#Disciples Literal New Testament Bible

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Do Not Grieve Over The Dead In Christ. We Will Rise Together To Be With Him Forever

13 And we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, concerning the ones falling-asleep, in-order-that you may not grieve as indeed the others— the ones not having a hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose-up, so also God will bring with Him the ones having fallen asleep through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we— the ones living, the ones remaining until the coming of the Lord— will in-no-way precede the ones having fallen asleep. 16 Because the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shouted-command, with a voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise-up first. 17 Then we— the ones living, the ones remaining— will be snatched-up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 So then, be encouraging one another with these words. — 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 | Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT) The Holy Bible, Disciples’ Literal New Testament Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing. Cross References: 1 Kings 13:17; 1 Kings 20:35; Daniel 7:13; Joel 2:11; Matthew 16:27-28; Matthew 24:31; John 12:26; Acts 1:9; Acts 7:60; Romans 1:13; Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Corinthians 15:52; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:1

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (February 23)

On February 23, the Catholic Church remembers the life and martyrdom of St. Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle and evangelist St. John.

Polycarp is celebrated on the same date by Eastern Orthodox Christians, who also honor him as a Saint.

Polycarp is known to later generations primarily through the account of his martyrdom, rather than by a formal biography.

However, it can be determined from that account that he was born around the year 69 AD.

From the testimony he gave to his persecutors – stating he had served Christ for 86 years – it is clear that he was either raised as a Christian, or became one in his youth.

Growing up among the Greek-speaking Christians of the Roman Empire, Polycarp received the teachings and recollections of individuals who had seen and known Jesus during his earthly life.

This important connection – between Jesus' first disciples and apostles and their respective students – served to protect the Catholic Church against the influence of heresy during its earliest days, particularly against early attempts to deny Jesus' bodily incarnation and full humanity.

Polycarp's most significant teacher, with whom he studied personally, was St. John – whose contributions to the Bible included not only the clearest indication of Jesus' eternal divinity but also the strongest assertions of the human nature he assumed on behalf of mankind.

By contrast, certain tendencies had already emerged among the first Christians – to deny the reality of Jesus' literal suffering, death and resurrection, regarding them as mere "symbols" of highly abstract ideas.

With John's help, Polycarp may have been the one who compiled, edited, and published the New Testament

Another Catholic teacher of the second century, St. Irenaeus, wrote that "Polycarp was not only instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ; but he was also, by apostles, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna."

In a surviving letter that he wrote to the Philippians, he reminded that Church – which had also received the teaching of St. Paul – not to surrender their faith to the "gnostic" teachers claiming to teach a more intellectually refined gospel.

"For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is antichrist," he wrote –  citing St. John himself – "and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan."

"Let us therefore, without ceasing, hold fast by our hope and by the pledge of our righteousness," Polycarp taught – as he went on to explain that both hope and righteousness depended upon "Jesus Christ, who took up our sins in His own body upon the cross."

With eloquence and clarity, he reminded the Philippian Church that Christ, "for our sakes, endured all things – so that we might live in him."

However, Polycarp's most eloquent testimony to his faith in Jesus came not through his words but through his martyrdom, described in another early Christian work.

The Church of Smyrna, in present-day Turkey, compiled their recollections of their bishop's death at the hands of public authorities in a letter to another local church.

"We have written to you, brethren, as to what relates to the martyrs, and especially to the blessed Polycarp" – who, in the words of the Catholics of Smyrna, "put an end to the persecution – having, as it were, set a seal upon it by his martyrdom."

Around the year 155, Polycarp became aware that government authorities were on the lookout for him, seeking to stamp out the Catholic Church's claim of obeying a higher authority than the Emperor.

He retreated to a country house and occupied himself with constant prayer, before receiving a vision of his death that prompted him to inform his friends: "I must be burned alive."

He changed locations but was betrayed by a young man who knew his whereabouts and confessed under torture.

He was captured on a Saturday evening by two public officials, who urged him to submit to the state demands.

"What harm is there," one asked, "in saying, 'Caesar is Lord,' and in sacrificing to him, with the other ceremonies observed on such occasions, so as to make sure of safety?"

"I shall not do as you advise me," he answered.

Outraged by his response, the officials had him violently thrown from their chariot and taken to an arena for execution.

Entering the stadium, the bishop – along with some of his companions, who survived to tell of it – heard a heavenly voice, saying:

"Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!"

Before the crowd, the Roman proconsul demanded again that he worship the emperor.

"Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian," the bishop said. "And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day, and you shall hear them."

"You threaten me with fire," he continued "which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished. But you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly."

"But," he challenged the proconsul, "what are you waiting for? Bring forth what you will."

Although the crowds clamored for Polycarp to be devoured by beasts, it was decided he should be burned alive, just as he had prophesied.

He prayed aloud to God:

"May I be accepted this day before you as an acceptable sacrifice — just as you, the ever-truthful God, have foreordained, revealed beforehand to me, and now have fulfilled."

What happened next struck Polycarp's companions with amazement. They recorded the sight in the letter that they circulated after Polycarp's death.

"As the flame blazed forth in great fury," they wrote, "we to whom it was given to witness it, beheld a great miracle."

The fire did not seem to touch the bishop's body. Rather, as they described:

"Shaping itself into the form of an arch, it encompassed – as by a circle – the body of the martyr. And he appeared within not like flesh which is burnt, but as bread that is baked, or as gold and silver glowing in a furnace."

"Moreover, we perceived such a sweet odour coming from the flames – as if frankincense or some such precious spices had been burning there."

The executioners perceived that Polycarp's death was not going as planned. Losing patience, they ordered him to be stabbed to death.

From the resulting wound, "there came forth a dove and a great quantity of blood so that the fire was extinguished."

The crowd, as the Christian witnesses recalled, were understandably amazed.

"All the people marveled," they wrote, "that there should be such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect."

Polycarp, they proclaimed, had been among that elect – "having in our own times been an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop of the Catholic Church which is in Smyrna."

St. Polycarp has been venerated as a saint since his death in 155.

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last ten people who reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals & followers!! <3

Oooh, thank you! :D

1. Ghostbur <3 (literally, when I watch clips/art/read fics/talk + think about Ghostbur, there is instant happiness. A friend sent me a bunch of Ghostbur art a few weeks ago and it made me so happy and smiley and I still think about it <33)

2. Reading le Bible—specifically, the New Testament, even more specifically, stuff about the Disciples. Oh my gosh they can be so darn hilarious it’s amazing (I’ve been reading through the book of John recently, and it’s been so neat!! I’ve been real out of the habit of reading my Bible, so it’s been nice to get back into it :)

3. When fictional characters play ukulele!! It’s always so exciting :D A few weeks ago I had the Realization that c!Tubbo canonically plays the ukulele and LACSHAUSVAJSBAKSG YIPPEE!!!

4. Getting comments on my fics :) I got one last night and it made me soooooo so happy yes

5. Going to thrift shops! I went to one pretty recently and found THE COMFIEST HEKKIN JEANS EVER OH MY GOSH I HAD NO IDEA JEANS COULD BE THIS COMFY WOW and also a really pretty blue/white skirt :) And they were like TWELVE DOLLARS COMBINED DEAR GOODNESS!!!

[altschmerzes]

Hey! I just read your post about the John chapters in Nona the Ninth and their corresponding book of John verses, and I'd love to read more! If you have a link to share, that would make my day.

YES OKAY CRACKS KNUCKLES HERE WE GO

for context: the john chapters in nona the ninth correspond to the book of john in the gospels of the new testament in the bible. i'm a theology nerd who has a degree in religion and - after first going a little nuts about the positioning and regard of john compared to matthew, mark, and luke in the gospels - i looked up the verses before reading the sections, jotting them down as i went, only to discover the verses had a pretty much DIRECT literal or thematic link to what was about to go. under the cut, i'll go into the verses and the summaries i wrote of the john chapters in nt9 to explain this to some friends. (my familiarity with the christian NT is a liiiiittle less than my familiarity with the torah, Being Jewish And All, but i think i'm pretty on the money with this one.)

for ease of clarity, the structure is 'verse from john, followed by what i refer to as a summary of the corresponding section in 'the gospel of the world's smallest violin.'' also, sections of the bible are sometimes given titles. so the title bit there with the quotes from john refer to that section's title.

also worth noting some of these quotes make me, as a jew, kind of. uncomfortable or annoyed but i'm putting that aside for the moment for the sake of ~literary analysis. also also, the quotes are from the nrsv for the most part.

John 20:8

The Empty Tomb Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside, and he saw and believed.

summary of the gospel of the world's smallest violin section:

we're introduced to the whole bit of that. john starts his story about what happened. he talks about how they believed what they were doing was going to work and it would be okay. the cryo plan. the others had questions but he knew it would be fine.

John 5:20

The Healing At The Pool

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

summary of the gospel of the world's smallest violin section:

they get shut down by the gov't. john and company start to get creative. the general public realizes everything is fucked vis a vis climate change. john starts getting into it with ulysses and titania - naming them, spending time with them, etc. most importantly, the bodies he touched stayed uncorrupted. they do not rot.

John 15:23

The Vine and the Branches

Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.

summary of the gospel of the world's smallest violin section:

they start believing him with what's going on. the bodies still don't rot. they're trying to figure out how to make it not real, how to make them respond the way they should, it doesn't work. nobody was paying attention to them yet. augustine was trying to get him to snap out of it and knock it off. mercy had been trying, but had stopped by then. he 'introduces' mercy and augustine to the bodies - ulysses and titania. he's able to move them for the first time.

(that one doesn't quite connect as well but i think it still resonates thematically - the concept of pushback, of him producing these 'miracles' and basically being like. if you love me, you'll stop trying to make me stop. you'll listen to me.)

John 5:18

The Authority of the Son

For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was calling God his own father, making himself equal to God.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

everybody else learns about what he can do as he gains more control over the body. everybody freaked the fuck out at first, they 'had a big fight over what it meant.' they ultimately believed, bought in, and john knew that 'it was fine.' he knew he'd 'touched something, come away with something, that could be used for good.' the line: 'Two scientists, an engineer, a detective, a lawyer, and an artist walk into a bar to help me become God.' they run trials. they knew if they were caught they'd be shut down and hushed up. he says they 'decided to stream' to tell the world.

John 8:1

this is a disputed part of the gospel of john. from the website i was using to reference: [The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

the included verse is: "Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

-but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

john starts telling the world. making their big announcement, getting attention. the audience members walk away and freak out. people say he's a satanist, or an alien, or something. everyone starts asking him to fix their problems. they actually talk about jesus directly here, that helping people 'was christ's whole problem' and 'got way too much attention and brought the heat down on everybody.' the mount of olives bit, for context, is a time when jesus is interrogated by leaders of the community and basically put through some paces, authority and legitimacy is questioned, and he works in the community. etc.

