kjv@Acts:26 @ @ RandyP comments: It is important to remember as you consider your salvation and the salvation of others that God isn't just turning you/them from their own personal sins, He is turning you/them from the power of Satan. It does little good to deal within the micro and to still leave you within the cords of deceit and destruction in the macro.
kjv@Psalms:50 @ @ RandyP comments: It is truly inspiring to hear the psalmist describe our God, to consider His ways even for as little as we can comprehend. It is addictive! There is literally nothing that is not His making nor possession. Along with the excitement and trust there is also a fear and a urgency for us to pay our vows.
kjv@Psalms:55 @ @ RandyP comments: In this case, David's enemy was a one time confidant, someone his equal that he had trusted in the affairs of the kingdom. This may not be the same type of enemy that we would have, does not have the same political effect, but, we feel the similarity just the same. The context must remain the extreme positions that these two men held and the severity of one man turning to injure the reputation of the other, the king. By the time David prays for a destruction, he is speaking in the plural.
kjv@Psalms:58 @ @ RandyP comments: This psalm is probably not sung all that much in today's congregation because we have little understanding of who the wicked are and just what a burden they are placing upon the poor and needy and the upright defending them. No we are much more tolerant these days seeking for everybody just to get along. A psalm like this leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of many a congregation because it is too judgmental. THe righteous however will rejoice when they see that God indeed judges the earth righteously.
kjv@Acts:28:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul took courage. Even for a man of such deep faith and conviction the process is long and tiring. The sign of other brethren and time spent with them no matter how little has to be a strong encouragement. Not everyone sees fellowship in the same light as Paul. It is a wearing experience all it's own. It is easier fellowshiping with sports fans or business associates even strangers. Perhaps the expectations and roles we assume are too much different. Perhaps we should re-learn what it is to be in Christian fellowship.
kjv@Psalms:64 @ @ RandyP comments: These enemies plagued David. The battle field was political but, the warfare was spiritual. We may see them merely as personal conflicts but,Satan knew the prophecies and importance God was placing on lineage. He had plenty a willing minions to combat what God was doing. We could also see Jesus surveying His situation similarly in a much larger battle. We would see such if we were engaged in this fight as well.
kjv@Romans:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage is often used in the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage. You'll notice though that that the list of reprobate tendencies is longer than just that. Though sexual preference is mentioned prominently, it is mentioned in the context of why God gave them over to this along with the list of things equally abhorrent. To continue in any of these behaviors, to attempt to reason that any are anything less than what they are, to seek out those that are similarly minded, is to continue in the defiant and reprobate nature Paul calls to attention. To judge one ill behavior while performing another is out right hypocrisy. We must all beware.
kjv@Romans:2 @ @ RandyP comments: No one is above judgement. Our only salvation in judgment is in Jesus Christ. In the previous chapter we've read of the ways of the reprobate. It would be natural for us to be judgmental of others given this impressive list. The problem with that is in the many things for which we ourselves will be judged, things perhaps more hidden than for example overt homosexuality. Persons on both sides of the line draw their own conclusions and judgements. A wall builds up between us with sinners on both sides. God's long suffering and forbearance has been shown to us all. It is time for us on both sides to think in terms of the spirit verses the letter of the law. Let us set aside any sin that would so easily beset us.
kjv@Romans:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember where to find this chapter. Memorize it and it's key versus or at the very least understand it fully. This is one of the gems of all human literature; one of several found in Romans.
kjv@Psalms:76 @ @ RandyP comments: In Judah God is known for the miraculous protection provided. Many a enemy has risen against her and against most incredible odds Judah has seen the Lord deliver. There is no tactical reason or military advantage they possessed for them to be victorious; other than God's hand. God's judgment is for the meek. There is then a sense of reverence and obligation to the Lord that must be paid. That He has done this for Judah is equally important for modern Christians as well as we have been grafted into this heritage too.
kjv@Psalms:82 @ @ RandyP comments: The poor and the needy are a constant theme in our reading. There are a great many reasons one might be poor and needy or fatherless and afflicted. I have known people that I have tried to help that even with my extra resources that just don't know any other way. In some respects it seems as if this exhortation is more about working to keep the wicked off their backs. By accepting the persons of the wicked, by not realizing who they are and what they are doing and calling them out we are dealing unjustly with poor and needy. An entire and large sub economy is built around serving the poor either as false recipients or providers that have little to do with actually helping the poor. The system grows exponentially but the truly needy are ill served. Our good intentions are used by the wicked to serve their darker purposes.
kjv@Psalms:83 @ @ RandyP comments: Even in that day there was a substantial and unified conspiracy against the presence of Israel. On one level it appears to be political but, from this author's vantage point it appears to be a spiritual warfare. Given that the promised Messiah was to come from Judah, given that all nations would one day worship in a New Jerusalem, given that God's name would dwell in Zion, given that all nations would blessed that bless Israel, the Devil I am sure makes it his object to tear at Israel. After nearly two thousand years of dispersed absence we are back to the same thing. It takes on political consequence but, have no doubt that it is spiritual in nature.
kjv@Psalms:101 @ @ RandyP comments: David was a king and a politician. Can you imagine a king or politician now days saying something like this? or publishing it in a song book? In the kings house especially there is such an importance to setting the mood and timber of those serving and surrounding the throne. Not every ruler is strong enough to to do this as it creates many enemies but, it certainly has great advantage.
kjv@Psalms:102 @ @ RandyP comments: David frequently considers not only his own mortality but God's eternity. Here he includes our universe as well. The earth and heavens were made to perish and be replaced. The children of His servants shall continue and their seed be established. By sequence, it tells me that our final dwelling is somewhere beyond this present universe.
kjv@Romans:12 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a sure transformation that follows when a soul has becomes a living sacrifice unto the Lord. It gives the capability of the fruitful produce of ones gifts, the striving for the unity of fellowship, the nurturing of others gifts. More and more it becomes a cooperative strength, cooperative love and cooperative outreach to the world within and beyond.
kjv@Psalms:106 @ @ RandyP comments: They sacrificed sons and daughters to devils. If the notion is true that all paths lead to God, we would have to say no they sacrificed unto other forms of the same God. Then why would God be so angry and show His displeasure in so many ways? One must ask where do other forms of gods come from? How do they develop the forms of influence that they do and sway so many well intended people? Would they of sacrificed if they had known that behind these gods were literal devils? How is it that despite all these God given miracles and large wondrous mercies that they would still sacrifice to devils and learn of others idolatrous works?
kjv@Psalms:108 @ @ RandyP comments: Vain is the help of man. It is said "I get by with a little help from my friends". There is certainly a time and place for this type of help. There is a time and place for a much greater help though as well. I can not think of what I would do facing those times had I not had my faith and God going forth in front of me. Friends can surely be comforting as well as discomforting. They can think that they are saying the right things and they can speak before thinking too. We take that for what it is. But there are times when sheer valor is required, we need our foundation set upon the Rock; that would be most all the time now it seems.
kjv@Psalms:114 @ @ RandyP comments: The sea parted for Israel. The Jordan river became dry land for them to cross. As a foreign nation watching on from a distance, one would have to ask why such a mighty god would do these things for Israel and not us? Later, after our foreign nation had infiltrated and commingled our gods and idols into Israel, one would have to ask why is this god Jehovah so jealous over Israelite people and not us? What are these many legends being retold about their time in the desert? Surely, Israel is being used as an injection point for His inoculation needle. The surrounding area festers, it fevers, it changes, the remainder of the body takes sudden and frequent notice. The body collectively resists, the body swells against, it is whipped into a frenzy, but, in the process of fighting against the injection the body takes on and spreads the antibody unknowingly, receiving and carrying about that which the Doctor behind the needle had fully intended from the start. 'Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob'.
kjv@Psalms:131 @ @ RandyP comments: When the heart is haughty and the eyes lofty the soul takes upon itself a great deal, increasingly large matters it really has no business in. I think of the political campaigns we are suffering these months ahead of elections. Presented are entire shopping lists of big and grandiose ideas/programs that each and everyone of us knows will never once be addressed. So why are we making concern over them, why to the near exclusion of the things that we would be able to address? This same type issue is true in our individual hearts as well. Oh yes, grand dreams and visions, miraculous intentions, marvelous causes, big and frequent squawks and chatter. It hardly ever results in any more than that. For some though, a new found calm and quietness, a weaning from the demanding tantrums of a suckling child, a trust and obedience to a more modest constantly maturing godly nature.
kjv@1Corinthians:10:1-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Ensamples they are, written for our admonition. Let's look at just the pure mathematics of probability. It is immensely more probable that we are beset by one of these traits than not. Idolaters, fornicators, tempters of Christ, murmurers, each trait more diverse and profound than first glance; and there are more. If one today thinks he stands he should take heed lest he fall. God knows this and is faithful. He has made a means to escape and bear it!
kjv@1Corinthians:10:14-33 @ @ RandyP comments: We often look for clear and concrete guidelines when it comes to the many grey areas of life. Concrete guidelines are not always found. No clearer principal exits however than the conscience of others and the profitability to souls being moved/directed toward the kingdom of God. If it offends, set aside any personal liberty for the moment. Do all to the glory of God.
kjv@Psalms:148 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a place where even inanimate objects can praise the Lord, in our eyes and hearts. They praise Him just by being, by the place that they fulfill amongst all creation. Animate creatures as well, though they may not intellectually know they experience which is just as good as knowing. Humans may well place too much on knowing and too little on simply connecting and being part of the praise all around.
kjv@Proverbs:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Simple mindedness can be thought of as open mindedness; it can be both good and bad. An open mind can lead to the acceptance of the possibility of wisdom all ready being prepared beforehand there for the taking, for the shedding of and separation from foolishness. It can also lead to nothing more than an attitude permitting oneself to scorn the notion of true wisdom and an investigation into stolen and secret sensual pleasures. One way leads to life the other to hell. Ones focus should not be on having an open mind just for the sake of having an open mind and being able to self justify any and everything, one should have an open mind for the sake of seeking absolute truth for it will catch up with us sooner than later. Perhaps having a clear mind should be a better objective.
kjv@Proverbs:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Like all scripture the proverbs take some digging into. Meaning may not be immediately obvious especially when two proverbs take the same point from two different directions. In a sense many of these appear as generalities when taken individually. But if taken as spring boards toward a greater reverence/fear of the Lord, the sum brings true wisdom/understanding; somethings that the casual reader will not spend time to consider.
kjv@Proverbs:13:12 @ @ RandyP comments: If our hope is in something that has no possibility of coming forth or is not in the will of God or is not pursued in a manner pleasing to God or we never diligently pursued it the heart will remain sick. One must be honest about what is deferring the hope. Who, what, when, where, how, to what extent and to whose glory seem to be the appropriate questions.
kjv@Proverbs:15:18 @ @ RandyP comments: tsk@Proverbs:15:18 has some interesting links to some Bible characters known for their ability to appease strife.
kjv@Proverbs:15 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Proverbs:15:33 seems best to summarize all the individual proverbs we've now read best. Everything comes down to this - humility before honor, reverence is the allowance to become tutored by.
kjv@Proverbs:22:26 @ @ RandyP comments: How about the politician who strikes hands and puts the American people and their future generations as sureties for debt?
kjv@2Corinthians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: The unequal yoke in context seems to apply to the burden of Christian work and ministry not so much marriage. While unequal marriages might hinder the work, so too might other gods, so might cultural/political/ecumenical alliances and causes etc..; I think of the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches' yoke to the Nazi and Fascist party's in WWII. Paul speaks of marriages elsewhere to unbelievers and does not make so definite a conclusion. This context would also change our perception of the 'temple of the living God' phrase as well.
kjv@2Corinthians:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The ministry to the saints should be a ministry assumed by all believers. There is an expectation of equality where by my surplus at this time supplies to your needs and your surplus at another time will supply mine. Even during the difficult times, there are wonderful examples of believers squeezing extra out resources to others. We should not only commit to such causes but follow through on our commitments. In this we prove our love for the brethren. Sometimes we just expect God to take care of it not realizing that this is often how God takes care of it.
