Bible Walking
  • Blog Morning Minute
  • PAUL FERGUSON THE FIGHTER
  • Lordship Salvation - Dr. Robert L. Sumner
  • Blog: The Encourager
  • Links
  • How to be Saved
  • Contact Us
    • About
  • Bible Verses
    • Verses on Prayer
    • Why/How to Memorize
    • All Verses
    • The Packet 22
  • Sermons/Devotions
    • From the Desk of Pastor Bill Compton >
      • Bill's Audios
      • Bill's Biography
      • Contact Me
      • Bill's Desk Archives
      • Bill's Potpourri
      • BillSermons
      • Bill's Witty Bits
    • From the Desk of Pastor Kent Kelly
  • Books/Pamphlets
    • Whose Is the Land?
    • Be Filled With the Spirit - Lee Roberson
    • Life of Elijah by A.W. Pink
    • How to Get More Out of Your Bible - Wiersbe
    • History 2nd Amendment
    • How I Know God Answers Prayer - Rosalind Goforth
    • Biography-Charles G. Finney
    • Fundamentalism Then and Now - Greg Barkman
    • What Does It Mean (to Me) John MacArthur
  • Books/Pamphlets

male and female created he them2

4/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Male and Female Created He Them
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  (Genesis 1:27)  
 
IT WAS A CLEAN RURAL TOWN WHERE FOLKS felt safe and might leave the key in the car at night or leave the chain saw on the front porch. At church, in the vestibule just inside the front doors, was a table where diaper bags and purses were deposited for the ladies who didn’t want to be bothered with them during the service.

ONE SUNDAY MORNING, THEIR FIERY PASTOR was expounding on a Bible story and didn’t want to be detracted.  So, when he looked up and saw a strange man going through the purses in the vestibule, without missing a beat he said, “and ladies, someone in the vestibule is going through your purses and somebody might want to take care of that.” He continued to preach, and no one moved.

AFTER THE SERVICE, THE LADIES WERE APPALLED THAT THEIR WALLETS were missing out of their purses. They turned on the pastor and said: “preacher, you were watching all the time while you were preaching, why didn’t you do something about this?” He replied, “I told you somebody was going through your purses and no one moved so I just kept on preaching.” They said, “Yeah, we heard you, but we thought you were just preachin’. We didn’t think there was anything to it.”

IS THIS WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY WHEN THE BIBLE IS PREACHED? “He’s just preachin’.  Nothing to it. Times have changed.

THE MALE AND FEMALE THING IS NOW THE CENTER OF THE WAR ON MORALITY. And, it’s at the very heart of the Bible. In Isaiah’s day they said this:.. Prophesy not unto us right things,
speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.  (Isaiah 30:10-11)

ENTERTAINMENT, EDUCATION, INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT have teamed up to gut the Bible and reshape the culture of the western world. But, not so fast! Science is not on the side of remaking male and female. It’s not all in the mind. In fact, male and female is in every individual cell of our bodies and the latest estimates of the number of cells in your body is somewhere around 37+ trillion cells. (It’s going to get a little tedious from here on, but I think you will appreciate this information.)

IF YOUR SURGEON IS GOING TO CHANGE YOU FROM MALE TO FEMALE OR or female to male, he/she will have to exchange your X and Y chromosomes in every one of the cells in your body. I’m quoting some material from an article I read 2-3 years ago while searching Google on this subject, from http://www.realclearscience.com/  The article is no longer available at that link. I have written them about it. The quotes below are from the article (I think). But you may want to follow the link above and become acquainted with this website. Read all websites with caution and lay the bones on the side of your plate.

“IT MAY SURPRISE YOU TO LEARN THAT --  like humans -- cells can be male or female. The distinction is more subtle at the cellular level, but it can actually affect how cells react in a variety of experiments. Still, many scientists don't take into account the sex of their cells. According to a new review published in the American Journal of Physiology, they really should.

“A GOOD CHUNK OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IS PERFORMED IN VITRO. These experiments are undertaken using components of an organism rather than the whole organism, itself. For example, if a researcher has a disease treatment or biological theory they'd like to examine, they'll often start by testing it on lines of cells; they won't simply jump into animal tests.

“EACH CELL LINE IS DERIVED FROM A SINGLE DONOR, and like every cell in the human body, each of the acquired cells contains 23 pairs of coiled DNA, called chromosomes. Included in this group are the two sex chromosomes: simply dubbed X and Y. Cells in women's bodies have two X chromosomes (XX), while cells in men's bodies have one X and one Y (XY). Thus, we get our male and female cells. Approximately 5% of the human genome resides on these chromosomes -- 1,846 genes on the X and 454 on the Y. This means that male and female cells are fundamentally dissimilar on a genetic level.

“THE SCIENTISTS BEHIND THE NEW REVIEW, Kalpit Shah, Charles McCormack, and Neil Bradbury, all professors at Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University, say that these differences are often ignored, despite the fact that genes expressed on sex chromosomes can impact cell function and how they react to all sorts of stimuli.

“PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS MADE THIS CLEAR. Cultured female neurons uptake dopamine -- a neurotransmitter that helps regulate feelings of pain and pleasure -- twice as quickly as male neurons. Female neurons and kidney cells are also more susceptible to chemical agents that lead to programmed cell death. And female liver cells contain more of the gene CYP3A. This last difference is especially crucial, as the actions of CYP3A account for how over half the drugs on the market today are metabolized!

"THUS, FOR 50% OF PRESCIPTION DRUGS, the effectiveness of a particular drug dosage... may be quite different in females compared to males," the authors explain. Consider this possible side effect: women are 50 to 75 percentmore likely than men to experience an adverse drug reaction. This is caused by a wide range of factors, chiefly because females weigh less, but cellular mechanisms undoubtedly contribute to it.

“SUCH A STATISTIC MAKES IT CLEAR THAT RESEARCHERS should consider the sex of their cell lines when testing drugs in vitro, as the effects on male and female lines may not be the same. But it may be even more important when it comes to stem cells, as male and female varieties are decidedly not created equal.

 “Over the years, differences in disease rates and drug effects among males and females have often been attributed to variations in hormone levels. But it's entirely possible that many of these dissimilarities result from underlying differences at the cellular level. Like people, cells are also male and female, and they are plainly not the same. Their unique characteristics must be accounted for in scientific research.

“Source: Kalpit Shah, Charles E McCormack, Neil A Bradbury. "Do you know the sex of your cells?" American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology. Published 6 November 2013. Vol. no. DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00281.2013  Ω”

  Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 1, 2019 – WEDNESDAY  
A.M.  1Kings 1-2       P.M. Luke 22:54-71
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  (Colossians 3:16)
 
Song for Today:
Acapella Choir: I know Whom I have Believed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bRV3J4n8cc&index=32&list=RD2UnFNHWJ0tA

                                          Encouraging!
 (Wait a few seconds for it to come on.)
                                   Prayer: Our Heavenly Father…
 
 

 

0 Comments

THE MILK DIET REVISITED

4/29/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture

 The Milk Diet Revisited…    
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  (1Peter 2:1-3)
 
IN SUMMARY, WHEN WE COME TO CHRIST, the Spirit of God indwells us and we begin the life-long process of sanctification, by which we become like Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (Romans 8:28-29)

CONTRARY TO WHAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE THOUGHT, living the Christian life is not totally passive; just sitting back and waiting for God to continually amaze us at what He is doing without our input. If we lay aside some things and pursue a milk diet of easy-to-digest things of the Word of God, we will grow toward being like Christ. If we pursue the milk diet, we will taste that the Lord is gracious, that is, the Lord is grace-giving toward us.

