My whole heart is wrapped up in the private study of the Word. 540 - 3 - 4

I’m so convicted that the Word of God is just that, the Word of God that I want to study it in small Bible studies as well as in my alone time with God. I have a number of electronic gizmos and have installed Bibles on them. I go to sleep listening to the King James Version of the Bible and in the hope that the rapture will happen as I sleep. Often during the night I will wake up and think that I remember that part of the Bible and then drift off again. Asleep or awake, I can’t seem to get enough of the Word.

Unfortunately, this was not always the case as I was brought up in a conservative Protestant church. While I was in both the junior and senior choir I don’t remember ever caring a Bible into the church. Rather there was a wooden plaque with grooves near the altar where the verse of the day and page numbers of the hymns to be sung could be slipped into place. Sunday after Sunday the same format. Luckily when I was very young I had a friend whose father was a Baptist pastor so I had some exposure to the Bible. Years later and even before I started attending a Bible-based church I started to explore the Word. Now it is a consuming passion.

The Word is a wonderful gift that I seek to share with others. I try not to get annoyed by the dismissive and sometimes contemptuous attitude by those trying to marginalize the Word of God. How often I've heard/ responded to people who say the Bible is just a book written by men.

Rather than get into a no-win argument with these critics of the Bible I referred them to resources available through Koinonia House including Learn the Bible in 24 Hours, How We Got Our Bible and How to Study the Bible. I also point out that the Septuagint which was completed about 270 BC included more than 100 prophecies of the coming Messiah that Jesus fulfilled.

My goal is to be a better Christian apologist and I'm grateful to KI for the opportunity to immerse myself in the study the Bible.

Many occurrences of the number seven in the Bible E - 501 - 2 - 7

“The Heptadic Structure

The recurrence of the number seven - or an exact multiple of seven - is found throughout the Bible and is widely recognized. The Sabbath on the seventh day; the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in Egypt; the seven priests and seven trumpets marching around Jericho; the Sabbath Year of the land are well-known examples.”

Extracted from the February 1995 Personal Update News Journal. Link to the complete article.

http://www.khouse.org/articles/1995/102/

From Genesis through Revelation the number seven is often found. 

Seven days cited a number of times concerning the Flood:
Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10,12

Seven lambs:
Genesis 21:28, 29, 30

Jacob serve seven years plus seven years for Rachel. His father-in-law pursued him and his family for seven days.

Pharaoh's dream of seven fat and seven lean kine in Genesis Chapter 41 as well as seven ears of good corn and seven ears of thin corn.

Several occurrences of seven days and leaven/ unleavened bread in the Book of Exodus.

Many occurrences of seven in the Book of Leviticus dealing with days, as a multiple and Sabbaths.

Fast forward to the Book of Revelation:

Before the Rapture of the Church:

Seven letters

Seven Churches

Seven Spirits of God

Seven golden candlesticks

Seven stars

Seven angels

After Jesus comes for the Church:

Seven sealed scroll – Seven seals

Seven trumpet judgments

Seven bowls of wrath

Red Dragon has:

Seven eyes

Seven horns

Seven heads

Seven crowns

Seven kings

Ten horns but three are pulled out

Seven hills/ mountains on while the woman sits

Seven plagues

Seven thunders

Seven thousand killed in the earthquake

Week of days – seven years

Great Tribulation or the time of Jacob’s Trouble is half of the Seventieth Week of 
Daniel, 1,260 days or 180 weeks.

What does it mean to you to take the Bible seriously? 502-17-

My first response to the question would be to say that the Bible is the inherent word of God. I would point out that there are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled providing a historical as well as a spiritual basis for the Bible. However I think this question has more to do with what figures of speech such as allegories metaphors etc. represent.

With thanks to CM from whom I borrowed most of the following:

· A simile is a resemblance as in Genesis 25:25, “The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.” Esau may mean hairy.

