Did you ever sing the “Father Abraham” song from church? “Father Abraham….has many sons….many sons has Father Abraham. I am one of them…and so are you…..so let’s just praise the Lord, (right arm)” Then you would proceed to swing your right arm while singing the same song, then your left arm, and so on. Anyway, great song.

So what does that have to do with necklaces? Well, have you ever heard of the term “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob (who was renamed Israel by God), and Jacob/Israel had 12 sons. We refer to the 12 sons as the twelve tribes of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. There are scriptural references to these sons/tribes which give insights and descriptions. It’s a very interesting study.

A wonderful young friend of mine felt led to study the tribes and has blessed us with “adornments” that were birthed from these studies. Jewelry!!!!! Unique necklaces and earrings that symbolize the difference aspects of each tribe. As her creativity flowed, other ideas have enlarged her collection beyond the twelve tribes as well.

I, of course, am just ONE of her biggest fans. I LOVE her jewelry! I’m rough on my necklaces, always getting them hung in things. So far, so good. She has various clasps, some in front (very cool) …I could go on describing them to you, but wait, I could show you. We took advantage of the (late summer) afternoon sun, grabbed a few beautiful young ladies, and had a blast while doing a photo shoot with some of her very stylish creations.

I plan on buying this one, classic black and silver.

I have this one. The chocolate and turquoise colors together are delicious.

I have this one too, love the front clasp.

I have this one too…Naphtali.

This one calls to me.

I own and love this one. The blues are gorgeous and the front clasp means I never have to figit with it to move the clasp to the back. Did I tell you that I love the front clasp?

My daughters want this one, I’m going to borrow it.

I really like this picture. The colors all work together. I also like this set, I’ll have to get it as well. My watermark kind of hides the Star of David, but it’s there. :0)

Love the blue,  might have to get this one too.

Torah scroll.

Blue stone, front clasp, peaceful bird, probably need this one too.

Some of you might have picked up on a few of these, knowing which tribe they represent, others might just see them as really cool necklaces and earrings. If you are interested and want to learn more, maybe even purchase a set or two check her out at:

http://messianicmartha.wordpress.com/

These are not all, she has many varieties. I felt like I showed you a lot, couldn’t help myself. I’ve already put in my order for next month, which is literally right around the corner. Did anyone see November? If so, tell her I said hi.

I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to certain items, particular colors, styles that reflect me. I have also found that in her jewelry, not only does she have different styles that are pleasing to many ladies, but they have biblical meanings that support what I and others believe, not to mention what great conversation starters they are.

I hope you stop by and see what she’s been working on. You can also tell her I said hi.

“And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall be out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” Genesis 35:10-12

]]> http://moviereviewh2one2.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/the-road-movie-review/ Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:16:34 +0000 h2one2 http://moviereviewh2one2.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/the-road-movie-review/

The Road, is a movie that started as a novel in 2006 by an American writer Cormac McCarthy. The novel won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize award for Fiction. The film by the same name The Road was directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as the Man \ father and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy \ son, a father and son surviving in a post-apocalyptic 2012 doomsday wasteland. Along the way, they encounter grave struggles and hardships avoiding bands of cannibals along the road. The 2012 doomsday apocalyptic event is showing the beginning of the next ice age and destruction of the northern grain belts outlined in the H2onE2 and H3onE3 books.

Within the movie common themes can be drawn between “The Road” and many other 2012 doomsday type movies, like the Pandorum movie. To truly understand this film and its deep suggestive 2012 doomsday material an understanding of the Greek Gods and Hesiod’s Theogony is a must. It is suggested that you read my write up on the Pandorum movie review first and better yet the H3onE3 book posted free online.

The first suggestive material worth mentioning is the earth quakes. The earth quakes are a verbal representation of thunder, noting the presence and work of Zeus. From Theogony Zeus the high god holds the understanding of earth’s environment and is empowered for one reason, he controls earth’s most powerful energy source, lightning and thunder. Because Zeus could control lightning he has conquered all the lesser gods in heaven. Also in Theogony it is documented that Zeus plans on destroying the current age of this population, “the Iron Age” like he destroyed all the previous ages of humanity. In the Road Cormac McCarthy is both describing, perpetuating and foretelling the destruction of earth’s current population; utilizing movie media to continue the biblical prophecy.

The biblical prophecy is important to understanding the movie the Road, it actually has a lineage that started with classical Greek mythology, and was modernized by the later Greeks with the creation of the Old Testament. This gave the classical Greek gods a more modern earthly presence. The Romans, seeing what the dyeing Greek Empire had crafted, created and promoted the works of the New Testament, designed to sacrifice the future king, Oedipus prophecy and riddle hidden in the Old Testament. The War of Religion was not over yet, because the last Greek cultural strong hold had one last card to play. John of Patmos fashioned Revelations as the final capstone of all the previous works and prophecies, which in short dooms mankind at the death of future Prometheus also known as Oedipus. Humanity is required by the prophecy to find and empower this none mythical character or they will become cannibals and on the Road of their own destruction.

When the suggestive thunder appears in the movie it is followed by an interaction with cannibals, future man. Here the movie director John Hillcoat is suggesting that Zeus has forced the environmental disaster and here the thunder / earth quake is confirming his work.  One of the thunder scenes, one that includes cannibals occurs when the young mother and child are killed by the large gang of hungry cannibals. This event is soon followed by a church scene where a painting of the Holy Grail at a Last Supper is shown. Here the movie director and writer is hinting that the Greek gods and their 2012 doomsday prophecy has been evolved into Linear Western Religion, both the Old and New Testaments. And, that the last supper and the offering of a body and blood sacrifice is in fact a cannibalistic act. This scene is telling the aware and educated members of the audience that the prophecy of the Greeks is the same prophecies in Christianity and they both end on the same road, The Road.

The second most important element in the movie pertains to the reference of Fire. In the mention of fire, here the movie takes on elements of the classical Greek story of Prometheus, who stool fire for the betterment of mankind. The boy turns out to represent a modern variation of Prometheus when his father epitomizes all of the Greek God Pathogen, in many different scenes. In the movie scene where the Man \ father swims through frigid rough water to search a partially sunken fishing boat offshore, he takes on the powers of Poseidon. The scenes where the two characters take refuge in caves the father takes on the reference of the god Hade; god of hell and the underworld. When the father picks his son up and runs from the cannibals he represents the Greek God Nike and when he is armed with an axe he represents Hephaestus, the Greek god of the Forge. Many scenes reflect back to the Man’s wife who is a representation of Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love.  His wife’s death is never shown for one reason alone, because you cannot kill a god, at least not in the realm of myth and science fiction.

The story well outlines the two primary characters from the H3onE3 book; H3one3 Universal Facilitator, Universal Sacrifice and Holy Pi. The two hidden and prophesied characters in all media aka (music, literature, plays and movies) are both shown as Homeric Heroes and sometimes Sacrifices. It could be said that there is no Zeus or UF without a Prometheus a US, as in the understanding that a classical comedy plays against and with the understanding of a tragedy and vice versa. The two primary characters uncovered in the H3onE3 work are divine figures, mixed and blended in all Homeric media as a mechanism of population control. In the Road the Man represents the Universal Facilitator and the boy the Universal Sacrifice.

The Road references to fire as being in the hart, maybe the hart of humanity and being human and humane, when in contrast the opposing group, the cannibals are suggested as more animal; solely thinking of themselves. The mission of the boy and man turns out to be a mission of humanity, to carry the fire to the coast, symbolized in the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

An interesting character appears in the movie called Eli or Ely played by, I believe an artificially aged Robert Duvall. Eli is a Hebrew name, which means High Priest and last of the Judges. (1 Samuel chapters 1-4) Eli served as the judge and high priest of Israel when The Ark Of The Covenant, contained the Ten Commandments. Although Eli was a good and righteous servant of God, he was unwilling to remove his “two” (UF and US) corrupt sons from the priesthood and this brought about his doom.

When the US and UF meet Eli an interesting geological formation is shown in the background. Clearly this geological rock formation demonstrates three erosional layers showing natures ability to end civilization but also the ages of man already ended by Zeus. Eli calls the US an angel and then later on, even more interesting a god.  Here the writer is playing both sides of the coin with an angel reference catering to Christianity and as a god respecting the original, evolved Greek pathogen. It is when Eli refuses to talk about his own child where his real identity is uncovered. Eli turns out to represent of a high god either Coronus or Zeus himself. Eli’s refusal to talk about his own child, this is the key to uncovering him as the high god, both Coronus and Zeus in Theogony are noted for eating their children. It is possible here the writer is suggesting that Eli representing Zeus destroys himself when he ends the Iron Age.

The Man the UF carries binoculars near his hart, this is because he has the ability to see the future and at his death the binoculars are taken or even passed on to his son the US. The binoculars are a metaphor to the ROAD humanity is on and being able to seeing the future, the end of the Iron Age. The prophecy will be forced upon humanity as a Revelation. Many references in the movie regurgitate a need to stay off the road, meaning that humanity survives by not continuing down the road, the same road, the road humanity is on.
(Click on a picture to enlarge it.)

Today is an exciting one, folks!  Backseat Writer is participating in its first blog tour—the Tresaured/”God Gave Us” Blog Tour sponsored by Random House/Waterbook Press.  I reviewed Treasued by Leigh McLeroy and enlisted my friend Shari, a children’s literature reviewer for the “God Gave Us” books.  Enjoy the reviews and thank you to Waterbrook for this opportunity (and, yes, they did provide us with review copies).

TREASURED by LEIGH McLEROY

Leigh McLeroy and I would make great friends—I’m sure of it.  Her easy writing style makes me feel as though we are sharing our hearts on her couch over a cup of nice, strong Chai.  Not only that, but McLeroy is a keeper of sentimental things—reminders of her love for the Living God and an old box of her beloved grandfather’s belongings given to her after his death.  I have those boxes, too—one that smells like my Grammy and the other like my Poppy.  This sentimentalism drew me into Treasured: Knowing God By the Things He Keeps, which looks like a gift book, but is much more than a pretty book to keep in the bathroom.

McLeroy interweaves her personal stories with Bible stories drawn from the first few books of the Bible—pulling from the tales of the Fall of Man, Noah’s Ark, Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph, the Exodus, Rahab, Balaam, Ruth, and David.  In each chapter, she picks an item—a treasure—that God used to teach a lesson to His people.  She then explains how Abraham’s knife, which should have been used to kill Isaac, instead teaches us about God’s mercy and love, how a bloodied strip of cloth from Joseph’s coat turned a tragic loss into the saving of a family (and nation), and how a scarlet cord signaled life for Rahab and her family.  She then makes it personal—first with her own story and then challenges the reader as well.

Treasured is not only a great book for new believers who are becoming familiar with the Bible, but also life-long Christians who have heard the ol’ stories hundreds of times—because, like me, you probably missed the small details that McLeroy so beautifully highlights.

Treasures can be found in the most common of things we keep—a heart-shaped leaf, a loved one’s picture, and a child’s first Bible, but also in the things that God keeps to remind us that we are treasured in Him.

GOD GAVE US LOVE & GOD GAVE US CHRISTMAS by LISA T. BERGREN

By Shari Transue, Special to Backseat Writer With Christmas quickly approaching our thankful hearts and giving spirits need a reminder of why we are celebrating. Lisa T. Bergren has written a series of children’s books discussing the gifts God has given to the world. In her “God Gave” series a polar bear family talks about Gods gifts of children, siblings, heaven, Jesus and love. God Gave Us Love coupled with God Gave Us Christmas is perfect for discussing the Christmas message to children ages four to eight. Since the books contain a lot of text that warrants explanation, the messages may be a lot for younger children to understand. The beautiful and fun whimsical artwork in each story invites engagement and enjoyment for the young readers, who will be sure to love these cuddly polar bears and their arctic setting.

In each story, Little Cub asks her Mama and Grampa questions that all children ask adults they grow up. When Little Cub and her Mama set out on a Christmas adventure, in God Gave Us Christmas,  to find God, Little Cub discovers the wonders of God in the Aurora Borealis, the majestic ice caps, the bright Morning Star, little flowers and the meaning behind the crèche. Little Cub learns about Jesus, the best present of all—that He was sent because of God’s great love for all of us–to show us how to love others.

God Gave Us Love is a great follow up story, discussing the kinds of love that we share with our families, friends and others.  Grampa Bear shows Little Cub how sharing love with others is important even when we do not feel like showing love. It is hard for little ones to look beyond themselves at a young age when they need so much attention, have many needs and need answers to many questions.

Grampa explains to Little Cub that God gave us love to allow us to accept others’ differences and show love by being patient, gentle, kind—touching on the Fruits of the Spirit. Grampa tells Little Cub that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to help us show our love and that is what is most important.

This Christmas season, as we ready for the celebrations of family and giving, remember and share with your little ones that God gave us Christmas, God gave us Jesus and the best present of all–love.

Shari Transue writes for Examiner.com, Associated Content, and Miss Shari’s Story Time Blog . She’s a Keystone College graduate, holding Bachelors in Communication Arts & Humanities and Education certification. Formerly a preschool teacher, Shari loves collaborating with parents, teachers, and reading children’s literature. Contact Shari here.

Abraham on Wealth and Happiness…for your feel good pleasure and uplifting vibrational alignment.

A very good career choice would be to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth-and joy. Make a “career” of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do things with your money that will then make you happy. When feeling happy is of paramount importance to you-and what you do “for a living” makes you happy-you have found the best of all combinations.

— Abraham

Excerpted from the book “Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth and Happiness” #274

Abraham makes a point of pointing out and quoting your STORY. Record yourself for just twenty four hours…what is the story playing inside your head and out of your mouth. YOUR WORDS ….every one of them..especially the ones you repeat over and over and over ~ are POWERFUL POINTS OF CREATION THAT MANIFEST IN PERFECTLY ALIGNED RESULTS!

YOUR NEW STORY…see how good this feels and let it in to each of your fifty trillion cells as truth for and about you and your life. If you can CHOOSE your thoughts, why not choose these? Why not FEEL GOOD? Why not experience the LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS??
WHY NOT!!!

AMAZING BEING, CHILD OF ALL THAT IS, SON – DAUGHTER OF DIVINE SOURCE….YOU ARE ABUNDANCE MANIFESTED. Go and manifest your dreams and desires. PLAY. FEEL GOOD. CELEBRATE.

Peace Be With You.

He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6 NRSV

Night Sky at Petra, Jordan

Adapting a prominent cliché, Orson Wells famously said, “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” While impressively stoic, the faith community behind Genesis 15 would likely find Wells’ statement absurd.

In Abraham’s world—a less individualistic, less literal place—such a sentiment would be unthinkable. It could be argued that the very goal of life was to insure one did not die alone, and that those for whom one was responsible were not born alone. These relationships could never be illusions, for they were the very means by which one survived in a harsh world especially cruel to loners. Communities did not exist to create a bubble of happiness. They existed to make existence possible. Thus, the irony of ancestor and descendant was one of origin and legacy: A son found his identity in his father. The father lived forever through his son.

This ancient vision of community should give readers in our radically individualistic culture pause when considering the nature of God’s promises in the Abraham cycle. The guarantee of an heir was an offer of eternal significance and the prospect of land was an offer of elected provision. The significance of showing Abraham stars is not merely to showcase their number, but their permanence. The intimacy of 15:6 should not be missed. What is happening between God and Abraham is not something that can be described in a series of steps or in dialogue as in the first five verses, but only observed from a theological distance. It would seem Abraham’s faith and subsequent righteousness is neither the result of an obedient act nor a pious prayer but a feat accomplished while stargazing.

From his son, Abraham would discover his place within community. From the stars he would discover his place in creation. New Testament communities would later locate his place within salvation history. Christians today are called to discern no less. By faith we explore these three relationships—God, community and creation. They are not illusions, nor the byproduct of our selfish ambitions. They are the reality that we’re never alone.

The Russian literary giant, Leo Tolstoy, once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot.  He wanted more of everything.  Here is how Tolstoy tells the story:

“One day a farmer received a novel offer.  For 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day.  The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.  Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace.  By midday, he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground.

Well into the afternoon, he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.  He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run; knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.  As the sun began to sink below the horizon, he came within sight of the finish line.

Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared.  He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth.  In a few minutes, he was dead.  Afterwards, his servants dug a grave.  It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide.”

The title of Tolstoy’s story was: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” (Adapted from Bits & Pieces, November, 1991.)  In the end, Tolstoy suggests, all a man really owns is a 6-foot by 3-foot piece of earth, so we are better off putting our confidence elsewhere.

Jesus, like Tolstoy, warns us (Matthew 6:19 – 24, 33) that we had better not put our trust in the promise of materialism.  If we do, we will be sadly disappointed.  Instead, there is something of eternal value that we can give our lives to pursue.  Anything we forfeit here on earth to gain what is in heaven will be returned to us there 100 times over (Matthew 19:29) along with eternal life!

Unfortunately, the western church in particular has drifted away from this teaching of Jesus.  Like first century Judaism, we associate material blessings with God’s favor.  Yet, very few people as well as nations have ever passed the prosperity test (Deuteronomy 8:8 – 10; 31:20; Jeremiah 5:7; Hosea 13:6).  The antidote to the poison of material envy and greed is “seek first His Kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

However, this is not a prescription for poverty either.  We are not more spiritual if we are poor – or act poor because we do not want people to think we have anything, which is hypocrisy.  Instead, in abundance or in want, the Lord wants us to trust him for all our needs.  He wants to use us to pour out his riches and grace upon “all nations” so that through us all people will know that He is God.  Like Abraham, he was to bless us so that we can be a blessing!

Nowhere is this more evident than in the churches of nations of the two-thirds world that are marked by material poverty but spiritual abundance in revival, signs and wonders, and miracles.  These saints do more with less for the Kingdom of God, while the American church does less with more.  While we are rich in available materials and resources, we are growing more and more Biblically illiterate and spiritually impoverished.  Thinking that we are rich and blessed, we are truly “blind, naked, and poor.”

Waitsburg Tombstone ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

While in Albania, I saw a church that was struggling with the simple resources that we take for granted everyday and every Sunday.  Can you imagine attempting to teach Sunday school or disciple without materials in your own language?  Can you imagine a church without any resources to pay for a staff of pastors and office help to keep ministry going?  Can you imagine doing Children’s ministry without any props or tools?

This is what I witnessed in Albania.  Yet, I saw a vibrant church in prayer, reaching lost souls, fellowship, and growing future leaders.  I witnessed creative people and pastors inspired by God who gathered dozens of children to teach them about Christ.  I saw the church gather for prayer and then “hit the streets” to find people to pray for and possibly be a witness to them about the love of Jesus.

My family has paid a price for my trips abroad to Albania and India.  Seeing such poverty among the world’s poorest of the poor ruins a person.  It gives one a jaundiced eye toward our western materialism and consumerism.  As such, for the past several Christmases we have not exchanged gifts.  We have not given gifts.  Plus, we have asked our friends and relatives to help us express Christmas in a new way.

Every year we pick a world poverty problem to target and give towards efforts that attempt to meet it.  We have supported homes for girls rescued from forced prostitution; bought and put together medical kits for AIDS patients; bought chickens for a impoverished family.  This year we are buying a goat to be given to a family in need.

This is a great time of year to ask ourselves:  How much stuff do we need to be successful?  How many material things do we need to feel God’s care and love?  How long do we wait until we have the earthly things we need so that we can answer God’s call to bless others?  How much of this world’s stuff are we dependent upon for our personal happiness?  How much “earth” does one need?

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

The Prophet Adam

The Prophet Siith

The Prophet Idris (Enoch)

The Prophet Nuh (Noah)

The Prophet Hud

The Prophet Salih

The Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)

The Prophet Isma’il (Ishmael)

The Prophet Ishaq (Isaac)

The Prophet Yaqub (Jacob)

The Prophet Lot (Lot)

The Prophet Shuaib

The Prophet Yusuf (Joseph)

The Prophet Ayoub (Job)

The Prophet Dhul-Kifl

The Prophet Yunus (Jonah)

The Prophet Musa (Moses) & Harun (Aaron)

The Prophet Hizqeel (Ezekiel)

The Prophet Elyas (Elisha)

The Prophet Shammil (Samuel)

The Prophet Dawud (David)

The Prophet Sulaiman (Soloman)

The Prophet Shia (Isaiah)

The Prophet Aramaya (Jeremiah)

The Prophet Daniel

The Prophet Uzair (Ezra)

The Prophet Zakariyah (Zechariah)

The Prophet Yahya (John)

The Prophet Isa (Jesus)

The Prophet Muhammad

Study the Bible to show yourselves a true workman of God able to rightly divide the word of truth.  Remember, coveting is strictly against the Ten Commandments; and Jesus said, if you break the least of my commandments (which include the ten commandments) you are guilty of breaking them all.

The Gentile Christians are guilty of coveting the Jews.  In short, apply the teachings of good judgment and justice, as recorded in the Bible, and testified to by Jesus, and you shall be saved.

Now, if there be anyone else out there, that is struggling with Christianity, or Judaism, or right from wrong, or any other philosophy, or religion, and you feel you must understand more, then get in touch with us.  We will not demand you convert to anything, nor do anything, but if your spirit is searching for the truth, then you will know the truth when you hear it, because your conscience (who is Jesus the Holy spirit) will let you know it is the truth.

It then becomes your responsibility to the God who created you to accept that truth and reject whatever old idea is contrary to the truth and you shall be saved!  Even if the ideas in your head are part of the religion you inherited from birth.

And if anyone troubles you, pray to God, who is the avenger of all who call upon Him in their time of need.  Pray they would be saved also.  I will leave you Christians with this thought, whether you are a Jew or Gentile.

If you are moved toward hatred or disgust toward anyone who will not receive your religious message and believe they can only be saved by saying they believe in Jesus, then you had better realize that the spirit in you is different than the spirit who was in Jesus.  Then you need to focus on 2 Corinthians Chapter 11 verses 1 to 4, which explains how you got the wrong spirit.

Jesus was never angered or disgusted by the people who refused His message to believe in God; neither did Jesus wish them any harm when they nailed him to the cross; but He prayed to God for their sin to be forgiven.  In fact, His teachings were just the opposite.

Therefore, if you experience feelings to the contrary when your message is rejected, it is you who need the physician.  For Jesus said, the day will come when they will kill you and believe they do God a service, but I have not taught you such…

Remember what the Lord told Abraham: I will bless him that blesses you, and I will curse him that curses you.

Por Ingº Mario A Olcese (Apologista) 

Yahweh llama a Abraham para darle una tierra

Es interesante escuchar la promesa que Yahweh le hizo a Abraham en Génesis 12:1-3, porque ésta traería en el futuro muchas bendiciones para a TODA la humanidad. Estos tres versos dicen:

“Pero Jehová había dicho a Abram: Vete de tu tierra y de tu parentela, y de la casa de tu padre, a la tierra que te mostraré. Y haré de ti una nación grande, y te bendeciré, y engrandeceré tu nombre, y serás bendición.  Bendeciré a los que te bendijeren, y a los que te maldijeren maldeciré; y serán benditas en ti todas las familias de la tierra”. 

Aquí vemos que Yahweh llama a Abraham para que salga de su tierra (Ur de Caldea) y de su parentela para dirigirse a una tierra que Él le mostraría, porque Yahweh se propuso hacer del patriarca una gran nación. Este tendría un nombre sobresaliente y sería bendito y de bendición para todas las naciones. Pues bien, enseguida veremos qué tierra le mostró Yahweh a Abraham. En Génesis 13:14-17 encontraremos la respuesta puntual de cuál tierra se le mostró al Patriarca:

“Y Jehová dijo a Abram, después que Lot se apartó de él: Alza ahora tus ojos, y mira desde el lugar donde estás hacia el norte y el sur, y al oriente y al occidente. Porque toda la tierra que ves, la daré a ti y a tu descendencia para siempre. Y haré tu descendencia como el polvo de la tierra; que si alguno puede contar el polvo de la tierra, también tu descendencia será contada. Levántate, ve por la tierra a lo largo de ella y a su ancho; porque a ti la daré”.

Hasta este punto nos damos cuenta de que la tierra que Yahweh le mostró a Abraham no era territorio fuera de este mundo, o en el cielo, sino un territorio que él puede ver de frente, un horizonte con cuadro coordenadas claras: Norte, Sur, Este y Oeste en este mismo planeta. Recuerde siempre esto: A Abraham no se le llevó al cielo para que mirará un “territorio celestial” como muchos suponen, sino un territorio desde el mismo lugar donde él está parado, hacia el norte, sur, este, y oeste. Pues bien, Dios mismo dará a Abraham los límites del territorio prometido, y veremos que no es un lugar fuera de este mundo. Dice así Génesis 15:18:

“En aquel día hizo Jehová un pacto con Abram, diciendo: A tu descendencia daré esta tierra, desde el río de Egipto hasta el río grande, el río Eufrates”. 