John 19:18

The Crucifixion

There they crucified him, and with him two others - one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

they all end up with interpol warrants. the world is closing in on them, only the inner circle left. he talks about being unable to bring back people once they're gone. he talks about how the gov't announces they've got this plan with the ships. he talks about how they kept being called monsters, crazy, etc. the uh. cow thing happens. he tells harrow/alecto 'they didn't give a fuck about trying to save you. they left.'

John 5:1

The Healing at the Pool

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

corresponding smallest violin bit: they decide they're going to get people to take them seriously. the people who ask him to reanimate a world leader who's died show up and he goes to this very important meeting. he does it. they pay him a shit tonne of money and they're given the nuke.

John 3:20

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the fight for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

he says they never wanted to actually use the nuke, just have it to use as leverage. force people to take them seriously, listen to them. among other things john says 'either you're the evil wizard and everyone wants to know what you think, or you're the good wizard and nobody cares.' the plan to leave earth is still accelerating, they're still not listening to him. they paid people to find facilities where the gov'ts are making the ships. they see the whole story is kind of. bullshit. he finally gives up trying to be a scientist and announces to the world he's a necromancer.

John 9:22

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had declared that anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

"They made it clear that they'd arrest anyone who tried to join us. Floods of people came anyway." talks about the general reaction to his necromancer announcement. he's kind of. scaring everyone with what he can do. he's still trying to figure out the soul question. there's an exchange of fire b/w the local cops and the new people trying to join them. john kills people for the first time i believe. he..... 'forgot' to start their hearts again. they dragged in all the corpses.

John 1:20

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah."

corresponding smallest violin bit:

the escape plan from the gov'ts escalates. they work out the truth about the plan - that there will be one ship, one leaving, and everyone else is big fucked. nobody was listening to them anymore. and they - the other og lyctors - are asking john for a miracle. to fix this. he says he has to stall the ship leaving. they use the nuke as blackmail. the ships are counting down to launch. he sends gideon to the meeting with the nuke. he tells everyone the nuke is armed. he also takes over the man he's been puppeting around to have a second nuke threat. they start telling him to stop, that he still has time to walk this back. he walks away from everything, doesn't want to deal with this anymore. cristabel uh. kills herself. and he touches the soul and then walks away from her. he's touched the earth too, alecto, and that's what he's after now. everyone is dying or dead. he absorbs alecto, or as much of her as he can. he makes her body. he Becomes God. blasts through the planets. etc.

John 5:4

The Healing at the Pool

One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years.

corresponding smallest violin bit:

john and harrow talk about god. about loving god. he keeps on going with his story. says he'll bring back the good ones. fix them. the ones he can stand to look at and forgive. he talks about how he took their memories. talks about how the deaths happened broadly. he talks about alecto, i can't die if she's alive, etc. he needs the lyctors around him etc. the tomb is the death of god. harrow talks about how she wants to find god. maybe she's in the tomb. she walks into the river and to the tower in the river, and says she'll start there.

OKAY. so. there you have it.

it's not always a perfect or clear analogy but given what i know of the gospels and the context, and in a more thematic rather than specific sense, they all line up pretty fucking directly.

this has been: a guided tour through the gospel of john and also the gospel of the world's smallest violin with your host, gav

[troybeecham]

Today, the Church honors St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

Ora pro nobis.

Matthew the Apostle (also known as Levi) was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to Christian tradition, one of the four Gospel writers (Evangelists). Among the early followers and apostles of Jesus, Matthew is mentioned in Matthew 9:9 and Matthew 10:3 as a publican, or tax collector, who, while sitting at the "receipt of custom" in Capernaum, was called to follow Jesus. He is also listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background, in Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. In passages parallel to Matthew 9:9, both Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 describe Jesus' calling of the tax collector Levi, the son of Alphaeus, but Mark and Luke never explicitly equate this Levi with the Matthew named as one of the twelve.

We do not know much with certainty about Matthew himself beyond what is mentioned in the Scriptures. He was born some time in the 1st c. AD, probably in Galilee, and was the son of Alpheus. As a tax collector he would have had to have been literate in Hebrew Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. His fellow Jews would have despised him, and all tax collectors, for what was seen as collaborating with the Roman occupation force and being therefore a traitor.

According to the Gospel, Matthew was working at a collection booth in Capernaum when Christ came to him and asked, "Follow me." With this simple call, Matthew became a disciple of Christ. After his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. This prompted Jesus to answer, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32)

The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus, and was one of the witnesses of the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus. Afterwards, the disciples withdrew to an upper room (Acts 1:10–14) (traditionally the Cenacle) in Jerusalem to await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, after which the disciples remained in and about Jerusalem and proclaimed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and performed many miracles. The Scriptures record that many came to the Faith, including a large number of priests.

In the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) "Mattai" (a nickname for Matthew in Hebrew Aramaic) is named as one of five disciples of "Jeshu". Later Church fathers such as Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.1.1) and Clement of Alexandria claim that Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before going to other countries. Ancient writers are not agreed as to what these other countries are. The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church each hold the tradition that Matthew died as a martyr. The Babylonian Talmud appears to report his execution in Sanhedrin 43a.

According to Church tradition, while preaching in Ethiopia, Matthew converted, and then consecrated to God, Ephigenia of Ethiopia, the virgin daughter of the Aethiopian King Egippus. When King Hirtacus succeeded Egippus, he asked the apostle if he could persuade Ephigenia, his neice, to marry him. Matthew thus invited King Hirtacus to a worship service the following Sunday where he rebuked the king for lusting after the girl, as had consecrated herself to God and therefore was the bride of Christ. The enraged King ordered his bodyguard to kill Matthew who stood at the altar, making him a martyr.

Early Church tradition holds that the Gospel of Matthew was written by the apostle Matthew, sometime between AD 40-51. This tradition is first attested, among the extant writings of the first and second centuries, with the early Christian bishop Papias of Hierapolis (c. AD 60–163), who is cited by the Church historian Eusebius (AD 260–340), as follows:

"Matthew collected the sayings of or about Jesus in the Hebrew Aramaic language, and each one interpreted them as best he could." Likewise, early Christian theologian Origen (c. 184–c. 253) indicates that the first gospel was written by Matthew, and that his gospel was composed in Hebrew Aramaic near Jerusalem for Hebrew Christians, which he then translated it into Greek. The Hebrew Aramaic original was kept at the Library of Caesarea. Sometime in the late fourth or early fifth century, the Nazarene Community transcribed a copy for Jerome, which he used in his work. This Gospel was called the Gospel according to the Hebrews or sometimes the Gospel of the Apostles, and it was once believed that it was the original to the 'Greek Matthew' found in the Bible.

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior, Jesus; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

[a-really-big-cat]

literally baffled by the insinuation by Chick that Second Temple Judaism was somehow a false religion

as if the Holy Family were not pious Jews...and as if the great majority of the Bible is not made up of constant affirmations of the truth and central importance of Jewish religion and all the trappings of the Temple...

regardless the New Testament actually does explicitly define the role and function of the new priesthood, because the first priests were of course the Apostles, and the Apostles went on and ordained others:

Matthew 28:16-20 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

<16> Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. <17> And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. <18> And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. <19> Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, <20> teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

John 20:20-23 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

<20> When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. <21> Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." <22> And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. <23> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

<23> For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, <24> and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." <25> In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." <26> For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. <27> Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. <28> Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. <29> For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

[dailyaudiobible]

1/2/2023 DAB Transcript

Genesis 3:1-4:26, Matthew 2:13-3:6, Psalm 2:1-12, Proverbs 1:7-9

Today is the second day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today on day two of our grand adventure through every book, every chapter, every verse in the entire Bible, welcome back. This is sort of move in week, where we just kind get our bearings and our rhythm and then realize, pretty quickly, how poignant the Bible is and can be. And so, as we just began the journey yesterday, we began four books Genesis, in the Old Testament. Matthew, which is the first book of the New Testament. And then Psalms and Proverbs, and that’s a lot of moving in, in one day. And so, we’re taken a few days just to kind of go over, kind of give an overview of what it is we’re reading. And so, we oriented ourselves a little bit to the book of Genesis yesterday. And we’ll do the same thing when we get to the book of Matthew today. But before we get to Matthew, we have another step forward in the book of Genesis. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week, Genesis chapters 3 and 4.

Introduction to the Book of Matthew:

Okay, so yesterday we began the book of Matthew. We didn't talk much about the book of Matthew. But if we will recall, we read an extensive line of genealogy that led us all the way to the birth of Jesus. And then, we went through the birth narrative and we we’re just talking about how we just came through this season. And so, it's very familiar in our minds. And I mentioned that those genealogies, although they may not be the most interesting things to read or hear, are very important when we come across them in the Bible. People that we met in the book of Matthew yesterday, are all people that we will get to know. Every single one of those names are people that we will encounter again, as we move our way through the Old Testament. Which brings us to today, where we kind of dive into day two in the book of Matthew. But let's just do a little fly over. Matthew is a part of a grouping of books, just like Genesis is a part of a grouping of books. So, yesterday we talked about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; the first five books in the Bible. They are known as the Torah, as they are grouped together or the Pentateuch. So, Matthew is a part of a grouping of books. And you probably already know this, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are known as the four Gospels. And each one of the Gospels, and we’ll go through them in order, so we did spend quite a bit of time here at the front of the year with Jesus. Because the gospel narratives of the story of Jesus life and ministry, and his teachings. And as Christians we center our lives around what He was teaching and what He is teaching. So, in the New Testament, we will be moving right through the gospels. So, we get to kind of walk right alongside Jesus, be in the crowds with Him. Be among the disciples, become a disciple of the Savior Jesus, as we move through the Gospels. Matthew was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, so he walked with Jesus literally and heard Jesus on a daily basis. He was a disciple. So, he had devoted his life to following his Rabbi, following Jesus as a rabbi and they came to understand that Jesus was more than Rabbi. But we’ll get to that as we move through the Gospels. Nevertheless, Matthew had first-hand knowledge of what he's talking about. And as we will discover, Matthew in his previous life before becoming a disciple of Jesus, was a tax collector. So, he was, he was a hated person and he was very just disliked because to the Jews, Matthew’s a Jew collecting taxes on behalf of Rome, from the Jewish people. And so, he's looked at like, basically like a trader. And the way that taxes worked in the Roman Empire among people like the Jewish people, somebody or somebodies with lots of money, would approach the Roman government and say we want to collect taxes from Roman and then they pay a bunch of money to basically buy the rights to collect taxes on behalf of Rome. And then those people who bought that right, hire people to actually go do the dirty work and collect the taxes. And in the process, you can imagine that there is corruption involved and so, there's over taxation that ends up in the pockets of the tax collector. And so, these people are not well-liked. So, when a Jew is collecting taxes on behalf of Rome for another, from another Jew, that just seems disingenuous. And so, they were not liked. And so, the first thing we should probably just kind of understand here is that Jesus called as one of his 12 disciples, people who would live and walk with him during his earthly ministry. He called a person nobody liked. He called an outsider. That is not only riveting but important, because as we read through the book of Matthew, there's a lot of things that happen but the outsider. Or rather the inclusion of the outsider in God's kingdom is something we will see quite clearly, if we're looking for it. And we can nod our heads yes, and shake our heads yes, thank God that He loves the outsider, but the challenge then becomes, how are we treating the ones on the margins? How are we treating the outsider? Because we have an example of Jesus, and we claim to be His followers, His disciples, we claim that our faith and our goals are to become like our Savior, to become Christ-like. If we do not conduct ourselves in any way like Jesus, then what are we saying? Words are just falling from our lips that mean absolutely nothing. They’re just a black puddle on the floor, they mean nothing. Jesus called Matthew. Matthew left everything to follow Jesus. So, we’re getting the perspective of a person who left a certain kind of life and entered a completely different kind of life and was utterly transformed. The text, itself, in the book of Matthew, is aimed at Jewish believers. It's a very Hebrew centric gospel, it quotes from the Old Testament more than any of the other Gospels do, and it works harder than any of the other Gospels do to reveal Jesus fulfilling Hebrew prophecy. More than that, and if this is your first time through the Bible, like if you've wandered in here going, I've got to find some sort of rootedness in spirituality, we get to meet Jesus, we get to walk alongside Jesus, we get to know Him pretty well, and we get to know His style. And we to see His rabbinical teachings, in the way that you would teach in parables. Which are like, which are like illustration stories that have layer, after layer of meaning that can be pondered. So, that the meaning is far greater than the amount of words that were used to tell the story. And there are over 20 parables that are in the book of Matthew. So, we’ll obviously read every word of them. And then lastly, we will see and we will hear Jesus speaking about a kingdom. A kingdom that is of God. In fact, it's God's kingdom. And Jesus speaking to Hebrew people, they weren’t unfamiliar with this concept. And they wished for God's kingdom, but they were in a position, and we’ll go through all of the story, as we go through the Bible, but they were in a position in the first century, when Jesus was upon the earth, where they lived in a land that had been, at one point, their ancestral homeland. But at this point in history, it was part of the Roman Empire. It was a province of the Roman Empire, the province of Syria. But what the Hebrew people wanted was to find a Messiah, some leader, a Messiah, a godly character, a godly person, who could rally people together, and would lead people in the truth but that would also lead them into battle, to overcome miraculously Rome, and throw them out of the land, and then they could have this kingdom of God again, they could have their land back after a millennia. So, Jesus comes walking through the countryside, village-to-village, speaking to people who understand this concept and have this seething rage toward Rome because they are marginalized and oppressed. And He announces the kingdom of heaven is at hand, they’re listening. This could be that guy. He could lead them into battle. And so, Jesus continues to teach about the kingdom of heaven. And it turns out that the kingdom of heaven isn't something that's coming. It's something that is. Is here. Is now. And is coming, its fullness is coming, but it's here now. And so, Jesus reveals the kingdom of God. And it's not the kingdom that the people were expecting. And we’ll get to see the tension that arises from that. So, there’s a little bit of a flyover of Matthew. Let's dive into our day, to our second reading from the gospel of Matthew, which will be chapter 2 verse 13 through 3 verse 6.

Commentary:

Okay, so we've already spent some time talking about Matthew. And I don't want to overwhelm us with all kinds of information but as we’re moving in, it's really, really important that we get oriented to the story and understand what's going on here. And the book of Genesis today, we found out what happened to us, because yesterday, we’re reading through the creation narratives and we’re getting this glimpse of things as they were intended to be. So, yesterday I was just saying like let’s take a step back and look around and we have to acknowledge that something happened because this isn't perfect. We have all kinds of conveniences and a beautiful planet to live on, that sustains our lives, but we are a mess. Something happened. And that's what we get to see in the book of Genesis today with the third chapter of Genesis. One of the saddest moments in the Bible and there are some sad moments in the Bible, but this is one of the saddest of them all. We know the story as the fall. The fall of mankind and knowing that sets up the trajectory of the rest of the Bible. The rest of the story. God made something perfect, including perfect human beings, who wanted knowledge of good and evil, instead of trusting God to sort that out. And we have been using this knowledge ever since to understand something that is far beyond our understanding, the love of God. And we have made a colossal mess out of an awful lot of things, as we all know. We broke the story. I mean, that’s what we see here in Genesis 3. We see what happened. The rest of the story is one of a God who will not stop putting things back together again and inviting his people to be intimately involved in that process. And it's very easy to think and I’ve thought like, I mean I’m a child who grew up in a pastor's home, so the Bible stories are stories I've heard from before I could even talk. And this story of…of the garden of Eden and the fall of man and the talking serpent and the swinging swords from the Angels guarding the entrance to the garden of Eden, like I can still see this imagery from my childhood trying to imagine it. But even as a child, I was like why would God put that tree in the garden in the first place, if it were the possibility of breaking the whole plan? Why is that there? Why did they even get that choice? And as I have pondered that over decades, I have come to realize that love can't actually be love, if there's no way out. That's more like slavery. And an enslaved human being can do all sorts of things that they hate, and connect all sorts of ways that aren't true, including faking love, in order to avoid consequences. But love offered from the heart, a covenant of love, that's not something that can be faked, it's either true or it's false. God loved what He had made. He called it good and very good. He loved the children that He had made. He came to walk with them in the cool of the evening. Love isn't love, if there's no way out. And the tree was that opportunity, and we took the opportunity. And we can blame Adam and Eve, we can do all that kind of stuff but we’re doing the same thing every day, because what is ultimately happening in the book of Genesis is deception was introduced into the story. This serpent is having this conversation with Eve saying, really, God said you can't eat this? You’re not gonna die if you eat this. God’s afraid of you eating this. God’s holding out on you, if you eat this you’ll become like God. You'll know good and evil. You won't need this God who is withholding important information from you. Become God yourself. Eat the fruit. That has been our story ever since. But we will see as we read through the Old Testament and now that we’re reading through the Gospels and the life of Jesus that God has been putting things back together, ever since. Then we will continue with that journey going forward tomorrow.

Prayer:

And Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for allowing us to gather, to be in the world at this time, with this technology and able to be far-flung all over the world, representing all kinds of different cultural contexts, all stripes and flavors of theological persuasion. We’re able to come here together, around the Global Campfire and immerse ourselves in what the Bible says by simply reading and absorbing it together. Thank You for this gift. And, Holy Spirit, although this may be the first time that we ask this year, it won't be the last, lead us into all truth. This is something promised in the Scriptures. We believe that You will. Our role will be to be openhearted and openhanded as You lead us. So, thank You for inviting us to this grand dance, as we take the adventure of a lifetime through the Scriptures. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the websites. It’s where we find out what's going on around here, home of the Global Campfire that we come around every day and gather. The Daily Audio Bible app will allow you to see and interact with all things are on the website. So, download the app from the App Store that's associated with your device. Just look for Daily Audio Bible and you can download the app for free, so check that out. And while we’re doing some checking out, check out the different sections like the Community Section. There are links to get connected on social media or begin to follow. But in the Community Section we’ll also find the Prayer Wall, which will become an invaluable resource for us, as we navigate through the year, because it's always on and never off, it's always there. We can always go there. Can't sleep, want to focus outward instead of focusing inward on the problems that are keeping you awake, want to put your mind toward others, go to the Prayer Wall. Read what people are asking for prayer and what how they're sharing their lives and their stories, pray for them. Let them know you prayed for them. Or maybe you can't sleep because you’re getting crushed and you’ve been dragging chains around so long that you can't move anymore, and you feel alone. You're not. Go share your story. Let your brothers and sisters come around you, the Prayer Wall is always there for us, as we navigate through year together. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. First of all, thank you, humbly, we wouldn't be in this if we weren't in this together. And now, we're in year 18, seven days a week. So, we’re in this together. And I thank you. There’s a mission here, to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm of showing up every day. That’s what we call the Global Campfire, coming together every day, knowing for certain, this isn't a solitary journey. We are not on it alone. So, if that is life-giving to you, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement that you want to share, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that's little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today, I'm Brian, I love you and I'll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

James The Teacher, my friend, I’m Sparky in Texas. I heard you on community prayer brother, about your daughter's recital and it really hit home with me. As you know, my kids moved to Northwest, up around Portland with their mother. The day before they flew out, for the last time before moving, I had had a real tough time with the build-up. And the day before they left, I stayed up really late, really stressed out. And then that next morning, when my parents were flying out with them, they left at probably 430 or 5 in the morning, and I was so tired that I missed them leaving at the airport. And it crushed me, absolutely crushed me. And I could not forgive myself over it. I beat on myself. I knew my ex-wife was probably gonna do some beating on me too. And out of all of that, it occurred to me that God might not have wanted me there for a reason, in a weird way. We don’t understand, and I’m like you, I’m dead set, point on when I’m at work, running crews, running guys. And then it seems like I can miss things, ADD-ish at the house, and I feel like I fall short. But God’s got you. He knows what’s supposed to happen. And your daughter still loves you man. There’s many more, hopefully. Love you dude, good to hear from you.

Good morning, Daily Audio Family. This is God’s Chosen, calling from California. Channel to all the special needs parents, all the care givers and all those who have been praying and uplifting us in this prayer line. It’s been so encouraging. I myself, am a parent of a special needs daughter. But I thank God for His daily strength. She’s 7 years old. We begin our day with Psalms and we end our day with Psalms. And I’m gonna sing a song with her. Right here. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay. And I’m so happy, so very happy. I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart. And I’m so happy, so very happy. I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart. Amen. Amen.

This is Jersey Jane for Jesus. And my prayer goes out to Greg from Southwest Sweden, I believe you said. Your wife is under terrible stress. Your mother-in-law is having stomach issues. You are having trouble finding a job until you finish your courses. I pray that all these things, calm down. That you should find work. That the stress in your wife’s job, should lessen. That it would be surrounded with peace. That her co-workers are kind and good and godly. That is the main thing, that they are godly. And I pray the blood of Jesus over your mother-in-law. That she be healed, through Jesus’s healing hands. And I wish you also, a Happy New Year, Greg. And it was nice to hear from you. And I pray, and I pray, and I pray. Amen.

Good evening, this is Peggy in Texas. And I come, asking for prayer for Ben my son. It was almost a year ago that I requested prayer for him. That was when he entered the emergency room of a local hospital. And he was diagnosed with COVID 19. He was placed on a ventilator and was there for 3 months. And had a feeding tube, of course. And all kinds of things happened to him during those months. He was, had a collapsed lung and he had a heart valve infection and he had another infection and then he had, he had a massive stroke, somewhere along the line. He was able to be removed from the ventilator in April and actually, since then, he has really been hospitalized or in a physical therapy rehab place, 12 of them as right now, as of right now. It’s been so hard. It’s been catastrophic. Ben, Ben needs prayer. He has tremendous tremors. And those tremors make it impossible for him to hold onto the bars and try to stand. We, he had surgery on both feet to straighten them in order that he might be able to stand. He has not had the opportunity to do that. He is suffering. It hurts to see a child suffer. He is a wonderful man; he loves the Lord. Has raised a precious family, four children, they are all out in their first jobs, after graduating from college. And he has a lovely wife. Ben’s illness has been catastrophic in so many ways.

