The Pearl

The Pearl 

Matthew 13

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

This verse has been on my mind a good bit lately. As I begin this writing I’m reminded of a song lyric: “I've looked at clouds from both sides now,” because I see the parable from two points of view. 

“Jesus Christ is a Pearl of great price...” So wrote Matthew Henry†, the great and somewhat forgotten Bible expositor circa 1700. Jesus certainly IS a pearl of great price to those who have been given eyes to see Him as such. But to others Jesus “hath no form nor comeliness; and when [they] shall see him, there is no beauty that [they] should desire him.” To we who LOVE Jesus and are growing in our intimate knowledge of Him, He is THE Pearl of great price and we gladly “sell all we have to purchase” Him! 

But what of this other point of view?

What did Jesus see from heaven? What did the Father have in mind by sending Jesus? Jesus did pay a price to purchase us back from satan’s domain!!! The Father sent His Son, His ONLY begotten, unique Son, the Son of His Deity ! So it is almost “natural” in the Spirit to see that the church is the pearl of great price that God purchased. The Father “went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” I’m not sure that the parable totally fits the ideas I’m writing, but certainly the broken body and blood of Jesus was the greatest ransom price ever given for anything!

But what was it paid for? A wretch like me? Like you? Like us? Jesus didn’t pay for pearls... he paid for sinners, for dirty, stinking, unclean, rebellious, defiant, obnoxious LOST sinners...  lawbreakers who were habituated to lust, idolatry and pride. So how it is that God  saw anything in me to be worthy of the price of His Son? In fact, since Jesus is the Pearl of great price, and why did God cast this PEARL before a swine like me? Didn’t he know I would drive nails in His Hands and Feet?

I can only conclude that you and I and every man and woman were considered worthy☨

at least to hear the Gospel of Christ! For the Gospel of Christ is the Life, death and resurrection, the ascension and second coming of Jesus! He is coming back for us! But is He coming back for us who are “dirty, stinking, unclean rebellious, defiant, obnoxious LOST sinners...  lawbreakers habituated to lust, idolatry and pride?”  No, He is coming back for the Pearl the church is becoming through faith by Grace! 

I have heard many people say that they have felt themselves to be insignificant specks of dust in a vast universe made by The Almighty. I identify with that. When Abraham had faithfully taken Isaac up the mountain and after God had stopped him from sacrificing the child God said to him:

Genesis 22:16-18

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Now this gets very precious. In todays world natural pearls are very rare. So we cultivate pearls. We take a living oyster and we open it enough to put a grain of sand into it, and we let it close. Then the oyster does what an oyster does with a grain of sand, it makes a pearl out of it. Natural pearls are formed the same way, a grain of sand somehow gets in the oyster and a pearl is made.

Now Jesus was called without “form nor comeliness; and when [they] shall see him, there is no beauty that [they] should desire him.” Behold: the oyster! 

Inside or out it looks ugly! Undesirable! But it produces in nature or by human cultivation a most prized and expensive result, pearls! 

http://www.d4uweb.com/pearls/section11.htm

God in His wise plan from eternity past chose the reality of the history we are all a part of, and in it He has done what He has done. It includes redeeming men and women from every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue, and creating of them a Bride for His Son Jesus. That is REALITY. The church we call the Body of Christ is also the Bride of Christ and THE WIFE of Christ! (Revelation 19:7 and 21:9) And today she is making herself ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb of God Jesus, her BRIDEGROOM! This is a very major part of His plan.

The Apostle Paul wrote: 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Verse 10 is a stand out verse to me, here is The AMPLIFIED Bible’s translation:
10 [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

Am I wrong or is it clear that God is using the church to teach the angels! And I think also to rebuke the fallen angels! How is this to be done? It is to be done with a church forgiven, blessed and obedient!

The purpose of the body of Christ in our day is very important, and one calling of the church is that she demonstrate the LOVE of God, the Character of God, and the Way of God to those yet outside the gates of the Kingdom! It is a part of the “eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord!” How does God do this? How does He show that He so loved the world?