· An allegory is a comparison by representation. In Gal 4:22, 24 Paul was comparing Abraham’s sons by two women, his wife Sarah and her slave Hagar as representing two covenants. Hagar was compared to Mount Sinai (legalism) as the mother of slaves.

· A metaphor is a representation, Matthew 26:26, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” The Catholic Church takes Jesus literally with the heresy that the wine and bread are the actual blood and body of Jesus Christ.

· A hypocatastasis an implied resemblance or representation. Matthew 7:3, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” is a favorite of mine. How freely people criticize without first looking to themselves.

· A type is a figure or example of something future used by Paul in Romans 5:14, “Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.” With thanks to Adam for this mess we live in.

· An analogy is a resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike. Perhaps this is what part of my answer was to Revelation discussion question #2 Jesus opens and closes the Olivet discourse with what phrase? How can we put this into practice? “The deception of the Antichrist will be somewhat analogous of the spiritual blindness that Jesus pronounced upon Israel when they did not know the time of their visitation. During the tribulation many hearts will have been so hardened against God that it will be like a spiritual blindness.”

Figures of speech aside, I like Paul’s simple message. “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” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV

Make a list of scientific discoveries that the Bible anticipated.502-1 - 4 - 7

The following list is from Dr. Missler’s teaching “Technology and the Bible”“Technology Statements:

• Weapons Technology Mt 24:22; Jer 50:9
• Medical Hygiene Ex 15:26; Deut 23:12,13
• Circumcision Gen 17:10-12
• Pathways in the Sea Ps 8:8; Isa 43:16
• Meteorological Cycle Eccl 1:6,7; Job 36:27,28
• Global TV Coverage Mt 24:15; Rev 11:8-10
• Elect. Funds Transfer Rev 13:17
• Round Earth Job 26:7; Isa 40:22; Lk17:34-36
• Sub-atomic Particles Heb 11:3”

That the Jews were so far technologically advanced suggests a supernatural source of knowledge, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.” Isaiah 57:15.

1. Circumcision on the eighth day is advised as Vitamin K is formed between the fifth and the seventh days, also, prothrombin peaks during the eighth day at 110 percent of normal. Both Vitamin K and prothrombin are clotting agents.

2. Circumcision allows for better hygiene with the result of far less cervical cancer; in women.

3. Likely due to their practice of isolation so few Jews died during the Black Plague in Europe that they were blamed for the plague.

4. Moses was taught in the best schools in Egypt but did not promote use of their cures

5. That the gospel is contained in the Zodiac (Mazzeroth)

6. That there are four dimensions

7. The murder and resurrection of the two witnesses during the Tribulation being viewed world-wide, via satellite TV?

8. Mark of the beast to be allowed to buy and sell shades of debit/ credit card?

9. The use of smart weapon in the Gulf War; that “their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain” Jeremiah 50:9

10. “Pathways in the seas” later investigated and charted by Matthew Fontaine Maury

11. And so much more, again supernatural source of knowledge
There are many more incidences of scientific discoveries that the Bible anticipated. Add to that “The Anthropic Principle,” a subject for another Discussion Question.

7. Why do you accept the Bible as the Word of God?

That the Bible is the inspired Word of God is true beyond doubt in my opinion.

I think it was Hal Lindsey who answered this question by saying, “The Jewish people and that they still exist as a people.” Many enemies have come and gone and still Israel thrives. Many enemies still surround her and still she prospers. Israel has turned a waste land into a land from which she exports fruit and flowers. We in America have been blessed by God as we pretty much supported Israel in the past. Of course there was the time during WWII that we turned Jewish refugees away from our shores. Today we are pulling away from Israel as evidenced by an exchange March 28 at the State Department press briefing. “The press secretary refused to say that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel. “We are not going to prejudge the outcome of those negotiations, including the final status of Jerusalem,” State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said in response the question.” “The Marches to Israel’s Borders and the Global March to Jerusalem” begins tomorrow, 3/30/212. Interesting times we live in.

