Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Heavenly mail
Dearest Father In Heaven,
I have been examining my life, and it seems I can see too much of me and not enough of You. It has caused me to request something quite spectacular from You. I want to experience more of Your awesome power in every aspect of my life. I am moved and inspired at how You reveal Your power every day in the grandeur of Your creation and the depth of Your artistry. Everything from the stunning peaks of the tallest mountains to the mysterious depths of the deepest oceans bears Your signature of power.
Heavenly Mail
When the storm rages, the winds blow, and the lightning streaks across the sky, it is Your thunderous voice that is heard heralding Your living power. Your powerful artistry is expressed in the excitement of Your golden dawns and in the peace of Your rich, pastel sunsets. Just as You reveal Your power in these works of creation, I want You to reveal Your power in my life and fill me with Your love. I want all that I do and all that I am to bear Your signature of power. I want the boldness of my actions to light the horizons and the weight of my words to be spoken with thunderous truth and of a heavenly heart.
Yes, it is my greatest desire that my life be a portrait of Your power, painted by Your almighty hand.
Heavenly Mail from,
Your Loving Child.
Reply :
Dear Loving Child,
My answer comes from heaven with the rescuing power of My right hand. What I have produced in your life is better than the purest of gold and surpasses the finest of silver.
Who has measured the waters in His hand or with His hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the earth's dust in a basket or placed the mountains on a scale and the hills on a balance? To whom will you compare Me, who is My equal?
I displayed the stars one by one and called them by name. Because of My great power and strength, not one of them is missing. I will give strength to you when you are weary and increased power when you are weak, You will fly like an eagle, run without growing tired, and walk without fading in strength, For I am a light and a shield, and I give you benefits and honor; nothing good will be withheld from you when you live in purity. You possess a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline,
Fulfillment is in the life of those who trust Me.
Your Devoted Father
Answer taken from the scriptures of
Isaiah 40: 12, 25,26 and 31
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
THE CONCEPT OF BLESSING
Ephesians 1:3
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings:"
This is a study of the New Testament word "blessing". We expect to answer the following questions:
* What does the word "blessing" mean?
* How does God bless us? What does He bless us with?
* What are the blessings that God gives?
* How do we get these blessings, and how do we make use of them?
* How can we be a blessing to others?
THE CONCEPT OF BLESSING
There are three New Testament Greek words related directly to the English word "blessing".
(eulogeitos) is an adjective meaning "well spoken of; praised"
(eulogew) is a verb: "to speak well of; to praise; to call down God's gracious power"
(eulogia) is the noun form, meaning "praise; fine speaking"
These words show up very seldom in Greek classical writing. The concepts are Hebrew in origin, and the idea of blessing permeates the OT. The New Testament Greek words are direct translations from Hebrew. These same Greek words are used more than 400 times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) to represent the Hebrew concepts of blessing
The concept among the Old Testament Jews was that God possesses and dispenses all blessing. Adam, Noah, the patriarchs, Moses - are all blessed by God.
Moses, in turn pronounces a parting blessing on the Twelve Tribes (Deut. 33:1 ff).
The idea of "blessing" was also closely related to the question of inheritance, passing blessing from father to son. Jacob blessed Joseph in Gen. 48:15, and Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob put his right hand on Ephraim's head, although he was the younger.
In the Bible both blessing and cursing are said to be passed down through two or more generations. For example, there is the concept of the four generation curse, divine discipline for a family that is out of fellowship.
In the Christian life, the inheritance that we pass down to our children is spiritual, doctrinal.
DEFINITION
The problem of definition of the word "blessing" is that it is not a direct translation from the Greek. The word "blessing" is a borrowed word which has attained its present day meaning by reason of long usage, rather than by etymological accuracy.
