Thursday, January 17, 2019

JANUARY 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-17: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33

JANUARY  17  LIVING FOR JESUS

Daily Prayer to JESUS    
Jesus, oh how blessed are we among men that we can call on the Name of Jesus so openly and so freely. Praise You Lord for the freedom that exists in our lifetime and our generation that we have a country founded on the belief in The One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Lord, I pray for the strength and courage to help in any small way to maintain this extraordinary privilege that we have to worship You freely in our churches and to have unfettered access to Your Word through Your Holy Bible. Forgive me Lord when I take this great blessing of free access to Your Word as just another freedom that abounds in plenty — for in our abundance we have become lazy and in our laziness we are losing our freedoms bit-by-bit, so Lord let me daily recognize the “Peace” and “Joy” of starting my day with the Name of Jesus and walk in freedom guided safely by the “Light” of Your Holy Word.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-17: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus, by external circumstances surrounding Him and not of His own volition has already fulfilled enough prophecy documented in the first three chapters of His Gospel written by Matthew that were He to do nothing else, Jesus could be shown to be the Messiah with the single event of His being a first born Jewish male in the town of Bethlehem from the lineage of King David but His Messiahship was completely sealed by the fact that His mother was a “virgin” when she gave Birth to Jesus, thus making her Seed Pure, for her Seed came from God Himself making Jesus the Son of God! To be sure, common logic demonstrates that if a bird gives birth, the offspring of that bird will be a bird and as that bird grows it will have feathers like its parents and will eventually exhibit all the characteristics of a bird and will someday take off and fly — and anyone observing that bird in flight will not have to ask, “I wonder if that bird’s parents are birds?” This simple logic is God’s way of teaching us His TRUTH!!!  In His Creation account found in Genesis, God made it clear that every living thing would reproduce “according to its kind” and “whose seed is in itself” (Genesis 1:11) so the fact that God would put His Seed into a “virgin womb” in order that His Seed would reproduce “after its kind” should be simple common logic— for with the “Virgin Birth” event it must “logically” be assumed that the mother’s womb was “undefiled” by man and her “Seed” was “Holy” therefore the “Offspring” of the “Virgin Birth” would grow in “Grace and Truth” and exhibit every characteristic of the “Holy Father”, thereby confirming that Jesus indeed IS THE MESSIAH, the Son of the LIVING GOD. John wrote in his Gospel of Jesus Christ “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Therefore (logically), Jesus being the offspring of an undefiled woman, is “logically” proven to be the Son of Man and coming forth from her “Virgin Womb” from the Holy Seed of the Father, Jesus is also “logically” proven to be the Only Begotten Son of God — so it is “natural” that just like the offspring of a bird will grow feathers and fly, so likewise will the Offspring of the Holy God grow in “Grace” and will speak “Truth”. If Jesus were not the Son of God, then He would not be able to “fly” with such natural ease that everyone that observed His Life would declare as did the Roman centurion who saw how Jesus died at His Crucifixion, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39) So the object of the Gospels are to demonstrate the cliche’ “Like Father like Son” and that Jesus being the Holy Seed proves Himself to be the Messiah, the Offspring of  His Holy Father both by the “Way” that He lived His Life and the manner in which He faced His Own Death at the hands of those His Father had sent Him to Redeem — and His Resurrection from a “borrowed” grave fulfills God’s Promise to His Only Begotten Son — this Promise of God to His Son was another prophecy written by King David that the Resurrection of Jesus fulfilled, “For You [My Father] will not leave [Your Son’s] soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption!” (Psalm 16:10) Jesus is shown to be the Son of God because of prophecy, His “Virgin Birth”, His Holy Life, and His Perfect Sacrificial Death as the Lamb of God, and His Glorious Resurrection by His Father on the 3rd Day! We, as offspring of our parents, will quite naturally exhibit the nature of our parents and that was true of the Baby, born to a virgin in Bethlehem from the HOLY SEED OF GOD HIMSELF — and we still today call out the NAME OF JESUS, Immanuel — God with us!!!!!!!! Once we see how naturally Jesus shares the Grace of God, we know He is from God, and we should strive to be “born again” that when we are observed living our life before men that we live our life in such a manner that they will know we have been born of heaven, “according to Our Kind” — Praise God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who so graciously decided “in the beginning…” to “Let Us make man in Our Image, according to Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26) It’s time to step into the “Light” and spread our “spiritual" wings and “mount up on [those spiritual] wings like eagles” and soar up to heaven itself — for freedom from the world is our Divine Heritage freely given to all that will receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

DOES ANYONE CARE WHAT GOD SAYS?

DOES ANYONE CARE WHAT GOD SAYS? - IS TRUTH REALLY RELEVANT? -




JOHN 18:38 Pilate said to [JESUS], "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews [demanding His crucifixion for blasphemy], and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.” 


