The Pope's Red Shoes meets The Wizard of Oz

 Another decade, another Pope. While I'm not particularly interested in Catholic affairs, I respected former Pope Benedict's intellect. That said and full disclosure, I can have a very convoluted sense a humor at times and see patterns were perhaps none exist.

Years ago when Pope Benedict resigned I was half-way listening to the bloviating about the pope’s departure. I heard a comment about his red shoes. I was not aware that the Pope wore red shoes as one of the symbols of his office. I thought about the comparison between the Jesus and the regalia of the Pope. Rather than special red shoes and royal vestment, Jesus walked about in a pair of sandals and homespun and served as our propitiation before a righteous God.

Now where else were red shoes of such importance as at the Vatican? The Wizard of Oz comes to mind. Like me, most of you have probably watched the Wizard of Oz any number of times. After Dorothy's house was flung by a tornado into Oz crushing an evil witch, Dorothy was presented with the witch's red shoes.
I started to make a mental inventory of the primary cast of characters in the story. There was sweet innocent Dorothy who was just trying to get back to Kansas. There was a scarecrow looking for a brain. There was the immobilized tin man looking for a heart. It was amazing how much a few drops of oil enabled him to move his joints. Completing the trio of Dorothy's new friends was the lion looking for courage.

What does all of this have in common with the Catholic Church? Perhaps Dorothy could be compared to the millions of Catholics hoping to go home/ heaven and placing their reliance on church clergy. Accepting the gift of salvation through Jesus to me would be as simple as Dorothy clicking her red shoes together. Given the history of the Catholic Church, popes such as Innocence the third certainly could have used a heart as could the tin man. The requirement for oil by the tin man brings to mind the five foolish virgins who had no oil and were "frozen" in place and not allowed into the Marriage Feast. Like the lion in the Wizard of Oz, there is certainly no comparison between the Catholic Church and the coming Lion of Judah. As for the scarecrow wanting a brain, I would again compare this to those who don't seem to be able to think for themselves and/ or are lacking in Discernment of spirits.

Then there is Malachi and the Prophecy of the last pope... recall the Wizard was exposed as being little more than a puppet master operating the gears and pulleys of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.  When Francis became the 112th Pope the question of his name came up, Francis not Petrus. Interestingly and convoluting enough the name Peter is somehow in Francis' line.

So what of Malachi and the Prophecy of the Popes. The prophecy concerning the 112th and final pope states: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The end.” 

Revisiting "A very blessed colt of a donkey," originally posted April 6, 2018.

 Pastor Bruce, former pastor of our local Assembly of God Church, inspired several of my blog posting including his Palm Sunday, 2018 message and the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

First a little background. Daniel 9:25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

This was a timeline brought to Daniel by the angel Gabriel; from the time Nehemiah was sent to Judah to rebuild the walls until The Triumphal Entry and when the “Messiah be cut off.” This prophecy was hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and His crucifixion.

But I digress, back to the colt. Jesus sent two disciples to find a tethered donkey, and a colt with her and bring them to Jesus. If the owner asked why, they were to explain that the Lord needed the animals. Jesus would ride into Jerusalem to the cheering of the crowd as they spread palms before him.

Matthew 21:5, “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” This was in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Pastor Bruce’s points concerning the colt:

1. Jesus choose the younger colt

   a. It was not brainwashed

   b. It was ready to be used

2. The colt was prophesied {Zechariah 9:9)  

   a. Are we, like the colt, the generation to fulfill prophecy?

Joel 2:28-29, “28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” 

3. The colt had to be loosed, men had him tied up

a. Like the colt we are too often tied up by the cares and expectation of the world. We need to be set free (set aside) to follow Jesus. Recall that after Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave he told the people to remove his grave clothes. Are we wrapped in "grave clothes" that restrict us?

b. Lesson learned, don't let the world (fresh) tie us up.

4. The colt was tied up, but Jesus knew where he was.

a. Jesus unties us as we accept His gift of grace, confess our sins, and repent.

b. The colt obeyed Jesus

c. Jesus turned Jerusalem upside down.

5. More lessons learned.

a. If God can use the colt of a donkey He can surely use us.

b. The colt received no recognition, nor should we, it’s all about Jesus.

As an aside, there is another donkey, a talking donkey, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Numbers. Balaam was a soothsayer, a “prophet for profit,” for hire. He agreed to use his ability contrary to God’s will.

Balak, king of the Moabites, feared the Israeli so he sent messengers to Balaam and asked him to curse Israeli. God intervened. Numbers 22:12, "And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed."

At first Balaam refused to curse Israel and eventually traveled to Moab but not until after a conversation with his donkey. Numbers 22:28, “And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?” Numbers 22:31, “Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head and fell flat on his face.”  

Balaam did suggest a way for Balak to corrupt Israel through the flesh. However, there was a final blessing, Numbers 24:17, “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.:

There is an earlier reference to a scepter, Genesis 49:10, “The sceptre (H7626) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (H7886) come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

H7626, to branch off; a scion, that is, (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan: -  X correction, dart, rod, sceptre, staff, tribe.

