I am sure that Jesus knows the path of the devil with his deadly d's that are there to remind us of how quickly we fail...but as I was reading today about Joseph of Arimathea he was too a secret disciple. Was Jesus displeased with him? I think that the fact that the gospel writers included him in all of the 4 gospels speaks to the heart. Joseph was a secret disciple, had not consented to the Council..which probably put him a bad light in the focus of Caiaphas...who probably made his life miserable from that point on...he gathered courage...this shows me that even when the world around us is falling apart and we have those who think evil thoughts against our Messiah that we must persevere and carry on...I am sure Jesus was disheartened but he was also incredibly encouraged by Joseph and his buddy Nicodemus. We may not know until eternity but we can use all of the gospels to remind ourselves how quickly we can also fall into that trap of "unbelief".
Hang in there Ozzie...you are doing well...keep on working on your writing...and may you be encouraged this day!
If only I could get others to read and comprehend. I suspect Jesus was disheartened by the unbelief of the Jews. John chapter 6 shows us a running verbal confrontation he had with them.
Thoughts! Lots to ponder and I am wondering ..out loud...if you are onto something here as to the true Antichrist? Keep thinking Ozzie...you are unearthing much to consider!
Cory, We attended a KJV only church when we lived in another state. Very admant that the KJV is "THE" authorized version and is the only one to be used. All others are as you note: perversions. The pastor is young but he is a good teacher and we learned much under him but this KJV presentation was wild. It was the first time we ever came across that "sect." But, to add to that there is also a group known who presents themselves as the only group who will be at the Lord's Supper in heaven and if we were not a part of their church we would excluded in eternity.
It is interesting to me to see the depth to which Satan will go to destroy the church. As I am reading Acts that point comes across almost daily. First he attempts to destroy from without and then from within. This is just another of those "deadly 'd's" ...destroy, disrupt, disppoint, distract etc. etc. etc. The KJV'ers are strong and vocal and much like the JW's are vehement when you speak against or question their stand.
'So what can we learn from all of this? Stand firm and be ready to give an answer to him who asks about the hope within us. We must know and be known as knowing the truth and for what it says. We must be ready to be aware of the "deadly d's" of the enemy to take our focus from the Word of God. We must be "in" the Word so we can defeat the enemy who seeks to keep us "out" of the Word or better yet isolated into groups that see themselves as "the" way, the truth the life when in reality it is Christ that is that not these splintered groups.
Just for fun, as an addendum to my blog post above, I opened each article on Gethsemane Church's page about the KJV, just to see how they described other versions. The results are below (these are actual quotes from a KJV-Only advocate, and I have added a few comments of my own):
NIV: "New International Perversion"
NKJV: "New King James Version COUNTERFEIT" (Goes on to prove how the logo on the cover of the NKJV contains a "hidden" 666...)
The Living Bible: "The Living Bible EXPOSED!" (Admits Kenneth Taylor was a true Christian, but accuses him of taking "unwarranted liberties" with the Word of God.)
NET: "The New English Translation (NET) is straight out of the pits of Hell." (Also says the NET "horribly perverts the words of the Living God.")
NCV: "One of the more recent perversions of the Bible to hit the market is the New Century Version, and it is deadly."
ESV: "The English Standard Version...is deadly and needs to be exposed!" (Title of the article calls it the "Damnable English Standard Version.")
NLT: "The New Living Translation (NLT) is straight from Hell." (I am amazed at how these people can actually accuse a modern translation of being not only wrong, but "straight from Hell.")
The Book for Teens (a repackaging of the NLT): "If you purchased 'The Book,' you have been deceived by Satan with this counterfeit 'Bible'."
TNIV: Doesn't really deal with the TNIV at all, but is just another article about the NIV. Ends with this admonition: "...no greater deception can be aimed at the Christian Church than to make it doubt the tried and tested WORD OF GOD, the Authorized King James Version!"
21st Century KJV: "As usual, Satan is a thief and a liar and up to no good, trying to rob us of our precious and inspired authorized 1611 King James Bible. The 21st Century King James Verion is not God's Word."
ASV: "...this mistranslation of the Bible.." and "...you'll find heresies galore." (Actually, pretty tame language, all things considered...)
GNB: "Bad News for Modern Man!" (Goes on to accuse Dr. Robert Bratcher of being one of the "most heretical apostates to ever touch a mainstream Bible translation.")
New Oxford Annotated Bible: "New Bible Translation is Hit With Homosexual Activists" (Ignores the fact that the NOAB is an annotated NRSV. Also shows a photo of two men kissing, to drive home the point. They even throw in a "God created Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve!" for good measure.)