“Who Defines Morality?”  This indeed is the question facing the world in 2019! The magazine pictured on the left is a conservative Christian publication that bills itself as “THE EVANGELICAL VOICE FOR TODAY” - but even in this “Christian” publication there is the creeping doubt as to what “real truth” is and I personally struggle with this New Age insistence that “Truth and morality are Relative”! I have been trying to put into words a reasonable logical explanation for a nagging question that has been bothering me for years now - the words to frame a correct answer have been right there on the tip of my tongue for the last few months as 2018 came to a close and one particular word [“Evil”] has risen again and again. But just like a popular movie series [Harry Potter] that refers to the villain as “he-who-can’t-be-named” my thoughts were suppressed and subconsciously I had looked upon “Evil” as the “thought that must not be spoken”! But alas another word has come to the forefront in my thinking and that word is “propaganda” - however when I think of “propaganda” I start thinking of words like “deception”, “manipulation” and  that unspeakable word “evil”.  Hence the question “Who Defines Morality” is the most relevant question of our age of mass media and without any doubt or question this “Social-Media-Me-Too” age is more “Evil” than any previous age in America!
“Who Defines Morality” is a legitimate question and we must face the responsibility that such an honest question deserves an honest answer. Unfortunately America has been in the Propaganda Shadow cast by a sold-out Mass Media and the LIGHT of TRUTH has been ignored by our policy makers who promote darkness and division so much that we as a society can no longer agree on what is “honest” anymore!  HONOR as an ideology is in DOUBT because TRUTH itself has been under attack for almost a century of manipulated public opinion by the new owners/controllers of our political system. The mass media working for those same controllers are spewing the New World Order Propaganda to “We-The-People”, who through coordinated propaganda efforts are now newly classed as “we-the-sheeple”! Let me take a stab at explaining the “issue” and present a “solution” to the problem to provide a path to an ideology that promotes unity, honor, and integrity for ALL AMERICANS (without any modifiers!).
First I will try and cast light on one aspect of this darkness of the ideology of DOUBT that is encouraged by our current political clash which can be proved to be on purpose by those that control the sheeple through mass media and the American political system. Like the TRUTH that is expressed in the catchphrase “Follow the money” that was “popularized by the 1976 drama-documentary motion picture ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN, which suggests political corruption can be brought to light by examining money transfers between parties”.  We can in 2019 confirm that political corruption needs to be “brought to light” and the vehicle to take us to the TRUTH is indeed to “Follow the money”.  Money itself is not “evil” and everyone that has money is not “dishonest” but the “love” of money and “lust” for the power that it provides to those willing to do “whatever it takes” and are addicted to the drug of “power” is the number 1 factor common among all “abusers of power”.  The “Love of Money” and its twin “Lust for Power” are the poster children for what is wrong with our present political system so if we are going to find the flower of TRUTH amid the distracting weeds of dishonesty and doubt we must first look at the TRUTH of how money corrupts when allowed to be controlled by those seeking personal wealth and power! The United States Secret Service teaches its agents to spot counterfeit money by “studying the original intensely. When a counterfeit is presented, the flaws will be obvious because they have spent countless hours looking at the authentic.” So if we are going to find TRUTH by “following the money” we need to know what a political system that is not controlled by “Big Money” looks like, otherwise we will continue to be hoodwinked by this counterfeit political system now in place in this “once great nation”! 
Let us begin our search for TRUTH by examining an “authentic” political American document protecting the Rights and Liberties of ALL Americans and I submit that the Constitution of the United States is such a document. In 1947 the 22nd Amendment was passed by Congress and in 1951 it had been ratified by the states. In 1945 FDR died and many Americans felt that it was not a good idea to let the Presidency be held by one individual for more than two 4 year terms and the 22nd amendment was written limiting the Presidency to only two 4 year terms in office.  Before the FDR Presidency,  never in American history had a President been elected to more than two terms! It was when WW2 ended that concerned Americans and many government officials began discussing the potential dangers resulting from allowing unlimited Presidential terms because a single individual could become an American Presidential dictator (much like FDR was becoming) which had become a major concern with Americans because of the policies being pushed on the American public by FDR and his Democratic party. FDR had been elected to a 3rd term because of the special circumstances surrounding America’s involvement in WW2 and because of the war there had been several liberties and freedoms suspended in America and the American people recognized the danger of a potential socialist dictatorship and wanted to take back control of the government of the republic that had been founded “by the people, for the people”.  A proposal to limit the terms that an individual could serve as President became the best choice to return control to the American public so “Presidential term limits” was  put in front of the American voter and once again the policy changing power of an individual vote was exercised by American citizens and the Constitution was amended to state:
Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

What was “dangerous” in 1947 is also “dangerous” 72 years later in 2019. The connection of the 22nd Amendment passed in 1947 to this article about “TRUTH”  in 2019  is that the “TRUTH” expressed in the reason behind concerned Americans voting to pass this “Presidential Term Limits”  amendment in 1947 is the “SAME TRUTH” of 2019! If an individual being elected to more than two four-year terms is dangerous in 1947 then how can it not be considered dangerous 72 years later when the power of American politicians is exponentially greater than it was in 1947! In other words, if “to much power” because of serving more that 2 four year terms by an elected official was dangerous in 1947 how can “more power” exercised by our elected officials be less dangerous in 2019?!?!   Answer: It can’t! 
In this age of Social Media we are walking a thin line between “convenience” and “personal privacy” and this spills over into “individual rights” verses the “common good”. Just like all things “secular” our “choices” have consequences that are determined by the “Moral TRUTH” of our actions. The social problem of our age is the “TRUTH” that our actions originate from our personal belief of what we consider to be “MORAL” has been replaced by what the propaganda machine has led the sheeple to believe is the “Progressive” definition of TRUTH. 
Our society has turned to “sound bites” and “memes” in order to communicate our ideologies so in “keeping with the times” I will communicate my opinion on “TRUTH” and its global “moral relevance” with the following memes gathered off social media in my part of the world.  