kjv@Galatians:2:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter received correction. Had he been the first Pope and had the Pope been given immutable divine interpretation as supposed by Roman Catholic doctrine, he would not have needed correction. Paul would have shamefully exceeded his lesser authority. Their doctrine follows from a possible misinterpretation on the proclamation Jesus made that on 'this Rock' He would build His church. Rock more likely meaning the divinely revealed faith and not just Cephas 'the rock' personally kjv@Matthew:16:17-20 (literally - You are 'piece of rock' and upon this 'massive Rock' (which flesh and blood have not revealed) I build my church).
kjv@Isaiah:13 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord intends to use Babylon to accomplish His will on the one hand but, will punish them for their evil on the other. All of their strength and glory will come to nothing. He does not give up on Israel but, drives them hard to purge them. That He must drive them this hard says so much about the sin nature we are under; it is no little thing.
kjv@Isaiah:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Removed from the context of the passage the section on Lucifer can be looked at as a description of the Devil; which may or may not be the author's intent. In context, we might think of it as a description of the king of Babylon who had similarities to the Devil and may have been heavily under his influence. The remainder of the prophecy in context namely the desolation of the city of Babylon has for a long time been fulfilled; the city ruin only recently haven been located by aerial satellite in Iraq. Plans are being made by some to rebuild it. It is mentioned again in latter day prophecy.
kjv@Isaiah:32 @ @ RandyP comments: An interesting new character type is identified here - women at ease. I don't recall this type elsewhere such as the Proverbs where so many traits are profiled. I can imagine though where this trait would be dangerous being disconnected from the urgent religious and political matters at hand, disinterested in the catastrophic events happen all around, disassociating them selves from the poor/needy/oppressed/struggling/upright, attentive only perhaps to their own social rank and cultural standing. There is the sin of calling evil good and good evil but this almost the sin of not calling it anything at all.
kjv@Isaiah:41:26 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord is righteous. A large measure of that righteousness can be found in the fact that He announces what will be before it happens. It is not to show off, though it is impressive, it is to warn and instruct. It is righteous for instance for the highway department to put a warning sign before a sharp curve or steep decline. Whether there is good ahead or danger it is right of the Lord to show it in advance. It also shows that He is a Lord like no other with vision and capability to perform it.
kjv@Isaiah:48-49 @ @ RandyP comments: Babylon did not gain it's strength by it's own greatness or doings. Their surge was as unpredicted and irrational as any other peaceable nation of that time. The fact that the Lord made it happen testifies to His power, not theirs. They were the 'Grand Lady' of the region. He made them into a war like empire perhaps like no other in history not for their own glory (He would quickly take that away) but to reproof Judah and alert the known world His displeasure with sin/the inability of man fulfilling the Law/the coming of His Messiah/His unmovable commitment His covenant to Jacob.
kjv@Colossians:4:12-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Some are given the burden of prayer. It does not say what other positions or responsibilities this person may of held. To be saluted as a warrior of prayer and acknowledged for a particular burden for some specific congregations is illustrative of how Paul's team operated.
kjv@Isaiah:54 @ @ RandyP comments: The effect of the 'Servant's' redemptive work is glorious. The life to follow extreme. For now we have this eternal hope. It guides us and feeds us and inspires us. Soon it will be our reality. Instead of a flood of destruction it will be to us a flood of supreme love and good will.
kjv@1Thessalonians:4:13-18 @ @ RandyP comments: There are differing theories that can be scripturally supported regarding the dead in Christ. The most common would suggests that this passage is speaking of the body being at sleep but the spirit being fully awake and present with the Lord. This would allow for Paul's 'being absent from this body means being present with the Lord' comment as well as Jesus' 'this day you will be with me in paradise' statement as well as others (beggar and rich man etc..). Others suggest this is a literal sleep (like Lazarus), that time is imperceivable in eternity, that from our side this sleep is for a while, from eternity it would be instantaneous. There are other plausible explanations as well. Either way, the Lord has matters well in hand, and the soul is at a state of grace and peace.
kjv@Isaiah:61 @ @ RandyP comments: We wee the nations serving Israel and the Israelites being special priests to them. There is a definite order and social/religious structure in this new kingdom.
kjv@1Thessalonians:5:18 @ @ RandyP comments: So what is the will of God concerning us? What is it that He is grooming in us no matter what our situation? Intelligence? Superior charm and tolerance? Personal mastery and the ability to channel His energy to achieve our many goals? No, thanks!
kjv@Jeremiah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: At least in Jeremiah's case he was chosen out before he was even formed in the womb. In this case chosen to be a prophet. And he became a prophet at a very early age with great impact and miraculous confirmations. How much further amongst us does this extend? We are not told directly here. Are we chosen before the womb? This argument is used pro and con in the abortion debate. The suggestion that a mother's rights trump God's (even if not pre-selected in every conception, merely rather on the possibility) should cause alarm. Only the hardened soul can completely wipe this fact off the board without at least some resemblance of consideration. Then there is the consideration that even if not chosen, even if not chosen to be a prophet or great historical figure, God saw fit for that conception to occur.
kjv@Jeremiah:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember that the Lord is declaring this in advance. He had offered to them the possibility once again to escape, but, knew in this case that they would not. If He knew they wouldn't accept these terms why would He even offer them? By having this declared, by having this written for the sake of the remnant, they in the future will know these things to be true and thus the Lord to be greatly feared.
kjv@1Timothy:6 @ @ RandyP comments: This epistle has been written to encourage and develop a younger pastor on Paul's team. It is interesting how the letter dives into the more daily essentials of being a pastor and an example of Christs to the fellowship and community as a whole. The functions of a church, the how to's of keeping the church activities focused and not distracted, it's investment in the truly needy, it's absence from vain arguments and partiality, the qualifications of elders and deacons, what to look for in people that may intend to take advantage of the church's compassion, etc... all these things good for us to know as well; pastor's or not.
