I no longer keep Thanksgiving. For nearly six years I have not kept Rome's heathen feasts that the Whore Catholic Church adopted and "Christianized." That would include January 1st, St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas (those were the only ones I ever kept).
It was before the first Thanksgiving came around that I discovered that it too had heathen origins but was not like the others in that it wasn't adopted by the RCC but rather by the U.S. government. At the time I didn't fully let the Spirit of God alone lead me, and I relied too much on the elder whom baptized me. I told him what I'd discovered and mentioned a heathen corn/grain god, and since he obviously did not want to stop keeping Thanksgiving, he said something like, "Well, I'm sure the pilgrims did give thanks to God for the corn, and they probably knew the Feast of Tabernacles was to be kept around that time but did not have the means of knowing the dates and so kept that feast." I was influenced quite a bit at that time by him, and so I kept keeping Thanksgiving for the next few years, but I never completely forgot about it, and it kept coming to mind. It was only a few months after discussing that with that elder that we dropped contact between each other, because I did do my own research concerning the mark of the beast and being born again, which are two subjects he is teaching wrongly. I proved those things from the bible myself.
It wasn't until nearly two years ago that I came back to the Thanksgiving topic and seriously considered it again. My conclusion was that I could no longer keep Thanksgiving, for it truly is an addition (Deut. 12:30-32) to God's commanded feasts (Lev. 23) and is also rooted in heathen traditions. Ironically enough, two years before I stopped keeping it the Thanksgivings didn't work out the way they normally do. One year we were in Kansas City when our son Asher was in Children's Mercy Hospital on life support. The next year Nathan had a job going, and I think I had a ruined tire on my vehicle. This will be the second year that I voluntarily do not keep the U.S. feast of Thanksgiving.
I did, however, keep God's annual feast of thanksgiving, the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a seven-day-long feast of thanksgiving consisting of a holy sabbath day on the first day. I LOVE the Feast of Tabernacles and look forward to it each year. It's such a joy to set aside that time to feast and make merry with friends and family (both spiritual and physical) and to have extra time to study God's word and do His work. It's nice to have that vacation and to reflect on all the things for which I have to be thankful. God's harvest festival of thanks is reckoned by His calendar, starting the fifteenth day of the seventh month. I had an awesome feast this year.
I have not written an article on Thanksgiving origins myself, and few have. A brother and fellow laborer in God's work, Keith Hunt, has an article posted on his site that is written by a Bradley Richardson that one can read, if YOU want the truth about Thanksgiving Day: The TRUTH About Thanksgiving Day.
Prove ALL things; hold fast that which is good (I Thessalonians 5:21).
The majority is often wrong, and we shouldn't do something just because the majority does it:
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2a).
True Christians are part of a "little flock" (Luke 12:32). They will be continually growing in grace and knowledge (II Peter 3:18) and hungrily seeking out truth in all things.
www.endtimecog.net
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
In God We Trust?
I get emails and such every once in awhile that make a big deal about the removal of the national motto "In God We Trust" from various public places. I got such an email today.
Now, it's not that I don't think the removal of "In God We Trust" isn't a big deal; quite the contrary. But, rather the point I wish to make is that it's quite hypocritical. After all, seventy-something percent or more of our nation's population claim to be "Christian," and yet if that percentage was truly Christian, we wouldn't even have this issue.
The fact of the matter is that not even close to seventy percent of people in our Israelite nation of the United States of America trust in God. Whenever my husband or I tell one of our children to do something or not to do something, and he or they choose to disobey, we become upset and ask the child(ren) why he did not trust us. Why did he disobey our words? Trust and obedience goes hand in hand. If a person trusts another, why would the person disobey that person's words, unless the person just flat out delights in following that in which he or she knows is false? If I tell my son he's in extreme danger of getting hurt if he rides his bike without his hands on the handlebars as he's going across bumpy terrain, why would he, in his right mind, then ride his bike with his hands up in the air while speeding across bumps? Either he didn't believe--didn't trust--what I told him and rather believed that he was not in danger of getting hurt, or he didn't care whether he got hurt and was willing to take the risk of suffering bad consequences for temporary pleasure of delighting in folly.
Our nation's people, over all, do not trust God. They may trust certain things He has said, but for the most part they do not trust Him. They are liars.
This nation's people--stiff-necked Israelites and the strangers that live among us--have rejected God's words as false. They have rejected His perfect Law, defined by its ten commandments and their statutes.