H7886, Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah: - Shiloh.

Build the wall with one hand and a sword in the other hand

 After the Jews came back to Israel after the 70 year captivity a few attempts were made to rebuild the Temple. Progress was nullified by the fact the wall was in very bad shape. So Nehemiah was in charge of rebuilding the wall against great pushback. Lessons learned, build the wall and have weapons at hand if need be.

Nehemiah and the men working on rebuilding the wall and the gates pretty much worked with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. Nehemiah 4:17, “They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.” So some stood guard as others work and the men slept where they worked. Nehemiah worked out a system such that should a work area be under attack a warning would be sounded and those in other work areas would join in their defense.

Remarkably the wall be finished in less than two months. Nehemiah 6:15, “So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.”

So where am I going with this... fast forward about two and a half millenniums. Descendants of Nehemiah were eliminated like fish in a barrel.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” the ultimate victim of replacement theology revisited

 Having recently revisited the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel... on an related topic... time to revisit my post from 11 years ago "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas," The ultimate victim of Replacement of Theology.

Replacement theology promotes the concept that when Israel rejected her messiah she forfeited the promises/ covenants made to her by God and these passed to the Church which became “spiritual Israel." Replacement theology marginalizes Israel and the Jewish people making it easier for the world to turn its back on the Jews, most notably during the Holocaust. For the Christian, it implies that God can't be trusted to honor our salvation.

The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is set during World War II and involves the growing friendship between two 8-year-old boys separated by a fence in a concentration camp. Bruno is the son of the commandant of the concentration camp where Shmuel is imprisoned for the crime of being born a Jew.

Months earlier Bruno is living in his home in Berlin playing with his many friends while being impervious to the Jews being loaded into a transport truck. Playtime done, Bruno goes home to learn that his father is being transferred to the country. At first the family members don’t realize that what they call a nearby farm is really an extermination camp and Bruno’s father is the commandant.

One night several high-ranking officials of the Nazi party are shown a propaganda movie depicting how well the Jews were being treated in the extermination camp. Bruno watches the propaganda movie and believes it.

Bruno has no friends so he hikes through the woods to what he thinks is a farm and meets the boy in the striped pajamas. They become friends separated will by a fence and far more than either one of them knew

One day Bruno asks his little friend in the striped pajamas about all the kids in the camp and all the fun they had. Shmuel had no idea what Bruno was talking about.

A few days later the boys arrange for Shmuel to bring an extra pair of “striped pajamas” for Bruno. The upshot is that Bruno sneaks into the concentration camp. Shmuel and Bruno search the camp looking for Shmuel’s father who disappeared a few days before.

The back story to this fateful search for Shmuel’s father is that earlier Bruno betrayed his friend Shmue who was cleaning crystal glasses in the commandant’s house. Bruno stops to talk to Shmuel and asks if he wants something to eat. They are discovered by one of the Nazis and Shmuel told the officer that Bruno gave him the pastry. With the Nazi screaming at both the boys, Bruno denied even knowing Shmuel. Guilt over his betrayal was part of the reason Bruno later offered to help Shmuel find his father.

That guilt leads to the tragic conclusion of the movie.The boys make the mistake of entering a building that is holding dozens of men about to be herded into the gas chamber.

Meanwhile back at home Bruno’s mother realizes that he is missing and breaks up a meeting between the commandant and his minions. Ironically they are discussing the status of the ovens. The commandant and his subordinates start to back-track Bruno to where he had crawled under the fence to get into the concentration camp.

The movie ends with the door to the gas chamber being sealed and crystals being dropped into the chamber as Bruno’s father frantically looks for him. Sad as the ending of the movie is, Bruno’s father was about to learn the deadly efficiency of his camp of extermination.

Time once more to review the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel

 Time once more to review the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel. 

February 2016 I posted, “As for the United States, again and again the POTUS and his minions fail to support Israel and actually undermine her in mockery of God’s Word. Isaiah 5:5, “And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:” So much for the hedge of protection around America. As America has done to Israel….”

We had a four year reprieve during the Trump Administration which was very supportive of Israel. Just one accomplishment was to finally move our Embassy to Jerusalem.  Now the election of 2020, questionable as it was/ is, removed God’s Warrior Jehu from office.  

2 1/2 years of a Biden/ Harris /Obama administration, what of Israel? At least our Embassy remains in Jerusalem. That said, the Biden administration has been less than supportive of Israel. 

So it is time once again to review the Four Unconditional Covenants made by God with Israel:

The Abrahamic Covenant:

 “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting  covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8).

The Land Covenant:

In Genesis 15 God instructed Abram to construct an offering and then caused Abram to enter a deep sleep. God foretold of the time that the Israelites would be strangers in a land not theirs, however, when they would come out of a period of enslavement they would be given an unconditional title to land as described in verse 18 through 21. This was a unilateral land covenant granted to Abram and his descendants.

The Davidic Covenant:

Nathan the prophet told King David God’s unconditional covenant. 2 Samuel 7:12, “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.” 2 Samuel 7:16, “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.”