kjv@Jeremiah:25 @ @ RandyP comments: Many would place the first world war in the early nineteenth century A.D., a major reshuffling of the power structures of the world. What is described here is perhaps the first world shift in the fifth B.C.. What had begun in a smaller scale in the 6th included Israel but, not Judah nor Eygypt etc... No nation now was allowed by the Lord not to drink from this cup. It was not a war of powerful alliances but of fracturing splits and singular domination. We see here God's greater vision, we have been focused too narrowly on Israel/Judah (false prophets, kings,etc..) and not on the entirety of mankind. The cup is prepared and filled in Jerusalem, but, is shared on all the nations. Babylon is used to begin the drunken slug-fest but, it too fractures soon after and is forced to drink as well by the much inferior Medes. The void is later filled by the Persians and then the Greeks.
kjv@Jeremiah:27 @ @ RandyP comments: Much of what the prophet has said has begun to come to pass. The evidence should be clear. Yet the other prophets are saying what has been taken away thus far will be taken back and the temple restored by their word. The Lord is flushing these false prophets out. The king must be aware of the Lord's doings here; those nations that will place themselves under the yoke Nebuchadnezzar will be spared, those who rebel or think otherwise will be consumed. Willing humility, acceptance of reproof, subjection to the counter intuitive is what will save the nation in the long run.
kjv@Titus:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The necessity of maintaining good works; all of us. It is not just having an intention to do them, it is not just us studying to know how they might be done, it is us stepping forward into them and adapting within them to get them done. It is not just beginning them, it is us maintaining them for the long run. Notice how many people Paul has involved in his good works. They are part of his, he is part of theirs, we are part of the Lord's; small works, large works, works we don't even know are being done we are striving to be fruitful in. Peter shared a similar vision of being fruitful in the knowledge of Christ kjv@2Peter:1. See also kjv@Romans:12. In fuller context, these works are to be done yet with an eye on reasonable subjection to the civic and legal principalities that govern all.
kjv@Lamentations:4 @ @ RandyP comments: From this distance we may loose the scope of context a contemporary of Jeremiah may have sensed. One thing we now we might miss is just how impossible this all may have seemed. All of the eyes of the other nations looking on this would have known how unbreachable the defenses of Jerusalem would have been and yet they were utterly destroyed; and if Jerusalem then surely theirs. It was known to them as well that Jerusalem was the Lord's and that the Lord had not let iniquity go unpunished even/especially amongst His own. Predicted now is the fall of great Babylon, an even greater impossibility. Surely there would be the sense that if this is to happen that all of this can only be of the Lord.
kjv@Ezekiel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Though we are not the prophet specifically being addressed we should assume that there is a responsibility in the same sense of ours to our stiff-necked generation as well. A man may well die in his sin regardless, but, that is not for our interpretation. Our concern is that he is presented with the Gospel and has the opportunity whether he accepts it or not to choose not to die in his sin otherwise his blood in some measure is on us.
'The LORD has forsaken earth, and seeth not'. If so then we are most likely to continue this same evil. In our homes? In our schools? In our court rooms? In the way we personally try to hide our faith from our neighbors and coworkers? Morality surely cannot be legislated but to rest silent in the lie that 'God has forsaken/does not see' is a worse evil. Would our foreheads be marked or unmarked today if such a judgment was to again occur in our community/nation?
kjv@Ezekiel:15 @ @ RandyP comments: From one fire into another, from time to time as individuals we may feel this so, this though is speaking of an entire nation. How would it not be known that the Lord has set His face against them? Few of us have ever felt this type of judgment upon us. In our own lives we may think it or even make it be so. Often we perceive His instruction/correction falsely as so but, rather that is His love. Some moments we may feel as if persecution suffered in His name is so but, rather that is simply sharing in His sufferings. When the Lord however sets His face against an entire people it no doubt will be known by those people. These are not moments where the possibility will be debated or interpreted.
kjv@Ezekiel:23 @ @ RandyP comments: The Holy Spirit by these writings has gone to great lengths to have us understand what exactly is going on here. There should be no uncertainty as to what God wants us to know about this judgment. Multiple accounts, multiple graphical pictures, all similar in detail. The two sisters here are Israel (Samaria) and Judah (Jerusalem). Their adultery is religious and then political/economic and likely physical as well. They are depicted as doting upon their lovers. God is depicted turning their lovers against them, it will be the same foreigners they've doted on that will brutishly destroy them. Judah is especially coppable having watched Israel go through this beforehand and having had extended opportunity to repent. The question is why is it God is having Ezekiel go over and over again on these details, is it for our behalf?
kjv@James:4 @ @ RandyP comments: The mention of friendship with this world along with lust to envy is used to describe our spirit. All of the things we want and have not, all the things we ask but do not receive, the strivings and wars, they have their roots in this combination. It appears to be within our power because if we are to come to Christ we must put aside these things. But, putting this aside involves humility and affliction, mourning and cleansing, which are the opposite of our envy and destructive to our friendship with this world. This mention may be just as much for the body of believers as for the individual.
kjv@Ezekiel:29 @ @ RandyP comments: Egypt was not spared from judgment in fact they were given over as wages to Nebuchadrezzar for the siege on Tyrus earlier. They would be dispersed forty years then regathered as a much less imposing nation. This lasting humility was purposeful so as to rebuke Israel as well for relying upon Egypt for it's protection instead of God.
kjv@Ezekiel:33 @ @ RandyP comments: The iniquity of others is of their own doing. However, their blood can be charged to another if the other knew to warn them and did not. It is interesting how the elements of equity/responsibility/and true righteousness inter play with each other in this chapter's context.
kjv@1Peter:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter is rarely quoted by the prosperity preachers as much as the others because these earthly things were of little importance to him. This coming from a productive business man. Of the many things more likely important to him tops would be unfeigned love toward God and brethren, the testing and trying of faith to its precious purification, the furtherance of the commission of the spreading of the Gospel to the vast world beyond. The prosperity message more times than not is a direct hindrance to these types of things.
kjv@Ezekiel:37 @ @ RandyP comments: Some of the dispersed have been regathered here since 1947 + 1968. Many are still left to come. Judah and Israel are again solidified as one. The things not yet achieved is the revelation of the true Shepherd, the cleansing of their hearts, the installment of David as His king. Whether the raising of the bones is literal or symbolic, it would have to be at least in the case of David. These things are moving ahead quickly.
