THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PSYCHOLOGY

  Psychologists are always at work. They want you to believe in psychology. Unknown to you, they analyze your every word; that is the psychology of psychology!
  FACT: Not even psychotherapists claim they can fix your psychological condition. Why? They can’t; they depend on you to fix yourself as they guide you on uncharted paths. If one road doesn’t lead to bliss, then they merely switch “roads.” They call that eclecticism, but perhaps it is guessing.
  FACT: You cannot fix yourself. Oftentimes the most maladjusted are too “sick” to know they are abnormal. After all, “normal” in these politically correct days, is however one defines himself. (Excuse me for my sexism and transphobia for using a gender specific pronoun, but frankly, cupcake, I don’t give a darn to paraphrase Rhett Butler.
  FACT: Psychology can at best guide you to contentment in your abnormality. (Excuse me again, cupcake, for nothing is abnormal anymore.) For instance, if anyone feels guilty because of some stronghold, then rather than defeat the stronghold, merely embrace it; to get comfortable being abnormal.
  EVIDENCE: God can fix you, and save you from abnormality.
  EVIDENCE: A changed personality: a new attitude of joy, hope, and love in thanks for the change.    Many Christians have experienced that. Most should have! For example, my friend Phil was a drug dealer, user, and member of the mafia. He smoked anything, hated everyone, and had no apathy for anyone’s suffering. His only faith was in his mafia “family.” In one counseling session with Pastor Mellish, Phil changed and remains the new Phil. My own assessment was that Phil was “fixed” by someone, and both of us credit Jesus! I guarantee; if Jesus can fix Phil, he can fix you.
  Psychology is based on the philosophy of rational thought and logic. To be honest, the thought of an unseen God who lives in an unseen world is not rational. Reason is based on tangible evidence, and most people associate tangibility with the five senses or some type of measurement system.
  Christianity provides the intangible; it is a feeling of contentment because the Christian knows his future (sorry about the sexist pronoun again – not).  As a Christian, one should savor the Savior. “Savor” in this context is to delight in the hope that Jesus provides.
  Psychology, as the study of the soul, is a religion which offers only temporary hope. Christianity, on the other hand, offers eternal hope. Hope is the fix for despair. Inevitably, there is usually one root cause for any malfunction. Despair for most people is either having no place to go in the afterlife, or knowing that they deserve and will obtain eternal punishment. Psychologists can’t fix that; they can merely acclimate someone to that as inevitable, or dope them up so they can face the future much as a zombie would a zombie hunter.

  Personally, I once admired psychologists and their seemingly secret knowledge. To be truthful, I thought that they could fix things that even God could not. I thought they could see into the mind and have all the solutions to life’s problems.
  I was overwhelmed with disappointment when I majored in family counseling. I could hang my shingle, pay the state for certification, and practice on you tomorrow. However, I larned nothing from my education that could fix you. However, I could just take your money for experimenting! Why do people call doctors and counselors “practitioners?” Because therapy is not a sure thing. Therapists practice on people with problems. If that does not sound unethical to you, perhaps you will bring a highly valued car to me to practice fixing it while you pay big money for my education.