These people draw close to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him; they are hypocrites (Matt. 15:7-9).
This people daily breaks the first commandment by putting other people and things before the Most High God. They put other gods before the Most High. It's not wrong to honor others, but God comes first, and when men are wrong, we should rather obey God (Acts 5:29).
The people of this nation breaks the second commandment by making special a likeness of a heathen god with long hair and a beard. They call the likeness Jesus Christ and feel as if they are honoring him by hanging up pictures of this likeness. This people erects idolatrous images such as the Statue of Liberty and the phallic Washington Monument obelisk. They sport obelisks on top of their church buildings. They erect crosses and Christmas trees, and they even sing praises to the tree: "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, I think you are so lovely!" They then offer gifts (sacrifices--they sacrificed time and money) under the evergreen, just like heathens throughout all time. A certain percentage of this people bow down to and kiss various images, including the heathen goddess known by various names and the title "Queen of Heaven" and whom they claim is the "Virgin Mary," the mother of our Christ.
This people daily breaks the third commandment by claiming that they follow God and yet break His commandments. They worship Him in vain. They commit blasphemy. They throw around His name and titles carelessly and also throw around blessings and curses by Him carelessly and profanely.
The people of this nation break the fourth commandment by profaning the seventh-day sabbath that was sanctified and made holy from the very beginning--from Genesis 2:2-3--and by instead honoring Rome's substitute Sunday, the first day of the week, and today even most professing Christians don't even rest on Sunday or set aside time to spend with God and fellowship with other Christians and do more bible study. They call God's true sabbath and other feasts [like Passover and the Feast of Trumpets] that outline the true plan of salvation a burden of all things, but they delight in Rome's feasts that are entrenched with heathenism--the abominable Christmas, Easter, January 1, Halloween, etc. They reject God's calendar and his new year and his new months (new moons). They engage in unfair labor practices. They reject the Creator's land sabbaths, and instead they rape the land year after year and spray toxic pesticides on the land and its crops. They use toxic synthetic fertilizers to return nutrients to the soil, due to their wicked transgression of the land sabbaths. More and more of this nation's people, even those who profess to be Christians, believe and teach that we evolved from apes, rejecting the creation account in the scriptures.
The people of the United States break the fifth commandment by dishonoring our Father God by disobeying all His commandments, and they dishonor their mother earth that our Father gave to us for our nourishment and nurturing. They dishonor their earthly father and mother by disobedience and curses. The parents dishonor their children with more various abuses and neglectful actions. They do not teach their children the Law of God each day and how to follow it with their thoughts and actions, "marking them on their hands and foreheads."(Deut. 6:7-8) Instead, parents teach their children lies like the Christmas Santa Claus and that Christ was born on December 25 and the Easter Bunny and egg hunting (rooted in heathen worship of sex and fertility) and that Christ rose on Easter Sunday. They encourage them to have Rome's mark on their hands and foreheads (Rev. 13:16), to follow the ways of Rome in their thoughts and actions. The parents sacrifice their children to Molech by aborting them or making daycares and unGodly public [government] schools rear them.
Our stiff-necked people breaks the sixth commandment by murdering a hefty percentage of every child conceived, especially children who would have been destined to be firstborn. They are sacrificed to the god of this world. They are sacrificed for convenience, for the pursuit of materialism, for selfishness. Infants and older children are injected with deadly vaccines. Babies are fed ill-health-causing formula even when the mothers can breastfeed. People feed themselves and their children abominable meats like pork, squirrels ("tree rats"), lobsters ("cockroaches of the sea," as my husband calls them) and would-be healthful meats like beef and chicken, if they weren't factory-farmed. They delight in gluttony and drunkeness and the abuse and misuse of other drugs--some of which are fine in moderation for recreational, medicinal, and religious use; and some dangerous manufactured ones that should never be used. They believe and trust the US FDA, rather than believe and trust God's FDA. Much of the food and drugs that this people consume are absolutely abominable. There are more and more whacked-out citizens of this nation who go on killing sprees and murderous rampages. More innocent children are brutally murdered. Children are even murdering other children. People are hateful and disrespectful to each other. Less and less people even smile or wave, anymore. People delight in fighting sports--both people fighting people and animals fighting animals. They engage in reckless driving and road rage. They let their dangerous pets roam loose, without regards to the protection of their neighbors. Men abuse their wives or their children. People partially or totally disregard their health, hygiene, and safety or that of others.