BEFORE OUR COUNTRY BEGAN PASSING LAWS requiring all milk sold publicly to be pasteurized, there existed what a few doctors called: “the milk cure.” Several deep-seated, hard to cure diseases that resisted all known treatments, could be cured by the patient going on a milk-fast. For two months or so, the patient would eat or drink nothing but raw milk.

I READ ABOUT THIS IN SEVERAL HEALTH ARTICLES AND BOOKS over forty years ago. I came to my own private conclusion that it was probably the enzymes in the milk, combined with the ideal combination of protein, fat and carbohydrate. The patient was nourished and also detoxified on this diet. I just now Googled “milk cure” and came up with this: http://www.thebullvine.com/news/why-youve-never-heard-of-the-mayo-clinics-raw-milk-cure/ . (65% of the world drinks more goat’s milk than cow’s milk.)

AFTER AN OUTBREAK OF TUBERCULOSIS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, raw milk began to be outlawed.  The “milk cure” will not work unless the milk is raw. Dr. McDonald who delivered me at home in Medlock Hollow, kept and milked goats for his wife. When I was about 14, we bought a black Alpine goat named “Lily” and I milked her for my mother. It helped her enough so that my father then bought a registered Nubian milk goat (and her kid) that was shipped to us in a crate by rail to Crossville, TN.

WE SOLD LILY AND I MILKED THE NUBIAN. I milked a cow and gave that milk by bottle to the little “Billy goat.” He woke us up every morning about 5:00 o’clock, making his case for a bottle. I have told that story a few times where I’ve spoken in churches and almost always someone comes up to me and tells how their daddy bought a goat and saved their life when they were a baby.

WE NOW KNOW THAT IT'S BETTER FOR MOTHERS TO NURSE THEIR BABIES if possible. The babies develop better and have a stronger immune system. Goat milk is close to the milk composition of human milk. Another possibility is the substitution of raw carrot juice which is about the same in protein as human milk, but not as much fat. A few babies have survived on it. (A doctor should always be in the circle when that is done.)

NEW CHRISTIANS ARE LIKENED TO NEW-BORN BABIES and the need for the “Milk of the Word” in order to grow. I began church attendance in my mother’s womb and have literally gone to church all my life.  But I must tell you, for the first fifteen years or more of my life I never heard one sermon or even one mention of the above words of the Apostle Peter. I thought that when you were born again, you belong to God and you just hung on to Him ‘till you died. The Navigators, I believe, were the first ones to ever mention to me the need to take in the milk of the Word to enable me to grow in the Lord.

IN FACT, THE VERY IDEA OF "GROWING" IN THE LORD and becoming more than I was the day I got saved was brand new to me. “Growing in the Lord?” Never heard of it. Maybe I heard it and it went right over my head. I heard that if you didn’t live right after you are saved, you are a sorry Christian and you need to rededicate your life to the Lord. That was the standard diet I heard.

PEOPLE THAT GOT SAVED AT FALLING SPRINGS BAPTIST CHURCH usually got saved in July, after the corn was laid-by, during the protracted meeting of 2-3 weeks. Everybody that was going to get saved, got saved in July. Everybody that rededicated their lives did that in July, too, after the corn was laid-by (it was too big to plow any more). That was it. Get saved or rededicate your life in July. That’s where my mother got saved. The wood building must be 150 years old, now.

I’M WONDERING IF EVERYONE READING THIS KNOWS THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GROW in the Lord after you are saved and that you grow in the Lord by a regular intake of the simpler parts of the Word of God. Read your Bible every day and understand what you can. Attend a Bible-teaching-preaching church regularly where you can be fed on some milk and fellowship with other Christians. Yesterday, I shared my own plans of reviewing Bible verses. I need to do that. If you haven’t read it, you may want to today.

Read Through the Bible in a Year     
APRIL 30, 2019 – TUESDAY  
A.M.  2 Samuel 23-24       P.M. Luke 22:31-53
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  (Colossians 3:16)
 
Songs for Today:
Wonderful Words of Life (1:52) (Joslyn Choral Society)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7x3OX6v5_o
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVh--AlfkH4
(Fountain View Academy – Teens – Orchestra and Singing) (3:37)
 
 
            
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

0 Comments

THE KITCHEN

4/28/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture

                The Kitchen…     
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
 
For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.  (Hebrews 5:12-14)
 
… grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.  (2Peter 3:18)
 
THE KITCHEN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROOM IN THE HOUSE. It's the engine room. Other rooms are important, but the kitchen is the chief room.

FOOD PREPARATION USUALLY BEGINS WITH BREAKING DOWN larger pieces of food and mixing it with other ingredients to improve the taste and digestibility of the food. We want a good cooking stove because we want pungent aroma and tantalizing taste and a sense of satisfaction from eating the meal. Sometimes, we might even consider what is healthy for us. (Imagine that, in this day!)

IN LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, the “kitchen” is the most important room in the life. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; (Deuteronomy 4:9)  I don’t read the Bible and pray because I’m spiritual. I read the Bible and pray because I’m NOT spiritual!

I WAS BLESSED TO HAVE HAD SOME GOOD TEACHERS from the first grade through college years. Some of the most valuable and practical help that came my way was from the Navigators I met on college campus. These were military veterans, mostly navy, who had been through World War II.

WHILE IN TRAINING, THEY HAD ENCOUNTERED DAWSON TROTMAN in California who worked with sailors and perhaps some pilots. He taught them how to memorize Scripture verses and how to share their faith with others. As these men went into war, they led many of their companions to Christ and taught them how to memorize Scripture verses.

WHILE A STUDENT AT TENNESSEE TEMPLE COLLEGE, I sang in chapel one time, as a voice student of Mrs. Ellen Herrmann. I was not solo material, but it was an assigned duty and I got on with it. I sang: “It Will Be Worth it All When We See Christ” in D-flat.  The special guest speaker for that chapel occasion was…Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators. It was one of the highlights of my life. (He drowned trying to rescue a young person who had fallen out of a boat at a Bible camp.)
 
I TOOK SEVERAL BIBLE COURSES THAT WERE HELPFUL, but Bible reading, and memorization became my spiritual kitchen. I learned that there are five major ways we take in the word of God: 1. Hear 2. Read 3. Study 4. Memorize 5. Meditate. Using the first letter of each of those five things, we get: HRS of M&M’s.
 
FROM M.R. DE'HAAN'S RADIO BIBLE CLASS, I learned that every passage of Scripture comes with three questions: 1. What does it say?  2. What does it mean?  3. How does it apply to me. If we use those three questions in our Bible kitchen, we will open up the Bible passage in a very meaningful way.

FROM READING A.W. PINK'S BOOK: "ELIJAH," several times (I try to read it every year) it became obvious that “God wrote His book in phrases. We think in phrases, not verses, not chapters, not in sermon outlines, but in phrases.  So, in memorizing Scripture, give attention to the phrases. Underline them and memorize them first.  We index where the material is found by assigning it a chapter and verse. But, the heart of the verse is its  phrase or phrases.