  Why are clients called “patients?” It is obvious from the waiting room, that clients are usually quite impatient. Is it all a façade? They are patients because they patiently wait on being fixed. Medical doctors actually perform quite well, but how can one tell when the mind is fixed? What is the standard? How is deviation from the standard measured? Oftentimes, the America Psychiatric Association (APA) merely sets a new standard when they can fix the problem. For instance, homosexuality was at one time abnormal behavior. Because they could not fix it, they merely made it normal! That is the way political correctness was born. If the professionals can’t fix it, just change the standard! Then, if God fixes them which He can and does, just make laws where Christian counselors can’t teach abnormal people how to be normal. (They do that, by the way.)
  Psychology’s reference book is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). It is the manual of abnormal psychology. Within its covers are nothing more than the philosophies of men which Paul warned about when he wrote, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col 2:8). The prognosis for abnormality is dim when the standards are different from right standards.
  In the DSM, homosexuality is not an abnormal behavior. Psychologists corrected their error that it was when they were picketed by homosexuals. It was easier for those with aberrant behavior if they did not work at changing those behaviors. So as to not offend abnormal people, psychologists merely complied with their fantasy viewpoint of their reality. They are stuck in abominable behavior, and there was only two ways to go: fix the abnormality or make the abnormality normal.
 The Christian Handbook of Normality is the Holy Bible. It was not written by a committee, but by the inspired word of God. It’s the book of expected behaviors and attitudes, foremost an attitude of love. Since love is difficult, psychologists merely push tolerance. Think about that; I don’t love my wife, but I can tolerate her! Tolerance, which is their fix, doesn’t fix them or you. However, God offers both positive and negative reinforcements for good behavior – a promised reward or a sure punishment.
  Why are we seeing so many “new normals?” Because the world is in chaos. There are so many sick people that they can’t be helped, let alone fixed. I read some time ago where the APA has written that adult-child sexual relationships are healthy in some cases. Healthy for whom? Who decides when and if it is healthy? Will some cases soon be most cases? The way sin works is much like cracking the door for a cat. If its cracked enough for one cat to come in, unless it is slammed shut, many more cats may follow.
  Remember the argument for abortion? It was to be safe and rare, and for the health of the mother. The cracked door is now wide-open. Abortion for any reason is the new norm. The same goes for any abnormality. If same-sex people can get married, what door will stop polygamy, adult-child marriages, man-beast marriages, and such abnormal things?
  Unless you are an ostrich, since 2008, the door has been swung wide open. Any aberrant behavior is the new normal. People hate in the name of love, are intolerant in the name of tolerance, and everyone is divided into classes by some unknown person or persons. Just as Paul declared the Greeks “unknown god” to them, let me declare your unknown god. Paul declared that God was not the philosophers, but Jesus Christ. Philosophy is the “father” of psychology.  Your “god” is the love of your own wisdom, but my God is the Omniscient One.
  Philosophers never fixed anything but their rantings have led to chaos. God fixes chaos and instills within people, true wisdom. Now think rationally: Are you fixed, or are you in despair when you are alone and take time to think? I was, but God fixed that. Hope is the metric for healing. Hope is not hoping so, but already seeing the prize as if it is in hand. Be honest; as a human being, do you not want to forever exist? As a youth, whenever I thought of a universe without me, I had a feeling of fatalness. Now, when I admit that I can’t fix me, and neither can psychologists, but Jesus can and will, then I am as if already fixed. My mind and soul are together again in perpetuity. I like that feeling of security, but vain philosophy does nothing but play mental tricks on people.
  The first "philosopher" was a cunning snake. He used reason to provide hope. Soon after, reality set in, and then God stepped up to the plate. He removed guilt and despair from two psychotic (troubled souls) people (who thought they were gods), and made them well again! Jesus is the One that heals. He came to the world to permanently and entirely heal the spiritually sick. Psychosis is not mental illness but a spiritual deficiency. It is a malady of aloneness, a living soul that needs a dose of Holy Spirit.

  Below is a picture of analytical psychologist, Karl Jung. I credit him with "political correctness"foremost above other theorists. His philosophy was much like the Gnostics of ancient days. Gnosticism was a new-time religion in apostolic times. Jungian Psychology is a redux of that old time religion.

Karl Jung - credit Britanica.com

GROWING THE CHURCH: ROOT, BRANCH, AND BRANCHES

KEY VERSES: Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both… And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Zech 6:11-13,15)

Now to identify the principles in the key verses: Jehozadak (shortened Josedech) is the tetragrammaton (YHWH) pronounced “Yahweh.”  In other words, Joshua’s father was symbolic of Father God. The name Joshua, of course, is the very name “Jesus” and means “Yah saves” Yah is an abbreviated from of YHWH, and thus Joshua means God as well! In those names, and is the same relationship of Jesus to Yahweh.

First off, since Joshua (the Greek form anglicized is Jesus), is JHWH, as is Josedech. The relationship is father and son, just as Yahweh is the Father and Jesus is the Son! Hence, the relationship between Joshua and Josedech represents the One True God and His manifestation as His Son. What is hidden between the lines in those passages is the Holy Trinity – the three in one homeostasis of the Godhead. Since the priest Joshua had a genealogy, unlike the priest Melchizedek, he is only representative of Jesus, whereas Melchizedek was surely the person who became Joshua, or Jesus.

