Pen of Iron

Psalms 65:11 - Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.


At the end of each year, I like to sit down and take stock of the good and the bad that had transpired throughout the preceding months. To do that, I pull out a small and private notebook where I keep track both of requests which I put before the Lord at the beginning of each year, and then I tick each one off at the end of the year, whether they were granted or whether they were denied. In addition, I have an entry which I call "unexpected blessings in (year)". It is this particular section of my notebook that I enjoy most as I make entries of all the unexpected things that the Lord has blessed me with.

For 2006 I have plenty of items which I will enter under the title of "Unexpected blessings". Indeed Lord "thou crownest the year with thy goodness". In talking about God's goodness, there is a verse which unfailingly comes to my mind. Here it is:

Romans 2:4 - Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Isn't it amazing that it is not God's anger, but his goodness, that leads to repentance?

I like to take stock of God's goodness. Hope you do too.

Posted by Consecrated at 2:56 PM | 10 comments    

The story you are about to read is all about Him and Him alone for there is none like unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all what we ask or think ...(Eph 3:20)


The title verse I have quoted does not end with a question mark but with an exclamation mark, and no wonder for there is none like him who dwelleth on high. Lest you think me wrong, please remember that every jot and tittle counts in the Word of God. Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Now to my story. Praise the Lord my condo finally sold, but not before God made sure that I had a story to tell that would bring him glory and praise.As you all know my condo has been on the market since early May 2006. I was hoping that I would sell, buy a new place, move and settle down before my son arrived early in July. But the Lord had other plans for me. For seven long months my condo remained on the market. In the meantime I found exactly what I was looking for in terms of a new house, but still I could not sell my condo. Many potential buyers lost interest because of various restrictions (no dogs allowed, no satellite dishes, no elevators, no garage etc). At that time I figured surely the Lord knew the house needed renovations and that is why he stopped me from making a rash decision in appointing an early date for the handover.

However the problem persisted. Renovations were (are still) taking a lot more time than I ever expected and I tried to keep my spirits up but I finally succumbed to the pressure and last weekedn I accepted an offer at about $12500 less than my asking price. As I lay in bed that night I talked to the Lord and said Lord how can I praise you and give you glory. It is true to you allowed me to finally sell but I needed the money (finances were running really low for the renovations). Lord I had claimed the promise that would you do "exceeding abundantly more than we ask or think". Now my selling price is not "exceeding abundantly more than I asked or thought". etc.

The next morning I get a phone call from my realtor to inform me that the deal has been cancelled when the buyer found out "no visiting dogs" were allowed either. Despite the fact that I was not happy with the price, now I was really feeling let down. I cried unto the Lord again. My nerves were really shot. I was sick for a whole day.

Right the next day, Wednesday my realtor called again, she had somebody who wanted to see the apartment. The client is a lawyer at my daughter's workplace. Sarah had referred her to my realtor when she wanted something on the West Island. Once that was done, the lawyer wanted to bring her mother closer so again she contacted my realtor for that purpose. The mother had looked and looked and finally decided a condo would be within her budget. Guess whose condo she had seen on the internet. Mine. We arranged for a rush visit at noon. Less than twenty four hours later (Thursday at 11am) they made an offer for (are you ready for this) $10,000.- more. i quickly accepted the new offer and I am now rejoicing and glorifying the Lord my God, for only He can bring honey out of the carcass of a dead lion and of a truth there is none like unto him who dwelleth on high.

Posted by Consecrated at 3:18 PM | 13 comments    

Mary, John Paul 2, Mohammad, Ali, Buddha, Haile Selassie, Confucius, Einstein, Marx, and Hitler are still in the grave.
DEAD. THEY ARE DEAD. DO YOU HEAR THAT? THEY DIED AND THEY'RE STILL DEAD AND THEY CANNOT HELP YOUR POOR SOUL.

ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD RESURRECTED TO DIE NO MORE.

The end.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 11:01 PM | 11 comments    

The Bloody Roman Whore (BRW) came out with a movie on the nativity, timed with Christmas (read that Christ MASS), that pagan holiday which born-again believers cannot let go because it has the word "Christ" in it.
The Cardinal (dressed as a BLOODY BIRD, birds representing evil spirits in the Bible) who presented the movie to a crowd of politico-religious pomp never once called Jesus "Lord". He would say "Jesus Christ" but not "Lord".

Now watch thousands of believers swallow that movie down hook, line and sinker. I can already write up their excuses. Satan must be glad that today's believers are so easy to dupe, even as the BRW spreads her skirts wider and wider to regain lost ground in the reformation and usher in the reign of antichrist. Antichrist, incidently, literally means "INSTEAD OF CHRIST".

The trailer to the movie has a spoken line which says "a prophecy that would threaten an empire". I'm sure the higher powers of the BRW enjoy the irony. They still ARE the Roman Empire. Do the words "Holy Roman Empire" mean anything to you?
There's another prophecy. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to destroy that same empire which crucified Him.
Amen Lord. Marana atha.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 9:40 PM | 15 comments    

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)


Never did the above verse come to life in a stronger manner than this past Sunday when ten of us hit downtown Montreal for streeet preaching. The Pastor had just preached about Jonah and Ninevah's repentence as opposed to Sodom and Gomorrah's defiance. Five of us rode a military looking type of car, the latest Sahara Jeep and it felt like soldiers going to war. Little did we know that evil powers were lying in wait for us.

Every time we go street-preaching, we choose a verse for the day. This time it was

Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

Soon after our men began street preaching, some wicked one, who playing the part of Judas, tried to dissuade our men from preaching by presenting himself as a friend warning them that the police would be coming in 30 minutes. He eventually was found out and like a schyzophrenic threw a tract in a preacher's face and enigmatically said "get the [expletive] off OUR streets. God won't be there to save you tonight"; called the police who came flying by, grabbed the arm of our preacher, threw the Bible down, pushed the preacher face down on the street (almost smashing his head) hand-cuffed him and took him to the police station. The by-standers who saw it and who had been indifferent to our preaching suddenly took interest. We all got fired up when the officer replied to my insistent request on what charges he was doing this violent act that we should let the people shop in peace. One of our men climbed up on the pile of barriers which they had brought down in pushing our preacher and gave an inspired sermon. Tracts were now flying as more people wanted to see what was all this about. Two people got saved in the process. One man saw how the cops attacked the preacher from the second floor of an overlooking restaurant. He came down and asked us what has caused this. When he learned it was Bible, he was indignant. He was witnessed to on the spot and one the men lead him to the Lord in prayer. We soon followed our fellow soldier to the police station, but first we all knelt down right there in the very spot where he got arrested and prayed and asked the God of heaven to release him to his family and church. We also asked for mercy over the city. Then some of us walked and the others followed by car to the police station. Two hours later our man emerged from behind bars with a ticket which we will definitely contest.