From the World Book Dictionary:
1a. "to consecrate (a thing) by religious rite, formula, or prayer" e.g., "the bishop blessed the new church"
1b. "to make holy or sacred." e.g., "And God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it", Gen. 2:3
2. "to ask God's favor for; to commend to God's favor or protection", e.g., "God bless mommy...daddy"
3. "to wish good for; to feel grateful to"
4. "to make happy or fortunate"
5. "to praise, to glorify, to call holy"
6. "to guard or protect from evil", e.g. "God bless this house"
7. "to make the sign of the Cross over; to ward off evil"
Question: Why was the English word "blessing" chosen to represent (eulogeitos).
The answer is found in Oxford English Dictionary (OED) -> one of the world's greatest detective books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OED: to Bless
1. "to make sacred; to hallow (something)".
"The word "bless" is from the Old Teutonic (German) bletsian, from heathen blood sacrifices. German: das Blut. English: blood.
"The meaning, then, was `to mark (or affect in some way) with blood (or a sacrificial animal)'.
"The sense development of the word `bless' was greatly influenced by its having been chosen (in the early English church ceremonies) to translate the Latin (benedicere) and the Greek (eulogeitos)."
(End of OED comment)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This concurs very well with the origin of the concept of "blessing" in the Bible In the OT, the Hebrew word (baw-rahk'), meaning "to kneel", was used one way or another hundreds of times to convey the meaning of respect or adoration. You would kneel before a king in respect, or to offer thanks for something. Of course, you would kneel to God in adoration, praise, thanksgiving, supplication.
The Septuagint (LXX) translators chose the Greek (eulogeitos) to represent (baw-rahk') (more than 400 times). So, among Greek speaking Jews, this was a common word for praise, thanksgiving, respect, etc.
Latin writers used the verb form (benedicere) to translate the Greek, preferring to offer the literal sense of the Greek.
I think they wanted a strictly English word so they could get away from the Catholic Latin expressions.
The word "bless" was not a literal translation, but it had religious overtones, and they used it even though it had come from a heathen source.
So, there was a long and varied series of associations - Jewish, heathen, Christian - to blend in the English use of the word "bless".
Therefore - "blessing" is a word which has a position in Christian vocabulary by reason of long-standing usage. But it does not directly translate (eulogeitos)!
BUT - there is a modern version which *does* have a direct translation, and it is to this version that I pay honor. The version is the Spanish. In Ephesians 1:3 in the Spanish, the word (bendito) is the part participle of the verb (bendecir).
It means, literally, "to say good things or good words".
There is no doubt to Spanish speaking people what this word means. Decir is one of the most common Spanish words. The translators had no extra baggage from the English, so they translated directly from the Greek (via the Latin).
The English equivalent to bendición is "benediction", also from the Greek by way of Latin.
So, (eulogeitos) => benedicere => bendición => benediction => "praise"
BLESSING IN THE BIBLE
The word "blessing" recognizes the existence and deity of God. It tells us that we can be aware of His existence and have inner happiness because of who and what He is.
It also tell us, from the Greek, that God was thinking about us in favorable terms, that He had a mental attitude of love, grace, and mercy toward us from before the beginning of time.
Praise, or blessing, for anyone comes from a mental attitude of love and appreciation for that person. God makes an initial move toward us because of His mental attitude of love. He provides us His graciousness, His gift of salvation, His spiritual gifts, all of which are manifestations of His love toward us. He thought "good words" toward us.
He has provided all blessings for us as an expression of His love. Our response of blessing or praise toward God, and toward others, is a response from a mental attitude of appreciation.
Eph. 1:3 deals with God's initiation and our response.
Blessing begins in the mind of God (Love, Grace, "Good Words", a Frame of Reference influenced by His thinking)
...therefore, He gives us "all blessings"
...the Christian learns of these blessings through Bible study and develops a mental attitude of praise and thanksgiving, "good words" with which to express appreciation
...with these "good words" we "bless" God.
These are words of vocabulary, of thinking divine viewpoint. Blessing is not a feeling, but objective thinking based on divine viewpoint, a Frame of Reference built by knowledge of doctrine.