Speaking those Words, were “the Word of the Lord” (Zech 6:9). It is pre-incarnate Jesus who is speaking, and as you shall see, he was referring to himself! He revealed to Zechariah that he was coming to build another different type of “temple.”

The foremost message is that “the man whose name is The Branch” will someday build the temple of the Lord. In my earlier commentaries, I wrote that temples of hewn (worked) material  are not satisfactory for temples for God. God chooses to live in “Tabernacles” made by His own Hand. When “the Hand of God” is written in the Old Testament, the context is the Messiah. Unknown to all but the righteous, was that the Messiah had been with them all the time… since the beginning! (John 1). Jesus showed himself to Zechariah as “the Angel of the Lord” (Zech 3:6), whereat Jesus foretold of his coming: “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch” (Zech 3:6).

“The Branch” is an important Person in scripture. Jesus refers to himself as the Main Branch when he said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches…” (John 15:5). Imagine a grape vine protruding from beneath the ground and emanating from the root. It is nourished with unseen water from below. Just as the Tree of Life represents the Holy Trinity, and the visible tree, Jesus, it is the same for the grapevine. Its root represents the Father, the main vine Jesus Christ, and the branches are representative of the members of the Church. Of course, the nourishing water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and the grapes, the fruits of the Spirit.

As the Second Temple was built, the “Root” was glorious, and was watered. Zechariah saw the “Branch” or the “Vine” before it could be seen by anyone except with the aid of peculiar vision. Zechariah was given bright eyes to see the unseen because he had a bright nature. Zechariah even saw the branches and the fruits of the Vine, in that, “they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord”. That has a double-meaning: the main “Temple” - the invisible Church - would be built by individual “temples” or “tabernacles”  coming from afar.

Just as blind Bartimaeus, saw “men as; trees walking,” I see that, but also see grapevines; as the Church growing!  Zechariah saw what I see – that God would build His own House with His own “Hand” when Jesus would become visible to everyone as is written:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. (Eph 2:19-21).

One of the “prophets” in that passage is Zechariah. The Jews were building a House for God, but Zechariah was seeing God building a Sanctuary for His People.

Of course, the Cornerstone of the Church represents the Vine beginning to grow. The apostles and prophets, as the foundation, were the first branches, and each branch afterward were the saints. The grapevine is a simile of the Church as was the trees and vines in the Garden of Eden. God built a sanctuary for mankind in the beginning, and the Church is a type of sanctuary. Then in Revelation, John saw the sanctuary in Heaven coming down to its original foundation!

God never deviated from His Plan. From the beginning, Church is what He had in mind. Throughout the ages, the patriarchs attempted to build the Church that only God could build! That Church was “painted” blood red, and Jesus is the craftsman who built, painted, and superintended the Church! He was the only person who by the sweat of his face, did the hard work to build the Church. Jesus took on Adams penalty from Genesis 3:19. Adam did no work to save his seed, but Jesus did it all!

credit: evineyard

CHURCH BUILT OF RIGHT MATERIAL

  God did not need a “House,” but Solomon had a temple built for Yahweh atop the Foundation Stone; the same rock on which Ornan did his threshing. Surely the temple was somewhat of a threshing place to separate the grain from the chaff, and winnow out the chaff into the abyss below the threshing stone. The abyss beneath is thought to be the access to Hell, whereas atop the threshing stone was ingress into Heaven.
  God could have threshed the unrighteous from the righteous without a stone, but He chose the very rock from which the dust for Adam was taken to thresh-out Adam. The Adamic Covenant was his redemption by grace, and that the same grace is available to all Adam-kind.
  The threshing stone was God’s handiwork. It is holy! (In modern times, it is holy to the Muslims as well, and is covered by the Dome of the Rock. It has served its purpose as the holy place of Yahweh and now is unclean because a dead prophet has touched it - Mohammad by name. It is the place of the harlot Babylon, I believe) Many times that holy rock has been defiled, and each time, it has been consecrated again to the Lord. Unclean hands upon that rock defiles it. God made that point as the Second Temple’s foundation was about to be built on the same Foundation Stone. (Note that the Foundation Stone built by God’s handiwork was the true Foundation, but then the Levites built another foundation atop it.) The Levites were the priests, and their job was to be servants to the Lord. They were required to build the temple! The Jews who remained in Judah defiled the temple and work stopped for sixteen years.
  Why would God allow the work to stop? Because the people were more concerned about building houses for themselves. The Temple for God was secondary, and God stopped work on it. Then God spoke to Haggai and Zechariah. They changed the plan; they changed from building the temple for themselves to building a Temple for God! Why the change in attitude?

