Witness!

The system of stars through out the garments of the universe may be millions of  years old with the Gap theory at the center of that debate, but human civilization from Adam to our days beyond the year 2000 AD is approx. 6,000+ years.  

The constellations were meant for man and their uses, set in their courses, for times, and seasons, but not for their devotion, inordinate observations, and worship.    That has been the outcome of the depravity of man.  In their heart, they rejected God and concocted fables and legends, while claiming the Bible is fable and legend.

Jerusalem's and Egypt’s location were not mistakes but by the grand design of God.  They were by purpose and providence, perhaps the two most notable cities in the world. Human civilization began there. Much can be learned of the skies in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.  

Canaanite, Assyrians, (Jews and Gentiles) have worship demi-gods, constellations, gods, and stars since before the Law was given to Moses. In Genesis 6, the sons of God  and the daughters of men, the tower of Babel and much more shows us these truths.  Through idolatry, they set up images, alters, groves, monuments, high places and  images.  They set up images of stars, planets and such things of gold and silver, and worshipped them.  Kings, and Judges of Israel, and Gentile Nations all partook. 

Since before, 2 Kings 11, and 21 (23:11) (Solomon and Manasseh) men have worshipped stars.  Babylonians, Kabbalist, and Pagans have carried it on. Sabeism - Worship of the Stars.  Philosophers believe that our actions are determined upon the stars. Or the gods.  Many Philosophers thought the stars and ruling constellations demanded mans sway and this became their way of rejecting God Almighty.

Street Preaching Must be Redefined by the Local Churches

The Superbowl, the U.S. Open, the World Series, the Daytona 500, Mardi Gras, Gasparilla, Movie Openings,  Spring Break events, 4th of July events, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, you name it; Seems all the street preachers are actually going to these sort of scheduled attractions, parades and festivals. To go out of our way with God’s money to go to a large group of sinners that have no interest in our Savior and are purposefully meeting for sinful reasons may fall under the category of laboring in vain. Don't cast me out yet. Here is my reasoning.

The Laodicean Church Age is agreed upon by most prominent scholars to have began in the late 1800’s or early part of the 1900’s.  This coincides with the first per-version of the word of God in the Revised Version 1881.  Soon after, you start seeing a strain of apostasy.  The shift no longer is consecrated devotion to the Lord, and edifying the church.  It starts to transform to “evangelistic”, Kingdom building, techniques that emphasizes reaching the masses, planned revivals, and inventing a whole new way of doing missions.

Righteousness is not accepted collectively as a nation as it was in the Philadelphian church age.  Holiness is no longer practiced in the government and education systems as it was in the “old days”.  This is the age of apostasy.  It’s a different age.  As much as I or others would love to live in the 1800’s,  or the 1920’2 or the glorious 1950’s, we can’t and we don’t. 

Many outreach minded pastors consider it a full tilt fight, no matter how the world changes, the old time ways continue.  These big events where we tract bomb and street rant, how can sinners decipher his drawing or calling among 50,000 people. 

We think because we live in America and have our rights (Laodicea) that this is our beloved, Puritan Christian nation of old.  It is not any longer.  America is a after thought to God at this point.  Politics, corruption, corporate greed, our school systems, abortions, vanity, materialism, debt, kids killing kids, love of money, crime, extortion, the poor, the fatherless, the degenerate, the proliferate, divorce rates, theft, atheism, sodomy, lawlessness, lasciviousness.  Who are we kidding.  We are another nation that turned on God, like Israel.

What if?

Recently a family member whom I respect and love deeply approached me with a barrage of questions as to why I believed a certain way.  They were informed I was way off the tracks by someone else. 

I can usually handle myself in situations like that but these were delicate matters, family was involved and I didn’t have all the answers.  I also didn’t want to have the appearance as someone who could thrash them with scriptures.  They just seemed so shocked and genuinely hurt with my change of core beliefs.  They even asked about my finances in regards to my giving during this discussion.

I pretty much summed it up by saying to him that after examining things for many years, I just can’t blindly give to men I don’t know, respect, align with or understand. I can’t just go, “Well, God just told me to give to the work so here you go”.  I’m against that mindset. It’s foolishness to me.  It lines up more with the OT philosophies of physical blessings because of offerings. We don’t give to receive any blessings! We give today selflessly, to recieve nothing in return. 

Now, months later, in retrospect, I guess I would say to them, “I just view the church drastically different than you.  I don’t buy in to the nonsense in it.” It's formulas and modern day programs, gimmicks and contemporary styles. It’s not about being disillusioned either!  It’s about waking up to the blatant reproaches! Many fail to acknowledge or examine the symptoms of these reproaches because of the work of the ministry. 

It is so much more than the giving principles and following commissions! How long can we listen to pragmatic teachings and traditions over and over and over? I see so much of “the machine” in our doings, in all of it now that I fear that the best of the independent local churches are now average traditionalist churches, whether they realize it or not!  Just an observation.  Just an onlooker.

The Devil, that Old Serpent ~ Who and What he is.

The only reason for this study, the only one of it’s kind on this site, is for the purpose of the engaged Christian, the true believer, to know respectfully the  greatest enemy of the world, saved sinners and lost sinners.  He is also the source of many, if not all, the perils, snares, traps, and sins in the world.

People don’t know who he is. They look to stories, traditions, paintings, illustrations, folklore, mythology, legend, myth, and many other tales that all had their parts in distorting the truth behind the “Accuser of the Brethren”.  That people trust an idea, representation, or interpretation of the devil and not the word of God is beyond me. The Bible has MUCH to say of our foe.

Today, the Devil has many names, with some examples being, Satan, Devil, Beelzebub, Belial, Adversary, the accuser, the deceiver, Dragon, Serpent, King of Babylon, Little Horn, the king of fierce countenance, the wilful king, the man of sin, the son of perdition,, that wicked, and Judas Iscariot.  He is called by one or the other of these names 174 times in the scriptures.

He is called “the Devil, that old Serpent”  Peter the apostle tells us to Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, WALKETH ABOUT, seeking whom he may devour.

Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28:14-15

He is our adversary. Our enemy.  The word of God is very descriptive of the deceptive one, the “accuser of the brethren”.  Unfortunately, many people get there beliefs and stories of “the Devil” from other literary arts, works and ideas then that of the Bible.  Because of this, you have a mash of what he truly is.  That is how he wants it.  For people to be deceived about him and who he is and what he is capable of.

Many, even professing Christians, believe in some deluded nonsense of a mystical, pre earth, “civil war” fought in heaven between the 1/3 of the angels with Satan in rebellion against God and his angels where the story dictates that Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven to earth. 

This has been a commonly accepted teaching that is derived largely from John Milton’s  book, “Paradise Lost” (1667), which describes Satan and his angels having been cast out of Heaven in or around the time of Adam and Eve.