kjv@Ezekiel:38 @ @ RandyP comments: You can just imagine the size of the force that could be mounted right now by a combination of Russia Iran Ethiopia Libya Europe (at least the southern and/or Celtic union). Imagine them all descending upon little Israel being the size of Rhode Island. Imagine that God has drawn them in to a terrible defeat so that other heathen nations will know that He is God.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: Having been around friends that are architects and structural engineers, I can sense the amount of thought and design that must have gone into this temple. The attention to scope and field and depth, semblance and symmetry and proportion, utility and aesthetic. I would imagine that Ezekiel is seeing this pristine and uninhabited. I would imagine the architect is seeing this with the flow of people in and out, the reverence and perception that He is attempting to evoke. I have seen the complexity of blue prints and schematics, I cant imagine trying to build this from a written description.
kjv@Ezekiel:44 @ @ RandyP comments: Only the Levitical order of Zadok is re-installed, the rest bare their own shame. The daily service and requirements seems to be much the same as before the difference being this time that it is all carried out to the tee. This is performed for the children of Israel. There still appears to be strangers and uncircumcised that will not be allowed into this temple. If this is the third or final temple it must suggest a continued segregation of Israelite worship from Gentile.
kjv@2Peter:3:15-16 @ @ RandyP comments: There should be no doubt that Paul was not only known by Peter but read and agreed with by Peter. What better recommendation can Paul's literary works receive.
kjv@2Peter:3:15-16 @ @ RandyP comments: It has been the doctrine of some cults (even the universal church at times) that the unlearned masses must be kept from the holy scrip based on the possible misinterpretation and destruction it might cause them identified by this passage. The context however of this passage in light of kjv@2Peter:2 is more properly of those who once knew of the Gospel/Grace of Christ but chose not to continue, turned to oppress and afflict and teach falsely after their own increased unrighteousness and gain. Paul's writings in particular are targeted by these cherry picking wicked souls as points of fierce contention, points of apparent contradiction, points to slander and attack. Peter here stands up for Paul in uncompromising fashion and therefore endorses the distribution of his works. The general masses are greatly helped rather by the availability of unfiltered scripture, their trust in leadership deeply enhanced in the things that are not easily understood by the things that are. Those who are going to fall away are going to fall away any way. Disputes and factions may arise amongst us over certain points as we try to become learned, but, even that is used to challenge and stir and put essential truths into our remembrance. Challenge does not mean destruction, challenge means hunger and thirst and utter trust in the most certain hope of an eventual divinely revealed answer.
kjv@Daniel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: It is hard for us to imagine the heart of a king that would be driven to do this, either put in the furnace those that don't worship him or latter cut up those that don't speak amiss towards Jehovah. I guess from a tactile sense a king must test the heart of his people. In another sense he must puff himself up beyond mere mortal to remain in solid control. It amazes me however that the masses blindly go along with it and carry their power to his feet. I know that this is a different culture, I know that their system of beliefs go different directions, yet the same basic mentality flourishes today. The people hold the power but, for the sake of something undetermined that they presume to gain, they bow to such a conceded and arrogant man.
kjv@Daniel:3 @ @ RandyP comments: What is it about the appearance of the fourth figure that made even such a godless man come to the conclusion that it was the Son of Man? Apparently the Son of Man is not such a foreign concept to other religions and cultures. Apparently there is something universally identifiable about Him. We are not told what physical features were evident. We are not told whether others drew the same conclusion. We do know that such a conclusion would be humbling to man that sought for the masses to worship himself. It must have convincing enough at least for a time for him to make the second decree. Could he have spun this to his own political advantage?
kjv@1John:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Cain is purposely used as the counter example. This key information steers the understanding of this passage a direction it otherwise would not go. The context becomes the inseparable fusion of love and righteousness, it's perceived source/manner and the resultant actions occurring from. Two men make the same effort to worship the living God, the means of which produce two opposite ends. The same can be said of two men that worship, one finding the ability to love unfeigned, the other finding the ability to hate and inflict judgment.
kjv@Daniel:6 @ @ RandyP comments: In the comments of kjv@Daniel:5 I had pondered the righteousness of God and the unrighteousness of man as it came to God appointing rulers, even if of questionable heart. Here immediately after that chapter, we see a demonstration of one of these leaders being played shrewdly/wickedly by a band of political malcontents to a man of God's harm/end. The king was aware of the trickery and sorrowful about it but, was not in a position to go against his own decree. We see a similar occurrence with Pilot regarding the sentencing of Jesus. We should be aware then that matters of righteousness and unrighteousness and leadership are not as cut and dry as we commoners presume, neither is the manner in which the righteous hand of God must deal with them.
kjv@Daniel:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Such a vision is troubling for all of us but yet we must keep the matter in heart. It is a terrifying time for the people of this world. The turmoil and suffering of the past world wars are pale in comparison. It is not just the exhibition of the wickedness of man but, the brutal demonic nature of spiritual principalities in full view. For Daniel, having the big picture brought down to human perspective through the use of descriptive symbols and characters is astonishing. Though difficult to know exactly who each character is and what the details mean, we all sense the general motion.
kjv@Daniel:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Given the trembling and reverence given this figure, the language used regarding Him, the worship even to unconsciousness and dumbfoundedness (forbidden of towards even angels), I see little doubt that this is none other than The Lord Christ Himself that Daniel falls before.
kjv@Revelation:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those that for for the sake of their own individual faith have deserted the corporate faith of the church body. Our Lord does not address the church of Randy in this revelation which should be an indication of what kind of church the church of Randy is; it is not. Notice that our Lord did not say 'oh members of the church of Thyatira, run away, split, your church is corrupt, it is getting too hard for you to grow and be productive'. Instead it says 'hold fast/overcome'. Why is the church so important? Ask the Lord.