UNDERLINE THE PHRASE.  People who have listened to sermons and Sunday school lessons have memorized Bible phrases “accidently.” Most church attending people know more Scripture than they think they do.
 

WRITE DOWN PHRASES THAT COME TO YOU (keep a folded paper in your Bible for that purpose). When you can, look it up in the Bible and write the rest of the verse and the reference. Put it on a card to be memorized or “rounded out.” If you have a Bible app on your phone, such as the Blue Line Bible, you can type in the phrase and get all the places in the Bible that phrase is used.

CHAPTERS AND VERSES ARE GOOD FOR indexing the verses. It is very important that we memorize the chapter/verse reference by saying it before and after each passage. That way, if you think/hear the reference, you can recall the verse. If you think/hear the verse, you can recall where it’s found. But the references contribute nothing to understanding the verse.

EVANGELIST PAUL FERGUSON (boxing champion) memorized 8,000+ verses. (In the King James Bible, there are 31,173 verses and 1,189 chapters.) I interviewed him for six days and wrote what he told me in: Paul Ferguson the Fighter. (288 pages). Dr. Lee Roberson gave it the title and wrote a Foreword. You can get a free copy by writing me at Dan Carr 1320 County Rd. 81, Flat Rock, AL 35966. If you can afford the postage and packaging ($3.00) that would be helpful. The book includes a chapter on memorizing Bible verses.

THERE'S A CHAPTER BY BROTHER LESTER ROLOFF: 60 Chapters in 60 Months. That is the memory program he used in his homes for boys and girls. He sent it to me to be printed and given out, so I just stuck it in the Ferguson book.  All the verses that appear in the writing of the book are in a chapter in the back of the book and are good, I think. There’s a list of 60+ uplifting song titles, listed alphabetically from AMAZING GRACE to WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE.

FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, NOW, I'VE KNOWN I MUST GATHER UP ALL THE VERSES I’ve memorized and put them in the computer from Genesis through Revelation. From that, I can print them off on sheets of paper, if desired, fold them and keep a couple of folded sheets in my reading Bible.

ALSO, I WILL BEGIN WRITING VERSES on 3x5 half-cards (3x5 cut in half). Verses that are still sharp will go into one box and will be reviewed again next year. Verses that “stall,” make me hesitate to recall any part of the verses, will be put in the “work pile.” Those verses are to be reviewed until they are easily recalled and can be recited without effort.

I LIKE THE NEON GREEN CARDS. I carry a Sharpie- Fine/Ultra Fine Permanent Marker and use the fine-point end for writing verses on cards. It’s easier to read than ball point. The cards have lines on one side. If the verse is longer than the card, flip the card with the fingers so that the verses are upside down to each other. You can flip a card easier with the fingers than with the wrist.

I MAY WRITE SOME OF MY VERSES ON DADDY'S 1935 ROYAL TYPEWRITER. (I started typing on it with two fingers when I was five, with the chair turned backward and standing on my knees; 80 years ago)

THE VERSES ON PRAYER, A HUNDRED OR SO, WILL BE KEPT SEPARATE and reviewed often by writing them and reciting them. These verses are either on prayer or verses that relate to prayer, such as faith, hindrances to prayer, examples of prayer, etc.

THIS WILL BE A LIFE-LONG PROJECT FOR ME, AND I WILL PRIMARILY USE IT FOR PRAYER and for writing and sharing one-on-one. I don’t know how many verses I know; not enough to brag about. Maybe 1,000-plus. Every Christian should set a goal for memorizing Bible verses. 300 verses would be a good round number.

IF YOU TRY TO MEMORIZE A VERSE PER WEEK, you will actually do about 30 verses a year. Ten years will give you 300 verses. DO GOOD, SOLID WORK! (I double-dog dare you!) You will accomplish more if you will set your mind to it. We can’t share what we don’t know.

CAUTION! We don’t memorize verses so we can show off our Bible knowledge. Most of what we know, we will do like Mary: But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.  (Luke 2:19)  Bible phrases will float up all the time. Bible-rich hymns do the same thing. An hour a day for memorizing and repairing rusty verses. You are welcome to join me if you think it’s a good idea for you.

SO, THESE ARE MY KITCHEN PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. The dining room where we serve Morning Minute should be a little better with less time.

ON THE HOME FRONT: Mama won’t let me on a ladder to clean gutters any more. The three downed trees were cut up and hauled off while we were gone. (I may sneak in some weed-eating while Barbara’s working at the Community Center on Tuesdays.) She likes to mow, so I don’t mess with that, except the banks. We have neighbor-help at times. I’ll enjoy working more in the Bible Kitchen this year and working on the fourth Thursday’s at the Community Center Food Day. Ω


 Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 29, 2019 – MONDAY  
A.M.  2 Samuel 21-22       P.M. Luke 22:1-30
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  (Colossians 3:16)
 
Songs for Today:  
The Stranger by the Sea (1:39) (Brother Roloff)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKk_7-XPi5I
 

            
 
 
 
 
 

 
 


1 Comment

who is to announce the resurrection?

4/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
       Who Is to Announce the Resurrection?       
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.  And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
 
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.  And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
 
But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
 
And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they anything to any man; for they were afraid.
 
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.  (Mark 16:1-11)
 
WE MUST READ ALL THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS of the crucifixion and resurrection to get the complete picture. There is no contradiction between the accounts, rather, the accounts compliment each other to give the full picture. For brevity, I am looking at Mark’s account.
 
THE STORY OF THE DISCIPLES REFUSING TO BELIEVE the report of Jesus’ resurrection has fascinated me for many years. These guys were…slow. Jesus was going to go back to Heaven in a few days and leave these fellows in charge of…everything. Jesus had told them repeatedly that He was going to be killed by the religious leaders and be raised from the dead and they didn’t get it.
 
ON THE EVE OF JESUS' CRUCIFIXION immediately after the observance of Passover and the instituting of what we call: “The Lord’s Supper,” the disciples busy themselves with the all-important subject of which one of them was going to be the greatest among them.
 
And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.  And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.  (Luke 22:23-24)
 
I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD THIS PERSISTENT TRAIT in the disciples. They wanted to be big shots. They had given up their occupations and had been with Jesus for three years; had witnessed his miracles of stopping storms and raising the dead and feeding thousands of people from a boy’s lunch. But they deliberately turned a deaf ear to what was just ahead. They wouldn’t have it! So, when Jesus died on the cross their state of self-imposed unbelief rendered them unfit to believe in resurrection from the dead. Does that amaze you like it does me?

McGEE COMMENTED: “These men who had recognized how low they could stoop also had ambitions to be the greatest. Can you imagine that? Right in the shadow of the cross these men are grasping for position. We see that in the church today. The saints today are not much of an improvement over the apostles.” (McGee)

WE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THEIR PROBLEM, WOULD WE? But, perhaps we would. What about our belief in Christ’s return to call out His church from the earth in the twinkling of an eye before the seven years of tribulation? Do we believe strongly in that or is it a story buried in the Bible that we nod to but never include in our daily thinking?

THE TWO WOMEN WHO WENT EARLY TO THE TOMB may not have believed any more than the disciples but their devotion to taking care of Jesus’ dead body placed them at the tomb at sunrise. The disciples apparently were satisfied to leave His body alone. But, the devotion of the two women put them in contact with the angel that sent them scurrying back to the disciples with their wide-eyed, nervous excitement about the empty tomb and the heavenly messenger they had encountered. It was in their face! They had to believe it!
 
