Psalm 58, as in the days of King David, so it is today 515-1 - 12 - 3

Our God Who Judges the Earth Judges the Judges. Today we have a warrior of the type of Jehu fighting to overcome the scheming not only of the left but also the RINOs and the Elite.

Psalm 58:1-2, “1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? 2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.”

Daily falsehoods are made against those attempting to bring positive change to our country. Also, calls are made to violence with the result of domestic terrorists. Surely judgment will fall on these reprobates’ judges (politicians).

Psalm 58:3, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”

Even more condemning is Isaiah 48:8, “Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. “ 

Psalm 58:4-5, “4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”

James 3:8, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly (unrestrained) evil, full of deadly poison.“ Again falsehoods come naturally to the unrighteous.

Psalm 58:6-9, “6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions (H3715), O LORD. 7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.” 

H3715, a village (as covered in by walls); also a young lion (perhaps as covered with a mane): - (young) lion, village. Break their teeth, destroy them?

To melt away is to disappear, be cast away, refuse, reject, also, is reprobate, utterly, vile person. Sudden death, die prematurely and never see the sun.

Arrows cut in pieces, possibly “blunt and harmless,” [Bible Believer’s Commentary]

Psalm 58:10-11, “10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.”

Needs no further comment, however, similar to Psalm 68:23, “That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.” A foretelling of the fate of Jezebel in 2 Kings?

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

What about man’s suggestions versus God’s ways? 515-1 - 12 - 6

The Emerging Church and Postmodernism

"The postmodern person rejects the biblical absolutes that there is an immutable God, that God is sovereign, and that the only way to salvation is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus.  Therefore, the Christian and the postmodern person often do not have sufficient common ground to allow proper dialogue on spiritual matters.

The postmodern person might ask if there is any such thing as truth and whether or not truth can be known either experientially or rationally.  The modernist would say, "Of course there is absolute truth!  Asking if truth can be known is an absolute question!"

[https://carm.org/emerging-church-postmodernism]

Postmodernism welcomes a softer, gentler emerging church that follows man’s way rather than God’s way:

• Rejects the notion of Universal Truth, something recognized as true

• It asserts its own truths about the Universe

• Constant never-ending change

I recently finished The Book of Judges Part 1, a little too close to home here in the United States. CM stated that we are living in a period like that described in the Book of Judges and made the following points:

1. There is no king in Israel.

2. People are doing what is right in their own eyes.

3. God’s people can’t seem to work together.

4. People are in bondage to their various enemies.

1. There is no king in Israel:

In my opinion, the United States had an absentee, narcissistic, selfie picture taking president for eight long years. We now have a very involved and proactive POTUS. Sadly, the establishment RINOs and the Democratic Party are fighting him.

2. People are doing what is right in their own eyes:

Early in his presidency Obama started his denigration of law enforcement by saying a policeman acted stupidly. Under Obama Domestic terrorists group like black lives matter materialized.

3. God’s people can’t seem to work together:

This too often is the case, nevertheless, in the election of 2016 we Christians worked together and, in my opinion, prayed Donald Trump into office. We continue to pray for the president, his family, and his administration.

4. People are in bondage to their various enemies:

After president Trump won the election in 2016 it was like liberal America collectively lost its mine. The liberals were/ are in bondage to free stuff. Former President Bush referred to the bigotry of low expectations, code for Jesse Jackson and his ilk to keep people in bondage.

In recent years we in the United States have had warnings or “shakings” to quote Messianic Rabbi Jonathon Cain. There are voices “crying in the wilderness” that is present day America, however, are people listening? Rather most are doing “what is right in their own minds,” filling their inherent spiritual gap with the untampered (H8602) mortar of sinful behavior.

H8602, to smear; plaster or slime; frivolity: - foolish things, unsavoury, untempered.

As with the Northern Kingdom has the United States lost her hedge of protection? Is there a gap? God tells Ezekiel that there is nothing and no one to stand in the “gap” that Israel has made in her wall of protection. Who/ what should have been “gap” fillers? Who/ what fills the gap for us today?

With thanks to the Blue Letter Bible website:

1) breach, gap, bursting forth

a) bursting forth, outburst

b) breach

c) broken wall

d) outburst (fig. of God's wrath)

Lessons learned, we BACs must be more proactive and stand in the gap while there is (pray-fully) still time.

Psalm 55, an imprecatory prayer? 515-1 - 11 - 4

Full disclosure, normally I don’t feel this anger, this need for imprecatory prayer, nevertheless, given the events of little more than a month:

Nov. 5, 2017 a shooter was stopped by an armed civilian after killing 26 in a Texas church. His goal was to kill all 50 plus church members.

About a week earlier eight people were killed when a suspect said to have yelled "Allahu Akbar" ran over them with a rental truck in New York.

Oct. 1, 2017 58 people killed and more than 500 wounded during outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.

CM didn’t classify Psalm 55 as an imprecatory prayer, however, there are reference to it as such. IMO, verses 15 and 23 fit the bill.

What is imprecatory prayer?

Answer: First of all, let’s define imprecatory prayer. To imprecate means “to invoke evil upon or curse” one’s enemies. King David, the psalmist most associated with imprecatory verses such as Psalm 55:15, 69:28, and 109:8, often used phrases like, “may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them” (Psalm 35:6) and “O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!” (Psalm 58:6).

[https://www.gotquestions.org/imprecatory-prayer.html]

Psalm 55:15, “Let death seize (H3451) upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.”

H3451, desolation: let death seize, to lie waste

Psalm 55:23, “But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction (H7845): bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half (H2673) their days; but I will trust in thee.” 

Destruction, H7845, from H7743; a pit, a trap, corruption, destruction, ditch, grave, pit. H7845, A primitive root; to sink, literally or figuratively: bow down, incline, humble.

Half, H2673, to cut or split in two; to halve: - divide, live out half, reach to the midst, part.

Devin Patrick Kelley, the church shooter was only 26, not even half a normal life-time. The truck driver survived and asked for an ISIS flag while in Bellevue Hospital. The Las Vegas shooter is dead either by suicide or “suicide by cop.”

Evil is becoming increasingly pervasive as members of the left and the Soros, Clinton, and Obama minions such as Antifa continue to fester like an inflamed boil after the election of Donald Trump as POTUS.

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

I’m still praying that the election of Donald Trump as POTUS will reverse the downward spiral of our country. Although Obama accelerated the decline, we started downhill when God was thrown out of schools and more than 50 million unborn babies were sacrificed on the altar of convenience. More time is needed to bring many more into the Kingdom.

My your views concerning the future of Israel. What is this heresy called Replacement Theology? 515-1 - 11 - 5

Genesis 17:7-8. “7 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. 8 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.” 

The Bible clearly shows that this was an unconditional and eternal covenant and God passed this covenant on to Abraham's son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and each time the covenant was renewed, it included their descendants, the Jewish people.

God is not through with Israel, however, Jesus held the Israeli responsible for not knowing the time of their visitation. It is as if scales have covered their eyes and they are blinded to Jesus as Messiah. Luke 19:42, “Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” 

This blindness is not forever and does not negate God’s covenants with Israel. Ezekiel 37 and the “Valley of dry bones” is prophetic of the restoration of the unbelieving Israel that occurred in the 20th Century. However, Ezekiel 36:22, “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name.” God cannot abandon Israel without breaking His Holy Word. God will protect the Jews as prophesized in both Ezekiel 38 and Psalm 83.

During the tribulation many Jews will be killed by the antichrist and his minions, nevertheless, a remnant will escape to Petra. According to Zechariah, the remnant “shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son.” Th the scales will drop from their eyes and they will be brought into the Kingdom.

Those church leaders with a weak Hermeneutics claim that the Everlasting Covenant God made with Israel has passed to the church though Replacement Theology. Sadly, Replacement Theology is likely the majority view and includes:

1. Israel forfeited her promises when she rejected her Messiah

2. The promises to Abraham passed to the Church

3. All the Old Testament covenants were conditional

Replacement theology is a heresy and so is demanding that Israel give up her God given land. Israel has little land today about 1/10 of 1% of the land mass of her neighbors. And yet Israel is under great pressure to give up land. Every time Israel gives up land rather than peace it brings her enemies’ rocket launchers closer to their cities. It also brings the curse of Genesis 12:3 upon those seeking to divide God’s land.

The relevancy of Jephthah’s four arguments today 508-1 - 7 - 1

Jephthah’s four arguments

Argument 1. The facts of history:

The Promised Land

“Jews have lived in this land continuously from the time of its original conquest by Joshua more than 3200 years ago until the present day, though Jews were not always in political control of the land, and Jews were not always the majority of the land's population.”

[http://www.jewfaq.org/israel.htm]

The above website has very interesting history of Israel and ends with:

“This page barely scratches the surface of all there is to say about Israel and Zionism. There are entire sites devoted to these subjects. Here are a few that are worth checking out:

Virtual Jerusalem is a great place to start your search for information about Israel. The site is based in Israel, and has lots of useful information, including Israeli news, travel information, information about making aliyah, and lots of great links.” Also suggested was Theodor Herzl's The Jewish State.

With thanks to Wikipedia, “Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel. Also defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making Aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism.”

Argument 2. The land grant from the Lord

“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).

CM pointed out that God made seven “I will” statements in the Abrahamic Covenant, the first four of which apply to Israel:

1) And I will make of thee a great nation.

2) And I will bless thee

3) And make thy name great

4) And thou shalt be a blessing

Argument 3. Three centuries of occupation:

Refer to argument 1, The Promised Land

Argument 4. They were fighting against God:

Again, I refer to the videos, “Against All Odds.”

As CM pointed out the remaining three “I will” statements made by God in the Abrahamic Covenant statements deal will those who bless or curse Israel:

5) And I will bless them that bless thee

6) And curse him that curseth thee

7) And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Every world power that has controlled and/ or occupied the land of Israel has become a former world power, or has lost power, such as Rome and Britain. After the eight years of the Obama administration America has lost much of our position as a world power. Thankfully we now have a POTUS far more supportive of Israel. Now if we would just move our embassy to Jerusalem.

God has used me in unlikely situations 508-1 - 7 - 5

In the early 1980s I was living across the bay from San Francisco and would often spend my summer weekends tent camping in the Sierras. After a stressful week at work to be able to withdraw into the womb of creation was very uplifting. During one of these weekends in the Sierras I had the opportunity to witness to hundreds of thousands via the Today Show on NBC.

There was a classical music festival held for several weekends in Bear Valley, California. The Today crew was there to recorded interviews and music which they distilled down to a four-minute segment from three hours “in the can.” The crew wanted to talk to a tent camper who came to attend the concerts and no RV campers. Since it seemed that I was the only tent camper attending the festival I was chosen to be interviewed.

During a very short interview at my camp site I was asked if the Sierras were an appropriate place for a concert. I can still remember looking at the man interviewing me like he had two heads and saying something like “What better place, this is God's Cathedral.” I wonder if NBC would allow my reference to God’s Cathedral to be aired today.

Full disclosure, now I’m years past sleeping on the ground in a tent and much prefer a comfortable bed in my camper van.

I’ve maintained a blog for several years, https://sallycp-inthebeginninggod.blogspot.com/. Page-views were slow in coming but are picking up. Not a great impact, however, the viewership is world-wide.

Oct 5, 2017 – Nov 3, 2017 Stats for top 10 countries

Entry                           Page-views

United States             355

Russia                        351

Germany                     42

China                           30

Kenya                          18

Portugal                      18

France                         16

Ukraine                       14

Canada                         9

United Kingdom          6

I pray I never miss an opportunity to witness because I was/ am inattentive or timid.

1 John 1:9 vs the Name it and claim it televangelists 515-1 - 10 - 6

1 John 1:8-9, “8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Mark 8:34, “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

This call to the people to “deny himself, and take up his cross” is not a great marketing tool. However, it keeps us on the narrow path that leads to life. Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Sadly, there are the money oriented “Name it and Claim it” prosperity televangelists leading people down the wide path that leads to destruction.

Joel Osteen pastors the Lakewood Church mega-church in Houston, Texas which seats over 30,000 congregants. Estimated millions watch him on television and he has written several best-selling books. Joel has a problem with the word sin and is, in my opinion, a motivational speaker. This is counter to 1 John 1:10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

The church in Laodicea is comparable to these mega-churches of today that preach the gospel of name it and claim it to members of the “me” generation. It is a lukewarm church, neither hot nor cold. Jesus said, “I will vomit you out of My mouth.” I’ve shared this video before, however, it is still relevant:

“Demons Work - Live In Church!” is a montage of televangelist hustle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsxcaG4Myyk&list=RDIsxcaG4Myyk

There are televangelists such as Dr. David Jeremiah who hold to the Word of God.  In his book I Never Thought I'd See the Day: Culture at the Crossroads. He writes "It never occurred to me that the Bible could be marginalized and even vilified publicly as it is today."

As a born-again Christian I’m an ambassador for Christ and it is incumbent on me to share the Word. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The lesson here is once more to stay focused on the Word as the absolute authority, Sola scriptura.

Psalm 49, it's not about money 515-1 - 10 - 1

Psalm 49:6-9, “6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: 8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever:) 9 That he should still live forever, and not see corruption.”

When asked what a rich man left behind his lawyer said, “Everything.” Add to that, no U-Haul trailer followed the hearse to the cemetery. No amount of works or of wealth will provide salvation either for the wealthy or for their friends and/ or family, Ephesians 2:8-9, “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Jesus was and is our propitiation and through grace we are justified before God. Once justified on to sanctification, Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” 

There is no redemption for those who reject this gift of grace, Ephesians 5:5, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

180 degrees from grace is The Roman Catholic Church and their doctrine of works (money). 1 Individual Mass “Offering” is $10.00 and a Novena of nine Masses “Offering” is $90.00.

Johann Tetzel, 1465 – 11 August 1519, was a German Dominican friar and preacher. “In addition, he was a Grand Inquisitor of Heresy to Poland, and later became the Grand Commissioner for indulgences in Germany. Tetzel was known for granting indulgences on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for money, which allow a remission of temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven, a position heavily challenged by Martin Luther. This contributed in part to the Reformation.”

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Tetzel]

Johann Tetzel rightly or wrongly is credited with the quote, "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

On a personal note, after my mother’s conversion to Catholicism at the age of 90 I often reminded her of her early Christian upbringing. Although mom never owned up to it, I believe that her conversion to Catholicism was because her friends were Catholics and would make sure that she got to church.

When my mother was dying I was appalled when well-meaning friends gave her a scapular to hold in her hand as she passed over. It is my understanding that on the first Saturday after death a Roman Catholic saint will liberation one from purgatory if that person is buried with a scapular. My mom in purgatory, really!

Mom loved Lynda Randel’s Gospel music. Although mom was unresponsive, I played Lynda’s CDs for her during her last two nights on earth. She calmly passed the next day.

Paul couldn’t have made any plainer. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"