MYSTERY meat as deep as it gets

(had a very unexpected, trying day and just grateful to be home, soaking up air-conditioning in the midst of this so-called "heat dome" over Ohio, where temps are in mid-90s with super-high humidity. I will post new article tomorrow now and sorry for delay)

While New Agers are out trying to help usher in the dawn of a millennium of peace in which they believe a new species of man, Homo luminus, will emerge, Satan’s angels are seething in the heavens as they’re constantly confronted (through their observation of us Believers) with the reality they will one day be supplanted by a new species of humanity, namely "the church the Body of Christ."

“Using men for the repossession of the heavenly places would certainly require such a new man (the ‘one new man,’ as Paul calls it), and that is exactly what God is creating today in Christ,” writes Keith Blades in his perennial classic from 1994, "Satan and His Plan of Evil."

“In doing this, God has seen to it that the entire Satanic plan of evil will be destroyed, both in the heavenly places and in the earth.

“Moreover, by keeping the heavenly aspect of His plan ‘a secret since the world began,’ God completely took Satan in his own craftiness, and has put him and his angelic cohorts to an open shame. Genius and wisdom belongs to God only, and not to Satan.”

*****  

Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Richard Jordan explains, “In this verse, Paul talks about the three ways you can know something. By the eye, or empiricism, the ear (rationalism or figuring it out on the basis of reason) and then revelation. God can reveal the thing to you, as in verse 10: [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

“It’s important to understand that ‘the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,’ have to do with the mystery truth back in verses 6-8. Verses 7 and 8 say, [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.

“In the context here, the things of God from verse 9 are the things of the mystery. He’s talking about some doctrinal reality God’s determined to do. Never read verse 9 by itself. Never go off and say, ‘Well, you can’t know these things, therefore boo, hoo, hoo.’

“I remember as a teenager reading in the newspaper Billy Graham’s syndicated column, ‘Ask Dr. Graham,’ where somebody wrote him, ‘How do you explain all the sufferings and the difficulties in the world?’ Graham quoted I Corinthians 2:9 and wrote, ‘Well, you just can’t figure them all out.’

“I was 17 or 18 years old and I kept thinking, ‘Oh, Billy, read verse 10! Read verse 10, would you please! Don’t just quit in verse 9!’ I mean, verse 9 leaves you with a blank wall and darkness.

"Verse 10 says, ‘BUT God.’ Don’t you love the ‘But God’s’ in the Bible?! That takes you out of your darkness, your inability and helplessness, and puts you on the side of strength and possession.

“Notice the description of the things of God in verse 10. ‘The Spirit searcheth all things.’ That is, He knows everything there is to know. He’s not talking about how the Spirit doesn’t know what’s going on so he looks into it. He’s talking about how there’s nothing held back from what the Spirit of God understands and knows.

“David says to God, ‘Search me and know me. Try me and see if there be any evil way.’ He isn’t saying God doesn’t know what’s in his heart. He’s saying, ‘Come down here and know me and look and see and examine.’ Not as someone who doesn’t know, but as someone who DOES know.

“The spiritual man can personally, experientially enter into all things--‘yea, the deep things of God.’ He knows the doctrines of God inside and out; he even knows the deep things of God. When Paul’s talking about deep things, he’s talking about mystery truth. He calls them that because they’re hidden things and not known.

“Notice how this word ‘deep’ is used in Psalm 92: ‘[5] O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
[6] A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

“The idea there is a brutish man, a natural man, can’t know them. For a thought to be deep, the idea there is that it’s unknown. It’s not understood by others. They’re hidden thoughts. They’re thoughts that are kept back and not made known.

“The mystery truth is that God kept some things secret and hid in Himself so that no one else could know them. They were tremendous in their value and scope but it was also hidden wisdom.

“You understand, folks, ‘the mystery’ is the deep things of God. Mystery truth is as deep as it gets. Somebody says, ‘Well, we want to get into prophecy; we want to get into the deep things.’ No, you get into prophecy--that’s called ‘the milk of the word.’ You want the meat, this is it!

*****

In Daniel 2, Daniel is talking about getting the secret of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision revealed to him. He says starting in verse 19, [19] Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
[20] Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
[21] And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
[22] He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

“That’s what Paul’s talking about. He’s talking about things that are wonderful in the sense they are so far BEYOND what man can comprehend. But it’s not simply that, because in verse 10 there he tells you there’s things God has revealed to us. The deep things of God are knowable! Paul’s not saying that God’s laid out in the pages of His Book things so deep and big that you can’t understand them.

“I heard a guy say once, ‘If I told you everything I know, it would crack your skull.’ He was saying he knew so much Bible it would make your brain explode. That fellow went around most of the time carrying his head in a wheelbarrow it was so heavy; he thought so much of himself. He had a hard time pushing it along it was just so big.

“The idea in the passage is you can’t find them on your own. On your own, it’s not knowable. You would have never figured it out on your own, but now God has revealed it to you. That’s the issue.

*****

“Romans 11 says, ‘[33] O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
[34] For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
[35] Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

“Paul has just spent 11 chapters writing down, delineating, and explaining the judgments and the ways of God. He’s just spent all the previous part of Romans revealing to you the MIND of the Lord.

“In I Corinthians 2, the last verse says, ‘[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

“Where do you have it? In the Word of God. Folks, you wouldn’t know the depth of them if they weren’t revealed to you. You ever thought about that?! You would just SUSPECT that they must be deep, big and wonderful.

*****

“In your Bible, there’s not only the deep things of God; there’s another system of deep things. In the first two chapters of II Corinthians is the conflict between divine viewpoint and human viewpoint. More than that, though, between divine viewpoint and ‘the wisdom of the princes of this world which God’s wisdom has brought to nought.’

“The program of the Adversary is referred to in Revelation 2:24: [24] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

“Notice, the depths of Satan is associated with a doctrine. There is a wisdom and a set of principles, programs and plans and philosophy that are described in the Bible, not as ‘the deep things of God,’ but rather as the deep things of the Adversary.

“It’s his agenda, his program, his plans, his purposes, his personality, and what he is seeking to accomplish. It has to do with a doctrine. It’s laid out in Revelation very clearly and we’ve studied it over and over in Baal worship and the counterfeiting, being ‘like the most high.’

“You go to Ezekiel 28 where we studied how Lucifer is full of wisdom and the sum of wisdom and beauty and there’s no secret thing kept from him. Satan thought he knew everything, so God just kept a secret about what He was going to do through the Cross.

“God keeping the meaning of Calvary hidden brings Satan’s wisdom to nought because Satan couldn’t see it, even though God said it was going to happen and prophesied and fulfilled it in exact detail, in the minutia.

“Satan still couldn’t figure out what God was going to do with it because God didn’t reveal it to him! God kept a secret that caused Satan to deceive HIMSELF! And so it’s a shameful, embarrassing thing to the Adversary and it brought his wisdom to nothing.”

The Book that literally becomes ALIVE

(working on new article that I will have tomorrow for certain)

Galatians 3:8 says, 'And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

“Notice it didn’t say, ‘And the scripture, fortelling’ because the scripture didn’t fortell it; it was a mystery hid in God. God planned it, He knew He was going to do it, but He never told anybody about it until He revealed it through Paul. But the scripture, knowing we were coming . . .

“You see how Paul attributes an attribute of God Himself to the scripture? That’s weird. What did the scripture do? It ‘preached before the gospel unto Abraham.’ Paul says the scripture preached the gospel, but you go back to Genesis where that quote is, and it’s Jehovah. It’s God talking to Abraham.

“Abraham didn’t have a Bible. He didn’t have scripture. The word ‘script' means writing. Abraham didn’t have anything written down as a message from God. In fact, the Book of Genesis wasn’t written until after Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt, and it’s written by Moses. So what you’ve got here is something being said that can’t happen unless you recognize that, in the Bible, God makes His Word equal to Himself.

“In Paul’s mind, when the scripture did it, it was God doing it, and when God did it, the scripture said it. The psalmist says about God ‘that thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.’

“In the Bible, God equals/equates His Word with Himself. I don’t know any other way of saying it. When you deal with God’s Word, you’re dealing with God Himself and conversely, if you’re going to deal with God, you have to deal with His Word. Every contact you have with God OUTSIDE of the objective pages of a Bible is on an inner, subjective level.

*****

“You see, God, when He speaks it and He writes it down, that’s Him talking. Hebrews 4:12 says, [12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

“He starts out talking about the Word of God and ends up talking about the Word of God personified as a ‘his,’ and he says, ‘It’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ That’s talking about God. He takes His Word and describes His Word as though He’s describing Himself. He gives God’s attributes to His Word.

“Romans 9:17 says, [17] For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

“That’s a quote out of Exodus 9:16. Back there it says Jehovah said: ‘I Jehovah.’ Here it says ‘the scripture saith.’ Once again, He uses the Scripture interchangeably with Himself.