Hello, no, are you sure. No, not Pelim. I never. Ah man, you just never know. I guess I just took this community for granted. I just, I never called and told him. I never told him how much he means to me. I never told him how much I enjoy his calls. I never told him. Man. Melissa, you’re one. I think you’re amazing. I think you’re great. I love when you call. I love your intro, I love your voice. I love how much capacity you have for everybody. You’re amazing and I just pray to God that He blesses you. Renzo, Renzo man, you’re special bro. You’re special kid. You’re special. I wish there was a way that you could share your music with us, man. I just, I wanna hear it bro. Man. There’s so many. There’s so many. You guys are special. I just can’t, I know death happens, I understand it. I know it. But I just, I just never told him. I never told him. It doesn’t matter but. I just wish I could have told him. God bless every one of you guys. Shawn 3:16.

Hey, my Daily Audio Bible siblings. Good morning. I just could not let this year go by before I say, Happy New Year to all of you. You’re all my siblings, young and older. So many of you have blessed me during the year, 2022. Thank you, Brian, Jill your voice in music. It’s amazing. I love being here. I love this family. For real, you guys are my family. I love you guys. You guys are my church. This is what I enjoy the most, though I do go to church on Sundays. And I enjoy it but this is my favorite part, my Daily Audio Bible. I want to wish you a Happy New Year, may this year, the new year bring us closer to the Lord. May we be consistent with the reading of the Bible. Yeah, I was consistent for the whole year of 2022, it’s amazing. I cannot do it without God and your prayers. So, yeah, I just wanted to tell you how much I love you guys. You guys are important in my life. Thank you for all your encouragement, your prayers. Oh, I have so many favorite ones here. This is Minita from Lambart. God bless you. I love you so much.

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

12/20/2022 DAB Chronological Transcription

1 Peter 1-5

Welcome to Daily Audio Bible Chronological, I'm Jill. Today is the 20th day of December. Man, it seems like we just got here, literally feels like we just got here a few days ago. Thinking back to everything and all that's happened so far this year but also remaining present in this moment as we take it in as we open our ears to hear, our eyes to see, and our hearts to receive all that God wants to say to us, speak to us and do in us through his word. As we just pause for a second, let go of all of the distractions of life, of the day, of the season. And I know there are many, I know there's so many at this time of year, especially us, mamas. We carry a lot at this time of year, trying to meet everyone's expectations, managing the list, buying the food, preparing the food, all of the things. I just want you to know that I see you, even though I don't see you, I know all that you are managing and handling and although it is more meaningful to hear it from the people that you're doing it all for, sometimes we just don't get to hear it. But I see you. I appreciate you and I know that it's happening because of you. You're the reason why all of it is getting done and it is a task of super woman proportions. So well done to you. Don't forget to breathe and don't forget to rest. Exhale afterwards, let your hair down and feel whatever it is that you need to feel. And just a word of encouragement, he will get through it and it will pass. But I pray that you don't lose your heart in the mix. Hold on to your heart, hold on to what is true and leave room for error and leave room for lots of grace. We're going to need it. We're jumping over to First Peter today brand new book of the Bible, First Peter, chapters one through five. And this week, we're reading the Common English Bible, First Peter chapter 1.

Commentary

So we started First Peter today and got pretty deep into it. Peter has some really important poignant things to say, but let's just remind ourselves who Peter is in the story of the Bible. We've been reading a lot of the words of Paul where Paul wrote a lot, if not most of the New Testament. But what we know about Paul is he never met Jesus face to face. Paul had a Damascus road experience that changed him dramatically through the power of God. We are now reading from Peter. Peter, one of Jesus twelve disciples that walked with Jesus, that literally knew him intimately, that watched miracle after miracle be performed and still questioned, still doubted, still had very human, I like to call human issues with Jesus. We're on the AD side of history after death and many years, many years down the road where we like to think we know exactly what we would do if we were there, if we were walking with Jesus. But what I find relatable through the disciples is their humanity, is their questions, their thoughts, their doubts, their needing of rebuke. But then let's take it a step further of who Peter is. Peter is the disciple that denied Jesus three times before his death. And here's, here's where I'm going with that piece. It is so easy for us to try to disqualify or diminish people by using the thing in their past. That is the thing that would take you out, that would absolutely take you out of the game, turn in your uniform and sorry, thanks for playing, but you just went too far. You just crossed the line. If we remember in the Gospels, Jesus very much knew which disciple. And they were all so curious, they're asking him at the Last Supper, Lord, is it me? Surely not me? I would never do that to you. And the beautiful thing about that story, about that table is Jesus knows exactly who is capable and going to do what they did that led to the events of his death. And Jesus still chose them. He still chose to eat with them. He still sat with them and asked them to do this. Eat at this table. Eat this bread that is my body. Drink this cup that is my blood. And remember, remember who I am. Remember who I am in your life. Remember what I did for you. Knowing that choice that Jesus made gives us the biggest clue to this story of his relationship with Peter. If Jesus chose what he chose, to do what he did, by partaking, inviting, accepting, he was setting Peter up for redemption. He wasn't setting him up for failure. He was setting him up to do what only Jesus can do. Redeem us, renew us, make us new again, to make us new again and then even again. And so when I remember the details of that story, when I realized that major piece of the story, peter was not disqualified. He was not thrown aside. Peter was set up for redemption. His denial of Jesus would not be the final word of his story. Even though many would discount him, many would dismiss him, many would chastise him, condemn him and throw him aside. But when you don't throw people away, look. Look at what God can do. This is true of us. And so we hear these words today from a man who walked with Jesus. We might hear them differently. We might consider them differently, and we might apply them differently.

Prayer

So Father, we thank you for the details of our stories. We thank you that you waste nothing. You throw nobody aside. You don't set us up for failure. You don't taunt us with things for failure. You use everything for your redemption. Thank you, God that you don't just also do that with us. You do that with us because of who you are. It's nothing about how great we are, but it is everything that you can do with somebody like us, despite our past, despite our mistakes, despite our failures and the things that people would throw in our face to diminish us, to take us out. And you say, Give me that very thing. And watch me work. Watch me make something new. Watch me redeem what you thought was dead. I thank you, God. I thank you for doing it in my life. I thank you that you're not done. You're not done with any of us. Let us remember that today in this reading today, that we would hear these words and they would change us deep within. Resurrect what is dead in us. Bring it to life as only you can do and make something beautiful. From the absolute disaster of what we think we have messed up in our lives. And we thank you, and we praise you. And we pray this now all in the name of the only one who was able to resurrect what was dead to live again. The name of Jesus, amen.

[yhwhrulz]

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer Devotional: August 13th

Tozer in the Morning GIVE GOD THE CONTROL

I know that I am being repetitious - but this needs to be said again and again: our Lord will not save those whom He cannot command! The lifetime God has given us down here is a lifetime of decisions. Each person makes his own decisions as to the eternal world he is going to inhabit. We must decide to take Jesus for what He is - the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of all lords! He would not be who He is if He saved us and called us without the understanding that He can also guide us and control our lives. The root of sin is rebellion against God, and hell is the Alcatraz for the unconstituted rebels who refuse to surrender to the will of God. There are many arguments about the reality of hell. A man might endure fire and brimstone and worm - but the essence of hell and judgment for a moral creature is to know and be conscious that he is where he is because he is a rebel! Hell will be the eternal domain of all the disobedient rebels who have said, "I owe God nothing!"

Tozer in the Evening Man - The Dwelling Place of God - The Once-born and the Twice-born

CLASSIFICATION IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT of all tasks. Even in the realm of religion there are enough lights and shades to make it injudicious to draw too fine a line between men and men. If the religious world were composed of squares of solid black and solid white classification would be easy; but unfortunately it is not.

It is a grave error for us evangelicals to assume that the children of God are all in our communion and that all who are not associated with us are ipso facto enemies of the Lord. The Pharisees made that mistake and crucified Christ as a consequence.

With all this in mind, and leaning over backwards to be fair and charitable, there is yet one distinction which we dare make, which indeed we must make if we are to think the thoughts of God after Him and bring our beliefs into harmony with the Holy Scriptures. That distinction is the one which exists between two classes of human beings, the once-born and the twice-born.

That such a distinction does in fact exist was taught by our Lord with great plainness of speech, in contexts which preclude the possibility that He was merely speaking figuratively. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," He said, and the whole chapter where these words are found confirms that He was speaking precisely, setting forth meanings as blunt and downright as it is possible for language to convey.

"Ye must be born again," said Christ. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." This clear line of demarcation runs through the entire New Testament, quite literally dividing one human being from another and making a distinction as sharp as that which exists between different genera of the animal kingdom.

Just who belongs to one class and who to the other it is not always possible to judge, though the two kinds of life ordinarily separate from each other. Those who are twice-born crystallize around the Person of Christ and cluster together in companies, while the once-born are held together only by the ties of nature, aided by the ties of race or by common political and social interests.

Our Lord warned His disciples that they would be persecuted. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," He said, and "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

These are only two of many passages of the New Testament warning of persecution or recording the fact of harassment and attack suffered by the followers of the Lord. This same idea runs through the entire Bible from the once-born Cain who slew the twice-born Abel to the Book of the Revelation where the end of human history comes in a burst of blood and fire.

That hostility exists between the once-born and the twice-born is known to every student of the Bible; the reason for it was stated by Christ when He said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." The rule was laid down by the apostle Paul when he wrote, "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now."

Difference of moral standards between the onceborn and the twice-born, and their opposite ways of life, may be contributing causes of this hostility; but the real cause lies deeper. There are two spirits abroad in the earth: the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and the Spirit of God. These two can never be reconciled in time or in eternity. The spirit that dwells in the once-born is forever opposed to the Spirit that inhabits the heart of the twice-born. This hostility began somewhere in the remote past before the creation of man and continues to this day. The modern effort to bring peace between these two spirits is not only futile but contrary to the moral laws of the universe.

To teach that the spirit of the once-born is at enmity with the Spirit of the twice-born is to bring down upon one's head every kind of violent abuse. No language is too bitter to hurl against the conceited bigot who would dare to draw such a line of distinction between men. Such malignant ideas are at odds with the brotherhood of man, says the once-born, and are held only by the apostles of disunity and hate. This mighty rage against the twice-born only serves to confirm the truth they teach. But this no one seems to notice.