New Scofield Reference Bible: Yet another headline with "EXPOSED!" in it. I think they're mainly upset because the NSRB changes the KJV text, but purports to be a KJV.
Amplified Bible: Another one that is "straight out of the pits of Hell." (It's amazing to me how brisk the Bible publishing business in Hell must be...)
RSV: Refers to both the RSV and the ESV as "standards of corruption; then proceeds to compare the RSV to the NAV (Catholic Bible) and the NWT (Jehovah's Witness Bible). At least they refrain from the usual accusation of the RSV being a communist plot.
Conservapedia Bible: "Satan's latest attempt to corrupt the Bible is simply to allow the public to write their own Bible." (Even though I'm no fan of the Conservapedia project, I have actually corresponded with several people who worked on it, and hardly think it's fair to accuse them of working on behalf of Satan. Also, this article accuses Wikipedia of being behind the translation, when Wikipedia has nothing to do with Conservapedia.)
True Images Bible: This is really just a criticism of a repackaged NIV. They get mad because the sidebar material deals with topics like oral sex and lesbianism. (I don't know if that's true or not, because I've never seen this particular edition of the NIV.) But the article accuses the True Images Bible of "smearing filthy graffiti across the Word of God."
The Green Bible: This is just another niche version of the NRSV. But the article says, "Now the devil has a Bible for environmental whackos!" Nice. (And I'm fairly certain the standard spelling is "wackos.")
NWT: I would agree that this is a bad translation. Interestingly enough, though, the author's outrage over the NWT seems to be considerably less than his outrage over much more traditional, conservative translations (such as the NIV or the ESV). He calls it "corrupt," so what happened to "the pits of Hell" that he used in describing some other versions? The one translation that deserves a strong caveat actually gets off pretty lightly.
Queen James Version: I would also agree that this version is irresponsible and badly done. I've also heard that it's a complete rip-off, as all it does is change the handful of verses in the KJV that speak against homosexuality. So I would probably call this a "novelty" KJV, and recommend against lumping it in with so many legitimate translations. But this kind of KJV-Only guy paints all other versions with the same brush. So "Exposing Satanism" in the "Queen James" is put in the same category as their rants against all non-KJV translations. <sigh>
Just in case anyone is interested in seeing some of those KJV-Only articles I mentioned above, here's a link. Watch out, though, the articles are pretty inflammatory!
I realize that God knows the prayer needs but it would be helpful to your readers if they too knew what you desired for us to pray. Can you update this to reflect that?
By the way; what is the Business Christian Fellowship? What are its goals? What is the target audience? Where is it located? Are you a part of it?
This is the whole problem we are facing as a christian community.When do we leave the pablum and move on to the meat? It seems that today's publishers want us to remain at the baby level and not move onward and upward. I so agree Cory with this post. What do we do about it that is the bigger question? Instant gratification seems to be the norm of the day and yet if we read the OT (the other Testament) we find that David specifically said God loved it when he meditated upon His Word and so he sought to do that to honor God.When will we take up that charge?
Thank you for your comment! Your are exactly right; tradition has kept the word flowing, but, it has also kept those from perceiving new ideas. If you go into my blog "richard lees blog, bible.org" you will see much more written on the subject of Leviathan and the harlot. Of the different churches that I have visited, I now realize that there is little interest into going deep into this subject. Contact me anytime. Thanks again!
You make some very good points. Sadly I don't hear enough people talk this way. I suppose they are too bound up in tradition. Only the word of God can break their traditions.
Although New York city is filled with the likes of George Soros, the Bilderberg group, and NWO thinking; I am not so sure that this will be a central focus. The likes of these people and their attitudes are global and the policies are having a global effect. The World Health Organization has intentionally sterilized hundreds of thousands of women all over the world. Why? Because over population reduces the goods available to those that will have the money.
I believe that the people and mindset, our President included, are really the harlot that will ride the beast.
Like I said, interesting and exciting stuff. I try to tell people you need to be watching what is going on around you, for HE is coming sooner than you think.
We are not just lucky but overly blessed! We do have food, shelter, and freedom to worship. Whatever we need, want is available ...we are more than lucky, we are blessed beyond anything we can even dream of...and in fact overly blessed...God has been so good to us...but now we need to look about and share what we have been given. If we hoard and do not share out of our abundance, we are selfish beyond all measure. Let's praise God for His blessings and see where we can share our abundance!