Pls. pray for us that our Lord would give us victory as a result of this to preach the gospel without further harrassment.

We live in perilous times indeed.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:20 AM | 7 comments    

John 13:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

The verse above has been a source of comfort for me on many occasion when I did not understand what was going on. You may recollect that my condo has been on the market since 9 May but has not sold so far. I would not buy until I sold, however, as time went by I found myself buying a house at a good price only because it needed renovations and had an unfinished basement. So what? The brothers in the church volunteered to help rebuild so on with it. I bought and last Wednesday the work began. As you all know, hissab el souk is not like hissab el baidar (an arabic expressesion to denote that you calculate one thing and end up with another). One job leads to another, and now I see that the house will not be habitable as soon as I hoped for. There is a lot of work to be done. We demolished a wall in the kitcken in order to make it bigger. Building a bathroom in the basement has not begun yet since the plumber (the third one so far) keeps postponing. Renovating the powder room, we now discover there had been a leak which the building inspector had not noticed and was not declared by the previous owner, etc.

Yesterday, however, a propsective buyer came to see my condo. Of all the people who came, this lady fell in love with the apartment. and she might want it for 1 January 2007, a date which I would have refused a month or so ago. Looking back I can now understand why the Lord had delayed the sale. I would have been out on the street if I had accepted a selling date close to 15 November. What the Lord had in mind for me was a beautiful town house with a garden, garage, and a fire place. Three bedrooms and three bathrooms, etc. All of which is more than I could hope for. The timing would be perfect if the sale goes through with this last buyer.

As I said, I continue to trust the Lord that he does everything beautiful in his own good time and for his pleasure.

I love you Lord Jesus.

Posted by Consecrated at 9:55 AM | 9 comments    

By the Lord's goodness and gracious blessings I took possession of my new dwelling place, yesterday, 1 November 2006. It is a small town house but has a little bit of everything. Three bedrooms upstairs, living room (with fireplace), dining room and kitchen plus powder/laundry room on first level and a basement. The house has a single garage with a small graden in the back. All in all it is a lot more than I had hoped for and for an excellent price.

The basement is not finished, however, and for you folks who live in California, you may not appreciate the value of basements. I'll give you some of the multiple uses and benefits of having a basement. 1) you can put your son, his books, his research material, reference documents, commentaries, equipment and everything else that belongs to him in a separate quarter - in the basement; 2) excercise equipment including hockey gear and skates in the basement. 3) when you receive too many young people and they get noisy whereas you want a quiet sleep, you move everybody down into the .... (that's right you got it) the basement. 4) when it gets very hot upstairs in summer and you don't have central air conditoning, the best alternative is to hit the ...... 5) If you need to stow away your suitcases, your winter coats (including fur which I don't have) the best storage room can be found in the (where else) the basement.

Now another hidden advantage of the basement is the following. The best way to keep your own personal bathroom clean and safe from all alien invasion is to put an extra bathroom with shower stand in the basement.

That's what I shall be doing this afternoon. I am meeting a plumber at 3:30. When I went downstairs I was pleasantly surprised to see that when this house was originally built in 1987 the contractor had made provision for pipes and drains for that purpose. I hope that today I can agree with the plumber on a price and date to complete the work.

Work can later begin on finishing the walls and floors etc to make a proper bedroom with bookcase and the rest of shebang. Will keep you posted.

Joe. This bit should last you a couple of days. Okay?

Posted by Consecrated at 10:08 AM | 9 comments    

Wednesdays nights after the usual service our church runs a preachers' course. Since we were only starting for the year some men were giving their testimonies. While the last testimony of the night was being given, one of our men (hereafter referred to as "brother A"), who will soon be starting a Bible school at our church, received an ominous phone-call. He returned to the pew and waited. Once the speaker was done, brother A spoke up and requested our hearing ears. Two saved men (Brothers C and D), old friends of his, had just been imprisoned in Kenya, apparently that same day. The charge? Passing out gospel tracts to Muslims during a Muslim holy period (in a Christian school, as we were to find out). Brother A then said something that made the hearts of all of us there sink at the same time. "they might get the death penalty".

Don't you know our knees hit the ground and brother B got to praying.
The church has been praying for a few days, for delivrance, for encouragement to these 2 men of God and for their families. Yesterday we heard they might be let go with a warning, but as of yet they remain in prison, and one of them is an elderly man.

I write this here because you will never hear of 98% of such events because some country doesn't want to upset another. And for the believers out there to pray. Thank God for boldness and persecution for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our God doesn't fear a challenge like other gods. We'll compare any book to the Bible anytime you want. We'll compare any god to the Lord God Jesus Christ anytime you want. No holds barred. Why do the gods of the other religions always fear the Lord Jesus Christ and go into a panic about him?

I'll tell you these 2 men's predicament put some fire into us this Sunday as we did our monthly street-preaching in the middle of Downtown.
See the post below.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 8:39 PM | 8 comments    

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.


It had been a while since I gave tracts on the train. Last Wednesday morning I sat on the train reading as usual when these two college students sat beside me chatting all the way. Suddenly that sweet old voice started whispering in my ear again. He may have whispered at other occasions too but today I heard him clearly. Now how do I break through the rut I had fallen into. We had not gone tract passing in a while and I had cold feet so to speak.

On the other hand the Lord had blessed me with my son's presence and with my daughter's support but I had been very busy worrying about real estate issues that I slacked down a bit. I struggled in the beginning but just before disembarking I managed to pull myself together and gave the girls the two tracts. Suddenly the ice was broken, and I was slowly going back to my old habit of passing out tracts on a one-on-one basis. Last Friday a group of us (eight in total) broke out singing praises to God at the top of our lungs in the midst of China town just before midnight. I honestly feel that it must have pleased the Lord.

For just this Saturday (as my daughter has posted on her blog) my son, daughter and I gathered up our energies and hit the metro. God blessed and there was an amazing outpour of the spirit. I described it as though we had neglected the fishes who were now starving for the Word. Schools of fishes swarmed the metro. We could not keep up with the people who came out of every nook and cranny. It was a dizzying exercise to pass all those tracts to everyone. What is more is that four souls prayed with us. There was a time when the four of us were witnessing one-on-one to four different people. The metro station had turned into a church counselling service. Had there been more workers, more souls would have prayed, I am sure. Luke 9:26 - For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

To top it off, fourteen people from my church went street preaching in the heart of downtown Montreal yesterday. The men preached the WORD as loud as they could. Titus 2:8 - Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Some people called the cops on us who in turn gave us a warning but would not dare give us a ticket although one cop threatened to give each of the preaching men a fine $200.-. The cop had no answer when one of our men asked him to give tickets to those who were doping (the smell of it filled the air). Isn't it a shame that these people were not ashamed of the sinful environment (pictures etc) instead they were angry at godly men who were preaching the gospel of salvation unto a lost world. Romans 6:21 - What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

As for me although I was afraid at some point that they would arrest the men, my son included, I had to remind myself and did find comfort in the following verse: Mark 8:38 - Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Posted by Consecrated at 3:45 PM | 6 comments    

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness (?):
and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil (?),
which shall not break my head: ...(Psalm 141:5)

Think about the above verse and be honest with yourself.