The RELEVANCE of TRUTH in SOCIAL MEDIA
Meme # 1.  This “1965…fell off my bike” meme is Exhibit #1 in my quest to demonstrate that “TRUTH” is not “RELATIVE” to a condition, time, or ideology.  “TRUTH” is independent of our circumstances, the timing of the event, or any ideology espoused by any poor soul with a scraped knee (read “abused” Social Justice Warrior)!  My point is that in 1965 when social media didn’t exist and I didn’t have a Social Justice Warrior around to “politically protect” my knees from the pavement and to “politically protect” me from parents who were so uncaring as to let me ride my bike on unsafe roads not approved by Social Warriors Against Uncontrolled Bike Riding Awareness Groups! Really, I don’t know how any of us survived all those bike riding accidents because I have the “scars” to prove it really happened! The “TRUTH” about bike riding in 1965 however remains unchanged in 2019 — falling off a bike can scar your knees, period! Even if you pass a thousand laws and have ten thousand “protests” against uncontrolled and unlicensed bike riding activities without the Politically Correct Permit, the “TRUTH” of bike riding will not change and is in no way relative to having the proper government approval — the “TRUTH” of falling off a bike and your knees making contact with the pavement is going to hurt, I don’t care how much social or governmental regulation there is. The only difference is that in 1965 we didn’t have a social pity-party forum and some busy body Socoal Justice Warrior trying to stick their stuff in my business! “TRUTH” is “TRUTH” regardless of circumstance, time frame, or opinion — falling off a bike is a fact of life and banging knees into the pavement is painful, how can that even be considered any other way — TRUTH is TRUTH, my cousin is a relative, Social Media is NOT RELATIVE TO THE TRUTH, it is an OPINION and is IRRELEVANT to TRUTH, but I digress. 

Morality Cannot Be Legislated
Meme # 2.   While it is true that governments can pass laws and declare a specific action “legal” and thereby the “official” government representative is granted the “power” to “legally impose” it on the entire society, it is not true that just because there is “legislation in place” that the “legislation” is a “MORAL TRUTH” — there is always a “MORAL TRUTH” associated with all legislation and this “MORAL TRUTH” stands apart from the “legality” of each and every law regardless of the nation or national creed of any governing body — in other words, just because it is a law passed by men it is not automatically a “Moral TRUTH”! For example let’s hypothetically assume a law was passed by our government and upheld by a 3 to 2 majority of the Supreme Court (note that our Supreme Court Justices are NOT elected officials but are appointed) and this “law” gives “legal authority” to a specific group of people to go into public schools and select all students with blue eyes and publicly chop their heads off in front of the rest of the school because there are special interest groups opposed to blue eyed first graders and our government decided that for the “common good” that all blue-eyed first graders should be killed because they were not wanted by the “offended” special interest group (I will point out that if you look carefully at this hypothetical type of legislation that it is not clearly specified if the “common good” is for “we the people” or the “special interest groups” that requested the legislation?). The scary part about this example is that it is already in place and instead of “blue-eyed first graders” it is the unborn that are not wanted by their mothers who make the decision that it would be an inconvenience to them and a burden on society if the pregnancy is not terminated. Our government has “legalized and encourages” abortions and has passed laws that uses taxpayers money to subsidize these abortions. The “TRUTH” of abortions is that if the pregnancy was not terminated that the fetus would continue to develop into a human being. The “TRUTH” about a “human fetus” is that it is “human” regardless of the stage of development and it is “human” if it is in the uterus, the womb, or the birth canal. The “TRUTH” about “human” abortions is that during the abortion, a “human” is aborted. Any way you put it, the definition of “abort” is to “cease development, die, and be aborted” so if you “abort” a “human fetus” then that “human” will “cease development” and “die” as a result of the “abortion”. There is no law that can make “abortion” anything but the “MORAL TRUTH” that a “human” was denied the ability to continue its natural development as a human being and that when the natural development is interrupted the result is “death” for the fetus. There is no way to change the definition of death except to say that before something can “die” it must first be “alive” - and there is a universal moral law against taking someones life because you don’t want them. It is especially morally repugnant when the life of someone that cannot defend themself is taken from them when they are in a completely defenseless situation. There can be a billion people vote to legalize smashing babies against a wall  until they cease to breath but the “TRUTH” is that if a life is “aborted” then a “death sentence” was imposed on a human being! Even though “abortion” is “legalized” by a majority of the society the “MORAL TRUTH” is that abortion results in the taking of the life of a human. HENCE: “A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right & evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority!” 

