1Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (JEREMIAH 10:1-15 “IDOLS AND THE TRUE GOD”)
In Old Testament times, medical care took second priority to the keeping of ceremonial law in this case, the interest of the law was in a broad category of ritual impurity called “uncleanness.” Uncleanness in the presence of the Lord was to be avoided at all cost. The modern rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” which many governments today consider inviolable, were far down a list topped by ceremonial purification in several forms. Again, the main concern was to reflect God’s holiness.
Continue reading WHY SEGREGATE AND PUNISH PEOPLE WHO NEED MEDICAL CARE?
During Old Testament times, the Jews divided the night into three “watchers” or divisions of time (read Exodus 14:24). But after the Romans occupied their territory, they adopted the Roman pattern of the four-watch night.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (NEW TESTAMENT WATCHERS)
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (1 CORINTHIANS 14:20-25 “TONGUES A SIGN TO UNBELIEVERS”)
The front of the person’s head. In the Bible several words are translated as “face.” In the OT panim is the most common and has the actual meaning of “face.” Aph (nose) and ayin (eyes, aspect) are also at times translated as face. In the NT the words used are opsis and prosopon.
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (FACE)
About thirty years from the city synagogue are ruins of what many believe was Peter’s house. Several clues point to this.
Continue reading PETER’S HOUSE
After Ahab was killed in a battle against the Arameans, he was succeeded as king by his son Ahaziah, Ahaziah reigned only two years before dying from an injury he suffered in a fall at the royal palace in Samaria (2 Kings 1:2,17). Ahaziah continued the policies of Ahab, worshipped the pagan god Baal (1 kings 22:53)
This quote is part of the Bible’s earliest record of God. The Hebrew people leaving Egypt understood God as a devouring fire (Exodus 24:17), especially when Moses entered the mist on top of Mount Sinai to receive God’s commandments. Moses spoke of God as a devouring fire (Deuteronomy 4:24) when he explained to the people why he, their leader for forty years, could not enter the promised land with them.
Continue reading HOW IS GOD A “DEVOURING FIRE”?
As a person become famous or rise to a high position, he limits his accessibility to others for his own protection. Many kings of Bible times, for example, could not be approached by anyone but their most trusted adviser. The Persians had a law that anyone who came into their king’s presence without his permission could pay with their lives (read Esther 4:11).
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (BOLD ACCESS TO THE KING)
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 MSG Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.
Continue reading RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTION