Above:  A Bullseye

Image Source = Alberto Barbati

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Archery_Target_80cm.svg)

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Ezekiel 38:1-23 (January 16)

Ezekiel 39:1-10, 17-29 (January 17)

Psalm 15 (Morning–January 16)

Psalm 36 (Morning–January 17)

Psalms 48 and 4 (Evening–January 16)

Psalms 80 and 27 (Evening–January 17)

Romans 7:1-20 (January 16)

Romans 7:21-8:17 (January 17)

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Some Related Posts:

Romans 7-8:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/week-of-5-epiphany-tuesday-year-2/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/fifth-sunday-in-lent-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/proper-9-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/week-of-proper-24-friday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/proper-10-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/proper-11-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/week-of-proper-24-saturday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/week-of-proper-25-monday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/trinity-sunday-year-b/

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…the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want–that is what I do.  But every time I do what I do not want to do, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me….What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?  God–thanks be to him–through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.

–Romans 7:19-20, 24-25, The New Jerusalem Bible

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A note on page 1115 of The Jewish Study Bible tells me that Gog, leader of the land of Magog, might have been “Gyses, a 7th-century ruler of Lydia in Asia Minor.”  Anyhow, Ezekiel 38 and 39 (which I have kept united for the sake of clarity; the lectionary splits the passage into two parts over as many days) speaks in apocalyptic terms of the divine defeat of the cleansing of the land of Judea, then the restoration of the Jews in their ancestral homeland.  One must be careful not to use such texts to justify blind Zionism, therefore excusing the abuses which the present State of Israel has perpetrated against the Palestinians; the Golden Rule applies to everyone.  Yet the text does indicate the reliability of divine promises.

The concepts of cleansing and restoration (in a different context, of course), apply also to Romans 7:1-8:17.  We human beings are mixed bags of good and bad.  We are, as the Lutheran confessions tell us, capable only of civic righteousness on our own power; we cannot save ourselves from ourselves.  ”Sin” is not an abstraction; it is “missing the mark.”  And we are naturally inaccurate spiritual archers.   We find God by a combination of grace and free will.  And the existence of the latter is a function of the former, so everything goes back to grace.  Through this grace we have cleansing and restoration.  May we, by grace, cooperate with God so that we may become what God has in mind for us to become.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 25, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD

THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

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Adapted from this post:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/devotion-for-january-16-and-17-lcms-daily-lectionary/

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One of the problems with this idea is that there are several Muslim nations which have expressed great animosity toward Israel, and which are not listed in the Psalm 83 account. Probably the most notable of these nations is the Islamic republic of Iran. Iran has expressed its intention to wipe Israel off of the face of the earth, and is furiously pursuing nuclear capability, with the express intention of carrying out this threat.

Furthermore, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Kamenei, recently said that Iran would help any nation that would attack Israel. This doesn’t fit the Psalm 83 scenario. The bible is true, however, and so we must conclude that something will occur between Iran and her Arab neighbors that will prevent them from joining the Arabs when they attack.

I can’t see an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear installations accomplishing this. If anything it would add fuel to the fire, unless the attack was so comprehensive that the entire Iranian army was immobilized. I don’t think this is the type of attack that Israel is considering, if they are considering an attack at all.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Israel won’t attack Iran.  I really don’t know either way. I’m just saying that this attack, if it happens, will not be the only factor in the End Times equation.

No. I think something else will stop Iran from joining the Arabs.

It may be that we are actually seeing the beginnings of the Arab/Iranian split in the news today. The civil war in Syria is pitting Iranian Shiite proxies against Arab Sunni proxies. This is more likely to provide an explanation for this split. In fact, since Russia is also supporting Assad, it really looks like this conflict will ultimately be the thin edge of the wedge that is driven between the Arabs and the other Muslim countries.

Even this week there are more reports of friction between the Iranians and Hamas.

I expect that after Assad falls, the Sunnis will turn their attention East toward Iraq, and West toward Lebanon. In both cases the Shiite’s are in control today, and both are friendly toward Iran. We will see a changing of the guard in both of those nations, due to support from the Saudis, and perhaps also the Americans. By supporting the “Arab Spring” revolutions in Libya and Egypt, the Americans have shown that they are in over their heads!

It is better for Israel and the West, if the Arabs are disunited. It is also better for the west if secular dictators like Assad, Mubarak, and Ghadaffi are in power. Their main goal was to stay in power.  The religious dictators that are replacing them have an eschatology that calls for the destruction of Israel, and they don’t care if they, or their own people, die in the process. You can’t reason with such people!

When all is said and done, we will see the nations of the Gog and Magog war, of Ezekiel 38-39, stepping back from supporting the Arabs as they attack Israel. Their war will wait until a few years later.

I can’t say how long all of this will take, but I don’t think it will be decades, at least not more than one or two. Keep your eyes on the Middle East.

Keep watching Libya as well. The murder of the American ambassador this week shows that things have not settled down there just yet.

Muslim sensibilities aroused by film based on accounts in Hadith, and Qur’an.

US Ambassador to Libya killed

Stevens killed by treachery.

Did Christopher Stevens create the monster that killed him?

Libya is not a part of the Psalm 83 war, but will join Russia and Iran’s attack on Israel several years later.  What could cause them to avoid participation in this conflict?  Civil war?  Foreign occupation?  Temporary alliance with Israel’s friends?

The truth is that it is God who is in control. Though things look bad, and will probably get worse, don’t wring your hands in despair. What must be will be, and all the logic in the world can’t stop it. God is going to allow the creation of a world government. It is God who will give the Antichrist the power to rule the world, and he will be invincible until Jesus returns!

The most important question is “what is your status with God?” We are living in perilous times, but even if you don’t die in a terrorist attack, you will stand before God one day. Does Jesus know you? That question will be uppermost in your mind on that day, and the things of earth will fade into oblivion!

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 10:27

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. John 10:14

OR, will He say to you;

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:23

Recommended reading;

Ancient Hatred: Understanding Iran’s War on Jews

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/March/Ancient-Hatred-Understanding-Irans-War-on-Jews/

Iran threatens Israel; new EU sanctions take force http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/01/us-iran-idUSBRE8600HG20120701

The Dangers of a Nuclear Iran http://www.cija.ca/issues/the-dangers-of-a-nuclear-iran/

Charles Krauthammer: Deterrence works, but not with Iran http://www.ocregister.com/articles/israel-370037-deterrence-iran.html

By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, and msnbc.com news services

Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad.

Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.

The U.S. officials also said Russia has not sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, but replacement parts for the Russian helicopters the Syrians are already flying.

It comes after the conflict was declared by France on Wednesday to be a full-blown civil war.

The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.

“Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers,” Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus. “The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects.”

Tartus is one of Russia’s most strategically-important assets, giving it military access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, frustrated attempts by key Western figures, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to enforce a United Nations peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday repeated Moscow’s strong opposition to external interference in Syria, said it was not discussing plans for a Syrian political transformation following the exit of Assad.

At a news conference after talks with his Iraqi counterpart, Lavrov said he had seen reports saying U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland had suggested Washington and Moscow were discussing a post-Assad strategy in Syria.

“If that was really said then it’s not true,” Lavrov said. “Such discussions are not being held and cannot be held, because to decide for the Syrian people contradicts our position completely.

“We do not get involved in overthrowing regimes – neither through approval of unilateral actions by the U.N. Security Council nor by participation in any political plots.”

Nuland was asked at a news conference on Thursday whether the United States and Russia were discussing a transition of power similar to that seen in Yemen last year, in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh was replaced by a deputy.

“We are continuing to talk about a post-Assad transition strategy in that context,” she said.

Lavrov said any broad international talks on Syria must include Iran and must only address ways to create conditions for a political dialogue in Syria – not the content of that dialogue or preconditions such as Assad’s exit.

Russia, which has come under increasing criticism from the West for arms deliveries to Syria, responded to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s allegations that attack helicopters were on the way from Russia to Syria.

In a statement on the Foreign Ministry website, Russia said it had made no new deliveries of military helicopters to Syria but under old contracts it had repaired helicopters sent to Syria “many years ago”.

“There are no new deliveries of Russian military helicopters to Syria. All arms industry cooperation with Syria is limited to a transfer of defensive arms,” the ministry said on its website.

“As regards helicopters, planned repairs of (helicopters) delivered to Syria many years ago were conducted earlier,” it said. It did not say when they had been repaired or, if they were repaired in Russia, when they were returned to Syria.

Syria’s ambassador to Russia said on Thursday Russia had not sent new attack helicopters to Syria.

Russia says it is fulfilling existing contracts for air defense systems against external attacks. President Vladimir Putin, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week, said the weapons Russia sends could not be used in civil conflicts.

A source close to Russia’s arms exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport said Clinton’s comments may have referred to helicopters sent to Russia in 2009 for repairs and which may be on the way back to Syria.

The source said on Wednesday at least nine Mi-25 helicopters were sent to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to be repaired by Oboronservis, owned by the Defense Ministry.

Russia delivered three different missile systems including Bastion anti-ship missile units and another anti-aircraft system to Syria last year.

At least two ships carrying Russian weapons have reportedly travelled to Syria since the beginning of the year, though possibly not on behalf of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

Reuters contributed to this report. Jim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News. 

NOTE:  These are all very important developments when seen through the eyes of Bible prophecy.  Russia is getting very cozy with many of the nations that will be involved in the war of GOG and MAGOG including Syria, Iran, Egypt and Turkey to name a few.  I will discuss this coming war in more detail soon.

No, not a theological mistake, not even an interpretation error, but a formatting error. You see I was building a case, in chapter 8, and I put the most important passage at the end of the chapter. This was a mistake.

This last weekend I was talking with my mother, who has been reading The Spirit of Prophecy, and she confronted me over the subject of chapter 8. She claimed to have read the chapter, but as I questioned her it appeared that she had no idea of the significance of Isaiah 4, in relation to End Times prophecy. My only conclusion is that she became indignant with the rest of the chapter, and put it down before getting to the most important part!

I must take full responsibility for not starting with Isaiah 3-4, and then building my case based on that passage. The next time I update the manuscript I will be sure to modify the introduction to Chapter 8, to clearly point to this passage, because it is the key passage to understanding Daniel 11:37. It may take some time until I am able to do that, so here is a brief introduction to the subject of Chapter 8 based on Isaiah 3-4;

It is commonly said that the book of Revelation is a companion to the book of Daniel. This is true, but in fact, if you only study these two books, in relation to the End Times events, you will end up with more questions than answers. There are more than 500 Old Testament references in the book of Revelation and only some of them refer to Daniel. A complete study of that book must include many references to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Zechariah, Zephaniah, Joel, and others, as well as the Psalms, and even the Law of Moses!

Indeed, just as every book of the Old Testament has prophetic implications for the first coming of Christ, they all must be consulted in order to get a proper view of His second coming! This is not a subject for the faint of heart!

I’m going to narrow down this study to Isaiah 3-4 as well as the passages that are directly related to it.

Isaiah 3:1-23 is an indictment against ancient Israel. It is speaking about their sin and God’s judgment of it, leading to their captivity and exile. One thing that I have discovered (and not me alone) is that the sins that led to Israel’s exile, will still be continuing as they return to the land! Somewhere in this passage there is a shift in emphasis from the ancient times to the modern day Israel. The fulfilment of these verses is still future!

16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: 17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, 19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, 20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, 21 The rings, and nose jewels, 22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, 23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails Isaiah 3:16-23

Sarit Hadad is one of my favorite artists.  She is extremely talented, but I find I usually can’t watch her live videos. There is too much sensuality displayed on stage, and it is not usually her, but the dancers she surrounds herself with. The following youtube video is a good example. (usually I convert her music to mp3s and listen as I drive)

or here

As I have noted elsewhere, there are two major defeats of Islam coming in the near future. These are the Psalm 83 war, and the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion of Israel.

Somewhere around 900 A.D. the exiled Israelite tribes living in Afghanistan and Pakistan, converted to Islam. I expect that there are others in other Muslim nations, though I can’t point to any particular group that fits this pattern. These people are actually a fulfilment of prophecy themselves:

Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. Jeremiah 16:13

One man told me that he thought that these tribes were cut off from Israel, and no longer recipients of God’s promises. I disagree. These tribes will one day return to Israel and will throw off the yoke of Islam, that has kept them in a straight jacket for some 1,100 years. Once they return to Israel the world will see them go wild, and the videos of Sarit Hadad will appear tame in comparison.

The time I am referring to is the time Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 3, but the story does not end in verse 23. This indictment results in judgment from God. The passage is full of cause-and-effect examples. Verses 24-26 describe the result of Israel’s sin; they will be involved in a huge war.

24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

Was this an ancient war, or is it a coming war? Yes! While this passage had a partial fulfilment during the Assyrian, and Babylonian, captivities of Israel there is yet a future war that will bring a complete fulfilment of this passage. How do I know?

As I said there is a cause-and-effect-relationship displayed here. The sins displayed in Isaiah 3:1-23 will result in the Tribulation and Armageddon, mentioned here in verses 24-26. Note that the men of Israel are going to die in this war. When the Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, there will be a variety of reactions in Israel.

The believers in Jesus Christ will heed his warnings, from Matthew 24, and flee to the wilderness. The unbelievers, those who trust in themselves and the force of arms, will pick up arms to fight the Antichrist. These people, mostly men, will die fighting the Antichrist. It is not possible for him to be defeated by the force of arms. While their motivation is to protect the Temple, God does not need them to fight for Him, He wants them to obey Him!

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Matthew 24:15-21

The survivors of this war are spoken of in Isaiah 4:1. This verse is the key to Daniel 11:37, and shows why professing Christians will support the Antichrist!

1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach

These women and men are the survivors of Armageddon. This event is a direct result of Armageddon and occurs after it is over, and Jesus is setting up His reign on the earth. Notice that they are not asking for illicit affairs, but for marriage. This is what it means when they say “only let us be called by thy name”. You take your husband’s name when you marry him.

The “reproach” they mention is the same reproach Rachel spoke of in Genesis 30:23, and by Elizabeth in Luke 1:25. In both cases the reproach is the inability to have children. These women of Isaiah 4:1 won’t have the ability to have children because with Jesus ruling the world, illicit affairs will be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Not only this but these women, and men, will be 100% believers, and will not want affairs, but will want the benefits of marriage.  The problem for them is there won’t be enough men to go around!

There is no way these holy women will approach men this way without having the permission of Jesus Christ first!

Before we move on, please note that while the passage is specifically speaking of Israel there are implications for the entire human race. Not only will the majority of the men of Israel die during Armageddon, the situation will be the same for the Gentile nations who send their armies to fight Jesus at His return. Every person who picks up arms to fight Jesus at his return will die, and since most armies are mainly male in gender, there will be a shortage of men throughout the whole world.

I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Isaiah 13:12

God does not primarily mean that men will be pure like gold, but rather He will make them rare, the way gold is rare in relation to iron.

So, how do I know that this passage is referring to the return of Christ? Look at the next verse;

2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Who is the “branch of the Lord”? This is none other than Jesus Christ. Furthermore this can’t refer to his first coming for the same author says of that time “he had no beauty that we should desire him”. (Isaiah 53:2) Yet Jesus has always been beautiful in Heaven. This can only refer to His return!

3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

These people will be called “holy”, yet today Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have their Gay pride marches.  It can’t refer to today or to any time from that day until the present.

This refers to everyone who escapes the wrath of God, at Armageddon. These daughters of Zion who have had their filth washed away, are the same women spoken of in verse 1. Some of them will be the same women spoken of in chapter 3, who were prancing around, and flaunting their sexuality. Something has happened to change their minds!

What has happened to them is the Tribulation period, the 144,000 witnesses, and Armageddon. These people are the ones who will repopulate the earth during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. As I mentioned before, the Gentiles will find themselves in the same situation. Their men will die at Armageddon, and there will be many more female survivors than male.

Why would God do this? Why would he set up this generation to live in families of one man/seven women? For one thing, these people will have children in a 50/50 ratio of boys to girls. After this generation there will be no need for polygamy throughout the earth. These people will grow very old, and some of them, perhaps even the majority, will actually live throughout the entire millennial reign of Christ! (1,000 years!)

These people will be eye witnesses of the events of the Tribulation and Armageddon. They will be able to tell their descendants of the events they have seen for many generations. The fact that they are in families of such an unusual makeup, will cause their descendants to ask questions. They will have ample opportunity to witness to both the power of God and to his salvation. Thus, at the end of the millennium, when there is one final rebellion against the rule of Jesus Christ. The rebels will have no excuse for they will have heard the story of Armageddon from people who were there!

5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. Isaiah 4:5-6

Here in the closing verses of Isaiah 4 we see more references to events that are yet to happen, and will not happen until Jesus reigns on the earth. Again confirming that this chapter is totally related to the millennial reign.

So how does this passage relate to the person of the Antichrist? Daniel tells us;

36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. Daniel 11:36-37

The king here is the Antichrist. Notice that he does not regard, or care about, the God of his fathers. This is a monotheistic God, probably the Allah of the Qur’an. Notice the next phrase: “Neither shall he regard… the desire of women”. Some have said that this is “the god that women desire”. This is incorrect. What god is desired by women? This is a direct reference to the desire of women as articulated by the women in Isaiah 4:1, and is also related to the way women are treated by the followers of the God of his fathers.

Islam has always allowed polygamy. During the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s there were a million men killed, and yet you don’t hear of large numbers of widows in those nations. Their religion allows them to double up on their men. There is a lot wrong with Islam, but the fact that it allows polygamy is not one of them. The subjugation of women is a problem, for the bible tells us that the soul of a woman is of equal value to God (Romans 10:12). God allows polygamy because of His love for women, and because he wants to fill the earth with people.

1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: Ezekiel 39:1-2

The Antichrist will be an official over the nations destroyed after the Gog and Magog war. Those nations have always allowed polygamy, and when one of six soldiers returns after that war it will be natural for the survivors to expect one man to be allowed to marry several woman. This is when the Antichrist will prohibit polygamy. By doing so he will endear himself to western Christianity!  Christians will support the Antichrist because they have believed “Christian” tradition, rather than studying, and believing, the Word of God!

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. Isaiah 45:18

During the millennial reign, God will restore the Garden of Eden conditions on this planet, and its population will blossom like never before. The contrast between the reigns of Jesus Christ and the Antichrist is there in Scripture, but is hidden from those who refuse to believe!

Now that you know the biblical basis for Chapter 8 of The Spirit of Prophecy you can go and read it with a greater understanding. We go back to the Law of Moses and show that Jesus never contradicted anything in the Law. We study the life of David and discover that his view of morality was the same as Jesus’.  You will see that everything I have said here is found in the bible, and there is so much more evidence that these things are true.

David was indeed a “man after God’s own heart”.  God was telling us something very important by focusing so heavily on David.

Above:  A Bullseye

Image Source = Alberto Barbati

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Archery_Target_80cm.svg)

Cleansing and Restoration

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2013, and THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2013

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Ezekiel 38:1-23 (January 16)

Ezekiel 39:1-10, 17-29 (January 17)

Psalm 15 (Morning–January 16)

Psalm 36 (Morning–January 17)

Psalms 48 and 4 (Evening–January 16)

Psalms 80 and 27 (Evening–January 17)

Romans 7:1-20 (January 16)

Romans 7:21-8:17 (January 17)

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Some Related Posts:

Romans 7-8:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/week-of-5-epiphany-tuesday-year-2/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/fifth-sunday-in-lent-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/proper-9-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/week-of-proper-24-friday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/proper-10-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/proper-11-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/week-of-proper-24-saturday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/week-of-proper-25-monday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/trinity-sunday-year-b/

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…the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want–that is what I do.  But every time I do what I do not want to do, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me….What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?  God–thanks be to him–through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.