Ahora sí ya tenemos los límites del territorio prometido a Abraham por Dios, es decir, desde el río de Egipto hasta el río grande, el río Eufrates. Si alguno cree que estos ríos no están en este mundo, mejor que vaya al psiquiatra.

La Tierra prometida es también para la simiente de Abraham

Como hemos leído en Génesis 15:18, la tierra prometida sería también para la descendencia de Abraham. Esto es muy interesante, porque Abraham tuvo hijos que le dieron una gran familia, tanto por la línea de Isaac, como por Ismael, cumpliendo lo dicho por Yahweh en Génesis 17:4-7. Sin embargo, veremos más adelante quién es verdaderamente la simiente o descendencia de Abraham que recibirá la tierra de la promesa.

En Génesis 22:15-17 vemos que Dios confirmó su pacto con Abraham al probar éste su fidelidad y obediencia hasta el punto de asentir o acceder ofrecer a su propio hijo Isaac en holocausto. Los versos dicen:

“Y dijo: Por mí mismo he jurado, dice Jehová, que por cuanto has hecho esto, y no me has rehusado tu hijo, tu único hijo; de cierto te bendeciré, y multiplicaré tu descendencia como las estrellas del cielo y como la arena que está a la orilla del mar; y tu descendencia poseerá las puertas de sus enemigos. En tu simiente serán benditas todas las naciones de la tierra, por cuanto obedeciste a mi voz”. 

En los siguientes capítulos de Génesis veremos que efectivamente Yahweh confirmará su pacto con Isaac, y luego con Jacob, tal como lo hizo con el primer patriarca Abraham.

Jesús es la simiente o descendencia de Abraham

El apóstol Pablo nos aclara que la descendencia de Abraham es nuestro Señor y salvador Jesucristo. En Gálatas 3:16 Pablo dice:

“Ahora bien, a Abraham fueron hechas las promesas, y a su simiente. No dice: Y a las simientes, como si hablase de muchos, sino como de uno: Y a tu simiente, la cual es Cristo”. 

Así que ya sabemos que Jesucristo es la simiente a la cual hizo referencia el eterno Yahweh, el único Dios verdadero. Es por eso que Pablo pudo decir que la simiente de Abraham sería heredero del mundo:

“Porque no por la ley fue dada a Abraham o a su descendencia la promesa de que sería heredero del mundo, sino por la justicia de la fe” (Rom. 4:13). 

Además dijo:

“Pues os digo, que Cristo Jesús vino a ser siervo de la circuncisión para mostrar la verdad de Dios, para confirmar las promesas hechas a los padres” (Romanos 15:8).

Así que Jesús vino a confirmar las promesas hechas a los padres, y no ha anularlas o abrogarlas. El sabía que era esa simiente prometida, y sabía igualmente que las promesas estaban vigentes aún. El estaba muy consciente de que sería el heredero de la tierra prometida, y que a través de él todas las naciones serían benditas.

¿Quién es la otra simiente de Abraham?

El apóstol Pablo responde esta pregunta con mucha claridad, así:

“Y si vosotros sois de Cristo, ciertamente linaje (simiente) de Abraham sois, y herederos según la promesa” (Gálatas 3:29).

“Sabed, por tanto, que los que son de fe, éstos son hijos (simiente) de Abraham Luego los de la fe son benditos con el creyente Abraham”—Gál. 3:7,9).

¿Tomó usted nota de lo que dijo Pablo en cuanto a quiénes son también “la simiente” de Abraham? Pues todos los que somos de Cristo, los hombres y mujeres que compartimos la misma fe de Abraham. La fe de Jesús era la misma fe de Abraham. Y esa fe su centraba en la herencia de una tierra de una simiente bendita que traería grandes bienaventuranzas al mundo entero, es decir, a todas las naciones de la tierra.

¿Tiene usted esa misma esperanza de heredar la tierra para que participe en su  renovación y hacerla un mundo justo y recto (un paraíso restaurado)?.

 En otro estudio veremos la promesa que Dios le hizo al rey David en cuanto a la herencia y a la perpetuidad de su reino a través de uno de sus descendientes más nobles…el Señor Jesucristo. Éste futuro rey, junto con sus seguidores (la iglesia), heredarían la tierra prometida (pacto Abrahámico) y el dominio del mundo entero (pacto davídico) a través de la restauración del reino para cuando volviera el heredero legítimo de David, el Señor Jesucristo.

Bendiciones os sean multiplicadas.

Ga maar gewoon
dit was je land
dit was je leven

Maar ga
verlaat je vrienden
verlaat je familie
verlaat je land

Ik weet het beter
Ik ben iets groots van plan

Jij kent mij niet
Maar ga
Omdat Ik dat zeg

(Deut. 34: 1-4) “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho.  And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan.  And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea.  And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.  And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.”

  In their desperation to maintain the view that the church superseded Israel, Replacement Theologians have made all kinds of false claims respecting the land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The popular view is to concede that the inheritance is the literal land of Canaan, but that the promises were fulfilled in Old Testament times.  Joshua 21: 43-45 is often quoted as if that text sets the matter at rest. 

    However, we cannot forget that the land was promised to each of the patriarchs as a personal possession (see Genesis 13: 15; 26: 3; 28: 13; 35: 12).   This promise was certainly never made good in their lifetime, for Stephen later affirmed that God “gave [Abraham] none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child” (Acts 7: 5). 

  Paul also refers to land of promise as the country in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sojourned, dwelling in tents (Hebrews 11: 9).  From this it is evident that the patriarchs never received any fulfillment of the promise in their own lifetimes.  The promise must therefore be made good in resurrection.

  True, Paul declares that Abraham looked for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and Maker is God” (Hebrews 11: 10).  However, this same city was later seen, in prophetic vision, descending to earth (Rev. 21: 2).  So there is no contradiction between the promise made to the patriarchs, and the ultimate realization of that promise as depicted in the New Testament.

  Regardless of what we today may think, the early Christians certainly believed that the land promises would be fulfilled during the Millennium.  Irenaeus writes:  ”If, then, God promised [Abraham] the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just” (Against Heresies, V. xxxii. 2).