God takes insignificant specks of sand like you and me, He opens Jesus Himself, the unattractive, uncomely Godman Jesus, and He places us, specks of sand, into Jesus! And we ARE IN Christ. And there we are, all the members of His Body in the earth, living now inside this Godman Jesus. And as we remain in Him, we are in our faith graciously coated in His presence with a beauty we could never find or accomplish on our own. We are somehow seated with Him in heavenly places and He rubs His very esssence and Holiness all over us until we are beautiful pearls.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Without being taken in to His Son, God is unable to make a new creature.

It takes time to make the pearl. That which God plans is called “the fellowship of the mystery,” Ephesians 3:9

But we are taken in by the beautiful Savior and Messiah, literally purchased and taken by Him.  Jesus IS the pearl of GREAT price, the greatest price ever paid for anything. And having bought us back from that which defiles, that which would destroy what God created us to be, God the Father, Son and Spirit make us the pearls of His Kingdom. In fact They make us one great pearl like unto His Son to be to be His Eternal Bride and Wife!

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

How much time will it take for God to make us into a pearl? I fear much of that depends on how passionate we will be to become a pearl, for the pearl God makes will be like Jesus. And in this life as like Him we will suffer what He suffered. But we can also do as He did, and even greater works than He did! Not better works, greater works!  
A husband and wife are made for intimacy. So God makes us His Bride for intimacy. Let us be swept away by His beauty and His strength! Let us be enraptured by His Love and Holiness! There is nothing that can compare with Him! We have a some time seen Him and an ugly oyster, but after He saved us we begin to see Him as Heaven’s master and King! And we begin to see Him as our Heavenly Bridegroom! Beautiful! And we are beautiful more than we know now by the Blood of the Lamb! Oh Hallelu Yah! Dearest and ONLY God, the Glory is Thine all of It, and we are made glorious and beautiful for Thee. What a privilege! What an honor! 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☨ If you are hearing the gospel of Christ, it is no accident. God is speaking it to you, even if you are hearing it from a human mouth or reading it of a human author, and without doubt for accuracy if you are reading it in the Holy Bible, if you are hearing it God considers you worthy. You were worth the death of His Son Jesus, you were worth the greatest price ever paid for anything! The Father has given you His Son so that you by believing shall be saved! Made into a pearl with all His other pearls and joined into the Redeemed people of His eternal Kingdom!
John 1:12 ... as many as received him, to them gave he power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Receive Jesus and then exercise the God given authority to become a son or daughter of God! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are already one who has received Jesus the Son of God, the Savior and The Lord of all, is there something yet to be done for Jesus and for God? If we are still breathing there must be, otherwise if our work were done we would be home with God in heaven!
As God’s people and persons, we must ask are we, am I, really readying ourselves, myself to be MARRIED TO JESUS THE MESSIAH? We must place this and this alone on our “bucket list.” Becoming His wife does require something of us. My wife, if I were married, would be a good thing and the favor (grace, gift) of God to me, for me. And that is the scripture! I would expect things of her, and she would expect things of me. But God give us a Husband who promises and gives us more than we ever can receive or give to our human spouses. God gives us Jesus, and gives us the authority to become like Him. God give us a perfect Spouse, we can and should expect nothing from Him which will harm us, for He never does anything which harms us! Even our necessary chastening is never harm, but always for our good! In light of this, what dies God expect of me, of you? We can expect only good from Him, and what else but good does He want from us?

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

I think the safest counsel we can receive is this: Get to know God well enough so that when you hear His voice you will do what He asks you to do. Get to know His Holy Character so well that you will act in accord with His heart and mind in all situations. 
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls,
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

†  From Matthew Henry’s Commentary II. That of the pearl of price (v. 45, v. 46), which is to the same purport with the former, of the treasure. The dream is thus doubled, for the thing is certain. Note, 1. All the children of men are busy, seeking goodly pearls: one would be rich, another would be honourable, another would be learned; but the most are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls.2. Jesus Christ is a Pearl of great price, a Jewel of inestimable value, which will make those who have it rich, truly rich, rich toward God; in having him, we have enough to make us happy here and for ever.3. A true Christian is a spiritual merchant, that seeks and finds this pearl of price; that does not take up with any thing short of an interest in Christ, and, as one that is resolved to be spiritually rich, trades high: He went and bought that pearl; did not only bid for it, but purchased it. What will it avail us to know Christ, if we do not know him as ours, made to us wisdom? 1 Co. 1:30 .4. Those who would have a saving interest in Christ, must be willing to part with all for him, leave all to follow him. Whatever stands in opposition to Christ, or in competition with him for our love and service, we must cheerfully quit it, though ever so dear to us. A man may buy gold too dear, but not this pearl of price



John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

'AL BABY' GORE THREATENED WITH ARREST

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Destiny

Just as God sent Israel into Canaan led by Joshua, so he sends the church into the world today! The difference? The battle strategy is now made Love; the Tactic now prayer and the Weapons now spiritual and mighty through God.