“Romans 9:17 is God the Spirit’s commentary through Paul and He interchanges the two. God Himself isn’t shy about saying that His Word is equal to Himself. The connection between the written Word and the LIVING Word is astounding. In the Bible, they are absolutely inseparable! Jesus Christ is called ‘the Word. ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ Capital W. It’s a title. It’s a proper noun.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.’ That’s interesting. He’s WITH God; He and the Father are there. They’re separate people but He’s with Him. ‘And the Word was God.’ He was equally God but separate in His person. ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’ He’s the Creator God. He’s the speaker of the godhead.

“Then He says in John 1:17, ‘The Word became flesh.’ So we know who the Word is. The Word is the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the godhead. But the Bible is called the Word of God.

“Revelation 19 says that when Jesus Christ comes back, 'he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God.' He is the living Word of God, but the Bible is the written Word of God, and the connections between the two are so astounding that you can’t really separate them. When you deal with one you deal with the other.

“Both have two natures. Jesus Christ is God but He’s also man. He’s the man Christ Jesus and yet He’s God. ‘Thy throne O God,’ the Father says to Him in Hebrews 1:8. So God the Father thinks Jesus is God and He thinks He’s the man: ‘The Word became flesh.’

“The Bible is the Word of God written by God Himself (‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’) and yet He used holy men of old. He used men as pen men.

“Both the LIVING Word and the WRITTEN word can save you. Jesus Christ, Hebrews says, can save to the uttermost those that come to God by Him. James 1 says it’s the ‘engrafted word’ that is able to save your soul.

“Both the living and written word judge you. Paul says he was gave a witness by His resurrection that He’ll be the judge of all men. In John 12, Jesus says ‘[48] He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

“Both live and abide forever. Jesus is one who lives forever. The Word of God is the incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever.

“Both can be received. John 1:12 says, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’ Paul says, ‘As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk ye in him.’ He says about the written word, ‘I thank God that when you heard the word we preached unto you, you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God.’ How do you receive the living Word of God? By receiving the written Word. You can be made alive by it. You’ll be judged by it.

“You say, ‘Which one is it?’ It’s both because they’re one. They both are the living and the written. Jesus is ‘the way.’ Psalm 119:32 calls the Word of God ‘the way.’ Jesus is ‘the truth.’ He said, ‘Sanctify them by thy word; thy word is truth.’ Jesus is the life. 
Paul says, ‘Hold forth the word of life.’

"Jesus calls the Word of God ‘the bread.’ John 6:33 says, ‘For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.’ The Bible says, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’

“Jesus is the light of the world. About the Bible, it says in psalms, ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Jesus says ‘from the beginning.’ I John 2:13 says, ‘I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.’ Psalm 119:160 says, ‘Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.’

“There’s this connection of similarity between both of them. John 10:30 says, [30] I and my Father are one. Jesus was born of God. I Peter 1:23 says, [23] Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.’ Jesus Christ sanctifies you. He sanctifies all them who come to God by Him. Jesus said, ‘Thy word is truth; sanctify them by thy word.’

“The Word works in you. Paul said, ‘It’s Christ working in you. It’s the Word of God that works effectually in you that believe.’ Jesus Christ makes you free. ‘Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ has made you free.’ He said, ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’

“What I’m trying to say to you is that when you’re dealing with the scripture, the written Word of God, you’re really dealing with God Himself, and if you’re going to deal with God Himself, you’re going to have to do it by dealing with His Word. You can’t separate the two.”

And am PERSUADED that He is able

“To persuade others, you must first be able to persuade yourself.” – Zig Ziglar

“The secret of persuasion is to inhabit the viewpoint of the other party.” --Daniel Pink

The refrain from the great old hymn, "I Know Whom I Have Believed," taken from II Timothy 1:12:

• Refrain:
  But “I know Whom I have believed,
  And am persuaded that He is able
  To keep that which I’ve committed
  Unto Him against that day.”

Paul writes in Romans 4 about Abraham's faith: [20] He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

[21] And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Here is an outtake of a sermon by Richard Jordan:

Romans 8: [36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

We understand the world doesn't like us; we got that. [37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

There's an absolute, complete, total victory program over sin that God has provided for us through Jesus Christ and it makes you more than a conqueror.

[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Paul starts that verse with, "For I am persuaded," and that's what it's got to be. You have to be persuaded that this is true.

[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All these experiences that come on you--tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, economic distress, peril, sword, the government, all the things we fear--the Adversary will use them to separate you, make you ashamed.

You and I have been equipped to deal with the vanity and the bondage of corruption through the Word of God to us, through His grace to us, so that we can apply it to the details of our life.

When you're fully persuaded that what God says is true, then you'll see His Word work effectually in you that believe.

Paul writes in II Corinthians 4: [15] For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

[16] For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
[17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The "all things" he's talking about in the passage start in verse 8: [8] We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

All those things Paul went through, Paul understood that he was an example for us; he understood that when he went through things it was for our consolation. 

When he says, "For your sakes, that the abundant grace through thanksgiving . . . ," that's NOW, not the ages to come.

When people saw Paul go through the persecutions and witnessed God's grace work in him, they would give thanks to God. They would see Paul value and cherish, esteem the Lord Jesus Christ in all those things and it caused the glory of God to be manifest in Paul.

"For this cause, we faint not," means, "We don't quit." Right now, you're building things in your inner man that give you an exceeding and eternal weight of glory in the ages to come. His purpose with the Body of Christ is that in the ages to come He's going to manifest His glory through us. 

Paul says, "While we look at the things not seen." You see, it's that faith viewpoint and that gives us the opportunity to manifest the value of His grace and truth, both now (verse 15) and in eternity (verse 17).

So, it's Paul, not Job, who is the illustration that teaches us how to respond to the frustration of the vanity of the curse. You focus on His glory.

"Grace and truth" is an encapsulized description of the glory, the essence, the outshining of who God is.

When we focus on His grace and His truth, found in the Book rightly divided, what God's doing in our lives as members of the Body of Christ, it's really just boot camp for the future ministry we'll have in the ages to come, as well as boot camp for the ministry now. 

I Corinthians 15:58: [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

It's not the vanity of this world; it's real, purposeful, meaningful life. The way you don't waste your life is don't grieve problems like you don't have a hope; you have a hope of glory.

Focus on that and don't miss the opportunity to be a witness to the value and the treasure that you know is in Christ. "For me to live is Christ."

I want Him to be magnified in my decisions; His will is more important than anything else. His actions are more important than anything else.

Bewitched's Christian and CERN

Once again, I'm facing another six days in a row at my job thanks to yet another vacation by someone else. I was so tired before posting last night's article that I see I repeated some material.

I was aware that I never answered the question, "What is it about Endor?" and I sure don't have the time right now to go into it all, but here's a teaser for a future post where I will finish the study:

"As an Israelite you start reading this chapter and you start realizing, 'What is this guy doing?!' Saul crosses into enemy territory, he's evading the Philistine army, he kind of snakes his way into Endor, about six to eight miles. So, what is it about this particular land mass? says Alex Kurz.

"Endor is a Hebrew word. Remember the television series Bewitched? The witch's name was Samantha and her mother's name was Endora. The writers got that idea from I Samuel 28.

"Why would they name this witch's mother that? In one episode, the little boy asks Endora, 'Are you a good witch or a bad witch?' and she responds in French with a common phrase that means, 'Not so good, not so bad.'

"By the way, somebody sent me an article revealing that the actress who played Endora, Agnes Moorehead, bequeathed her estate and her Christian book library to Bob Jones University. Fundamental conservative. You got to think, 'Wow, kind of interesting.' "

*****

In the news, conspiracy theorists and other people who keep a close eye on Switzerland's CERN are telling us to prepare for "unusual events" with the world's largest particle physics laboratory closing its Large Hadron Collider on June 29th for four years of "intensive maintenance and upgrade work."

"The Large Hadron Collider is entering a rare quiet spell, with its proton collisions halted so engineers can prepare the machine for a more powerful future," says MSN.com. "The shutdown is not a sign of trouble so much as a planned pivot, trading short term data for long term upgrades that will reshape what this collider can do in the next decade."

Here is a post from November, 2021 and will have new article tomorrow evening:

"CRACKPOT conspiracy theorists have sensationally claimed that the tragic deaths of eight people at Travis Scott's 'hellish' Astroworld concert (in Houston) last week came as part of a 'satanic blood sacrifice,' " reads an online article from Nov. 9, published by The U.S. Sun newspaper's website.

"Conspiracy theorists believe a t-shirt worn by the star shows people becoming demons after walking through a portal. 'Anyone else notice that the stage is an inverted cross leading to a portal to Hell,' asked one TikToker, whose video has since racked up more than one million views. Many of the conspiracies highlight that the slogan for the festival was 'See you on the other side.' "

Occultists of every sort love to deal in portals. According to a website, “CERN is specifically building a stargate — a portal to another time or place —to allow the return of the Annunaki. The Annunaki were powerful ancient deities that once inhabited Earth. Some ancient astronaut theorists believe, instead, that they were extraterrestrials, the very same who assisted in early mankind’s progress.

“The only downside is we don’t know, if CERN were successful, whether or not the Old Gods would come in peace. However, portals and stargates may be the least of our worries. Some feel that during their experiments, in searching for extra dimensions, CERN may open the ‘wrong door.’ ”

*****

Isaiah 13:2 says, “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.”