What we need to restore power to the Christian testimony is not soft talk about brotherhood but an honest recognition that two human races occupy the earth simultaneously: a fallen race that sprang from the loins of Adam and a regenerate race that is born of the Spirit through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

To accept this truth requires a tough-mindedness and a spiritual maturity that modern Christians simply do not possess. To face up to it hardly contributes to that "peace of mind" after which our religious weaklings bleat so plaintively.

For myself, I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I cannot have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We'll have a long time to be happy in heaven.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians

20 Now to the One being able to do super-abundantly beyond all of the things which we ask or think according to the power being at-work in us— 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations forever and ever, amen. — Ephesians 3:20-21 | Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT) Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing. Cross References: 1 Kings 3:13; Romans 11:36; Romans 16:25; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 3:7; Ephesians 4:1

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How Does It All End? Ephesians 3:20–21

[iamthewaybook]

Compassion Christian Journey

Compassion Christian Journey are deeply intertwined, forming the bedrock of many religious and philosophical beliefs. In the Christian context, compassion is not just a virtue but a divine commandment, a way of life exemplified by Jesus Christ. This profound concept is explored in depth in the book "I Am The Way," which delves into the essence of the Christian journey through the lens of compassion. This blog aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the book and its key themes, offering insights into how it can transform one's spiritual journey.

Introduction to “I Am The Way”

“I Am The Way” is a spiritually enriching book that explores the teachings of Jesus Christ, focusing on the profound statement He made in RH Martin 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This declaration serves as the cornerstone of Christian faith, encapsulating the essence of the journey towards spiritual enlightenment and eternal life. The book unpacks this declaration, highlighting how living a life of compassion is integral to following the way of Christ.

Author’s Perspective

The author of “I Am The Way” brings a wealth of theological knowledge and personal spiritual experience to the table. Their perspective is deeply rooted in scriptural analysis and practical application, making the book accessible to both seasoned Christians and those new to the faith. The author’s emphasis on compassion as a fundamental Christian principle is woven throughout the narrative, illustrating how it manifests in various aspects of life and spiritual practice.

Understanding Compassion in Christianity

Compassion Christian Journey is more than just feeling sympathy for others; it is an active, selfless love that mirrors the nature of God. The Greek word for compassion, “I Am The Way,” used in the New Testament, literally means to be moved in one’s bowels, indicating a deep, gut-wrenching response to the suffering of others. This deep-seated emotion is the driving force behind many of Jesus’ actions and teachings.

Biblical Foundations of Compassion

Throughout the Bible, compassion is a recurring theme. In the Old Testament, God’s compassion is evident in His dealings with the Israelites, despite their recurring disobedience. The Psalms often speak of God’s tender mercies and loving-kindness, emphasizing His compassionate nature.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the ultimate embodiment of compassion. His ministry was marked by numerous acts of kindness, healing, and forgiveness. From healing the sick and feeding the hungry to forgiving sinners and comforting the grieving, Jesus demonstrated compassion in action. His parables, such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, further underscore the importance of compassion in the Christian faith.

Compassion as a Commandment

Jesus’ teachings go beyond merely encouraging compassion; they command it. In I Am The Way 13:34, He instructs His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This love is not a passive feeling but an active, sacrificial love that seeks the welfare of others above oneself. It is a love that forgives, heals, and restores, reflecting the heart of God.

The Christian Journey: Walking the Way of Compassion

The Compassion Christian Journey is often described as a path or a way. Jesus’ statement, “I am the way,” invites believers to follow His example and teachings as the path to spiritual fulfillment and eternal life. This journey is characterized by a life of compassion, which is explored in detail in “I Am The Way.”

Embracing Compassionate Living

Living a compassionate life requires a deliberate choice to see and respond to the needs of others. It involves a shift from self-centeredness to other-centeredness, mirroring Jesus’ sacrificial love. This can be challenging in a world that often promotes individualism and self-interest, but it is the essence of the Christian walk.

Practical Steps to Compassion

“I Am The Way” provides practical steps for embracing compassionate living. These include:

Empathy: Developing the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. This involves active listening and putting oneself in another’s shoes.

Service: Taking tangible actions to help those in need. This can range from simple acts of kindness to more significant commitments, such as volunteering or supporting charitable causes.

Forgiveness: Letting go of grudges and extending grace to others, even when it is undeserved. This mirrors the forgiveness we have received from God.

Advocacy: Standing up for justice and advocating for those who cannot speak for themselves. This involves addressing systemic issues and working towards a more just and compassionate society.

Self-care: Practicing self-compassion by taking care of one’s own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This ensures that one has the strength and capacity to care for others.

Compassion in Action: Case Studies and Examples

The book “I Am The Way” includes numerous case studies and examples of compassion in action. These stories illustrate how individuals and communities have embraced compassionate living and the profound impact it has had on their lives and those around them.

Local Churches and Communities

The book also highlights the role of local churches and communities in fostering compassion. Many churches have outreach programs that address various needs, from food banks and homeless shelters to counseling services and disaster relief efforts. These initiatives show how collective compassion can make a significant difference in society.

The Transformative Power of Compassion

Compassion is not just beneficial for those who receive it; it also transforms the giver. “I Am The Way” explores how practicing compassion can lead to personal growth and spiritual development.

Spiritual Growth

Compassionate living deepens one’s relationship with God. As believers align their actions with Jesus’ teachings, they grow in their understanding of His nature and His love for humanity. This spiritual growth leads to greater joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Emotional and Mental Well-being

Research has shown that acts of compassion and kindness can improve emotional and mental well-being. Helping others releases endorphins, the brain’s natural painkillers, and promotes feelings of happiness and satisfaction. It also reduces stress and anxiety, fostering a sense of connection and purpose.

Building Stronger Relationships

Compassionate living strengthens relationships. When individuals show empathy and kindness, it builds trust and deepens connections. This is true in all types of relationships, whether with family, friends, or strangers. Compassion fosters a sense of community and belonging, essential for a healthy, thriving society.

Challenges and Overcoming Obstacles

While the benefits of compassionate living are clear, it is not without its challenges. “I Am The Way” addresses common obstacles to compassion and offers guidance on how to overcome them.

Overcoming Self-centeredness

One of the biggest obstacles to compassion is self-centeredness. Our natural inclination is to prioritize our own needs and desires. Overcoming this requires a deliberate effort to shift our focus from ourselves to others. This can be achieved through practices such as mindfulness, prayer, and reflection, which help to cultivate a compassionate mindset.

Dealing with Burnout

Compassion fatigue and burnout are common challenges for those who regularly engage in acts of service. The book emphasizes the importance of self-care and setting healthy boundaries to prevent burnout. This includes taking time to rest, seeking support from others, and finding a balance between giving and receiving.

Addressing Systemic Issues

Compassionate living also involves addressing systemic issues that perpetuate suffering and injustice. This can be daunting, as it often requires challenging entrenched systems and advocating for change. “I Am The Way” encourages readers to take small, meaningful steps towards justice and to collaborate with others to create a more compassionate world.

Conclusion: Embracing the Way of Compassion

“I Am The Way” is a profound exploration of the Compassion Christian Journey through the lens of compassion. It challenges readers to embrace a life of active, selfless love, mirroring the example set by Jesus Christ. By understanding the biblical foundations of compassion, taking practical steps to live compassionately, and overcoming obstacles, believers can transform their own lives and the lives of those around them.

As we journey on the path of compassion, we not only fulfill Jesus’ commandment to love one another but also experience the joy and fulfillment that comes from living in alignment with God’s heart. “I Am The Way” serves as a valuable guide on this journey, offering insights, inspiration, and practical wisdom for anyone seeking to deepen their spiritual walk and make a positive impact in the world.

[psalmonesermons]

Did Jesus and his earliest followers believe that he would return during their lifetime? Part 2/2

A study of Mark 9:1, Mark 13:30, and Matthew 10:23.

Craig L Blomberg [1] has suggested another approach to Matthew 10

Blomberg suggests we need to focus in on the larger context of Matthew 10:23 (within Jesus’ sermon) on the mission described by Jesus in Matthew 10.

Vv. 5–15 seem limited to the immediate circumstances of Jesus sending out the disciples without going with them. Many of the teaching points in these eleven verses surely cannot refer to the longer-term mission of Jesus’s followers. Specifically, when Jesus applies the restriction to going anywhere among the Samaritans and Gentiles but only to the lost people in Israel (vv. 5–6) this contrasts with the instruction (to make disciples of all nations) that Jesus gives in his Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20.

It is also unlikely that Jesus intended his followers to never take money or extra provisions with them (vv. 9–10) in their later missionary activity, nor always to rely on others’ hospitality for their room and board (vv. 11–12). So it appears that as far into his message as verse 15, he is still speaking of the literal towns in first-century Israel.

In verse 16, however, he segways into a longer-term perspective. While it is always true that Christ’s followers should be as “wise as snakes” yet “as innocent as doves” (v. 16), this is particularly relevant for their ministry after his death and resurrection. Verses 17–42 contain warnings against rejection, persecution, hostility, arrest, imprisonment, beatings and even martyrdom for allegiance to Jesus (see esp. vv. 17–23a). Most of the above forms of persecution did not begin until after Jesus’s death, resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit, although it has sadly continued in various parts of the world ever since.

The Great Commission to make disciples of all nations includes Israel just as much as any other of the world’s nations.

Since verse 23b appears in this precise context, within the same verse as the prediction of persecution, it is best to understand Jesus as teaching the ongoing incomplete nature of the mission to the Jews, with “cities of Israel” is to be understood both literally and (by implication) to refer to all Jewish people everywhere. The Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (or people groups) includes Israel just as much as the rest of the world’s nations.

Blomberg then argues that in practical terms the meaning of Matthew 10:23 is that all believers should keep busy being about the Father’s business until the ‘Son of Man’ comes back.

Conclusion

Our closer look at the above 3 verses clearly demonstrates that Jesus did not claim he would return to earth during his first follower’s lifetime. Further, as far as these three verses are concerned, it is clear that the internal consistency of the bible remains intact and that there is no evidence of Jesus’ words proving unreliable.

Amen

[1] Craig L. Blomberg is distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado.

[fortnite-ao3feed]

The Book Of Sonic

by Bip_07

Words: 966, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Fortnite (Video Game), Julius Caesar - Shakespeare, Christian Bible (New Testament)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Jesus Christ, Jonesy (Fortnite), Decius Brutus, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zeke (Orginal Male Character)

Additional Tags: Sacrilegious Work, i will be going to hell for this, Mystery, Not really because Jesus knows everything, Not the Bible, rated e for everyone, Literally throw this in a dumpster, Sonic is sarcastic, Jonesy is a disciple of Christ, Kidnapping, The plot was picked by my friends, I literally did not come up with this alone, I am not nearly mentally deranged enough, I am so sorry, This Is STUPID, I can promise you that this is not worth reading, this is unhinged, I am totally doing this again, I think I can write even wilder things, Supposed to be a mystery

[ramrodd]

COMMENTARY:

First of all, I can endorse Brandon's methods, which are Hegelian critical literary method as opposed to the critical historical method of the Jesus Seminar and the anti-Christian agenda of bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier and mythvision. The critical historica method is a legacy of the 60s cultural warfare and is the Post Modern Historic Deconstruction that replaced Hegel universally by the American university system after the SDS occupation of Columbia in 1968 and is based on dialectical Marxism.