SO, THE FIRST MESSENGERS ABOUT THE RESURRECTED CHRIST WERE WOMEN! Not men. There’s something about the nature of women to this day that causes them to outnumber the men in most churches. That’s just the way it is. Women announced the resurrection.
 
TODAY, WHO IS GOING TO TELL EVERYBODY THAT JESUS HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD?  You and me. The people who care. Do you know of anyone else that should do it? It is done by people like Mary and Mary who had the extra concern to show up at the tomb and connect with the angel. The story of the crucifixion and resurrection is the heart of the Christian message and is the bedrock proof of Christianity.
 
THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST is the central story to be told year ‘round, to everyone who will listen. “But, everybody has heard that story!”  Not so. For several years I have been giving out cards with John 3:16 in shopping centers and asking them “Have you seen this before?” Of the people 30 and under, almost 40% of them have never seen John 3:16 in print. Bible Belt!
 

THE BIBLE SAYS: "EVERY CREATURE!" (Mark 16:15) The early Christians were told: And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.  (Luke 24:49)

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, (Romans 8:9) but all Christians are not endued with power from on high. We can’t go to Jerusalem to be endued with power from on high. But we can all ask God every day, first thing in the morning: “Dear God I ask you to endue me with power from on high. Please show me anything I need to change to be 100% right with you. Please bless me as a witness for you today.”

 
GET STARTED: “May I ask you a question? Do you believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead?” You can start asking that this very day. You don’t need to know any more than that. “Do you have a Bible at home?” May I suggest that you read Matthew chapter 27? I believe you might enjoy reading that.”
 
PRACTICE THAT A FEW TIMES AND GET STARTED. It will soon become easy for you. That’s sowing the seed of the Word of God. You may have an opportunity to share John 3:16 with some. Engage people in conversation. You will be surprised at what God may do through you and how much you may enjoy it, once you make it a daily practice. (Read Matthew 27 yourself several time and become familiar with it.)
 
 Read Through the Bible in a Year      
APRIL 21, 2019 – MONDAY  
A.M.  2 Samuel 1-3       P.M. Luke 18:1-17
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
And they,
when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.  (Mark 16:11)
 
Songs for Today:
He Said Arise! (3:33) (Calvary Mem. Choir)                       

               
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueTW9UZ0EGA

 Cross Medley (2:22) (Piano Solo – Kathy Owens)
 https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/2525321601124817/
 
 
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


0 Comments

the princes and people at the cross

4/19/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
 
   The Princes and People at the Cross
     When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.  (Matthew 27:25)

PILATE ASKED THE PEOPLE AT JESUS" COURT HEARING what he should do with Jesus. God was watching and listening and held them accountable. They were part of the total mindset that had rejected the promised Messiah. Some were at Pilot’s hearing and some climbed the hill of Calvary. They were all full of hatred and were tools of Satan. Paul wrote: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  (1Corinthians 2:7-8)

THE PRINCES AND PEOPLE WERE DISCUSSING THE FATE OF THE LORD OF GLORY. Pilate was a government authority. He was a prince, but he didn’t know much. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed the Father to forgive them: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.  (Luke 23:34)

GOD JUDGES PEOPLE ON THE BASIS OF WHAT LIGHT THEY HAVE. God instructed Jonah on this: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?  (Jonah 4:11)

 WHEN GOD CONFRONTED BELSHAZZAR before He judged and killed him in Babylon, He said to him: “…and thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven;… (Dan 5:22-23a)
People at the Hearing were held responsible for the death of their Promised Messiah and were considered among the foremost people at the Cross. They had forty years to repent before God would destroy the city of Jerusalem and their beloved Herod’s Temple in A.D. 70 at the hands of Titus.

SOME OF THE PEOPLE AT THE CROSS had listened to Jesus, had eaten of His loaves and fishes, had seen Him heal great numbers of people and possibly saw or heard of His raising some from the dead.  Surely, they knew about Lazarus being raised from the dead. And yet, they gave Pilate a startling answer. Albert Barnes makes a good statement about this:

“His blood be on us ... - That is, let the guilt of putting him to death, if there be any, be on us and our children. We will be answerable for it and will consent to bear the punishment for it. It is remarked by writers that, among the Athenians, if anyone accused another of a capital crime, he devoted himself and children to the same punishment if the accused was afterward found innocent. So, in all countries the conduct of the parent involves the children in the consequences of his conduct.

 “THE JEWS HAD NO RIGHT TO CALL DOWN THIS VENGEANCE ON THEIR CHILDREN, but, in the righteous judgment of God, it has come upon them.

 “IN LESS THAN FORTY YEARS THEIR CITY AND TEMPLE WERE OVERTHROWN and destroyed. More than a million people perished in the siege and destruction of the city. Thousands died by famine; thousands by disease; thousands by the sword; and their blood ran down the streets like water, so that, Josephus says, it extinguished things that were burning in the city. Thousands were crucified suffering the same punishment that they had inflicted on the Messiah.

“SO GREAT WAS THE NUMBER THOSE WHO WERE CRUCIFIED, that, Josephus says, they were obliged to cease from it, “room being wanted for the crosses, and crosses for the men.” … To this day, also, the curse has remained. They have been a nation scattered and peeled; persecuted almost everywhere, and a hissing and a byword among people.

NO SINGLE NATION, PROBABLY, HAS SUFFERED SO MUCH; and yet they have been preserved. All classes of people, all the governments of the earth, have conspired to overwhelm them with calamity, and yet they still live as monuments of the justice of God, and as proofs, going down from age to age, that the Christian religion is true - standing demonstrations of the crime of their fathers in putting the Messiah to death, and in calling down vengeance on their heads.” (Albert Barnes)

I HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY WHO SAY IF THEY ONLY HAD MORE KNOWLEDGE, more evidence about God, they would do better in following Him. Truth is, people work hard at destroying knowledge offered them because they do not want to change their thinking or their behavior. They said that in Christ’s day: “Come down from the cross and we will believe you.” But we read that some wanted to put Lazarus to death after Jesus raised him from the dead; just to get rid of him.

THEY HATED JESUS SO BADLY. Are things any better today? Do you think the masses of people are looking for truth? Hardly; the masses of people hate anything standing in their way of doing their own thing and behaving like barnyard animals. Isaiah said:

“They have turned ever one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6).

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?  (Ezekiel 33:11)

AFTER ALL THE WICKEDNESS OF PEOPLE, GOD STILL SAYS: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)
 
 Read Through the Bible in a Year     
APRIL 19, 2019 – FRIDAY  
A.M.  1 Samuel 27-29       P.M. Luke 17:1-19
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verses to Memorize:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  (Acts 17:30-31)

Songs for Today:
Were You There (2:52) (Eddie Ingram. Acapella)                                             

 https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/2519485848375059/
 No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus (2:52) (Laura Francis – Piano Solo)     https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/2501014676888843/                                                You may need to adjust your volume control

Health Tip:
Detoxification. Dentist, Hal Huggins became famous for sounding the alarm against amalgam mercury fillings in teeth. Follow the link above to learn more. He earned a master’s degree in immunology after several years of dental practice. He passed on what he had learned at a state university, that our immune system sets the body up for 2-3 days of detoxification every 28 days. I was severely toxic and after detoxifying for three months, found that my body goes into a detox state for three days, every 28 days, more pronounced than for most people.