With edification we build the ability to think about God, which enables us to receive and enjoy blessing and to be a blessing to others.
Heb. 6:7, "For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth herbs for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God"
The most basic form of evangelism is to talk about God's blessing which are available to everyone, saved or not.
HOMEWORK: from Acts 14:8-18, determine how Paul and Barnabas used the concept of blessing to evangelize people who were completely ignorant of God.
The idea for the hymn Showers of Blessing was taken, with good intentions, from Eze. 34:24 ff. [READ Eze. 34:24 to 31]
These are tremendous verses of promise and blessing from the hand of the Lord. There is no pleading here no wishful thinking, the blessings are already given to us, either now or in the future when prophecies are fulfilled.
We should plead to be made into showers of blessing, or rather, showers of (eulogeitos), showers of benedicere, showers of bendición, showers of "benediction", showers of "good speaking".
Study Eph. 4:29 ff on the concept of speech that ministers grace.
See also, Eph. 5, "neither foolishness ... but rather giving of thanks"
1 Pet. 3:9
Why should we not be generous? We have an enormous inheritance from our heavenly Father, enough to share with others.
James 3:10
John 7:38
We are to be fountains of blessing.
Matt. 25:34
Dan. 4:33, 34
Matt. 6:25-34
Josh. 1:7,8
Ephesians 1:3 (expanded translation) "Worthy of praise and glorification is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has provided us benefits and every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ:"
Source from : http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/topics/blessing.html
Where did Satan come from?
Q. Where did Satan come from? Did God create evil? Is Satan a created being? Has he always existed? Is he a fallen angel?
What a puzzle this seems to be, and yet how simply it is solved!
To answer the many questions here. . . 1st of all, God did not create evil. When Satan was first brought forth from God’s creative hands he was good. Satan has not existed eternally, he was created.
Revelation 12:7 - 9 NAS95
* And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,
* and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.
* And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
This I believe is the clearest account of Satan’s activities before being cast down that I know of in the Scripture. We know it was Satan, in the form of a serpent, that tempted Eve in the garden of Eden.
1 Chron. 21:1 says that Satan was responsible for causing David to commit sin. Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-7 we see the activity of Satan in tempting Job.
Job 1:6-12
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."
The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 "But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face."
12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
He is called Satan,
The Devil (Mt. 13:39);
the Dragon (Rev. 12:3);
Beelzebub (Matt. 10:25);
Belial (2 Cor. 6:15);
and Lucifer in the KJV in Isa. 14:12.
He is referred to as the Evil One (Matt. 13:19);
the Tempter (Matt. 4:3);
The god of this world (age) (2 Cor. 4:4);
the Ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph. 2:2);
the prince of this world (Jn. 12:31).
Two passages that are often used to teach about Satan are Ezekiel 28:11-19 and Isaiah 14:12-14. Both of these passages should be used with extreme caution.
Ezekiel 28:11-19
11 Again the word of the LORD came to me saying,
12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared.
14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.
17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.
18 "By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.
19 "All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."’"
One should always be aware of the context of a Biblical passage before trying to teach anything from it. In its context Ezek. 28:11-19 is a description of the King of Tyre. To go beyond this in explaining this passage is to go without biblical support. NEVER in Scripture is the context in Ezek. 28 used to speak of Satan.
Similarly, Isa. 14:12-14 speaks of the king of Babylon. The KJV adds “Lucifer” to verse 12 for unknown reasons. Isa. 14 is speaking in figurative language of the downfall of the nation of Babylon.
It could be said in both these passages that the King of Tyre and the King of Babylon were the very personification of Satan. In this case we can assume that certain characteristics of these evil kings are characteristics of Satan.