He sent Israel into Canaan at the first, so now He sends them in again this last time. He sent them in with Joshua, a few in number, a stiffnecked and unrighteous nation, yet a people belonging to Him.  So he sends them today, not yet born again (made righteous), still small stubborn and yet a people belonging to the patriarchs to whom He promised the land forever!

Some people believe the great cloud of witnesses (martyrs) of Hebrews 12 to be the church in heaven looking out over the church on earth. It makes a lot of sense to me! I can imagine my grandmother and my aunt there, rooting for me as I run and fight here in the world. I think anyone who has saved relatives who have died would agree. So can we see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, Samuel, Esther, as even Ruth and Rahab, there in the galleries of heaven rooting for their kin here in the world today? And can we see Jesus, Son of God and the brother of the Jews rooting and praying for them? I think it is impossible to see the Jews today as abandoned at all. Blinded in part is as much as the scriptures declare them to be. And so I believe that it is essential, and perhaps even a test of gentile loyalty to choose to love, to bless and to minister to the chosen people. Isn’t what God has done after Jesus came and went simply to level the playing field? It may be even more than that, for He seems to have given the gentiles an advantage for almost 2000 years!

And for that advantage gentile pride says the Jews are no and forever excluded from the continuance of their Jewish family, and the promises God made to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are voided. A very careful reading of Romans 9-11 is necessary. In these Chapters Israel refers to Jewish Israel.

Romans 11 (ESV)

11 So I’m asking you: They haven’t stumbled so that they’ve fallen permanently, have they? Absolutely not! But salvation has come to the Gentiles by their failure, in order to make Israel jealous. 12 But if their failure brings riches to the world, and their defeat brings riches to the Gentiles, how much more will come from the completion of their number! 13 I’m speaking to you Gentiles. Considering that I’m an apostle to the Gentiles, I publicize my own ministry 14 in the hope that somehow I might make my own people jealous and save some of them. 15 If their rejection has brought about a close relationship between God and the world, how can their acceptance mean anything less than life from the dead?

But how can we say He has excluded Jewish people? The eleven and Matthias were Jews. All those in the upper room were Jews!  We know of no gentile to be saved at Pentecost, and Jesus sent Peter first and then Paul to minister reconciliation to gentiles. For much of the 1st and 2nd centuries the church was Jewish. Culturally and religiously! Yet the history of what happened to the thriving Jewish church is largely untaught today.

Regardless of the past, TODAY we have an opportunity given by God to observe, the be taught by Messianic Jewish teachers and to minister to the Jewish people. As small as they are (no more than 17,000,000 in the earth) and smaller yet the Messianic Jewish community (250,000 some say worldwide and perhaps 15-20 thousand in Israel) as few as they are for this man it is impossible for me to see how God is not in the midst of all that pertains to Israel, saved and unsaved.

To say that even one Jew can be saved by trusting Jesus is to say that any and all of them can be saved by Him. To say even one Jew is excluded and replaced by the gentiles is to exclude them all. It is not for us to determine who is saved and who is not saved between Jew and gentiles. It is our calling to love them, even and especially for their unique role in History, and to declare to them the soul saving Gospel of Adonai Yeshua Hamashiach; The Lord Jesus Christ. I think by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus we can do no less for them or anyone at all.

The Jew today and Israel the Land today are to me a key ingredient to our understanding of world events, and of God;s Eternal Plan and Kingdom. God has wrought the Jews, chosen them, chosen them now a second time and if my reading of prophesy is correct they are the first and the last! The were chosen by God at the first and became refuse in the eyes of the gentiles, even the gentile “church!” They were the first made last! To the point 6,000,000 (1/3) of them being slaughtered in the holocaust! And they and we who love them say “never again.” And now these last ones will be made first again in the Plan of God! They will rise into prominence from last place to first! All Israel will be saved! And sensible gentiles will love God’s doing this and love them and cheer them on!