kjv@Hosea:11 @ @ RandyP comments: Hosea has spoken almost exclusively about judgments on Israel as a whole and namely the component areas of Ephraim/Samaria with little mention of Judah which for now remains mostly faithful. He is a prophet for this region. Comprised of 10 of the tribes, Ephraim itself being 3, their first and foremost transgression is that their worship of Jehovah was moved to two unsanctioned high towers in their own land so that they wouldn't have to cross into Judah to get to Jerusalem. Worship of Jehovah quickly morphed into worship of Baalim. Their jealousy toward the seat of David (corrupt as many descendant kings were) and resultant hatred was the beginning of the end for themselves.
kjv@Hosea:13 @ @ RandyP comments: I get the sense that Ephraim was the dominate coalition driving Israel (he exalted himself). Samaria was just plain rebellious (she rebelled against her God). Still we see throughout the desire of God to have them return. He sets about them as a lion/leopard/bear to devour in their faithless idolatry but as a king in their faithful regathering. In Him is their help/ransom.
kjv@Revelation:3:14-22 @ @ RandyP comments: Laodicean, the lukewarm church, what a terrible thing to be. Many consider this church to be the closest to our modern American church. Some even suggest the the churches listed here in Revelations mark out specific church ages and that we are in the last age. The things that most identifies this church is that it is affluent and coasting not receiving much persecution but not extending itself outward into any situations that it might receive any reproof or chastisement. It is the polite to everybody, let's not stir anything up, we got it too good church.
kjv@Joel:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Joel was a prophet for Judah at the time of Isaiah and Amos and king Uzziah. The region faces a terrible plague like few ever seen, it sounds like a plague upon a plague. Not many of us have experienced a plague or drought, what little I know I've been told from grandparent survivors and some study of the 1930's dust bowl. They are times of great soul searching, there is nothing to do but pray and wait them out. People are changed however. They become thankful for the simple things, frugal and thrifty and inventive beyond end, engaged with family and neighbors and community. They set the table of viewpoint for generations to come. They also become much closer to God. They are reminders of how much/deeply we need God's mercies in so many ways, how much we miss them when they are partially withheld.
kjv@Revelation:4:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Must be. So many consider this book as what could be if we don't straighten ourselves up, that the power to hold this off is in our hands. All of scripture suggests different. As bad and as wrong as all that follows seems to be, it is right and part of the course God has mandated. His faithfulness is contrasted by man's deprived nature given every opportunity to repent and by the spiritual war of Satanic powers and principalities that have been hidden all about us till this time. It is the time that His chosen people come awake, their eyes opened to His Messiah, His covenant to their fathers Abraham Issac and Jacob towards them finally realized.
kjv@Revelation:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If you have ever been blessed with revelation you know that your attention to detail is un-human. The things that you remember are remembered because there is divine meaning planted in each and every little thing, they are sealed in your memory because they are meant to be sealed. There is no doubt coming out that you are granted occasion to be a part of something foreign and miraculous and you want to go back into it without letting the moment get away from you. You try to get back into it for days, but, eventually realize that it has ended. It may be the only revelation you ever again receive or it may be years until another. Part of you however searches for it again in your dreams, in strange little occurrences, in voices you think that you might of heard. John here receives perhaps the greatest and most complete revelations ever recorded. The imagery and symbolism and threads tied to other bible prophets and covenant history that God uses is utterly mind blowing. John must have been exhausted afterward beyond human strength.
kjv@Amos:1:11 @ @ RandyP comments: The forth reason for the four judgments, this on Edom itself. Edom, the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau in their unrelenting wrath not only received all the Israelite captives from Damascus/Gaza/Tyrus but pursued more with vengeance.
kjv@Amos:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Edom and Ammon are at the center of these reasons so far with assistance from Damascus Gaza and Tyrus. These are all kin to Israel rooted deep with the patriarchs, but, have long been enemies and sore spots to Israel. They have taken their hostility way too far (as kin folk often do) and violated common brotherly/tribal/national sensibility.
kjv@Amos:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Many today think of their sins as personal things that have little or no effect on others such as the just, the poor, the oppressed, the needy. This passage speaks of such transgressions causing a nation's judgment as a whole to become as soft porous wormwood and it's righteousness to be left off. The stark evidences can be found in how the just are more and more rebuked, abhorred and afflicted (to the point the just are better off personally to keep silent). The results are a form of personal prosperity and social suave that comes quickly to an end having no bases of support (earlier described as being lead away by fish hooks). The nation as a whole is judged not only by it's failed condition, but, by God. Doesn't sound all that personal to me.
kjv@Amos:6 @ @ RandyP comments: For some Israelites here, the conditions don't seem to be all that bad; beds of ivory, bowels of wine, music upon their porches. One might say that their gods have blessed them well. What gods? Like their gods, is this not all by their selfish imaginations? Is this not all by their deliberate stiff handed taking? Today we package it as assertiveness, as going out and getting what you desire, as the eye of the tiger, virility and fertility. These are the same pictures that many other gods portray, they are symbols of a darker wisdom. Yes, it brings some prosperity, but, it destroys many others, it is at other's expense. And for what? A moment on a roof top looking down on all the soiled masses. Oh my what a view.
kjv@Revelation:6 @ @ RandyP comments: From our limited perspective it would be quiet logical to wonder why anyone would want to become worthy in order to open up such judgments upon mankind. Our perspective limits the nature and effects of our sin. Becoming worthy meant dying to take these natures and effects away. Our perspective limits the fact that for ions these judgments have been held off to one seven year period. Till now we have tasted enough judgment to see the need to repent but, little of the judgment that sin actually deserves. If God's mercy is not enough to turn us, if His occasional and limited judgments upon us are not enough, if His word and testimony are not enough, if His grace and provision is not enough, if the love shown in the giving of His own Son is not enough, even for having the threat of these predetermined judgments opened, what then is there that would be enough? At some point can it not be said that the remainder of mankind will not turn? Thus is the truest nature of sin exposed; it will not let go and it limits everything down to it's own justifications. Why not then this judgment? If seen from the perspective of the heavenly host looking down on this, one would have to ask why hasn't this judgment come already.
kjv@Obadiah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: As you have done so shall it be done to thee. Edom was deceived in two ways, by its pride thinking that it was above the destruction that Judah was facing, by nations that they thought were confederates. They joined in with these nations against Judah even to where the survivors fleeing out of Judah were being caught up and killed or made captive. The descendent's of Esau were meant to be brotherly. Instead they were fooled into that which they should not have done; an unpardonable brutality. They were to cut off and suffer in the same manner.
kjv@Micah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: You may recall that property was divided amongst the early Hebrews by blood line and passed by inheritance. By the Law, property was a spiritually/morally a civic right. Even when a family member got into debt or trouble and the property was taken from him, 49 year Sabbaths existed for him/his descendent's to be restored back to it. Property according to Micah now is being stolen by violence and oppression. Because of the drunkenness of idolatry, little is being done against this violence and oppression, institutions are far too corrupted. People have taken to listening to the prophets of falsehood. How similar this sounds to today!
kjv@Revelation:13:4 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought of warring against the beast is there it seems but, the futility of doing so is obvious. Can you imagine the United States for instance backing off from a war due to it's inferiority? Worse yet, could you imagine the strength of the USA standing firmly behind such a leader?
kjv@Zephaniah:1:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Those that say things like this are typically hiding behind something that they know they shouldn't be doing. These men are settled on the dregs of wine called lees. In order to do this they have to say and believe that. To them, God is simply not engaged or attached. What does God care about little old man? It makes perfect sense to a man awash in the bottom of a keg.
kjv@Revelation:16:15 @ @ RandyP comments: This is not the first time the Lord has described Himself as such. It should be taken literally that to these people at least He will be believed and perceived to be a thief stealing away all that they have left and hold dear. Coming suddenly from nowhere and without warning as some interpret it cannot be scripturally supported when it has taken this many years to develop, judgment has so precisely and frequently measured out, and men know that it is such but will not repent. No their decision was made and their fate sealed when they took the mark of the beast to begin with. This is a matter of their utter shame and His absolute Glory.
kjv@Revelation:17:18 @ @ RandyP comments: This is very revealing, a power/principality that rules over the kings of earth. It is put into their hearts, it is God's will (just as He has given them over kjv@Romans:1 ) to follow. They will follow wholly to make war against the Lamb. She is identified as a city with seven hills (often thought of as Rome). The seventh and eight king of which are the beast. She is presented in continuous present tense as old as Babylon and young as the martyrs of the Lamb.
kjv@Malachi:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The love and hate of the Lord for the two brothers and their seed may have nothing to do with their personalities or what they might be able to do, but, who He has chosen to be incarnate amongst. His love for Jacob certainly has not been any easier of a road for Him. His greater love is for all people, He seeks all of their hearts, He has died for all of them - Jacob, Esau, and Gentile alike. His particular love for either of these two has more to do with the division of pathway He chose to pursue His greater plan.
kjv@Genesis:15:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Possible explanation: he was morally certain of the Lord's willingness/ability and as a result the Lord's righteousness was also inter-weaved into his moral fabric. He took on the Lord's rightness as his own through sustainable trust/expectation.
kjv@Genesis:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember that Sarah is an older women now and yet her beauty is still much desirable by kings. The king knows that he acted out of the integrity of his heart, the Lord knows it as well and warns him, but, the whole thing has the appearance of a threat and the functionality of a curse. How many other things might there be in our lives that are ways of warning us about grave danger that are likely perceived as threats? The Lord is protecting His chosen man as well who fears the unrighteousness of others, fears for his life the possible consequences of the obvious beauty of his wife. This event must have taken place over the amount of time for it to become noticeable that the kings maidservants were not birthing.
kjv@Genesis:25:34 @ @ RandyP comments: It seems to me that the birthright would have meant more to Esau had his father's love meant more to him. We don't know the full details of their relationship, but, for all intensive purposes it was boiled down to one's love of hunting and one's love for venison; not much to stand on. There is also the possibility that he knew or it had been discussed in the family of God's revelation to Rebecca. Then Esau would have grown to despise the birthright because he knew sooner or later it would be taken from him. I am not sure that birth right would have made any difference to the revelation or whether this was just the way that the individuals were interpreting it.
kjv@Genesis:30 @ @ RandyP comments: Some fun at the Jacob household huh? In the context of a single chapter I am sure our lives would sound pretty crazy as well. This home however? This is reality television material here! Seriously, life is what it is. God has to work in it and on it and through it and around it and somehow by the end make it work to His purposes. I am just glad it is Him that does it. I'm just saying!
kjv@Exodus:6:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as the people have little working field knowledge of Jehovah they have little knowledge of Moses. All that they know is that the ambition of Moses has made their bondage much more harsh. When we today read this we kind of know how the story is going to progress and we see the peoples hearts as immature and disbelieving. Stepping into their shoes though one can see that from their immediate vantage point that they are absolutely right. The key then for us to learn is that of vantage point. While something may appear to us to be a certainty in one direction, they actually could be opposite and with good reason; it is all a matter of vantage point.
kjv@Exodus:6:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Does God work miracles in an instant? He certainly can. Does it ever take longer? It certainly can. If you are in the market for a good healthy miracle, perhaps you should consider this Exodus passage. Sometimes miracles are purposely a lengthy process. Hearts are stirred, personalities tested, set backs are encountered, belief is pressured to it's core. In the end it is no less of a miracle, in fact it may now be more so. Delay does not mean that it will not happen, it may just mean that it will not happen by the means one first expects.
kjv@Exodus:10:16-17 @ @ RandyP comments: A man may come to know that he has sinned. He may even come to ask others forgiveness. That does not mean how ever that he has come to see eye to eye with the Lord. He may as in this case be seeking to escape the consequences to come with little regret or repentance.
kjv@Exodus:10:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Hardness can be the mere thought of the Lord, what the Lord represents, what the Lord expects one to do. Once of this mind, anything said or done, even suggested, only goes to harden all the more. This Lord represents something other than what Pharaoh wants a lord to represent. His lords expect little from him other than to stand firm like their statues against any other. Reasoning and tangible proofs have little effect.