Although the verse speaks about Jesus, I believe that if every Christian maintained that attitude with his fellow Christian, how happy we would all be.

Posted by Consecrated at 2:08 PM | 16 comments    

I cannot believe this, but then I can for we do live in perilous times.

2 Timothy 3:1 - This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.² For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ⁴ Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ⁵ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

As the Lord would have it, I have decided to move to a bigger home and for that reason I signed a contract on 12 May 06 with a very nice lady, a certain realtor whom I will call Mary (like the virgin Mary). At the time Mary explained to me that it does not serve a purpose to sign for three months only, so how about a six-months contract and her cut would be 7%. And of course I can cancel anytime. No strings attached. The contract is NOT irrevocable.

I agreed and signed the contract ending 30 December 2006. Anyone noticed anything?

Three months into the process I had not received a single offer to buy.
Reason: condo overpriced. We bring the price down, down and down one more time and her commission came down by 1 percent.

Four months into the process, I am getting restless and feeling that Mary was not giving me good service so I e-mailed her a request to cancel my contract. We meet, she gives me a long speel as to how "too-nice she is with clients" and I sign something which confirms that the condo is off the market. Any one noticed anything?

In the meantime I am doing my homework looking for a bigger place, and I stumble over this agent whom I shall call Jael (like Deborah and Sisera). Jael is excellent, and we find a home for me to buy on my first trip with her. So why not have Jael try and sell my condo.

I re-read my contract with Mary and noticed it was NOT irrevocable and I am possibly very safe. I sign with Jael.

Guess what?Jael calls me this morning with the following piece of info. Mary did not effectively CANCEL the contract as I had asked her, instead she just put the condo off the market.

What do I do next?
I got in contact with Mary's broker. She had not act in good faith. Thankfully I had kept a copy of the e-mail exchange specifically requesting her to cancel the CONTRACT. I am awaiting his decision.

Mary did not turn out to be as nice as she looked.

Posted by Consecrated at 12:25 PM | 14 comments    

Ezekiel 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

Yesterday was "No cars day". The city blocked off a good segment of a major street in downtown Montreal, ran long swaths of green grass along the main road and sprinkled them with picnic tables. Where cars used to run to and fro was now used for pedestrians and others who had the opportunity to enjoy their lunch breaks in the middle of St. Catherine Street on what was a beautiful Autumn day.

Two main things struck me. As we walked along my friend noted how lovely it would be if everyday life was like that. No cars in the streets, just man enjoying nature. I replied it will be just that one day when the Lord comes back to reign when technology will be no more based on electricity and computers etc, but will revert to what God always wanted it to be like.

The second thing which caught my attention and this time saddened me was that along these runways (if I can call the swaths of green grass that) were large groups of men and women, all in perfect unison, doing Thai Chi. In very slow motion, all were waiving their hands, legs and moving their bodies, turning around and back again.

In other words, the message that came across was people linking a clean environment with a religious practice from the East.

THAT is what saddened me.
The West, a supposedly Christian world, has been blessed with the availability and easy accessiblity to the Word of God but they cannot link a clean environment to the return of the Lord?

Read up the verse again and notice:
their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:22 AM | 6 comments    

A friend of mine, P., died in a car accident this week because another friend was speeding. P. was in his late twenties. The last time I saw him I witnessed to him, he wanted to know more. But I never got to see him again. P. was the kindest one in a bunch of pleasure-driven fools. Unless he had called on the Lord Jesus Christ to save him, he is now burning in hell.
Forever.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 6:55 PM | 20 comments    

Since we're on the subject of wisdom of words and fleshly wisdom, I want to show you what an ex-King James Bible believer (at least that's what he claims) answered me when I made the following point in defending ONE perfect Bible.

But before that I need to tell you about Isaiah 9:3 to which I referred. I did not present him what I'm immediately presenting below. I simply referred to the verse as you'll see in the excerpt.

Isaiah 9:3 in the perfect King James Bible says

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and NOT increased the joy:

the ASV, New ASV (evolutionist scholars?), RV, RSV, New RSV (evolutionist scholars?), BBE, CEV, WEB, New IV (evolutionist scholars?) all claim that God did increase the joy, contradicting the King James Bible (which is based on the Antiochian manuscripts, not the corrupt Alexandrian ones as the afore-mentioned translations are). In Isaiah 26:15 God increases the nation, but you don't read about any joy because He is removing the nation far into all the ends of the earth, then they pour out a prayer of rescue to God during the tribulation. You see in Isaiah 9:3 He is increasing them as the sand of the sea BEFORE He judges them during the tribulation, leaving a remnant ( see Isaiah 10:22 !). The column in Isaiah 9:3 seperates the church age and tribulation from the millennium. But the scholars couldn't believe the words and get the prophecy. They couldn't understand how the nation could be increased without the joy being increased, so they followed a favourite rule of theirs
"change the Bible to match the scholar's ignorance".

that said, here's the excerpt.

I said:
-"You can use the euphemism of 'textual variants' all you want but some readings are in clear contradiction like Isaiah 9:3 for example..."

He replied:
-"Perhaps you want to call them a contradiction, but I would just say you have an inaccurate definition of "contradiction" as it applies to the work of textual criticism determining the value of textual variants."

Now you look me straight in the electronic eyeball and tell me that's an honest answer.

Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of EVERY tree of the garden thou mayest FREELY EAT:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt SURELY die.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, (according to today's most respected scholars, Satan's questioning should here be taken as genuinely inquisitive. Indeed he merely seeks to avail himself of the most accurate rendition of the words of God. To accuse him of casting doubt upon the words of God smacks of unlearned boorishness. After all, did not Confusedius say that the hall-mark of intelligence is the posing of questions? And does not Satan appear in association with the tree of KNOWLEDGE?) Ye shall NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE of the garden? (According to today's most respected scholars, Satan is not contradicting God. He simply plays upon "an inaccurate definition of 'contradiction' as it applies to the work of textual criticism determining the value of textual variants")

Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat (according to today's most respected scholars, one should not accuse Eve of misquoting God by omitting the word "freely" because here she is in fact quoting the Septuagint which was written in Greek before creation by 72 angels, and which does not contain the word "freely" in Genesis 2:16) of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, LEST (According to today's scholars Eve here preferred the reading of the MS Pi Beta Kappa n. 5666. In any event "lest" does not deny a possibility of dying and therefore there is no doctrine which is lost, so believers of the King James Bible are flippant conspiracy theorists) ye die.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 4:22 PM | 20 comments    

Please read the verses first, and observe how accurate the Bible remains to this day, yea and will remain, in uncovering the nature of men and predicting their conversation, even believers.

1Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1Corinthians 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
1Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual


The following are genuine, random excerpts from Christian blogs. I suggest you ready an Oxford English Dictionary (unabridged), a dictionary of philosophy, an encyclopedia of theology, oh and you might need a Bible, but am not sure about that one.

"a simple act of punctilliar faith in Jesus Christ alone"

Punctilliar folks, punctilliar. How simpler can it get?

"an excellent refutation of the inferential claim of a pretribulation secret rapture. Consider historic premillennialism; it's a more tenable eschatological framework than the dispensational variety"

He's saying: consider taking deciphering courses in non-linear cryptography.

"Regenerate man has a free will that is regulated by two opposing capacities within his ontological being"

I have an ontological being. At least he's logical.

"the context of parabolic structures, and as such, are not to be taken literally, but the accounts within the metaphorical contructs correspond to spiritual truths."

This statement exhibits parables and metaphores and is not to be taken literally.

"What is striking in all of these is not just the typological reference but the nature of the type's realization. In each case there is no mere parallel being drawn: there is an eschatological transcendence ... this in keeping with the Matthean "eschatological transcendence" pattern noted previously, as well as the "Christological ego" in the antitheses themselves"

I wonder if Matthew and Christ knew that.

"In the fifth antithesis (vv.38-39) Jesus proceeds from the lex talionis to non-resistance."

We now know what Jesus was doing from 12 to 30. He was taking courses in Latin in order to rise to the level of modern scholars.

"The verbs "destroy" and "fulfill" (katalusai, plerosai) are both telic, or purpose, infinitives."

They failed to tell you that these verbs also rime.

"The parenetic function of the law and prophets anticipated a "fulfilling" "

To activate the parenetic function, please press simultanesouly ctrl-alt-shit-f11-f3-esc.

"suggests that "these least commandments" is a proleptic reference not to Moses' law but to Jesus' "Nova Lex" "

Not to worry; I can explain "proleptic". It means "for, in agreement with, advocating that which is leptic".

"A counterfactual possibility, not a live possibility. If God exhaustively revealed his plan for the world, then that would set up the conditions for its non-fulfillment. But, of course, that contrary-to-fact condition is not in the cards."

King, Queen, Jack, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-As. He's right, it ain't in the cards. What a Joker.

"And since infallible certainty can ' t be mediated by rational or evidentiary means, it must be that it is gifted to the elect by God directly. Yes? If in answer to this, one posits a kind of synergistic relationship between the Holy Spirit 's witness and our rational means of inquiry"

That's saying that you can't be sure this same statement is true, because it is mediated by your rational or evidentiary means. As to what the latter are, you'll have to ask your ontological being, if you have one.

"And the way I prove it may take a very different form than the process of learning. There ' s a logical order and a pedagogical order.There ' s the way in which things are metaphysically interconnected, and then there ' s the way in which we discover them."

I'm still working on that one. What came first, the physical or the metaphysical? And how did we discover the difference between the logical and the pedgogical? Logically or pedagogically? Where are Plato and Aristotle when you need ' em?!

"Probability is a relative concept. Probable relative to what is possible, which is, in turn, relative to what is actual."

which in turn is relative to probability, which is relative to what is possible, which is relative to what is actual which is relative to what is probable which is relative to what is possible which is relative to what is actual...

"In other words, the alternative to predestinarian determinism is fatalistic determinism."

Aren't you glad he clarified that one?

"There is also a fatalistic quality to Molinism. It endows the agent a libertarian freewill. But the agent has no control over what possible world is instantiated.Given a choice, he ' d prefer to be instantiated in a world where he goes to heaven rather than hell."

Molinism: the philosophy of H.A. Molin whose adherents are generally undercover agents of the libertarian persuasion. The philosophy is peculiar in its preference of heaven over hell while admitting neither.

"You are evoking categories from Reformed theology, radically redefining them, and then attempting to generate a point of tension. But if you redefine the key terms, then it ceases to be an internal critique. The tension is not generated by the inner logic of Calvinism, but by your semantic subterfuge"

To properly appreciate the gist of the rebuttal, one must be versed in Deformed theology and the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes.

"John was arguing reductio ad absurudum"

Reduction ad absurdum is an argumentative technique which floods the opponent with such a barrage of verbiage that it "reduces him to absurdity."


Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 11:21 AM | 7 comments    

Pre-tribulation rapture of the church, part3; Which Gospel?

longest one yet. hope it bears fruit.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 11:43 PM | 16 comments    

Pre-tribulation rapture OF THE CHURCH; part 2

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 5:01 PM | 1 comments    

Just what should born-again believers make of the original autographs?
Here's a small dose of Biblical common-sense you'll never get in 95% of Christian colleges.

http://www.samgipp.com/answer/gipp_answer_01.html

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:37 PM | 1 comments    

This "presentation" was promised to a brother of mine about 10 months ago. I have only posted the first part which deals with the so-called "last trumpet" of 1 Corinthians 15:52 which is a starting point argument for many, though not all post-tribs.
May it be a blessing to all.

pre-tribulation rapture of the CHURCH

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 9:47 PM | 11 comments    

At 2:30 p.m. this Sunday, 7 men and 4 women and a boy hit the streets of down-town Montreal for open-air preaching. We stood at an intersection of Ste-Catherine's street, the nastiest street in the city. We had had us a good Sunday morning service, and were looking forward to preach the gospel to a lost city, hearts-a-pounding.
We began passing-tracts at the 4 corners of the intersection. A few minutes later, one of our elders, a seasoned man, bellowed from an island splitting the road

"PEOPLE OF MONTREAL, THE BIBLE SAYS"

what ensued was awesome. I mean it. We had the listeners, the scoffers, the puzzled, the disgusted, the amused, you name it. 5 of the men, taking turns, hollered their lungs out in English and French, from both sides of the road. Just picture a busy North American Metropolitan hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reality of hell-fire preached to it open-air. What a blessing. What a joy. It is tremendous to let out everything that you accumulate. Sermons burn your heart to witness, men of God encourage you to speak out. You want to warn the untold millions of hell. We preached God's wrath for sin and His love through His Son. We read Romans 1 and Romans 10 out loud. You should've seen peoples' faces as the list of sins went on, being cried out in the gates of the city

Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

One priest got annoyed. It's odd that Sodom doesn't annoy him but a bunch of King James Bible preaching folks are an eye-sore.
Sometimes you'll get the washed-down believers
" that's not the way to reach people". Their conscience pricks them. Others are very encouraged. We met a few such people. Praise God.
One man who had a license to operate on a street corner scrunched the tract that the little boy gave him and threw it at his head. He gave us a rough time over his 6 meter radius. Like the young boy's father said "there's nothing new under the sun"(Ecclesiastes 1:9), referring to the silversmith of Ephesus (Acts 19:24-25).