Hegel's method is based on Gestalt Theory and is composed of the Figure of the narrative thread , the Logo of Jesus in the Gospels, and the Field of the Sociology and Anthropology that represents the context Robbins is demonstrating in this video, in particular.

The criticism of "harmonizing' the Gospels is a totally bullshit straw man; the real issue is DE-Harmonizing the Gospels if you understand the logic of the Figure of the Logos as the narrative thread of the New Testament

Now, here's the thing about the Gospel of Mark that is essential for fully appreciating the tapestry of the literature of the Bible: it was written by Cornelius , the centurion featured in Acts 19 after he and his household had been baptized by the spirit of God just like the Apostles and Followers of the War on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is fully present and apparent throughout the narrative of the Gospel of Mark in all sorts of ways. It is also essential to understand taht Cornelius had every expectation that the people up his chain of command in Rome would read The Gospel of Mark as literally as if it was a Presidential Daily Briefing prepared by the CIA that Trump ignored in favor of his criminal Russian business partner with whom he committed treason to get elected in 2016 . These people have him by the balls in some manner.

Jesus is exactly who He says He is. He is trying to change the thinking of his Disciples from the Social Status paradigm of Temple Worship to the servant-leader paradigm of the Roman centurions. he doesn't realize it until he encounters Cornelius in Matthew 8:5 - 13. Christianity begins with Matthew 8:10 with Jesus's amazed declaration "Not in all of Israel have I found such faith!". Jesus can be correctly interpreted as meaning "You are the first person I've encountered since I took over John the Baptist's social movement who is doing exactly what I am trying to get my Disciples to adopt> Mission: Men: Self",

As a Ranger qualified combat veteran, this was the priority of the leadership model of the Army Infantry Officer: Mission:Men"Self. This is the servant-leader ethos of the Liberation Gospel of the Army Protestant Chapel in 1962 of Jesus, George Washington, George Marshall and Pope Francis. This is the paradigm shift Jesus was trying to create in the minds of his Disciples as the Redemption of Jerusalem .

Let me show you how the Holy Spirit was working with Cornelius in the composition of the Gospel of Mark, the 2000 pigs in Mark 5 are closer to a regiment in size as opposed to a battalion, Everything in the Gospel of Mark is a reference to the euangelion of the intelligence report Pilate sent to Tiberious immediately after, and in reference to, Resurrection. This original euangelion is reflected in what we now call The Gospel of Mark which was conveyed to Peter off stage by Cornelius during their initial meeting in Acts 10. Peter is refering to the Gospel of Peter in Acts 15:7 at the Council of jerusalem. Mark 15 is a summary of the euangelion/Gospel of Peter that is the point of departure for all the Gospels. Mark 15 leaves out the unilateral covenant cutting ceremony symbolized by the talking cross,, which represents divine validation for the republican servant leadership ethos of the Roman centurion and the Italian Cohort of the Praetorian Guard, which was the administrative state of the Roman empire.

Cornelius was the senior centurion in Pilate's staff at Cesarean: he was the funcitonal equivalent of the Command Sergeant Major of the command, as well as Pilate's Chief of Staff and Administrative Head. The sort of functional differentiation of the modern bureaucracy wouldn't happen until Napoleon, but the functions still required exectuion. That was Cornelius's role: he was in the room with Pilate during the interrogation of Jesus and it was his servant Jesus healed from a distance in Mathew 8:5 - 13.

The C Legion was within his span of influence. The X legion was a legendary formation that is mentioned in Josephus (he claims Titus saved their butts one day during the siege of Jerusalem:) . It was organized by Augustus and spent most of its history in Judea. They occupied the Mount of Olives during the reduction of Jerusalem and was the legion that conquered Masada in 74. They would persist until the 4th Century , when Constantine disbanded the Praetorian Guard and accelerated the collapse of the Empire.

Now, heres the thing,: there were 2000 soldiers in the Praetorium druing the Passion of Jesus. It was Roman SOP to surround Jerusalem during Passover vor crowd control and the 2000 soldiers in Antonio were a body guard for Pilate's household and a quick reaction force for anything happening in the streets. when the scuttlebutt about the vision of the shared vision of the soldiers at the tomb described by the Gospel of Peter began to circulate through Romor Control, it went through those 2000 soldiers like the unclean spirits falling on the 2000 pigs in Mark 6. Unlike the pigs, the soldiers of the Legion spread the word throughout the Roman legions long before Peter and Paul arrived in Rome. Long before the Council of Jerusalem, All the Mithra Cults in the legion were front organizations for the Christian Communion of Saints in the Roman Legions, throughout the Empire.

Cornelius didn't realize he was describing the proliferation of Christianity throughout the Empire, but the Holy Spirit did, which is why he helped guide Cornelius's writing to include this event as well as the Parable of the Sower, which describes the Roman legions as the fertile soil that receives the seed and returns 100 fold, I can demonsttrate this through the numerology of the Bible, but it is enough that you adopt Brandon's method of Hegelian critical literary method and discover these things for yourself, It's more fun and you can believe that Jesus is exactly who he Says He is.

I will share this about the numerology of the Bible, The numbers of the chapters and verse of the Bible was not added until the elegant Indio-Arabic symbols we use were universally adopted all over the world some time after 400 CE and the type setters broke the text of scripture down into Chapters and Verses after the creation of moveable type and the printing press. These numbers i cann "Mundane Numerology: and they are the play ground of the Holy Spirit. And his sense of humor is fully on display with these numbers.

For example, Cornelius is introduced in Acts 10, which is a deliberate allusion to the X legion. And the moment that Christianity begins, Matthew 810 is another deliberate reference to the X Legion, with its Wild Boar unit symbol,

Jesus is exafctly who says he is. And the Gospel of Mark was written to be taken literally, word for word.

[lesfeldickbiblestudy]

  Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 71 ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND - 3 Joel 1:1-15 Okay, good to see everybody in this afternoon. Again, for those of you joining us on television, we would just like to invite you to an informal Bible study.  That’s why we’ve got coffee cups and what have you.  We just want to be like a home Bible study where we can just fellowship together and learn to search the Scriptures.  That’s all I can beg people – just search the Scriptures!  If you haven’t got a good study Bible, go out and buy one.  That’d be the best money you’ve ever spent. Okay, we’re spending the afternoon on what Joel said way back in the Old Testament, 800 years before Christ, when he used the term “the day of the LORD.”  The day of the LORD is that last seven years of time before Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom. Okay, as we are looking now at “the day of the LORD,” we’ve been coming up through the Old Testament a few portions.  Now I’m going to jump into the New.  Come with me to Matthew 24 and, oh, these are the words of the Lord Jesus Himself toward the end of His earthly ministry. The Twelve are getting curious.  How is all this going to come to an end?  They understood that He was going to be bringing in the Kingdom.  But as yet in Matthew 24, they don’t know He’s going to be crucified and die, but they do realize that there’s an end to this human program that had started – well, at their point in time – 4,000 years before, and now it’s 6,000 years since Adam.    All right Matthew 24 and we’ll start at verse 1. Matthew 24:1 “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.” Which, you’ve got to understand, the Temple wasn’t just one little building.  It was a whole complex.  It involved a lot of various activities.  In fact, I think a lot of the apartments of the priests and so forth were involved in that Temple complex. Matthew 24:2 “And Jesus  said unto them, see ye not all these things?  verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Which of course happened when the Romans came in A.D. 70, forty years later.  The Romans literally took the Temple down, stone by stone. Matthew 24:3-4 “And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples (the Twelve, nobody else) came unto him privately, (In other words, no press of crowds or anything like that.)  saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?  and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the Age? 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, (Now, here He begins unfolding the events that will roll through those seven years of Tribulation.  And the first warning was--) Take heed that no man deceive you.” Be not deceived.  So, that tells us that verse 5 is already happening. Matthew 24:5 “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; (or the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed) and shall deceive many.”  Now, I just made the comment, I hope I didn’t confuse you.  These are all things that will take place as soon as the Tribulation or the day of the LORD begins.  It’s going to be a tremendous outpouring of satanic deception, but we’re seeing the beginnings of it. You remember, I think in my last taping I mentioned this. I know I did in several of the seminars around the country. You remember when the Pharisees and the Sadducees taunted Jesus about end-time events and so forth, and what was Jesus’ response?  Oh, He said, “you hypocrites, you can look at the sky and predict tomorrow’s weather, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Well, I’ve been using that for the last twelve months or so as I travel to wake people up.  What are the signs of the times, the signs that the end is near?  Well, the number one sign for us today is the return of Israel to the land.  That is the number one sign of the times!  Because we know that you can have no end-time prophecy until Israel is back in the land.  So there you are.

The same way here, Jesus is warning the Twelve that there’s going to be coming a time of deception like the human race has never seen before.  Now again, remember what we showed on the timeline, that all these prophecies were going to come one right after the other. Even after Christ is crucified and He’s raised from the dead, He’ll go back to Glory.  Then in would come the day of the LORD, those final seven years, and then Christ would return and yet set up the Kingdom.  I guess we’ve got it up there on the board, that’s the Old Testament line of prophecy. Now remember, keep the Church Age out, because that is not revealed until we get to the Apostle Paul.  Okay, so one of the signs of the Tribulation would be a great influx of false messiahs.  And He says they shall call themselves Christ. Matthew 24:5b-6 “…and shall deceive many.  6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”  Now, I feel that the wars and rumors of wars that He’s talking about here are what we talked about in the last program, when the Russian invasion will come in the very first year of the Tribulation.  All of a sudden that euphoria of peace is blown away with this tremendous horde from the North.  And Israel, especially, will be suddenly bereft of any peace, because the land is covered with foreigners. Matthew 24:7 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”  Again, we’re seeing just a little bit of the beginning of this, but He’s speaking of the real thing.  This is the future of those final seven years.  All right, verse 8. Matthew 24:8-9a “All these (the famines, the pestilence, the earthquakes) are the beginning of sorrows. (That’s at the very first year or so of the seven) 9. Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted,…”  Now, who are the “you”?  Israel.  The Jews.  And listen, anti-Semitism is just compounding by the week.  The world is hating the Jew more and more every day.  So we’re already seeing the signs of this. Matthew 24:9b-10 “…they will afflict you, and they shall kill you:  and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.  (They won’t even have America as a friend or ally once the Tribulation begins.) 10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, (Because of the pressures of hatred and persecution, one will tell on another.) and shall hate one another.”  Matthew 24:11 “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”  See, it’s going to be a satanic deception that will overcome even the work of the Holy Spirit, who I feel will stay on the earth after we’re gone. Matthew 24:12-13 “And because iniquity (wickedness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (In other words, they’ll just turn against anything spiritual.) 13. But he that shall endure to the end shall be saved.”  Physically—they’re going to come to the end of the seven years, and goodness sakes, they’re still alive!  They haven’t been martyred.  They haven’t been killed.  They’re alive.  All right, that’s what He’s speaking of, that “those who endure to the end shall be saved.”   Physically!   We’re not talking about a spiritual salvation in that verse, as I can see, at all. Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Now in verse 14, yes, during the Tribulation, the 144,000 of Revelation 7 will be preaching not the Gospel of the Grace of God, but they’re going to be preaching “the gospel of the kingdom.” Now, I know that gets people all bent out of shape when I proclaim that there are two Gospels in the New Testament.  They’re not active today, of course not.  We only have the Gospel of the Grace of God today.  But in Christ’s earthly ministry and Peter and the Twelve, they preached what Jesus calls “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” And the Gospel of the Kingdom was the good news of the King.