On the first day, food doesn’t taste good. On the second day, there’s hardly any appetite and I may need to do a deep sleep. After the third day, (on the fourth day) everything returns to normal and I can eat the bark off a tree. This happens to a lot of people who don’t know why they have 2-3 days when their appetite diminishes and the gut may growl, warning them: “don’t send any stuff down here today.”  Not a fairy story. It’s been going on with me, ready or not for about 35 years, now. Read the link above and if you can find a used copy of his book at Amazon, you may learn some things you never heard of. Ω
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


0 Comments

...the resurrected saints went where?

4/18/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
 
   The Six Miracles of Calvary –
 The Resurrected Saints Went Where?             
        
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  (Matthew 27:50-53)
 
JERUSALEM IS SURROUNDED by thousands of dug graves covered with slabs of stones and markers. Among the common graves are some elaborate, expensive tombs. The text does not mention tombs being disturbed. “Graves were opened.” Common graves can be opened, and the slabs moved aside or up-ended without breaking the slabs and markers.
 
IN CONTRAST, A GRAVE INSIDE A TOMB could hardly be opened without destroying the tomb surrounding it. Because of the difference in construction, I assume that the opened graves were of the simpler construction rather than of the elaborate tombs. Anyway, grave and tomb construction is not the big question. The big question is:

AFTER THESE RESURRECTED SAINTS APPEARED UNTO MANY, where did they go?  Walvoord suggests this event was “a fulfillment of the Feast of the Firstfruits of harvest mentioned in Leviticus 23:10-14. On that occasion, as a token of the coming harvest, the people would bring a handful of grain to the priest. The resurrection of these saints, occurring after Jesus Himself was raised, is a token of the coming harvest when all the saints will be raised” (Walvoord, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come, p. 236). (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.  (Leviticus 23:10-11)

IN OTHER WORDS, these saints were raised “after” Jesus was raised from the dead, albeit only a few seconds after Jesus was raised. After their earthly mission was completed, we may assume that they proceeded to Heaven to await the arrival of the full harvest of millions of resurrected bodies.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.  (1Thessalonians 4:16-18)

 “THE RESURRECTION OF THESE SAINTS, occurring after Jesus Himself was raised, is a token of the coming harvest when all the saints will be raised.” (Repeating the above quote.) We remember that much meaning of the Old Testament comes from its treasure house of types and shadows that are explained best (or only) in the New Testament. “The New is in the Old contained. The Old is in the New explained.” That feature of the Old Testament gives us the only means of knowing what happened to the saints that came out of their graves when Jesus was raised from the dead.

OTHERS RAISED FROM THE DEAD BEFORE CHRIST was raised were destined to die again because they were before the “Firstfruits” had been raised from the dead. No resurrected body in the Old or New Testament escaped having to die again except those who were raised after Jesus was raised from the dead. There remains the question of what happened to the young man who fell from the window while Paul was preaching and was killed. Paul raised him from the dead.
 
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.  (Acts 20:9-10)
 
Others may have been raised from the dead at the hands of the apostles and what of those who might be raised from the dead today, if that should occur? Most assume they would die again because they were not in the group, the sheaf, that were raised 
 with Jesus. I know of no Scripture that settles that question. Ω

 

 Read Through the Bible in a Year     
APRIL 18, 2019 – THURSDAY  
A.M.  1 Samuel 25-26       P.M. Luke 16:19-31
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verses to Memorize:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  (Acts 17:30-31)

Song for Today:
Then Came Sunday (3:38) (Calv.Mem.Chur. Choir)                                             

 https://www.facebook.com/faith.r.schofield/videos/10155472822927780/                                            You may need to adjust your volume control

Health Tip:
Tablets, Capsules, and Jell Capsules. Most tablets are harder to digest than capsules but recently some tablets are made to crumble easily, even in your mouth. Generally, we will digest more of the product if it’s in capsule form and faster. Some tablets are so big you have to crunch them with your jaw teeth or a set of pliers. Desiccated liver tablets are big tablets. I crunch them with my jaw teeth and wash them down.
​

Some B-12 tablets are slow-dissolving under the tongue, so the product is absorbed under the tongue and by-passes the stomach. These days with so much acid reflux going on that scars up the esophagus and shrinks it, (you may have to have it stretched) we need to pay attention to the size and difficulty of swallowing medications (meds). Have a glass of water in hand before attempting to swallow MEDS of any kind except for the under-the-tongue kind; The little nitro tablets, for example. Ω
 
 

 

0 Comments

the six miracles of calvary - the resurrected saints

4/16/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
         The Six Miracles of Calvary –
                The Resurrected Saints             

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  
 
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  (Matthew 27:50-53) (Today’s picture is of tombs.)
 
MOST PEOPLE WERE BURIED IN THE COMMUNITY where they were born and spent their lives. The people in and around Jerusalem were buried in the valleys all around the city, outside the city walls. We read:
 
 “THE JEWS WOULD NOT BURY THEIR DEAD INSIDE THE CITY WALLS. Jerusalem is surrounded by tombs; tombs to the west in the Hinnom Valley; tombs to the south where the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet; tombs to the north and tombs to the east in the Kidron Valley. Eight hundred tombs from the time of Herod have been discovered within a 3-mile radius around the city.
 
HELLENISTIC CULTURE INFLUENCED THE BUILDING OF ELABORATE TOMBS, and this practice continued into the days of the New Testament. Jesus spoke about the tombs when He addressed the religious leaders on the Temple Mount. See more here. (Be sure to follow the link above and scroll down…fantastic pictures of elaborate sepulchers from ancient days in Jerusalem. These pictures give new meaning to the words of Jesus’ day.)
 
WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,  (Matthew 23:27-29)
 
WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, many of the dead saints arose also. We know they were buried outside the city because when they arose from the dead, they “went into the holy city and appeared unto many.” 

ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE CEMETERY DID NOT RISE FROM THE DEAD. Only “saints” rose from their graves. If you open the link above and look at the vast collection of graves, you can see what it would have looked like if all the graves had been opened. No, it’s more likely that only the graves opened from which was going to come the dead when Jesus rose from the dead.

JESUS WAS BURIED IN A RICH MAN'S GRAVE, Joseph of Arimathea. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:  He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.  And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.  (Matthew 27:57-60)

IN SUMMARY: There were many, many graves all around Jerusalem because it was a very old city. The earthquake opened graves; perhaps they were near the cross. Not all the graves; just the graves of many of the saints who had recently died in Jerusalem and would be recognized by people who lived in Jerusalem. The job of these freshly resurrected people was to be recognized as formerly dead people.  People who died in a former generation would not be recognized by present generation people.

WHEN THE DEAD CAME OUT OF THEIR GRAVES in Jerusalem, it follows that they showed themselves alive to people who lived in Jerusalem; people who would recognize them; their families and friends who lived in Jerusalem.