Eventually the cops showed up. 3 people had claimed we followed them screaming at them. No such thing occured. We explained ourselves to the cops and claimed the right to preach. Thankfully they went on... with tracts in their hands.

One soul got saved. He bowed his head and prayed behind the traffic light.

Scott Strobel has a sermon entitled "the world's best kept secret". He preaches that Satan has managed to keep secret from people that they need to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from hell and give them eternal life.
Thousands of people got the message that Sunday. May the Lord God bless the seeds that were planted, send to water them, and give the increase.

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate -Amos 5:10

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 10:09 PM | 11 comments    

John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:

I have often wondered and tried to imagine how could that work. This morning I had an illumination of the following analogy (if I can call it that).

Think of a chain containing two rings, A and B. A can say "I am in B" and B can say "I am in A". Together they are a chain = one. Yet each maintains its individuality.

I think I can now understand how could Jesus say At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you (v.20).

Posted by Consecrated at 11:52 AM | 10 comments    

listen, it's short
members.aol.com/jhscottv/ohlook.ram

you can get a little more here

hometown.aol.com/jhscottv/audio6.html

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:55 PM | 9 comments    

Labels: music

is not mentioned, but notice also that the white horse has a crown (see Rev.6:2)

(click picture to enlarge)

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 12:07 AM | 7 comments    

I recently received an e-mail for a missionary where he told us to ask Christ to ... . The reference to "ask Christ" sounded weird. I had not thought about the signature "In Christ" before but after that e-mail, it now bothers me. Proverbs 30:4 tells us about him. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

Jesus. The most beautiful name on earth.
Matthew 1:25 - ....and he called his name JESUS.
Philippians 2:10 - That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Why call him Christ when Jesus himself warned us what would happen in Luke 21:8 - And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Ephesians 4:21 - If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Jesus is the Lord. Christ is his title. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, keeps me singing as I go.

In Jesus.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:09 PM | 25 comments    

you know, you've got to be down right willfully ignorant not to see that the veracity of the Bible as a divinely inspired history book is continually upholden. In fact it is upholden in bloodshed, so you can read red on white how its prophecies come true. The Bible tells you past history, present history, and future history. It doesn't just predict the future. It makes it.
You don't believe that? Let's see. How do you explain Jewish history ancient and modern perfectly mapping unto all relevant Bible prophecies? Go read'em you lazy fool. You'll read piles of junk before ever reading the whole Bible. Then a Bible-believer will ask you "have you read the Bible" and you'll say "yes" and he will ask you a few simple questions and you will be shown for what you are. A LIAR.


Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

So what d'ya got? Hegel? Marx? Fukuyama? Come on buster. Explain Jewish history to me. Explain the conditions in the Middle East, Mr. Middle Eastern studies, Mr. Conflict Management. You deride the Bible don't you? Let's see you bring in lasting peace down there. That conflict has been running for 4000 years. And it keeps on going exactly as the Bible says it will. But you don't believe that, Mr. there's a rational solution to all problems.

Listen. I'm talking to you people who want peace without the Prince of Peace. I'm talking to you self-righteous one-worlders. You're gonna get a shot. You'll get your hero. After I'm raptured outta here, you're gonna be panicked. Then a peace-man will show up. He'll make a grand entry and sleep with Rome. He will craft out a peace in the Middle East between Jews and Muslims and you Bible-rejecting suckers are going to hail him as Superman. You'll think he's Jesus Christ. He'll make the cover of every magazine on this earth. Then you'll take his mark. You Gentiles will take it. And the Jews too, thinking they're over there in Ezekiel 9 because they have rejected "the testimony of Jesus". And you know what's gonna happen then?


1Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

You'll suffer the judgments of God Almighty because you've believed every lie and rejected the truth of the Bible. And if you make it through the tribulation, you'll see the real Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah show up with ten thousand of his saints, come down from the North to mount Sinai up the King's highway to the mount of Olives. And you will burn and melt from his presence.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 10:28 PM | 7 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 7:48 PM | 15 comments    

Hello everyone,
I am back home from California having visited family, but my children are in the air on their way home. I wanted to get back before they did so that I could pick them up at the airport.

As Carey mentioned, today is Sarah and Georges' birthday. Isn't it cute that they will celebrate their birthday in the air on the same flight from Beirut to Montreal. Can't wait to see them both.

Have missed you all. Will be checking all your blogs soon.

Posted by Consecrated at 1:42 AM | 6 comments    

Early in the morning I am leaving to California. My mother does not have computer connection therefore I will be going off-line for a couple of weeks.

Will try to check the posts whenever I get a chance if I am in a network neighborhood.

Until then, the Lord keep you all safe.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:39 PM | 5 comments    

Praise be to God our Father who in his mercy enabled me to follow my daughter's arrival by the minute. Although absent in the body, I was present in the spirit as she passed through customs and when she first emerged to meet her father and brother who were waiting for her at the airport.

I was on my knees at those initial moments of reunion.
Thank you Lord for your perfect timing.
In your time you make everything beautiful.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:24 AM | 1 comments    

I brought Sarah to the airport this afternoon and by God's grace she is now in the air on her way to the Middle East.

It is a strange feeling not to have her at home, but the Lord has seen it fit that she should go. He has prepared her for this moment and it is finally here.

May the Lord keep shelter her under his wings and hold her close to his heart with his everlasting arms.

I will now have to wait for a sign of life. Pls. Lord. So let is please thee to let me know she has arrived safely home.

Posted by Consecrated at 6:19 PM | 3 comments    

Nadia, my colleague just received the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.

Praise God. I have known Nadia for a while now, but we worked in different departments. About two months ago she was transferred to a section, in my Bureau, on the same floor with me. I did not know much about her before she came to my floor. Because of the proximity, with time, we grew close to each other. We got along very well and one day she intimated to me her closest needs and sorrows and how few are the friends she had. I promised her that from now on good things are going to happen to her, but for some reason I could not witness to her yet. I just concentrated on developing our friendship (but I was praying all along).

Teary eyed, she came to see me this afternoon (she had dropped by earlier this morning and expressed her sorrow over my imminent absence on vacation). This time she challenged my earlier statement that good things are going to happen to her. I knew the time was right.