The hypocritical people of this nation that claims to be "under God" nearly totally disregards the seventh commandment. The marriage covenant is not taken seriously. Divorce is considered almost a certainty in every new marriage, and adultery thrives. It's actually statistically higher among those who profess to be Christians. Fornication and pornography runs rampant. Homosexuals engage in the most abominable acts. Children are prey for sexual perverts, at risk of pornographic exploitation, molestation, and rape. Musical lyrics are tainted with immoral sexual references. Books and movies are awash with cheap immoral sex. A large percentage of the populous is infected with at least one STD. People engage in sex during menstruation and delight in doing so. This hypocritical people lusts after movie "stars." They wear immodest clothing. The physical fornication and adultery of this nation reflects their spiritual fornication and adultery, their fornicating with a false christ, all the while claiming to follow the true Christ, who kept His Father's Ten Commandments.
This nation's people delight in breaking the eighth commandment. They steal from God in denying Him tithes (Mal. 3:8). They steal time and property from their employers. They shoplift. Some commit burglary. Some commit robbery. Some commit identify theft and/or credit card fraud. They violate copyrights, and they plagiarize. Some are guilty of kidnapping. Some mistreat their hired servants and cheat them of wages. Bankers and individuals are guilty of excessive usury or usury upon the poor. The hard-working poor are oppressed, and the lazy poor are rewarded for their laziness. Vandalism and other property damages are common. Animals' rights are unheeded.
Our people reject the ninth commandment. False witnesses are numerous. We're swamped with bribes. It's hard to find trustworthy friends and associates. Vows are broken. Gossip reigns.
Our people delight in breaking the tenth commandment. Contentedness is nearly non-existent in this nation. Desiring material things is okay, but not when it leads to idolatry, stealing, etc. When a person cannot desire something while being content with what he has so that if he does not obtain what he desires, he's still happy, then he has a problem. Our people just want and want and want more and more and are simply not content with what they already have. They are unthankful and materialistic.
So, "In God We Trust" is a blasphemous motto when it is uttered from the mouths of most of our people. It's a transgression of the third commandment when it comes from most people's mouths. If our people truly trusted God, they would not hesitate to deeply repent of their sins. They would stop coveting and fornicating. They would stop their idolatrous observance of Rome's festivals and would delight in observing God's, including his seventh-day sabbath. They would start teaching their children the ways of God as a way of life and stop watching the trash on television. They would break their idolatrous images. They would throw away their pornography and dust off their bibles. They would change their food and drug habits and their style of dress. They would stop their stealing and their fighting and their cold attitudes toward others.
This nation as a whole does NOT trust in God. They complain about the taking down of the displays of the Ten Commandments and the removing of the motto "In God We Trust," but in their living they reject the Law of God saying that it has been "done away." If the Law has been "done away," then there is no sin. Sin is the transgression of God's Law (I John 3:4), and where there is no Law, there is no sin (Rom. 5:13). If there's no sin, then there's no need of a death sacrifice, and so Christ died in vain. But, of course there is a Law, and only those who repent of transgressing it receive grace. The rest must die for their sins, because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The sacrifice of Christ does not cover the unrepentant. Many will say to him, "Lord, Lord, were we not good Christians who went to church every Sunday and gave to the poor and prayed to you daily for others?" And Christ will say to them, "I never knew you. You transgressed my Father's Law" (Matt. 7:21-23).
What about YOU? Do you trust in God?
Psalm 119:142, 163
Now, it's not that I don't think the removal of "In God We Trust" isn't a big deal; quite the contrary. But, rather the point I wish to make is that it's quite hypocritical. After all, seventy-something percent or more of our nation's population claim to be "Christian," and yet if that percentage was truly Christian, we wouldn't even have this issue.
The fact of the matter is that not even close to seventy percent of people in our Israelite nation of the United States of America trust in God. Whenever my husband or I tell one of our children to do something or not to do something, and he or they choose to disobey, we become upset and ask the child(ren) why he did not trust us. Why did he disobey our words? Trust and obedience goes hand in hand. If a person trusts another, why would the person disobey that person's words, unless the person just flat out delights in following that in which he or she knows is false? If I tell my son he's in extreme danger of getting hurt if he rides his bike without his hands on the handlebars as he's going across bumpy terrain, why would he, in his right mind, then ride his bike with his hands up in the air while speeding across bumps? Either he didn't believe--didn't trust--what I told him and rather believed that he was not in danger of getting hurt, or he didn't care whether he got hurt and was willing to take the risk of suffering bad consequences for temporary pleasure of delighting in folly.
