When I get asked what I'm doing on the weekend I often respond, I'm going to service. At times I do have to explain what service is but it doesn't stop there. Every chance I get, I talk about Jehovah. Service is just when I knock on doors to preach the word.
But I attempt to preach every chance I get. Right now I take a co-worker home who I get to share the good news with. Then I have this blog which allows me to preach to those who are learning and encourage those who are witnesses.
I do talk about other things of course but my main focus is talking about Jehovah and the kind of God that he is thus the reason why preaching the word of God is so important. It really means our life.......
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Warning!
Once you read this article you will most likely be shocked by the extent of how serious this misinformation really is.So be ready to be surprised. If a private individual were to spread misinformation like this they would most likely suffer some very serious consequences, perhaps being immediately thrown in prison for conspiracy. But since this is the US government you will not likely see any prosecutions as a result of the distortions we will reveal.
Brilliant CBS Investigation Gets BURIED by Media:
I just published a major swine flu update on Saturday about how CBS News investigative journalists exposed how misleading statistics are being used to panic the public into complying with the huge H1N1 swine flu vaccination program.
Last week, CBS News published the results from a three-month long investigation into the swine flu. One would think this would have received MASSIVE media exposure since their findings are in direct conflict with what the government is publicly stating.
CBS investigative journalists went to the CDC to seek their help in clarifying the situation and answering outstanding questions but CDC officials refused. They would not cooperate and CBS had to do their own investigation.
Even worse, after CBS compiled the data, the CDC refused to comment on it.What's this all about??? It can only make you wonder if the CDC is really interested in authentically serving the public good, or if, perhaps, it has been heavily influenced by outside corporate interests.
This is not good. The only way that we can have an effective response to the reported H1N1 influenza outbreak is if the government is transparent with the data. We have simply not seen ANY evidence that government health agencies are willing to be transparent. In fact, all evidence points to the contrary.
The CBS investigative report included state-by-state test results that revealed some VERY different facts from what the US Centers for Disease Control has been telling the American public. The CBS report found that H1N1 flu cases are NOT AT ALL as prevalent as feared. A CBS article even states:
"If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn't have H1N1 flu.
In fact, you probably didn't have the flu at all.
The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico."
In most states the percentages ranged from 83 to 98 percent NOT BEING H1N1 or influenza. As you can see from this CBS News graphic, not only are most cases of suspected flu-like illnesses not H1N1 influenza, they're not influenza at all, but rather some type of cold or upper respiratory infection that looks like influenza but is caused by another type of virus or bacteria!
Given these facts, there is a HUGE question in my mind as to whether or not the 1,000 deaths attributed to the swine flu were in fact CONFIRMED to be the H1N1 virus.If you read the LA Times link in the above reference you will see that their poll showed that 62% of the public were choosing to NOT vaccinate themselves or their family. Other polls showed different numbers but nearly all showed that the MAJORITY of Americans were panicking and accepting the government story.
So President Obama released this "emergency" declaration over the weekend – most likely because he trusted his federal health official advisors – and that declaration has the potential to create massive fear and panic in the population, Because he is the PRESIDENT and people are hearing their PRESIDENT tell them that 1000 Americans have died from swine flu and we are in the middle of a serious public health emergency and many people may be thinking "I probably should play it safe and get the vaccine for myself and my family."
The CDC H1N1 flu site reads:
"... tracking of 2009 H1N1 hospitalizations and deaths will not be the same after August 30, 2009.
In an effort to add additional structure to the national 2009 H1N1 reporting, new case definitions for influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths were implemented on August 30, 2009.
The new definitions allow states to report to CDC hospitalizations and deaths (either confirmed OR probable) resulting from all types of influenza, not just those from 2009 H1N1 flu.
1. Influenza and pneumonia syndrome hospitalizations and deaths may be an overestimate of actual number of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths, but CDC believes influenza and pneumonia syndromic reports are likely to be a more sensitive measure of flu-associated hospitalizations and deaths than laboratory confirmed reports during this pandemic.
However, the syndromic reports of all hospitalizations and deaths recorded as either influenza or pneumonia will mean that the case counts are less specific than before and will include cases that are not related to influenza infection."
Folks, make no mistake about it. Health officials and media WILL trumpet these numbers as being H1N1 "swine flu deaths" even though, as you can CLEARLY read on the CDC's site, they admit that they will now include hospitalizations and deaths that are not even RELATED to the common influenza infection, let alone H1N1.
Well, no wonder the flu appears to be spreading when they are now including mere "symptoms of flu," which the CBS investigation found were NOT EVEN INFLUENZA RELATED in the overwhelming majority of cases!
Public Health Emergency Declaration This Weekend Was Initiated MONTHS Ago:
Most have no idea that the declaration announced over the weekend was not legally initiated then. In fact it was initiated months ago. There was no new legal action that occurred over the weekend, only an announcement about a highly questionable and completely unsubstantiated 1000 deaths in the US from H1N1.The Secretary has actually renewed that declaration twice, once on July 24, 2009, and more recently on October 1, 2009.
National Emergency Declaration is an IRRATIONAL Response:
It seems quite obvious that the US government has full intention of administering as many doses of swine flu vaccine as possible this season, despite what the scientific evidence demonstrates. Declaring a national public health emergency because of an influenza virus strain that is milder than the seasonal influenza strains that have been circulating in the past few decades every year is nothing short of bizarre. One can only wonder the motivation behind this intention.
Could it be that $7 BILLION dollars will be earned by the drug companies for the vaccines? Quite possibly, but even if that were not the case let's look to Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest individuals in the world and one of the wisest investors the world has ever known.One of the principles I guide my business by is his investment recommendation of "Opportunity Costs".
Let me explain. Buffett makes it very clear that when you choose to invest in one project by definition you are choosing to not invest in something else that may be far more beneficial to you or your company.Same principle applies. All these resources are being focused on what appears to be a phony pandemic that does not exist and is no real threat to the public.
What else could we do with $7 billion dollars and all the time, effort and attention that this issue has received? I won't speculate here but you can let me know what you think. Why Aren't President Obama's Own Children Immunized for Swine Flu?
Despite the urgency and threat of this virus, the President's own daughters have not been rushed to the nearest clinic for a protective swine flu shot. According to a blurb on the Fox News White House blog, President Obama's daughters have not been vaccinated against H1N1. The White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "the vaccine is not available to them based on their risk."
This seems odd, if you ask me. Surely the First Family would receive any and all protective measures against a deadly epidemic that is spreading like wildfire and claiming the lives of healthy children and young adults?
It also seems odd to declare a national emergency even if there were 1,000 confirmed swine flu deaths. There are so many diseases that claim so many more lives each and every year... The only difference is they don't have a vaccine against them that they can promote that every man, woman, and child should take.
For example, hospital-acquired infections alone kill some 90,000 people annually in the US!Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is one specific type of infection that poses a very serious public health risk. MRSA infections are getting progressively worse and actually exact a greater death toll than "modern plagues" like AIDS.
In fact, a 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found there were close to 100,000 cases of invasive MRSA infections in the United States in 2005 (one of the most recent years for which data is available), which lead to more than 18,600 deaths.
Again, I have to stress the obvious that the response to the swine flu is so outrageously exaggerated it defies all logic.However, we knew all along it could get to this, and I, along with many others, have warned you about it for months now.
BEWARE: Taking Tylenol with Flu Vaccine May Actually Make You Worse
It feels like we're rushing head-first toward a man-made major public health catastrophe. And unfortunately, recent research shows that common medical practices may aggravate the situation.
According to a two Czechoslovakian studies, published in the journal Lancet on October 17, giving your child an analgesic to prevent fever when getting a vaccine could render them more prone to secondary infections.
Their studies showed that after vaccination, the immune response was lower among babies who were given acetaminophen (such as Tylenol), right after they received the shot.The vaccines used in the study were for pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, polio and rotavirus.
No flu vaccines were included. However, it's likely the effect would still be the same.MSN.com quotes infectious disease expert Dr. Marc Siegel as saying that:
"... the conclusion that Tylenol not only suppresses fever, but also decreases immune response is plausible. After all, what is an immune response? It's an inflammatory response."
The researchers also found that although fewer infants developed a fever after getting acetaminophen, they also developed significantly fewer antibodies against the disease they were vaccinated against. They believe the acetaminophen's anti-inflammatory activity might interfere with your body's immune system antibody response, which could explain why the vaccine was rendered less effective.
However, what is not mentioned by either MSN, or foodconsumer.org, which also ran an article on these findings, is that a lowered immune response also means you're more susceptible to develop other infections. And, as we now know, it is secondary infections such as bacterial staph infections that turn out to be deadly -- not the flu virus in and of itself.
The First Reports of H1N1 Vaccine Deaths are Now Here. Many of us knew that this too was more or less inevitable.Reports have now emerged from Hungarian and Swedish news sources that some people have died shortly after getting vaccinated against the H1N1 virus. The Budapest Times reported the death of a 64-year-old woman who had received the vaccine two days prior to her sudden demise.
The Hungarian H1N1 vaccine is supplied by local vaccine manufacturer Omnivest, whose vaccines are egg grown and adjuvanted with aluminum phosphate.Meanwhile, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that the swine flu vaccine may be "too potent," and that four people with compromised health had died just after receiving the swine flu vaccine. One man suffered a fatal heart attack after his vaccination, and a 65-year-old woman was found dead in her home two days after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.
In addition, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports:
"So far, the authority has received more than 190 reports from both health care and private individuals. By far the most common are pain in the arm. Then mild flu symptoms like fever, muscle pain, stomach pain, headaches, dizziness and fatigue."
The article goes on to state that GlaxoSmithKline is attributing a higher than normal rate of side effects to the adjuvants in the vaccine:
"According to the vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, maybe one in ten vaccinated will experience trouble, which is slightly more than the usual seasonal influenza vaccine. This is because a substance in the vaccine triggers immune your immune response."
GlaxoSmithKline's Pandemrix vaccine contains the controversial adjuvant squalene.
Unfortunately, vaccine manufacturers have persuaded countries in Europe and elsewhere to add squalene to seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccines, whereas squalene still has not been approved by the FDA for use in the US.
In order to legally allow unlicensed squalene adjuvants to be included in licensed H1N1 vaccines, the US government would have had to issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). It is unclear if the EUA President Obama issued on Friday will cover adding novel adjuvants like squalene, or whether a separate EUA has to be issued in order to allow the use of unapproved adjuvants...
But European authorities may have a better clue about its safety than they're willing to admit. A recent article in the English version of the German news source The Local, for example, warns that the German Defense Ministry has ordered a special stock of H1N1 vaccines for their troops that will contain neither mercury nor adjuvants, whereas the general public will be given vaccines containing both.
Vaccinations began throughout Europe a little over a week ago. Sweden was one of the first to begin their program on October 12.According to the Stockhom-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, there have been a total of 230 deaths linked to H1N1 in Europe since April. About half of all cases occurred in the UK.
The question is, are the European CDC's numbers as poor as the US CDC, whose statistics were shown by CBS News to be exaggerated by 80-98 percent?
Unprecedented Media Manipulation is Underway:
Continuing Education: Folks, universal flu vaccination should be about the science backing up the safety, effectiveness and necessity of that policy, because if it was, this current travesty would not be taking place. Please continue to educate yourself, your family and your friends about flu vaccinations and how to prevent the flu.
As always, I urge you to join the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). They are our premier watch-dog and vaccine-safety advocates, and the NVIC web site offers invaluable guidance to help keep yourself and your family safe and healthy. You Can Make a Difference. Most polls show that we ARE making a difference because more people are becoming educated about influenza and flu vaccines, especially H1N1 swine flu.
Recent national polls have revealed that 30 to 50% in many communities are not planning to get a swine flu shot. Those who haven't made up their minds yet have lots of questions. So we have created some posters that you can print and post ALL over your community, your local stores, office and schools.
Brilliant CBS Investigation Gets BURIED by Media:
I just published a major swine flu update on Saturday about how CBS News investigative journalists exposed how misleading statistics are being used to panic the public into complying with the huge H1N1 swine flu vaccination program.
Last week, CBS News published the results from a three-month long investigation into the swine flu. One would think this would have received MASSIVE media exposure since their findings are in direct conflict with what the government is publicly stating.
CBS investigative journalists went to the CDC to seek their help in clarifying the situation and answering outstanding questions but CDC officials refused. They would not cooperate and CBS had to do their own investigation.
Even worse, after CBS compiled the data, the CDC refused to comment on it.What's this all about??? It can only make you wonder if the CDC is really interested in authentically serving the public good, or if, perhaps, it has been heavily influenced by outside corporate interests.
This is not good. The only way that we can have an effective response to the reported H1N1 influenza outbreak is if the government is transparent with the data. We have simply not seen ANY evidence that government health agencies are willing to be transparent. In fact, all evidence points to the contrary.
The CBS investigative report included state-by-state test results that revealed some VERY different facts from what the US Centers for Disease Control has been telling the American public. The CBS report found that H1N1 flu cases are NOT AT ALL as prevalent as feared. A CBS article even states:
"If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn't have H1N1 flu.
In fact, you probably didn't have the flu at all.
The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico."
In most states the percentages ranged from 83 to 98 percent NOT BEING H1N1 or influenza. As you can see from this CBS News graphic, not only are most cases of suspected flu-like illnesses not H1N1 influenza, they're not influenza at all, but rather some type of cold or upper respiratory infection that looks like influenza but is caused by another type of virus or bacteria!
Given these facts, there is a HUGE question in my mind as to whether or not the 1,000 deaths attributed to the swine flu were in fact CONFIRMED to be the H1N1 virus.If you read the LA Times link in the above reference you will see that their poll showed that 62% of the public were choosing to NOT vaccinate themselves or their family. Other polls showed different numbers but nearly all showed that the MAJORITY of Americans were panicking and accepting the government story.
So President Obama released this "emergency" declaration over the weekend – most likely because he trusted his federal health official advisors – and that declaration has the potential to create massive fear and panic in the population, Because he is the PRESIDENT and people are hearing their PRESIDENT tell them that 1000 Americans have died from swine flu and we are in the middle of a serious public health emergency and many people may be thinking "I probably should play it safe and get the vaccine for myself and my family."
The CDC H1N1 flu site reads:
"... tracking of 2009 H1N1 hospitalizations and deaths will not be the same after August 30, 2009.
In an effort to add additional structure to the national 2009 H1N1 reporting, new case definitions for influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths were implemented on August 30, 2009.
The new definitions allow states to report to CDC hospitalizations and deaths (either confirmed OR probable) resulting from all types of influenza, not just those from 2009 H1N1 flu.
1. Influenza and pneumonia syndrome hospitalizations and deaths may be an overestimate of actual number of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths, but CDC believes influenza and pneumonia syndromic reports are likely to be a more sensitive measure of flu-associated hospitalizations and deaths than laboratory confirmed reports during this pandemic.
However, the syndromic reports of all hospitalizations and deaths recorded as either influenza or pneumonia will mean that the case counts are less specific than before and will include cases that are not related to influenza infection."
Folks, make no mistake about it. Health officials and media WILL trumpet these numbers as being H1N1 "swine flu deaths" even though, as you can CLEARLY read on the CDC's site, they admit that they will now include hospitalizations and deaths that are not even RELATED to the common influenza infection, let alone H1N1.
Well, no wonder the flu appears to be spreading when they are now including mere "symptoms of flu," which the CBS investigation found were NOT EVEN INFLUENZA RELATED in the overwhelming majority of cases!
Public Health Emergency Declaration This Weekend Was Initiated MONTHS Ago:
Most have no idea that the declaration announced over the weekend was not legally initiated then. In fact it was initiated months ago. There was no new legal action that occurred over the weekend, only an announcement about a highly questionable and completely unsubstantiated 1000 deaths in the US from H1N1.The Secretary has actually renewed that declaration twice, once on July 24, 2009, and more recently on October 1, 2009.
National Emergency Declaration is an IRRATIONAL Response:
It seems quite obvious that the US government has full intention of administering as many doses of swine flu vaccine as possible this season, despite what the scientific evidence demonstrates. Declaring a national public health emergency because of an influenza virus strain that is milder than the seasonal influenza strains that have been circulating in the past few decades every year is nothing short of bizarre. One can only wonder the motivation behind this intention.
Could it be that $7 BILLION dollars will be earned by the drug companies for the vaccines? Quite possibly, but even if that were not the case let's look to Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest individuals in the world and one of the wisest investors the world has ever known.One of the principles I guide my business by is his investment recommendation of "Opportunity Costs".
Let me explain. Buffett makes it very clear that when you choose to invest in one project by definition you are choosing to not invest in something else that may be far more beneficial to you or your company.Same principle applies. All these resources are being focused on what appears to be a phony pandemic that does not exist and is no real threat to the public.
What else could we do with $7 billion dollars and all the time, effort and attention that this issue has received? I won't speculate here but you can let me know what you think. Why Aren't President Obama's Own Children Immunized for Swine Flu?
Despite the urgency and threat of this virus, the President's own daughters have not been rushed to the nearest clinic for a protective swine flu shot. According to a blurb on the Fox News White House blog, President Obama's daughters have not been vaccinated against H1N1. The White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "the vaccine is not available to them based on their risk."
This seems odd, if you ask me. Surely the First Family would receive any and all protective measures against a deadly epidemic that is spreading like wildfire and claiming the lives of healthy children and young adults?
It also seems odd to declare a national emergency even if there were 1,000 confirmed swine flu deaths. There are so many diseases that claim so many more lives each and every year... The only difference is they don't have a vaccine against them that they can promote that every man, woman, and child should take.
For example, hospital-acquired infections alone kill some 90,000 people annually in the US!Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is one specific type of infection that poses a very serious public health risk. MRSA infections are getting progressively worse and actually exact a greater death toll than "modern plagues" like AIDS.
In fact, a 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found there were close to 100,000 cases of invasive MRSA infections in the United States in 2005 (one of the most recent years for which data is available), which lead to more than 18,600 deaths.
Again, I have to stress the obvious that the response to the swine flu is so outrageously exaggerated it defies all logic.However, we knew all along it could get to this, and I, along with many others, have warned you about it for months now.
BEWARE: Taking Tylenol with Flu Vaccine May Actually Make You Worse
It feels like we're rushing head-first toward a man-made major public health catastrophe. And unfortunately, recent research shows that common medical practices may aggravate the situation.
According to a two Czechoslovakian studies, published in the journal Lancet on October 17, giving your child an analgesic to prevent fever when getting a vaccine could render them more prone to secondary infections.
Their studies showed that after vaccination, the immune response was lower among babies who were given acetaminophen (such as Tylenol), right after they received the shot.The vaccines used in the study were for pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, polio and rotavirus.
No flu vaccines were included. However, it's likely the effect would still be the same.MSN.com quotes infectious disease expert Dr. Marc Siegel as saying that:
"... the conclusion that Tylenol not only suppresses fever, but also decreases immune response is plausible. After all, what is an immune response? It's an inflammatory response."
The researchers also found that although fewer infants developed a fever after getting acetaminophen, they also developed significantly fewer antibodies against the disease they were vaccinated against. They believe the acetaminophen's anti-inflammatory activity might interfere with your body's immune system antibody response, which could explain why the vaccine was rendered less effective.
However, what is not mentioned by either MSN, or foodconsumer.org, which also ran an article on these findings, is that a lowered immune response also means you're more susceptible to develop other infections. And, as we now know, it is secondary infections such as bacterial staph infections that turn out to be deadly -- not the flu virus in and of itself.
The First Reports of H1N1 Vaccine Deaths are Now Here. Many of us knew that this too was more or less inevitable.Reports have now emerged from Hungarian and Swedish news sources that some people have died shortly after getting vaccinated against the H1N1 virus. The Budapest Times reported the death of a 64-year-old woman who had received the vaccine two days prior to her sudden demise.
The Hungarian H1N1 vaccine is supplied by local vaccine manufacturer Omnivest, whose vaccines are egg grown and adjuvanted with aluminum phosphate.Meanwhile, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that the swine flu vaccine may be "too potent," and that four people with compromised health had died just after receiving the swine flu vaccine. One man suffered a fatal heart attack after his vaccination, and a 65-year-old woman was found dead in her home two days after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.
In addition, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports:
"So far, the authority has received more than 190 reports from both health care and private individuals. By far the most common are pain in the arm. Then mild flu symptoms like fever, muscle pain, stomach pain, headaches, dizziness and fatigue."
The article goes on to state that GlaxoSmithKline is attributing a higher than normal rate of side effects to the adjuvants in the vaccine:
"According to the vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, maybe one in ten vaccinated will experience trouble, which is slightly more than the usual seasonal influenza vaccine. This is because a substance in the vaccine triggers immune your immune response."
GlaxoSmithKline's Pandemrix vaccine contains the controversial adjuvant squalene.
Unfortunately, vaccine manufacturers have persuaded countries in Europe and elsewhere to add squalene to seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccines, whereas squalene still has not been approved by the FDA for use in the US.
In order to legally allow unlicensed squalene adjuvants to be included in licensed H1N1 vaccines, the US government would have had to issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). It is unclear if the EUA President Obama issued on Friday will cover adding novel adjuvants like squalene, or whether a separate EUA has to be issued in order to allow the use of unapproved adjuvants...
But European authorities may have a better clue about its safety than they're willing to admit. A recent article in the English version of the German news source The Local, for example, warns that the German Defense Ministry has ordered a special stock of H1N1 vaccines for their troops that will contain neither mercury nor adjuvants, whereas the general public will be given vaccines containing both.
Vaccinations began throughout Europe a little over a week ago. Sweden was one of the first to begin their program on October 12.According to the Stockhom-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, there have been a total of 230 deaths linked to H1N1 in Europe since April. About half of all cases occurred in the UK.
The question is, are the European CDC's numbers as poor as the US CDC, whose statistics were shown by CBS News to be exaggerated by 80-98 percent?
Unprecedented Media Manipulation is Underway:
Continuing Education: Folks, universal flu vaccination should be about the science backing up the safety, effectiveness and necessity of that policy, because if it was, this current travesty would not be taking place. Please continue to educate yourself, your family and your friends about flu vaccinations and how to prevent the flu.
As always, I urge you to join the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). They are our premier watch-dog and vaccine-safety advocates, and the NVIC web site offers invaluable guidance to help keep yourself and your family safe and healthy. You Can Make a Difference. Most polls show that we ARE making a difference because more people are becoming educated about influenza and flu vaccines, especially H1N1 swine flu.
Recent national polls have revealed that 30 to 50% in many communities are not planning to get a swine flu shot. Those who haven't made up their minds yet have lots of questions. So we have created some posters that you can print and post ALL over your community, your local stores, office and schools.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday
Trust me, I know there are two sides to every story. I posted information about vaccination but I ask that all look at the information because you say its not true. Do the research yourself and see if you can indeed trust vaccinations. I've heard many things such as " You are not a good Parent unless you vaccinate the kids "
I've also heard " The risks with Vaccinations are low compared to change you take of getting something "
Well, what exactly is being reported? Out of all the vaccinations given, is it being reported at all those that are getting hurt because of vaccinations? Why did the President just declare an emergency over H1N1. Ask yourself that question. How many have died because of it. Compared to those who have died because of a regular flu H1N1 so far isn't an issue.
What's in the vaccination? Have you really looked into it? And if you have would you really put that into your body? You must question everything. Look into everything. When you go shopping, don't you look at the label to see what's in it? You have more information on that label that you do in the vaccination.
Question Everything.......
I've also heard " The risks with Vaccinations are low compared to change you take of getting something "
Well, what exactly is being reported? Out of all the vaccinations given, is it being reported at all those that are getting hurt because of vaccinations? Why did the President just declare an emergency over H1N1. Ask yourself that question. How many have died because of it. Compared to those who have died because of a regular flu H1N1 so far isn't an issue.
What's in the vaccination? Have you really looked into it? And if you have would you really put that into your body? You must question everything. Look into everything. When you go shopping, don't you look at the label to see what's in it? You have more information on that label that you do in the vaccination.
Question Everything.......
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday
Jesus pioneered the full-time service of the Christian ministry. Entering it after his baptism and forty-day fast in the wilderness, he began it with the startling announcement: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” and continued therein until his death, three and a half years later. And to expand that preaching campaign as widely and as quickly as possible he invited Peter, Andrew, the rich young ruler and many others literally to ‘leave all things and follow him.
Obviously, such full-time Christian ministry is not for the lazy, for it means long hours and hard work; it is not for the greedy, for it is without opportunities for selfish gain; and it is not for the vainglorious, for there are no titles, honors or special garb connected with it.
The Christian ministry works toward the vindication of Jehovah’s name by making known to the people that he is a God perfect in love, wisdom and justice, and almighty; that he has at all times all things under perfect control and that he has permitted evil for good and sufficient reasons. It clears his name of the reproaches heaped upon it by false teachings. And further, faithful service in the ministry vindicates Jehovah as right when he took the position that Satan could not turn all men away from Him.
The Christian ministry, above all else, is an expression of love, and for love to be true, genuine, it must express itself in a practical way. To be practical about the ministry so as to be able to engage in it full time requires personal organization. It becomes imperative that we make the best possible use of our resources such as time, health and material assets such as money, clothing, etc.
The full-time ministry demands that we wisely budget our time and discipline ourselves to stick to it; yet not so strictly as not to allow for exceptions when the welfare of others is involved. It requires that we heed Paul’s admonition: “So keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”
To measure up and continue to meet the requirements of the full-time ministry requires that we keep well in body, and so we must also use the spirit of a sound mind in the way we expend our energies. Like Paul, we must exercise self-control, ‘browbeating our bodies and leading them as slaves.’ We must see to it that we get sufficient sleep, and so must get to bed at a reasonable hour; we must exercise self-control at the table, especially if we are one of those “given to appetite.”
Nor may one neglect self-discipline in the matter of spending money or the use of other material assets, clothes, furniture, auto, or whatever we may have, if we would continue to enjoy the blessings of the full-time ministry.Consider the deep-seated satisfaction of knowing that one is fully measuring up to one’s dedication vow to do God’s will and to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus.
There is no more important work than that of the Christian ministry. We should endeavor to engage in it full time, unless we have Scriptural obligations that prevent it. It will require efficient personal organization, but the blessings are certainly worth it.
Jehovah knows our needs, and those who put Kingdom interests first in their life, especially those pursuing the full-time ministry, have the same assurance that he will care for them. Some parents, however, are ambivalent in this regard. On the one hand, they would like to see their children make advancement in Jehovah’s service, perhaps in time entering the full-time ministry. On the other hand, considering the economic and employment situation in the world today, they feel that it is important for young ones to get a good education first so that they will have the necessary qualifications for a desirable job or at least have something to fall back on if needed. To such parents, a good education often means higher education.
What, then, are parents to do? Of course, they want their children to do well in school and learn the necessary skills for maintaining themselves in the days ahead. But should they simply let their children be swept along by the spirit of competition for material advancement and success? What sort of goals do they put before their children, either by word or by personal example? Some parents work very hard and save so as to be able to send their children to institutions of higher learning when the time comes. Others are willing to go into debt for this purpose. The cost of such a decision, however, cannot be measured merely in dollars and cents. What is the cost of pursuing higher education today?
When we think of cost, we usually think of financial expenditures. In some countries, higher education is government sponsored and qualified students do not have to pay fees or tuition. In most places, however, higher education is expensive and is getting more so. In other words, quality higher education is fast becoming the domain of the rich and influential, who put their children through it to ensure that they too become the rich and influential of this system.
Then there is the environment. University and college campuses are notorious for bad behavior—drug and alcohol abuse, immorality, cheating, hazing, and the list goes on. Consider alcohol abuse, they call itbinge drinking, that is, drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk. In addition to the bad environment, there is the pressure of schoolwork and examinations. Naturally, students need to study and do their homework to pass the exams. Some may also need to hold at least a part-time job while going to school. All of this takes a great deal of their time and energy.
What, then, will be left for spiritual activities? When pressures mount, what will be let go? Will Kingdom interests still come first, or will they be put aside? The Bible urges Christians: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”
Of course, immorality, bad behavior, and pressures are by no means limited to the college or university campus. However, many worldly youths view all such things merely as part of the education, and they think nothing of it. Should parents knowingly expose their children to that kind of environment for four or perhaps more years?
Is the risk involved worth whatever benefit the young ones may receive? And most important, what are the young ones learning about things that should come first in their life? Parents must give serious and prayerful consideration to these questions, as well as to the danger of sending their children away to school in another city or another country.
What Are the Alternatives? Today, the popular opinion is that for young people to succeed, the only option is to get a university education. However, instead of following what is popular, Christians heed the Bible’s admonition: “Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” What is God’s will for his people, young and old, in this final stage of the time of the end? Paul urged Timothy: “Keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.” Those words are surely applicable to all of us today.
Rather than be caught up by the materialistic spirit of the world, all of us need to ‘keep our senses’—our spiritual bearings. If you are a young person, ask yourself: ‘Am I putting forth my best effort to “accomplish my ministry,” to make myself a qualified minister of God’s Word? What are my plans for pursuing my ministry “fully”? Have I considered taking up full-time service as a career?’ These are challenging questions, especially when you see other youths indulging in selfish pursuits, “seeking great things” that they think will lead to a bright future.
You must keenly feel the importance of spreading God’s warning message today and aiding persons on the road to life while there is yet time. And you certainly need God’s holy spirit and blessing. Yet certain concerns may come to your mind, such as how to have enough time and money. Many have had to adjust their life and schedule to make time for the full time ministry.
In the coming years, you will make many important decisions regarding worship, employment, marriage, family, and other vital matters. Wise choices will be easier to make if you first know where you are headed. And as you plot your course in life, there is one factor that you cannot ignore.
If you are to be truly happy, you must take to heart the words of wise King Solomon: “Remember your Creator while you are still young.” The roads you choose in life should be influenced by a desire to please God. Why is that important? The Bible says at Revelation 4:11: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” All creatures in heaven and on earth owe a debt of gratitude to the Creator. Are you thankful that he has given you “life and breath and all things”?
Do you not feel compelled to give something back to Jehovah God in appreciation for all that he has given you? If you were traveling in an unfamiliar area, at some point you would likely need to ask for directions—even if you had a map. You can do the same with planning your future. Get the input of others. Parents are one vital resource. Education is indeed key but if there is no time to God then what are you putting first? You have to put God first in all things and everything else will fall into place.
For Jesse, I told him that he will have to work very hard to take care of his future family if his family wants to do the full time ministry. He understands this but at the same time is not ignoring his Christian responsibilities. Is college in his future. Yes it is but locally. He isn't going off to school in some other state or city and his education will not get in the way of his spiritual education. He understands what his future will include and involve.
Till tomorrow.....
Obviously, such full-time Christian ministry is not for the lazy, for it means long hours and hard work; it is not for the greedy, for it is without opportunities for selfish gain; and it is not for the vainglorious, for there are no titles, honors or special garb connected with it.
The Christian ministry works toward the vindication of Jehovah’s name by making known to the people that he is a God perfect in love, wisdom and justice, and almighty; that he has at all times all things under perfect control and that he has permitted evil for good and sufficient reasons. It clears his name of the reproaches heaped upon it by false teachings. And further, faithful service in the ministry vindicates Jehovah as right when he took the position that Satan could not turn all men away from Him.
The Christian ministry, above all else, is an expression of love, and for love to be true, genuine, it must express itself in a practical way. To be practical about the ministry so as to be able to engage in it full time requires personal organization. It becomes imperative that we make the best possible use of our resources such as time, health and material assets such as money, clothing, etc.
The full-time ministry demands that we wisely budget our time and discipline ourselves to stick to it; yet not so strictly as not to allow for exceptions when the welfare of others is involved. It requires that we heed Paul’s admonition: “So keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”
To measure up and continue to meet the requirements of the full-time ministry requires that we keep well in body, and so we must also use the spirit of a sound mind in the way we expend our energies. Like Paul, we must exercise self-control, ‘browbeating our bodies and leading them as slaves.’ We must see to it that we get sufficient sleep, and so must get to bed at a reasonable hour; we must exercise self-control at the table, especially if we are one of those “given to appetite.”
Nor may one neglect self-discipline in the matter of spending money or the use of other material assets, clothes, furniture, auto, or whatever we may have, if we would continue to enjoy the blessings of the full-time ministry.Consider the deep-seated satisfaction of knowing that one is fully measuring up to one’s dedication vow to do God’s will and to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus.
There is no more important work than that of the Christian ministry. We should endeavor to engage in it full time, unless we have Scriptural obligations that prevent it. It will require efficient personal organization, but the blessings are certainly worth it.
Jehovah knows our needs, and those who put Kingdom interests first in their life, especially those pursuing the full-time ministry, have the same assurance that he will care for them. Some parents, however, are ambivalent in this regard. On the one hand, they would like to see their children make advancement in Jehovah’s service, perhaps in time entering the full-time ministry. On the other hand, considering the economic and employment situation in the world today, they feel that it is important for young ones to get a good education first so that they will have the necessary qualifications for a desirable job or at least have something to fall back on if needed. To such parents, a good education often means higher education.
What, then, are parents to do? Of course, they want their children to do well in school and learn the necessary skills for maintaining themselves in the days ahead. But should they simply let their children be swept along by the spirit of competition for material advancement and success? What sort of goals do they put before their children, either by word or by personal example? Some parents work very hard and save so as to be able to send their children to institutions of higher learning when the time comes. Others are willing to go into debt for this purpose. The cost of such a decision, however, cannot be measured merely in dollars and cents. What is the cost of pursuing higher education today?
When we think of cost, we usually think of financial expenditures. In some countries, higher education is government sponsored and qualified students do not have to pay fees or tuition. In most places, however, higher education is expensive and is getting more so. In other words, quality higher education is fast becoming the domain of the rich and influential, who put their children through it to ensure that they too become the rich and influential of this system.