“In other words, there is a portal through which they’re going to come out of the angelic dimension into our dimension in order to be able to fight," explains Richard Jordan.

“Angels are not made of Carbon-14 and in Scripture there are passageways; we use the term portals. In literature, they use the term ‘stargates.’

"Fascinatingly, that’s what the Bible calls it. If you come over to Revelation 9, all the ones I know how to identify geographically are in the Middle East. One is described being in Egypt, one in Babylon, one in Palestine. They are doorways.

“If you think about in the angelic world, they’re just as real as you are. They’re just not made of the same physical properties. Life in their realm is just as real as it is in our realm.

“I’ve tried to show you that in heaven are farms and cities and manufacturing plants. We talk about the business of heaven. Paul describes the invisible realm and he uses exactly the same terminology to describe it as he does for down on earth. There’s work, there’s jobs, there’s life to be carried on.

*****

"Jude 6 says, referring to the days of Noah, 'And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.'

"II Peter 2:4: 'For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.'

“The angels had a house built by God and they left it. They shifted their dimensional habitation. They literally came into man’s dimension to reside to participate in this experimentation, and that’s where those gates come in.

“Revelation 9 begins: ‘And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.’

"All these demonic creatures come out. Once again, there’s this coming in and going out."

Witch of Endor really a nobody

In yesterday's news it was revealed that newly discovered 12th-century Latin texts written by St. Augustine (referred to as "lost Christian text hidden for centuries"), and kept in a Polish library, "focus on King Saul's visit to the Witch of Endor, one of the Bible's most mysterious episodes, in which the dead prophet Samuel appears and foretells the king's death," explains the London Daily Mail.

"The story, recorded in 1 Samuel 28, has troubled Jewish and Christian scholars for centuries because it appears to suggest that a medium successfully summoned a dead prophet," explains the publication. "Ultimately, St. Augustine argued (in these sermons) that the Witch of Endor held no power over the dead. If Samuel genuinely appeared, he believed it was because God allowed it, not because the medium had summoned him through magic . . .

"The story has long baffled theologians, raising questions about how a witch could summon the spirit of a prophet. Latin scholars have also asked 'How can an omnipotent God allow this or is he not really omnipotent?'

"For centuries, theologians have debated whether the apparition was a deception created by the witch or a genuine appearance of Samuel permitted by God to warn Saul of his impending death."

*****

Here's an outtake from a sermon by Alex Kurz on this same matter:

We find Saul doing something that was strictly prohibited in Israel's history; in Israel's national identity. He is going to inquire with a woman who has a familiar spirit. She's not technically called a witch, but she has a "familiar spirit."

What exactly is a familiar spirit? It's an entity that makes a connection; a medium, if you will, that makes contact with the spiritual realms, specifically for the purpose of conjuring up, or calling up, the soul of a dead individual.

The reason people would inquire on those with familiar spirits is they sought to communicate with the dead in order to receive knowledge and revelation.

In Isael's history there was this desire to contact the spiritual realm; the so-called "underworld." The root of the word "familiar" is family and that's kind of interesting.

Israel was strictly prohibited from allowing their children to be sacrificed, for example, to the god Molech, but historically, sadly, Israel had child sacrifice.

In connection with child sacrifice you right away, in various Bible passages, learn about the prohibition against dealing with witches, wizards, sorcerers, necromancers and people with familiar spirits.

So it's not out of the realm of possibility that perhaps you had parents who sought to communicate with the children that they would sacrifice.

By the way, historically there has always been this interest in ancestor worship. The Hittites, for example, maintained an active line of communication with the spiritual realm. They had a deep interest in the quote "underworld."

With that in mind, go to I Samuel 28:13: [13] And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

She witnessed a phenomenon that she was not supposed to witness. When she saw small "g" gods ascending out of the earth, these were fallen angels.

By the way, I take I Samuel as a literalist. Did this woman (the Witch of Endor) literally see the soul of Samuel?

In the spiritist view on this, they believe what the woman saw was a counterfeit spirit. That it wasn't really Samuel, but it was a fallen angel masquerading as Samuel.

Well, a fallen angel does not have the power to call a soul up from the underworld. They can't call up a soul from the place of torments, nor can they can't call up a soul from Abraham's bosom. The verses demonstrate only God has that ability to do something like that.

A witch deals with the devil himself by cooperating with evil spirits for the purpose of performing some supernatural act.

Why did God prohibit activities such as sorcery and necromancing familiar spirits? Because it IS possible to make contact with the spiritual realm.