Our nation's people, over all, do not trust God. They may trust certain things He has said, but for the most part they do not trust Him. They are liars.
This nation's people--stiff-necked Israelites and the strangers that live among us--have rejected God's words as false. They have rejected His perfect Law, defined by its ten commandments and their statutes.
These people draw close to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him; they are hypocrites (Matt. 15:7-9).
This people daily breaks the first commandment by putting other people and things before the Most High God. They put other gods before the Most High. It's not wrong to honor others, but God comes first, and when men are wrong, we should rather obey God (Acts 5:29).
The people of this nation breaks the second commandment by making special a likeness of a heathen god with long hair and a beard. They call the likeness Jesus Christ and feel as if they are honoring him by hanging up pictures of this likeness. This people erects idolatrous images such as the Statue of Liberty and the phallic Washington Monument obelisk. They sport obelisks on top of their church buildings. They erect crosses and Christmas trees, and they even sing praises to the tree: "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, I think you are so lovely!" They then offer gifts (sacrifices--they sacrificed time and money) under the evergreen, just like heathens throughout all time. A certain percentage of this people bow down to and kiss various images, including the heathen goddess known by various names and the title "Queen of Heaven" and whom they claim is the "Virgin Mary," the mother of our Christ.
This people daily breaks the third commandment by claiming that they follow God and yet break His commandments. They worship Him in vain. They commit blasphemy. They throw around His name and titles carelessly and also throw around blessings and curses by Him carelessly and profanely.
The people of this nation break the fourth commandment by profaning the seventh-day sabbath that was sanctified and made holy from the very beginning--from Genesis 2:2-3--and by instead honoring Rome's substitute Sunday, the first day of the week, and today even most professing Christians don't even rest on Sunday or set aside time to spend with God and fellowship with other Christians and do more bible study. They call God's true sabbath and other feasts [like Passover and the Feast of Trumpets] that outline the true plan of salvation a burden of all things, but they delight in Rome's feasts that are entrenched with heathenism--the abominable Christmas, Easter, January 1, Halloween, etc. They reject God's calendar and his new year and his new months (new moons). They engage in unfair labor practices. They reject the Creator's land sabbaths, and instead they rape the land year after year and spray toxic pesticides on the land and its crops. They use toxic synthetic fertilizers to return nutrients to the soil, due to their wicked transgression of the land sabbaths. More and more of this nation's people, even those who profess to be Christians, believe and teach that we evolved from apes, rejecting the creation account in the scriptures.
The people of the United States break the fifth commandment by dishonoring our Father God by disobeying all His commandments, and they dishonor their mother earth that our Father gave to us for our nourishment and nurturing. They dishonor their earthly father and mother by disobedience and curses. The parents dishonor their children with more various abuses and neglectful actions. They do not teach their children the Law of God each day and how to follow it with their thoughts and actions, "marking them on their hands and foreheads."(Deut. 6:7-8) Instead, parents teach their children lies like the Christmas Santa Claus and that Christ was born on December 25 and the Easter Bunny and egg hunting (rooted in heathen worship of sex and fertility) and that Christ rose on Easter Sunday. They encourage them to have Rome's mark on their hands and foreheads (Rev. 13:16), to follow the ways of Rome in their thoughts and actions. The parents sacrifice their children to Molech by aborting them or making daycares and unGodly public [government] schools rear them.