Blessings this day Phoebe,...(ps. google likes your blogs...it comes to me in my inbox every other day or so...)
Gaye, And to you and David both a special prayer of blessing and thanks for being such a great encouragement to me and important part of my life.
Yours in Christ,
Christina
Thanks for replying to me and thank you for your valuable suggestions. I may want to change my Bible study group later. However, before that, I need to listen to God's voice and understand His love first.
Are you a student? By way of example, have your parents ever told you to do something that you did not want to do, and so you shut your eyes and covered your ears, hoping that you would not hear or understand? That way, perhaps you thought you wouldn't have to do what they said? I remember doing that when I was little.
These people Jesus was talking about were like that. God had been talking to them for a very long time in many ways, but they did not want to listen. They had what the Bible calls "hard" hearts. You said it yourself when you wrote, "we need to see by our heart". They did not want to do that. They were so bad, that God wrote in Isaiah 6:9-10 that He was going to harden their hearts even more. They were past the point of "no return".
We always want to keep our hearts soft to both our parents and to the Lord, so that we obey what His word tells us. That way, we will receive His blessing. The more we obey His word, the more we will understand. Seeing, our hearts will see, and hearing, our hearts will understand.
Your homework sounds very interesting. Are you a person who does share Jesus? This website is a great place to do that.
Thanks C. for posting this as I wondered about this movie. This has given me a better position to consider when and if I want to choose to see this movie.
Good review. thanks for the connection with 1Peter
Phoebe, ,the context of that verse means that you see with your physical eyes but your spiritual eyes (that is your heart) do not see the truth of the Word. Why is that? It could be that you are unbelieving or it could be that you have sin which is blinding you or it could mean that the devil has blinded you so you cannot see. You need to search and find out what it really is.
Great info! I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have. credit reports for all three bureaus
Ozzie.
I am sure that Jesus knows the path of the devil with his deadly d's that are there to remind us of how quickly we fail...but as I was reading today about Joseph of Arimathea he was too a secret disciple. Was Jesus displeased with him? I think that the fact that the gospel writers included him in all of the 4 gospels speaks to the heart. Joseph was a secret disciple, had not consented to the Council..which probably put him a bad light in the focus of Caiaphas...who probably made his life miserable from that point on...he gathered courage...this shows me that even when the world around us is falling apart and we have those who think evil thoughts against our Messiah that we must persevere and carry on...I am sure Jesus was disheartened but he was also incredibly encouraged by Joseph and his buddy Nicodemus. We may not know until eternity but we can use all of the gospels to remind ourselves how quickly we can also fall into that trap of "unbelief".
Hang in there Ozzie...you are doing well...keep on working on your writing...and may you be encouraged this day!
G.
If only I could get others to read and comprehend. I suspect Jesus was disheartened by the unbelief of the Jews. John chapter 6 shows us a running verbal confrontation he had with them.
It encourages me to have you respond.
Thank you
Oz
Thoughts! Lots to ponder and I am wondering ..out loud...if you are onto something here as to the true Antichrist? Keep thinking Ozzie...you are unearthing much to consider!
G.
Cory, We attended a KJV only church when we lived in another state. Very admant that the KJV is "THE" authorized version and is the only one to be used. All others are as you note: perversions. The pastor is young but he is a good teacher and we learned much under him but this KJV presentation was wild. It was the first time we ever came across that "sect." But, to add to that there is also a group known who presents themselves as the only group who will be at the Lord's Supper in heaven and if we were not a part of their church we would excluded in eternity.
It is interesting to me to see the depth to which Satan will go to destroy the church. As I am reading Acts that point comes across almost daily. First he attempts to destroy from without and then from within. This is just another of those "deadly 'd's" ...destroy, disrupt, disppoint, distract etc. etc. etc. The KJV'ers are strong and vocal and much like the JW's are vehement when you speak against or question their stand.
'So what can we learn from all of this? Stand firm and be ready to give an answer to him who asks about the hope within us. We must know and be known as knowing the truth and for what it says. We must be ready to be aware of the "deadly d's" of the enemy to take our focus from the Word of God. We must be "in" the Word so we can defeat the enemy who seeks to keep us "out" of the Word or better yet isolated into groups that see themselves as "the" way, the truth the life when in reality it is Christ that is that not these splintered groups.
Just for fun, as an addendum to my blog post above, I opened each article on Gethsemane Church's page about the KJV, just to see how they described other versions. The results are below (these are actual quotes from a KJV-Only advocate, and I have added a few comments of my own):
NIV: "New International Perversion"
NKJV: "New King James Version COUNTERFEIT" (Goes on to prove how the logo on the cover of the NKJV contains a "hidden" 666...)