The Everlasting Covenant:

God promised Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

Now with the current administration have we lost God’s blessing? Genesis 12:3, “ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” 

What a wild ride the last few years have been. A pandemic and experimental "vaccines," iron control of many on the planet, friends and family turned on each other over wearing masks and vaxxed vs the unvaxxed. Economical ruin, churches closed many not to be reopened. Globalists talk of a reset.

My concern, we've just seen the tip of the iceberg. 

How it all started... my first blog posting Saturday, December 17, 2011

 How it all started... my first blog posting

Saturday, December 17, 2011

First Class Tomorrow - Koinonia Institute!

Tomorrow, 12/18, I start my first class with Chuck Missler's Koinonia Institute:

Survey of the Old Testament is a Bronze Medallion course that reviews the Old Testament with an emphasis on the integrity of deliberate design found throughout the entire Bible. With 66 books penned by over 40 authors and over a period of several thousand years, virtually every detail in the text — every number, place name, even the structures hidden beneath the text itself— reveal a master plan which transcends the perspective of any of the individual writers and demonstrates an extraterrestrial origin from outside our time domain.

There is so much depth to the Bible and again, the more I learn the more I know I have to learn. I've long had a heart centered connection to Jesus, however, in these last days I want to better be able to defend the faith. I'm not sure what a Bronze Medallion represents but the knowledge gained will be helpful.

I've downloaded several of Dr. Missler's teaching in MP3 with a slideshow presentation format. His DVDs take up far more computer storage space and the main difference is being able to watch Dr. Missler rather than listen to him. I'm happy to hear him while viewing the relevant slides. In addition to the slideshow version, there is an audio only format that I can load to my smart phone. Dr. Missler goes into great detail in his teachings.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A little Bit More....

Another eBay post I wrote in reply to a member's question about the Bible

I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

I recently enrolled in the Koinonia Institute.  Here is part of what I wrote in the KI Discussion Boards' Introduce Yourself:

I'm from a very small town in Michigan. I can't remember a time as a child that I wasn't in Sunday School. As a teenager I sang in both the junior and senior choir. I was in a rather conservative protestant church, however, for a few years in grade school my best friend was the local Baptist Pastor's daughter so I received a more through introduction to the Bible there. Her father was called to another city but I never forgot the peace I found in that church.

I was a young mother of two and divorced in college. The church I attended with my former husband made sure my children and I had a ride to church Sundays. After college I started to drift away from church membership and am thankful that God is so forgiving. I played at the edges of the so-called New Age and New Thought, you know, the all roads lead to God. Thankfully I belonged to the Lord from such an early age that He never really let me go. Now older and far more discerning I've been delving deeper and deeper into the Word for several years. The more I study and attend Bible studies the more I hunger.

I finally decided that I have an unusual mission field. I've been a member of eBay for years, both as a buyer and seller. I stumbled into a chat room and read incorrect doctrine and lots of Christian bashing. My concern is that far more people read these online threads than reply. I try to correct posts such as Allah is the same God as in the Old Testament.

I moved around a lot after graduating from college in the 60s and now am retired and live in Quartzsite, Arizona where I attend a local Baptist church. Summers I spend in Michigan in a park with it's own Chapel. I am truly blessed.

As an aside and back to 2023, more than a decade ago, I promoted Slideshows over DVDs, nearly a 1 to 90 ratio of storage required. Now I store volumes of Chuck's teachings on very small media,  a valued treasure trove. AIlthough I'm still a buy/ seller on eBay, I no longer post there rather to Facebook, a huge mission field, possibly to Twitter in the near future. 

Thinking Outside the Box, What if Adam...

Another of my musings from outside the box. We all know about the fall in Chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis. The serpent appealed to Eve's pride, her desire to become as God. She took one little bite of the forbidden fruit and offered it to Adam, Adam who ate knowing the penalty. Eyes now opened, Adam and Eve realized they were naked. Typical of humans they tried to cover their sin with figleaves. God had another plan and provided them with animal skins, a foreshadowing of God's requirement of a blood sacrifice for sin. Thousands of years later it would be Jesus who was our propitiation.

But back to my musings. What if Adam stayed in Eden rather than taking a bite out of the "apple." What would happen to Eve after being forced out of Eden. Without Adam would Eve have fallen to such a lowly and lost state that she would have accepted Satan as her god? Would Eve have become the bride of Satan and created a race of fallen angels?

Would God have created another bride for Adam and would they be restricted to an area in Eden guarded by cherubim? Would such a restriction mean the planet would not be populated by the race descending from Adam and his second wife?

Cherubim were posted at the entrance to Eden to keep Eve out and away from the Tree of Life. Would Eve be able to see past the cherubim and see her husband Adam with a new bride? Satan uses the eyes is a portal to man or in this hypothetical case Eve. Would she become jealous and seek to aid Satan in his battle against God?

God uses hearing as the portal to man, again in this case, Eve. Perhaps Eve would remember enough of her conversations with God in the Garden to resist Satan out in that cold lonely and hostile world. Would she unite with God in defeating Satan and eventually redeem herself in the eyes of God? Would God provide Eve with a husband? Would we then decend from Eve and her second husband.