What we do know about Satan is this. He was a created being, an angel, who was judged because of his rebellion, which the New Testament hints was sparked by his pride (1Tim.3:6). Let’s read the passage, in speaking about the qualifications of an elder, Paul says:
1Tim.3:6
6 * and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
Satan is the one responsible for introducing evil to this world. Now he desires to devour God’s creation by tempting man to reject his Creator.
This is then the lesson we must learn. Satan--an angel created by God--was given the free will to choose whether or not he would obey God. He disobeyed, and that disobedience was evil.
Satan made himself evil by choosing to do evil.
In the same way, humans may choose to do right or wrong, and through their choices, evil flourishes.
So. . . it was choice that caused Satan to be evil, not an act of Creation.
Author: Mike Scott
Source from : http://www.scripturessay.com/
Shared By : Sanjay Kishan
The Missing Parts of the King James Bible
The Apocrypha
Unknown to almost all of the over two billion people who claim the Bible as their spiritual foundation is that there are several books and two sections missing missing from all but a few versions of that Bible. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets of the modern Protestant church is that the Bible used by that body is not the original King James Bible. That translation, completed in 1611, and the Bibles published for the use of the clergy and the church members until late in the 19th Century, contained 80 books. Although attempts to remove the 14 books known as the Apocrypha from the Bible began immediately after the King James translation was completed they remained in the Bible until the end of the 19th Century. There is no doubt that the 14 books of the Apocrypha were controversial, but it cannot be denied they were included in the original King James Bible.
The concept of the Protestant Church about the Apocrypha is virtually non-existent, with the general understanding that only the Catholic Church uses it. One would be hard-pressed to find any members of the clergy even aware that these books were ever included in the King James Bible. There are 155,683 words and over 5,700 verses contained in 168 chapters now missing from the King James translation of the Bible due to the exclusion of the Apocrypha. Although this only happened just over a hundred years ago, their existence as fully accepted scripture is virtually unknown.
A clear history exists of the inclusion of the Apocrypha in the King James Bible:
· In the year 1615 Archbishop Gorge Abbott, a High Commission Court member and one of the original translators of the 1611 translation, "forbade anyone to issue a Bible without the Apocrypha on pain of one year's imprisonment"
· "It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive than the [Protestant Old Testament] . . . It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called Apocrypha or Deutero-canonical books. The use made of the Apocrypha by Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian and Clement of Alexandria is too frequent for detailed references to be necessary" (Early Christian Doctrines, J. Kelly)
· "In 405 Pope Innocent I embodied a list of canonical books in a letter addressed to Exsuperius, bishop of Toulouse; it too included the Apocrypha. The Sixth Council of Carthage (419) Re-enacted the ruling of the Third Council, again with the inclusion of the apocryphal books… "The Sixth Council of Carthage repromulgated in Canon 24 the resolution of the Third Council regarding the canon of scripture, and added a note directing that the resolution be sent to the bishop of Rome (Boniface I) and other bishops: ‘Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon [Canon 47 of the Third Council], because we have received from our fathers that these are the books which are to be read in church.’" (The Canon on Scripture, F. F. Bruce)
· "The holy ecumenical and general Council of Trent . . . following the example of the orthodox Fathers, receives and venerates all the books of the Old and New Testament . . . and also the traditions pertaining to faith and conduct . . . with an equal sense of devotion and reverence . . . If, however, any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have by custom been read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate, and knowingly and deliberately rejects the aforesaid traditions, let him be accursed." (Decree of the Council of Trent in 1546)
· "In the name of Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. . . And the other books (as Jerome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners: but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine." (Articles of Religion of the Church of England, 1563, Sixth Article)
Most early Bibles contained the Apocrypha; here are just a few:
· 1534 Luther's German translation of the Bible
· 1534 The Coverdale Bible
· 1537 Thomas Matthew Bible
· 1539 The Taverner Bible
· 1541 The "Great" or "Cromwell's" Bible
· 1551 The "Tyndale/ Matthews" Bible
· 1560 The Geneva Bible
· 1568 The Bishops' Bible
· 1610 Catholic Old Testament
· 1611 King James Bible
· 1615 King James Version Robert Barker at London, England
1717 King George 1st, AKA, The "Vinegar Bible"
· 1625 A King James Version
1782 The Aitken Bible
· 1791 The Family Bible
1846 The Illuminated Bible
· 1791 The Family Bible
1846 The Illuminated Bible
· 1782 The Aitken Bible
· 1791 The Family Bible
· 1846 The Illuminated Bible
1625 A King James Version
· 1717 King George 1st, AKA, The "Vinegar Bible"
The Apocrypha are also contained in the following:
· The Septuagint (LXX) - Except II Esdras.