TRUTH in 1947 is TRUTH in 2019
Meme # 3.   Today in America there is a great divide and Meme #3 directs us to the source of the “great divide” and points out that “TRUTH” is NOT RELATIVE nor does “MORALITY” have an expiration date! The “great divide” is not so “great” and “TRUTH” declares loudly that “divide” is the exact opposite of “unite” so we must look at our 2019 Congress and look to see if the programs put forth in Congress will result in unification or division. The problem is that there are certain “professional” politicians in Congress today that feel their loyalty lies solely with the “party” that put them into power and not the people that make up the party base!  It is evident that having Congressional Power too long has a negative effect on these “professional politicians” and that the continual abuse of power should be addressed to protect “we the people” against what has become a “Special Interest Professional Congress”!Just like the 22nd Amendment addressed the problem of allowing a President to have Presidential Power for too long we the peoples should consider if the same problem now exists with our “Professional” Congress!  If the POTUS must be limited to prevent a dictatorship for the “good of the people” then the CONGRESS should be subjected to the same standard! It is a MORAL TRUTH that “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander” so let us apply this TRUTH logic to our Congress and declare on a MORAL basis “Term Limits” for all branches of our government! TRUTH is not just TRUTH for the Executive Branch as established with the 22nd amendment passed 72 years ago to protect “We The People” but let us apply this “Wisdom and Truth” to all three branches of our government — if “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” then the solution to 1 branch of our government should serve equally well to the remaining 2 branches. Or, vice versa, if there is no real problem here because of politicians remaining in power for too long then let us quickly repeal the 22nd Amendment and put all political players on a level playing field.
It is the opinion of this writer who himself is 72 years old that it is the experience of my lifetime that real TRUTH is eternal and thus being eternal and unchangeable by circumstance that by its very definition that it is “TRUTH”.  As a nation we must seek to apply “ETERNAL TRUTH” to our lives or we end up living an alternate reality that becomes shaped and fashioned by the whims and desires of those sitting in seats of power. Every time there is a problem with a political system we hear the call to “Unseat” the person occupying the “seat” where “power” is being abused much like we hear the call to “Unseat” or “Impeach” the “Sitting President”. Those making the most noise are failing to realize that perhaps they are sitting themselves in a “political hot-seat”  and their effort to “Unseat” a politician because they declare there is “corruption” in the air may well find that they are living in “glass houses and throwing stones” at their own “thrones” that they are sitting upon and have occupied the seat for decades! 
In 1947 after America had gone through WW1 and WW2 where America had been forced into defending the “TRUTH” that the world was better off with a people guaranteed “Liberty” and the ideology that “All men are created equal” than with a dictator with unregulated power promoting a “master race” or a “party of privilege” that holds sway over “We The People”. My point is simply that it was a “self-evident” “TRUTH” that people should defend “freedom” against “tyranny” and to insure that absolute power in the hands of a few was kept in check the 22nd amendment to the Constitution  of the United States was passed to limit the “terms” of the President. This 22nd Amendment was an effort to insure that “We The People” would control the government instead of the government controlling the people! The PEOPLE of the United States did not declare war, it was the American government and specifically the American President that had declared (without the consent of THE PEOPLE) that America’s resources and her sons and daughters would go to war against “tyranny”. It is ironic that those sacrificing their lives to defend our country swore an oath to “defend” the “constitution” from “all threats foreign and domestic” and the government that sent these brave men and women to war were actually abusing the very document they used to enlist “We The People” to defend! We must stop and understand that as a nation we must embrace an ideology that is not politically motivated and controlled by power mongers whose greed is fed by political lobbyists but rather let us embrace an ideology that returns us to a government described by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address: “…and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth…”! This writer would add a note at this point that Lincoln was repeating the words that John Wycliffe wrote in 1384 in the prologue to his translation of the Bible! If America is going to be “GREAT AGAIN” then we must return to the ideology of “TRUTH” that is (1) the BIBLE (2) the CREATOR and TRUTH of the BIBLE (3) and the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that declared “these truths to be self-evident”!!!@
My desire is not to promote a political party, my desire is to return our political system to “TRUTH” and the “Author and Creator of TRUTH” who through His Omniscient Power directed the founding fathers of this previously great nation to write: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”
This declaration was revisited in earnest in 1947 after America had lost many American sons and daughters in two World Wars to defend our “unalienable Rights” to “Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness” and it was the consensus of the America public that had sent their sons and daughters to defend American Freedom against the tyranny running rampant in Europe that the problem rested with the Executive Branch of the government which had taken on a dictatorial quality and many Americans felt that we had been “forced” into the war by what could be argued as an illegally appointed 3rd term of FDR — no President in the history of the United States had ever served 3 terms and it was evident that the powers FDR and his Democratic Party was wielding over the American public was “dangerous”. By declaring “America is at war” FDR had already impinged on what was supposed to be UNALIENABLE RIGHTS as many innocent Americans had lost their LIFE and had to forfeit their LIBERTY and Constitutional Rights as they were conscripted into the military and there is no logical way to argue that a World War was PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS! In  1945 Presidential term limits initiated to keep the Executive Branch from gaining to much power over We The People and “term limits” was and passed by the Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951 and became the 22nd Amendment.  