WHY, THEN, DID JOSEPH BUILD HIS "OWN NEW TOMB" in Jerusalem, since he lived in Arimathea? Warren Wiersbe comments on this. “It is not likely that Joseph prepared that tomb for himself. He was a wealthy man and certainly would not want to be buried so near a place of execution. He prepared that tomb for Jesus, and he selected a site near Golgotha so that he and Nicodemus could bury Christ’s body quickly. Joseph and Nicodemus could very well have been in the garden waiting for Jesus to die. When they took Him from the cross, they defiled themselves and were not able to eat the Passover. But, what difference did it make? They had found the Lamb of God!” (Wiersbe)

THE JERUSALEM PEOPLE WERE THOROUGHLY BLENDED TOGETHER with people from all over Israel. So, when the “dead” people began to find their friends, news of those encounters spread throughout the million people in and around Jerusalem. Can you imagine what the scene must have been?

THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE OPENING OF THE GRAVES coincided with three hours of mid-day darkness and the ripping of the huge veil in the Temple and Jesus’ penetrating cry of victory as He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father.

FOR THE ONE MILLION PASSOVER PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM for the annual observance of Passover, these things were overwhelming evidence that the hand of God was there! Not only were the Jews impressed; the Roman Centurion who commanded a hundred battle-hardened Roman soldiers concluded: “This is the Son of God!”

WHEN THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, we must realize that the tomb where they laid Jesus was not a typical burying place. Isaiah said: And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:9) Jesus was crucified between two criminals and buried in a rich man’s grave, (Joseph of Arimathea).

THE GRAVES THAT WERE OPENED WERE NOT ELABORATE GRAVES like the new tomb Jesus was buried in. Jesus’ tomb had a stone that could be rolled in a stone trough to seal the entrance. It was designed to be opened and closed several times to admit the future burial of members of the family. Most people were buried in holes dug into the ground, just like today. The stone memorials that were laid on top of the graves varied according the wealth of the family.

“PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GRAVES OPENED but no one came out of the graves at that time. No one would have broken the Sabbath to repair the opened graves. So, the opened graves lay there gaping open for crowds of people to see them. If they had been opened only to enable dead people to come out of them, would they not have been opened later?

NO, THE STARK APPEARANCE OF THESE OPENED GRAVES was an intensified witness of the occasion. An earthquake had opened certain graves and left other graves untouched. These graves contained the bodies of saints. The opened graves were one of the miracles of Calvary.


“WE HAVE THE RENDING OF ROCKS AND OPENING OF GRAVES. They are not the same thing. The rending of rocks involved force. The opening of the graves involved design. The rending of rocks gave no prophecy of the future. But the opening of the graves was a budding of the coming glory. In a few hours, dead people would come out of those graves. Clearly, the opening of the graves was an exhibition of a greater truth that coincided with several other things” (Nicholson, edited)

THE MOST THRILLING THING ABOUT THE OPENED GRAVES is the rest of the story that plays out when Jesus comes out of His grave. Keep in mind that a million people are in town witnessing these things. After the drama is over, they will go back home and spread their testimony for the rest of their lives. They will be talking with their children and handing down the story to their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. This is truly, the greatest Passover! Ever! Ω

 Read Through the Bible in a Year     
APRIL 17, 2019 – WEDNESDAY   
A.M.  1 Samuel 22-24       P.M. Luke 16:1-18
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good 
Verses to Memorize:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  (Acts 17:30-31)

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)

Song for Today:
Then Came Sunday (3:38) (Calv.Mem.Chur. Choir)                                             

  https://www.facebook.com/faith.r.schofield/videos/10155472822927780/                               
       You may need to adjust your volume control

Health Tip:
Tablets, Capsules, and Jell Capsules. Most tablets are harder to digest than capsules but recently some tablets are made to crumble easily, even in your mouth. Generally, we will digest more of the product if it’s in capsule form and faster. Some tablets are so big you have to crunch them with your jaw teeth or a set of pliers. Desiccated liver tablets are big tablets. I crunch them with my jaw teeth and wash them down.

Some B-12 tablets are slow-dissolving under the tongue so the product is absorbed under the tongue and by-passes the stomach. These days with so much acid reflux going on that scars up the esophagus and shrinks it, (you may have to have it stretched) we need to pay attention to the size and difficulty of swallowing medications (meds). Have a glass of water in hand before attempting to swallow MEDS of any kind except for the under-the-tongue kind. Ω

 
 

0 Comments

THE SIX MIRACLES OF CALVARY - THE GRAVES

4/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​       The Six Miracles of Calvary –
              The Graves            
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the Bottom;and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened… (Matthew 27:50-52a)

THE EARTHQUAKE OPENED THE GRAVES near the cross. Not all the graves; just the graves of many of the saints who had recently died in Jerusalem and would be recognized by people who lived in Jerusalem. The job of these freshly resurrected people was to be recognized as formerly dead people.  People who died in a former generation would not be recognized by present generation people.

AN EARTHQUAKE THAT OPENED ONLY THE GRAVES OF SAINTS and not everyone in general, would be a miracle. This gets into the mathematical law of compound probability. The chances of an earthquake selecting certain graves to open is slim to none.


ONLY PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN JERUSALEM would be buried in the Jerusalem cemetery. People were buried in their own community where they lived. Jerusalem people would be buried in Jerusalem. When they came out of their graves in Jerusalem, it follows that they showed themselves alive to people who lived in Jerusalem; people who would recognize them; their families and friends who lived in Jerusalem.

THEN, WHY DID JOSEPH BUILD HIS TOMB IN JERUSALEM, since he lived in Arimathea? Warren Wiersbe comments on this. “It is not likely that Joseph prepared that tomb for himself. He was a wealthy man and certainly would not want to be buried so near a place of execution. He prepared that tomb for Jesus, and he selected a site near Golgotha so that he and Nicodemus could bury Christ’s body quickly.

“JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS COULD VERY WELL HAVE BEEN IN THE GARDEN waiting for Jesus to die. When they took Him from the cross, they defiled themselves and were not able to eat the Passover. But, what difference did it make? They had found the Lamb of God!” (Wiersbe)

THE JERUSALEM PEOPLE WERE THOROUGHLY BLENDED TOGETHER with people from all over Israel. So, when the “dead” people began to find their friends, news of those encounters spread throughout the million people in and around Jerusalem. Can you imagine that scene?

THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE OPENING OF THE GRAVES followed the three hours of mid-day darkness and the ripping of the huge veil in the Temple and Jesus’ penetrating cry of victory as He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father.

FOR THE ONE MILLION PASSOVER PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM for the annual observance of Passover, these things were overwhelming evidence that the hand of God was there. Not only were the Jews impressed; the Roman Centurion who commanded a hundred battle-hardened Roman soldiers concluded: “This is the Son of God!”

WHEN THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, we must realize that the tomb where they laid Jesus was not a typical burying place. Isaiah said: And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:9) Jesus was crucified between two criminals and buried in a rich man’s grave, (Joseph of Arimathea).

THE GRAVES THAT WERE OPENED WERE NOT ELABORATE GRAVES like the new tomb Jesus was buried in. Jesus’ tomb had a stone that could be rolled in a stone trough to seal the entrance. It was designed to be opened and closed several times to admit the future burial of members of the family. Most people were buried in holes dug into the ground, just like today. The stone memorials that were laid on top of the graves varied according the wealth of the family.

“PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GRAVES OPENED BUT NO ONE CAME OUT AT THAT TIME. No one would have broken the Sabbath to repair the opened graves. So, the opened graves lay there gaping open for crowds of people to see them. If they had been opened only to enable dead people to come out of them, would they not have been opened later? No, the stark appearance of these opened graves was an intensified witness of the occasion.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAD OPENED CERTAIN GRAVES and left other graves untouched. These graves contained the bodies of saints. The opened graves were one of the miracles of Calvary.
​

“WE HAVE THE RENDING OF ROCKS AND OPENING OF GRAVES. They are not the same thing. The rending of rocks involved force. The opening of the graves involved design. The rending of rocks gave no prophecy of the future. But the opening of the graves was a budding of the coming glory. In a few hours, dead people would come out of those graves. Clearly, the opening of the graves was an exhibition of a greater truth that coincided with several other things” (Nicholson, edited)

THE MOST THRILLING THING ABOUT THE OPENED GRAVES is the rest of the story that plays out when Jesus comes out of His grave. Keep in mind that a million people are in town witnessing these things. After the drama is over, they will go back home and spread their testimony for the rest of their lives. They will be talking with their children and handing down the story to their grandchildren and their greatgrandchildren. This is truly, the greatest Passover! Ever! Ω
​

 Read Through the Bible in a Year     
APRIL 16, 2019 – TUESDAY   
A.M.  1 Samuel 19-21       P.M. Luke 15:11-32
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  (Acts 17:30-31)

Song for Today:
Then Came Sunday (3:38) (Calvary Memorial Church)

 https://www.facebook.com/faith.r.schofield/videos/10155472822927780/                                       
                           You may need to adjust your volume control

Health Tip:
TWO THINGS THAT SELL THE MOST OVER-THE-COUNTER PRODUCTS, are
digestion and elimination.  For digestion, drink enough water (half-hour before eating) to make good saliva for chewing. This produces amylase, a digestive enzyme that starts digestion of some foods in the mouth.  The next step is to take the time to chew your food until it’s easy to swallow as a paste without “washing it down.” This, alone, may add some years to your life and save you some big bucks down the road. For elimination, drink water, get in some walking, and figure how you are going to get 30 grams of fiber down the hatch to help your gut work like it’s designed to work.

MILLER'S RAW WHEAT BRAN IS DIRT-CHEAP and easy to get down. Two heaping tbsp bran stirred into four heaping tbsp of unsweetened applesauce will give you 10+ grams of fiber. Two heaping tbsp of chia seeds or ground flax seed in some kind of liquid will give you another 8-10 grams of fiber. The rest will easily be supplied with fruits and vegetables. There’s no fiber in meat, dairy, or eggs. Adding fiber to your diet will add some gas to your day for 2-3 weeks until the bacteria in your gut adjusts to it. Take a good probiotic daily for a month and then once a week. Live yogurt is good but not as good as the capsule of non-dairy bacteria. Our guts work like our septic tank. (Rid-X is NOT good for your gut.)
 
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.  (3John 1:2)
 



0 Comments

the six miracles of calvary - the earthquake

4/14/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Six Miracles of Calvary –
         The Earthquake            
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  (Matthew 27:51)

WHEN JESUS PROCLAIMED: “It is finished!” and followed it with a great wordless cry of victory, He commended His spirit into the hands of His Father. Along with this came a mighty earthquake. We note that this was not an earthquake of a trifling magnitude. Rocks did not merely crack but broke in two. At the same time, the earthquake did not disturb the solid rock structure of the Temple. It did not displace the cross while it shook the hill of Calvary. The earthquake opened graves but not all graves. They were the graves of saints.
 
“IT SEEMED AS THOUGH THE EARTHQUAKE WERE A LIVING THING; whose divine intelligence discriminated that various dead at Golgotha. It seemed as if it sensed the meaning of that shout of victory. It seemed to indicate the program that was to follow and to preinitiate the Savior’s victory for His saints by His resurrection on the third day.
 
“NOW, BECAUSE OF ALL THESE INCIDENCES, how plain it is that the earthquake at Calvary was not such as nature ever causes. Rather, it was nature lifted out of the course of nature; lifted solely and independently by an act of God…(Nicholson)
 
IT WAS AS THOUGH THE EARTHQUAKE HAD AN ACTIVE PART TO PLAY in the great display God was making before a million people who had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover celebration. Was there ever such a collection of testimony at any Passover Feast down through the centuries? The answer is, “No! There was never such a display of such power and design as to portray the crucial message: The Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world has just been slain!”
 
THE EARTHQUAKE HAD A GREAT TASK TO PERFORM: It had to open the graves and get things ready for the upcoming resurrection of many saints who are going to walk out of those newly opened graves. What we are saying here is that the earthquake was the mighty director of an integrated drama. No one could avoid noticing the earthquake as it shook the ground under the feet of a million people and yet was so selective in its breaking of rock in two and opening graves. It was a symphony with the tympani drums rolling at their utmost, climaxing in the clash of symbols and the rolling of the earth.
 
THE EARTHQUAKE HAD A WITNESSING FUNCTION OF ITS OWN, in breaking rocks, opening graves and reducing the bravery of seasoned Roman soldiers who had faced death many times but who had never stood in the presence of so great a shaking of the earth. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.  (Matthew 27:54)

WE HAVE YET TO REVIEW GOD'S DISPLAY AT MT. SINAI when God thundered and shook the earth in preparation for the announcing of His law through the hands of Moses. We also must look at what the mighty hand of God is going to do in the latter days as this age draws to a close, and the great rendering of the earth at the close of the millennium in preparation for the new heaven and new earth.

GOD DOES NOT HESITATE TO USE HIS MIGHTY POWER over the earth He created as a means of communicating with men who will not have God to rule over them. The shaking of the earth has only begun. There is much yet to come. At present, we must be careful not to ignore the role of the mighty earthquake that occurred when Jesus hurled His last cry as He gave up the ghost and departed from the cross. Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 15, 2019 – MONDAY      
A.M.  1 Sam 17-18      P.M.  Luke: 15:1-10
  (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Memory Verse:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that
God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)

Song for Today:  
Christ Arose (3:08) – (Samonte – ACapella Choir)             

https://www.youtub`e.com/watch?v=CtxSWcfH9hk
   You may need to adjust your volume control
 
Health Tip:
Family Health Library. PLEASE NOTE: I am not a health care professional of any kind. I do not diagnose disease and do not prescribe cures. However, I like to know things and have been writing articles of various kinds since high school days when I took typing and wrote an article or two for the Homestead Trailblazer (… did I get that right?) Several things have motivated me to learn and share, and the Internet is a good medium for that.

I WAS ORDAINED AS A PASTOR AT AGE 19, which doesn’t seem long ago, but now, at 84, it must have been a while back. The bottom line for better health for less money is: read and do.

WE ARE NOT BORN TO LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH, but we can shorten or lengthen it slightly (sometimes greatly) by what we do. Along the way I have read 500+ books on health and found that less than 100 were worth reading or consulting a second time.

I’M BEING REMINDED TO PROVIDE THE LIST I PROMISED of the 25 most-needed books… books by Davis, Gerson, Howell, Huggins, Jensen, Malkmus, Walker, Wigmore, Reuben, Wark, Perlmutter, etc.