The purposes of God in Joshua's day are essentially unchanged. He is judging the world and getting ready to purge from His Kingdom people all those who will not receive the only and ironically “final solution,” Jesus the Lamb for sinners slain from the foundation of the world!

The Land of Israel is the foreshadow of the New Jerusalem and the New heavens and earth. The Promise to Abraham is a foreshadow of the promise made to promise made to we who have received the righteousness of Christ in faith, who are now redeemed, justified, and being sanctified in this Spiritual and material Kingdom, and prepared for everlasting service (ministry) in the Everlasting Spiritual and Glorified Material Kingdom of God coming! 

In complete, full, mature, (pleroma perfect) faith we are now in the Heavenly Spiritual Canaan doing battle in the Spirit against the unseen angelic hosts of Satan!!! We have more than conquered them and satan through Jesus who loves us!

Because Jesus made a forever covenant with Abraham, this earth’s Land of Israel will be theirs forever as long as time lasts. It should have been theirs at every moment without their ever having been exiled, but they were unfaithful. God knew this and in His Plan from before Creation provided for redemption, salvation and sanctification covenantally, dispensational and eternally in Jesus our Savior! Step out from the trees and behold the forest!

We study it out like engineers, like scientists, even political scientists, and “theologically,” but God planned it all and executes it all from outside of time. Yet He did come into to time to lay that prophetically much heralded, final and so Personal “New” foundation of salvation (Jesus means salvation). To us it seems like it came in the middle of everything, in the middle of this huge and very imperfect mess, but God, who is living forever in timeless glory and flawless perfection, had planned it before He spoke those wonderful words “Let there be...”

I believe with all my heart that we must honor, esteem and highly value all the History of God (FOUND IN THE BIBLE), all the people of faith, and that includes the Jews, who though they so often strayed from the Way set before them have never been abandoned by their God. Faith is given in measure to every man and all have sinned, and certainly no less to any Jew, who all have sinned. The question remains for Jews, will they properly receive that faith not only from God, but from His Son by His Name? Will they  say “blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord” knowing the Name of the Lord IS Yeshua? God has not changed and they are still called and the gifts of God’s promises to them hinge only on a turning to their Messiah.

Romans 11 (KJV)
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

God would elect ALL mankind, and by Jesus blood covenant ALL could run for that office. And there is an office for ALL who believe in God’s Kingdom it is the office of SAINT!

Be NOMinated in the NOM of Jesus. Run the race and fight the good fight of and in the faith (the confidence and in the fellowship) in Jesus. Be faithful and you will be elected!

Having been nominated (called) I will run and being elected I will serve!

For me, a gentile, once excluded by God’s decree from Israel in the flesh, and from Israel of the promise, from Israel of God(!) I can only bow to our God who will save in Christ those whom He did now bring back again for the last time, IN the last time: the JEWS.  God invested 2000 years in the people of Abraham and Isaac and I believe every generation of Isaac had it’s faithful ones. Even when Moses, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones of them all! God has graciously grafted us into the tree He cultivated in the soil of the law. (Not into the law itself)  Yet even today the law has a “medicinal” effect on we who study it as it reveals through a glass darkly the character and holiness of God. Those Jews who follow the law today still receive in part the blessings which come from not stealing, not committing adultery, and from honoring mother and father, and all the rest. They have invested something too, all the way from Abraham  the man of faith to todays Jews still blinded in part until the fullness of the gentiles is accomplished! To God we owe a debt we cannot pay. To the Jews we owe a debt of love, for God sent them into the land of Canaan and into the world as neighbors to us gentiles, even if they are now enemies of the Gospel for our sake, to our advantage, that we be saved into the cultivated tree, the vine which IS Jesus. 

John 15

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus spoke these words to eleven Jewish men. He is the vine, they are the branches and we are grafted into this vine that the Father has been husbanding since Abraham. 

John 4
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Most gentiles, even churched gentiles today do not know much at all about whom they worship! If it is true that Jews refused Jesus, how much is it so that gentiles refuse YHWH? If the Jews, to whom God revealed Himself to through miracle in Egypt, the wilderness, by Elijah and Elisha and finally Jesus AND His followers, If the Jews refused that, will gentiles refusing that know God any better? 