   What Moses saw from Nebo certainly confirms the fact that what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was a literal alotment of land, and not a mere spiritual inheritance!  It is our firm belief that what God promised will be made good; and that we, who receive blessings with Abraham will surely inherit the world (Romans 4: 15) and judge angels (1 Cor. 6: 3).  In view of these promises, we await the time of our Lord’s return, with joy unspeakable.

Wealth Programming Daily….? You know, I like that, don’t you? And who wouldn’t? I don’t personally believe that it works if your thoughts are not in alignment with your feelings and personal mind movies. Do you? Of course, we all already know how to manifest! So, what good is this….slow down those brain waves and let it in deep if…you are ready and receptively aligned.

I DO believe it works wonders when you’re in alignment with that incredible DOWNSTREAM FEELING that life is really GOOOODDDD! Watch!

I swear its just another form of the Law of Attraction….right, Abraham?

Artemisia, Antonia, Aurelia, Arabella, Clara, Clementine, Cleopatra, Crescentia, Dulcinea, Ernestine, Ebelina, Eloisa, Fenella, Fernanda, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hazel, Hortencia, Imogen, Idahlia, Ishbel, Lucinda, Louella, Leagora, Linnea, Margaret, Maddalena, Maple, Madelie, Nataline, Ophelie, Octavia, Orlantha/Orlanda, Polly, Romilly, Rosalie, Tallulah, Valentina, Violet.

Abraham, Cato, Ezekiel, Emmett, Evander, Edward, Hugo, Ira, Jay, Lazarus, Lysander, Leander, Ned, Orlando, Perrin, Rupert, Russell, Sullivan, Thomas, Theodore, Willoughby.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

“Effective Prayer”

“If any ask what order should be observed in prayer, I am not about to give you a scheme such as many have drawn out, in which adoration, confession, petition, intercession, and ascription are arranged in succession. I am not persuaded that any such order is of divine authority. It is to no mere mechanical order I have been referring, for our prayers will be equally acceptable, and possibly equally proper, in any form; for there are specimens of prayers, in all shapes, in the Old and New Testament. The true spiritual order of prayer seems to me to consist in something more than mere arrangement. It is most fitting for us first to feel that we are now doing something that is real; that we are about to address ourselves to God, whom we cannot see, but who is really present; whom we can neither touch nor hear, nor by our senses can apprehend, but who, nevertheless, is as truly with us as though we were speaking to a friend of flesh and blood like ourselves. Feeling the reality of God’s presence, our mind will be led by divine grace into an humble state; we shall feel like Abraham, when he said, ‘I have taken upon myself to speak unto God, I that am but dust and ashes.’ “

Heute hat das Opferfest begonnen, und die Verwandten aus der Türkei rufen an um ihre Grüße und Segnungswünsche zu übermitteln.

Nach dem Zuckerfest ist das Opferfest der wichtigste religiöse Höhepunkt im Islam. Der theologische Hintergrund für diese drei Feiertage im Islam lässt sich übrigens sogar in der Bibel finden! Die Stelle im alten Testament in der Abraham seinen eigenen Sohn opfern soll und dann doch in letzter Sekunde auf göttlichen Befehl hin ein Opfertier an seiner Stelle darbringt ist für Juden, Christen und Muslime wichtig!

Jedenfalls bedeuten diese Tage auch Verwandten- und Nachbarschaftsbesuche. Und an ärmere Familien wird ein Teil des Fleisches der Opfertiere verschenkt. Letztes Jahr brachte der Nachbar sogar uns ein Kilo vorbei. Und so arm bin ich zum Glück (noch?) nicht!

Bis Sonntag ist jetzt jedenfalls Feststimmung angesagt, nur der Kindergarten meines Sohnes will am Montag das Opferfest feiern wenn schon alles vorbei ist. Offensichtlich kennen die sich nicht aus. Einer der Erzieher will sich jetzt immerhin einen Kalender besorgen wo alle wichtigen Feiertage verzeichnet sind!

By Paul Salahuddin Armstrong

“When the boy was old enough to work with his father, Abraham said, ‘My son, I have seen myself sacrificing you in a dream. What do you think?’ He said, ‘Father, do as you are commanded and, God willing, you will find me steadfast.’ When they had both submitted to God, and he had laid his son down on the side of his face, We called out to him, ‘Abraham, you have fulfilled the dream.’ This is how We reward those who do good ― it was a test to prove [their true characters] ― We ransomed his son with a momentous sacrifice, and We let him be praised by succeeding generations: ‘Peace be upon Abraham!’ This is how We reward those who do good: truly he was one of our faithful servants.”
The Qur’an 37:102-111 (M.A.S. Abdul-Haleem)

“Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father? Yes, my son? Abraham replied. The fire and wood are here, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:7-14 (NIV)

The story is familiar to Jews, Christians and Muslims; the prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, was asked by God to make the ultimate sacrifice, his beloved son, though perhaps disagreeing on which son Abraham was asked to surrender, the meaning of this account doesn’t change. Who could make such a sacrifice, when we’d give everything for our children? Abraham dearly loved both his sons and their mothers, he surely would not have wanted to harm either of them in any way or form. To understand this account, we need to look beyond the worldly veils disguising it’s true meaning. Everything that manifests in the physical world begins with an intention, a beginning within a person’s heart.

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I’ve been a bit concerned about the state of Thomas and Papergirl’s marriage of late.  They’ve not been wanting to try for a baby, he’s been rolling wishes to speak to Sherry Bunch, and she’s been rolling wishes to befriend her male acquaintances.  So I sent them for a romantic break in France.

Of course, I got them doing some skilling, learning and exploring, too.  There are new grape varieties in France.  We discovered three and Thomas harvested some for us to plant at home.  They also act as bait for the French fish, and ingredients for nectar.

Thomas had a go at making nectar with grapes, lime and apples.  The game told us it was disgusting, which might be a fair point.  You can purchase a billion different varieties of nectar at the store onsite, which makes me think the nectar skill and LTW might be very difficult indeed.

Papergirl was sent rummaging to see if she could build up her journalistic skills writing some stories on her French buddies.  She could rummage, but never enough to dig up any dirt (or indeed find anything exciting).

She spent a lot of time buttering up the locals to improve her charisma.  She can talk about her adventures and discuss the local gossip with them.  She can’t interview them, sadly.  On the phone, you can talk to friends in France, or long-distance friends (back home) and when you get home you can also call your long-distance holiday friends, and I’ve heard you can invite them over.  It’s now my ambition to gain spouses from these destinations for future Dayes.