Then there is the environment. University and college campuses are notorious for bad behavior—drug and alcohol abuse, immorality, cheating, hazing, and the list goes on. Consider alcohol abuse, they call itbinge drinking, that is, drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk. In addition to the bad environment, there is the pressure of schoolwork and examinations. Naturally, students need to study and do their homework to pass the exams. Some may also need to hold at least a part-time job while going to school. All of this takes a great deal of their time and energy.
What, then, will be left for spiritual activities? When pressures mount, what will be let go? Will Kingdom interests still come first, or will they be put aside? The Bible urges Christians: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”
Of course, immorality, bad behavior, and pressures are by no means limited to the college or university campus. However, many worldly youths view all such things merely as part of the education, and they think nothing of it. Should parents knowingly expose their children to that kind of environment for four or perhaps more years?
Is the risk involved worth whatever benefit the young ones may receive? And most important, what are the young ones learning about things that should come first in their life? Parents must give serious and prayerful consideration to these questions, as well as to the danger of sending their children away to school in another city or another country.
What Are the Alternatives? Today, the popular opinion is that for young people to succeed, the only option is to get a university education. However, instead of following what is popular, Christians heed the Bible’s admonition: “Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” What is God’s will for his people, young and old, in this final stage of the time of the end? Paul urged Timothy: “Keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.” Those words are surely applicable to all of us today.
Rather than be caught up by the materialistic spirit of the world, all of us need to ‘keep our senses’—our spiritual bearings. If you are a young person, ask yourself: ‘Am I putting forth my best effort to “accomplish my ministry,” to make myself a qualified minister of God’s Word? What are my plans for pursuing my ministry “fully”? Have I considered taking up full-time service as a career?’ These are challenging questions, especially when you see other youths indulging in selfish pursuits, “seeking great things” that they think will lead to a bright future.
You must keenly feel the importance of spreading God’s warning message today and aiding persons on the road to life while there is yet time. And you certainly need God’s holy spirit and blessing. Yet certain concerns may come to your mind, such as how to have enough time and money. Many have had to adjust their life and schedule to make time for the full time ministry.
In the coming years, you will make many important decisions regarding worship, employment, marriage, family, and other vital matters. Wise choices will be easier to make if you first know where you are headed. And as you plot your course in life, there is one factor that you cannot ignore.
If you are to be truly happy, you must take to heart the words of wise King Solomon: “Remember your Creator while you are still young.” The roads you choose in life should be influenced by a desire to please God. Why is that important? The Bible says at Revelation 4:11: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” All creatures in heaven and on earth owe a debt of gratitude to the Creator. Are you thankful that he has given you “life and breath and all things”?
Do you not feel compelled to give something back to Jehovah God in appreciation for all that he has given you? If you were traveling in an unfamiliar area, at some point you would likely need to ask for directions—even if you had a map. You can do the same with planning your future. Get the input of others. Parents are one vital resource. Education is indeed key but if there is no time to God then what are you putting first? You have to put God first in all things and everything else will fall into place.
For Jesse, I told him that he will have to work very hard to take care of his future family if his family wants to do the full time ministry. He understands this but at the same time is not ignoring his Christian responsibilities. Is college in his future. Yes it is but locally. He isn't going off to school in some other state or city and his education will not get in the way of his spiritual education. He understands what his future will include and involve.
Till tomorrow.....
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Let me just be clear
A few things happened today that I feel I must address. First, I did make a post about talked about Education. This is what I said in that post.
.......................................................................................
How much secular education should we pursue? This may vary, But if the job market calls for training in addition to the minimum required by law, it is up to parents to guide their children in making a decision about supplementary education or training, weighing both the potential benefits and the drawbacks of such additional studies.
What, though, should be one’s motive in choosing further education when that may appear necessary? Certainly not riches, self-glory, or praise. Remember the lesson we learned from Jesus’ example—education should be used to bring praise to Jehovah. If we choose further education, our motivation should be the desire to support ourselves adequately so that we can serve Jehovah as fully as possible in the Christian ministry.
.....................................................................................
I also mentioned
But to his disciples Jesus gave the counsel: Stop storing up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, because none of such possessions last forever. Rather, he said, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, by serving Jehovah. He urged his followers to keep their eye “simple,” focusing their attention on just one thing, the doing of God’s will.
.....................................................................................
The reason I bring this up is simple. Education is very important and although it would seem as if it's a pain in the butt, when applying for that Job, the education received is often times looked at more so than the other information on the application.
Since we don't really know how far till this system is over, it would be wise to continue education because we don't know what the future holds for any of us. If Education is getting in the way of your spiritual needs then your spiritual needs have to come first. There is nothing wrong with College or obtaining skills that will help you as an adult.
If you are a woman and getting married and wish to be at home, then the husband must take the lead in terms of work. This could be a blessing because you can devote time in the ministry. That's a job in itself. Sisters I know are out everyday knocking on doors or doing street work spreading the good news.
But what if the husband cannot find a job what is the wife to do? Maybe the wife can help by looking for a job as well. This is where education could be key because he or she may have a better shot at getting the job. If the job gets in the way of her spiritual needs then what should a person do? You know that answer already.
Point is this...We don't know what could happen to us. Each day that begins is another day that could end us in terms of our life. Today I spoke to Jesse about various subjects and asked him if he was going to get married to Cedes. He said Yes, he loves her with all his heart. He is waiting for her so they can get married.
But what if we were driving one day and got into a car accident? It would be sad but it could happen in this system? It's better to be prepared than to not be prepared which is why Jesse is going to school, then a trade, then back to school but while doing those things he will make sure Jehovah is first.
He wants to make sure he can provide for his wife but as mentioned there is a chance that it may take two to help run the household in terms of paying rent or bills. It's better to be prepared than not to be prepared. So Education is important. Not the most important thing but very important.
Now when I mentioned in the beginning that a few things happened today. Maybe someday I will post the entire story as I see it and I'm sure I won't get it all correct but I will do my best. I received an email and had to be clear on Education. I had to be clear on Jesse's feelings that he is indeed waiting and that He will Marry this girl that he truly loves. I was very clear.
I can post the email if needed but the email was sent from a concerned parent. As a parent I can understand. He was concerned over the goals of their daughter as well as her education. I clearly stated that there is nothing wrong with being a housewife. My wife is a housewife and trust me, she works very hard. I'm glad I'm not in her position.
We are not rich and we live simple and I think that's why everything has worked in terms of money. Although I think she spend a little to much on Ebay. LOL She won't say so but in the course of a month Its about $200 to $300.00 a month on Ebay. That's about a car payment.
It worked out because I'm still alive and so far nothing has happened to me, we are prepared if something does. I'll go more into this subject because it's important. Till then...
.......................................................................................
How much secular education should we pursue? This may vary, But if the job market calls for training in addition to the minimum required by law, it is up to parents to guide their children in making a decision about supplementary education or training, weighing both the potential benefits and the drawbacks of such additional studies.
What, though, should be one’s motive in choosing further education when that may appear necessary? Certainly not riches, self-glory, or praise. Remember the lesson we learned from Jesus’ example—education should be used to bring praise to Jehovah. If we choose further education, our motivation should be the desire to support ourselves adequately so that we can serve Jehovah as fully as possible in the Christian ministry.
.....................................................................................
I also mentioned
But to his disciples Jesus gave the counsel: Stop storing up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, because none of such possessions last forever. Rather, he said, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, by serving Jehovah. He urged his followers to keep their eye “simple,” focusing their attention on just one thing, the doing of God’s will.
.....................................................................................
The reason I bring this up is simple. Education is very important and although it would seem as if it's a pain in the butt, when applying for that Job, the education received is often times looked at more so than the other information on the application.
Since we don't really know how far till this system is over, it would be wise to continue education because we don't know what the future holds for any of us. If Education is getting in the way of your spiritual needs then your spiritual needs have to come first. There is nothing wrong with College or obtaining skills that will help you as an adult.
If you are a woman and getting married and wish to be at home, then the husband must take the lead in terms of work. This could be a blessing because you can devote time in the ministry. That's a job in itself. Sisters I know are out everyday knocking on doors or doing street work spreading the good news.
But what if the husband cannot find a job what is the wife to do? Maybe the wife can help by looking for a job as well. This is where education could be key because he or she may have a better shot at getting the job. If the job gets in the way of her spiritual needs then what should a person do? You know that answer already.
Point is this...We don't know what could happen to us. Each day that begins is another day that could end us in terms of our life. Today I spoke to Jesse about various subjects and asked him if he was going to get married to Cedes. He said Yes, he loves her with all his heart. He is waiting for her so they can get married.
But what if we were driving one day and got into a car accident? It would be sad but it could happen in this system? It's better to be prepared than to not be prepared which is why Jesse is going to school, then a trade, then back to school but while doing those things he will make sure Jehovah is first.
He wants to make sure he can provide for his wife but as mentioned there is a chance that it may take two to help run the household in terms of paying rent or bills. It's better to be prepared than not to be prepared. So Education is important. Not the most important thing but very important.
Now when I mentioned in the beginning that a few things happened today. Maybe someday I will post the entire story as I see it and I'm sure I won't get it all correct but I will do my best. I received an email and had to be clear on Education. I had to be clear on Jesse's feelings that he is indeed waiting and that He will Marry this girl that he truly loves. I was very clear.
I can post the email if needed but the email was sent from a concerned parent. As a parent I can understand. He was concerned over the goals of their daughter as well as her education. I clearly stated that there is nothing wrong with being a housewife. My wife is a housewife and trust me, she works very hard. I'm glad I'm not in her position.
We are not rich and we live simple and I think that's why everything has worked in terms of money. Although I think she spend a little to much on Ebay. LOL She won't say so but in the course of a month Its about $200 to $300.00 a month on Ebay. That's about a car payment.
It worked out because I'm still alive and so far nothing has happened to me, we are prepared if something does. I'll go more into this subject because it's important. Till then...
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
talk coming up, week of Nov 2nd
Although I don't know exactly what the counsel point is, I figured I would complete the talk just in case. What I have so far is this:
Almost every day you hear reports that a child has been kidnapped or murdered. As a parent of 5 children, I can only imagine how hard it must be to lose a child. I‘ve watched mothers and fathers beg for their children to be returned, only to find out later that their child has been murdered.
Some do return but most don’t. The pain you feel when losing someone you love especially if it's a child is one of most difficult things anyone can go through. When I was younger, I lost my father. When he died I felt as if a part of me was gone. I questioned why things were they way they were. Shortly after my father passed, I received a knock at the door that changed my life. I learned the true condition of the dead which gave me hope that someday I would see this man again. I learned about Jesus and those who were resurrected.
One that was resurrected was Lazarus. When Lazarus died, Jesus cried. John chapter 11 verse 35 says that Jesus gave way to tears. Jesus knew that Lazarus could be brought back to life but he cried. He cried because he loved this family, he saw that many were in pain and it was because of this pain, the intense emotions were going on that caused Jesus to cry. Jesus was also aware that he to would soon face death. When Jesus was on Earth, he told his disciples that he would be killed but he also told them that he would return. Let’s read that account, please open your bibles to Luke Chapter 9 verse 22. “The Son of man must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by the older men and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised up.
So here we read that Jesus will suffer and will be killed but he also says that he will return on the third day. Jesus had full confidence that his father Jehovah would resurrect him. Does that mean that Jehovah didn’t feel pain at seeing his son die because he knew that he would bring is son back? Remember Jesus felt pain because of Lazarus and wasn’t Lazarus brought back? Jehovah loves his son Jesus very much. It's hard to find the words to describe the pain Jehovah felt but, Can you imagine the Joy Jehovah felt at seeing Jesus again.
After Jesus died, he was placed in his tomb and on the third day he was resurrected. Now the disciples shouldn’t have been surprised because Jesus told them he would return on the third day, they wanted to believe that Jesus was alive again but it seemed too good to be true. Then Jesus appears to his disciples when they are all gathered in a room. Imagine the Joy they must have felt to see Jesus again.
Aren’t we glad to know that Jehovah remembers those who serve him. The fact that Jehovah sent his only-begotten son should tell us, just how he feels about us. We can see that Jehovah did not forget about his son and we can have the confidence that he will not forget about us.
In the beginning, I talked about my father, what I didn’t mention is how he died. He died from drugs, heroin to be exact but notice what this scripture has to say, open your bibles Acts chapter 24 verse 15. And it reads: and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Knowing these things should cause us to want to know how we can make Jehovah Happy. If we happen to die in this system, Jehovah will remember us, just as he remembered his son.
.................................................
That's what I got so far. It's a little personal because I did talk about my dad but I felt I needed to based on the subject that in truth we are all Jehovah's children. Anyway, have a great day.
Almost every day you hear reports that a child has been kidnapped or murdered. As a parent of 5 children, I can only imagine how hard it must be to lose a child. I‘ve watched mothers and fathers beg for their children to be returned, only to find out later that their child has been murdered.
Some do return but most don’t. The pain you feel when losing someone you love especially if it's a child is one of most difficult things anyone can go through. When I was younger, I lost my father. When he died I felt as if a part of me was gone. I questioned why things were they way they were. Shortly after my father passed, I received a knock at the door that changed my life. I learned the true condition of the dead which gave me hope that someday I would see this man again. I learned about Jesus and those who were resurrected.
One that was resurrected was Lazarus. When Lazarus died, Jesus cried. John chapter 11 verse 35 says that Jesus gave way to tears. Jesus knew that Lazarus could be brought back to life but he cried. He cried because he loved this family, he saw that many were in pain and it was because of this pain, the intense emotions were going on that caused Jesus to cry. Jesus was also aware that he to would soon face death. When Jesus was on Earth, he told his disciples that he would be killed but he also told them that he would return. Let’s read that account, please open your bibles to Luke Chapter 9 verse 22. “The Son of man must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by the older men and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised up.
So here we read that Jesus will suffer and will be killed but he also says that he will return on the third day. Jesus had full confidence that his father Jehovah would resurrect him. Does that mean that Jehovah didn’t feel pain at seeing his son die because he knew that he would bring is son back? Remember Jesus felt pain because of Lazarus and wasn’t Lazarus brought back? Jehovah loves his son Jesus very much. It's hard to find the words to describe the pain Jehovah felt but, Can you imagine the Joy Jehovah felt at seeing Jesus again.
After Jesus died, he was placed in his tomb and on the third day he was resurrected. Now the disciples shouldn’t have been surprised because Jesus told them he would return on the third day, they wanted to believe that Jesus was alive again but it seemed too good to be true. Then Jesus appears to his disciples when they are all gathered in a room. Imagine the Joy they must have felt to see Jesus again.
Aren’t we glad to know that Jehovah remembers those who serve him. The fact that Jehovah sent his only-begotten son should tell us, just how he feels about us. We can see that Jehovah did not forget about his son and we can have the confidence that he will not forget about us.
In the beginning, I talked about my father, what I didn’t mention is how he died. He died from drugs, heroin to be exact but notice what this scripture has to say, open your bibles Acts chapter 24 verse 15. And it reads: and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Knowing these things should cause us to want to know how we can make Jehovah Happy. If we happen to die in this system, Jehovah will remember us, just as he remembered his son.
.................................................
That's what I got so far. It's a little personal because I did talk about my dad but I felt I needed to based on the subject that in truth we are all Jehovah's children. Anyway, have a great day.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
How to keep spiritually minded
I was going to write this tomorrow since today is my anniversary but I couldn't help but type this because of what happened today but before I get to that, to keep spiritually minded, we have to watch what we say.
We hear it all around us. It comes from work, school, friends, parents, TV, Music, and children. It's foul language. It's everywhere and you will hear it no matter what. You will hear it as soon as you walk out the house. You will hear it inside the house. It could even be in your thoughts. That's how much you hear it. Maybe you think of it internally if you are upset with someone.
Maybe it comes out of your mouth. Have I ever said bad words? Of course I have. Everyone I know at one time used foul language. Ephesians 4:29 first urges us: “Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth.” That's not easy
One reason is that profanity is so common. It's all around us. We may not fully be able to avoid hearing foul words, but we can and should make a conscious effort not to absorb these. They have no place in our minds or mouths.
Underlying Paul’s warning is a Greek word that relates to spoiled fish or decayed fruit. Visualize this: You observe a man get impatient and then outright furious. Finally he explodes, and you see a putrefied fish come out of his mouth. You then see stinking, decayed fruit tumble out, splashing all nearby. Who is he? How terrible if he were any of us! Yet, such an image could fit if we let rotten sayings proceed out of our mouth.
Another application of Ephesians 4:29 is for us to avoid being constantly critical. Granted, all of us have opinions and tastes about things we do not like or accept, but have you been around someone who seems to have a negative comment (or many comments) about every person, place, or thing mentioned? His or her speech tears down, depresses, or destroys.
He or she may not realize how much he resembles the critical ones Malachi described. How shocked he might be if a bystander told him that a putrefied fish or decaying fruit was slipping out of his mouth! While it is easy to recognize when someone else constantly makes negative or critical comments, ask yourself, ‘Do I tend to be like that? Really, do I?