–Romans 7:19-20, 24-25, The New Jerusalem Bible

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A note on page 1115 of The Jewish Study Bible tells me that Gog, leader of the land of Magog, might have been “Gyses, a 7th-century ruler of Lydia in Asia Minor.”  Anyhow, Ezekiel 38 and 39 (which I have kept united for the sake of clarity; the lectionary splits the passage into two parts over as many days) speaks in apocalyptic terms of the divine defeat of the cleansing of the land of Judea, then the restoration of the Jews in their ancestral homeland.  One must be careful not to use such texts to justify blind Zionism, therefore excusing the abuses which the present State of Israel has perpetrated against the Palestinians; the Golden Rule applies to everyone.  Yet the text does indicate the reliability of divine promises.

The concepts of cleansing and restoration (in a different context, of course), apply also to Romans 7:1-8:17.  We human beings are mixed bags of good and bad.  We are, as the Lutheran confessions tell us, capable only of civic righteousness on our own power; we cannot save ourselves from ourselves.  ”Sin” is not an abstraction; it is “missing the mark.”  And we are naturally inaccurate spiritual archers.   We find God by a combination of grace and free will.  And the existence of the latter is a function of the former, so everything goes back to grace.  Through this grace we have cleansing and restoration.  May we, by grace, cooperate with God so that we may become what God has in mind for us to become.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 25, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD

THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

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Other Devotions for These Days:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/week-of-1-epiphany-wednesday-year-1/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/week-of-1-epiphany-thursday-year-1/

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/cleansing-and-restoration/

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EZEKIEL_39.1_GOG’s_ARMIES_DESTROYED.mp3 (3642 KB)

EZEKIEL 39 “GOG’s ARMIES DESTROYED; The BURIAL of GOG; A TRIUMPHANT FESTIVAL; ISRAEL RESTORED to the LAND”
recorded for your spiritual enrichment by vanderKOK

39:1 Gog’s Armies Destroyed
“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD. 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.
9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD.
11 The Burial of Gog

“It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”‘
17 A Triumphant Festival

“And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD,’Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field:
“Assemble yourselves and come;Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you,A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel,That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty,Drink the blood of the princes of the earth,Of rams and lambs,Of goats and bulls,All of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full,And drink blood till you are drunk,At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders,With mighty men And with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD.
21 Israel Restored to the Land

“I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. 23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”‘
25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:’Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name — 26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
NKJV

• Ezekiel 38-39 (King James Version) – http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2038-39&version=KJV
• Joel Rosenberg – http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/ezekiel-38-39-a-russian-iranian-alliance-against-israel/
• The Lens Of Scripture / Joel Rosenberg / September 30, 2009 – http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=9002&CFID=4958936&CFTOKEN=35008166
• Joel Rosenberg Ezekiel 38-39 FAQ – http://www.joelrosenberg.com/ezekiel.asp
• The Nations of Ezekiel 38 – 39 – Who Will Participate in the Battle? – http://www.biblicalstudies.com/bstudy/eschatology/ezekiel.htm
• Watchman Bible Study – Ezekiel 38,39: The Magog Invasion - http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/biblestudies/biblestudy_ezekiel3839.htm

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was scheduled to depart for the Libyan capital of Tripoli late on Monday for an official three-day visit to the African country following a 13-year hiatus in senior-level visits between the two countries.

While in Libya, Erdoğan, who will be accompanied by the state minister for foreign trade, Zafer Çağlayan, as well as a large business delegation, is scheduled to have talks with both Libyan President Muammar al-Gaddafi and Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi. Erdoğan will also attend a Libya-Turkey business forum, which will be jointly organized by Libyan and Turkish business circles.

Erdoğan’s visit is considered by Ankara as an opportunity for a review of the current course of bilateral relations between the two countries and for seeking opportunities in improving bilateral cooperation particularly in economic and commercial fields.

The latest prime ministerial level visit between the two countries took place in October 1996, when then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan met with Gaddafi in Libya leading to complications over bilateral relations. The visit, which aimed at improving relations, had backfired when Gaddafi reportedly lent support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community.

“The state of Kurdistan should take its place in the spectrum of nations under the Middle Eastern sun. Turkey should not fight against people seeking their independence,” Gaddafi was quoted as saying at the time.