It seems to me that many gentile Christians today embrace the Gospel that justifies them but exclude the Gospel that humbles them. But there is only ONE Gospel. 

Romans 13

8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Jesus shed abroad Divine, power filled Love from His Heart to all humankind, are we not to do the same? WE ARE NOW SAVED! In His Holy Spirit, God’s Divine Love lives in us to be shed abroad through us to all men, to our families, to the church of Christ, to our neighbors and to our enemies! Since we are saved by the precious forever powerful blood of Jesus, we need not fear the consequences of sharing the love of God in Jesus to any man.

God hears prayer, and God answers prayer. This is TRUE. We are foolish indeed not to pray. Paul prayed:

“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” AMEN!

Paul prayed: Let all God’s children say AMEN!

“Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” AMEN!

Paul prayed: Let all God’s children say AMEN!

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” AMEN!

Paul prayed: Let all God’s children say AMEN!

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” AMEN!

Paul prayed: Let all God’s children say AMEN!

My prayer is that men KNOW God, that they KNOW Him as their Father, as His Son their Savior and as God’s Holy Breath, that Holy Spirit who is also God and the Person of God’s Power in the earth today! AMEN! I’m not Paul, but I believe the same God Paul believed, and I declare His name: Yeshua, Iesous, Jesus ! In Hebrew, Greek or English the Son of the Living God, our High Priest in heaven, our Savior from sin, death, hell and the second death... Jesus is Lord, He is the Lord of all.

Jeremiah 9

23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

2 Thessalonians 1

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1

Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:  Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

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Angus Buchan at Ein Gedi 2012 | ICEJ USA

Angus Buchan at Ein Gedi 2012 | ICEJ USA

HOW MUCH LATER THAN WE THINK?

HOW MUCH LATER THAN WE THINK?

I responded to an article on an ad campaign (costing 4 million dollars) being run by SEIU, the Service Employees International Union targeting spanish speaking Americans. See : http://www.wdbo.com/news/news/local/hispanic-voters-targeted-new-ad-blitz-obama/nPQrq/  Here is my (wandering?) comment:

Service Employees International Union??? Unions in government? The day government employees were allowed to unionize was perhaps the worst day in America's history. Public servants should not starve, but they should expect to serve the public at wages and salaries the public can afford to pay. And we the people ought to be able to hire and fire them according to their performance, just as private non union shops do. Private union shops? Well that is a oxymoron. 

I don't have a problem with unions as long as they are not allowed to control those who will work along side them without membership.  Let them negotiate for whatever they want, but don't allow them to dictate terms to management and owners. Don't let them require all employees in a shop pay dues or to be members. And do not let them become violent against those they call scab hired when they strike. 

Unions have priced their labor so high over the past 50 years that owners have moved their shops out of the country. When an auto worker in Dearborn wants $50 per hour and a worker in China is happy with $4 per hour, where do you EXPECT business to open their shops?

But the government cannot ship their jobs overseas. So unionized government will plunge government into debt. And it has done it already. 

Really the only solution to this and many other problems our nation faces is a return to moral standards which worked well at our founding. They worked so well that they actually freed the slaves here, improving the moral standard of government. Because Jim Crow failed to follow the same standard open a way for socialists to ruin African Americans with welfare (and many whites too) and advance the foothold they gained in the New Deal. Jim Crow should be ashamed, for he was if I’m not mistaken a southern white “christian” DEMOCRAT.

Truly more than any other moral failure it is the moral failure of those who profess to be good christians that has hurt us all. We needed to see Jesus followed and imitated, but in the south and almost everywhere the church has not lived up to its calling.

Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 1 Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

We say : “I'm not perfect, just forgiven.” That is the cheapest estimation of what Jesus did on the cross that can be spoken. We say “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” Again what a complete misunderstanding of the power of God to change our lives! But we just want to get by cheap, without the sacrifice of our appetites and lusts. James spoke accurately of so many of us believers (if we are believers):

James 4

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Our greatest need is for the Lord’s forgiveness and for Him to give us power over sin and over the demons which now devour our economy our minds and our best initiatives of faith. Can America return to God? I think it can, but it will take much prayer and repentance from dead works.