This fallen angel masquerades as the departed one. This fallen entity possesses an alter-identity. It's not the real soul but rather, it's the alter-identity, or the alter-personality of the soul that someone is seeking to contact and to conjure up from the dead.

God is not doing anything BY the witch; He's doing something in spite of the witch. I believe that really was Samuel and there's a reason. Why would God literally call up Samuel?

[11] Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
[12] And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.

It's clear the woman saw a supernatural event that terrified her and hence, she screams because she never experienced this before. Her crying loudly, to me, is an indication that this is something extraordinary taking place.

*****

I Samuel 28: [6] And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

[7] Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

Saul is rejected; God is done with this guy. In verse 7, Saul's now going to participate with evil.

Verse 8: [8] And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.

On Halloween, you have all these kids roaming the neighborhood, extorting everybody's household, wearing disguises. I wonder where the Celts and the Druids got the idea of disguising themselves when you're dealing with somebody with a familiar spirit who's interested in conjuring up the souls of the dead. Personally, I think somebody stole it from I Samuel 28:8.

Saul put on a costume before he made contact with this witch. As a type, you know what the king of Israel is doing? He's hiding his identity. He's at a horrible point where he's really wickedly insane due to chronic rebellion; his hardheartedness.

There's a lot of typology (the Lord uses types, shadows and figures in teaching the nation Israel) in verse 8 about the nighttime. He takes off his identity and now he's going to join the unfruitful works of darkness. 

Verse 9: [9] And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

*****

Historically, God called the Gentiles "snares." Kind of interesting. The tables are turned on Saul, and he is now taking up this sad identity. He's becoming a substitute for the witch. He's becoming the witch! He's doing everything the pagans did--the witches and the warlocks and so on.

The Lord's view of Saul is, "You're the necromancer." Gentiles were always called snares, thorns and thistles to the nation of Israel, and Saul is a pagan. I'm not going to say he's acting like one, because in chapter 28 he IS a pagan at this juncture.

I Samuel 28: [10] And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

The Lord said "thou shalt not use the Lord's name in vain," and that's what it means. That means you don't swear an oath using the Lord's name.

By the way, Saul's a false prophet. We know from I Samuel 18:10 that Saul is a prophet. What he's doing is saying, "I swear to God."

What's fascinating is the witch is not put to death; Saul is. There's a dynamic here. God is communicating something to Saul about who he now is.

*****

"I do not believe this witch had any supernatural power to call anyone, let alone Samuel, out from the dead. I Samuel 2:6 says, [6] The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

No human being has a supernatural capacity to conjure up the souls of the dead. My opinion is a familiar spirit, they do COUNTERFEIT someone's identity, but they don't have the supernatural capacity to call someone out of hell, or for that matter, Samuel who is Abraham's bosom.

Notice what Samuel says to Saul in verse 15: [15] And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

Samuel isn't giving the witch any credit. He's saying, "You, Saul, you're the necromancer, you're the wizard who has disquieted me."

The Bible view is this woman's really a nobody and Saul is held fully responsible for what's taking place.

Going back to verse 12, when it says "the woman cried with a loud voice," something happened which she never witnessed before. Guess who really is coming up from the dead? It's Samuel.

She screams in terror. The loud voice is evidence that suggests this was out of the normal; it was extraordinary.

[13] And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

No indication she was terrified by that. Personally, I wonder if she was used to seeing this. If she is a medium with familiar spirits, she's making contact with fallen angels.

There are good gods (small g) and there are bad gods (small g). This woman doesn't appear to be terrorized by the gods; she reacts to seeing Samuel. This is a miracle God is performing, not by the witch but in spite of the witch. She's not the issue here.

It's interesting that she says, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth." There are passages in the Bible showing a correlation between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and I take this as she's familiar with seeing these entities coming up out of the earth.

Psalm 83:1-8 lists the 10-nation confederacy the Antichrist will lead against the extermination of God's people, Israel. These 10 nations are under 10 kings (the 10 toes) who are not ordinary human beings. They're actually fallen angels. They're made of iron and they're trying to mix with clay.

Verses 9-10: [9] Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

[10] Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

Think about that for a second. Here is a prophecy regarding the future 10-nation confederacy under the command and leadership of the Antichrist. When you talk about the gods, you're talking about these fallen entities and what we have is this appeal, "Destroy them."

Why Endor? What happened at Endor?

Judges 5:19-20: [19] The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

[20] They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

These are fallen angels. There's some wild, bizarre activity that's taking place in the stars that influences and impacts the battle taking place on the earth.