  The Grace of God is the good news of the finished work of the cross.  Big difference. All right, so when the Church is gone and the Gospel of Grace ends, the 144,000 will go around the world preaching again the gospel of the Kingdom.  And I don’t know why that’s so hard for people to swallow.  But it is.  Boy, I get more complaints on that than anything else.  But here it is, “The gospel of the kingdom, (not the Gospel of the Grace of God) shall be preached in all the world.” And the Gospel of the Kingdom was believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, along with repentance of sins and water baptism to get ready to set up the earthly Kingdom.  Whereas today in Grace we believe in our hearts for salvation that Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose again as we see in I Corinthians 15:1-4.  Now, I take this approach.  I don’t mind if people disagree. Just this last week I had a couple of calls where they disagreed on something so far removed from the gospel that it’s not even funny.  I said, “Now look, if I’m right and you’re wrong or you’re right and I’m wrong, is that going to determine our eternal destiny?” “No.” “Well, then it really doesn’t matter, does it?”   And that’s where it’s at.  If it doesn’t affect our salvation, our eternal destiny, hey, we can have some disagreements.  That doesn’t bother me a bit.  It’s moot.  What difference does it make? For example, you know there are those who think the world is 120 million years old.  And others say, no, it’s only six thousand.  You know what I say?  What difference does it make?  Does it make any difference?  You know, I tell geologists, oil people, does it make any difference where you tell your engineers to drill if the world’s 200 million years old or if it’s six thousand?  Well, no.  So, it doesn’t make a bit of difference, does it?  Yet they can get all bent out of shape. Well, the same way here.  We have this Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus and the Twelve proclaimed to Israel, and the 144,000 are going to take that same Gospel of the Kingdom around the world during the Tribulation. The Church is gone, the Gospel of Grace is ended, and multitudes are going to be saved by the Gospel of the Kingdom.  God’s Sovereign.  He can do it any way He wants.  So, yes, those 144,000 are going to fulfill the Great Commission like no one has ever even come close. All right, now verse 15; here we come to the mid-point of those seven years.  Now, I’m going to make that as a separate series of references in a little bit.  I’m first looking at the physical things concerning the Tribulation: the horrors, the death, and the destruction.  Then we’re going to look at the time element that it is indeed seven years. And then we’re going to look at the personalities that are involved - the anti-Christ and the False Prophet and so forth. So we may not get finished this afternoon.  We’ll continue next month.  But, here in verse 15, now, the Lord Jesus is continuing on through the seven years of Tribulation. He reaches the mid-point, and He says in verse 15- Matthew 24:15a “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,…”  Now, let’s go back and see what Daniel wrote.  It’s the only way we can do it.  Come back to Daniel chapter 9.  This is the confirmation that Daniel knew exactly what he was talking about when he wrote by inspiration in prophecy, Daniel chapter 9, we have to drop down to verse 24.  Now remember why I’m coming here.  The Lord Jesus is using this portion of Scripture to define the events of those final seven years that are coming.  And remember, He doesn’t give any hint that there was 2,000 years of the Church Age in between all this.  It was all just going to keep coming.  Always remember that the Old Testament knew nothing of the Church Age.  It knew nothing of our Gospel of Grace.  Everything in the Old Testament was dealing with Israel and the Messiah, her coming King, and an earthly Kingdom.   All right, but now here’s Daniel, who by Holy Spirit inspiration writes, starting at verse 24:

Daniel 9:24a “Seventy weeks (of years or seventy sevens or 490 years) are determined (in God’s program, now) upon thy people (Israel) and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,…”  That is the Kingdom. In other words, 490 years are going to take place from a point back here in the Old Testament. It’s going to be between the 400 and the 600 B.C., right about in 454 B.C. when Nehemiah was given the command to go back and rebuild the city wall around Jerusalem.  That’s what it’s based on.  From that point until Christ would be crucified would be 483 years.  And then there would be another seven years, and it would bring in the 1,000 year Kingdom.  So, 490 years would be involved fulfilling the Old Testament, Christ’s coming, the seven years of Tribulation, and the Kingdom.  That’s the 490 years that are determined upon the Nation of Israel.  Okay, now as you come down through verse 25, he breaks it down. Daniel 9:25a “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment (to Nehemiah to go back and rebuild the wall) to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks:…” And that’s for a total of 483 years from Nehemiah until the crucifixion.  Four hundred and eighty three years.  But the whole prophecy is 490.  So, we’ve got seven years left that has never been fulfilled.  All right, now you come on down through verse 26. Daniel 9:26a “(After the 483 years) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: (In other words, He died for us.  He didn’t die because He deserved it.  And then here comes the prophecy.) and the people of the prince that shall come,...”  Now, the prince that shall come will be the personality that we’re going to look at sooner or later, the anti-Christ, and he’s going to come out of the Roman Empire. Now again, I always like to use my timeline. As you come up through the Old Testament from 600 B.C. until you get to the time of Christ, you have the Babylonian Empire, the Mede and Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and then the Roman Empire.  And you all know that Rome was part and parcel of the crucifixion. All right, so out of the Roman Empire then, in the prophecy line of the Old Testament, would come the anti-Christ, because Rome is over all of this.  Now remember, I’ve got to keep this Church Age out of here.  I should have made a second timeline, I guess, but whatever, I didn’t. So now we’re going to use this line strictly as the seven years of Tribulation, which we’ve got here.  Forget about the Church Age – for now.  That’s just not involved in our Old Testament line of prophecy.  Just keep it out of your mind for the time being.  Then we’re going to drop down and look at those seven years on a larger scale timeline. Okay, continue on with Daniel chapter 9, once again, verse 26. Daniel 9:26b “…after Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city (And we know that Rome did this under Titus in A.D. 70.)  and the sanctuary; (in other words, the Temple) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”  See, there’s nothing to indicate there’s a break in the timeline.  It’s all going to flow.  All right, now verse 27, this prince that shall come, we call him the anti-Christ, and I’ll deal with that a little later. Daniel 9:27a “And he (this prince that shall come) shall confirm (or make) the covenant (or a treaty) with many for one week:…” Or seven years.  Now, someone called, or wrote, a while back with an interesting statement.  And they had a thought that I can’t ridicule one iota. The Oslo Peace Accord that was put together back in Clinton’s time, wasn’t it?  That Oslo Peace Accord has almost everything in it that would bring about the peace treaty that the anti-Christ will sign.

  So this writer, I think it was a lady, said, “You know, Les, if that be the case, all they’d have to do is bring that thing back up and this man anti-Christ can just simply agree – this is exactly the way we want to do it – and it’ll be confirmed and it’s in place.”  Well, that just tells us how close we really are, that all the details of this necessary treaty are pretty much agreed upon already. All right, but anyway, he’s going to make a seven year treaty between the nations of the world, predominately, I think now, the Muslim world and Israel.  And it will give them, as I said early today, permission to rebuild the Temple.  Now, here’s what the Lord Jesus was referring to.  Remember what He said in Matthew?  “When you see the desolation spoken of by Daniel.”  Here it is in this verse 27. Daniel 9:27b “…and in the middle of the week (in the middle of those seven years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,…” Can you stop something that hasn’t started?  Now, you know there’s no sacrifice and oblation going on in Jerusalem today.  And it can’t until they have a Temple.  So, what does this tell us? That in those first three-and-a-half years, as a result of this peace treaty, Israel is going to rebuild a Temple.  And it doesn’t have to be a glorious, gold and cedar one like Solomon’s, but it’ll be functional.  I personally think it’s in a warehouse in Jerusalem right now, all ready to pull out and set up, and it’ll be functioning in less than a week’s time.  So, they’ll go back under Temple worship for the first three-and-a-half years. Then the anti-Christ will turn on Israel. We’ll look at that again in Matthew 24 in just a little bit.  And in the middle of the week, he will cause the sacrifice and oblation, or Temple worship, to stop.  He’s going to turn on the Jew. Daniel 9:27c “…and for the overspreading of abominations he (the anti-Christ, this prince that shall come) shall make it (that restored Temple) desolate, (Inoperable as far as Judaism is concerned, and it will remain that way.) even until the consummation, (That is, the end of the seven years.) and that which is determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Or the desolater.   In other words, the anti-Christ will meet his doom at the end of the Tribulation. All right, now let’s come back to Matthew 24.  Back to Matthew 24, now this is exactly what Jesus is referring to in verse 15.  We are now at the mid-point of the seven years.  The first fourteen verses are the first half.  Now we start the second half. Matthew 24:15-16a “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (He’s in the Temple defiling it.) (whoso readeth, let him understandJ 16. Then…”   Now, those of you that have heard me teach over a period of time, what kind of a word is then?  It is a time word.  When the Jews see the desolation taking place up there on the Temple Mount with the anti-Christ defiling it, probably by sacrificing a hog, Israel will be just beside themselves. But the Lord says when you see that, wake up!  Get out of town!  That’s the way we’d put it today.  Get out of town!   Here we go, verse 16: Matthew 24:16a “Then let them who be in Judea flee into the mountains;…”  Now, I call this the escaping remnant of Israel.  Now, you have to have the remnant that will come through the Tribulation and be ready to go into the Kingdom.  You have to have the Nation of Israel, but it won’t be the whole Nation, it’ll be a remnant.  I need to show you that.  Let’s see, I’m going to take the time.  Keep your hand in Matthew, again, and come back with me to Zechariah chapter 13 starting at verse 8.  Now remember, this is prophecy, again, so it’s going to happen. Zechariah, that’s the next to the last book in your Old Testament.  You know, I always tell people to find Matthew.  You can all find that, and then just go to the left, past Malachi and there’s Zechariah. Zechariah 13:8 “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, (That is, the whole land of Israel.