Our stiff-necked people breaks the sixth commandment by murdering a hefty percentage of every child conceived, especially children who would have been destined to be firstborn. They are sacrificed to the god of this world. They are sacrificed for convenience, for the pursuit of materialism, for selfishness. Infants and older children are injected with deadly vaccines. Babies are fed ill-health-causing formula even when the mothers can breastfeed. People feed themselves and their children abominable meats like pork, squirrels ("tree rats"), lobsters ("cockroaches of the sea," as my husband calls them) and would-be healthful meats like beef and chicken, if they weren't factory-farmed. They delight in gluttony and drunkeness and the abuse and misuse of other drugs--some of which are fine in moderation for recreational, medicinal, and religious use; and some dangerous manufactured ones that should never be used. They believe and trust the US FDA, rather than believe and trust God's FDA. Much of the food and drugs that this people consume are absolutely abominable. There are more and more whacked-out citizens of this nation who go on killing sprees and murderous rampages. More innocent children are brutally murdered. Children are even murdering other children. People are hateful and disrespectful to each other. Less and less people even smile or wave, anymore. People delight in fighting sports--both people fighting people and animals fighting animals. They engage in reckless driving and road rage. They let their dangerous pets roam loose, without regards to the protection of their neighbors. Men abuse their wives or their children. People partially or totally disregard their health, hygiene, and safety or that of others.
The hypocritical people of this nation that claims to be "under God" nearly totally disregards the seventh commandment. The marriage covenant is not taken seriously. Divorce is considered almost a certainty in every new marriage, and adultery thrives. It's actually statistically higher among those who profess to be Christians. Fornication and pornography runs rampant. Homosexuals engage in the most abominable acts. Children are prey for sexual perverts, at risk of pornographic exploitation, molestation, and rape. Musical lyrics are tainted with immoral sexual references. Books and movies are awash with cheap immoral sex. A large percentage of the populous is infected with at least one STD. People engage in sex during menstruation and delight in doing so. This hypocritical people lusts after movie "stars." They wear immodest clothing. The physical fornication and adultery of this nation reflects their spiritual fornication and adultery, their fornicating with a false christ, all the while claiming to follow the true Christ, who kept His Father's Ten Commandments.
This nation's people delight in breaking the eighth commandment. They steal from God in denying Him tithes (Mal. 3:8). They steal time and property from their employers. They shoplift. Some commit burglary. Some commit robbery. Some commit identify theft and/or credit card fraud. They violate copyrights, and they plagiarize. Some are guilty of kidnapping. Some mistreat their hired servants and cheat them of wages. Bankers and individuals are guilty of excessive usury or usury upon the poor. The hard-working poor are oppressed, and the lazy poor are rewarded for their laziness. Vandalism and other property damages are common. Animals' rights are unheeded.
Our people reject the ninth commandment. False witnesses are numerous. We're swamped with bribes. It's hard to find trustworthy friends and associates. Vows are broken. Gossip reigns.
Our people delight in breaking the tenth commandment. Contentedness is nearly non-existent in this nation. Desiring material things is okay, but not when it leads to idolatry, stealing, etc. When a person cannot desire something while being content with what he has so that if he does not obtain what he desires, he's still happy, then he has a problem. Our people just want and want and want more and more and are simply not content with what they already have. They are unthankful and materialistic.
So, "In God We Trust" is a blasphemous motto when it is uttered from the mouths of most of our people. It's a transgression of the third commandment when it comes from most people's mouths. If our people truly trusted God, they would not hesitate to deeply repent of their sins. They would stop coveting and fornicating. They would stop their idolatrous observance of Rome's festivals and would delight in observing God's, including his seventh-day sabbath. They would start teaching their children the ways of God as a way of life and stop watching the trash on television. They would break their idolatrous images. They would throw away their pornography and dust off their bibles. They would change their food and drug habits and their style of dress. They would stop their stealing and their fighting and their cold attitudes toward others.
This nation as a whole does NOT trust in God. They complain about the taking down of the displays of the Ten Commandments and the removing of the motto "In God We Trust," but in their living they reject the Law of God saying that it has been "done away." If the Law has been "done away," then there is no sin. Sin is the transgression of God's Law (I John 3:4), and where there is no Law, there is no sin (Rom. 5:13). If there's no sin, then there's no need of a death sacrifice, and so Christ died in vain. But, of course there is a Law, and only those who repent of transgressing it receive grace. The rest must die for their sins, because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The sacrifice of Christ does not cover the unrepentant. Many will say to him, "Lord, Lord, were we not good Christians who went to church every Sunday and gave to the poor and prayed to you daily for others?" And Christ will say to them, "I never knew you. You transgressed my Father's Law" (Matt. 7:21-23).
What about YOU? Do you trust in God?
Psalm 119:142, 163
Monday, October 12, 2009
God Doesn't Always Give Us for What We Ask
A few days before we left for the annual Feast of Tabernacles my six year old son Jaden (formerly known by his middle name William) asked God to replace something immediately upon the spot. It happened to be one of my back windows to my Jeep. It was busted out by a rock thrown by the lawn mower well over a month ago, and we still haven't replaced it (but will soon). Jaden told me that what he'd asked.