I kind of wonder, well, because of the impending battle and potential destruction of the nation of Israel, is there this unseen Satanic activity just as we witness here in Judges 5?

Always been a matter of trust

The news has reached an unparalleled level of fakeness. The numbers are cooked, the people quoted are actors, the details of the story are consistently fudged, the story itself is highly unlikely, if not implausible, on and on.

I have always remembered my favorite professor from Ohio State University, Henry Schulte, Sunday Editor-in-chief of the Chicago Daily News when it folded in 1978, telling us, "When you see the disappearance of a free and independent press that is the downfall of a society."

Last week's headlines on Drudge Report and elsewhere were about how, as the BBC reported, "Trust in the news has fallen to an all-time low globally, according to a Reuters News study."

Mediaite said about this study: "Americans are extremely cynical about the media. A Gallup poll last October showed that trust in media had sunk to its lowest level ever since the pollster began tracking the issue in the 1970s. Seventy percent of Americans said they had 'not very much' confidence or 'none at all' in mass media like newspapers, TV, and radio to report the news 'fully, accurately and fairly.' "

Also last week came this news: "A Fox News poll found that trust in the federal government has collapsed to a record low. The poll, conducted between June 12 and 15 among 1,002 respondents, found that just 25 percent of Americans trust the federal government, the lowest level ever recorded in Fox News polling." 

*****

The word “trust,” in all its forms, appears 191 times in the King James Bible.

“Trust in the Lord is choosing not to trust in other things,” says Columbus, Ohio preacher David Reid. “When Ephesians 2:9 ends with ‘lest any man should boast,’ what that's telling you is the Word's designed to take every thing you could possibly claim; it is giving up reliance on anything other than Christ."

*****

“The whole issue behind it all is that you learn to trust Him because, when you learn that He’s all you’ve really got, then He’s all you can really trust," says Richard Jordan. "And when He’s all you’ve really got to trust, you’ll find out He’s all you really need. And when you realize He’s all you really need, you’ll learn a healthy distrust of yourself: ‘It’s not I but Christ.’ It’s in the excellency of the power of God’s Word that works in you and teaches you the truth of it. Otherwise, you don’t know what the purpose of it is!"

*****

As a teen­ag­er in Dover, England, Louisa Stead (1850-1917), author of the great old hymn, 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, was said to have "felt called to be a mis­sion­a­ry." She emigrated to Am­er­i­ca at age 21, living in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio.

"She at­tend­ed a camp meet­ing in Ur­ba­na, Ohio, where she felt the call to be a mis­sion­ary ev­en strong­er.  However, due to her frail health, she was un­a­ble to go to China and serve. So in 1875, decided to settle down and have a family instead," says an online biography.

She married William Stead in 1875 and they had a daughter, Lily. Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck describes this major tragedy to soon hit the young family:

“When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter. Out of her ‘why?’ struggle with God during the ensuing days glowed these meaningful words from the soul of Louisa Stead."

From another biography: "Without her husband, Louisa and her daughter became destitute. Around 1880, she emigrated to Cape Colony, South Af­ri­ca, where she finally served as a mis­sion­a­ry for 15 years. There she ­mar­ried a Ro­bert Wode­house, but her health declined and she returned to Am­er­i­ca in 1895 to re­co­ver. When she had, she returned to the mis­sion field in southern Rho­de­sia in 1901 with her husband, who has pastored a Methodist congregation. There, her daugh­ter Li­ly was mar­ried and be­came a mis­sion­a­ry herself, following in her mother’s footsteps." 

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus says the Lord!"

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

Satan's only a prince

(new article tomorrow-sorry for delay)

“In a moment all the heavy sorrow and misery which sleep had banished were upon him again, and he realized that he was no longer a petted prince in a palace, with the adoring eyes of a nation upon him, but a pauper, an outcast, clothed in rags, prisoner in a den fit only for beasts, and consorting with beggars and thieves.” -- Mark Twain in his book The Prince and the Pauper

The mere fact Satan is referred to as a prince in the Bible makes clear he’s not running things and is accountable to a higher authority.

“Genesis 3 tells you the fallen angels can be referred to as ‘sons of god,’ and one of the definitions of a prince is ‘the son of a king,’ ” explains Columbus, Ohio preacher David Reid. “So, is it reasonable to refer to an angel as a prince? That’s a completely legitimate use of the word.

“Daniel 6:1 says, ‘It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom.’

“My point is a prince is a meaningful role, but it’s nothing like a king. In fact, in that kingdom there in Daniel, how many princes were there? At least 120 and there’s a lot more than that in the heavenly kingdom God has.