It would be wise to reflect occasionally on the spirit of our words. Are they primarily negative, critical? Do we sound like Job’s three false comforters? Why not find a positive aspect to mention? If a conversation is mainly critical, why not steer it into upbuilding matters?
Malachi presented this contrast: “Those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name.” (Malachi 3:16) Did you notice how God responded to upbuilding speech?
What was the likely effect of such conversation on associates? We can personally learn a lesson regarding our daily speech. How much finer for us and others if our typical conversation reflects our ‘sacrifice of praise to God.’
So what happened today. Just because it's my anniversary, I still had responsibilities. I had to take my kids to school like I do each morning. I went to pickup Jesse. There is this Teenager who goes to our Kingdom Hall. Her sister who is also a Teenager was Baptized this year.
I first saw the one that was Baptized and she came up to my car and said Hello. We talked a bit and off she went. I was still waiting for Jesse to come out. All of a Sudden the sister comes running up to this guy saying every foul word in the book. She didn't notice I was there. When she did, I can tell that she wished that I wasn't there.
She still said HI but from a distance. Jesse finally came out and off I went. The first thing that I thought of was her comment that she made during Tuesday meeting and Sunday and she is one of those who often comments at the meetings but here she was using all kinds of foul language as if Jehovah can't hear it.
I was shocked and I felt very offended. It's no wonder that this girl has been around the truth but has yet to make that commitment. She goes out in service and preaches to others. They call this Token worship. Two sides of a coin. One side is when you are in front of your brothers and sisters. You act a certain way, you talk a certain way. You are well dressed. You smile and appear to be happy.
The other side of the coin is what I saw today. What do you do when you are not at the meetings. What do you do when you are not in front of your brothers or sisters. How do you speak in front of others when the brothers or sisters aren't around?
I felt bad. It really comes down to this since we are so close to the end. Those that know the truth and believe this is the truth, please give it your all. Do what you can. Jehovah knows how much you can do. Don't be a hypocrite. It's a waste of time since Jehovah's standards never change. It's your standards that need to change. You need to raise your standards to meet his and his standards are not difficult to reach.
There have been many in the past and many today that are living up to Jehovah's standards. We do our best and always have in mind that we can do more. It doesn't make sense to pretend that Jesus or Jehovah can't hear you. They can hear and see you. They see what you do. If you truly believed that then you would raise your standards.
Words are very powerful. Use caution....Scriptures tell us that if any can control is tongue, this one is perfect meaning that in this system we may slip and say bad words. IF we do, the very first thing we do is apologize to Jehovah. In the past when I slipped with my words that was the first thing I did, apologize and improve.
I will leave this up for Friday. Be safe and have a great weekend.
We hear it all around us. It comes from work, school, friends, parents, TV, Music, and children. It's foul language. It's everywhere and you will hear it no matter what. You will hear it as soon as you walk out the house. You will hear it inside the house. It could even be in your thoughts. That's how much you hear it. Maybe you think of it internally if you are upset with someone.
Maybe it comes out of your mouth. Have I ever said bad words? Of course I have. Everyone I know at one time used foul language. Ephesians 4:29 first urges us: “Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth.” That's not easy
One reason is that profanity is so common. It's all around us. We may not fully be able to avoid hearing foul words, but we can and should make a conscious effort not to absorb these. They have no place in our minds or mouths.
Underlying Paul’s warning is a Greek word that relates to spoiled fish or decayed fruit. Visualize this: You observe a man get impatient and then outright furious. Finally he explodes, and you see a putrefied fish come out of his mouth. You then see stinking, decayed fruit tumble out, splashing all nearby. Who is he? How terrible if he were any of us! Yet, such an image could fit if we let rotten sayings proceed out of our mouth.
Another application of Ephesians 4:29 is for us to avoid being constantly critical. Granted, all of us have opinions and tastes about things we do not like or accept, but have you been around someone who seems to have a negative comment (or many comments) about every person, place, or thing mentioned? His or her speech tears down, depresses, or destroys.
He or she may not realize how much he resembles the critical ones Malachi described. How shocked he might be if a bystander told him that a putrefied fish or decaying fruit was slipping out of his mouth! While it is easy to recognize when someone else constantly makes negative or critical comments, ask yourself, ‘Do I tend to be like that? Really, do I?
It would be wise to reflect occasionally on the spirit of our words. Are they primarily negative, critical? Do we sound like Job’s three false comforters? Why not find a positive aspect to mention? If a conversation is mainly critical, why not steer it into upbuilding matters?
Malachi presented this contrast: “Those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name.” (Malachi 3:16) Did you notice how God responded to upbuilding speech?
What was the likely effect of such conversation on associates? We can personally learn a lesson regarding our daily speech. How much finer for us and others if our typical conversation reflects our ‘sacrifice of praise to God.’
So what happened today. Just because it's my anniversary, I still had responsibilities. I had to take my kids to school like I do each morning. I went to pickup Jesse. There is this Teenager who goes to our Kingdom Hall. Her sister who is also a Teenager was Baptized this year.
I first saw the one that was Baptized and she came up to my car and said Hello. We talked a bit and off she went. I was still waiting for Jesse to come out. All of a Sudden the sister comes running up to this guy saying every foul word in the book. She didn't notice I was there. When she did, I can tell that she wished that I wasn't there.
She still said HI but from a distance. Jesse finally came out and off I went. The first thing that I thought of was her comment that she made during Tuesday meeting and Sunday and she is one of those who often comments at the meetings but here she was using all kinds of foul language as if Jehovah can't hear it.
I was shocked and I felt very offended. It's no wonder that this girl has been around the truth but has yet to make that commitment. She goes out in service and preaches to others. They call this Token worship. Two sides of a coin. One side is when you are in front of your brothers and sisters. You act a certain way, you talk a certain way. You are well dressed. You smile and appear to be happy.
The other side of the coin is what I saw today. What do you do when you are not at the meetings. What do you do when you are not in front of your brothers or sisters. How do you speak in front of others when the brothers or sisters aren't around?
I felt bad. It really comes down to this since we are so close to the end. Those that know the truth and believe this is the truth, please give it your all. Do what you can. Jehovah knows how much you can do. Don't be a hypocrite. It's a waste of time since Jehovah's standards never change. It's your standards that need to change. You need to raise your standards to meet his and his standards are not difficult to reach.
There have been many in the past and many today that are living up to Jehovah's standards. We do our best and always have in mind that we can do more. It doesn't make sense to pretend that Jesus or Jehovah can't hear you. They can hear and see you. They see what you do. If you truly believed that then you would raise your standards.
Words are very powerful. Use caution....Scriptures tell us that if any can control is tongue, this one is perfect meaning that in this system we may slip and say bad words. IF we do, the very first thing we do is apologize to Jehovah. In the past when I slipped with my words that was the first thing I did, apologize and improve.
I will leave this up for Friday. Be safe and have a great weekend.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
How to keep Spiritually Minded
As with movies, music is no different. Ephesians 5:15, 16 says to “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”
Look at who is popular in music. Rap music for example is nothing more than garbage for your mind. Back in the day I used to listen to nothing but Rap music and at a time even made music myself.
Almost all Rap music talk about drugs, sex, how much money they have, girls, etc...
I want you to imagine if Jesus was sitting in your car. What kind of music would you be playing if he was sitting there? Or what if he asked to see your Ipod, would you say no because of the kind of music you have on your ipod? Do you think he doesn't already know what you have?
Music is indeed very powerful. Perhaps you need to make some changes in the type of music you choose. If you have records, tapes, and discs that carry immoral and demonistic themes, you should immediately dispose of them.
This does not mean that you cannot enjoy music; not all popular music is objectionable. Some have also learned to broaden their musical tastes and now enjoy certain classical, folk, light jazz, and other forms of music. The Kingdom Melodies tapes have helped many youths develop a taste for uplifting orchestral music.
Music is a divine gift. For many, though, it becomes an unhealthy preoccupation. Make it your aim to keep music in its place and let the activity of Jehovah be your main concern. Be selective and careful about the music you choose. Thus you will be able to use—not abuse—this divine gift.
What do I listen to? I love Oldies.....One of my favs is
Look at who is popular in music. Rap music for example is nothing more than garbage for your mind. Back in the day I used to listen to nothing but Rap music and at a time even made music myself.
Almost all Rap music talk about drugs, sex, how much money they have, girls, etc...
I want you to imagine if Jesus was sitting in your car. What kind of music would you be playing if he was sitting there? Or what if he asked to see your Ipod, would you say no because of the kind of music you have on your ipod? Do you think he doesn't already know what you have?
Music is indeed very powerful. Perhaps you need to make some changes in the type of music you choose. If you have records, tapes, and discs that carry immoral and demonistic themes, you should immediately dispose of them.
This does not mean that you cannot enjoy music; not all popular music is objectionable. Some have also learned to broaden their musical tastes and now enjoy certain classical, folk, light jazz, and other forms of music. The Kingdom Melodies tapes have helped many youths develop a taste for uplifting orchestral music.
Music is a divine gift. For many, though, it becomes an unhealthy preoccupation. Make it your aim to keep music in its place and let the activity of Jehovah be your main concern. Be selective and careful about the music you choose. Thus you will be able to use—not abuse—this divine gift.
What do I listen to? I love Oldies.....One of my favs is
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How to keep spiritaully minded?
In this system with the odds stacked against you it can be hard to stay spiritually minded. It could be easy to tire out. You may get caught up in what the world considers fun.
Take for example a movie that came out that I've heard many talk about. The movie is called Paranormal activity. The movie is about a haunted house that makes no secret of the fact it is not pleased with its new tenants. It includes Ouija board to make contact with the spirit which in turn the spirits now get upset and hurt the those who were making contact.
I was asked by another if I was going to see the movie. At first I didn't understand why I was even asked that question but then I asked them a question. Would Jesus go see a movie like this? Would Jehovah be offended if I saw a movie like this?
Satan is called the god of this system of things, and the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” Can anyone doubt that the widespread demonism, violence and immorality in movies today is a result of his influence?
Although there is a difference between actually practicing spiritism and watching it, that surely does not mean that watching occult practices poses no danger. Consider this: God’s Word indicates that neither Satan nor his demons have the ability to read our thoughts.
Thus, to find out what we are thinking and to detect any spiritual weakness in us, wicked spirits have to observe closely our actions—including our choice of entertainment. When a Christian’s behavior shows that he enjoys movies or books that center on spirit mediums, magic spells, acts of demon possession, or similar demonistic subjects, he or she is sending a message to the demons.
In effect, he is alerting them to his weak spot! In response, the demons could intensify their wrestling with that Christian in order to exploit the weakness he or she has revealed until they have pinned him or her down, so to speak. In fact, some whose interest in spiritism was first piqued by entertainment that prominently featured the occult have eventually become involved in actually practicing spiritism.
So you see, even watching movies can hurt you spiritually and hurt your relationship with Jehovah. Is watching that kind of movie worth it? Is it worth the possibility of being possessed by a Demon?
It's not worth it and possession has happened. It's real, Satan and his demons are real. The best enemy is one that makes you think he isn't real. Satan is very real. All you need to do is look at the world to know that he is real. Go all the way up the Satan Food Chain so to speak to know that he is indeed running this world.
This is just with movies....There is so much more....I will continue this topic tomorrow....How to keep spiritually minded......
Take for example a movie that came out that I've heard many talk about. The movie is called Paranormal activity. The movie is about a haunted house that makes no secret of the fact it is not pleased with its new tenants. It includes Ouija board to make contact with the spirit which in turn the spirits now get upset and hurt the those who were making contact.
I was asked by another if I was going to see the movie. At first I didn't understand why I was even asked that question but then I asked them a question. Would Jesus go see a movie like this? Would Jehovah be offended if I saw a movie like this?
Satan is called the god of this system of things, and the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” Can anyone doubt that the widespread demonism, violence and immorality in movies today is a result of his influence?
Although there is a difference between actually practicing spiritism and watching it, that surely does not mean that watching occult practices poses no danger. Consider this: God’s Word indicates that neither Satan nor his demons have the ability to read our thoughts.
Thus, to find out what we are thinking and to detect any spiritual weakness in us, wicked spirits have to observe closely our actions—including our choice of entertainment. When a Christian’s behavior shows that he enjoys movies or books that center on spirit mediums, magic spells, acts of demon possession, or similar demonistic subjects, he or she is sending a message to the demons.
In effect, he is alerting them to his weak spot! In response, the demons could intensify their wrestling with that Christian in order to exploit the weakness he or she has revealed until they have pinned him or her down, so to speak. In fact, some whose interest in spiritism was first piqued by entertainment that prominently featured the occult have eventually become involved in actually practicing spiritism.
So you see, even watching movies can hurt you spiritually and hurt your relationship with Jehovah. Is watching that kind of movie worth it? Is it worth the possibility of being possessed by a Demon?
It's not worth it and possession has happened. It's real, Satan and his demons are real. The best enemy is one that makes you think he isn't real. Satan is very real. All you need to do is look at the world to know that he is real. Go all the way up the Satan Food Chain so to speak to know that he is indeed running this world.
This is just with movies....There is so much more....I will continue this topic tomorrow....How to keep spiritually minded......
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday
Interesting stuff huh. Maybe a bit to much but the information was interesting. Take for example what Jesus said. You will hear about wars and reports of wars. That wasn't the interesting part because that was happening in their time but Nation against Nation and 1914 starting point is interesting.
I gave the information to another whom I'm preaching to. He found it very interesting. Anyway, today school was closed and so Jesse went out in service. He is doing very well spiritually but in truth we all could do more.
In this system we will all get tired and sleepy but its important not to get tired or sleepy spiritually. Yesterday I was looking for something to watch on TV and I ran across I am Legend. There was a line in that movie that Will Smith said and it made sense. He stated and I quote "He said the people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I?"
Satan does not take one day off, how can we? That line made so much sense to me that I couldn't get it out of my head and repeated it and I'm sure will use it in a talk sooner or later.
Anyway, have a great day all.
I gave the information to another whom I'm preaching to. He found it very interesting. Anyway, today school was closed and so Jesse went out in service. He is doing very well spiritually but in truth we all could do more.
In this system we will all get tired and sleepy but its important not to get tired or sleepy spiritually. Yesterday I was looking for something to watch on TV and I ran across I am Legend. There was a line in that movie that Will Smith said and it made sense. He stated and I quote "He said the people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I?"
Satan does not take one day off, how can we? That line made so much sense to me that I couldn't get it out of my head and repeated it and I'm sure will use it in a talk sooner or later.
Anyway, have a great day all.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Will You Be a Survivor of the Last Days?
To that question, will you be a survivor of the Last Days, what is going to determine whether we will survive or not? First of all let’s talk a little bit about humans and what we tend to do. Humans for some reason tend to discredit warnings. If somebody gives a warning about an event or a place well, we have a couple of questions. Who said it? By what authority? Is it really going to happen?
Allow me to illustrate, on every package of cigarettes we have the Surgeon General’s warning. Basically it tells you if you use this product you are going to die, to put it real simply! Yet, people read that warning and continue to smoke. Perhaps they reason, sure, that’s not going to happen to me. I’ll be in that little percentage that it DOESN’T effect.
For whatever reason, perhaps thinking well, I’ll enjoy the pleasure for now and when I start to cough I’ll worry about the warning. That’s how we tend to think.
What did you do the last time a tornado siren went off? You know what most of us do? We stop, we look at the sky, “It isn’t that bad!” We just go on with what we were doing previously.
If we really think about it, the National Weather Service says, “Take cover!” That’s why the siren went off. For some reason we tend to feel, “I’ve been looking at the sky all of my life, I know what’s dangerous and what isn’t!” So, we at times ignore the warning and go on about our business.
It helps us to illustrate the way that we tend to think as humans, we always ask that question. Who gave the warning, by what authority did they give it, and is it really going to happen? Then we start trying to make our own decision about how bad it really is and then we decided whether we’re going to listen to it or not.
The Bible tells us that this has happened quite a bit in history, in times past. People would look at a warning, decide whether they wanted to pay attention to it or not, sometimes with really bad results. Romans 15 verse 4 tells us that all things were written aforetime for our instruction, for our benefit. What this tells us is that we can look at history and see how people reacted to different things and compare it to our day and see what we would do. Would we repeat the history or are we going to make a different history? How is it going to work for us?
With that said, let’s look at a warning that was given to people in the First Century. This will be found in our Bibles at Luke Chapter 19 verse 43 and 44. Here it is actually Jesus, the son of God speaking. “Because the days will come upon you when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will circle you and distress you from every side and they will dash you and your children within you to the ground and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you because you did not discern the time of your being inspected.”
There’s the warning! This IS going to happen! How would you have reacted? Let’s say you lived in the First Century and you heard this man Jesus give this warning. What would your reaction have been? While we’re living in the First Century let’s think about a couple of pieces of knowledge that those people had.