I proceeded to tell Jaden not to expect a new glass window to appear before his eyes. He asked me why not, since God can do anything. I had to explain to him that God is not a magic genie that grants every wish upon our command. There are plenty of times where God doesn't even give us what we want, even though He's a loving Father to many.
I said, "Jade, it's much like all the times you ask your Daddy or me for things, and we tell you 'no.' It's our pleasure to give you thinks for which you ask, but we don't always give you those things, and many times it's not even in your best interest."
I explained that we'd likely have to buy a new window and pay someone to install it. Even though it was an accident, we still have to put the money and effort into replacing it ourselves. I told my son that most of the time we had to work for things to get done or to earn things. We are no different than God in this respect. My Father doesn't pass out goodies and blessings and easy fixes to me or any of His other children every time we ask. It simply doesn't work that way.
Jaden was satisfied with my explanation and learned a little more about what God is really like with that lesson.
I proceeded to tell Jaden not to expect a new glass window to appear before his eyes. He asked me why not, since God can do anything. I had to explain to him that God is not a magic genie that grants every wish upon our command. There are plenty of times where God doesn't even give us what we want, even though He's a loving Father to many.
I said, "Jade, it's much like all the times you ask your Daddy or me for things, and we tell you 'no.' It's our pleasure to give you thinks for which you ask, but we don't always give you those things, and many times it's not even in your best interest."
I explained that we'd likely have to buy a new window and pay someone to install it. Even though it was an accident, we still have to put the money and effort into replacing it ourselves. I told my son that most of the time we had to work for things to get done or to earn things. We are no different than God in this respect. My Father doesn't pass out goodies and blessings and easy fixes to me or any of His other children every time we ask. It simply doesn't work that way.
Jaden was satisfied with my explanation and learned a little more about what God is really like with that lesson.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Family Project Made Private
I'll soon start blogging again on a regular basis. However, I have decided to make the Family Project a private project, at least at this time. If I know and trust you, and if you're interested in the ongoing Family Project, just let me know, and I will decide whether to share with you. Right now, I'm not even working on it. When time permits, and I am into it again, I will continue.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Blindness and Seeing
This morning I got up earlier than usual, because I had been lying in bed awake for probably two hours and simply could not return to sleep. So, when my husband got up, I followed. I'd already been to the bathroom during that time I'd been awake, so I instead gathered some clothes to get dressed. I was having a very difficult time seeing what I was doing, and I suddenly realized that I'd forgotten to put in my contact lenses! No wonder I was having such a hard time seeing (it was early and overcast outside, so the light wasn't bright, either). I laughed and told Nathan what I'd done. I have high-degree myopia (nearsightedness), which means I'm at high risk of things such as retinal tears. My eyes haven't gotten worse in many years, but as a child, they would get worse and worse. Every time I went to get my eyes examined, they would up my prescription. I have the worst eyes in my family. I cannot see well enough to do normal every day activities, like cooking or bathing a child, etc. You sure wouldn't want me to try to drive. I have to be very close to a person to make out their facial features (everyone is just a white blur...or brown blur or whatever one's shade of skin is).
After we finished laughing, I walked over and gazed thoughtfully out of our sliding glass door at the blurry trees, and I said to Nathan, "You know, that was my most-prayed-for request as a child. I prayed every night that I would wake up in the morning and be able to see perfectly. I did that for a LONG time, and I would pray in faith. Even though I woke up every morning and still couldn't see, I would pray the next night and truly believed I would wake up the next day and be able to see."
He replied that I must have been pretty disappointed a lot.
But, in truth, I came out better than having my physical "blindness" healed. I said, "You know, He gave me something better. He gave me spiritual sight. I may be physically blind, but I can spiritually see. Some people don't have to wear any corrective lenses at all, and yet they are very spiritually blind." (Thankfully, I'm not totally blind, though with high degree myopia, there's always that risk.)
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into the this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind (John 9:39).
I don't mind so much about having to wear corrective lenses now. They now will serve as a reminder to me that I have the greater blessing of spiritual sight.