The Living Bible: "The Living Bible EXPOSED!" (Admits Kenneth Taylor was a true Christian, but accuses him of taking "unwarranted liberties" with the Word of God.)
NET: "The New English Translation (NET) is straight out of the pits of Hell." (Also says the NET "horribly perverts the words of the Living God.")
NCV: "One of the more recent perversions of the Bible to hit the market is the New Century Version, and it is deadly."
ESV: "The English Standard Version...is deadly and needs to be exposed!" (Title of the article calls it the "Damnable English Standard Version.")
NLT: "The New Living Translation (NLT) is straight from Hell." (I am amazed at how these people can actually accuse a modern translation of being not only wrong, but "straight from Hell.")
The Book for Teens (a repackaging of the NLT): "If you purchased 'The Book,' you have been deceived by Satan with this counterfeit 'Bible'."
TNIV: Doesn't really deal with the TNIV at all, but is just another article about the NIV. Ends with this admonition: "...no greater deception can be aimed at the Christian Church than to make it doubt the tried and tested WORD OF GOD, the Authorized King James Version!"
21st Century KJV: "As usual, Satan is a thief and a liar and up to no good, trying to rob us of our precious and inspired authorized 1611 King James Bible. The 21st Century King James Verion is not God's Word."
ASV: "...this mistranslation of the Bible.." and "...you'll find heresies galore." (Actually, pretty tame language, all things considered...)
GNB: "Bad News for Modern Man!" (Goes on to accuse Dr. Robert Bratcher of being one of the "most heretical apostates to ever touch a mainstream Bible translation.")
New Oxford Annotated Bible: "New Bible Translation is Hit With Homosexual Activists" (Ignores the fact that the NOAB is an annotated NRSV. Also shows a photo of two men kissing, to drive home the point. They even throw in a "God created Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve!" for good measure.)
New Scofield Reference Bible: Yet another headline with "EXPOSED!" in it. I think they're mainly upset because the NSRB changes the KJV text, but purports to be a KJV.
Amplified Bible: Another one that is "straight out of the pits of Hell." (It's amazing to me how brisk the Bible publishing business in Hell must be...)
RSV: Refers to both the RSV and the ESV as "standards of corruption; then proceeds to compare the RSV to the NAV (Catholic Bible) and the NWT (Jehovah's Witness Bible). At least they refrain from the usual accusation of the RSV being a communist plot.
Conservapedia Bible: "Satan's latest attempt to corrupt the Bible is simply to allow the public to write their own Bible." (Even though I'm no fan of the Conservapedia project, I have actually corresponded with several people who worked on it, and hardly think it's fair to accuse them of working on behalf of Satan. Also, this article accuses Wikipedia of being behind the translation, when Wikipedia has nothing to do with Conservapedia.)
True Images Bible: This is really just a criticism of a repackaged NIV. They get mad because the sidebar material deals with topics like oral sex and lesbianism. (I don't know if that's true or not, because I've never seen this particular edition of the NIV.) But the article accuses the True Images Bible of "smearing filthy graffiti across the Word of God."
The Green Bible: This is just another niche version of the NRSV. But the article says, "Now the devil has a Bible for environmental whackos!" Nice. (And I'm fairly certain the standard spelling is "wackos.")
NWT: I would agree that this is a bad translation. Interestingly enough, though, the author's outrage over the NWT seems to be considerably less than his outrage over much more traditional, conservative translations (such as the NIV or the ESV). He calls it "corrupt," so what happened to "the pits of Hell" that he used in describing some other versions? The one translation that deserves a strong caveat actually gets off pretty lightly.
Queen James Version: I would also agree that this version is irresponsible and badly done. I've also heard that it's a complete rip-off, as all it does is change the handful of verses in the KJV that speak against homosexuality. So I would probably call this a "novelty" KJV, and recommend against lumping it in with so many legitimate translations. But this kind of KJV-Only guy paints all other versions with the same brush. So "Exposing Satanism" in the "Queen James" is put in the same category as their rants against all non-KJV translations. <sigh>
Just in case anyone is interested in seeing some of those KJV-Only articles I mentioned above, here's a link. Watch out, though, the articles are pretty inflammatory!
Awesome ...but one problem. If you don't have high speed internet it takes forever to download...
I realize that God knows the prayer needs but it would be helpful to your readers if they too knew what you desired for us to pray. Can you update this to reflect that?