The Jews were serving Jehovah God. You recall that Jesus at one time walked into the Synagogue, he picked up a scroll,(it was Isaiah) and he read a part of it and he said to everyone in there,“Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” He then replaced the scroll. You recall that event. That gives us a glimpse of how the Jews worshipped on the Sabbath. The Synagogue was open for anyone to come in at any time. Particularly on the Sabbath you made sure that you spent some part of that day in the Synagogue. That is basically how things were conducted there.
People would sit, and if you were a male you may get up, get a scroll, read a part of it, and talk about it a little bit. That was not unusual for that to happen.
The point that we’re making is that the Jews had access to the scrolls of the earlier writings. They would discuss them. A lot of times that was done on the Sabbath in the Synagogue.
Turn to Daniel Chapter 9 and verse 25. This would have been a piece of information that a Jew living in the First Century would have had. They could take the scroll of what we know as Daniel and they could read this. In verse 25 it says, “And you should know and have the insight that from the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the leader, there will be seven weeks also sixty two weeks, she will return and be actually rebuilt with a public square and a moat but in the straights of the times.”
Being that that is written in prophetic language a person may look at it and be a little confused. Basically, looking at the prophecy, it just asks us to get two pieces of information. A starting point and a time period; that is all it’s asking. To illustrate, if you had a treasure map and it said that there was a treasure 50 rods east of the well in the town park, how would you find it? It’s simple; you would need a starting point. Where is the town park and where is the well? Once you found that, then you would have to discern how long a rod is. From there, you go 50 rods east and you find the treasure.
That is simply all that is in Daniel. Where is the starting point? It says there in verse 25, “…the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem…” that would be the starting point. That happened in 455 B.C.E. Then it gives you 62 weeks and also 7 weeks, which is if you add the two together, 69, sixty nine weeks. A person might automatically assume that, that is so many days. You just take 69 and multiply it and you will find that it comes up to almost a year and a half. Nothing happened at that time period.
The Jews, (we mentioned the Sabbath earlier) were very familiar with the idea of every seventh day being a rest day. They were also very familiar with the law that every seventh year was a rest year. They were able to think 6 years work/seventh year rest. Six days work/seventh day rest. It isn’t too hard to see that years and days have a similarity. When you take the same time period and apply it to weeks of years you will end up with the time 29 C.E. or 483 years.
What would that mean for you? If you were a Jew living in the First Century and you happen to read the scroll of Daniel Chapter 9 and you came across this time prophecy you would go, ‘Oh, it’s 27. This time prophecy says in two years something is going to happen.’ Or it’s 28. It is going to happen next year! Or it’s 29, ‘I’m looking forward to it happening.’
Now, that’s easy for us living in the year 2009 to look back and say,‘O.K., Jesus was baptized in the year 29 and that’s what they were looking for and here it is.’ It’s very easy to look back and say well, they should have known that. Let’s go into their time period and see what they did know.
Turn with me to Luke Chapter 3 and look at verse 1, we actually find a marker on the calendar. There it says, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was district ruler of Galilee, but Philip his brother was district ruler of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was district ruler of Abilene.” What we find here is particular people ruling in particular jurisdictions. You start with Tiberius Caesar, you go to Pontius Pilate, you go to Herod, you go to Philip. That’s four rulers.
It is like saying when Bush was president of the United States and so and so was governor of Alabama and so and so was over the county. You see how you can follow through and you can definitely start to pick what time period that would fit. It could only be a few years when all of those people held those particular posts.
Luke does us one better. The first part of the verse says,“In FIFTEENTH year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Historians have uncovered coins that bear the head of Tiberius Caesar put in circulation in the year 15 C.E. which would fit with the idea that they have already put forth, that he actually began to rule in the year 14. He ruled, had some coins minted and they were in circulation a year later. If you take 14 and add 15….29! All these people were actually ruling these provinces at that time. That time marker tells us this is the year, 29 C.E., the same year that as the Jews looked at the scroll of Daniel they would have come up with something is suppose to happen THIS year!
What were people thinking? Were they actually thinking that way? Or are we just trying to make this fit to something in history? Look at verse 15. Here’s is what was on people’s minds. It says, “Now as the people were in expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John: ‘May he perhaps be the Christ?’”
Think about it. It’s the year 29, there’s a man living out in the wilderness, and he doesn’t eat food like normal people. Rather he eats locust dipped in honey. He’s dressed in camel hair and he’s baptizing people telling them to repent. What would you think? That’s the conclusion they came to but, why? Because they understood Daniel Chapter 9. They KNEW that in the year 29 the Messiah was to appear! They thought, well, there he is, it’s John.
Time would tell and helped them to understand that that wasn’t the case but, we can see that they definitely understood the prophecy. That’s the point. Let’s go back to Daniel Chapter 9 and let’s read the rest of that prophecy. Let’s see what else they had in store. We’ll pick up there with verse 26. It says, “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off with nothing for himself. And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin and the end of it will be by means of the flood. And until the end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations.”
Did we read that right? Not only did they pinpoint the year 29 would be the coming of the Messiah but, right afterward what would happen. There would be war. There would be an end. Verse 27, “And he must keep the covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease. And upon the wing of the disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.” Wow!
Imagine yourself living in the year 29! You just read that the Messiah was going to appear and that that would be a marker in history. After the appearance of the Messiah there would be an END, a flood, and war. Verse 27 tells you how it is going to happen, “…upon the wing of a disgusting thing.” WOW! The Jews understood the year 29 would mark not only the Messiah but the beginning of the Last Days of their system of things, the year 29.
If you told a Jew something was disgusting that would mean to loath, to be repugnant! In particular they would think about their way of worship, their entire life revolved around their worship to the True God Jehovah. When done correctly, Jehovah appreciated that, he approved of it. They understood under the Law that you must NOT make a carved image. Anyone who had an image of something that they gave honor to was loathing or disgusting to them.
So, you’re living in 29, you’re under Roman domination, quickly you would start to notice that the Romans as they marched around with their military standards that would identify the company or the legion that they were with (maybe we should use that word) and it gave honor to Rome, to the Caesar. It’s like in the United States you are suppose to follow the flag to death in the battle. In the middle of the battle you see the flag and that’s the direction that you go. That is what you do. In fact, a lot of men have been given honor for doing just that. It was the same thing under Roman rule. You followed your standard, or your signet to the death. It represented the Caesar which was given divinity.
It was actually a disgusting thing. Many of these standards were animals. That made it doubly disgusting! They were actually worshipping an animal that represented their government and they would follow it. If you were living in 29 C.E. you would begin to reason; oh, there is going to be a disgusting thing that causes…there it is! I see it! I see it all around me! You may actually have started to put that together.
Just a little study of those verses tells us what the Jews actually had, the knowledge they had when Jesus appeared. Did they really understand that Jesus was the Messiah? It would help identify further that their Last Days had begun. Think about some of the things that had happened in times past.
Moses was given power by God to perform miracles. You had Elijah, you had Elisha, you have many different prophets that appear throughout history that were given power to perform miracles. Jehovah did that so that they could recognize that they were working under Jehovah’s hand. If a person just walked in and said, ‘I’m a prophet of Jehovah, do what I say’, you’re going to say, ‘Yeah, right!’ We tend to be cynical as humans. Anybody can walk off the street and do that but, if like Moses they came in and took a rod and threw it down and it became a snake, you might start to pay attention to him, you see. That’s why Jehovah gave them the ability to do that.
What about Jesus? What kind of signs can you think of that he performed, miracles? There’s an account where Jesus actually healed a man born blind! That is a miracle by today’s standards. Medical science cannot cure someone born blind. They can correct vision problems in people that are almost blind and reverse the process but, a person BORN blind given sight; they are working on it; they’re making strides that way. They do it with some computer generated images but they have NOT YET cured a person born blind, given him full sight. Jesus did this!
When the Pharisees found out about it they tried to discredit it. They were pretty sure it was a trick. They got onto the parents about it. The parents refused to comment because the parents realized that the Pharisees could kick them out of the Synagogue. So they said, ‘There he is, why don’t you ask him?’ When they asked the man, he says, ‘It’s a wonder that you don’t know these things! From of old this has never been heard of. Certainly this one is from God!’ He did get kicked out of the Synagogue which in the Jewish society meant that you just lost all rights and privileges in society. It wasn’t just not being allowed to go to the building but you were a complete outcast! It was a very heavy price to pay. But this man KNEW that it was a miracle, that this man was from God! He was able to correctly identify him.
Think about the evidence. You have Daniel Chapter 9; you have a man who is doing things that are unbelievable, performing miracles. Would it not seem obvious that things are starting to happen? Even what Jesus said, what he spoke and taught tied in perfectly with the prophecy of Daniel. For example, go to Matthew Chapter 23. We’re going to look at verses 37 and 38. Notice what Jesus says here. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem the killer of the prophets and the stoner of those sent forth to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings but, you people DID NOT WANT IT! LOOK your house is abandoned to you.”
Go back to Daniel where it said it would end by the flood. Their whole way of life would change. What Jesus said fit in with what was already prophesied in the Bible. The disciples wanted to understand this a little bit more. Let’s continue on in Matthew 24, “Departing now Jesus was on his way from the temple but his disciples approached him to show him the BUILDINGS of the temple.” Think about the buildings of the temple. Josephus writes that the temple itself that Herod had built, was one of his greatest architectural achievements! It was plated in gold. You couldn’t even look upon it!
When the sun shone it was too bright to look upon. It would hurt your eyes! You had to turn away from it. Where the sun didn’t shine on the gold it shone on the marble. The whole thing was bright and beautiful.Some of the stones that put that building together, some of them were 35 feet long, 15 feet high, 10 feet wide. One stone would have difficulty fitting in an auditorium from wall to wall and up to the ceiling. The stones would weigh at a minimum 50 tons, some of them way over 400 tons! What a beautiful, beautiful building that was!
Notice what Jesus says, “In response he said to them…” see, the disciples showed Jesus this temple…look at this beautiful building…Jesus says, “…do you not behold these things? Truly I say to you by no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.” Think about it. You were very proud of your temple even though it was built by Herod. Here it was! It was beautiful! This was the center of worship. This was it! You actually show someone the stones. You know how you do that, perhaps you take a guest with you and you show them parts of your town.
You can imagine the pride they had when they pointed this out to Jesus, which he had seen all his life on earth, too. Look at these stones, look at this dome, look at this, look…and he said, “I tell you not a stone will be left on a stone.”
Would you have some questions? They had a few. They knew better than to ask them right there. They just let it set. They had gotten to know Jesus pretty well by now. They left it in their mind for a little bit but, look what happens in verse 3. “Now while they were sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him privately saying,(that question, they couldn’t let it go). Now it’s later, they have left the temple and are climbing up to the Mount of Olives and they’re stopping to take a break),“…tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of this system of things?”
Even though that three part question has a far reaching future which we’ll get in to that later, they were concerned with what he had just said about those stones! When is this going to happen? That was part of their question. So, Jesus gives them the answer, starting in verse 4. He says, “Look out that no one misleads you for many will come on the basis of my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”
History tells us that there were many, many false Messiahs. Not people claiming that they were the resurrected Jesus but people claiming to BE the Messiah! In other words, Jesus had nothing to do with it at all! I’m the Messiah, follow me! Josephus himself writes about three of them that claimed to be the Messiah. In the Bible at Acts 5:37 we find that Gamaliel reminded his followers in Jerusalem there,“…Judas the Galilean rose in the days of the registration, and drew off people after him.” This was one previous that claimed to be the Messiah.
Gamaliel was making the point, let this work out and we’ll see what happens. Others have made that claim. If it’s from God it will last, if not, it won’t. History lets us know that there were MANY that claimed to be the Messiah. They were there. In fact, that is why Rome subjugated Jerusalem further and completely destroyed it at Messada. Those events may come to mind because of what the false Messiahs had whipped up giving people false hopes. They encouraged them to be militant. The fact is there were false Messiahs.
Jesus goes on in verse 6, “You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars, see that you are not terrified for these things must take place but the end is not yet.” He says you are going to hear of wars. Again, HISTORY TELLS US that that time period after the First Century was one of dissension. Rome had gotten so big they had difficulty keeping everything under control. There were a lot of wars all around Jerusalem. There were actually the reports of wars coming in daily and what had happened and who died and what area was conquered and what was going on. Not only that but sometimes the wars would be so close that you could hear the sound of armor on armor! They literally heard it! It wasn’t uncommon, this was the ‘hear’ of war, as well as the report of a war in that time period.
In verse 7 he goes further. “Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.” You are aware from your reading of the Bible of the great famine where the brothers had to take some of their money and help others in another area. It’s not just Biblical; history tells us that there was, indeed a famine throughout the land at that time. It was brought on by various reasons.
Consider these locations (this is beginning the year 33); there was an earthquake in Jerusalem in 33, 46 in Crete, 50 in Philippi, 51 in Rome, 53 in Imperia, 60 in Laodicia, and 63 in Pompelli back to 67 in Jerusalem. These were earthquakes that history has recorded. It happened!
Move forward a little bit. We’re still looking at what the Jews actually experienced at that time. Go to Acts with me in Chapter 2 there’s a particular account about the Last Days, as if there isn’t enough happening already. This happened very soon, in the beginning of their Last Days at Pentecost 33 C.E. You are aware of the account where there were 120 in the upper room, holy spirit, tongues of fire and they began to speak in different tongues. Imagine yourself in that position. If you were in Jerusalem and these people that you knew were Jews were making unintelligible speech, what would you think? What would be the logical conclusion? This guy has spoken English his entire life (we can put ourselves in that position). All of a sudden, what he is saying no one can understand. It sounds like ‘gibberish’ to me!
What’s happened to him? Here’s the conclusion that they came to, if you’ll look at verse 12. It says, “Yes, they were all astonished and were in perplexity, saying one to another, ‘What does this thing purport to be?’” In verse 13 of Acts Chapter 2, “However, different ones mocked at them and began to say, ‘They are full of sweet wine.’” It is obvious that if you spoke Hebrew all of your life and all of a sudden you are just not making sense, you’re drunk! That is the conclusion that some of them came to.
Peter opens his mouth and he tells them, no, they’re not drunk because of what is going on in verse 17. “And in the last days…” (he’s quoting from Joel), “…I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.” He goes on to talk about holy spirit being poured out but, the point we wanted to get is what Joel said, as Peter quoted in verse 17, “…and in the LAST DAYS…” this would happen!
We almost start to put some things together here. They had Daniel to tell them that the Last Days would BEGIN in the year 29. They had no scripture, no prophecy, no date telling them when it would end. It just told them when it would begin, the year 29. He said these things would mark it. There would be false Messiahs, there would be wars, there would be famines, there would be earthquakes. They could see this happening all around them. There was this man Jesus who did these miracles and the time period for the Messiah so this prophecy MUST be happening!
We’ve got Acts Chapter 2, in the last Days the spirit would be poured out…this is happening! ALL AROUND THEM they can see these signs letting a sincere person know…they can just LOOK and SEE that what is prophesied here in the Bible is happening. THIS IS THE LAST DAYS that I’m living in!
When you turn to Luke Chapter 21 and you hear this warning in verse 20, “Furthermore when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies then know that the desolation of her has drawn near.” What was prophesied in Daniel 9 is about to happen! “Let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw and let those in the country places not enter into her.”
Stop and think about this! What Jesus was telling you, when you see all these signs indicating that you are living in the Last Days this is going to culminate by a particular event. There are going to be pointed stakes all around Jerusalem. He said do something! GET OUT and don’t come back in! Does that make sense to you? How do you leave something that is surrounded? Do you see that in verse 20? “When you see Jerusalem surrounded…” Get Out! It doesn’t make a bit of sense! Since you’re living in the First Century you’re probably puzzled over this. What does this mean? How is this going to happen? How is this going to be fulfilled? History tells us what happened, how this was fulfilled in detail.
Because of some of these false Messiahs Cestius Gallus was sent by the Romans to conquer Jerusalem or to subjugate it. The idea never was to completely destroy Jerusalem. Think about it, Romans exacted taxes. If you destroy the city, what happens to your taxes? It’s very simple. The idea was just to get them back in line.
Cestius Gallus starts to attack Jerusalem. By the way Herod had built a third wall around the city so there’s actually three walls. They started doing really well. They got through the first wall and the second wall and almost made it into the third wall where they were right underneath the city gates. It seemed like victory was certain. Cestius was not really into victory apparently. History tells us that there isn’t any explanation, but he just leaves.
What does that tell you? Jerusalem was surrounded with encamped armies. There they were, the disgusting thing and they left! The false Messiahs said Jehovah has given us the victory! You had to deal with that! People were saying your God’s name and saying he has given us the victory. Then they started chasing them! They chased them for thirty miles and they took casualties. They went back to Jerusalem and minted up a bunch of coins to commemorate the event that Jehovah has thrown off the Roman yoke finally! Jehovah has done this!
BUT, if you had looked at the signs and listened, you would have known, ‘Oh, now it makes sense!’ You saw them surround Jerusalem and then leave. I understand. Hopefully, you left. You went up just as Jesus said, into the mountains and you didn’t enter into her.