I did not waste time and proceeded to witness to her. I showed her from the book of John that she can become the son of God, and that her name will be written in the book of life. I explained that Jesus was both son of God and son of man. And in that capacity he could reconcile man to God. She said it made sense. And when I asked her if she could believe that he died to pay for her sins, she said yes.

Now Nadia is of Pharisee origin. Is it a coincidence that just this morning I read the book of Ezra? I opened the Bible and also showed her how king Cyrus and king Darius loved the God of heaven and how they issued a decree to rebuild the temple, and that they believed that the God of heaven is the God of the Bible.

We bowed our heads, and I prayed, then she in her own words prayed and recieved Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.

I gave her a couple of tracts, and a New Testament and told her how important it is for her to feed on the Word of God for her spiritual growth. Pls. remember her in your prayers.

Praise God for another victory won.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:39 PM | 10 comments    

The Lord has beeen winning several victories in our church. I do not have time to go into detail of how it happened, but last Sunday two ladies came down the isle when the Pastor gave the invitation. The Pastor asked one of our ladies to take the two Philippina women to his office where they prayed and asked the Lord for salvation.

Two Sundays ago, two young juniors (brothers) in two different Sunday School classes trusted on the Lord for salvation.

Yesterday, when the Pastor gave the invitation two other ladies (mother and daughter) walked down the isle, and I had the privilege (the Pastor asked me) to take them to his office where they both prayed with me and trusted the Lord for their salvation. Mother and daughter are of the same family (Lebanese) as the sons mentioned above.

P.S. I just want to add that this family came to our church through a single tract which the mother's sister-in-law had received from our church over four years ago. She had kept the tract which gave fruit about five years later.

At the same time as I was praying with these women, a Sunday school teacher was praying with a French girl in one of the classes. She too trusted on the Lord for savlation.

Yesterday, eight new people joined our church membership. The Lord is so good to us. The church of God is marching on to victory.

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Posted by Consecrated at 6:53 AM | 8 comments    

The madness has begun. The offices are empty. I hope those of you who are writing final exams are not caught up in the craze.

Posted by Consecrated at 11:55 AM | 14 comments    

Please pray for my son who is writing his final exams in the coming few days. He has been under a lot of pressure lately with church problems and emotional upheaval. He needs all the support he can garner.

Son: Thinking of you and praying for you continually. Wish I could be there for your graduation.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:52 PM | 4 comments    

I Chronicles 21 describes an incident where the prophet Gad appears to David and offers him the option to choose one of three punishments.

3 years - fall in the hands of famine
3 months - fall in the hands of man
3 days - fall in the hands of God

I have often wondered about those values. 3 days in the hands of God must be more powerful than 3 months of man or 3 years of nature. And yet David thought it was more merciful to fall in the hands of God.

My point today however focuses on the reference to othe sword in verses 16 and 27 of the chapter: "And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem".

Here we read of the sword of the Lord stretched out, and David sees the sword streched out over Jerusalem. However in effect, when we read the passage we find pestilence striking men. v.14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell .. 70 000 men".

David petitions the Lord about "these sheep" v.17 and asks "that the plague may be stayed from the people" v.22

So we read in v. 27 "And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof".

Do you see the parallel that I see.

My daughter asked me a couple of days of ago about the sword that we see in Revelation. She said "Do you think it is going to be a real sword". I answered her by referring to the above passage.

Scripture interprets itself. I leave it to my readers to find similar passages in the Bible.

Posted by Consecrated at 7:42 PM | 5 comments    

The apple does not fall far from the tree. I read the post on my daughter's blog and I was reminded to post the following.

May be you have heard of the tract "God's last name is not Damn". May be not, but last night I got a unique chance to give a couple of tracts to some roudy college students who were on the same bus as I happened to be.

In brief, I had a medical appointment near the University of McGill and I did not want to drive downtown so I took the bus. On the way back there were about 4 college students yapping loudly. Two boys and two girls. God d.... it, said one of them. He touched a nerve with me. Before he had a chance to say it again, I stood up and walked over to the four of them. I had four tracts in my hand. I looked at the fellow and said to him "I heard you say God d.... . God's name is NOT d.... and here's something for you to read". Stunned he took the tract from me, the girl sitting beside him took another while the other two refused it.

I went back to my seat and noticed that the lady sitting in front of me was looking at me curiously. I handed her one of the two remaining tracts. She took it. Before I left the bus, I left another one on my seat.

Boy, did it feel good afterward. It got me on fire, that I gave two more tracts to a couple standing infront of the metro, two more in the metro, left a few others on every public telephone booth before I reached my train station and finally headed home.

Posted by Consecrated at 11:44 AM | 14 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 8:43 PM | 9 comments    

I am at the gas station (a different one this time). A handsome fellow approaches me and asks me in French to show him how the thing operates. One look at him, and I ask "Are you Lebanese" (I can tell a Lebanese a mile away), yes he replied.

Are you new in the country? Yes he said. I showed how to fill his tank and where to go and pay. Upon finishing I gave him a tract.

The fun part is the following. Once inside the store my curiosity was aroused and I asked him more questions. Now listen to this. Isn't it great that a Lebanese Basket Ball player who lives in France is in Montreal (Mountakhab Libnan he said) to play a game against the University of Quebec and God meets him at a gas station to give him the message of salvation.

I am sure the fellow expected me to ask him for his name or may be for his signature.

Instead, I gave him my all time signature tract "Eternal Life is a Free Gift".

Posted by Consecrated at 5:03 PM | 7 comments    

II Kings 17:33 They feared the Lord, and served gtheir own gods, after the manner of the nations who they carried away from thence.
v. 41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

The context of the above verses is the captivity and origin of the Samaritans (remember the Samaritan woman or the woman at the well). God rejects the seed of Israel and removes them out of his sight (v30) then the King of Assyria brings people over from Babylon, Cuthah, Avan, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and places them in Samaria to replace those whom he had taken captive. These settle there and inter-marry with the jews.

But these people "feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them,which slew some of them"(v.25). Notice the reference to lions (plural of assad in Arabic). In order to remedy the situation the King of Assyria is advised to bring back a priest and teach them the manner of the God of the land and how they should fear the Lord.

v.29 "Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places..."

v.30 "And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Mergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places....


v.34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, of after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded......

I pondered at these verses this morning. A lesson could be learnt. How true it is that unto this day we have nominal Christians and others who do after the former manners and they refuse to go back to the scriptures (the law and the prophets and the epistles) as their ultimate authority. People pick their own saints, from our part of the world even to its far end. Starting with the mother of Jesus all the way to heavenly beings they have chosen a god for themselves. In every Catholic/Orthodox/or other home I've been to there are idols of Mary and pictures and the so-called saints and pagan gods. They have set up groves (mazar in Arabic) in the gardens with a statue (graven images) of a woman inside it. They cling to these as they cling to life. My best friend is one of them. There is no way I can convince her that this is an abomination in the sight of our Holy God. They claim to fear the Lord, but the Bible is not their authority. I go to church, said my Spanish teacher (a stauch catholic) to me. They read passages of the gospels. That's not all I answered. "I don't need the Bible" was her sharp reply.

