Month: May 2016

Today another look at the “snare” that comes upon all the earth, and the idea that mankind finds itself in a described condition while never seeing (understanding) it until it becomes undeniably evident. After looking at the foretelling of the snare we’ll look at the condition. In Luke 21:35 the LORD speaks of the snare that will come upon all the earth, and in the verse prior we’re told of it being a day that come upon some “unaware” (suddenly – see 1 Thessalonians 5). In prior verses we see the signs we’ve studied many times; the sun and the moon as the powers of heaven, symbolizing earthy government being shaken. This is speaking of government as intended by God to shine and reflect His light of a just rule, now corrupted into darkness covering all the earth. It is also telling of a vast majority being ignorant of the depraved condition and unable to comprehend the self-evident cause.

The chapter speaks of being led away captive and separated from Jerusalem. Those that study along know Jerusalem represents what its literal Hebrew meaning states: Yarah Shalam, taught and therefor founded upon the understanding of peace by reciprocal security. Yarah tells of this not just being any teaching but as water flowing from the original source. It is telling of government as God intended it, which secures our God given rights, as a contrast to the corruption of it by man and in doing his putting the security of all under threat.

Luke 21 (snare in verse 35)
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, and you will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
13 And it shall turn to you to bear testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand what you shall answer.
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And you shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends, and some of you they shall cause to be put to death.
17 And you shall be hated by all men for My name’s sake.
18 But there shall not a hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess you your souls.
20 “And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them that are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter there into.
22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
25 “And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth distress among nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.
26 Men’s hearts will fail them for fear and for looking upon those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws nigh.”
29 And He spoke to them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees.
30 When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
31 So likewise you, when you see these things come to pass, know you that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

The Greek word translated “snare” is the five times used word pagis. It is from a root word meaning to fix, as in to pitch a tent by staking it to the ground with pegs. The context is explaining a fixed position and the inability to reconsider it becoming a trap. Three of the times the word is used are in the books of Timothy.

In 1 Timothy 3 we are told of how to rule our own house and to avoid pride. These are spoken in the context of avoiding the “snare” of the devil. In chapter 6 the “snare” is spoken of as having comes upon those that for the love of money pervert the Gospel and sound teaching. It is speaking of those preaching their own prosperity doctrine and their inability to reconsider the error, and in doing choose to stay in the snare and become consumed by it.

1 Timothy 3 (snare in verse 7)
1 This is a true saying: If a man desires the office of bishop, he desires a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt at teaching;
3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 one who rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all dignity.
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 He must not be a novice in the faith, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good reputation with those who are outsiders, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

1 Timothy 6 (snare is in verse 9)
3 If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,
4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes over words, from which cometh envy, strife, railings, evil suspicions,
5 perverse disputings by men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
9 But those who would be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil; and while some have coveted after it, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 In the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, I give thee this charge:
14 that you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ,
15 which He in His times shall show — He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and LORD of lords,
16 who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.

2 Timothy 2:26 is the most descriptive in explaining how we escape this “snare.” The chapter tells of those who are actually opposing themselves by their refusal to reconsider their fixed position, and in their PRIDE refusing to acknowlegde the condition of darkness they have brought upon the world. We are told in verse 26 that the only way they can recover themselves is to accept the instruction that has brought these things to light.

2 Timothy 2
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that you hast heard from me among many witnesses, commit you the same to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
3 Endure you therefore hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man who wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
5 And if also a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned unless he strive lawfully.
6 The husbandman who labors must be the first partaker of the fruits.
7 Consider what I say, and the LORD give thee understanding in all things.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel,
9 wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds. But the Word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him;
12 if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
13 if we believe not, yet He abides faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the LORD that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness,
17 and their word will eat as doth a canker — among whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18 who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrowing the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal: “The LORD knows those who are His,” and, “Let every one who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace with those who call on the LORD out of a pure heart.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they are intended to produce conflict.
24 And the servant of the LORD must not produce confict, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 in meekness instructing those in opposition. Perhaps God will give them repentance, that they may acknowledge the truth,
26 and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

The fifth time pagis (snare) is used is Romans 11:9 in quoting Psalms 69. Bothe these passages use the word “trap” with snare, and Psalms 96 goes on to say that the end is that no one shall ever again dwell in these tents (the positions they are immovably fix upon). It tells of the vinegar and gall given to the redeemer in the form of the reproach against him from the blind and ignorant.