If our economy is to avoid a melt down we will have to fix it in the next four years, of that I am almost certain. Starting January 19th 2013, there will have to be a federal budget in place that will eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The possibility of eliminating the Department of Health and Human Services is tantalizing. It will surely be necessary to reduce benefits for all Americans to some extent immediately. I think a ten percent cut in all departments of medicare and medicaid to be a good start. Of course there is the option of shutting it down entirely, eliminating all Social Security taxes and allowing the states to administrate public assiatance (or not) as they wish.

You say this is not possible? What kind of fools are we to tax ourselves silly, send the money to these “Departments” in Wash. D.C. only to have them dole it back to us in the states it came from minus the salaries, rents, and other grossly unecessary overhead expenses these beaurocracies generate???  Nonetheless, much of the the federal dollars once spent on these departments will have to be applied directly to reducing the national debt to a manageable level before taxes can be reduced much if any for some time.

Here are the total budget spendings for those departments for the year 2010:

Department of Transportation 2010-          $90.944 billion

Department of Education 2010-               $106.944 billion

Department of Energy 2010-                      $38.278 billion

Department of HUD* 2010-                        $62.518 billion 

Environmental Protection Agency 2010-     $10.500 billion 

Department of HHS** 2010--                                                                                   

                   -- $868.762 billion x 10% =    $86.800 billion 

______________________________________________________________

Total Approximately                                 $396.15 billion       
---------------------------------------------------                                                         

** Health and Human Services          

* Housing and Urban Developement

The figures for 2013 will be higher to be sure, but the debts we have incurred by borrowing from others has gone up more too.

It is said that our federal Government is spending $41,000 dollars more than it collects in revenue every second of every day! That is $2,460,000 per minute; $147,600,000 per hour and 3,542,400,000 per day! According to the U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/) the national debt has continued to increase an average of $3.84 billion per day since September 28, 2007!

If this plan would save 396 billion dollars a year, that would reduce our yearly debt by 103 days (103 X 3.84 billion = 396 billion). The debt might decrease some what over the rest of the year. Even if it did decrease say to 3 billion per day for the remaining 261 days of the year that would be 3 billion X 261 = 783 billion dollars per year OF INCREASED NATIONAL DEBT!

We may be well past the possibility of anything but the bleakest of times. Our creditors hold so much debt they can conceivable own us.  Forcing US citizens to take a mark to buy and sell might be one way a creditor would seek to recover payment for loans!

I think we need to plan for much more than a depression. If the church is not raptured out before this mess boils over, I believe she should at the least prepare for the fulfillment of Revelation Ch.18 worldwide.

Matthew 25 14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

As Americans who once held a very strong financial position in the world, we might wonder about how God views our present financial condition! As a 63 year old, I am wondering why I did not view life more seriously that I now do, and why I did not take some personal responsibility for the political destruction grinding this nation down for the last 50 years.

Old to fast, smart to slow. And repentant to slow.  It is time not just to warm a pew, not just to praise the Lord; it is time to consider the sacrifices our sins and errors may force upon us in the coming months and years.

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.

35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Dave aka lambsev aka the Lambs poet.

Eurostan/Belgistan

On Eurostan

The 700 Club has done a piece on Belgistan:

http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/mp4/DHU227v2_WS 

What we may not appreciate is that Islam is a judgment against christian, Jewish and secular hypocrisy. Women in bikinis may seem an innocent expression of freedom, but is it really freedom? Is it an expression of freedom to insult a people, even Muslims by posing in a bikini and burka? Or is it simply confrontational? And childish?

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul writes about CHRISTIAN women covering their heads. Is this a cultural matter only or is there something spiritual involved? Oh how unsubmissive and irreverent to God in Christ western churches have become.  

Do we want to defeat Islam and preserve out right to wear bikinis? Is that what life is about? Or do we want to exercise our right to become sons and daughters of God? 

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

I frankly expect we will see Islam gain more and more strength in Belgium and the west, including the USA, unless and until we begin to take God seriously. The picture of the bikini clad woman in a burka, would you like to see a nun so dressed? You would call that an offense to Catholics. Would you like to see your neighbor clothed that way? It is tantamount to pornography.

I don't expect God turn back our enemies until we deal whole heartedly with our sexual immodesty. If you need an example of authentic Christian modesty, look to the Amish and Mennonite churches. They have it right!