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The Ten Commandments:
Commandment IX
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Lying and stealing are akin to each other. Both rob you of your integrity and dignity and both harden your heart against God's wishes. Both will destroy your reputation when your sin is found out, and it will be. There are many similarities, but there is also quite a few ways that lying is more harmful than stealing.
One such way is the simple fact that if you steal from somebody that can be the end of it. A lie will continue to build, though, and get bigger and breed new lies to cover the original lie until all of the lies crash on each other and all that's left is the truth and your destroyed reputation. In contrast, when someone tells the truth,
One thing about commenting on dream interpretations that I’ve noticed: It’s not too tough, because God has already directed someone to do the interpretation! Seriously, though, there is something to learn from this story. Nebuchadnezzar was driven to insanity by God to teach him a lesson about a king’s place in the grand scheme of things. That’s a lesson that too many politicians need a refresher on. Running a nation without the grace of God is insanity. Heck, I wouldn’t have a hope in my family without God!
I’m not saying that my wife and son are a burden, I’m just making it a point that God has sovereign authority over everything. Anyone who thinks they can do without him must be crazy to think that way. We all need to accept this as a fact and let God’s splendor begin! I’m not financially wealthy, but my family is cared for and love is in our home.
Let’s keep our eyes toward Heaven!
By nature, God is a perfectionist. Everything needs to be “just so” or it needs to be redeemed or He cannot accept it. The exact specifications of the temple and its contents were given in these chapters. Even the direction the temple would face is laid out very clearly.
In contrast, humans are not “just so” types of people. Sure, surgeons and pilots do their job exactly the same each time for obvious reasons, but where it really matters, we are flawed. If you’re ashamed to admit this, keep reading. God is making known to you not only what he expects, but also how to atone for the inevitable failing.
God really shows His disgust with the priests who had botched their jobs before and guilty clergy is definitely not an issue that has gone away. We have priests and higher-level clerics turning people away from God's will all the time. Marriage, sexuality and the abomination of homosexuality is preached by Bishops and others of even more authority! I shudder at the potential ramifications.
If you are in a leadership role in your church, family or any other group, remember this. God wants the leaders to set the tone for the group and that tone had better be one that He agrees with or only chaos can result.
2 Kings 25:27-30 and Jeremiah 52:31-34.
The land allotment for the Jews is extremely specific here, and this gift of land is intended to last forever. A gift from God is not meant to be barter towards a false peace, and the current Road Map to peace is as empty as every other attempt to quell the violence in Israel. Let us not forget, though, that it was Israel's own shortcomings that began this trouble and only God can fix the scars on the land there. If only everyone in that region would accept that and come together! But that is not what is foretold, so I'm wasting our time in this matter.
Here we have some heavy prophesy of times to come, times that still haven't yet come. I'm no theologian, I believe I made that clear earlier, but it is clear that some of this references the end times. If you want to read about end times and what they may be like, I highly recommend the Left Behind series.
The writing on the wall is more than a phrase used to denote the obvious. A hand appeared during a banquet with King Belshazzar and nobody could interpret the writing that it placed on the wall until Daniel was called in. Daniel reminded the King that he hadn't acknowledged the glory of God as his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had. Therefore the message meant that the reign of the king was at an end because he didn't measure up to the job. Furthermore, kingdom was to be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. To reward Daniel, the king made him a high official. Wasn't he listening? His day of reckoning had come. Why would he reward the messenger of that news?Ezra 1:1-11, 1 Chronicles 3:17-19.
And here's the story of Daniel that is the most famous. Daniel was now a high official in the land and was found guilty of violating a law that was drafted with the express purpose of being rid of him. The king didn't want him to be executed, either, but the law of the land was that no royal decree could be overturned, even with another such decree. That's a stupid law, but such as it was, it was the law. Just as God had done for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, an angel was sent to stay with Daniel and his danger was negated by the power of the Lord.
Didn't God promise that the Jews could return after 70 years? Yes he did. Any willing Jew was allowed to return and rebuild the temple to the specifications given to Ezekiel. Just like their exodus from Egypt, they carried gifts of wealth to Canaan. God sure knows how to lessen the sting of a punishment, huh? King Cyrus even brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord and returned them to the Israelites.
The work was begun on the new temple and everything seems to be right now, but I can't see the good days continuing indefinitely. The Jews (humans in general) don't have a great track record for staying right with God. And boy, it didn't take long for the opposition to start, did it? The enemies of Israel came and worked to discourage them with fear. This translates into direct terrorism against the Jewish people from their Arab neighbors. That hasn't changed much in the last 2500 or so years, has it?
It helps put this Road Map idea into proper perspective also.
Weekly LinkI work at a job where I'm on the phone much of the day. For that reason, I'm usually not quick to jump at the phone in the evening. Even when I do, I look at the caller ID and refuse to answer for someone I don't know. I also better hear a greeting from the caller within about a second or the phone is getting hung up. Why? Telemarketing is a bane of my existence. If my DSL connection to the internet wasn't on a phone line, and if I could sell the idea to my wife, I'd get rid of the phone in favor of cellular. That cell number would be given only to select individuals with a request that it not be shared without my approval, under stern consequences :) OK, none of this is really feasible, but how does one fight back against "important" calls coming during your dinner, or anytime for that matter? This site has some great tips on how to make it clear that you know the law. No telemarketer will care what you say unless they know you know who they are, who they represent, and that you understand your rights. |
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