After we finished laughing, I walked over and gazed thoughtfully out of our sliding glass door at the blurry trees, and I said to Nathan, "You know, that was my most-prayed-for request as a child. I prayed every night that I would wake up in the morning and be able to see perfectly. I did that for a LONG time, and I would pray in faith. Even though I woke up every morning and still couldn't see, I would pray the next night and truly believed I would wake up the next day and be able to see."
He replied that I must have been pretty disappointed a lot.
But, in truth, I came out better than having my physical "blindness" healed. I said, "You know, He gave me something better. He gave me spiritual sight. I may be physically blind, but I can spiritually see. Some people don't have to wear any corrective lenses at all, and yet they are very spiritually blind." (Thankfully, I'm not totally blind, though with high degree myopia, there's always that risk.)
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into the this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind (John 9:39).
I don't mind so much about having to wear corrective lenses now. They now will serve as a reminder to me that I have the greater blessing of spiritual sight.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
"I Am Slow of Speech and Slow of Tongue"
I will be continuing with the family project shortly. But, today, I'm doing something differently.
Then Moses said to Jehovah, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."~Exodus 4:10 (NASB)
I have been thinking back on this record of Moses talking to the Lord a lot lately. It was on my mind quite a bit yesterday and the day before. I was thinking how much I could understand and empathize with Moses. I was kind of feeling bad for him, as I was thinking about it. I also have a speech problem. My brain works slowly to get the words out that I need or want to use. I sometimes have a hard time pronouncing my words well, and I often stop in the middle of sentences, at a loss of words. Most people who have known me for some time and are close to me know that I don't really like my voice and the way I talk. It's frustrating to me.
It's not that Moses wasn't highly educated or didn't know what he was talking about. Acts 7:22 says, And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
The Greek word for "words" here is logos, meaning "word," but also can mean "doctrine."
A person can be great in achievements, highly educated and intelligent, and still have learning disabilities, speech problems, etc. I am highly educated myself and have excelled in academics throughout my life, but I had to take speech therapy when I was a child, and I still do not speak well. I have other learning disabilities, too.
However, I've also given good speeches to large audiences, but I do not like to do so. I am very self-conscious of my talking disabilities. So, I can totally understand what Moses may have been experiencing.
Well, it never fails. God always has something ready for me whenever I'm meditating about something in great depth.
So, today, what did I come across? I started flipping through some of yesterday's mail this morning, and I opened a Churchlight booklet--a publication of a Church of God group in Colorado--and flipped through it. Page 8 caught my eye, as it had an article called "Moses and the Burning Bush." So, I was skimming through the article, and I recognized that the author (Pieter Barkhuizen) is addressing each of Moses' confessions and excuses that he gave to God during the "burning bush" conversation.
The author stated, "But, Moses had a problem with this tall order, and he began to confess some of his apparent disqualifications for the task ahead. Have you ever felt disqualified for something you knew God wanted you to do? Every made any excuses?"
So, the author discussed first Moses' confession of inability. He then moved on to Moses' excuse of ignorance of who God was. Then the excuse Moses gave of Israel's unbelief, which Pieter said included Moses' unbelief, because God had already told him what He was going to do--lead Israel out of bondage. Then, he got none other than:
"In Exodus 4:10, we discover that Moses had a speech impediment, which created a feeling of inadequacy."
Since the author didn't share the scriptures, I grabbed my bible and read through a few verses. Verses 11 and 12 say, And Jehovah said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
Okay, so it would have been wise for Moses to just GO then and trust that God would be with him and help him with whatever his speech problems happened to be.
Back to Pieter's article: "So the speech problem was no problem for God. And right here Moses made the blunder of his life! In Exodus 4:13, he asked God to send someone else. Suddenly, God's anger was kindled..."
God then told Moses that Aaron his brother would be helping him, because God knew Aaron could speak well.
Pieter continued, "With all the other excuses, God was very patient, but now His anger was aroused. Why? Because Moses said the one thing that made God angry: 'I'm not available.' And God responded by saying that He would use his brother Aaron. Moses would still have the responsibility--but he would have to share the privilege of being God's sole agent in Israel's salvation history.
Is God calling you for something special today? Are you ready to fire your excuses at God? Please remember that the only requirement God has of you, is availability. 'Are you willing?' is the big question. Feeling inadequate?...Notice what happened to Moses, and how God used an imperfect person to bring honor and glory to His name."
Pieter later said, "Moses was a positive person--sure he had questions, but once his course was set, he couldn't be moved."