The problem is that you stayed up in the mountains for the month of November and December and you look back down and guess what? Everything looked the same. In fact, things looked better! Things looked prosperous. But, Jesus said stay up there. So, you stayed up there through the winter, it becomes spring, you look down and guess what? It looks great! Your house that was vacant is now somebody’s business. YOUR BUSINESS, somebody else has it! It’s wonderful down there. People are getting educated, people are moving forward in the world, people are marrying, things are just GREAT!
If you were smart you stayed up there in the mountains. Let’s say you stayed there until fall. Now you’ve been there a year and you look down and it’s even better than it was last year! It took 3 ½ years and every time you checked Jerusalem was making more money, people were building bigger houses, they had nicer chariots, it look like things were just wonderful.
Three and an half years, what would you have done? It would SEEM from a logical standpoint that somebody made a mistake. Somebody misinformed us about the beginning of the Last Days. Somebody misinformed us about the interpretation of the sign because it is obvious, look things are wonderful. I’ve been up here three years in these mountains in this tent doing what Jesus told me to do and it’s cold up here! What would you have done?
In the year 70, Titus comes back. This time it is to subjugate Jerusalem again. He starts just like Cestius Gallus did. He gets the first wall, he gets the second wall, he gets the third wall and actually starts to get up underneath those temple gates, he’s right there! There it is! The disgusting thing and then he realizes something. The Jews have gotten pretty good at killing Romans. He says: This is not working; we’re taking way too many casualties. He holds a war council and he says: What can we do? They came up with the idea to build a fence of pointed stakes all the way around Jerusalem. They competed against each other and got this task finished within just three days! It was 4 ½ miles long this fence that they built.
They cut the wood and everything, making them into points. They built this thing completely around Jerusalem in that time period, in just three days! Now the people were stuck! Titus waited and waited and waited and when the time was right he gave the order to attack. They were too hungry to fight now so we won’t take as many Roman casualties. DO NOT destroy the temple! That was his orders. He knew that if they destroyed the temple it would break them. If they were broken, no more taxes for Rome! DO NOT destroy the temple!
Somewhere during the attack some unknown soldier, history calls him, accidentally, they say, threw a fire brand into the temple and it caught fire. When Titus saw what had happened he said raze it to the ground! Remember what Jesus said? “Not a stone upon a stone…”
One million some Jews died! History tells us that after his being able to subjugate Jerusalem he said, “We certainly had God for our assistance in this war! It was no other than God who ejected these Jews out of these fortifications. What could the hands of men or any machines do toward overthrowing these towers?” Titus himself indicated that, yes this was God’s work. He felt he was just being used by him. How about that! Exactly as prophecy said!
Now, back to the question, where would WE have been? We would like to put ourselves up there in the mountains doing exactly what the prophecy said that we should do. But, REALLY, where would we have been? Let’s go back to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24. We’re going to compare a couple of scriptures here that will help us to answer the question, ‘Will WE be a survivor of the Last Days?’
There are a couple of key things that did NOT happen within the context of Matthew Chapter 24 in the First Century. This lets us know that this prophecy has to have a further fulfillment. Here’s one, look at verse 6 where it says, ‘You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars see that you are not terrified these things must take place but the end is not yet.” And then verse 7 indicates a different kind of conflict, he says, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”
That didn’t happen in the First Century, not in the sense that it changed something more than ordinary wars. “Nation against nation…” The context is that if you hear of wars don’t worry about it but, this conflict will be different. It was SO DIFFERENT; you can look it up in your library. Historians called it World War I. Wars, don’t worry about it, nation against nation, now you need to start getting concerned.
World War I, 1914 actually marks the beginning of the Last Days of another system of things, the one that we are living in now.Just like the Jews, we have a marker for the start. There isn’t any date as to when it is going to end. It is not given in the Bible. Just like the Jews who didn’t have a date. It did not say that in 70 C.E. it is going to be destroyed. It said you do these certain things when you see these things happening. That’s exactly what Matthew 24 does.
In fact, we can take what is written in Matthew 24 and compare it to what is written in Revelation Chapter 6, if you would like to turn there with me, to Revelation 6. This is the writing of the Apocalypses as many people call it. Think about the time period though. Revelation was written in the year 96. That would be 26 years since the destruction of Jerusalem. It’s very obvious that what was written in Revelation does not apply to literal Jerusalem. It was destroyed 26 years ago.
What other things are going to happen? In verse 4, “Another came forth, a fiery colored horse and the one seated upon it was granted to take away peace from the earth so that they should slaughter one another and a great sword was given him.” Have we seen that? Have we seen peace taken away from the earth? Go back to Matthew 24, it says wars, don’t worry about them. We’re still going to hear of wars.
It didn’t say they were going to end. What does this apply to? What do you see?
Then you look at verse 5 in Revelation Chapter 6 and we find a rider on a black horse and he has a pair of scales in his hands indicating food shortages. Do we see food shortages? Have you ever seen a picture of a starving child? Was this referring to Jerusalem? Absolutely not!
You can continue to go into verse 7 about the pale horse and there would be all kinds of manner of death that would happen. You can flip your Bibles from Revelation 6 to Matthew 24. They are so similar that it’s the same prophecy! It obviously cannot apply to Jerusalem. What DOES it apply to? The time since 1914. The evidence is there. Do we need more?
Turn to 2 Timothy; this will help us with more. Paul wrote his letter to Timothy just BEFORE the destruction of Jerusalem. Anything written in Timothy again would not apply to Jerusalem. If you’ll look at verse 1, it says, “But, know this in the Last Days critical times hard to deal with will be here.”
Now, stop me if I read anything in this description that does not apply to people living in your area or people you know or have known. “Men will be lovers of themselves…” any takers? “…lovers of money, self assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection…” by the way that’s what allows school shootings, parents to kill their children, children to kill their parents. “…not open to any agreement, slanders, without self control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God…” Does anyone want to stop me and say that doesn’t apply to people who live in our area, people we know or have known?
Go back to verse 1, “Know this that in the…” what time period does it say? You got it! Last days!!! This is the kind of people you would see. You either have to pick one of these out and say that doesn’t apply to people or you have to accept what verse 1 says. That is the only two choices open to you or you can say I don’t want to believe anything in this book. That is the third option. It doesn’t change what is written here. It still stays written just like it is. So, what time period are we living in?
Further proof, if you want to go to Matthew Chapter 13, Jesus gives that illustration of the weeds and wheat. What that means is that there would be apostate Christianity. Now, look at verse 5 of 2 Timothy Chapter 3 and I’ll show you a real neat parallel. You would think that all of these terrible people right here would be the kind of people that have no religion. They have no natural affection; greedy…they have no religion.
Look at what 5 says, “…having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” These people that act this way that we just read in the list go to church on Sunday! They read their Bibles! They claim to have religion but it has no force in their lives. Matthew 13 said that in the Last Days there would be apostate Christianity.
How did people learn to live this way? Their apostate ‘Christian’ teachers taught them that that is O.K. They taught them by not saying that it is wrong. We end up with people acting just like that. What do you think? Let’s put it together. Living in the First Century, you had a starting date and you had the signs. 1914 is the starting date, what do you see? What time period do you think we’re living in?
There isn’t and never has been an ending date. It just says that this is what it is going to be like and this is what you should do! Jesus gave explicit instructions. Our question is, what are our instructions? What should we do? If we come to the realization that these are the Last Days should we sit around and look and say, ‘You know what, people are getting smarter, their getting educated, they are getting out of school, and they’re getting these $200,000 careers.
The same people that I thought would have been destroyed years ago are the ones living in that $300,000 house! Those thoughts could happen to us. But, it doesn’t change what is written in the Bible. IT IS STIIL THERE! The words have not changed! It says these ARE the Last Days. What should we be doing with our time?
It is very simple. Let’s look at 2 Peter Chapter 3, which, by the way, the context of Chapter 3 is all about the culmination of the Last Days, the destruction of this system of things. Verse 11; look at the way it is written. He says, “Since ALL these things are to be dissolved…” It IS going to happen! The evidence is there. “Since all these things are to be dissolved…”here’s the question, “…what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion?”
Jehovah didn’t say, o.k. since these things are going to happen go live up on a mountain and stay there. He simply asked a rhetorical question, ‘What kind of person should you be?’ The answer is there. “…holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion while we are doing…” what? “…waiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the Day of Jehovah.”
What does that simply mean? Holy acts of conduct would simply mean adjusting a person’s way of life to reach Jehovah’s standard of what is holy. We can do that as imperfect humans. Whatever adjustments we need to make, we want to do it. Deeds of godly devotion…remember, those in Jerusalem could not just sit there and say, ‘You know, I see it, it is the Last Days. I agree, everything Jesus said was right, I will make sure that everything that I do reaches God’s standard of holy conduct. What would have happened to them? They would have DIED! That’s what would have happened!
There is more than just recognizing it and saying I’m going to be a good person. What’s the ‘more’? It says deeds of godly devotion. You have to DO SOMETHING! What would deeds of godly devotion be? It’s very simple. It is involving ourselves in sharing the Kingdom preaching work that Jesus foretold for our time. That’s a deed of godly devotion.
It is very possible for a person to look at things, look at what is going on in this system, and agree, yes, I’m living in the Last Days and say, “I HAVE to keep my full time job.” “I HAVE to achieve this!” “Don’t ask me to go talk to people; I talk to people when I meet them on the street, that’s good enough!” No, it said DEEDS of godly devotion. It is very simple, very clear.
The encouragement for us is to be people who involve our entire life in deeds of godly devotion. We don’t have to leave and go to a mountain we just have to live every day doing deeds of godly devotion. That is all Jehovah asks of us. We should think about what it means to be living in the Last Days.
Think about a watchman, he’s guarding the city. How would you feel, living in this area, if the tornado siren never went off? Would you feel like somebody is not doing their job? You know that every time that tornado siren goes off we say I’m glad they’re keeping track of things. What about a watchman in the city? It is his job to warn! Every time he saw something that looked like danger he was to point it out.
You know he can’t tell if that’s an invading army or just some dust that is blown up by the wind. If it LOOKS like an army, he blows that horn. You have to stop what you are doing, come into the city, close the gate, close the door, and prepare for battle! An hour later he says, “Sorry, it was just some dust the wind blew up.” Would you look at the watchman and say, “You idiot! You made me change my whole life and it didn’t happen!” No, you would say, “Thank you for being on guard. Thank you for watching.” That is where we’re at in this time period!
The Slave class has been watching, and they have been watching, and they’ve been warning; they’ve been telling us and they’ve been telling us! Those who have been around Jehovah’s organization have heard it again and again and again. They see it! Just because we’ve heard the warning over and over and over again doesn’t mean we can keep smoking! Do you see the point! I sure hope you do.....
Till Monday, have a great weekend.
Allow me to illustrate, on every package of cigarettes we have the Surgeon General’s warning. Basically it tells you if you use this product you are going to die, to put it real simply! Yet, people read that warning and continue to smoke. Perhaps they reason, sure, that’s not going to happen to me. I’ll be in that little percentage that it DOESN’T effect.
For whatever reason, perhaps thinking well, I’ll enjoy the pleasure for now and when I start to cough I’ll worry about the warning. That’s how we tend to think.
What did you do the last time a tornado siren went off? You know what most of us do? We stop, we look at the sky, “It isn’t that bad!” We just go on with what we were doing previously.
If we really think about it, the National Weather Service says, “Take cover!” That’s why the siren went off. For some reason we tend to feel, “I’ve been looking at the sky all of my life, I know what’s dangerous and what isn’t!” So, we at times ignore the warning and go on about our business.
It helps us to illustrate the way that we tend to think as humans, we always ask that question. Who gave the warning, by what authority did they give it, and is it really going to happen? Then we start trying to make our own decision about how bad it really is and then we decided whether we’re going to listen to it or not.
The Bible tells us that this has happened quite a bit in history, in times past. People would look at a warning, decide whether they wanted to pay attention to it or not, sometimes with really bad results. Romans 15 verse 4 tells us that all things were written aforetime for our instruction, for our benefit. What this tells us is that we can look at history and see how people reacted to different things and compare it to our day and see what we would do. Would we repeat the history or are we going to make a different history? How is it going to work for us?
With that said, let’s look at a warning that was given to people in the First Century. This will be found in our Bibles at Luke Chapter 19 verse 43 and 44. Here it is actually Jesus, the son of God speaking. “Because the days will come upon you when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will circle you and distress you from every side and they will dash you and your children within you to the ground and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you because you did not discern the time of your being inspected.”
There’s the warning! This IS going to happen! How would you have reacted? Let’s say you lived in the First Century and you heard this man Jesus give this warning. What would your reaction have been? While we’re living in the First Century let’s think about a couple of pieces of knowledge that those people had.
The Jews were serving Jehovah God. You recall that Jesus at one time walked into the Synagogue, he picked up a scroll,(it was Isaiah) and he read a part of it and he said to everyone in there,“Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” He then replaced the scroll. You recall that event. That gives us a glimpse of how the Jews worshipped on the Sabbath. The Synagogue was open for anyone to come in at any time. Particularly on the Sabbath you made sure that you spent some part of that day in the Synagogue. That is basically how things were conducted there.
People would sit, and if you were a male you may get up, get a scroll, read a part of it, and talk about it a little bit. That was not unusual for that to happen.
The point that we’re making is that the Jews had access to the scrolls of the earlier writings. They would discuss them. A lot of times that was done on the Sabbath in the Synagogue.
Turn to Daniel Chapter 9 and verse 25. This would have been a piece of information that a Jew living in the First Century would have had. They could take the scroll of what we know as Daniel and they could read this. In verse 25 it says, “And you should know and have the insight that from the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the leader, there will be seven weeks also sixty two weeks, she will return and be actually rebuilt with a public square and a moat but in the straights of the times.”
Being that that is written in prophetic language a person may look at it and be a little confused. Basically, looking at the prophecy, it just asks us to get two pieces of information. A starting point and a time period; that is all it’s asking. To illustrate, if you had a treasure map and it said that there was a treasure 50 rods east of the well in the town park, how would you find it? It’s simple; you would need a starting point. Where is the town park and where is the well? Once you found that, then you would have to discern how long a rod is. From there, you go 50 rods east and you find the treasure.
That is simply all that is in Daniel. Where is the starting point? It says there in verse 25, “…the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem…” that would be the starting point. That happened in 455 B.C.E. Then it gives you 62 weeks and also 7 weeks, which is if you add the two together, 69, sixty nine weeks. A person might automatically assume that, that is so many days. You just take 69 and multiply it and you will find that it comes up to almost a year and a half. Nothing happened at that time period.
The Jews, (we mentioned the Sabbath earlier) were very familiar with the idea of every seventh day being a rest day. They were also very familiar with the law that every seventh year was a rest year. They were able to think 6 years work/seventh year rest. Six days work/seventh day rest. It isn’t too hard to see that years and days have a similarity. When you take the same time period and apply it to weeks of years you will end up with the time 29 C.E. or 483 years.
What would that mean for you? If you were a Jew living in the First Century and you happen to read the scroll of Daniel Chapter 9 and you came across this time prophecy you would go, ‘Oh, it’s 27. This time prophecy says in two years something is going to happen.’ Or it’s 28. It is going to happen next year! Or it’s 29, ‘I’m looking forward to it happening.’
Now, that’s easy for us living in the year 2009 to look back and say,‘O.K., Jesus was baptized in the year 29 and that’s what they were looking for and here it is.’ It’s very easy to look back and say well, they should have known that. Let’s go into their time period and see what they did know.
Turn with me to Luke Chapter 3 and look at verse 1, we actually find a marker on the calendar. There it says, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was district ruler of Galilee, but Philip his brother was district ruler of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was district ruler of Abilene.” What we find here is particular people ruling in particular jurisdictions. You start with Tiberius Caesar, you go to Pontius Pilate, you go to Herod, you go to Philip. That’s four rulers.
It is like saying when Bush was president of the United States and so and so was governor of Alabama and so and so was over the county. You see how you can follow through and you can definitely start to pick what time period that would fit. It could only be a few years when all of those people held those particular posts.
Luke does us one better. The first part of the verse says,“In FIFTEENTH year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Historians have uncovered coins that bear the head of Tiberius Caesar put in circulation in the year 15 C.E. which would fit with the idea that they have already put forth, that he actually began to rule in the year 14. He ruled, had some coins minted and they were in circulation a year later. If you take 14 and add 15….29! All these people were actually ruling these provinces at that time. That time marker tells us this is the year, 29 C.E., the same year that as the Jews looked at the scroll of Daniel they would have come up with something is suppose to happen THIS year!
What were people thinking? Were they actually thinking that way? Or are we just trying to make this fit to something in history? Look at verse 15. Here’s is what was on people’s minds. It says, “Now as the people were in expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John: ‘May he perhaps be the Christ?’”
Think about it. It’s the year 29, there’s a man living out in the wilderness, and he doesn’t eat food like normal people. Rather he eats locust dipped in honey. He’s dressed in camel hair and he’s baptizing people telling them to repent. What would you think? That’s the conclusion they came to but, why? Because they understood Daniel Chapter 9. They KNEW that in the year 29 the Messiah was to appear! They thought, well, there he is, it’s John.