THE FIRST THREE ARE BELOW. Along with this will be several online links of outstanding health sources of today, such as medical reporter Lorie Johnson who reports on CBN news most Wednesdays
https://www1.cbn.com/profiles/johnson-lorie . (Lorie has survived a bout with melanoma cancer.) The People’s Pharmacy e-letter is a great tool to have coming into your reading. It’s a free sign-up. Just set up a folder for saving it for future reference. https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/

THE FIRST BOOK IS THE BIBLE, which has a strong diet and life-practice built into it that lengthens life. Every home needs a copy of the MERCK MANUAL OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION-HOME EDITION (1,500 pages). Get a used copy at Amazon. MERCK claims to be the oldest continually published medical book (since 1899). I use it often. It is the heart of mainstream medical practice. (Mainstream is not the only stream, however.

THERE'S ANOTHER IMPORTANT BRANCH OF HEALTH STUDY based on diet, herbs and simple plant-based remedies, exercise and rest that have worked well for centuries.)

FOR EXAMPLE, DAVID REUBEN, M.D. WROTE: THE SAVE YOUR LIFE DIET, the nationwide bestseller on high-fiber protection from six of the most serious diseases of American life.” He wrote this book after watching his own father slowly die from colon cancer. He researched over 600 medical papers presented by 500+ medical writers and then wrote his book on fiber in the diet. You need this book! Read it…practice it for life.

WHEN I BEGAN VISITING HOSPITALS IN 1953, the connection between diet and disease had not yet been “invented.” When that generation of doctors passed off the scene, the new generation of doctors began to see the diet/disease connection and the pendulum has been steadily swinging toward a diet/disease connection ever since.

WE HAVE THE BEST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD, but it takes the best of modern medical discovery plus the oldest of proven practices to have the best health and longest life possible. It’s not one or the other; it’s both together. But, the greatest single factor of better health and lowering health costs is through change of diet. Heart attacks, strokes and cancer are all diet related. They are the leading killers in that order. (The greatest killer is abortion.) Ω


0 Comments

the six miracles of calvary...the veil - Part 2

4/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture

       The Six Miracles of Calvary –                                The Veil – Part 2
             
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;…  (Matthew 27:51)

THE TEMPLE THAT EXISTED WHEN JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED was a marvel of construction. It was the “Second Temple” or “Herod’s Temple.” It consisted of an outer courtyard where the common people could assemble, plus two rooms in the building-proper. The first room was called the “Holy Place” and was entered only by appointed priests. In the picture, you can see the furniture: the lampstand, the altar of incense and the table of showbread. The “Holy Place” was entered by coming past the first veil. (Not shown.)

THE SECOND ROOM WAS CALLED THE “Most Holy Place” or “Holy of Holies.” It was entered by coming past the second veil. In the picture we see this veil, ripped from top to bottom. Most likely, the rip in the veil/curtain was not as irregular and ragged as pictured here. But no one knows what the ripped edges looked like.

FROM NICHOLSON, WE LEARN THE FOLLOWING THINGS about the veil. We learn that upon the “ground-work” or “foundation-work” of “fine-twined linen” was displayed the colors of blue, purple and scarlet. The blue corresponded the blue heaven; the scarlet corresponded to the earth and the purple was a mixture of heaven and earth.

IT PICTURED GOD COMING DOWN AND BLENDING with His redeemed ones and working with them to yield to His holiness and to become like Him. Those three colors were interwoven with a mass of cherubim (angelic beings). It hung by hooks of gold from pillars overlaid with gold. The Scripture calls it a ‘cunning work,’ the cunning of God. It was copied from the pattern showed to Moses on the mount.

ONLY THE HIGH PRIEST HAD EVER SEEN BEYOND THE SECOND VEIL. And now the veil had suddenly ceased to exist. It was rent. Suddenly its office was at an end. There it still hung, but the eye might now see through it and beyond it. As a veil, it was gone. All at once the concealment had ceased. It fell in its own place before the Holy of Holies, as if resigning its office. In all the magnificent building, not another thing was marred or misplaced. May we repeat: nothing else in the Temple building was marred or misplaced! Just the veil!

IT WAS NOT BECAUSE OF NATURAL DECAY that the threads of the veil had parted asunder. It parted in the middle, thus opening in the very center of what it had served to conceal. And when did it happen? At the exact second when Jesus Christ expired on the Cross! That was the august moment for which the veil of concealment had been waiting; the moment for which through all the ages it had continued to exist.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THREE HOURS OF DARKNESS, Jesus had cried: “My God, My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?” At the end of the three hours of darkness, Jesus cried: “It is finished!” in great triumph. That’s when the veil rent in two.

THE TIMING OF JESUS' DEATH AND THE RENTING OF THE VEIL coincided with a gathering of witnesses God had assembled to give testimony to what they had seen. Jesus died at  3:00 p.m., at the moment the Evening Sacrifice was to begin.
 
THE PRIESTS WERE PRESENT INSIDE THE HOLY PLACE, in front of the veil, engaged in their duties relating to the Evening Sacrifice. They were eye-witnesses of the ripping of the veil because God arranged it to be so. It is no accident that “a great company of the priests became obedient to the faith.” And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.  (Acts 6:7)

GOD PLACED ADEQUATE WITNESSES AT EVERY STAGE of revealing Himself to a million people who had gathered for Passover. From all over the land of Israel and from several foreign countries the Passover Feast drew at least a million people every year to -celebrate. This year was no exception. They were packed into the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area as one big mass of people.

WHEN THE SKY TURNED BLACK FOR THREE HOURS and covered the crucifixion of the miracle-working Galilean, a million people took note of it. When the darkness ended as suddenly as it had come and it began to be whispered among them that the most sacred veil in the Temple had mysteriously ripped from the top to the bottom: it was like a spear through their souls!

A MILLION PEOPLE WOULD GO HOME AND TELL how it had become fearfully dark with an earthquake and the sacred veil had been destroyed just at the moment of the Evening Passover and at the exact moment when the darkness was lifted.

THE SIX MIRACLES OF CALVARY ARE THERE FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO KNOW about them. The ripping of the veil is the centerpiece of miracles that occurred that week. Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year  
      APRIL 12, 2019 – FRIDAY      
A.M.  1Samuel 10-12      P.M.  Luke: 13:22-35
  (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Memory Verse To Memorize: 
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Acts 2:36)

Song for Today:  
The Old Rugged Cross (3:37) – (Gaither Congregational)             

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOGtRTCER8
 You may need to adjust your volume control
 


0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Dan Carr is a "retired" pastor, writer, teacher and continues to write at this website. This blog and other articles are e-mailed free to anyone who wants them. Go to: 
    http://www.biblewalking.com/
    contact-us.html.  


    Dan and Barbara live 
    at Flat Rock, AL between Chattanooga, TN and Huntsville, AL. on Sand Mtn.
    We enjoy gardening, reading, church, family and friends.

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Abomination
    Beauty
    Bible
    Brokenness
    Christmas
    Church
    Comfort
    Creation
    Crucifixion
    Death
    Depression
    Easter
    Encouragement
    Faith
    Fire
    Gifts
    God
    Gospel
    Growing
    Hear
    Heaven
    Hope
    Hunger
    Jerusalem
    Jesus
    Joy
    Judgment
    Lie
    Love
    Love God
    Meditation
    Messiah
    Persistence
    Poor
    Praise
    Praise Of Men
    Prayer
    Promises
    Prophecy
    Rest
    Resurrection
    Rich
    Sin
    Sinners
    Thanksgiving
    Tragedy
    Truth
    Unbelief
    Word
    Worship