) saith the LORD, two parts (or two thirds) therein shall be cut off and die; but the third part  shall be left therein.”  They’re going to survive.   Now verse 9: Zechariah 13:9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, (Now the fire here is the Tribulation, the horrors of it.) and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, the LORD is my God.”  So, that’s the remnant.  All right, back to Matthew 24. The remnant now is fleeing out of Jerusalem at the middle of the Tribulation.  All right, we’re going to do this quickly, verse 16. Matthew 24:16-17 “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17. Let them who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:” Time is of the essence is the way I usually put it.  Don’t take time to find some heirloom or something of value – get out of town! Matthew 24:18 “Neither let him who is in the field (the working class) return back to get his clothes.” Now, for Israel today, that would be the scientist, the medical people, and the business people, because Israel is no longer an agrarian nation like it was at the time of Christ.  So, the whole cross-section of the Nation now is involved in these verses. Matthew 24:19-20 “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that are nursing in those days (young mothers)! 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, (Because Jerusalem gets twelve to fourteen inches of snow every once in a while.) neither on the sabbath day:” So that they would not be limited as to how far they could walk.  Now, here’s the verse that I wanted to end with, verse 21. Matthew 24:21 “For then (beginning with that desecration of the Temple) shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, (the time of Christ) no, nor ever shall be.”  This takes us right on up past our own day and time, including the Holocaust.  So, that should tell you something – that for Israel as well as the rest of the world, the time is coming in these last three-and-a-half years when it’s going to be worse than anything in all of human history.  It’s going to be beyond comprehension.  And that was in the words of the Lord Jesus himself, that there is nothing in all of human history that compares with these last three-and-a-half years.

[amicidomenicani]

Question Dear Father Angelo, My name is Milena and a few years ago, after a long period of ignorance and disinterest (mea culpa) of everything that revolves around the word Faith, I decided it was time to take a stand on the biggest question in the world: God. I did not want to be slothful by being totally disinterested in the problem and I felt that I could not be satisfied with a superficial faith, in which we declare ourselves believers more by tradition and by sense of belonging than by conviction. To believe I need to understand (as far as possible). This is why I decided to take up the Bible, the Old and New Testament, and read everything. Let me be clear, I did not take this step as a believer. I expected to grasp contradictions, illogic and teachings too tied to the ancient world that would have revealed to me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Text was entirely human, both in form and in inspiration. In fact, at the beginning it was not easy, I seemed to immediately grasp the inconsistencies and illogicalities that I invariably marked with a pencil, and then come back to them, some time later, when (by chance?), the answer I was looking for came up right under my nose. And here what at first seemed illogical to me became instead clear and shareable if read with the right key. Furthermore, the more time passed, the more attentive and passionate my reading became. In the end I had to change my mind and all my prejudices about this Sacred Text collapsed to the point that I consider it the most beautiful book I have ever read, perhaps the most beautiful that can be written (not so much for the form, but for the substance), and I still consult it often because in addition to giving excellent advice it is an inexhaustible mine of reflections. In one sentence I could say that I have found more answers than I was looking for. It is therefore not for a question that I am writing to you, but to find out if in your opinion an answer that "came to my mind" in the face of a criticism that a Jewish boy has leveled at the Christian interpretation of a passage from Isaiah is correct. I will explain. In Isaiah 53:10 we read, referring to the Servant of the Lord, that "he shall see his descendants in a long life". As you know better than me, according to the Hebrew interpretation the Servant in question would be the people of Israel and not Jesus. In particular, as regards this passage the Jews affirm that the term descent (in the Hebrew text literally seed zerah - זרע) would refer to a blood progeny and consequently could not apply to Jesus who, notoriously, had no children, but rather to the Jewish people. In this way it would seem incorrect the interpretation of those Catholics who maintain that the term descendants must be understood in a broad sense so as to encompass the "almost filial" relationship that Jesus established with his disciples and which in a certain sense continues today. Now, looking in a Hebrew dictionary, I discovered that the word zerah זרע, as it happens in Italian, can refer not only to sperm, but also to the proper seed (of a plant for example). So here is the illumination that caught me and about which I ask you for an opinion to understand if I am on the right path: reflecting on this passage, Jesus' parable of the sower came to mind. In that parable Jesus explained to the disciples that he is a sower and his words are his seeds, which can only sprout if they find fertile ground in us. At the same time, I recalled that, according to what is stated in the Gospel of John (Jn 1:1-3), all things came to be through the Word, so much so that even in Genesis God the Father creates the light, the firmament etc. simply by saying their name (Gen. 1: 3 - God said, "Let there be light," and there was light). In essence, the Word is a real means of creation. I venture a parallel (please correct me if I'm wrong!): just as the seed (understood as sperm) generates the human being

to life, in a similar way the seed (of the word) generates the human being to Faith, that is, it creates a new creature. Therefore, it is quite possible to affirm that this creature who was born in faith in Christ thanks to the word of Jesus is the fruit of His seed and therefore is a descendant of him. In this sense, then, all Christians would be the descendants of Jesus and it would be us who keep alive the power of His Word through the continuous transmission from generation to generation, which is why Jesus may well be the Servant of the Lord of whom Isaiah speaks when he writes "he shall see his descendants in a long life". I hope I have not reasoned badly. In case I did, forgive me, I'm still learning. I thank you again for your helpfulness, for the service you offer and I send my best wishes to the whole community of Dominican Friends. Milena Answer  Dear Milena, 1. I congratulate you on your meticulousness in investigating the words with which God revealed himself and communicated himself to men. They are the most precious words that can be heard and they are all words of eternal life. 2. First of all, I tell you that the interpretation you have given on the descendants that the Servant of Yahweh shall see in a long life is correct. 3. In fact, through the word the Lord continually generates new children to the Father and introduces the life of God into us. St. Paul is clear on this point: "Faith comes from what is heard (fides ex auditu), and what is heard comes through the word of Christ" (Rm 10,16) and is perfectly in line with what the Lord said about the mustard seed (Mt 13:31). 4. I would like to make two considerations about your email. The first concerns who the Servant of the Lord, of Yahweh is: whether he is Israel, as you say, or whether he is a specific character. Yes, the Jews understand it as a synonym for the people of Israel. And for this interpretation they can rely on Is 49:3: "You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory". However, it should be remembered that there are four songs of the Servant of the Lord and in them we find the emergence of a very specific person as appears in the first of these four songs, which is found in Is 42:1ff. Furthermore, often in Sacred Scripture Israel or Jacob are synonymous with both the patriarch and the people, as when it is said that salvation is from the Jews (Jn 4:22): that is, it comes from a member of the Jewish people. 5. But let's see in order what is specifically said in the four songs found in Isaiah 42:1-4 (5-9); 49:1-6; 50:4-9 (10-11); 52:13 - 53:12). About the first “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations" (Is 42,1), here is what the Jerusalem Bible says: "In this poem, the servant is presented as a prophet, the object of a mission and of a divine predestination (v. 6, cf. v 4; Jer 1,5), animated by the Spirit (v. 1) to teach the whole earth (vv. 1 and 3) with discretion and firmness (vv. 2-4), despite the opposition. But his mission exceeds that of the other prophets, since he himself is a covenant and light (v. 6) and carries out a work of liberation and salvation (v. 7). The choice of the servant is accompanied by an outpouring of the Spirit, as for the charismatic leaders of ancient times, the Judges (cf. Jg 3:10) and the first kings, Saul (1 Sam 9,17; cf. 10: 9-10) and David (1 Sam 16: 12-13; compare Is 11: 1-2)". 6. Regarding the second song "Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples..." (Is 49,1), it takes up the theme of the first (42,1-8), insisting on certain aspects of the servant's mission: predestination (vv 1.5), a mission extended not only to Israel which he must gather (v. 5), but also to the nations to enlighten them (v. 6), a new preaching that shakes (v. 2), which brings light and salvation (v. 6). It also speaks of his failure (vv. 4.7), of his trust in God alone (vv. 4.5) and of a final triumph (v

. 7). Israel: this word is generally considered a gloss inspired by 44:21 and incompatible with vv. 5-6 which distinguish the servant from Jacob-Israel and where the Servant is sent precisely to Israel, to Jacob: “For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Is 49: 5-6). It is perhaps justified by the ambivalence of the figure of the servant who at times represents Israel and at other times its leader and savior. 7. The third and fourth songs add new clarifications about the person and the mission of the servant. The third song is found in Is 50,4: The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear. In this third song, the servant appears more like a sage than a prophet. He is the faithful disciple of Yahweh (vv. 4-5), in charge of instructing in turn those who "fear God", that is, all the pious Jews (v. 10), but also the lost or the infidels "who walk in darkness". Thanks to his courage and divine help (vv. 7-9), he will endure persecutions (vv. 5-6), until God grants him a definitive triumph (vv. 9-11). Until v. 9 inc., it is the servant who speaks. Is 50: 6:  I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. This description of the sufferings of the servant will be taken up and developed in the fourth song (52:13ff). This fourth song takes up the theme of suffering. The persecutions that the servant will endure with great patience (53,7) are a scandal for the bystanders, but actually they are an intercession and an atonement for sins”. 8. Therefore, in the light of the text, the interpretation that identifies the Servant of the Lord with the people of Israel is certainly present, but it is neither the exclusive nor the main one. The distinction between the person and the people appears very clear in Is 49:5-6, precisely because this person is sent to save the people of Israel. 9. We now come to the descendants on which you have given your learned and precise explanation starting from the meaning of the word (from semantics). I present to you the comment made on it by G. Girotti, a Dominican martyr in Dachau and now blessed: "He shall see his descendants... The Hebrew text contains more exactly two distinct propositions: he will see a posterity, a progeny, he will prolong his days. The fruits of the Messiah's sacrifice are mentioned. As a reward, first of all he is granted a posterity, an innumerable multitude of men, who through him have been regenerated to new life, so that they are united with him as with a second progenitor of mankind (cf. Rom 5:14 ff.; 6:3). Thus, the promise made to Abraham was fulfilled (cf. Gen 15:5; 22:17). This first fruit or prize of the Messiah's sacrifice is made up of a crown of saints. 10. The second fruit is the following: in a long life, that is, the "Servant of Yahweh" will live eternally blessed. “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever” (Ap 1,18). The expression: in a long life, implicitly contains the prophecy of the resurrection of the Servant of Yahweh after his death, because in common usage this expression is not used for the life of the soul alone, but for the life in soul and body. 11. The third fruit consists in the prosperous success which, through the Servant, the will of God will obtain. This will (Hebrew: consent) is the providential plan relating to the redemption, the salvation of mankind, it is that admirable r

estoration that embraces men and things, time and eternity, of which the prophet has already spoken several times in the previous chapters (cfr. 2, 4; 11, 5…) and of which he will speak even more clearly later on". As I wish you an ever deeper understanding of that Book which contains words that communicate eternal life (God), I gladly remind you to the Lord and I bless you. Father Angelo