· Codex Alexandrinus (A) - Also contains III & IV Maccabees
· Codex Vaticanus - Except I & II Maccabees and The defaulter of Manassah
· Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph)
· Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus - Includes Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus
· Chester Beatty Papyri - Fragments of Ecclesiasticus
· The Dead Sea Scrolls - Some apocryphal writing was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls - interestingly written in Greek.
· Several writings of Church Fathers
Bibles are still available with Apocrypha:
· The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha: Published by Oxford University Press; ISBN: 0192835254 (Pub. Date: July 1998)
· KJV Standard Reference Edition With Apocrypha: Published by Cambridge Univ Pr (Bibles); ISBN: 0521509467; Slipcase edition (Pub. Date: August 1997)
· 1611 Edition: a reprint of the 1611 KJV With Apocrypha, Published by Nelson Bible; ISBN: 0840700415; Reissue edition (Pub. Date: June 1, 1982)
· King James Version Lectern Edition: Published by Cambridge Univ Pr (Bibles); ISBN: 0521508169; (Pub. Date: March 1998)
· The Dake Annotated Reference Bible, Standard Edition: King James Version With Apocrypha, Published by Dake Publishing ISBN: 1558290699 (Pub. Date: April 1996)
For 275 years there were efforts to purge these the Apocrypha from the Bible:
· "APOCRYPHA, that is, Books which are not to be esteemed like the Holy Scriptures, and yet which are useful and good to read." (Luther Bible, 1534)
· "The books and treatises which among the Fathers of old are not reckoned to be of like authority with the other books of the Bible, neither are they found in the Canon of Hebrew." (Coverdale Bible 1535)
· "The books that follow in order after the Prophets unto the New Testament, are called Apocrypha, that is, books which were not received by a common consent to be read and expounded publicly in the Church, neither yet served to prove any point of Christian religion save in so much as they had the consent of the other scriptures called canonical to confirm the same, or rather whereon they were grounded: but as books proceeding from godly men they were received to be read for the advancement and furtherance of the knowledge of history and for the instruction of godly manners: which books declare that at all times God had an especial care of His Church, and left them not utterly destitute of teachers and means to confirm them in the hope of the promised Messiah, and also witness that those calamities that God sent to his Church were according to his providence, who had both so threatened by his prophets, and so brought it to pass, for the destruction of their enemies and for the trial of his children." (Geneva Bible, 1560, Preface)
· The Synod of the Reformed Church held at Dordrecht in 1618 condemned the Apocrypha.
· "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings." (Westminster Confession, 1647)
· The thirty nine Articles of the Church of England in 1562 recognized this and rejected the canonicity of these apocryphal writings which the Roman church had proclaimed.
· In 1880 the American Bible Society voted remove the "Apocrypha" Books from the King James Version. These 14 Books [There are 155,683 words in over 5,700 verses in 168 Chapters] of the Apocrypha had been part of the King’s bible since 1611.
· The "Apocrypha" was officially removed from the English printings of the KJV by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1885 leaving only 66 books.
There was a Preface written for the original King James Bible, which is mysteriously missing from that work:
The Translator's Preface
A preface written by the translators.
There was also a Dedication written for the original King James Bible:
The Epistle Dedicatory A dedication latter from the original King James Bible.
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