It seems logical that if Americans are being required to give their life and liberty to go to wars that “Congress” approves and it can be demonstrated that these wars are not what the American Public deems PUSUIT OF HAPPINESS then in 2019 discussions should begin on limiting the terms of “Congress” just like we did after WW2 to limit the Executive Branch. Politicians are now considered “Professional Politicians” and those in “power” wield their “power” to promote their careers and it can be demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt that their efforts toward their personal careers has been achieved by legislating from a “Money Talks” ideology as our politicians have become an elite governing wealthy group while limiting the LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS of we the people of the United States. Congress has reduced the power of we the people by illegal immigration which puts Americans at odds with illegal aliens and instead of the American Congress protecting the American People the American Congress legislates themselves raises and earmarks billions for illegals but will do little to nothing to resolve and protect the Americans living in this country LEGALLY! It has come the time for Americans to take back control of our Constitution and for the same reason we adopted the 22nd Amendment to limit the terms of the President then in 2019 let us amend the 22nd Amendment by limiting the terms of the Legislative and Judicial right along the existing limits of the Executive Branch, everything that was TRUE in passing the 22nd in 1947 is still TRUE today. This is a call for TRUTH to be returned to AMERICA.

JANUARY 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-16: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  16   Daily Prayer to JESUS 
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus — there will be a time when “every tongue” will confess that You are LORD! “Every tongue” takes in a lot of territory and is all inclusive of “every” one that has a “tongue” will use it to confess that Jesus is Lord, Mohammed will confess it, Buddha will confess it, and more importantly, each individual personally will confess it  as we stand before God!!! It doesn’t get any closer to home than when we see prophesy being fulfilled in our own lives — but there is one small caveat; this confession comes at the “Judgement” and confessing the Name of Jesus is not a “ticket-to-get-into-heaven” phrase — the Bible states that everyone must stand before God and make an account of our actions and thoughts toward God! Our thoughts and actions while living on earth and not our defense during our “Judgment” are what will “condemn us” to either a burning hell separated from God or will “commend us” to God, to live with God in heaven for eternity!!!  After “every tongue” has stood trial for the lives we lived while on earth and we are standing before God, KNOWING HE IS GOD, we will accept our reward or punishment (earned for what we did with the Name of Jesus while we were on earth and breathing God’s air) — and before we leave His Presence we will all stand before God in heaven and receive our rewards/punishments that were established by our actions on earth that declared “JESUS IS THE LORD OF MY LIFE”!!!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-16: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus so far has been shown to be the Messiah by circumstances of His “Virgin Birth” and through His lineage back to King David and then upon the announcement of His Birth to King Herod, Herod tried to thwart God’s Plan by killing all children two and under in the City of David, Bethlehem where Jesus was born and Herod while trying to protect his throne, unwittingly fulfilled yet more prophecies of the Messiah. In the 3rd Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Himself begins to demonstrate by His Own Actions that He is the Messiah! Matthew starts Chapter 3 by introducing the “Star Witness” of Jesus Christ — John the Baptist — who himself was the fulfillment of yet another prophecy: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness; prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) Matthew writes of John: “In those days [when Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod] John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 3:1-2) Matthew covered enough material about the “Virgin Birth” of Jesus and circumstances that could not have been orchestrated or controlled by Jesus and His disciples that proved that it could not have been a “fabricated” story or any form of “conspiracy” for the “facts” surrounding Jesus were a matter of public record and the “Virgin Birth” was announced by His earthly parents (facing the penalty of death for blasphemy) before He was born, remember also that Mary and Joseph made their confession while Mary was pregnant even though it could have meant their death — Mary and Joseph had nothing to “gain” from declaring the “Virgin Birth” account and risked being made complete “outcasts” from the Synagogue and their community which was the worst thing that could happen to young Jewish couple so why would they insist that Jesus was the Messiah by virtue of His “Virgin Birth”, and they claimed this truth not according to any less authority than God Himself through the angel Gabriel!!! When John the Baptist comes upon the scene he was “preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” but again this historical fact was part of Jewish history BEFORE Jesus began His earthly ministry — therefore John the Baptist and his “history” is still another “fact” that Jesus and His disciples could not fabricate and is yet another “fact” that can be directly related to prophesy written hundreds of years before Jesus began His public ministry! Of Divine Significance is that the prophecy of Isaiah about the forerunner of the Messiah was written in the 8th Century B.C. and specifically states “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and “make straight in the desert” and the voice in the desert wilderness was to “prepare the way of the LORD” (Isaiah 40:3) so one must answer some obvious questions such as why would God choose a desert wilderness and not the public square in Jerusalem to announce the arrival of the “Anointed One” and also why would any person randomly or purposefully chose to cloth himself in camel hair, go into the desert wilderness, eat locust and honey, and then preach “repentance” and to declare “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” !?!?!? You can’t make up things like these and present them as facts and not get blown out of the water by the existing authorities, especially if the story includes facts that fly in the face of all tradition and existing laws which could result in that person’s life imprisonment and/or their death?? Matthew’s accounts leave us with two  obvious questions (1) why would a young couple risk death just to claim a “virgin” birth and (2) why would one man go out into the desert and risk his life for some locusts and honey — it makes no sense unless they were driven by a “force” or a power greater than their fear of death!?!? The “obvious” answer is that they are driven by God’s Master Plan and that the Plan itself is more important than “life and death” — God’s Master Plan is about “Eternal Life” in the presence of God Himself and is the only reasonable explanation for all that appears in the Holy Scriptures that establish through prophecy and innocent lives the validity of Jesus being the Messiah!!! Just think on why and when these things occurred to fulfill prophecies in the Scriptures that were written hundreds of year before the events occurred and you will not find a better explanation than prophecy (its giving and fulfillment) is part of God’s Master Plan!!!  The really Good News is that THERE IS A MASTER PLAN for “MANKIND’S SALVATION” and that the ONE that AUTHORED the MASTER PLAN is the CREATOR of ALL and is in CONTROL OF EVERYTHING!!!  When one reads the Bible from the viewpoint that EVERY WORD is DIVINELY INSPIRED and the Holy Bible is GOD’S MASTER PLAN OF REDEMPTION that was already in place “before the foundation of the earth”, then one can see how important it is that we read God’s Word — for indeed His Word is Truth — that’s why His Words are called The Holy Scriptures for only TRUTH IS HOLY!!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

