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. 

God Said “Go Close the Windows” Revisited

Today I was once again at a Gospel performance featuring Michael and his father Ed Cullipher. Ed sang a song that likely touched  even the hardest heart, “Go Close the Windows.”

As Jesus hung on the cross “Angels cried Father please stop them" and God answered "Go close the Windows." What anguish God must have felt, nevertheless, as the Suffering Messiah Jesus was to serve as the propitiation for sin. 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.” This is the one time Jesus called His father God as He, Jesus, was the  conciliation that permitted us to stand before our  righteous God. 

 

Once more as I listened to Mr. Cullipher I thought back several years to when Pastor Bruce talked about “The Seven Sayings of Jesus on the Cross.” All those many years ago Pastor Bruce inspired me to look into some of the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled while Jesus hung on that cross. Sadly Pastor Bruce went home to be with the Lord, a victim of Covid-19.

 

The following is from my earlier blog postings:

# 1. Forgiveness: Luke 23:34, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Numbers 15:26, “And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.”
Psalm 22:18, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”

#2. Salvation: Luke 23:43, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Isaiah 40:3, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John the Baptist is often referred to as the end of The Old Testament.

#3. Relationship: John 19:26-27, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Psalm 69:8 “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.”

#4 Abandonment: Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

#5 Distress: John 19:28, “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.”

Psaml 69:20, “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”

#6 Reunion John 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

Psalm 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

#7 Triumph: Luke 23:46, “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”

Psalm 31:5, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” 

Tetelestai means, “It is finished.” Jesus paid the price, it is up to each of us to choose to accept or reject the gift of Grace.