Time would tell and helped them to understand that that wasn’t the case but, we can see that they definitely understood the prophecy. That’s the point. Let’s go back to Daniel Chapter 9 and let’s read the rest of that prophecy. Let’s see what else they had in store. We’ll pick up there with verse 26. It says, “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off with nothing for himself. And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin and the end of it will be by means of the flood. And until the end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations.”
Did we read that right? Not only did they pinpoint the year 29 would be the coming of the Messiah but, right afterward what would happen. There would be war. There would be an end. Verse 27, “And he must keep the covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease. And upon the wing of the disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.” Wow!
Imagine yourself living in the year 29! You just read that the Messiah was going to appear and that that would be a marker in history. After the appearance of the Messiah there would be an END, a flood, and war. Verse 27 tells you how it is going to happen, “…upon the wing of a disgusting thing.” WOW! The Jews understood the year 29 would mark not only the Messiah but the beginning of the Last Days of their system of things, the year 29.
If you told a Jew something was disgusting that would mean to loath, to be repugnant! In particular they would think about their way of worship, their entire life revolved around their worship to the True God Jehovah. When done correctly, Jehovah appreciated that, he approved of it. They understood under the Law that you must NOT make a carved image. Anyone who had an image of something that they gave honor to was loathing or disgusting to them.
So, you’re living in 29, you’re under Roman domination, quickly you would start to notice that the Romans as they marched around with their military standards that would identify the company or the legion that they were with (maybe we should use that word) and it gave honor to Rome, to the Caesar. It’s like in the United States you are suppose to follow the flag to death in the battle. In the middle of the battle you see the flag and that’s the direction that you go. That is what you do. In fact, a lot of men have been given honor for doing just that. It was the same thing under Roman rule. You followed your standard, or your signet to the death. It represented the Caesar which was given divinity.
It was actually a disgusting thing. Many of these standards were animals. That made it doubly disgusting! They were actually worshipping an animal that represented their government and they would follow it. If you were living in 29 C.E. you would begin to reason; oh, there is going to be a disgusting thing that causes…there it is! I see it! I see it all around me! You may actually have started to put that together.
Just a little study of those verses tells us what the Jews actually had, the knowledge they had when Jesus appeared. Did they really understand that Jesus was the Messiah? It would help identify further that their Last Days had begun. Think about some of the things that had happened in times past.
Moses was given power by God to perform miracles. You had Elijah, you had Elisha, you have many different prophets that appear throughout history that were given power to perform miracles. Jehovah did that so that they could recognize that they were working under Jehovah’s hand. If a person just walked in and said, ‘I’m a prophet of Jehovah, do what I say’, you’re going to say, ‘Yeah, right!’ We tend to be cynical as humans. Anybody can walk off the street and do that but, if like Moses they came in and took a rod and threw it down and it became a snake, you might start to pay attention to him, you see. That’s why Jehovah gave them the ability to do that.
What about Jesus? What kind of signs can you think of that he performed, miracles? There’s an account where Jesus actually healed a man born blind! That is a miracle by today’s standards. Medical science cannot cure someone born blind. They can correct vision problems in people that are almost blind and reverse the process but, a person BORN blind given sight; they are working on it; they’re making strides that way. They do it with some computer generated images but they have NOT YET cured a person born blind, given him full sight. Jesus did this!
When the Pharisees found out about it they tried to discredit it. They were pretty sure it was a trick. They got onto the parents about it. The parents refused to comment because the parents realized that the Pharisees could kick them out of the Synagogue. So they said, ‘There he is, why don’t you ask him?’ When they asked the man, he says, ‘It’s a wonder that you don’t know these things! From of old this has never been heard of. Certainly this one is from God!’ He did get kicked out of the Synagogue which in the Jewish society meant that you just lost all rights and privileges in society. It wasn’t just not being allowed to go to the building but you were a complete outcast! It was a very heavy price to pay. But this man KNEW that it was a miracle, that this man was from God! He was able to correctly identify him.
Think about the evidence. You have Daniel Chapter 9; you have a man who is doing things that are unbelievable, performing miracles. Would it not seem obvious that things are starting to happen? Even what Jesus said, what he spoke and taught tied in perfectly with the prophecy of Daniel. For example, go to Matthew Chapter 23. We’re going to look at verses 37 and 38. Notice what Jesus says here. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem the killer of the prophets and the stoner of those sent forth to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings but, you people DID NOT WANT IT! LOOK your house is abandoned to you.”
Go back to Daniel where it said it would end by the flood. Their whole way of life would change. What Jesus said fit in with what was already prophesied in the Bible. The disciples wanted to understand this a little bit more. Let’s continue on in Matthew 24, “Departing now Jesus was on his way from the temple but his disciples approached him to show him the BUILDINGS of the temple.” Think about the buildings of the temple. Josephus writes that the temple itself that Herod had built, was one of his greatest architectural achievements! It was plated in gold. You couldn’t even look upon it!
When the sun shone it was too bright to look upon. It would hurt your eyes! You had to turn away from it. Where the sun didn’t shine on the gold it shone on the marble. The whole thing was bright and beautiful.Some of the stones that put that building together, some of them were 35 feet long, 15 feet high, 10 feet wide. One stone would have difficulty fitting in an auditorium from wall to wall and up to the ceiling. The stones would weigh at a minimum 50 tons, some of them way over 400 tons! What a beautiful, beautiful building that was!
Notice what Jesus says, “In response he said to them…” see, the disciples showed Jesus this temple…look at this beautiful building…Jesus says, “…do you not behold these things? Truly I say to you by no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.” Think about it. You were very proud of your temple even though it was built by Herod. Here it was! It was beautiful! This was the center of worship. This was it! You actually show someone the stones. You know how you do that, perhaps you take a guest with you and you show them parts of your town.
You can imagine the pride they had when they pointed this out to Jesus, which he had seen all his life on earth, too. Look at these stones, look at this dome, look at this, look…and he said, “I tell you not a stone will be left on a stone.”
Would you have some questions? They had a few. They knew better than to ask them right there. They just let it set. They had gotten to know Jesus pretty well by now. They left it in their mind for a little bit but, look what happens in verse 3. “Now while they were sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him privately saying,(that question, they couldn’t let it go). Now it’s later, they have left the temple and are climbing up to the Mount of Olives and they’re stopping to take a break),“…tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of this system of things?”
Even though that three part question has a far reaching future which we’ll get in to that later, they were concerned with what he had just said about those stones! When is this going to happen? That was part of their question. So, Jesus gives them the answer, starting in verse 4. He says, “Look out that no one misleads you for many will come on the basis of my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”
History tells us that there were many, many false Messiahs. Not people claiming that they were the resurrected Jesus but people claiming to BE the Messiah! In other words, Jesus had nothing to do with it at all! I’m the Messiah, follow me! Josephus himself writes about three of them that claimed to be the Messiah. In the Bible at Acts 5:37 we find that Gamaliel reminded his followers in Jerusalem there,“…Judas the Galilean rose in the days of the registration, and drew off people after him.” This was one previous that claimed to be the Messiah.
Gamaliel was making the point, let this work out and we’ll see what happens. Others have made that claim. If it’s from God it will last, if not, it won’t. History lets us know that there were MANY that claimed to be the Messiah. They were there. In fact, that is why Rome subjugated Jerusalem further and completely destroyed it at Messada. Those events may come to mind because of what the false Messiahs had whipped up giving people false hopes. They encouraged them to be militant. The fact is there were false Messiahs.
Jesus goes on in verse 6, “You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars, see that you are not terrified for these things must take place but the end is not yet.” He says you are going to hear of wars. Again, HISTORY TELLS US that that time period after the First Century was one of dissension. Rome had gotten so big they had difficulty keeping everything under control. There were a lot of wars all around Jerusalem. There were actually the reports of wars coming in daily and what had happened and who died and what area was conquered and what was going on. Not only that but sometimes the wars would be so close that you could hear the sound of armor on armor! They literally heard it! It wasn’t uncommon, this was the ‘hear’ of war, as well as the report of a war in that time period.
In verse 7 he goes further. “Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.” You are aware from your reading of the Bible of the great famine where the brothers had to take some of their money and help others in another area. It’s not just Biblical; history tells us that there was, indeed a famine throughout the land at that time. It was brought on by various reasons.
Consider these locations (this is beginning the year 33); there was an earthquake in Jerusalem in 33, 46 in Crete, 50 in Philippi, 51 in Rome, 53 in Imperia, 60 in Laodicia, and 63 in Pompelli back to 67 in Jerusalem. These were earthquakes that history has recorded. It happened!
Move forward a little bit. We’re still looking at what the Jews actually experienced at that time. Go to Acts with me in Chapter 2 there’s a particular account about the Last Days, as if there isn’t enough happening already. This happened very soon, in the beginning of their Last Days at Pentecost 33 C.E. You are aware of the account where there were 120 in the upper room, holy spirit, tongues of fire and they began to speak in different tongues. Imagine yourself in that position. If you were in Jerusalem and these people that you knew were Jews were making unintelligible speech, what would you think? What would be the logical conclusion? This guy has spoken English his entire life (we can put ourselves in that position). All of a sudden, what he is saying no one can understand. It sounds like ‘gibberish’ to me!
What’s happened to him? Here’s the conclusion that they came to, if you’ll look at verse 12. It says, “Yes, they were all astonished and were in perplexity, saying one to another, ‘What does this thing purport to be?’” In verse 13 of Acts Chapter 2, “However, different ones mocked at them and began to say, ‘They are full of sweet wine.’” It is obvious that if you spoke Hebrew all of your life and all of a sudden you are just not making sense, you’re drunk! That is the conclusion that some of them came to.
Peter opens his mouth and he tells them, no, they’re not drunk because of what is going on in verse 17. “And in the last days…” (he’s quoting from Joel), “…I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.” He goes on to talk about holy spirit being poured out but, the point we wanted to get is what Joel said, as Peter quoted in verse 17, “…and in the LAST DAYS…” this would happen!
We almost start to put some things together here. They had Daniel to tell them that the Last Days would BEGIN in the year 29. They had no scripture, no prophecy, no date telling them when it would end. It just told them when it would begin, the year 29. He said these things would mark it. There would be false Messiahs, there would be wars, there would be famines, there would be earthquakes. They could see this happening all around them. There was this man Jesus who did these miracles and the time period for the Messiah so this prophecy MUST be happening!
We’ve got Acts Chapter 2, in the last Days the spirit would be poured out…this is happening! ALL AROUND THEM they can see these signs letting a sincere person know…they can just LOOK and SEE that what is prophesied here in the Bible is happening. THIS IS THE LAST DAYS that I’m living in!
When you turn to Luke Chapter 21 and you hear this warning in verse 20, “Furthermore when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies then know that the desolation of her has drawn near.” What was prophesied in Daniel 9 is about to happen! “Let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw and let those in the country places not enter into her.”
Stop and think about this! What Jesus was telling you, when you see all these signs indicating that you are living in the Last Days this is going to culminate by a particular event. There are going to be pointed stakes all around Jerusalem. He said do something! GET OUT and don’t come back in! Does that make sense to you? How do you leave something that is surrounded? Do you see that in verse 20? “When you see Jerusalem surrounded…” Get Out! It doesn’t make a bit of sense! Since you’re living in the First Century you’re probably puzzled over this. What does this mean? How is this going to happen? How is this going to be fulfilled? History tells us what happened, how this was fulfilled in detail.
Because of some of these false Messiahs Cestius Gallus was sent by the Romans to conquer Jerusalem or to subjugate it. The idea never was to completely destroy Jerusalem. Think about it, Romans exacted taxes. If you destroy the city, what happens to your taxes? It’s very simple. The idea was just to get them back in line.
Cestius Gallus starts to attack Jerusalem. By the way Herod had built a third wall around the city so there’s actually three walls. They started doing really well. They got through the first wall and the second wall and almost made it into the third wall where they were right underneath the city gates. It seemed like victory was certain. Cestius was not really into victory apparently. History tells us that there isn’t any explanation, but he just leaves.
What does that tell you? Jerusalem was surrounded with encamped armies. There they were, the disgusting thing and they left! The false Messiahs said Jehovah has given us the victory! You had to deal with that! People were saying your God’s name and saying he has given us the victory. Then they started chasing them! They chased them for thirty miles and they took casualties. They went back to Jerusalem and minted up a bunch of coins to commemorate the event that Jehovah has thrown off the Roman yoke finally! Jehovah has done this!
BUT, if you had looked at the signs and listened, you would have known, ‘Oh, now it makes sense!’ You saw them surround Jerusalem and then leave. I understand. Hopefully, you left. You went up just as Jesus said, into the mountains and you didn’t enter into her.
The problem is that you stayed up in the mountains for the month of November and December and you look back down and guess what? Everything looked the same. In fact, things looked better! Things looked prosperous. But, Jesus said stay up there. So, you stayed up there through the winter, it becomes spring, you look down and guess what? It looks great! Your house that was vacant is now somebody’s business. YOUR BUSINESS, somebody else has it! It’s wonderful down there. People are getting educated, people are moving forward in the world, people are marrying, things are just GREAT!
If you were smart you stayed up there in the mountains. Let’s say you stayed there until fall. Now you’ve been there a year and you look down and it’s even better than it was last year! It took 3 ½ years and every time you checked Jerusalem was making more money, people were building bigger houses, they had nicer chariots, it look like things were just wonderful.
Three and an half years, what would you have done? It would SEEM from a logical standpoint that somebody made a mistake. Somebody misinformed us about the beginning of the Last Days. Somebody misinformed us about the interpretation of the sign because it is obvious, look things are wonderful. I’ve been up here three years in these mountains in this tent doing what Jesus told me to do and it’s cold up here! What would you have done?
In the year 70, Titus comes back. This time it is to subjugate Jerusalem again. He starts just like Cestius Gallus did. He gets the first wall, he gets the second wall, he gets the third wall and actually starts to get up underneath those temple gates, he’s right there! There it is! The disgusting thing and then he realizes something. The Jews have gotten pretty good at killing Romans. He says: This is not working; we’re taking way too many casualties. He holds a war council and he says: What can we do? They came up with the idea to build a fence of pointed stakes all the way around Jerusalem. They competed against each other and got this task finished within just three days! It was 4 ½ miles long this fence that they built.
They cut the wood and everything, making them into points. They built this thing completely around Jerusalem in that time period, in just three days! Now the people were stuck! Titus waited and waited and waited and when the time was right he gave the order to attack. They were too hungry to fight now so we won’t take as many Roman casualties. DO NOT destroy the temple! That was his orders. He knew that if they destroyed the temple it would break them. If they were broken, no more taxes for Rome! DO NOT destroy the temple!
Somewhere during the attack some unknown soldier, history calls him, accidentally, they say, threw a fire brand into the temple and it caught fire. When Titus saw what had happened he said raze it to the ground! Remember what Jesus said? “Not a stone upon a stone…”
One million some Jews died! History tells us that after his being able to subjugate Jerusalem he said, “We certainly had God for our assistance in this war! It was no other than God who ejected these Jews out of these fortifications. What could the hands of men or any machines do toward overthrowing these towers?” Titus himself indicated that, yes this was God’s work. He felt he was just being used by him. How about that! Exactly as prophecy said!
Now, back to the question, where would WE have been? We would like to put ourselves up there in the mountains doing exactly what the prophecy said that we should do. But, REALLY, where would we have been? Let’s go back to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24. We’re going to compare a couple of scriptures here that will help us to answer the question, ‘Will WE be a survivor of the Last Days?’
There are a couple of key things that did NOT happen within the context of Matthew Chapter 24 in the First Century. This lets us know that this prophecy has to have a further fulfillment. Here’s one, look at verse 6 where it says, ‘You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars see that you are not terrified these things must take place but the end is not yet.” And then verse 7 indicates a different kind of conflict, he says, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”
That didn’t happen in the First Century, not in the sense that it changed something more than ordinary wars. “Nation against nation…” The context is that if you hear of wars don’t worry about it but, this conflict will be different. It was SO DIFFERENT; you can look it up in your library. Historians called it World War I. Wars, don’t worry about it, nation against nation, now you need to start getting concerned.
World War I, 1914 actually marks the beginning of the Last Days of another system of things, the one that we are living in now.Just like the Jews, we have a marker for the start. There isn’t any date as to when it is going to end. It is not given in the Bible. Just like the Jews who didn’t have a date. It did not say that in 70 C.E. it is going to be destroyed. It said you do these certain things when you see these things happening. That’s exactly what Matthew 24 does.
In fact, we can take what is written in Matthew 24 and compare it to what is written in Revelation Chapter 6, if you would like to turn there with me, to Revelation 6. This is the writing of the Apocalypses as many people call it. Think about the time period though. Revelation was written in the year 96. That would be 26 years since the destruction of Jerusalem. It’s very obvious that what was written in Revelation does not apply to literal Jerusalem. It was destroyed 26 years ago.