kjv@Exodus:13 @ @ RandyP comments: It should be known by the way the Lord ritualized this event that He did not intend to continue doing this specific type of massive deliverance again, not for the Israelites, not for any other nation or tribe; it was a once and for all proclamation of the deliverance in Christ to come. There are not other Christs therefore there are not other pictures of His complete deliverance given for the nations. God will show smaller more general deliverances hereafter but those are pictures of more daily deliverances after the all in all deliverance of Christ is received and followed. He always did these fortellings leading up to Christ through Israel so that the nations would not confuse these accounts with any other god. This exodus account will be retold and reminded many times more throughout scripture.
kjv@Exodus:14:11 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord had told Moses what was to happen. The question is whether Moses told the people. We are not told. God did not say 'tell my people'. It would be interesting (though maybe speculative) to ask how the people would have reacted if Moses had told them; probably much the same reaction. The point either way would have been that the Lord has to be trusted. Knowing or not knowing the details often in advance has little to do with our acceptance and willingness to undergo what must happen. This is a space that only trust, even trust in great big unimaginable miracles can fill.
kjv@Exodus:14:15 @ @ RandyP comments: I am sure that the Lord is always encouraging of prayer and communication. Crying out may not always be appropriate however. David for instance often cries out in his Psalms but, his desperation often leads him to the conclusion that God is truly great and a mighty deliverer in times of need. How often do we cry out however with desperation alone, seeking for answers that we are not prepared to follow, directions we are not observant to go, pleading for self strength without having established ourselves within His. We can not be too hard on these Israelites for they are experiencing God many of them for the first time. We should be harder on ourselves for having had their experience plus our own plus that of others and still yet crying out for the sake of crying out. Is there not reason to be communicating with God on a totally different level?
kjv@Exodus:14:20 @ @ RandyP comments: There are a number of secular (even some theological) scholars that have gone to great lengths to explain how the parting of the sea may have happened in natural terms. None of these go to explain the prerequisite element of the Angel of the Lord and Pillar of Fire keeping the Egyptians at distance from the Israelites as they prepared to cross the dry land. If you are going to explain one thing by natural terms, you must be able to explain them all.
kjv@Exodus:15 @ @ RandyP comments: In this the Song of Moses it is easy to see the overwhelming jubilation and sense of God being able to do absolutely anything for the Israelites. In the very same chapter however we see that there yet remains a work that the Lord will have to do on them. Having the knowledge and the experience and the faith exhibited in this jubilation is one thing, having the heart to change from one's sinful nature and the heart to submit to His authority and obey quite another. The fact that it will take another 1500+ years before Christ arrives testifies to the gravity of the sin nature we possess to be exposed. We will see many a revival (many in recollection of this singular event) and we will see many similar jubilations, but, the weight of sin will in every case quickly blanket the spiritual exhilaration with grieving and bondage. Thus the need for Christ.
kjv@Matthew:13:19 @ @ RandyP comments: This understanding is not a matter left to human intelligence, it is plain and evident to persons of all IQ's/literacy/backgrounds. Satan is not omnipresent so he utilizes man's sheep like pack and conforming nature. He will twist and distort ones intentions and honest curiosity, even God's own words to produce doubt and apparent contradiction to foster rejection and rebellion. It is not understood because the heart has fattened and calloused against it. A mans own peers become the fowls of the air as much as any demon.
kjv@Matthew:16:21-28 @ @ RandyP comments: The comment about the leaven of the Pharisees is just as much a observation of what is currently transpiring against Him as it is a doctrinal fidelity teaching. Jesus sees what is developing and the rage mounting against Him so He checks to see how far along the Disciples hearts are in the revelation process. They are currently far enough to know that He is Christ but, not so far as to know what Christ must suffer for them in the very near future. Until they grasp this further more complete revelation they will not grasp their own future pathway - the baring of their own cross for Him in His absence up until His return.
kjv@Matthew:18:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The subject 'greatest' is often brought up and is often tied to child like qualities. Not child like as in play, but, child like as in service/respect to others. Perhaps one can be playful and imaginative in service, but, certainly not the other way around serving child play/imagination.
kjv@Matthew:19:1-12 @ @ RandyP comments: What would Jesus know about marriage fidelity? Funny you should ask. Who is Jesus married to (future tense)? The Church Israel/Gentile. Has She been faithful? Is She unblemished? Has there not been cause for a writ of divorcement? Continuously. Why then has He not? What is it in Her that He sees in Her future and is willing to go to His grave for? What God has joined together... let no man put asunder. The principal is true as a church. It is true as a couple. Is Christ righteous in not serving us His papers? Is He merciful in this? Shouldn't we likewise be?
kjv@Psalms:60 @ Psalms:60 @ RandyP comments: By the time of son Solomon's reign, God had used David as an instrument of bringing Israel from the pits of "hard things" to a nation with all enemies subjected to it. It was a time like never before and never again for Israel. David from the start believed in God's promise and God's ability. These neighboring nations were to be overcome by God's hand if only there be a leader such as David faithful and fully expectant. It is a hard lesson to learn when we go about electing our own way and our own man, going about by our own resource as they had done in the reign of Saul. Israel was taught in hardship that it really didn't have it's own resource and had little ability to stand against such hardened external/internal foes. It is also taught by prosperous times that God can bring about a great many essentials outside of their normal resource to surround faithful leaders such as David. Battles begun being won for the cherished nation that by their own strength would have undoubtedly been lost (or not even pursued) largely by the faith and petition of a God fearing/seeking man. God surely teaches by the hard times and by the prosperous times; the message either way is much the same. This lesson unfortunitely would have to be relearned every few short generations.
RecentComments @ kjv@Proverbs:1:2 @ RandyP comments: The first of several statements as to why the proverbs of Solomon, son of David, King of Israel are important. Just as important as the ability to see skill/wit is the ability to see chastiement/correction; the two go hand in hand. The skillful are not simply skillful because they have avoided making foolish mistakes, they are so because they have learned well from the mistakes they have made. We live in an era where young men and women are so deathly afraid putting themselves out there where they might make mistakes because they are so adverse to being corrected. Ask any skillful person you can think of, they will consider that they are skillful where so many others are not precisely because they have come to peace with the constant need for correction. Everybody wants to be skillful, few have the heart to be corrected. Correction is not pleasant at the time, but certainly the skills gained from correction are.
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