The Bible has thousands of prophetic verses that have been fulfilled or will be fulfilled in the future. The prophecies found in the Old testament that were fulfilled by Jesus are astounding. I never tire of posting the link http://mb-soft.com/believe/txh/proph.htm, “Prophecies that Jesus Christ Fulfilled.” God said he’d return the people to the land in the “Valley of Dry Bones” and he did/ is.

The very structure of the Bible proves its divine authorship and is loaded with authentication codes having the fingerprint signature of the author, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As an example there are the heptadic structures. A few are that the number of the consonants must be divisible by 7, evenly as must be the number of vowels, the number of letters and the number of words

Hundreds of thousands of people died for the crime of adhering to the early and true Christian theology rather than the medieval perverted versions. Jesus said “It is finished” and that we are saved by grace. Salvation isn’t a sometimes thing that has to continually be reinforced often by pledges of money. The common people were not to own a Bible much less read it thereby giving complete control to the priesthood.

That so many gave their lives to preserve the Truth and the survival of the Jewish people speaks volumes. Yes, the Bible is the Word of God.

Question, What is the central message of the Biblical Text and how is that being attacked today?

The Bible is the inspirited Word of God; Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created the earth and everything in it, period! The first two chapters of Genesis deal with creation and the rest of the Bible deals with the restoration of the earth and mankind after the fall. God created a paradise for our enjoyment asking only obedience. Not much to ask for compared to all that our original parents were given. However, man was given free will and it would seem has the same flaw as Lucifer, pride and the desire to become like God. Lucifer asked the same question then as now, “Did God really say…”Dr. Missler’s explanation of how his watch came together over billions of years is great satire on the theology of evolution; that this complex universe was some kind of a cosmic accident. God said He made man in His image. Those who say that we evolved from nothing demean the human race and, even worse, make God out to be a liar. And if God lied about creation, the rest of the Bible must be false.

The Bible is certainly under attack today by believers as well as unbelievers. Some who call themselves Christians claim much of Genesis is fables. Further, that many prophesies were written after the fact. If Genesis is mostly fables then evolution must be true. So if we came from nothing what does it matter if we kill each other or the tiniest victims of evolution, the millions of unborn babies sacrificed on the altar of abortion?

The Quran twists events in the Bible to fit their theology and often I hear the statement that Allah is the same god as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As for me, I take Revelation 22 seriously. The Quran is a total distortion of the Bible, however, there are other religious books that attempt add to or take from the Bible. Like the Quran, “The Book of Mormon” was by revelation to one person by an angel. The Quran was given by a series of visions and The Book of Mormon came from gold plates. Both demean the divinity of Jesus and the Jesus of the Quran is much the same as the False Prophetic of The Book of Revelation.

In addition to unbelievers attacking the Bible there is a watering down of the Word of God by the PC Christians. Throw out the cross and don’t even think of saying that we are saved by the blood of Christ. Some churches even claim we can pray the departed into heaven. It’s time for Christians to put on the “Full armor of God” and take a stand for the inerrant Word of God.

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.

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.

Drinking in the Word

I'm watching and listening to the power point teachings by Chuck Missler on the Book of Luke. I finished hour two of 24 hours, very informative. I joined Dr. Missler's Online school, The Koinonia Institute and should be working on my orientation so I can actually start taking the classes.    I bought a little electronic device, the NowBible. In addition to the Bible it has many study enhancements as well as being an MP3 player. It is compatible with an eight GB mini SD Card so I have lots and lots of teachings on it. I can listen to the teachings or read along with the audio Bible. It is well worth the price.    There is so much to learn and the more I read the Bible the more I know how very little I know. I told friends at Bible study that it's like a huge, deep water source that I want to dive into and explore ever nock and crannie of. I was brought up in the church and loves the Old Testament Bible stories as a child. I mostly attended mainstream Protestant churches but now for several years have been attending Bible based churches. Now at the Biblical three score and ten I can't seem to get my fill of the Bible.