Romans 11 is speaking of the time of the recovering and all God’s people, both awake and the awakened, are able to see. This is the resurrection that hadn’t yet come and spoken of in 2 Timothy 2:18.

Romans 11
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeks for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded,
8 according as it is written: “God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.”
9 And David said, “Let their table be made a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense unto them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their backs always.”
11 I say then: Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! But rather, through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?
Psalms 69 (the trap is mentioned in verse 22)
12 They that sit at the gate speak against me, and I have become the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is unto Thee: O LORD, in an acceptable time, O God, in the multitude of Your mercy hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from them that hate me and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the floodwater overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your loving-kindness is good; turn unto me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
17 And hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it; deliver me because of mine enemies.
19 You hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; mine adversaries are all before Thee.
20 Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom You hast smitten, and they talk of the grief of those whom You hast wounded.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

All the facets we’ve discussed are found in Isaiah 24, beginning with the earth becoming without form, and void. (See the wordxp.com post from May 16, titled: Leaven is Will – Mystery, Not My Will, But Thy Will Be Done)

Isaiah 24
1 Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly despoiled; for the LORD hath spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away; the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
8 The mirth of taborets ceases, the noise of them that rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore glorify you the LORD in the valleys, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
17 Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders gloriously.

A Sunday message to the faithful.
I have often said Richard Hudson is a pleasant guy – who at the same time lives and works within a corrupt establishment that will do anything to keep control of our government. This “establishment” believes it has right to rule over us and to use any means necessary to keep power. It has no problem using deception and dishonesty when it finds itself under threat. This is the way people in both parties, the ruling class, exercise power unjustly over us and seek to destroy any who dare challenge their grip on it (the governing process).

So now that they see themselves losing in fair election they again resort to personal attacks. They use things I have admitted to, using drugs, being arrested and serving a few months in a county jail, which happened OVER FORTY YEARS AGO before I enlisted in the Army. They attack me calling me a millionaire and saying I once refused to pay child support – the truth is it was several decades ago, when I was restarting the business that eventually made me a millionaire, and a hostile court was trying force me to abandon my business and take a different job making more money. Because I decided to stick through it during those hard times of making little money the court imputed income much greater than I was actually making. I knew what I was doing was what would be the best for my family, my children, and I stuck to it. Now we all have a blessed and wonderful life because of it (all six of my children now work with me in our businesses and all live good lives here in Raeford).

These are my crosses and I will bear them. I don’t blame the political class (the establishment) for being who they are; but just as assuredly I will not allow them to define me as something I am not. I will not be defined by the lowest points in my past life. If this is all they have – they have nothing. (And, of course I knew they would attack as they have. They are snakes and snakes do what snakes do.)

When people speak about being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ this is what we are talking about. He came with a message from God, he became the message of God, telling us we can change our lives and don’t have to be defined by our past (sins – errors). The message also tells of a plan that includes everything in our past and present working together for our good in the end. This is who I am and what I not only believe but also live. It is as true for every person as it is for our nation, UNDER GOD.

I am running for office because it is a time I have been created for. I have lived a rough life and through it have learned self-control and to not be self-centered in my motives. I am someone who has risen from the dead after being born again.
Ours is a time meant for people willing to fight for what this time demands. The fight isn’t for self-gain or self-aggrandizement. It’s for answering a call that God has prepared us for, in service to Him, our nation, our people, and to secure the blessings of liberty for our posterity and ourselves. It’s time for a revolution!