KEY VERSES: 

A Temple for Whom? According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. (Hag 2:5-7)

How the work was defiled? Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. (Hag 2:13-14)

Examine the way the foundation of the Temple had been defiled firstly (2:12/13). The unclean people who had remained in Judah were defiled by intermarriage with Gentiles, as well as dissension among them all. God chose who was His people, and the Jews who remained behind chose God's people for Him. God made it plain who was in charge when He spoke to Haggai: “I will destroy the strength of the Gentile Kingdoms” (Hag 2:22c).  Blood on the hands of the builders and unclean peoples contaminated the Foundation Stone.
  Therein is a lesson for Christians. The works of the hands defiles the Temple within the person’s soul. Unclean hands kept God away from His house for sixteen years until the people were ready to build for God a House for right reasons (hold that thought).

  On a personal level, I will recount when the foundation of my own “temple” for God was under construction; to wit:  In my teenage years, I feared God. That is a pre-requisite for wanting a House for Him; the same as for the Jews. I didn’t love God, but feared His judgment, so I attended church in God’s House. Just like the Jews, I learned the Ways of God. The Jews learned the Law as the Torah was read verbatim, and without commentary. That was God’s way of calling His people to Him. They came, not out of love, but fear. They constructed a new foundation on God’s Foundation Stone. God wasn’t pleased with that as the Holy of Holies would be either atop or beneath that Stone.
  I learned about God by taking a catechism class at church. Although I learned about God, I had no desire to be His “temple.” Upon completion of my class, the minister announced to the congregation that I had received an “A” and would become a member of the Methodist Church. I remained no more than an educated heathen. The minister and I defiled God’s House. He was endeavoring to build the invisible Church with dead stones. Scripture calls for lively stones!
  The second attempt for a preacher to build the church with stones cut by hands was in a Baptist church. At church camp, whoever wanted to remain and pray were asked to do so. The kid beside me did, so I did as well. That night, the preacher announced to the church that I had been “saved.” That was not the case, I was still only a stupid heathen. Not much progress had been gained in building the Church because stones built by man’s hands can never be “stones” of the pillars of the church, as is written, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God” (Rev 3:12). I was faulty material never consecrated by rebirth to be made holy for God’s invisible “House.”

  That is much the way it was when the foundation for the God’s Temple was built. God always required altars to be unhewn (unworked) by human hands. The Foundation Stone was built by Him, and there was no need for a foundation built by men. In other words, Cyrus, by grace, had allowed the Jews to return to build a House for God on a Holy Foundation. By works, the Levites, as they often did in scripture, built the foundation by their hands. Their unclean hands defiled the Temple. That’s is why those keys verses (2:13-14) are in scripture. All that delay and patience should not be taken lightly. Churches should be built for right reasons, and since Christians are THE Church, we must be re-built (born again) as the temple, and that is for right reasons and by a thorough cleansing by God!
  Why do traditional (non-evangelical) churches fail? Because their “house” is not built with born again Christians. “Evangelical” essentially means those with doctrines that teach, “Marvel not; that ye must be born again” (John 3:7). How many times have you heard that verse preached? I bet very little, but it is THE requirement for consecrated “stones” for the Temple of God. To be a Christian requires consecration, not by our own hands, but God's!
  For whom did Zerubbabel build the Temple? God chose him, because he was of the line of David, to rebuild David’s Temple for God. He was to the Second Temple what Solomon was to the first. He was chosen directly by God (Hag 2:23b). Thereafter, the Temple was built for right reasons, and God merely ignored the foundation built by hands, just as He ignores the works of sinners’ hands for salvation.
  For whom was the Second Temple constructed? Read again the first of the key verses (2:5-7). You must think intensely when you read; note the phrase, “the desire of all nations.” The King James Version does not capitalize those words, but the New King James does. The Second Temple was for “THE Desire of All Nations.” David’s Temple, built by unclean Solomon, was torn down, and this one was built by an anointed clean “bishop.”
  Let me explain why I wrote “bishop” for Zerubbabel. Because bishops superintend the building of the invisible Church. As governor, Zerubbabel superintended building the Second Temple. For whom? Jesus, who IS “The Desire of all Nations.” Unlike the first Temple, the Second was plain. The First Temple was for a glorious God who appeared as Light on the Ark of the Covenant. The Second Temple was built plainly in preparation for the ordinary uncomely Son of Man, who was the tradesman Jesus. The focus was not to be on the building, but on God who would come in the Flesh. The Second Temple was prepared for Jesus just as our mansion is prepared for Christians by God.
  Why was the second Temple built for Jesus? Because it was the same refurbished “Herod’s Temple” which was extant in Jesus’ day. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the new Babylonians – the Romans – because God no longer required a House. Jesus foretold the destruction of the Temple which would come after his death:

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Mat 24:24-25)

  Why was the Second Temple destroyed? The same reason as the First – because it was defiled. Solomon’s Temple was defiled by the Babylonians and the Second Temple by evil King Herod who restored it. Herod was no Zerubbabel, and certainly it was by works that the Second Temple was restored. It was not torn down and build afresh on the Foundation of God, but a wicked half-Jew named Herod of the Hasmonean house of bloody kings. (Note that Jews still honor the Hasmoneans with Hanukkah, but not Jesus on his birthday or death day). They celebrate the restored Temple by the works of the Maccabees, but not the Holy Ghost in the “Temple” of the hearts of Christians by the work of God.
  The lesson in Temple-building is that it must be done on a firm Foundation, namely the Rock of Jesus, and the “Temple” in Christians are built by God, and not of themselves (Ephes 2:8).
  In my own situations, the minister tried to make me a Christian, and laid a faulty stone in his church. The Baptist preacher thought I made myself a Christian by simply staying to pray. Alone with my God, years later, I finally understood. Jesus made me an alive stone, and I became part of the Church. The “mortar” (faith) that was used was a gift from God, but I used what God provided. By faith, I am one “stone” in the “pillar” of God’s House. I am a worker which the bishop must superintend to ensure that hewn “stones” are not used for God’s work.
  Salvation is never by works, but by faith. Going to church is not sacramental, but being the Church is. The “Church” is not the building, but where Christians gather in Jesus’s Name. Some don’t attend church, and if they do, to make themselves righteous, the church is defiled. If they gather with others who love and obey God, and they do as well, they are consecrated by God as part of His Church. The building was made by unclean hands, but the Church is made by the Holy Spirit of God. Never take lightly that Church is the place of the Holy Spirit, and Christians, to be a Church, must adore God and others:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost… (Acts 2:1-4a)

  The Glory of God filled His House twice, but sin drove Him out. Like the Christian Jews in their time, modern-day Christians must be of one accord with God and each other. God cannot be driven from His House, but He will remain silent, as He did for 400 years when the Jews depended on the Maccabees for salvation! He will remain silent in these times unless we humble ourselves and build the Church the Way of Jesus, and according to God's ancient plans.

FEAST OF TABERNACLES

KEY VERSE: They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written. (Ezra 3:4)

  My mind wonders continually as I read Holy Scripture. What do these ancient stories have to do with Jesus? They do, or they would not be in the Word. Never forget that God and Jesus are One and the same. When there is interface with God in the Old Testament, human beings are communing with Jesus. People think of Jesus as the Son of God, but forget that his flesh was God’s Flesh! For the key verse, what is the significance for Christians? There are several questions from the key verse:

1)      Who are “they?”

2)      What is the feast?

3)      What is a tabernacle?

4)      What is the significance of the tabernacle?

5)      How is the feast “kept?”

6)      Where is it written?

  Standing alone with no context, the key verse has little meaning. In other words, like the eunuch who sought knowledge from Philip in the New Testament, this ancient verse needs explanation. Let’s tackle the last question first; where is it written?