JANUARY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-15: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  15     Daily Prayer to JESUS    
Jesus, today is another day of abundant life that You have provided for us and we know that we deserve death and would still be dead in our sins today were it not for Your Mercy and Grace and Your Great Sacrifice on the cross at Calvary to purchase our Redemption from the punishment of our many iniquities — Lord let us “lean not” on our own understanding but let You Guide our steps and Light our path! Jesus we are so undeserving of the Mercies that You Renew each morning because of who You ARE, You shower us with blessings, so Lord Jesus I offer up that which I have and that  simple offering my Lord is my praise and prayers, praise for You and prayers for others, keeping neither for myself for Your Grace is Sufficient for me! Forgive me for all the ways I have failed You, El Shaddai and keep me centered in Your Will!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-15: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus was not only proven to be the Messiah by the evidence of His Birth to a virgin who had nothing to gain but death by stoning from the Jewish community to which she belonged by claiming God was the Father of her unborn child, Jesus was also linked to the “purpose” of the Messiah by several outside forces that He could not have possibly manipulated as a young Child and certainly Jesus could not have arranged these events while still in His mother’s womb! The purpose of the “Messiah” in both Jewish tradition and today’s Christian viewpoint, is one of “Kingship” which became an issue that pointed to Jesus as the “Anointed One” when the then King of Israel, King Herod, met with the “wise men from the East” that had traveled to Jerusalem and were asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2) This inquiry from credible “wise men” that knew of the “birth” of the “King of the Jews” from prophecies of old and had traveled a great distance because they had seen a “sign” in the heavens, came to Jerusalem for they knew that the event had happened in Judea. Again we must note that these are all outside agencies and events that neither Jesus nor His followers could possibly arrange. Matthew recorded and made a note that when “wise men” stood before Herod that they said to King Herod that the child “has been born” which really caught the attention of the then seated king of Judea! Matthew documented Herod’s reaction when the sitting King of Judea heard the wise men declare that the “King of the Jews” had already been born: “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea…’” and then the chief priests and scribes quoted the prophet Micah who wrote, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:3-6 and Micah 5:2)  Modern Jews still do not accept that Jesus is the “Messiah” and their main argument is that the “mashiach” is a human and not God and will be a human leader like King David who will win great battles for Israel and not a “savior” who will save “His people from their sins”. The Judaism concept of “mashiach” is not God Himself becoming flesh but “mashiach” is a human that will become a powerful king and rebuild the temple, re-establish traditional Jewish worship in the re-built temple, and also “mashiach” will establish a government in Jerusalem making it the center of all world government.  Herod however was not concerned about these concepts of the “one born King of the Jews” but Herod was concerned about the “Kingship” of one that had fulfilled prophecy! Herod was concerned enough about his own kingdom in Judea that the sitting King of Judea tried to enlist the services of the wise men in finding the already born “King of the Jews”. But when the wise men were warned by God not to return to Herod, Herod “sent forth soldiers and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…” (Matthew 2:7-16) This act of Herod reacting to prophecy about “one who has been born King of the Jews” was also prophetic in its execution for the prophet Jeremiah had written beforehand in Jewish Scriptures that there would be “A voice heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:15) Matthew also documented that “Divine Intervention” on behalf of Jesus came as an “angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” after the wise men had bestowed gifts on the “young Child Jesus” and the angel said, “Arise take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt” … thus fulfilling the prophecy by Hosea stating, “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1) The simple fact that all these events that came about while Jesus was still a “young Child” are events that are historical facts and had they been fabricated after the crucifixion of Jesus, the “conspiracy” and false claims would have been quickly refuted by the Jewish rulers and the chief priests and scribes living at the time of the death of Jesus — but historical documents do not contain any such records that dispute what Matthew wrote about Jesus — the only records that exist support Jesus as having fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah according to the prophets of old. So Matthew in the first 3 chapters of his Gospel of Jesus Christ has established as historical fact that Jesus had already by the young age of 2 or 3 years old had already fulfilled 4 major “Messianic Prophecies” written hundreds of years earlier by God’s own prophets and these critical prophecies and their fulfillment could not have been “fabricated” without receiving great criticism from the chief priests and scribes and further, if it were the apostles and disciples of Jesus that had “fabricated” the stories after the death of Jesus, their fabrications would have been exposed by the religious authorities and their fabrications would have resulted in their own deaths! If the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Divine Truth was simply a fabrication by a few radical followers then the fulfilling of prophecy by Jesus would not be documented so well in the New Testament writings — writings that have been Divinely Protected for thousands of years, all these circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus only adds credence to the TRUTH that Jesus IS CHRIST!!! 