This says the LORD: Isaiah 8: 9 Associate yourselves, O you people, yet you shall be broken in pieces! And give ear, all you of far countries. Gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces!
10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us.
11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “Say you not, ‘A confederacy,’ to all those to whom this people shall say, ‘A confederacy’; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid.
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.
14 And He shall be for you a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared and be taken.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, “Seek unto those who have familiar spirits and wizards, who peep and who mutter,” should not a people seek unto their God? For the living, to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it sorely beset and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their God, and look upward;
22 and they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah 54
1 “Sing, O barren, you that didst not bear! Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you that didst not travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says the LORD.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
3 For you shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 “Fear not; for you shalt not be ashamed; neither be you confounded, for you shalt not be put to shame: for you shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
5 For thy Maker is your husband” the LORD of hosts is His name” and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.
6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused,” says thy God.
7 “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
8 In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, says the LORD thy Redeemer.
9 “For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed,” says the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
11 “O you afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
12 And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of rubies, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
14 In righteousness shalt you be established; you shalt be far from oppression, for you shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
16 Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment you shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me,” says the LORD.

Psalms 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, for His mercy endures for ever!
2 Let Israel now say that His mercy endures for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endures for ever.
4 Let them that fear the LORD now say that His mercy endures for ever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me, and set me in an ample place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?
7 The LORD takes my part among them that help me; therefore shall I see what I desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10 All the nations compassed me about, but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about; but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees, they are quenched as the fire of thorns; for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
13 You hast thrust sorely at me that I might fall, but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD hath chastened me sorely, but He hath not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD”
20 this gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise Thee, for You hast heard me and art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech Thee, O LORD; O LORD, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, who hath shown us light; bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You art my God, and I will praise Thee; You art my God, I will exalt Thee.
29 O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures for ever!

Today a brief look at Matthew 5 after the beatitudes and specifically the Lord telling us that those saying to their brother “‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Before I go on I am going make it plain this is a warning to those who have condemned fellow Christians for which candidate they support.)

The passage must of course be considered within a context and contrast including what is recorded in verses prior. Before it we have those who believe and as result are persecuted and blessed; later the warning to the persecutors that they are in danger of hell fire.
Here is the full passage mentioned:

Matthew 5
11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For truly I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21 You have heard that it was said of them of old time, You shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, “‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

The Greek word translated as “You fool” in verse 22 is moros. The context is “without a cause.”

Before a deeper examination of the word moros a look at the underlying principle of accusation of ignorance (you fool) without a cause, and how to know when it is valid and invalid.

John 7 ends with telling of the principle of not judging a man until he has been heard and given a chance to speak on his own behalf. The passage is describing those only knowing what they are being told by others and are willing to condemn based on a limited and self-centered (incorrect) understanding. The contrast is between “those who believe on Him,” and those persecuting those who have believed, even as these persecutors curse those believing and the one believed, before they have heard him themselves.

John 7
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
43 So there was a division among the people because of him.
44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?
46 The officers answered, Never man spoke like this man.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are you also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who know not the law are cursed.
50 Nicodemus said unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art you also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee arises no prophet.
53 And every man went unto his own house.

This of course takes us to 1 Corinthians 1 and the word moros being used in verse 25 & 27 in describing the foolishness of God being wiser than the wisdom of the world. The reason is the same, people refusing to hear and understand because of their own desire for power and control. It tells of Christ bearing this cross just as we must so the preaching of the good news can be heard. 1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

1 Corinthians 4
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are despised. 11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; 12 And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: 13 Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day. 14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

1 Corinthians 1
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, that every one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

Today a bit about the intended meaning of “leaven” as it is used in God’s word. The intended meaning is always something that is mixed in, and as it effects the entirety of the whole it is mixed with. It is always corruption introduced by men. Failing to understand this point is the origin of misunderstanding one of the LORD’s definitions of the end time. It is his telling of the reign of heaven coming as the world is first fully corrupted into a state of total confusion and emptiness. This is again referencing the condition we have studied that is described in the Hebrew phrase tohuw bohuw. These are the words used only three times together, with the first describing the condition of the earth in Genesis 1:2 as “without form, and void” as God moves in creating the new. (See the post from WordXP.com April 22, 2016 titled, “How Do You See The Promised Land?”)