What other things are going to happen? In verse 4, “Another came forth, a fiery colored horse and the one seated upon it was granted to take away peace from the earth so that they should slaughter one another and a great sword was given him.” Have we seen that? Have we seen peace taken away from the earth? Go back to Matthew 24, it says wars, don’t worry about them. We’re still going to hear of wars.
It didn’t say they were going to end. What does this apply to? What do you see?
Then you look at verse 5 in Revelation Chapter 6 and we find a rider on a black horse and he has a pair of scales in his hands indicating food shortages. Do we see food shortages? Have you ever seen a picture of a starving child? Was this referring to Jerusalem? Absolutely not!
You can continue to go into verse 7 about the pale horse and there would be all kinds of manner of death that would happen. You can flip your Bibles from Revelation 6 to Matthew 24. They are so similar that it’s the same prophecy! It obviously cannot apply to Jerusalem. What DOES it apply to? The time since 1914. The evidence is there. Do we need more?
Turn to 2 Timothy; this will help us with more. Paul wrote his letter to Timothy just BEFORE the destruction of Jerusalem. Anything written in Timothy again would not apply to Jerusalem. If you’ll look at verse 1, it says, “But, know this in the Last Days critical times hard to deal with will be here.”
Now, stop me if I read anything in this description that does not apply to people living in your area or people you know or have known. “Men will be lovers of themselves…” any takers? “…lovers of money, self assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection…” by the way that’s what allows school shootings, parents to kill their children, children to kill their parents. “…not open to any agreement, slanders, without self control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God…” Does anyone want to stop me and say that doesn’t apply to people who live in our area, people we know or have known?
Go back to verse 1, “Know this that in the…” what time period does it say? You got it! Last days!!! This is the kind of people you would see. You either have to pick one of these out and say that doesn’t apply to people or you have to accept what verse 1 says. That is the only two choices open to you or you can say I don’t want to believe anything in this book. That is the third option. It doesn’t change what is written here. It still stays written just like it is. So, what time period are we living in?
Further proof, if you want to go to Matthew Chapter 13, Jesus gives that illustration of the weeds and wheat. What that means is that there would be apostate Christianity. Now, look at verse 5 of 2 Timothy Chapter 3 and I’ll show you a real neat parallel. You would think that all of these terrible people right here would be the kind of people that have no religion. They have no natural affection; greedy…they have no religion.
Look at what 5 says, “…having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” These people that act this way that we just read in the list go to church on Sunday! They read their Bibles! They claim to have religion but it has no force in their lives. Matthew 13 said that in the Last Days there would be apostate Christianity.
How did people learn to live this way? Their apostate ‘Christian’ teachers taught them that that is O.K. They taught them by not saying that it is wrong. We end up with people acting just like that. What do you think? Let’s put it together. Living in the First Century, you had a starting date and you had the signs. 1914 is the starting date, what do you see? What time period do you think we’re living in?
There isn’t and never has been an ending date. It just says that this is what it is going to be like and this is what you should do! Jesus gave explicit instructions. Our question is, what are our instructions? What should we do? If we come to the realization that these are the Last Days should we sit around and look and say, ‘You know what, people are getting smarter, their getting educated, they are getting out of school, and they’re getting these $200,000 careers.
The same people that I thought would have been destroyed years ago are the ones living in that $300,000 house! Those thoughts could happen to us. But, it doesn’t change what is written in the Bible. IT IS STIIL THERE! The words have not changed! It says these ARE the Last Days. What should we be doing with our time?
It is very simple. Let’s look at 2 Peter Chapter 3, which, by the way, the context of Chapter 3 is all about the culmination of the Last Days, the destruction of this system of things. Verse 11; look at the way it is written. He says, “Since ALL these things are to be dissolved…” It IS going to happen! The evidence is there. “Since all these things are to be dissolved…”here’s the question, “…what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion?”
Jehovah didn’t say, o.k. since these things are going to happen go live up on a mountain and stay there. He simply asked a rhetorical question, ‘What kind of person should you be?’ The answer is there. “…holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion while we are doing…” what? “…waiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the Day of Jehovah.”
What does that simply mean? Holy acts of conduct would simply mean adjusting a person’s way of life to reach Jehovah’s standard of what is holy. We can do that as imperfect humans. Whatever adjustments we need to make, we want to do it. Deeds of godly devotion…remember, those in Jerusalem could not just sit there and say, ‘You know, I see it, it is the Last Days. I agree, everything Jesus said was right, I will make sure that everything that I do reaches God’s standard of holy conduct. What would have happened to them? They would have DIED! That’s what would have happened!
There is more than just recognizing it and saying I’m going to be a good person. What’s the ‘more’? It says deeds of godly devotion. You have to DO SOMETHING! What would deeds of godly devotion be? It’s very simple. It is involving ourselves in sharing the Kingdom preaching work that Jesus foretold for our time. That’s a deed of godly devotion.
It is very possible for a person to look at things, look at what is going on in this system, and agree, yes, I’m living in the Last Days and say, “I HAVE to keep my full time job.” “I HAVE to achieve this!” “Don’t ask me to go talk to people; I talk to people when I meet them on the street, that’s good enough!” No, it said DEEDS of godly devotion. It is very simple, very clear.
The encouragement for us is to be people who involve our entire life in deeds of godly devotion. We don’t have to leave and go to a mountain we just have to live every day doing deeds of godly devotion. That is all Jehovah asks of us. We should think about what it means to be living in the Last Days.
Think about a watchman, he’s guarding the city. How would you feel, living in this area, if the tornado siren never went off? Would you feel like somebody is not doing their job? You know that every time that tornado siren goes off we say I’m glad they’re keeping track of things. What about a watchman in the city? It is his job to warn! Every time he saw something that looked like danger he was to point it out.
You know he can’t tell if that’s an invading army or just some dust that is blown up by the wind. If it LOOKS like an army, he blows that horn. You have to stop what you are doing, come into the city, close the gate, close the door, and prepare for battle! An hour later he says, “Sorry, it was just some dust the wind blew up.” Would you look at the watchman and say, “You idiot! You made me change my whole life and it didn’t happen!” No, you would say, “Thank you for being on guard. Thank you for watching.” That is where we’re at in this time period!
The Slave class has been watching, and they have been watching, and they’ve been warning; they’ve been telling us and they’ve been telling us! Those who have been around Jehovah’s organization have heard it again and again and again. They see it! Just because we’ve heard the warning over and over and over again doesn’t mean we can keep smoking! Do you see the point! I sure hope you do.....
Till Monday, have a great weekend.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Tuesday
I woke up very early this morning thinking just how fast things for me are moving. My son is about to turn 17 and I recall when I was changing his diaper. Almost 17 years have gone by just like that.
I started to think of his future and what I could do to help. We talked about his goals, his first car, his wife, and of course his spiritual goals. We often have these talks and its great that my son is very open with me.
When I was a kid, I could not be open with my mother. I felt there was much she didn't understand. I felt as if she didn't really know me because those that I called my friends at the time knew more of me than she did.
I didn't want it that way with my kids so I had to be open with them. Of course there are things that kids don't discuss with their parents but in truth if you cannot be open with your parents then you have to ask yourself why. Is it that your Father won't understand? Maybe Mom will give you a hard time?
I know I felt that way. When I came into the truth there were people that knew but many that didn't. I wasn't afraid to tell my mother because I was much older and didn't live with her anyway so it didn't matter but what if you are a child that wants to learn but feel that you can't because of your parents?
Consider the case of children who come to a knowledge of the truth but whose parents have a different religion, or have none at all. What can be done if these parents deny the children privileges of going to meetings and going out into the house-to-house field service?
Can the children rebel against parental restraint, completely ignoring parents’ wishes, run away and share in theocratic activities anyway? That would not be Christian conduct, for the rule is that children must honor their fathers and mothers. Complete denial of all association may call for rather extreme measures so as to keep alive spiritually and do God’s will by preaching to others.
If orders are given to cease from what Jehovah commands or to go contrary to Christian principles, then the Christian must obey God rather than men. But in most instances the non-Witness parent does not go so far as directly to forbid Jehovah’s will for dedicated children, so such parental restraint is like any other obstacle hindering one, such as health, secular employment or physical disability.
Christian conduct requires us to endure it unless some lawful way around the obstacle can be effected, depending upon one’s ingenuity. Christian conduct requires the underage child to be submissive, respectful, considerate, and cooperative with non-Witness parents. Note Jesus’ example on this as found at Luke 2:51, 52. So dedicated children may ‘bide their time,’ progressing in the truth by reason of personal study and whatever association and service, though limited, is allowed them by non-Witness parents, improving their capabilities that can be used when they grow up into less restricted lives.
In the case of children in the truth whose parents do not accept it, their holding to obedience and recognition of parental control is itself an honor to Jehovah. His law is being upheld, His will is being done. A child’s careful endeavor not to compromise on Jehovah’s commands but to accede to parental authority otherwise is obedience to Jehovah.
In such circumstances children need not feel defeated by parental restraints that other children’s parents in the truth do not impose. Instead, they should figure out how much theocratic activity is allowable and do that much. Remember, it is not how much one does that counts but rather one’s determination to do all he can that is important. A young person needs guidance, and a dedicated child whose parents are undedicated should realize this. Nothing is wiser than to pray for guidance.
Tactfully a dedicated child should witness to his parents and try to explain the Bible to them. Forethought is necessary here. Never should a child be insulting or arrogant to his family, never “tell them off” or “get even” for their opposition, never use the Bible as a club. Instead, he or she should show that he desires them to understand the Bible. Do not talk down to them but reason with them, ask their advice in such a way as to get them to answer supporting the Bible. “Dad, wouldn’t you rather I’d go to meetings than to get into some devilment with other kids?”
When parents explode, “Give up this crazy religion!” you can honestly reply, “All right, I will—if it is crazy. But, Mom, if it’s crazy, why can’t the minister show where it’s wrong?” Thus seeds of truth are placed in parents’ minds. It may not be long until they recognize that the dedicated child has something the clergyman cannot disprove, and something the parents had best look into.
“But my case is extreme,” one may say, “and I have tried all this. What else is there for me to do?” Jesus said the first command was to ‘love and obey Jehovah with all you have.’ So in every instance the ministry, our worship of Jehovah, comes first, ahead of others’ commands. Jesus gave commands that are essentially his Father’s commands, and about these he said: “If you love me, you will observe my commandments.”
We cannot obey our family’s desires for us if it means contradicting or refusing what Jehovah commands. Jesus said the second commandment was: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Among our neighbors our family members are nearest and dearest, even though opposed to the Bible. These, then, require our greatest concern. We want to help them into the truth.
Just because they do not see the truth as quickly as we did is no reason for cutting loose from them. After all, others in our community who do not accept the truth, are indifferent to it and even mean about it get our loving concern expressed in our continually going to witness to them at their homes. We certainly ought to do as much for our family members, should we not? This means we must do things to win them, not alienate them. Persuade them, do not prejudice them. Endear them to us and do not make them just endure us.
So one has to keep on planning and using strategy on the home front in order to win the family over to true Christianity. With one’s family, particularly husbands and wives, one will already know them intimately and can know what will work best and most effectively. The rewards for such loving long-suffering toward opposing dear ones are high!
What I tried to do with those in my family who did not believe. I just tried to reason with them. I asked them " If what I'm telling you could be truth, isn't it worth looking into? "
It can be hard but the chance of living forever is worth it. It's worth looking into. What if we all don't go to Heaven, could we be wrong? That's a great question. Can anyone answer who has gone to hell that you know personally? No one....How can they? Scripture tells us that all sins are forgiven when you die. Does that mean that all go to Heaven then? Isn't it worth looking into? If you read that someone made a drink that can add ten more years to your life, wouldn't you give it a chance and drink it? If you were of age I'm sure you would. Now if someone is saying that you can live forever, isn't it worth looking into? Jesus said it many times....
Isn't it worth looking into?
I started to think of his future and what I could do to help. We talked about his goals, his first car, his wife, and of course his spiritual goals. We often have these talks and its great that my son is very open with me.
When I was a kid, I could not be open with my mother. I felt there was much she didn't understand. I felt as if she didn't really know me because those that I called my friends at the time knew more of me than she did.
I didn't want it that way with my kids so I had to be open with them. Of course there are things that kids don't discuss with their parents but in truth if you cannot be open with your parents then you have to ask yourself why. Is it that your Father won't understand? Maybe Mom will give you a hard time?
I know I felt that way. When I came into the truth there were people that knew but many that didn't. I wasn't afraid to tell my mother because I was much older and didn't live with her anyway so it didn't matter but what if you are a child that wants to learn but feel that you can't because of your parents?
Consider the case of children who come to a knowledge of the truth but whose parents have a different religion, or have none at all. What can be done if these parents deny the children privileges of going to meetings and going out into the house-to-house field service?
Can the children rebel against parental restraint, completely ignoring parents’ wishes, run away and share in theocratic activities anyway? That would not be Christian conduct, for the rule is that children must honor their fathers and mothers. Complete denial of all association may call for rather extreme measures so as to keep alive spiritually and do God’s will by preaching to others.
If orders are given to cease from what Jehovah commands or to go contrary to Christian principles, then the Christian must obey God rather than men. But in most instances the non-Witness parent does not go so far as directly to forbid Jehovah’s will for dedicated children, so such parental restraint is like any other obstacle hindering one, such as health, secular employment or physical disability.
Christian conduct requires us to endure it unless some lawful way around the obstacle can be effected, depending upon one’s ingenuity. Christian conduct requires the underage child to be submissive, respectful, considerate, and cooperative with non-Witness parents. Note Jesus’ example on this as found at Luke 2:51, 52. So dedicated children may ‘bide their time,’ progressing in the truth by reason of personal study and whatever association and service, though limited, is allowed them by non-Witness parents, improving their capabilities that can be used when they grow up into less restricted lives.
In the case of children in the truth whose parents do not accept it, their holding to obedience and recognition of parental control is itself an honor to Jehovah. His law is being upheld, His will is being done. A child’s careful endeavor not to compromise on Jehovah’s commands but to accede to parental authority otherwise is obedience to Jehovah.
In such circumstances children need not feel defeated by parental restraints that other children’s parents in the truth do not impose. Instead, they should figure out how much theocratic activity is allowable and do that much. Remember, it is not how much one does that counts but rather one’s determination to do all he can that is important. A young person needs guidance, and a dedicated child whose parents are undedicated should realize this. Nothing is wiser than to pray for guidance.
Tactfully a dedicated child should witness to his parents and try to explain the Bible to them. Forethought is necessary here. Never should a child be insulting or arrogant to his family, never “tell them off” or “get even” for their opposition, never use the Bible as a club. Instead, he or she should show that he desires them to understand the Bible. Do not talk down to them but reason with them, ask their advice in such a way as to get them to answer supporting the Bible. “Dad, wouldn’t you rather I’d go to meetings than to get into some devilment with other kids?”
When parents explode, “Give up this crazy religion!” you can honestly reply, “All right, I will—if it is crazy. But, Mom, if it’s crazy, why can’t the minister show where it’s wrong?” Thus seeds of truth are placed in parents’ minds. It may not be long until they recognize that the dedicated child has something the clergyman cannot disprove, and something the parents had best look into.
“But my case is extreme,” one may say, “and I have tried all this. What else is there for me to do?” Jesus said the first command was to ‘love and obey Jehovah with all you have.’ So in every instance the ministry, our worship of Jehovah, comes first, ahead of others’ commands. Jesus gave commands that are essentially his Father’s commands, and about these he said: “If you love me, you will observe my commandments.”
We cannot obey our family’s desires for us if it means contradicting or refusing what Jehovah commands. Jesus said the second commandment was: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Among our neighbors our family members are nearest and dearest, even though opposed to the Bible. These, then, require our greatest concern. We want to help them into the truth.
Just because they do not see the truth as quickly as we did is no reason for cutting loose from them. After all, others in our community who do not accept the truth, are indifferent to it and even mean about it get our loving concern expressed in our continually going to witness to them at their homes. We certainly ought to do as much for our family members, should we not? This means we must do things to win them, not alienate them. Persuade them, do not prejudice them. Endear them to us and do not make them just endure us.
So one has to keep on planning and using strategy on the home front in order to win the family over to true Christianity. With one’s family, particularly husbands and wives, one will already know them intimately and can know what will work best and most effectively. The rewards for such loving long-suffering toward opposing dear ones are high!
What I tried to do with those in my family who did not believe. I just tried to reason with them. I asked them " If what I'm telling you could be truth, isn't it worth looking into? "
It can be hard but the chance of living forever is worth it. It's worth looking into. What if we all don't go to Heaven, could we be wrong? That's a great question. Can anyone answer who has gone to hell that you know personally? No one....How can they? Scripture tells us that all sins are forgiven when you die. Does that mean that all go to Heaven then? Isn't it worth looking into? If you read that someone made a drink that can add ten more years to your life, wouldn't you give it a chance and drink it? If you were of age I'm sure you would. Now if someone is saying that you can live forever, isn't it worth looking into? Jesus said it many times....
Isn't it worth looking into?
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