That was refreshing for me. It's just what I needed, just when I needed it. Thank you Father.
Pieter is right. The only requirement God has of His servants is availability. Are you willing? I personally AM willing to do what God wants of me, but He doesn't get it without my continuous questioning and asking for help. I can't do it without His help, but I do trust that He can use me.
What about you? Are you available? Are you willing? Are you being called by God now to do something? Are you feeling inadequate? Trust in God, and be willing, and He will help you.
Then Moses said to Jehovah, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."~Exodus 4:10 (NASB)
I have been thinking back on this record of Moses talking to the Lord a lot lately. It was on my mind quite a bit yesterday and the day before. I was thinking how much I could understand and empathize with Moses. I was kind of feeling bad for him, as I was thinking about it. I also have a speech problem. My brain works slowly to get the words out that I need or want to use. I sometimes have a hard time pronouncing my words well, and I often stop in the middle of sentences, at a loss of words. Most people who have known me for some time and are close to me know that I don't really like my voice and the way I talk. It's frustrating to me.
It's not that Moses wasn't highly educated or didn't know what he was talking about. Acts 7:22 says, And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
The Greek word for "words" here is logos, meaning "word," but also can mean "doctrine."
A person can be great in achievements, highly educated and intelligent, and still have learning disabilities, speech problems, etc. I am highly educated myself and have excelled in academics throughout my life, but I had to take speech therapy when I was a child, and I still do not speak well. I have other learning disabilities, too.
However, I've also given good speeches to large audiences, but I do not like to do so. I am very self-conscious of my talking disabilities. So, I can totally understand what Moses may have been experiencing.
Well, it never fails. God always has something ready for me whenever I'm meditating about something in great depth.
So, today, what did I come across? I started flipping through some of yesterday's mail this morning, and I opened a Churchlight booklet--a publication of a Church of God group in Colorado--and flipped through it. Page 8 caught my eye, as it had an article called "Moses and the Burning Bush." So, I was skimming through the article, and I recognized that the author (Pieter Barkhuizen) is addressing each of Moses' confessions and excuses that he gave to God during the "burning bush" conversation.
The author stated, "But, Moses had a problem with this tall order, and he began to confess some of his apparent disqualifications for the task ahead. Have you ever felt disqualified for something you knew God wanted you to do? Every made any excuses?"
So, the author discussed first Moses' confession of inability. He then moved on to Moses' excuse of ignorance of who God was. Then the excuse Moses gave of Israel's unbelief, which Pieter said included Moses' unbelief, because God had already told him what He was going to do--lead Israel out of bondage. Then, he got none other than:
"In Exodus 4:10, we discover that Moses had a speech impediment, which created a feeling of inadequacy."
Since the author didn't share the scriptures, I grabbed my bible and read through a few verses. Verses 11 and 12 say, And Jehovah said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
Okay, so it would have been wise for Moses to just GO then and trust that God would be with him and help him with whatever his speech problems happened to be.
Back to Pieter's article: "So the speech problem was no problem for God. And right here Moses made the blunder of his life! In Exodus 4:13, he asked God to send someone else. Suddenly, God's anger was kindled..."
God then told Moses that Aaron his brother would be helping him, because God knew Aaron could speak well.
Pieter continued, "With all the other excuses, God was very patient, but now His anger was aroused. Why? Because Moses said the one thing that made God angry: 'I'm not available.' And God responded by saying that He would use his brother Aaron. Moses would still have the responsibility--but he would have to share the privilege of being God's sole agent in Israel's salvation history.
Is God calling you for something special today? Are you ready to fire your excuses at God? Please remember that the only requirement God has of you, is availability. 'Are you willing?' is the big question. Feeling inadequate?...Notice what happened to Moses, and how God used an imperfect person to bring honor and glory to His name."
Pieter later said, "Moses was a positive person--sure he had questions, but once his course was set, he couldn't be moved."
That was refreshing for me. It's just what I needed, just when I needed it. Thank you Father.
Pieter is right. The only requirement God has of His servants is availability. Are you willing? I personally AM willing to do what God wants of me, but He doesn't get it without my continuous questioning and asking for help. I can't do it without His help, but I do trust that He can use me.
What about you? Are you available? Are you willing? Are you being called by God now to do something? Are you feeling inadequate? Trust in God, and be willing, and He will help you.
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