“Daniel 9:25 talks of ‘the Messiah the Prince,’ which is Jesus Christ. Is He maybe different from other princes? He’s the Prince of princes. He’s the King of kings. He’s the Lord of lords. When it says there that He’s ‘the Messiah the Prince’ with a capital ‘P,’ He’s a prince like no other.

[25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
[26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

“What you have in verses 25-26 is the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan and they’re both princes but they’re different.

*****

“Because II Corinthians 4 says ‘Satan is the god of this world,’ people get the idea, ‘Well, if Satan’s the god of this world, then he’s obviously running things.’ That’s a misunderstanding of what the word ‘god’ is.

“Philippians 3:18-19 says, [18] (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
[19] Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

“That means people’s bellies are gods. That doesn’t mean their bellies are running the universe. The word ‘god’ is a reference to the fact of something being worshipped. People make gods out of wood, stone and so on, but they don’t do anything.

“Satan doesn’t own the earth because ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.’ What it means is the world worships him. That’s entirely different. The world worships a lot of things it shouldn’t worship, that may or may not have any power.

“So what about the fact the Bible says Satan has kingdoms? Come to Daniel 10. Daniel prays and he doesn’t get an answer for a period of time. Three weeks pass and then Gabriel shows up and describes to Daniel what happened to him.

“Gabriel tells Daniel in Daniel 10:13, ‘But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.’

“The prince of Persia is not a man; that’s an angelic authority who says, ‘I don’t authorize you to pass; your papers are not in order,’ and so Gabriel’s stuck there and can’t get through. So Michael, one of the chief princes, comes over and says, ‘Hey, we got a problem here; do I need to straighten this out?’ and the prince of Persia responds, ‘Oh, okay, you can go.’  He got overruled.

“That tells you the prince of Persia’s inferior to Michael. He had authority to say to Gabriel, ‘You can’t come in,’ but then Gabriel went to his supervisor, speaking in earthly terms.

“My point is that with these angelic princes, or devilish princes as the case may be, have some authority but it’s a limited authority and can be overruled.

“From Daniel 10:20, we know there’s some satanic authority responsible for the prince of Persia but what happens to that devil’s authority? The Persian kingdom ends up conquered by Greece and then the prince of Grecia has the authority the prince of Persia once had.

“You’ve heard of the phrase, ‘The power behind the throne,’ and there’s earthly kingdoms with human rulers that go on, but there are devils that have influence over those kingdoms.

“Notice in Daniel 10:21, Gabriel says, [21] But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

“What does it mean when he says, ‘Michael is your prince’? Daniel 12:1 says, [1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

“He was called a ‘chief prince’ in Daniel 10 and a ‘great prince’ in Daniel 12. Isn’t that interesting? I don’t know how this all worked out, but what God did is He obviously made a decision that Michael was going to be the prince corresponding with the people of Israel and that he has authority he can exercise on their behalf as the chief prince and the great prince. He has greater authority than that of the prince of Persia.

*****

“Here’s what I think that tells you. When Satan says to Jesus Christ that he has the kingdoms of this world, well, he’s right in a fashion. In other words, did the prince of Persia report to Satan? Yes, he did. So did the prince of Grecia.

“Satan influenced those kingdoms because what God did was delegate authority in the universe so there were principalities and powers that had authorities over them. And when Satan offers those to the Lord Jesus Christ, he can offer them in the sense that Satan currently has influence over those kingdoms.

“The bottom line, though, folks, is that authority he has, No. 1 he’s still accountable to God and No.  2, when Jesus Christ wants those kingdoms, what’s He going to do? He’s going to take them and He’s not going to ask for permission!

“God says in Job 41:11 that ‘whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.’ He has all things, it’s all His, it will never stop being His.

“Remember when we looked at dominion, it talked about man having dominion over animals. Well, if man’s dominion is transferred to Satan, then Satan would have dominion over animals, right? If that was true.

“God says in Psalm 50, [10] For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
[11] I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
[12] If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

“When Adam sinned, just to be clear, God still had control over all the universe, over all the beasts of the field; they belonged to Him.

*****

“II Chronicles 36:23 says, [23] Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

“Where did Cyrus get kingdoms from the earth? From God the Father. Even though Satan has, again, these middle managers, these folks that have intermediate authority, who is the one determining when kingdoms rise and fall? God the Father.

“Even Satan’s influence over kingdoms is limited because God decides what kingdoms are going to be in place at a given time. He decides the extent of their authority and how long they last.

"God has the earth, everything under heaven and all beasts. He gives kingdoms and He takes kingdoms away. All beings are accountable to God and there are no rogue traders.”