The LORD’s telling of the women having fully worked her leaven into the whole lump is found in Matthew 13:33. This is preceded by the definition of the reign of heaven being as a mustard seed that grows into the greatest of all the trees. This is also a coinciding aspect of creation as God’s wisdom being present before creation and only with this contrast is the corruption fully seen and understood. Just prior in the chapter we are told of the tares being separated from their being intermixed with the wheat. In Genesis 1:7 we see it as the waters being divided, and again in verse 8 we see this right dividing being called heaven. In Matthew 13 it is the word of God as the good seed and when it takes hold in good ground it becomes the greatest of all (in the children of the kingdom of heaven).

Matthew 13
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? from where and when then has it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy has done this. The servants said unto him, [Is your will] then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; [unless] while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
33 Another parable spoke he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
34 All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spoke he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear.

This again must be read coinciding with John 1 where we (also) see the two great lights, here as Jesus and John, and also symbolizing the Church and civil governments (as also in the sun and the moon).

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lights every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Matthew 13:35 tells of these things being spoken in parable to fulfill scripture. It is quoting from Psalms 78:2.

Psalms 78
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

Earlier in Matthew 13:14 we read of those whose understanding and perception have been removed and their eyes blinded and ears unable to hear. The quote is from Isaiah 6 and ends saying that if this condition wasn’t as it is these people would be converted (changed) and healed. The common aspect with these quotes is that God’s word is not being heard. This is the condition even Isaiah saw in himself before he is converted and healed.

Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; [unless] they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, LORD, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance [life] is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance [life] thereof.

This is also describing the state of full corruption. Now back to the leaven, and I show you a great mystery. The word is mentioned several times in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. Understanding the passage in the context intended by the Spirit begins in the chapter prior where we are told of not having many fathers. Charter 5 then begins by telling of the one that has his father’s wife. Then we are told of the leaven that corrupts the whole. This is telling of the same corruption that has been worked in by the same women.

1 Corinthians 4
14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be you followers of me.
17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the LORD, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the LORD will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21 What will you? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

1 Corinthians 5
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our LORD Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the LORD Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Here we have the contrast between the corrupted and uncorrupted as we are told to purge out the old leaven, that we may become the new lump. It goes on to define it as the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

This takes us to our resurrection as it is defined in 1 Corinthians 15, and our call to be changed from the corrupted by putting on incorruption. It doesn’t happen by our having to put off this body, but rather, as the scriptures tell us, by putting on sincerity and truth. Hebrew 13 (again) tells us as it begins of the undefiled bed that allows us to see what we haven’t seen. (1 Corinthian 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.)

Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love [Philadelphia] continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our LORD Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
23 Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;
2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he said all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God gives it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.

I show you a mystery: He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.

Psalms 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever.
4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures forever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The LORD takes my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, which has showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you.
29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.

Verse 14 above connects this Psalm to Isaiah 12:2 in that it says the same thing. “The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.” The Hebrew words used are, Yahh ‘oz zimrath hayah yeshuw’ah. Yahh is the most sacred name of the LORD. Hayah is the word Yahh is derived from and means to become – as in entering into existence. It is the word translated “I AM” twice in Exodus 3:14 when the LORD tells Moses his name is, I AM that I AM. The word Yeshuw’ah means salvation, and is the origin of the name Jesus.

Yeshuw’ah comes from the word yasha’. Here is the definition of yasha’ from Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Strong’s #3467: yasha` (pronounced yaw-shah’) a primitive root; properly, to be open, wide or free, i.e. (by implication) to be safe; causatively, to free or succor:–X at all, avenging, defend, deliver(-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save(-iour), get victory.

Here is Revelation 3 again and what the Spirit says to the Church at Philadelphia (brotherly love). This is telling of that which is made wide open, and become free.

Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and has kept my word, and has not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are God’s chosen people, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
Now, to those who are able to hear what he Spirit is saying, lets look again at Hebrews 13.

Therein we find the completion of all we are told in the above passages and their deepest meanings are very plainly stated.

Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love [Philadelphia] continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
22 And I beseech you [call you near], brethren [brothers – see verse 1], suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
23 Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty [apoluo, meaning free]; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.

Isaiah 12
1 And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though you were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comforted me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation [I AM that I AM].
3 Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall you say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the Lord; for He has done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, you inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of you.

Psalms 118:26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.

Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfill you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmuring and disputing:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

Thus says the LORD, the troubles are for one reason and one only. They are all due to the separation of God’s people by those that lead them (who they are listening to and following). In Amos 6 the LORD tells us to go and look upon those that have separated themselves, and He now tells us to understand the pattern. Verse 2 begins saying, “Pass you unto Calneh, and see.” The Hebrew words are, ‘abar Kalneh ra’ah. The translation – is to let your mind pass over the confusions and shame (kelimmah) and in doing allow yourself to see.

Amos 6
1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Pass you unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go you to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
3 You that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 The LORD God hath sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with you? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
11 For, behold, the LORD commanded, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13 You which rejoice in a thing of naught, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength [sound like the ax that thinks it’s the power that swings it]?
14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.

It is telling of the destruction that has come upon those who think they have it all and are in need of nothing. (They condemn and vilify God because of the tool He chooses, and in doing cause the separation from their brother – the separation of Philadelphia into Laodicea. See Hebrews 13 where it begins by telling to “Let Philadelphia (brotherly love) continue.” The chapter goes to tell us of the LORD’s saying, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”)

The full understanding of this context comes when later Amos 6:6 ends by saying, “but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” The Hebrew text uses the same word ra’ah in describing in Genesis 46:29 Joseph’s father and brothers knowing him. Ra’ah is the word translated “presented himself.”

The name Kalneh is only used three times. The first mention is as one of the cities of Nimrod, who had defied the LORD (Genesis 10:9 & 10). The first of these cities is Babel, which means confusion, and symbolically represents a departure (defiance into self-inflicted disregard and separation) from the LORD. The following chapter in Genesis tells of the tower of Babel and the world going from one language into being scattered, and their achievement turned into stagnation.

Genesis 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from then and there did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The next time Kalneh is named is in Isaiah 10:9 as Calno. Here it is telling of the same context of our being called to see this as the example of those thinking they were in need of nothing, and thereby blinded to the heart (reason(ing)) of the matter. If you remember, Isaiah 10 is where we studied the idea of the ones thinking they were the power when merely the TOOL (ax) in the hand of the Power. This is also the chapter were we read of the remnant that will return from the separation. It is also where we read and have studied the determined end (the culmination) and the short work the LORD will make upon the earth. Restated in Romans 9:28 as, “For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the LORD make upon the earth.” We also saw it as where we are told of all the people being called together to pursue and finish those that have been afflicting God’s people (as in the Sword of the LORD, and of Gideon in the day they were called to the rock of Oreb.)

Isaiah 10
10 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Howbeit he means not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
8 For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the LORD hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
13 For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shakes it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
16 Therefore shall the LORD, the LORD of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the LORD God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
26 And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Revelation 3
1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things says he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that you have a name that you live, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.
4 You hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are God’s chosen people, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot.
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.

Today (again) a bit about the origin of man, and with it we understand the rising, fall and rising again of humanity. We find the concept defined in scripture several times as our being cognitive of where we came from as a necessity for understanding where we are going. The ending is the re-cognition of the first state and thereby the reestablishment of it.

In Hebrews 11:15 the writer tells of all the “great witnesses” who came before as examples of seeing our common future destination and their possibly not arriving there due to not understanding their origin. The verse says, “And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.”

The word “mindful” above is from the Greek word mnemoneuo. Of the twenty-one times it is used nineteen are as the word “remember.”

Here is the Strong’s Greek Dictionary definition: Strong’s #3421: mnemoneuo (pronounced mnay-mon-yoo’-o) from a derivative of 3420 [memory or memorial]; to exercise memory, i.e. recollect; by implication, to punish; also to rehearse:–make mention; be mindful, remember.

(Stay with me and it will all come together.)

In Exodus 3:14 & 15 the LORD first tells Moses His name as I AM. (And yes we have studied it numerous times and we know all the implications of the name.) The point we are going to examine is the LORD then saying this name is a “memorial unto all generations.”

Exodus 3
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM That I AM: and He said, This shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, This shall you say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations.

The Lord Jesus defines himself as “I AM” in John 8:55, and in the verses prior He tells of knowing from where He has come, and where He is going. In verse 42 He says, “I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me.” The chapter centers on those rejecting His words doing so because they didn’t understand where he had come from, and thereby were showing they were the product of some other origin (and therefor some other destination – darkness).