Monday, January 14, 2019

JANUARY 14 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-14: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33

JANUARY  14  LIVING FOR JESUS 

Daily Prayer to JESUS    
Jesus, Creator of all things, by whose Hand and Will all things are held together, You are worthy of all Praise, all Glory, all Honor! Lord, to You and You alone will every nation bow and every tongue in every language confess that Jesus is CHRIST! — the Savior of mankind, the King of kings. Lord, I praise You this day, let not the world interfere with our worship of Thee — You Lord, are the Guiding Path, I pray that You part the “Sea of Doubt” and give us the strength and courage to lift up Your Name as we cross on dry land between the walls of worldly distractions built up on every side on our journey to Your Promised Land, especially in this circumstance and at this time of “testing” in America — for it is in these types of circumstances that there is special strength coming from the Throne of Grace, let us receive Your Divine Strength into our lives and into our homes, and Lord Jesus, give everyone someone in their life that they will share Your Love with today.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  14  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-14: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus is being revealed through circumstance and simple fact to be the Messiah and in any court of law there would be enough evidence to sentence Him to a LIFE sentence for being the “Chosen One”. If we could look at His “Birth” certificate we would see that He was born a Jew to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem in Judea and it could be demonstrated that Jesus was of the lineage of David the former King of Israel therefore making Jesus a Jew that can trace His ancestry all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the most compelling evidence was given by His own mother Mary who swore under oath that she had never been with a man and had conceived Her baby boy while still a “virgin” and that she further testified that she was informed by God Himself through His angel Gabriel, that she would carry the “Son of God” in her virgin womb thereby confirming that her “Son” was “The Son of God”! Not needed to convict her but required by law that there be two witnesses, Mary’s husband to which she was betrothed when she became pregnant through “Immaculate Conception” with this “Holy Child”, Joseph took the witness stand and confirmed Mary’s confession that she was carrying the “Son of God” in her virgin womb!!! Joseph testified that he too had been visited by the Angel Gabriel and was informed by God that his betrothed was “with a Child” that had been “conceived by the Holy Spirit”. Jewish law is very strict and had not Joseph withheld his public accusation of worldly infidelity, Mary could have been stoned to death as per Jewish law, so neither she nor Joseph had anything worldly to gain by this outrageous claim of her “Virgin Birth” which declared the “Child” to be born to Mary was indeed the “Son of God” ——— and all this transpired BEFORE the actual “Virgin Birth” so this piece of historical evidence of Christ’s identity was established BEFORE Jesus was even born! To think that all the prophets and the Jewish Holy Scriptures was simply a clever “conspiracy” organized by Jesus and His followers goes against all logic for why in the world would those that wanted Jesus dead be compliant with a plot to make Jesus “God Incarnate” via the “Virgin Birth”?!?!?!?!? There is simply no way that anyone could put together one man’s life to remotely complete more than two or three of the prophecies {{See January 11 this blog}} and certainly not two prophecies of this Divine Significance of a Jewish male born in Bethlehem to a “virgin” — Matthew therefore using Jewish law and Jewish tradition along with confirmation from the Jewish Scriptures documents that this Jesus, born of Mary in Bethlehem must be declared as “The Messiah” and is the Christ, for if their claims were not true, then by Jewish law and tradition the Jewish religious leaders could have killed Mary and Joseph, and Jesus would not have been born — — — BUT, we have a 2000 year old Bible and you know the rest of the story!!! In God’s Great Plan for mankind, each individual must deal with this “Revelation of Jesus Christ” and “work out your own salvation” through the exercise of Your God-given Freewill and decide if your “Faith in God the Father” (though it be a small as a “mustard seed”) can be planted into this fertile soil of God’s GRACE and TRUTH and grow to reach “Heaven” itself!!! God’s simple promise is “I WILL PROVIDE” — and regardless of the “evidence” it still boils down to “FAITH IN GOD THE FATHER” — it is time for everyone by “FAITH IN GOD THE FATHER” to “Repent from sin against HIM” and to reclaim THROUGH BELIEF IN THE SON OF GOD our “Heavenly Inheritance”— “IN GOD WE TRUST”!!!