Here, Papergirl is learning songs.  She learned two songs from the shopkeeper.  When she sang one, ‘Je T’aime’ back to him, they got a negative moodlet because he was in a relationship.  Ha.  I didn’t notice her gaining any music skill from the songs though.

In the bedroom she taught the songs to Thomas and he sang the love song back to her.  I spammed their romantic interactions but they had no try for baby option come up, and I thought maybe it just couldn’t happen in France, so I sent them to sleep.

The next day I sent Papergirl off to visit the sights and talk to more locals, while I got Thomas to read his fishing books then carry out his main mission here, to catch the unique fish.

He didn’t seem too impressed with frogs.

Snails were perhaps a little more impressive, given their size.  You can also catch crawfish in France (and some more normal fish).  Fishing here can all  be done in the same place and seems fairly straightforward, but in China I think it’ll be more of a challenge given the number of fishing books and fishing spots for that place.

Papergirl enjoyed whizzing around on the motorbike.  I also sent the two of them for a romantic meal at the cafe in France but she couldn’t eat grilled salmon, so she still hasn’t eaten her favourite meal (Thomas has had key lime pie now, hurrah).

Fortunately, this is not Thomas displaying his sexytime moves.  We bought a camera and Papergirl can ask people to pose.  She didn’t take a picture, but I’m considering letting Eddie Kidd do one of the photography based LTWs so he’ll inherit it on his child birthday (assuming children can use cameras).

After a lot of faffing about (and some obligatory bathroom flirting), they finally succumbed.

Another baby is on the way – and only a few hours before they had to come home.

Evel has started cooking up some of the fancy new WA recipes.  Here she’s seen cooking felafel.  She’s so skillful, she doesn’t even need to look at what she’s doing.  A very cute thing (that will probably become annoying) was that she sang the song she learned in China while she was cooking.  Aw.

Now here’s something exciting.  Look at the bottom option Thomas has here.  It says ‘fertilise garden with best fertiliser’.  Now that seems a very useful new interaction indeed and a much less timewastey one than having to do all the fertilizing manually.  Oh, and we learned more about that darn omni at the science facility.  You can only feed or harvest it at certain times of the day.  Iiiinteresting.

I’m not entirely sure I approve of pregnant women driving around Sunset Valley on mopeds without helmets on.

I sent Papergirl out to do some interviews and reviews to make the best use of her pregnancy… only… nowhere was available to review?  Whaaat??  I hope this is merely the Sim nanny state enforcing new restrictions on pregnant sims and not some patch/WA glitch that has stopped journos doing journalistic things, or I will NOT BE IMPRESSED.

Cos, yeah, she can’t interview, either.  She went to the library to read Totally Preggers and build charisma.  I got her to give a flirty introduction to some townie because I thought it might be better for charisma (I wasn’t going to have her take the flirting anywhere other than that).  Only Abe chose that moment to enter the library and he wasn’t best impressed with his daughter-in-law’s behaviour.  He wasn’t even impressed when she told him a fifth grandchild was on the way, and last time I saw him, he had a wish to have five grandchildren, so you think he’d be over the moon.  Maybe being the living dead has given him a bit of a sense of humour bypass.

His oldest granchildren both aged up.  I was all ready to get Piranha out looking for a spouse to turn into a purple ghost (I like the idea of favourite colour ghosties)… when I realised I had chosen her traits so far and would have to roll her YA trait.  She rolled… whatever and she did NOT roll Gold-digger.  No biggie, I had enough LTH to buy her a change, but reroll as much as I liked, Gold-digger would not come up.

So now she’s just after swimming in cash, which will be a doddle, and is back out looking for the mythical trilobite beetle.  She can have a few more bug hunts overseas, top out a part-time career and (pleeeeease) find that darn bug, and then I’ll let her live her life and make room for Gen 4.

Evel is much better behaved than her cousin.  I chose workaholic for her and she’s (of course) going to be a Five Star Chef.  Next time I play I’ll get a better picture of her – she aged up just as I was about to go out and I didn’t have time to get a good shot.

And finally…. I let Papergirl read Totally Preggers but nothing else and she didn’t go to the spa or have a back massage.  She was mostly happy throughout.  I chose one of this baby’s traits.  Koi Daye likes black and key-lime pie, so should be easy to please.  She rolled clumsy and I chose friendly.  I’m hoping she will test out super-popular via the medium of tag.

Join us next week when we should hopefully have a house full of old people and ghost children, we should discover what colour Koi’s hair will be and we’ll find out if Papergirl can ever conduct an interview or review again!

 As I reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving and its beginnings, I cannot help but think of the heart of those faithful men and women who risked all for the love of God; many of them leaving their homes and families to endure hardship and death for many of them. What was their motivation and why was it so important that they would take such great risks? As the writer to the Hebrews puts it;

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

Although the writing was speaking of the patriarchs and not pilgrims, I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

Now consider the reason he gives: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The reason is their desire. They desire a better country—that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in, namely a heavenly one. This is the same as saying they desire heaven, or they desire the city God has made for them.

So two things make God unashamed to be called our God: he has prepared something great for us, and we desire it above all that is on the earth. So why is he proud to be the God of people who desire his city more than all the world? Because their desire calls attention to the superior worth of what God offers over what the world offers.

This was the strong desire and motivation of the Puritan Separatists – those pilgrims who traveled from England in search of a better place where they may worship their God. The Reformation was an age of unprecedented religious violence and martyrdom. Many who resisted the King and the established Catholic Church would face certain persecution and martyrdom by fire.

But Daniel 11:32 says, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

And great were the exploits of the Puritan Separatists. William Brewster, was a founder of the Plymouth Colony in New England. He helped lead the Separatist movement in England, 1606, allowing the nonconformists to meet for worship at his home in Scrooby, England. He escaped religious persecution by fleeing with the Separatists to Holland, 1608.

