Depressed? Open window to your soul

(new article this evening)

II Corinthians 7: [5] For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

Paul says, “I got all this turmoil because I found not Titus my brother.” Did you know your absence can have that kind of effect on people?

If Paul had understood why Titus wasn’t there look at all the stuff he could have got over. You say, “Well, he just should have trusted God and got over it anyway.” Yeah, c’mon, how you do with that? You know, there’s shoulda, woulda, coulda and “I didn’t,” says Richard Jordan.

Before you get all mad at Paul, what this is in your Bible for is the Bible tells you the truth about people and you know what? He wasn’t any different than you are. And he’s your pattern; he’s the example that God says we follow.

When he said, “You’ve fully known my manner of life, not just my doctrine,” Timothy knew these things about Paul, but Paul isn’t dwelling on it because of the defeat in it. He’s dwelling on it because it’s the context of II Corinthians 2:14.

Verse 13: [13] I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

Notice what he did. Paul got so disturbed that he literally left that church planting (the evangelism, the edification, the ministry) and went looking for Titus. When I read that I think, “Now that’s a guy who’s really in turmoil.”

Paul’s heart desire and prayer to God was seeing a church like that planted. He says that in Romans 10. His whole being was in seeing people get saved and the saints be edified and the work of the ministry be established, and yet there was something that disturbed him to the place where he couldn’t sleep at night. No rest, and it actually motivated him to leave the ministry there and go seek Titus.

Now, how do you get out of that? That’s what came before verse 14: [14] Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

I like that. He wasn’t triumphing in his circumstances. He didn’t have any emotional victory in the moment, but he had LEARNED that whether he was abounding or abasing, that he could do all things in Christ who strengthens him.

The way that came into his life was, “Now thanks be unto God.” You know how you get rid of depression? You know how you get rid of the darkness in your soul? You open the window and let in the light.

You know how you open the window in your soul and let the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ come in? “Thanks be unto God.” It’s just a simple thanksgiving.

The passage goes on: [15] For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
[16] To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

When you realize the catastrophically devastating power of the gospel--that message is death and life. I love that passage in Deuteronomy 30 where Moses stands before Israel and says, “I set before you today life and death. Choose life!” Good idea. They chose death.

Elijah’s on Carmel and he tells Israel, “If Baal is God, serve him. If Jehovah is God, serve him.” Get off the dime and get on one side or the other. So who’s God? Well, Carmel’s God demonstrated he was God. So get on with it. There’s a choice to make.

[17] For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

You see, when he asked that question, he knew we are sufficient for these things.

Drop down to II Corinthians 3: [4] And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
[5] Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
[6] Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Aren’t you glad of that? You are sufficient. Why? Because you’re complete in Him. Whatever the circumstance, you have complete, total sufficiency. “I can do all things through Christ.” Every circumstance I’m in, I can function there because my sufficiency is who I am in Christ, not in my resources.

Verse 6 says, “Who hath made us able,” and that’s the word in that verse you want to circle.

He’s made us “able ministers of the new testament.” It’s interesting that he doesn’t say new covenant. It’s important to know the difference.

Hebrews 9: [16] For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
[17] For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
[18] Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

You can have a covenant (that’s a contract) and death doesn’t enter into it. You buy an automobile and you have a sales contract. That contract does not envision your death.

A testament is something that envisions death. In fact, it doesn’t come into effect until after you die. You know the phrase “last will and testament.” Your testament spells out the inheritance of your heirs.

Verse 17 is an important verse dispensationally. That verse means that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, is not in the New Testament. Why? Because a testament is a force AFTER the death of the testator and when did Jesus Christ die? At the end of those books. Not at the beginning and not through almost all of the ministries in those books.

You can’t read that verse and not rightly divide the scriptures. You see, the Bible FORCES you to be a dispensationalist. It’s religion that keeps that away from you.

So when you’re reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the instructions and ministry there, you need to remember you’re still in the Old Testament. The Old Testament did not begin in Genesis; it began in Exodus when God gave it to Moses.

When it says He’s made us able ministers of the New Testament, that’s talking about the fact that you and I have been given a part in the inheritance.

Ephesians 1: [11] In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
[12] That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

You and I, as members of the Body of Christ, do not have an inheritance in what Jesus Christ won at Calvary through a covenant. God covenanted with the nation Israel to give those benefits to Israel.

He’s included us in the benefits of the crosswork, not by covenant but by His grace. Not by covenant but by His death and resurrection. Grace is all that God is able to do for us through the finished work of Calvary.

You get in by God’s grace. You get in because before the foundation of the world, before He ever made the covenant with Abraham, He’d already planned to include you in the benefits of the DEATH of His Son, He just didn’t tell anybody. But now we know.

There’s only one Cross, there’s only one resurrection. There’s only one Holy Spirit and it’s the blood of Jesus Christ that gains everything Israel ever has from God. It’s the basis for where we get everything from God, so He has made us, not because He had a covenant, but because He chose to include us by His grace in a secret fashion. But He’s made us able, and that’s what I love in that verse.

Oppressing the poor

"The psalms are so wonderful, but no psalm stands by itself. The psalms are arranged together in a very specific spiritual order. Because of that it's kind of hard sometimes to just break into a psalm and start talking about it.

"What Psalm 10 talks about is the rise of the Antichrist in the land. Psalms 9-15 describe that tribulation period and the back and forth with this.

Psalm 10: [1] Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

"You just read in Micah that He's going to hide; He's not going to speak to them. Hosea 5:15 says He's going to hide His face from them: [15] I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

"That's what He does in the captivity; He goes off. They're going to look for Him and He isn't going to speak. They'll look for a prophet and there isn't going to be one," explains Richard Jordan.

[2] The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

"You remember somebody with that name Wicked in II Thessalonians 2? The wicked in Psalm 10 is talking about that Wicked one, the Antichrist, but it's with a little 'w.'

"You ever notice in the Bible you have the devil and his angels and then you have devils. We usually say demons, but that's not the word in the Bible. The word is devils and people don't like that because they say, 'Well, there's only one devil.' Yeah, but he's got a lot of little devils. He's got his guys, and they're called devils because they promote his program. So you have the Wicked and those who think like him.

[3] For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

"He's blessing the covetous and covetousness is wanting something somebody else has got. What they're doing in Amos is going out and taking away from the poor--from people who've got almost nothing--and they hate them when they do that because those people are ones who won't submit to the vain religious system.

"I've said to you many times, the prophets are constantly picking up threads of thought and laying them out in front of you. The people who study these passages know these verses.

"When you study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and find something where you don't know what it's talking about, the best place to look for an answer is back in the Old Testament for something that parallels it. There's this constant chain reference of things all through the Bible and that's why you don't want to change words."

"The course of a nation is determined by the amount of sound doctrine resident in the hearts and minds of the populace, but the leaders are always going to try to corrupt that.

"They're doing it here in Amos and what happens is 'the people like it so,' as Jeremiah says. So the whole nation gets its heart eaten out," explains Richard Jordan.

"The 'oppressing the poor' thing winds up being the big issue in the tribulation. In Micah 3 he's going to talk to the leaders of the nation:

[1] And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
[2] Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

"This is the condition of the leaders of Israel. They're swallowing them up; they're just taking everything from them and they'd take their skin off of them if they could.

"They will literally eat people in the tribulation but it doesn't have to get that far; you know, you take the clothes of their back kind of a thing.

Verse 3: [3] Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

"Notice, because Israel is doing these things, God isn't going to listen and answer them; they're going to cry and He's not going to answer. He's going to be silent.

"Amos 8 says they're going to go all over the land looking for the Word of God and won't be able to find it. God's not going to talk to them.

Verse 5: [5] Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

"They're saying, 'Peace,' but God doesn't put that word in their mouth; they're lying.

"So you've got the heads of Jacob, the princes of Israel and now you've got the prophets and the priests.

Verse 6: [6] Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

[7] Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

"There's going to be a blank. There's going to be no more prophets, no more light from God. God isn't going to use a prophet to speak; He's just going to pull a window down and revelation is going to be over with.

[11] The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
[12] Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

"They're out for money. The priests teach for hire. Prophets divine for money. They're so blinded by their idolatry that they think God's with them. That's what he's talking about in Amos 8. The whole deal here is they're oppressing the poor.

"Can you think of a reason why people might be poor in the tribulation? If you take the 'mark of the beast' you can't buy or sell. You can't enter into commerce, which means pretty soon you're going to be hungry. If you can't sell, you can't work. When you work, you sell your time.

"In Matthew 25, when Jesus talks about those nations that had been through the tribulation period and He said, 'When you did it to the least of these my brethren you did it to me,' what did they do? They gave a cup of cold water, they fed people, went to see people in jail.

"They were visiting and taking care of poor people. They were doing exactly what James 1 says is pure religion. That's why there's this constant emphasis on the poor because it's the specific issue that comes to its head during that time of Jacob's trouble.

"You know what the 33rd book in the Bible is? Micah. I've told you that each chapter in Isaiah will echo something about the book that is that number in the canon.

Isaiah 33 is about the Second Coming:

[7] Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
[8] The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
[9] The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
[10] Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
[11] Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
[12] And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

"Here He comes in flaming fire taking vengeance, coming to get them. There's that fire. He'll burn up the chaff with unquenchable."

Truth's initiator and responder

Jesus Christ says in Luke 24:39, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

Paul says in I Corinthians 15:50, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”

“This is where the idea of blood poisoning came from. Adam and Eve had something flowing through their veins, but it was not contaminated blood that had to be shed for remission of sins as you find later on," explains Richard Jordan. " ‘Male and female created he them,’ we’re told.

“Well, the man is the initiator, and the woman is the responder. The man is the intellect; he’s the one who is to think and operate on volition. The woman is the emotional side. She is to respond to his will. Just like in you there is a will, and your emotions are to respond to your will and when that functions properly you function the way God intended it.

“The man is the determiner and the prime mover. The woman is the emotional comparison. Men are more cerebral, and women have more of an emotional intuition. It’s an ability to FEEL things that’s intuitive.

“You need to dwell with her according to knowledge, Peter says. You need to understand her makeup and that she’s made to be a responder and she’s going to respond and give you back what you give to her. When they do that, they’re one flesh, verse 24 says. One complete humanity. One person.

“Marriage is the reconstruction of man; it’s the completion of man. Man has that part that was taken out of him and put back in him and they become one functioning unit. Eve put back into Adam in marriage results and the reconstruction of the original item and the ability to function the way God created them to function.

“Neither the man nor the woman can be completely whole without the other because they’re interdependent, but since the fall sin has so disrupted this divine order that the oneness is never completely achievable. You’re never going to completely, totally achieve it in this life, but you can get close, and the more compatible you are with walking in the Spirit (the way God intends you to walk) the closer you get to it.

*****

“There’s an idea that floats around that says Adam’s original wholeness was he was male and female and he was bisexual and that’s just nonsense. The teaching is then said that because Adam’s made in the image of God and the likeness of God, therefore God is male and female in one. Again, that’s just not true.

“When you take two elements and combine them together, they have qualities and a nature of their own. You take oxygen and hydrogen, and you can combine two hydrogen and one oxygen molecule, and you come up with water. Now you can’t breathe water; it will suffocate you. But it’s got oxygen in it that you need to live!

“Oxygen and hydrogen are compressible gases. Both of them you can compress them, put them in cylinders, compress them down, put them under pressure and store them. You’ve seen hydrogen cylinders and oxygen tanks. But you put them together to form the compound of water—water is non-compressible.

“So you take two compressible gases, put them together and it forms a liquid that is non-compressible. When you combine two separate things you form a new nature.

“So it isn’t that Adam was talking to himself inside and feeling some female and male hormones. Adam was Adam out of whom could be taken . . . Adam was neither simply male nor simply female; he was Adam out of whom those male and female elements could be separated, and they are separated now.

“When you put the man and the woman back together, you’re recreating that wholeness. That can be understood in some measure when you understand what marriage is in its ultimate. Don’t let somebody take a passage like that and say therefore God is male and female and all that kind of stuff.

*****

“From the family you separate off the marriage unit and you can’t have a successful family without it being built on the institution of marriage.

“You leave your father and mother, folks, and then you cleave unto your spouse. You separate yourself and establish yourselves as a new and separate entity and a man must accept the responsibility for accomplishing that, including establishing a marriage wherein his wife is protected.

“In the issue of marriage, the husband is the head, and the wife is the helpmeet. The wife comes along with her husband and is joined to him, and her purpose is to fulfill him; to make him a larger, bigger person than he is by himself. To complete him; to be his helpmeet. The one who mirrors him. The one who answers to him.  Adam is no longer sufficient and complete in himself; he needs this woman to come along and to complete him.

“God created Eve for the purpose of being married to Adam. It’s a creation institution and it’s the basic stabilizer of the human race and of society and, folks, families won’t function without the institution of marriage as its base.

*****

“You read the passage in Genesis 29 and there ain’t no doubt about it, there isn’t no ‘I Dos’ there. I mean, here’s Jacob and he’s worked for seven years--he’s got an agreement with Rachel’s daddy that he can have her to be his wife, and he doesn’t get Rachel; he gets Leah. The old man tricked him.

“He had a daughter he wanted him to marry first so he tricked him, but the point is when he went in unto her who had been his pledged wife, he went in expecting it to be Rachel and it turned out to be Leah, and going in unto her and having the intimate relationships that he had with her, as far as the situation in Scripture is concerned, she became his wife and there wasn’t any ceremony and any ‘I Do’ kind of a thing. It just was done. There’s more involved in marriage and the reason we call the consummation of marriage ‘the marriage act’--the reason that thing is there is that’s involved in marriage.

“In the Bible, marriage is more than a church institution. You see the church, especially the Roman Church, is the one who instituted the ceremony of marriage as a religious institution. It’s one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Church and that’s where that kind of a thing comes from where, if you hadn’t stood in front of a preacher or priest and had the thing blessed by the church, then you’re not really married.

“On the other hand, there’s more involved in it than just going to bed with each other.  Sex and sexual relations are not what marriage is in the Bible either. Marriage demands this kind of a vow and a covenant. Malachi 2:14 says, ‘Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.’ That means being his helpmeet.”

Origins of 'reptilian shapeshifting'

“The serpent seed theory is the idea that in the Garden of Eden Eve was actually seduced by the serpent and consequently had intimate relations with the serpent which led to the birth of Cain,” explains a religious expert.

“In other words, a copulation with the serpent produced two different bloodlines, one of which was evil with the birth of Cain who then went on to murder his brother.

“This theory has become quite popular in some circles in the last few years despite it conflicting entirely with the Bible. This doctrine has swept across the internet and continues to grow. Where did this idea of a hybrid bloodline come from?

David Icke: “This multi-level conspiracy is aimed at a tiny few controlling billions. You’ve got this reptilian group and the ones involved appear to be relatively small in numbers.”

From the British newspaper Express:

“Icke subscribes to the Illuminati conspiracy theory that a secret society made up of the royals, political and business leaders actually pulls the strings of world, seemingly democratic governments, from behind the scenes.

“But, he adds to this that members of the Illuminati, including all world royal families, and high powered business, and political families are the descendants of ancient hybrids between reptilian aliens and humans.

" ‘I have travelled and been to 50 countries to research it.’

“He said people all over the globe had provided the same evidence to back up the theory, including CIA insiders.

“He said: ‘It took the form of meeting people who tell of experiences of seeing people, often in positions of power, change from human from to a reptilian form and back again in front of their eyes.’

“Icke claimed that ancient texts across the world, including the Bible had accounts of reptiles interbreeding with humans to form these 'hybrid bloodlines'.

“He said: ‘The hybrids became demi gods - part human, part god. They were obviously perceived as gods. 

" ‘The hybrid blood lines were the ones that became the royal families of the worlds.

" ‘In the Chinese empire, they claim the right to be emperor because they are descended from the serpent god.’ ” 

Gnosticism teaches that the false goddess Sophia came to save mankind in the Garden of Eden by giving us secret gnosis to escape the god of the material world. They think this was achieved through the supposed enlightenment offered by the serpent, which is a complete twisting of the biblical narrative.

The conspiracy idea is there’s a second bloodline of a distinct people group of ethnicity who are pure evil and cannot be redeemed by Jesus Christ.

Cain was the first type of the Antichrist. The archetypal figure of Cain can be found in an astonishing variety of myths and legends from diverse places and periods. Notable ones include: Kronos/Saturn, Hermes/Mercury, Zeus, Vulcan, Oceanus, Osiris, Oannes, Dagon, Moloch, Baal, Odin, Wotan, South American gods . . .

No more in chains

When you get delivered, you are turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. 

"What I want you to see is that issue of the power of darkness," says Richard Jordan. "In Genesis 15 is a great illustration. When God chose Abraham, all the nations of earth had been let go to walk in their ignorance. God said in His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, 'I'm going to demonstrate to the world what it would be like if they had me as their God.'

"God makes that promise into a covenant in Genesis 15. God swore with an oath so there was no question.

"My dad's oldest brother, in the early 1900s, in East Brewton, Ala., used his church letter from the East Brewton Methodist Church, as collateral at the bank to borrow money to start a business. In that era, your church letter meant something. Being a member of the Methodist church meant something about your integrity and who you were. Nowadays we don't want to shake a guy's hand; we want a contract.

"God said, 'I'm going to enter into a legal, binding agreement.' A covenant was always made with the shedding of blood: 'I'm giving the oath of my life.'

Genesis 15:12: [12] And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

"Literally, what God did was put Abraham in a position of experiencing what it's like to be a part of the Gentile nations, who were held captive by Satan. He said, 'I'm going to take you out of that,' and it was out of that horror of great darkness that Abraham's seed was to emerge.

"It's a description used to tell what it's like to be held captive by the Adversary. It's this horror; this tremendous captivity that people are in. Now, they're oblivious to the meaning of it. Why? Because they're in darkness; they don't see.

"By the way, Israel is in bondage to Satan in Egypt. You remember when God brought them out, He gave 10 plagues. Moses was told, 'I'm judging the gods of Egypt.'

God could have told Moses, 'Just go down and tell Pharaoh, let my people go and bring them on out.' They could have been out in Exodus 5. He said, 'I'm going to bring them out, Mo, but I've got a couple of things I want to do first. I'm going to judge these gods.' Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap. 

"Job was in captivity. That's why he was suffering. People say, 'The Book of Job is about why do the righteous suffer,' but don't pay any attention to the answer. Job suffered until God came and liberated and turned his captivity.

Job 42: [10] And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
[11] Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.
[12] So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

"Isaiah 49: [24] Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?

Here's the big question of the Adversary. Satan holds the creation in the horror of great darkness, alienated from the life of God, from the light of God.

"Satan literally lines them up as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he says, 'Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?'

"The chapter ends, [25] But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

[26] And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

"Go to Jeremiah 31 and you see he literally holds them in his hand. Verse 11 says, [11] For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

"Jesus said if you're going to deliver the guy held captive, you've got to bind the strong man and take his stuff. So Jesus says, 'I'm the mighty one; I can do it.'

"But then Satan says, 'What about the lawful captive? The contract said if you don't keep my commandments I curse you and I can't use you.'

"God's given His Word to the contract so Satan says, 'I got you. Your Word says--your covenant says--they're mine.'

"Colossians 2 says, [14] Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

"He said, 'Okay, I'll come and I'll fulfill all the requirements of that contract, I'll pay for it, I'll put it out of the way, I'll satisfy it and then I'll make a new one.' He took that law and nailed it to His cross. He went in and took the prey from the mighty. He made a shew of them openly, triumphing in the Cross. 

"I Corinthians 2: [6] Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

[7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
[8] Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

"It was on that Cross that He spoiled principalities and powers. It was on that Cross that He nailed the law to do away with it. That's what Calvary, the resurrection, the ascension is all about. It's about setting the captive free.

"But if you don't understand the captivity, you can't really have the appreciation you ought to have for the liberty. I read that and I say, 'Woo, woo, woo, that's enough to make a grace Believer shout!' It's a wonderful thing to be free. 

"Every time we sing the song Glorious Freedom, I wonder how many of us are telling the truth:

Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters, Chained like a slave I struggled in vain; But I received a glorious freedom, When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.
	Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom, No more in chains of sin I repine! Jesus the glorious Emancipator,   Now and forever He shall be mine.
2	Freedom from all the carnal affections, Freedom from envy, hatred and strife; Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions. Freedom from all that saddened my life.
3	Freedom from pride and all sinful follies, Freedom from love and glitter of gold; Freedom from evil temper and anger, Glorious freedom, rapture untold.
4	Freedom from fear with all of its torments, Freedom from care with all of its pain; Freedom in Christ my blessed Redeemer, He who has rent my fetters in twain.

Christ, our near kinsman

Here's an outtake from this past Sunday's main service at my church and will have a new article tomorrow:

Everybody’s worrying about women preachers and they aren’t legitimate; that’s rebellion against the structure God gave. But the work of the ministry couldn’t work without the ladies.

In the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lineage of the Messiah, there are five women and two of them were Gentiles.

How did Tamar get there? She got there because of her sinfulness, the wickedness she engaged in to trick her way into the genealogy. There’s God forgiving sinners, including sinners.

Every time you see Rahab in the Bible she’s called Rahab the Harlot. There’s God accepting Believers no matter who they are.

Then there’s Ruth, the Moabitess. Ruth 1:4: [4] And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

Ruth 1:16: [16] And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

That’s not a marriage vow, as people have been told through the years. That’s a daughter-in-law telling her mother-in-law, “I want to go with you because your god is the God of gods; the God of Israel.”

So she’s going to claim status as a Moabite. Lot’s two girls commit incest with their father and have children and the Ammonites and the Moabites come from Lot’s incest with his daughters.

Deuteronomy 23:3: [3] An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

The law says Ruth can’t have a possession in the land for 10 generations. So, Ruth goes back into the land with Naomi, understanding the limitations; the encumbrances on her.

Ruth 2: [1] And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

Now, Boaz is a kinsman of Ruth’s husband. Naomi says, “He can help you.”

Ruth 2: [19] And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.
[20] And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

That term “kinsman redeemer”--Leviticus 25 says that in Israel if you had land and its been put in jeopardy . . . God’s justice set up some requirements to redeem that land from the jeopardy.

A kinsman redeemer had to have three qualifications. He had to be your nearest kinfolk. No. 2 he had to be wealthy, he had to be able to redeem the land and No. 3, he had to be willing to do it.

Boaz is wealthy, he’s got the money, but then there’s somebody else who is a nearer kin. Boaz is second in line. In chapter 4 he goes and talks to the guy and says, “Here, you’ve got to redeem this,” and the guy says, “I can’t; I’m not able. It’s going to mar my inheritance.”

Now Boaz is No. 1. Paul says in Ephesians 1: [7] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Jesus Christ as the Redeemer is our kinsman redeemer. He is our near kinsman; that’s why Hebrews 2 says: [16] For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
[17] Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 1, talking about the Lord Jesus: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
[4] Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Jesus Christ is God but He’s also a man. He became our near kinsman. He’s both God and man in one person.  He can take God by the hand and you by the hand and He’s the connection. He’s able, because what did He do? You know the blood Jesus shed was God’s blood because He is God.

Acts 20:28: [28] Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

You know what, Boaz takes the curse of the law away and provides redemption for Ruth. It’s amazing.

In Ruth 4 Pharez is their son: [17] And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
[18] Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,
[19] And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,
[20] And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,
[21] And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
[22] And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

If you count from Pharez to David you know how many generations that is? 10. There goes the curse of the law off of that line and it was Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, who took the curse away and let Ruth be in the lineage.

Romans 8: [3] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
[4] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Jesus Christ took all the demands of the law and took them out of the way because He did them—perfectly, completely fulfilled them. He was without sin.

Before He ever put it on paper on earth

"The injunction by the Apostle Paul to 'preach the Word' . . . I heard a man on the radio just the other day, a very famous radio preacher, talking about 'how you need to preach the Word' and he was going over Nehemiah 8 about the mechanics of how to preach the Word.

"I'm listening and he's reading out of an English Standard Version," recalls Richard Jordan. "I thought, 'You know, if you set the guy down and asked him,' and I've done this with people of great reputation like this guy: 'When you talk about preaching the Word, do you mean that one in your hand? Are you sure that ESV is THE absolute infallible Word of God that you possess?' You know what he would say? 'No, absolutely not.'

"You say then, 'Well, where is that Word that you're to preach?' He'd say, 'Well, it's infallible in the original.' Problem with that is you've never seen an original. There's never been one book on Planet Earth in any man's possession that was nothing but the originals.

"Did you know that the originals weren't the originals when they were originally given? You ever thought about that? If Psalm 119 says that, 'For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven,' it means the Word was in heaven before He ever put it down on paper on earth.

"Well, if the original was in heaven, and when He first wrote the Scripture here on earth it was a mirror of what was in heaven, what was this one?

"Now, I don't want you to go off and say that I'm saying the originals weren't the originals, but there's a sense in which they weren't.

"People worry about translating: 'Well, you can't translate from one language to another completely, fully.' I think, 'You know, anybody who goes around telling you that, and telling you that with a straight face like it's supposed to make sense and you're supposed to say, 'Oooh, okay, that means I can't really have a Bible,' never thought about what the original Bible was to start with.

"There's never been one book on Planet Earth possessed by any man that had nothing but the original manuscripts in it. By the time Paul wrote, all the original manuscripts of the Old Testament were lost, gone.

"So, the originals weren't the only issue, but you know when you come to translating . . . think about taking God's thinking--deity thoughts, when the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit communicated among themselves--and translating those deity thoughts into human words. If you can take the thinking of God . . . 

Isaiah 55: [8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

"He could take His thoughts, crystallize them down into human language and write them down. Now, there's the translation challenge! If you can do that, it's a hop, skip and a jump for a blind man to go from one human language to another. There's the big step. And you get people talking about Bible translations that never considered the fact that the original writing of the Scripture was a translation out of deity thoughts into human thoughts to start with.

"God didn't come down here and just start thinking like a man thought and then decide to write a book. 'Thy word is settled in heaven forever.' You go to Psalm 8 and He talks about wisdom there and how He created the heaven and the earth with wisdom, understanding and knowledge that He had BEFORE. Wisdom says, 'I was there before He created anything.' God already has His own thoughts before He ever created anything.

"So, God's thinking then is put into human thinking, into the language of angels first and then, a little lower than the angels, into the language of men. You see, God communicating His Word takes into consideration all of the language issues.

"Now, until the Tower of Babel you didn't have all that 'catastrophe languages,' but then who was it that scattered the languages in Genesis 11? It was God.

"I'm telling you, He knows how to do all the translating, but what Satan was concerned about was challenging Eve's . . . seeking to beguile Eve into not trusting the word she had received from her husband. You and I are to have a received-text mentality."

Answer to why Grace Movement appears weak

Writing is definitely a use-it-or-lose-it muscle. As soon as you let up on the gas, the confidence you have to put well-crafted sentences together in an engaging fashion somehow dissipates. You literally start thinking you can’t write what you want the way you want to say it.

I realize I will never finish my book if I don’t just put the material out there and quit trying to determine what I think will keep readers reading. I can’t try to cater or appeal to any type of audience I think might be developing based upon previous blog entries, etc.

If I had to name the most prominent memory from my early childhood, the one that never leaves my head and is often my “foxhole” when I feel life is too hard and I don’t have the mental fortitude to tackle it, it’s my seemingly “near death” experience in the Atlantic Ocean.

I was five years old and swimming in the ocean in Miami Beach with my older brother and sister and my dad. My dad was leading the way and my brother was somewhere behind him, followed by my sister and I trailed the pack.

A wave came and I was struggling to recover and started to really panic, crying out through the ocean water, “HELP! HELP! HELP!” I remember strongly that I thought I was in grave danger.

To this day, I don’t know whether anyone half-way heard my cries because no one made any attempt to come to my aid. No one even turned around!

I remember being able to see my brother and sister ahead of me and wondering why they weren’t saving me from drowning. I had to come out of what I thought was an overwhelming dilemma and somehow keep swimming. 

I tell myself today in different ways when I start to doubt, “Stop the machinery! Stop worrying if what you write is any good or good enough to keep people interested. Just keep going.”

Here is part two of yesterday’s post on Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 2: [19] But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

As Richard Jordan explains, “It’s not just mockery; it’s scorn, it’s ridicule. He says, ‘They can’t do what they say they’re doing; look how feeble they are. Bunch of ragtags. Do they think they’re going to make themselves strong? You think that crowd is going to make the sacrifice necessary to get this job done? You think they’re going to get this done in just a couple of days?’

“It’s just pure, ‘You can’t do this.’ By the way, it didn’t look like they could. They didn’t have the civil engineers and the big Caterpillar equipment. They’re just a bunch of rag tag guys; little ants picking things up by hand. They look like people totally unable to accomplish the task and what these big Gentile powers are doing is they’re looking at them saying, ‘You just can’t get it.’

“Paul said in II Corinthians 4 that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

“You know, I got saved when I was 15 and all I’ve ever wanted to do until now really is to learn what God’s Word says and tell it to other people. I didn’t start out saying, ‘Oh, I’ve got this vision to preach.’ That never happened because that doesn’t happen. People who tell you they had that kind of stuff happen, they just had too much pizza for supper and didn’t drink enough water before they went to bed.

“I did have a burning desire to learn God’s Word and to tell it to other people. But you see things over the years and I used to think, ‘Lord, that guy’s preaching half a loaf and the loaf he’s preaching is not even good bread. Here we are over here with the truth doing things your way, etc., and I wonder why in the world is it that way?’ I know people struggle with, ‘Why is the Grace Movement so small?’

“You know what that is? That’s evaluating what we’re doing based upon the way the world does it. It’s the religious system that puts the yardstick down to see if you’re moving. The Believer puts the Word of God down and sees if you’re standing.

“But I learned something about all that one day. My habit had been through the years that if I had a burning question, I’d put it in the back of my mind and I’d just read Scripture. And through the years, I’ve learned to just keep reading, and as you keep reading, you’ll come across a passage that will answer that question and they’re something strange about the way your mind works. That question will come up and you’ll say, ‘Hey, there’s the answer to that question I had three months ago.’

“I was going through II Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about that ‘thorn in the flesh’ and how he would ask the Lord to take that away from him:

[7] And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
[8] For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
[9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[10] Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

“You know what we don’t want to do? We don’t want to appear weak. We don’t want to appear weak to ourselves and, God knows, we don’t want anybody else to think we’re  weak.

“But where did He say Paul’s strength was made perfect? In our weakness. You know why the Grace Movement looks weak to the religious world? So that it can have the power of God working in it. You follow that?”

Nehemiah 2's ending: [20] Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

God's working in the face of scorn, ridicule

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther are post-captivity books that fit into the history of Israel after the Babylonian captivity. These books talk about a remnant in Israel that goes back to Jerusalem and rebuilds the city and the temple.

Nehemiah is wanting to know, “How’s it going back in Jerusalem?”

Nehemiah 1: [3] And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

Nehemiah realizes, “Boy, things are in bad shape back in Jerusalem after all these years.”

[4] And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.

He asks God to give him an opportunity to help the people and Nehemiah goes to the king where he’s at there in captivity and asks and receives permission to go back, explains Richard Jordan.

Nehemiah 2: [8] And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

In other words, he gets provisions to repair the city and rebuild the wall of the city.

[9] Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
[10] When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

As soon as they find out that Nehemiah’s coming back to restore Jerusalem, the people there are mad about it and they’re grieved exceedingly; they don’t want this to happen. They think it’s a bad thing.

Nehemiah is going to go out at night and kind of survey the situation, assessing what’s going on.

[11] So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
[12] And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
[13] And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
[14] Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
[15] Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
[16] And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

He sees the damage and it’s pretty thorough. The 12 gates around the perimeter of the city are all knocked down. He can’t even get past with the animal he’s riding in some places, so the situation is pretty dire.

[17] Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

When he reports back to the Jews there, he says, “I see the situation and how bad it is, but look what the hand of God’s doing.” The king has given him the provisions and soldiers to allow the Jews to rebuild the thing, so he says, “God’s working in our midst.”

You know, it doesn’t matter how bad things are even with us today. If you’ve got God’s Word in your hands, you’ve got God working in your life if you’ll believe it. It doesn’t matter what the situation is.

[18] Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

It says here that the people strengthened their hands for this good work. They bought into it: “Let’s get on with it.”

[19] But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

Nehemiah says, “First they were grieved in their heart and now once we start doing something they laugh us to scorn; they despise us. What is this thing?”

They scorn and despise and then they accuse them of being rebels and question their motives: “What is it you’re really trying to do here? You must be trying to do something nefarious.”

What does Nehemiah do in the face of their scorn? You know, having evil motives imputed to you isn’t anything new and it wasn’t anything that ended in Nehemiah’s day.

That kind of thing usually sets people on edge. For most of us, that’s about all it takes to get us to stop. Attack the messenger. Scorn, ridicule, despise, accuse you of nefarious motives and means.

Notice what Nehemiah did: [20] Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah says, “I know what God has said to me. I know what His Word says, and I know what His promise is, and I know who He gave the deed to this land to. I’ve got His Word and I’m going to trust that and I’m not going to worry about what you say because you don’t trust His Word and you don’t have any part in what He’s doing.”

Really there’s not any other answer to scorn, ridicule and the questioning of motives. Paul says in Romans 3: [7] For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
[8] And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

People are going to despise you, they’re going to slander you, they’re going to take what you say and twist it and impute evil motives to it, and the only real way to get through that is what Nehemiah does and it’s what Paul did.

You just have to know what God’s said and then trust in it. You’re not going to get the hand of God working like Nehemiah did, because God isn’t trying to build a nation today or restore a city today, but you will have God working in your life and in what you’re doing as you trust His Word.

Fear of losing

"The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what he intended. They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter; they did not much inquire His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts."--quote online

*****

John 12:42-43: [42] Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: [43] For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The chief rulers were among the elect of the Jews, probably members of the Sanhedrin. At this point in Christ's ministry, the gospel was having inroads even among the leaders. But because of the Pharisees the leaders would not confess Christ. Knowing it would mean expulsion from their religious circle they were afraid of being ostracized and shunned.

“Being put out of the synagogue was a fearful thing for these Jews. In Luke 9, when Jesus began to tell His apostles about His going to the Cross, one of the things He says is He’s going to be rejected of the elders," explains Richard Jordan.

“That’s saying, ‘You’re not a part of Israel.’ When you did that to a Jew you completely cut off his whole hope; his whole identity. All of his connection with his family and his heritage; you cut it away. I mean, that favored nation held together. They struggled together; they stayed together. They were going to put these guys out.

“Then He says, ‘Not only will they put you out of the synagogue, thinking they are doing God’s service (‘We’re serving God by putting you out’), they’re going to kill you!’

“That’s not just hatred and rejection; that’s a physical attack that winds up in your death, and before they get you dead, they do all the things necessary to get you dead. They didn’t come up and shoot people because they didn’t have guns back then. They stoned them.

“It takes a little bit of time to stone somebody to death. I was reading an article the other day about how difficult it is to kill somebody by strangling them. You can shoot or knife somebody, but to strangle them isn’t just that you have to physically overpower them, which you do, but you literally have to hold them until their very life ebbs out of them.

“It takes more than physical strength; it takes a psychological toughness, meanness, hatred, anger, passion, whatever it is, because you have to hold them to the point where they don’t breathe anymore. In your hands you literally feel it and you literally feel it go away.

“You see, killing people is not…modern American Gentiles have made killing so easy. We send an airplane at seven miles up into the air and drop a bomb on somebody. Where the bomb lands is terrible but the dude that dropped the bomb goes back home and eats supper and goes to bed and never thinks about it.

“If that same guy had to put his hands around the neck of the woman that his bomb destroyed and squeezed the life out of, well there’d be a different kind of situation I bet.

“One of the things the Gentiles do is they constantly become better and better at killing people. We’re talking about modern science and the improvement of things, and you know what, every modern advancement and technology has been used, not just for the good of mankind, but to make it easier to kill people.

"You name it! In fact, most of the technological advancements that trickle down to you and me in life comes from military advancements where they were trying to stay a step ahead of the other guy so, ‘He can’t kill me; I can kill him first!’

*****

“But these guys are doing this because they thinking they’re serving God; this murderous rage where they’re going to kill you. You’ll see it in the Book of Acts.

Acts 5: [26] Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

[27] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
[28] Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
[29] Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
[30] The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

“Because Peter and John had healed that man at the temple in Acts 3 they got called before the religious leaders and told, ‘Don’t do that again; you filled the city with this man’s doctrine,’ and because they kept preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, they get called in again.

“If the rulers tell you not to do something God says to do, and you go ahead and obey God, that means the rulers might come down on you. You’re not doing it to be rebellious against rulers; you’re doing it to be faithful to God. Duties don’t conflict. And when God tells you to do something, you do what God tells you.

"But boy, when you break the religious rules of people . . . There’s no hatred like religious hatred, and be it a pope or a Protestant or an Imam, there’s no hatred, no persecution so fierce as that fired by a zeal for God and a zeal for ‘what’s right’ as you want it to be, as your religion says.”

Sheer genius behind 'peace and safety'

Revelation 6:4: [4] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

"The tactic of the Antichrist in the land of Israel is peace and flattery but guess what he's doing outside of the land? He's got a sword and he's engaged in combat. Israel's saying 'peace and safety' but what does the rest of the world say? 'This guy's a warrior!' The red horse will represent this policy of international unrest and battle," explains Alex Kurz.

Verse 5: [5] And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

"In a sense this verse represents famine, but this is a governmental induced famine. This is not a famine due to environmental issues. The third policy of this man of sin is to control the economy. It is a deliberate famine.

"Remember what the Soviets sought to do to secure control over Berlin? Remember the blockade? They attempted to starve out Berlin. There are examples in the Old Testament of how Gentiles would do that to Israel.

Verse 6: [6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

"Why would a handful of grain cost so much? Because somebody's controlling the economy. 

Verse 8: [8] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

"Why do people get pale? Lack of blood flow? When you sacrifice an animal on the altar, you drain the blood.

"This horse is going to represent the religious system the Antichrist will launch. Those who do not participate in this form of religious system that, amazingly, is patterned after the law of Moses, you know what happens to them?

"The consequences of not bowing your knee to Baal is what verse 8 is describing. This is the sheer genius of the Antichrist. Now, of course, I don't say that because it's glorious. You know what this guy's doing? He's doing to Israel in the 70th Week what God did in the Old Testament against the nation in rebellion.

"Think about this. The forms of chastisement and punishment that these four horses represent are the same types of chastisement and punishment God meted out to the nation of Israel when they were in apostasy.

"During the 70th Week, when the apostate nation is huddled in Jerusalem and they say, 'Peace and safety,' and they see what's happening in the world, you know how they interpret all of that? 'There's Jehovah God, on our side.'

"Do you see the genius of this guy? I mean, when he imitates God, make no mistake about it, apostate Israel is going to see what's going on and say, 'That's exactly what Deuteronomy 28 says is going to happen!'

"You don't offer animal sacrifices in the temple, little flock, you know what's going to happen to you? The punishment God says will be meted out in Deuteronomy 28.

"For three and a half years people are deluded. Is it any wonder why this guy in the middle of the week is going to say, 'Listen, I've spent three and a half years proving I am Jehovah! I'm doing exactly what Deuteronomy 28 says is going to happen!'

"Is it any wonder why he is going to be worshipped by apostate Israel?! This is what makes these four horses so amazing. It really is remarkable how all this stuff is going to work itself out." 

Thankful for God's account of history

"If you ever read religious books, they start out talking about the ‘ultimate essence’ and the ‘basis of reality’ and the ‘true meaning of life.’

“You know how the Bible starts? You have two people naked in a garden. That don’t sound like any religious book I ever read. It starts out talking about whether you ought to put something in your mouth or not.

“The fact that the Bible is a book of history is really what rubs people the wrong way about it. It’s a record of what’s gone on. Now, God is all through the Bible. His history is HIS story, but it’s a record of what’s actually happened on this earth for 4,000 years.

“The trouble is that if it’s history, then it’s what’s really gone on; it’s what’s really happened and it’s what really is going to happen, and it really doesn’t matter what you believe about it.

“The worst thing in the world is to be sincere and be sincerely wrong. What you believe, if it isn’t true, if it isn’t historically accurate, if it isn’t real, it don’t make any difference if you believe it or not. If you believe Jesus rose again and He didn’t, believe it all day long; it’s not going to do you any good.

“Because the Bible’s a book of history means heaven and hell are real places. They’re not just theology, dogma. It’s not just religion. Paul says, ‘Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buriled, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.’

“That has to be true and that’s why he says in I Corinthians 15, ‘And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.’

“Jesus Christ, truth personified, once prayed for His disciples and said, ‘Sanctify them by the word; thy word is truth.’ Just like Jesus Christ was the perfect truth of God, He said His Word was the perfect truth of God. That’s what Paul said when he wrote, ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’

“If you’ve got a bible and you don’t believe it’s the truth—and I don’t mean generically the truth; I’m talking about when you read a specific verse and the words in the verse—then you have an entirely different attitude toward the Word of God than God Himself does.

"The historically proven reality of the resurrection is the foundation Christianity is built on. Biblical Christianity expects a person to believe certain indisputable facts:

*Jesus Christ was a real person who lived on earth

*He was charged by Jewish leaders and crucified at the hands of Roman authorities

*He was buried in a known, accessible tomb and then preached as risen

*The leaders of His nation tried to dispose of the message that He was resurrected by  persecuting those who preached it

*The empty tomb, though, belied all their efforts

"The empty tomb is the central fact of the Christian faith. It's a fact that can be demonstrated to a historical certainty."

"People will tell you you can't prove the resurrection scientifically, but there's a lot of things in life you can't prove scientifically.

"The scientific method is a method of replicable events. It's science if you have something you observe, and you make a statement of it, and then others can come along and replicate the event. But there are a lot of things where you don't do that."

"Felons convicted in courts of law for murder, for example, are not convicted on science. They're convicted on historical evidences—the evidences which demonstrate something happened historically, in time, and jurors are pressed to a decision, or a conclusion.

"Individuals are forced to a conclusion based on the evidence. Whether you want to make a conclusion or not, the evidence demands that you come to a verdict."