Sunday, January 13, 2019

JANUARY 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-13: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33


JANUARY 13  LIVING FOR JESUS 

Daily Prayer to JESUS    
Jesus, each sunrise starts a new day in our spiritual journey through life and I pray that You through the Holy Spirit will make my life in each of my new days of walking with the Holy Spirit to be a great witness unto God. Lord, I pray for forgiveness of all my sin, sins known and those that are unknown to me, but known or not, if they grieve the Holy Spirit they dishonor the Father and the Son, so I beg forgiveness for the sake of Holiness. Lord, I desire in my heart to dedicate this temple to the Holy Spirit, to You, and Father God — O Lord Jesus, I am so close to being separated from the world that if it be Thy will, Lord lead me to be totally dependent on You and that I live only to serve You. Take now this prayer as a sacrifice and an offering to You, use my life for the glory of Your Kingdom. Lord I yield to Your will, You are my Lord, my God, my Savior, my Redeemer, and the Prince of Peace.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-13: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus has been shown by Matthew’s Gospel to be in the line of David and is the One in prophecy known as the Messiah, the Son of David! Matthew drew the lineage from the traditional Jewish doctrine of tracing the family line through the father and listing the birth mother of the offspring. It is Jewish tradition because of the teachings of God found written in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 that the first born male that was also the first issue of his mother’s womb would be granted a special portion of the father’s estate, therefore when Matthew, being a well educated Jew and knowing the prophecies of the Messiah contained in the Holy Scriptures, learned that Jesus was the first born from His mother’s womb and that she swore by the Holy Scriptures that the Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, thereby making God Himself the Father, then Matthew immediately recognized the prophecy of the “virgin birth” found in Isaiah — “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Matthew put the “virgin birth” prophecy along with the fact that the mother of Jesus gave birth to Him in “Bethlehem” which also fulfilled the prophecy by the prophet Micah “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting”  (Micah 5:2) and Matthew had two prophecies that pointed to Jesus being the “Chosen One” that was written by God’s prophets about God’s Messiah! Granted, there had been a lot of Jewish males in the line of Judah that had been the “first born” of their mother’s womb and had received the special inheritance from their earthly father but Jesus was the first Jewish male that could claim that His Father was God Himself and He had been “born of a virgin” and that His birth occurred in the “City of David, Bethlehem Ephrathah” !!! — and least we forget, the story of the “virgin birth” of Mary began before she had given birth and in those days she could not have known that she was carrying a male child; therefore her claim that she was told by an angel that she would conceive a child in her virgin womb and give birth to the “Son of God” could have been easily disproved if she had given birth to a daughter!?!? So from a “Spiritual Truth” standpoint, the only way that Mary could “know” that she was giving “virgin birth” to a “Son” was that it had been revealed to her by God Himself!!! Since Matthew was well versed on prophecy he could see the significance of Joseph having to return to Bethlehem to pay his taxes and Mary actually giving birth to her first born in the town of Bethlehem and those two facts alone were enough to raise expectations of the Messiah in the Jewish community but when the story that during her pregnancy Mary rightfully claimed (at the risk of being stoned to death) that God had chosen her to be the mother of the “Son of God”  became known to Matthew he connected the two prophecies (1) the “virgin birth” and (2) the location being “Bethlehem” to the simple fact that Jesus was a firstborn male from Mary’s womb ——— Matthew then simply stated the documented facts surrounding the “birth” of Jesus thereby documenting for everyone that knew prophecy that Jesus had fulfilled two Major Prophecies of the Messiah!!! Matthew then writes first in his Gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus is the “Son of David” (Matthew 1:1) and follows that historic fact with the “virgin birth” prophecy, thereby the combination of these two longstanding and well-known prophecies establish beyond any doubt that Jesus IS the MESSIAH!!!  The first claims made by Matthew in his Gospel of Jesus Christ should be enough “evidence” for all of us to recognize Jesus as the Messiah but God still wants each individual to search the Scriptures so that we too can through “Faith in God” know the “Joy” of discovering God’s “Messiah” for ourselves!!! There is NO “Evidence” without “Faith in God” that is “proof of God” — however “Faith in God” is all the “proof” a “Believer” needs to know God personally and once we “Believe” then worldly “evidence” is simply used to confirm what the “Believer” through “Faith in God” already KNOWS about Him!!! Once you “Believe” you may claim this Truth of God for yourself: “And [you having] believed in [Me] the LORD, [I WILL] account it [unto you] for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) The Scofield Study Bible says: “ God must reckon His own righteousness to man’s account through man’s trust [FAITH] in Him — for mankind is without righteousness of his own.” {{Scofield Study Bible notes on Genesis 15:6}}  The “Good News” keeps getting Better and Better!!!