to the man who obeyed God to such a degree that he was more successful at restoring Judah than any previous king? Where did that man Go? He died on that sick bed when Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up (*3) and turned inward and self-centered in a “retirement” mentality. But that inward and selfish perspective was fueled by the Blessings of God himself. (Deuteronomy 8:7-14).

Jesus Christ confirmed nine of the Ten Commandments and then left one dangling like bait to see how we would respond without the declared confirmation. Stop Chicken Whaling the nine by abandoning the tenth in the scrutiny of legalism and start figuring out how you can fulfill God’s desire even without a law.

IF you are still struggling with these concepts of law and grace then I urge you to go back and re-read The Uncommon Christian Walk, because we are simply running out of time to continue dealing with this first grade stuff. Mystery Babylon is now rising and THAT will be a war of confusion to make this law and grace stuff look like child’s play!
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(*1) Chicken Whaling:
This is a term that I have coined to describe a concept almost too big for a few simple words. In essence it is not only the wearing of phylacteries but the grand display of them. It is the use of very grand tools to pursue a prey wholly unworthy of the application. Using the magnificent Creation to prove Evolution is just such Chicken Whaling.
The tools of the trade applied are very grand tools as is a whaling ship with her great captain and crew, capable of navigating the great oceans to slay great beasts of the deep, but when the pursuit is not a whale but a... chicken, the whole thing becomes a tragic mockery; ship, tools, captain, crew, sea, and goal. The only thing that is thereby glorified is the chicken, never mind that chickens doesn’t even ply the great sea, the pursuit itself is all that is needed to make the chicken a terrifying legend as a Seamonster.
Applying the Grace of Christ to permissive sin is the greatest of all Chicken Whaling endeavors and Jesus describes this by hunting the elusive chicken while completely missing the whale:

“Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” Matthew 23:24.

Again note the specific use of camel. Since we now recognize Muslims as Typed by the camel, we can glean a very current-events concept as the entire Middle East is driven by the bloodlust of a hatefilled faith consuming the world, but we have no problem accepting that with open arms while the tiny peaceful nation of Israel is the great focus of all the earth’s unrest. The story is epic, it’s huge, I can see it now; “Ahab and the great white... chicken.”

(*2) The Deceptive Camel Toes - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloven_hoof):
Deuteronomy 14:7 makes clear that the camel does not possess a cloven hoof. But because it has a very unique foot with only two toes it is quite often assumed to be a hoof rather than a foot and therefore cloven. In a photo it becomes clear that these hairy toes have toenails at the end and so the entire toe is clearly not a hoof, and science will show that there is an actual foot behind those toes, unlike with a hoof. With the guttural slang associated with a camel’s foot it is quite difficult to come up with a photo of an actual camel’s foot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alasam/2750075919/), please see this link for a safe example.

(*3) The Heart That Is Lifted Up:
Deuteronomy 8:14, II Kings 14:10, II Chronicles 17:5-6 (note the cause of why his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD!), II Chronicles 26:16 (similar), II Chronicles 32:25 (similar), Psalm 24:4, Ezekiel 28:2-6,17 (similar), Ezekiel 31:10 (similar), Daniel 5:20 (similar), Daniel 11:12.
Note that all these examples of scripture show that this lifted up heart of pride came at the blessing of God that somehow was corrupted to provide the feeling that they were powerful and invincible. This is the heart of the American Christian confidently saved by grace and no longer living in the fear of the LORD; “Let the world go to Hell, I’m not gonna see it!”
That attitude of irresponsibility is what is bringing Hell! The shadow of darkness cannot come if the sun does not go down... but it's not the darkness that drives away the sun. Think about it.

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” Matthew 5:14.

Chicken Whaling is torching your own city because of the significant increase of light that it produces for the world of darkness!
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