By the way; what is the Business Christian Fellowship? What are its goals? What is the target audience? Where is it located? Are you a part of it?
This is the whole problem we are facing as a christian community.When do we leave the pablum and move on to the meat? It seems that today's publishers want us to remain at the baby level and not move onward and upward. I so agree Cory with this post. What do we do about it that is the bigger question? Instant gratification seems to be the norm of the day and yet if we read the OT (the other Testament) we find that David specifically said God loved it when he meditated upon His Word and so he sought to do that to honor God.When will we take up that charge?
Thank you for your comment! Your are exactly right; tradition has kept the word flowing, but, it has also kept those from perceiving new ideas. If you go into my blog "richard lees blog, bible.org" you will see much more written on the subject of Leviathan and the harlot. Of the different churches that I have visited, I now realize that there is little interest into going deep into this subject. Contact me anytime. Thanks again!
You make some very good points. Sadly I don't hear enough people talk this way. I suppose they are too bound up in tradition. Only the word of God can break their traditions.
Although New York city is filled with the likes of George Soros, the Bilderberg group, and NWO thinking; I am not so sure that this will be a central focus. The likes of these people and their attitudes are global and the policies are having a global effect. The World Health Organization has intentionally sterilized hundreds of thousands of women all over the world. Why? Because over population reduces the goods available to those that will have the money.
I believe that the people and mindset, our President included, are really the harlot that will ride the beast.
Like I said, interesting and exciting stuff. I try to tell people you need to be watching what is going on around you, for HE is coming sooner than you think.
Oz
Very useful. Thanks!
Phoebe
We are not just lucky but overly blessed! We do have food, shelter, and freedom to worship. Whatever we need, want is available ...we are more than lucky, we are blessed beyond anything we can even dream of...and in fact overly blessed...God has been so good to us...but now we need to look about and share what we have been given. If we hoard and do not share out of our abundance, we are selfish beyond all measure. Let's praise God for His blessings and see where we can share our abundance!
Blessings this day Phoebe,...(ps. google likes your blogs...it comes to me in my inbox every other day or so...)
Gaye, And to you and David both a special prayer of blessing and thanks for being such a great encouragement to me and important part of my life.
Yours in Christ,
Christina
Thank you Christina for this wonderful post...and the prayer for all of God's people to be blessed this new year and especially on this day.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!
Good thoughts!
Dear Gaye-Ellen Austin,
Thanks for replying to me and thank you for your valuable suggestions. I may want to change my Bible study group later. However, before that, I need to listen to God's voice and understand His love first.
Thank you again.
Merry Christmas.
Sincerely,
Phoebe
Phoebe
are you following any particular Bible reading plan?
go to the main page and sign up for one of the Bible reading plans you can get it sent to you each day in your email.
That is one suggestion.
Fantastic, Phoebe, may God bless you abundantly in your plan to for reading His word.
I like what SonShine wrote you.
Are you a student? By way of example, have your parents ever told you to do something that you did not want to do, and so you shut your eyes and covered your ears, hoping that you would not hear or understand? That way, perhaps you thought you wouldn't have to do what they said? I remember doing that when I was little.
These people Jesus was talking about were like that. God had been talking to them for a very long time in many ways, but they did not want to listen. They had what the Bible calls "hard" hearts. You said it yourself when you wrote, "we need to see by our heart". They did not want to do that. They were so bad, that God wrote in Isaiah 6:9-10 that He was going to harden their hearts even more. They were past the point of "no return".
We always want to keep our hearts soft to both our parents and to the Lord, so that we obey what His word tells us. That way, we will receive His blessing. The more we obey His word, the more we will understand. Seeing, our hearts will see, and hearing, our hearts will understand.
Your homework sounds very interesting. Are you a person who does share Jesus? This website is a great place to do that.
Have a good day,
Christina
Thank-you for your comment, Miss Sonshine! It's always an encouragement for an author to know that someone is reading.
Thanks C. for posting this as I wondered about this movie. This has given me a better position to consider when and if I want to choose to see this movie.
Good review. thanks for the connection with 1Peter
Phoebe, ,the context of that verse means that you see with your physical eyes but your spiritual eyes (that is your heart) do not see the truth of the Word. Why is that? It could be that you are unbelieving or it could be that you have sin which is blinding you or it could mean that the devil has blinded you so you cannot see. You need to search and find out what it really is.
Great info! I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have. credit reports for all three bureaus
I have bookmarked your blog, the articles are way better than other similar blogs.. thanks for a great blog! Relationship Advice by Dinkn