William Bradford, was a Pilgrim leader who helped establish the Plymouth Colony. Sailing in the Mayflower, he was chosen as governor of the colony in 1621, and was reelected 30 times until his death. In 1650, William Bradford wrote a history Of Plymouth Plantation. In it, he traced the events which led to the Pilgrims’ departure from England, and from it is where we derive most or our information about the early pilgrims and the Plymouth Colonies:

Governor William Bradford stated: They shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord’s free people, joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.¹⁹⁶

In 1607, as a result of religious persecution upon their persons, reputations, families, and livelihood, the “Separatists,” or Pilgrims, departed from England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded:

Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends and famillier acquantance. … to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a miserie worse than death. …

But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.¹⁹⁵

They lived in Holland 12 years, but little did they realize that out of the 103 Pilgrims who departed, 51 would die in the first winter in the New World. On September 6, 1620, after two attempts which were canceled due to the ship, the Speedwell, developing a leak, the Pilgrims finally set out for America in the Mayflower, just as the stormy season began in the North Atlantic. On November 11, 1620, having been blown off course by violent winds from their intended destination of Virginia, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They found the area deserted, as the Patuxet tribe which lived there, one of the fiercest Indian tribes on the New England coast, had been destroyed by a great plague just two years prior. Had the Pilgrims landed there earlier, they would most likely have been massacred as the survivors of a French vessel were in 1617, as recounted by Bradford:

About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod, but the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions. When the Indians heard of it, they surrounded them and never left watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them, all but three or four, whom they kept, and sent from one Sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.²⁰⁰

On November 12, 1620, the first full day in the New World, Bradford described the Pilgrims’ thankfulness: Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.²⁰²

Later he would write; what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; (Deuteronomy 26:5, 7) but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise ye Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure for ever. (107 Psalm: v. 1, 2, 4, 5, Yea let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He has delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of ye way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.²⁰³

Three years after the Pilgrims’ arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, to all the Pilgrims he said: Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.²¹¹

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are (Romans 4:17); and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole na[i]tion; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.²¹²

The great and rich spiritual heritage of those who would dare go against the powers of this world and do exploits by the grace of God because of the future hope of a promised possession – a city made by God, eternal in the heavens. And for this, the same future possession, the Lord has called you and me to as well, as the apostle Peter tells us, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).

¹⁹⁵ Bradford, William. 1607, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 186.Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 32.

¹⁹⁶ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 185. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 62.

²⁰⁰ Bradford, William. 1617, describing the fate of a French ship wrecked off Cape Cod. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 82.

²⁰² Bradford, William. November 12, 1620, in recounting the Pilgrims’ first full day in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), ch. 9, p. 64. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265.

²⁰³ Bradford, William. November 11, 1620, in his record of the Pilgrims’ landing at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 66. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.28. (note: reference to these first settlers as “pilgrims” is owed to this passage.)

²¹¹ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 6 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 21. Jordan D. Fiore, ed., Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1841, 1865, 1985), pp. 10-11. William T. Davis, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), p. 46. The Annals of America  20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 193. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 11. Gary DeMar, America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 34-35.,

²¹² Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 236. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. Fleming, One Small Candle: The Pilgrim’s First Year in America, p. 218. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.25. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God—How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 4.

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Abraham serving the 3 strangers

Today I shall provide the summary of the Haftarah portions that linked to both Parashah Vayera and Chayei Sarah readings from the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study material. The Haftarah’s connection to Parashah Vayera draws primarily upon the prophetic promise of a son made to a barren woman and its subsequent fulfillment. In the Torah portion, the Angel of the LORD promised that Sarah would bear a son, saying, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son…. At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son” (Genesis 18:10, 14). In the Haftarah portion, Elisha virtually quotes this text when he tells the Shunammite woman, “At this season next year you will embrace a son” (2 Kings 4:16).

The Haftarah texts also listed many miraculous doings of Elisha, the beloved disciple of Elijah and one of them is being taught by our beloved Master to privately seek out our loving Father who is unseen. Yeshua sought out secluded places where He could spend time in prayer. He said, “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). In the Haftarah, we read this passage, “So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured” (2 Kings 4:5). The same is found in this passage, “Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you” (Isaiah 26:20). Hence, we can see that if we seek the Father in heaven secretly and closed the door behind us, our prayer is 100% answered.

Let us continue with the Prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman events as stated in the Haftarah reading for this particular Parashah study and there are too many of them for me to share it here in my blog but one of them is truly applicable in our daily life that we need to practice it in the Name of Messiah Yeshua. Our Master teaches that one who provides for a prophet or a righteous man (tzaddik) without any ulterior motive in doing so will receive a reward. Conversely, one who offers provision to the servant of God for the sake of some reward will not receive a reward. Yeshua also says that when we provide for His disciples, it will be reckoned unto us as if we had provided hospitality for Him, and one who provides hospitality for Him is regarded as one who has provided hospitality for God. He says, “Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). So brothers and sisters in Messiah, provide hospitality to one another especially to your pastor or rabbi.

Alright, now lets move on to the next Parashah study – Chayei Sarah. Remember we are always doing the Haftarah portion of each week’s Parashah study. The Haftarah’s connection to Parashah Chayei Sarah study corresponds specifically to Genesis 24 as it begins with the words, “Now Abraham was old, advanced in age.” This passage is strongly related to the Haftarah text because it too begins with the same description of King David: “Now King David was old, advanced in age.” Genesis 24 ends with Abraham assuring that Isaac is his sole successor by bequeathing all of his possessions to him and sending his other sons away with gifts. A similar concern regarding succession rights provides the same story for the Haftarah portion as well. To be frank, I personally enjoy better in the Haftarah Vayera study than this one because this study is not so much on the Prophets but it deals more particularly on David’s offspring and his later life. Albeit it may not be an interesting study for most but it still have its learning point especially for those who are concerned over bringing up righteous children for God’s glorious hope. In 1 Kings 1:6 the verse said, “His father had never crossed him at any time by asking, ‘Why have you done so?”‘ And the verse means David had failed to discipline his sons. David’s lenience is evident in the Amnon story and in the Absalom story. David had spoiled Adonijah, and the man was used to getting what he wanted. When parents do not discipline their children, the children grow up disrespecting their parents. Adonijah disrespected David by declaring himself king against his father’s wishes and before his father’s death.

Again, the Haftarah Chayei Sarah study is filled with tons of prophetic implications that we can look forward to a Messianic Era (World-To-Come) through our Messianic King Saviour from our FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study material that I do not have the time to blog everything here. But what I have written here is certainly sufficient for a momentary pondering upon the Scripture to live a righteous life for HaShem/Elohim and for His glory.

Shalom for now and until the next Parashah study….