Look at the following paradox. In v. 33 the Holy script says they feared the Lord and served their own gods, but in v.34 God described this behaviour by "they fear not the Lord".

Before you get upset at the above, may be you should stop and think about it for a minute?

Posted by Consecrated at 7:07 AM | 4 comments    

Here's something to think about.

II Kings 13:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.

To the casual reader, the significance of some things may not be as clear, and the deep underlying meaning may evade us. In narrating the accounts of the Kings, check and see how many times the Bible makes reference to so many Kings who "followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin".

God is repeatedly tracing things back to their origin and I have a feeling he is doing this to make a point. That is why the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat are brought up again and again where the record concerns the life of kings now many years down the road. Just a reminder here, it was Jeroboam, king of Israel who fearing for himself made two calves of gold and told Israel "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt". (I Kings 12:28).

May be we need to take a second look at what we do concerning our worship. The sad part is that this thing became a sin for the people. Keep reading I Kings 12 and notice what this king did. He instituted a holiday on the "15th day of the eighth month which he had devised of his own heart", a feast that was not required by God. (Does 15 August ring a bell in your mind?). I wonder how often does mankind celebrate feats that men devised of their own heart? Remember God is always tracing things back to their origin and naming the sin by its father of all lies.

Do we ever stop to ask ourselves questions? What is the origin of our feast. How do we worship God. Is it pleasing to Him and according to what he has instituted? Or do we worship him by following the teachings of those who seemingly care for us by telling us "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem"?

A lot could be said here. Think about it for a moment.

Posted by Consecrated at 7:11 AM | 6 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 8:16 PM | 10 comments    

A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. Proverbs 11:1

Pro 11:20 They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. Proverbs 11:20

Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight. Proverbs 12:22

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. Proverbs 15:8

~We are either an abomination to the LORD or either His Delight. It is either / or.~

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

Posted by Redeemed at 8:49 PM | 13 comments    

I stopped by the gas station earlier this evening. I realized it has been almost two weeks since I filled my car. The french fellow was there. He was happy to see me give him two new chick tracts. He said he had read all the previous ones and had passed them on to his mother to read.

I was overjoyed. Praise God. More than one person is now reading these tracts. I asked him for his name and age. He was Martin he said, seventeen years old. I told him my son was coming in summer and that I wanted my son to have a chat with him when he comes.

He smiled and I drove home.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:28 PM | 11 comments    

I am ready to move. This week I placed my condo on the market. I have stayed at this location for about seven years now. My daughter says I am nomadic. Can't stay in one place for very long. I look at it this way. Moving is easier than repainting an occupied house. Can you imagine the dust and mess it makes to paint while you are living in one place. Besides my son will be visiting more often and staying for longer periods. With an additional room and bathroom I can always accommodate visitors. I would also love to have a small piece of land where I can plant a few things in my backyard. A swimming pool would also be nice. I prefer charcoal B.B.Qs. for summer. A treadmill in the basement works well in winter.

So you want to visit me in Montreal. Please pray for a quick transaction. I need to sell in six or seven weeks. The market is not as hot at this time of the year, but I am trusting the Lord to find me a suitable buyer and to lead me to the property of his choice.

Posted by Consecrated at 9:21 PM | 13 comments    

2 Samuel 24:23 - All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

I love to read through the word of God's with a fine-tooth comb.
Three letters highlighted above stunned me as I read my Bible this morning. The context is David arriving in Jerusalem and wanting to buy a piece of land from Araunah to build an altar after the plague had been stayed. Araunah gives him the threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

I stopped at length to think about the seven letters "as a king". Why has the Holy Spirit inserted these words, I wondered? The passage that came to my mind was the following:

Revelation 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. .. verse 10:The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

What I could see is a prophetic picture of the Christian, as a king, when all is said and done, casting down our crowns before the Lord Jesus Christ who alone is worthy to receive glory and honour and power.

Amen.

Posted by Consecrated at 2:09 PM | 8 comments    

Bible Studies for Genesis 3:14

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 6:20 AM | 2 comments    

Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all CATTLE, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life

10 points to whoever understands why the serpent is classified as "cattle"

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 12:15 PM | 25 comments    

Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

And it isn't about v.18.

I was commenting with one those verses on Carey's Journal when I was struck by something in v.14.
Here's what's odd: verses 16-17 describe a MARKET ECONOMY. So why in the world would the beast out of the earth tell people
"that they should MAKE an image to the beast"?

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:36 PM | 16 comments    

What a joyful experience it is to fill up gas (I actually hate it).

Last night was different though. It was rainy on my way back home, and I didn't want to, but I decided to stop by and fill up my car. The usual place I visit once a week. When I went in to pay, the young French fellow recognized me. He looked up and said, Aren't you the lady who gives me tracts all the time. What do you have for me tonight, he added.

What a pleasant surprise. How often do you get people asking you for tracts? I had none left in my purse having given them all out that day. But he was willing to wait. I ran to my car, popped the trunk open (always plenty of ammo there) grabbed about four French tracts and went back inside. Do you have this one? No. Do you have this one? No. Do you have this one? No. He took all four of them. Do you go to church, he asked (If only he knew, I thought. I go there five times a week). Sure, I do. I love God, I said. My mother goes to a seminary where they teach priests, he said. I go to a Bible teaching church, I replied. I am a born-again Christian. Evangelical, Baptist. I was so thrown off at his questions that I just stuttered and didn't know what exactly to say.

What is that, he asked. I explained that whatever is in the Bible we teach and do. What is not in the Bible we don't teach or do. Have you read the Bible, I asked? No. I don't have time was the standard reply. I quoted the verse to him: What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses himself. Next time I come around, I am bringing you a small gospel in French, I said as I was about to leave.

He bid me good night. He looked happy, and there was a sweet glow on his face. I felt so overwhelmed just to think that he actually asked me for literature. I hope and pray that he'll want to come to church with me some day. Praying for his salvation.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:03 PM | 12 comments    

I am not sure what to write. I witnessed some things over the past few days that I can not fully discuss here. It has to do with how carnal a saved Bible-believer can get, including me. It has to do with church elections.
I am burdened, more wistful than sullen. What was right took place, but at great cost. A Pyrrhic victory. I have prayed that God would shut us all up, seat each of us down and have a one-on-one talk with every individual. It is good to shut one's mouth in the presence of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Where is the profitable servant? It ain't me I'll tell you that. Believers often forget to shut up and know that He is the Lord (Psalm 46:10)
Isaiah wept not only because he was a man of unclean lips, but because he lived also in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). Fatally, as a mere lump of clay, he was in a sense vicariously guitly. It makes perfect sense. I always knew it. But now I know it a little more.
Even when I think I have acted well, wisely and with circumspection, having prayed and sometimes fasted; unfailingly, every single time I mess up some "little" thing which gnaws at my conscience.

Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

Job 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

Precisely. Then you face a flood of doctors of divinity and doctors of theology, and respected dedicated scholars, and pre-eminent textual authorities, experts of greek and hebrew, engineers and doctors and lawyers, and rubbish, utter rubbish. Vanity of vanities all is vanity.

Psalm 62:9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Also the unsaved world, with its driveling theories and paradigms of thought and dialectic materialism and ZeitGeist and periodization and self-actualization, and the progress of the human mind, the development of civilizations blablablablabla

Oh yeah?! well you still are a piece of dirt in the most literal sense of the word, buddy.
You still live in huts. And when you move to Mars, you will still live in huts! (Obadiah 1:4)
And you still die. Try to get around that one. Go on, bable on about the progress of science; you will rot in the grave before you get any news of some immortality-imparting drug.
The only divine spark you will ever experience is the raging fire of hell nourrished by the eternal wrath of God against your sins.
Oh I'm sorry, after you are buried you will be a flower?
You blithering fool have you ever entertained that idea for more than 10 consecutive seconds? Don't you know that flowers also burn? (Matthew 3:20)

It is haunting that we naturally think so highly of the self. You'll have people teaching the depravity of man and acting as if it were a truth utterly divorced from the realm of human experience.
People you love and respect begin to forget the pit from whence they were digged (Isaiah 51:1).
Slowly, O ever so slowly, almost, almost imperceptibly, a saved Bible-believer begins to think a little more highly of himself. Like a cameleon judges his steps forward with a back and forth swaying of his body, so does the aging born-again man, eye and test the next step of the ladder of self-esteem. Fatefully emboldened, the pace of ascent increases. Eventually the foot is swift enough to apply pressure just enough on a step to reach the next one before the former breaks. A numbingly mad upward rush ensues. The higher he is the more terrified of acknowledging his elevation. The heart enters the discourse. There is nothing more insiduously sinister than the heart which consols itself (Jeremiah 17:9). Usually, it will romance its owner. It will whisper him his victimhood and infuse it into his soul. As sweetly as a cradle's lullaby it will bless and nourrish his anger.
The faculties of the mind then come in to rationalize the situation so subtly it is mesmerizing to glimpse in action. You can never catch more than a glimpse, but it is chilling.

I read over verses and discover how little I believed them, even understood them.

Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

I am terrified of being proud. This is no humility. I am terrified because I feel it like a beast in me. When I am cleaving to the Lord it whimpers like a wounded dog. But give it the oddest situation, the most off-beat compliment and it will erect itself and growl the muffled fury of the ocean.
It is soul-wrenching to have to hate your own thoughts, your own flesh.
Every painful waking second. I plead with it. please, please a cease-fire. a cease-fire I beg. The concept is alien, utterly alien to it. It cannot answer for it speaks not the language. Leaven cannot be contained or paused.
I feel it. Sin exudes out of my pores. It is an overflowing kettle I cannot contain. Even here and now as I write. You see, why am I writing? You could question the very motive of my writing this. Am I seeking gratification? Compliments? We are rarely ruthless in our honesty towards ourselves.
Or is Satan using doubt to paralyze me from doing anything? You see man is utterly incapable of discernment when it comes to God. He cannot even discern his own self through his own spirit, because the latter is dead.
What does God think? He tries my reins (Psalm 7:9, Jeremiah 11:20). What does he see and know? Surely my spirit is his candle (Proverbs 20:27), let alone the rightly seeing Holy Spirit within me.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I shall know myself the way he knows me. I do not relish the prospect.

Then you begin to appreciate grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.
That's when you start holding on to grace like a dying man clings to life.
Then you start to realize what great a gulf God has bridged between himself and those who die, even without wisdom (Job 4:21)

You start to get Paul's pain as he pens

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

That's when you understand that the last thing that man is trying to be is poetic! It rubs me against the grain when people start identifying methodologies of poetry in the Bible and tell you that in greek this is called "something-something -asis". Yeah, YOU tell that to Paul as his nerves were snapping because he had another law in his members (Romans 7:23) or to Jeremiah who couldn't weep enough over Jerusalem to wet the fire which burned in his bones.
(Lamentations 1:12-13)

After that you begin to grasp Paul's fiery indignation when he writes

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Yet I am pathetically weak. Sometimes I feel I just whine for help instead of getting up and quitting myself like a man (1 Corinthians 16:13).
You know I can have the opportunity to witness to someone, and I will think, allright I have the opportunity to save this person from being transformed into a worm and spending eternity in agonizing fire.
And I will do nothing. NOTHING. I will rationalize it away or console myself in others I've witnessed to.
That's when you wax hyper-calvinist.
Those things appear at the judgment seat of Christ. Knowing this I'll admit it dampens my joyful expectation of getting to heaven. Because when you first arrive, the worst moment of your existence is about to take place. Can you imagine showing up before the Seat after any given martyr for the testimony of Jesus Christ? After any saintly old lady that spent her life on her knees lifting up her church in prayer and supplication?
I'm too lazy to pray long enough (Matthew 26:41). Where will I hide? What hole will I dig? I'm saved. I know I am. But I will stand before the God from whose face heaven and earth run away, to be JUDGED, by the JUDGE of all the earth (Genesis 18:25). I cannot lose my salvation, but I'll tell you what I'll lose once and for all, any smattering of self-righteous pride. There's the upside.

"O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be"

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 4:23 PM | 6 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 10:45 PM | 2 comments    

The following nugget is from a sermon we heard on Times Square Church in downtown Manhattan last Sunday.

Be careful what you pray for. The bible gives us a clear example in the case of Hezekiah. I have cut and paste verses both from II Chronicles and II Kings for flow.
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2 Kings 20:1 - In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

II Chronicles 32:24 In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

II Kings 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years;

II chronicles 32:33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, ... And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
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What do we read immediately after that in verse one of the following chapter.
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2 Chronicles 33:1 - Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: 2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen,...

6 and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.


II chronicles 33: 6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, ...9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

II Kings 21:16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

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King Manasseh was born to King Hezekiah during those 15 additional years.

Wouldn't it have been better if Hezekiah had just let go and accepted his lot from God's hands.

Posted by Consecrated at 11:38 AM | 8 comments