This goes back to the description given in Chapter 1.

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This takes us to the destination as the beginning. John 8:51 Truly, truly, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

John 3
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it is directed, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you a master of Israel, and know not these things?
11 Truly, truly, I say unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the NAME of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that does evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

This is telling of the grave having no victory over those that hear the words of life and keep (do) them. The other words are the lies (the creations of men) and these worshiped as idols. The degrading away from the original truth of our origin is the corruption spoken in 1 Corinthians 15 as it tells of our resurrection from the fall. The quote in verse 55 is from Hosea 13:14, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”

Our destination and origin are one in the same. We are told of them in Hebrews 12 as it says: ” 22 But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.”

Here is Hosea 14 followed by 1 Corinthians 15.

Hosea 14
14 O Israel, return unto the LORD your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in thee the fatherless finds mercy.
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sows is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sows, thou sows not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God gives it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differes from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Let’s once again talk about the word apocalypse and its true meaning. The unlearned use the word to represent events ending the world, when in fact the meaning is an enlightenment of a world being destroyed by the darkness of untruth. The world we live in has become dominated by reversed definitions or right and wrong and good an evil, and of people determining these by their own actions. People first define themselves as good or evil, right or wrong, and then any act by them is defined by their self-perception. The end the enlightenment brings is in establishing a fixed standard outside of any individual’s self-ideal. (The idea is one of our original national foundations as a nation of laws not of men. This embodies the premise that we do not judge based in who the person is, but rather our laws are applied equally no matter the person. This aspect and the destruction of all standards can be seen at the root of so many societal (pop culture) matters of our day. If a person thinks he or she is something, deserving of some special privilege, present day judgment is based on what the person thinks in their own mind, usually altered from what reality, society and tradition would define as normal. This person having altered reality is defined as a victim if truth and reality is presented, with the presenter of it being the evil one and the one altering reality (altering an objective standard) as the good.)

I don’t really care what people living in a world of altered reality think about my presenting truth. My obligation as a human being is to bear the reproach of those that whish to stay in their own darkness, and the obligation is to unwaveringly present truth as it is, and to do it with my only intention to help those that wish to may come out of the darkness into the light.

Those in darkness, this altered reality without any objective standards, will define me as evil for presenting this opinion. They will define those living in realism as the delusional and uninformed. They will define their own judgment, which has descended into the darkest and coldest hearted insanity, as loving and moral, while they act it out in violence of action and effect.

This brings us back to the light as I have defined it many times, as defined to me by my Father (God). The light is in understanding peace and civilization are only found in mutual security in life, liberty and property (estate). The counterfeit is the spurious claim it can be found by any one group depriving any other of these basic rights, and doing it as means to grant them some other right that only exists in their altered state of malleable standards and self-centered reality. I am speaking to all equally (as in a fixed law equally applied).

This is the message of Jesus Christ, and Him as the Ark of the Testament (the Word of God) upon which is balanced all the law and prophets. Luke 2:32 records the LORD entering the world as “A Light to lighten the gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel.”

In recent posts we have examined the idea of the Glory of the LORD being when we as a people of God have emptied ourselves of self, and are filled with the mind and message of the LORD. His Glory is then seen in/through us as we advance His message of peace and civilization (pour it out of us into others, as it was done to us).

The Greek word translated “to lighten” in Luke 2:32 above is, apocalypse (apokalupsis – to disclose, or literally to remove a cover – from something that exists but has been covered (overshadowed by darkness)). The word “gentiles” is ethnos, meaning the nations. In this we see the Glory of God is seen in His people, and this message of the way to peace and civilization is then disclosed to the nations (the people not knowing Him or the way).

The fullness of understand this is found in Isaiah 42:6 where Luke is quoting from as he tells of the Light and the enlightenment. In the words that follow in verse 7 we read it is, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”

Isaiah 42
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
5 Thus says God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
14 I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?
20 Seeing many things, but you observes not; opening the ears, but he hears not.
21 The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfill you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you art mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For truly he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to secure [help] them that are tempted.