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (Lev 23:33-34)

  Where is it written? By Moses as part of the Law from Leviticus 23. The feast of tabernacles is Sukkot in Hebrew and is from the Jewish month of Tishrei 15-21, ending on Roshana Rabbah – the final day of divine judgment. That period is from October 2-9 in 2020 on the Gregorian, or Christian, calendar.  Tishrei means “beginning.” It is, however, not the beginning of the lunar calendar, but the civil calendar. Judah used the civil (ecclesiastical) calendar and Israel the (lunar) calendar. Keep that in mind as the commentary continues.
  On Roshana Rabbah (the Great Supplication) the Torah (The Law) is removed from the Ark of the Covenant, and is annunciated by sounding of sofars.
  The Feast is a pilgrimage festival. For the Jews returning from the diaspora, their pilgrimage was a return to “Paradise” – to the land of milk and honey! During the week, in homage to God, there is a seven-day sabbatical with different degrees of work allowed and meals are eaten in “sukkah” (huts).
  During the pilgrimage of the Exodus, the Hebrews lived in tents, also referred to as “tabernacles.” In the center of the tabernacles was one Holy Tabernacle. God was in the grand central tabernacle, and encircling God’s Tent were the tabernacles of all the families. In the Book of Ezra, all the families of the diaspora were making their return pilgrimage. Their Sukkat was a re-enactment of the feast of Tabernacles so often celebrated on the Hebrew pilgrimage to Paradise. As Tabernacle worship was a new beginning, so was the ingathering of those Jews from the diaspora. It was a return to Paradise!
  The Feast of Tabernacles commenced by doing no work, and during it, as little as possible. It was therefore a feast not of works, but of rest. In other words, God was to do the works and serve them the bounty from His hand. The week ended with taking the Law from the Presence of God, and each year, having a new beginning, not according to the times, but according to the Ecclesiastes (the civil teachings of Moses and the writers of wisdom.) Thus, the civil or ecclesiastical calendar was more appropriate, and hence, Tishrei was the beginning of the new civil year. The Feast represented a new beginning of not doing the works in gratitude for God’s deliverance from sin, or from the harlot Babylon, as it was called in the Book of Revelation.
  “They” (from the key verse) are God’s people who were allowed to and chose to return from Babylon. None were forced to return, but they were among the number of whom God had grace upon. Those who sought God, and were elected to do so (Ezra 1) were among the number. The prize was, of course, a return to Paradise. Upon their arrival, they found that “Paradise” was not what it once was, but only its foundation was there. The assignment of the Jews was to rebuild a worldly “paradise” on the foundation where it always existed. Thus, the City of God was rebuilt on the foundation of peace – Jerusalem. The original Paradise was “Shalom” or “Salem.”
  The returning Jews were building a House for God, but New Jerusalem will be a House built for righteous men, each with their own room (John 14:2-3). The Jews who followed God were those who are the ”they” in the key verse. They were God’s peculiar and chosen people to re-build for Him a House. Christians are also the peculiar people, who are to build a House for God. It is not to be of wood and stone, but the invisible Church where Christians are the lively stones making up the pillars of the invisible Church.
  “They” (the Jews) were to keep the Feast on behalf of all mankind. Among the returning “Jews” were all sorts of pure, mixed, and servant races. They all built the Tabernacle, and they were all called by God.
  The “feast” in the key verse are things that God supplied, or the celebration of the “Great Supplication” (Roshana Rabbah). God supplied the ingredients for the Feast with minimum work of the people. God served them, and they rested from serving God as they took a sabbatical from the building of the tabernacle of wood and stone.
  People think of “tabernacles” as tents because in the wilderness of Sin, the Hebrews lived in tents. In fact, God said, in the time of Noah, “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant” (Gen 9:27). If a person studies Ezra 1, the rebuilding of the Temple was by Gentiles (Japhethites) who would also live in the permanent “Tent” of the Jews (Shemites), and built  with servants (Canaanites). The rebuilding of the Temple signified that everyone can be God’s chosen and peculiar people!
  Tabernacles were not new things. Tabernacles are merely different types of coverings for people. Solomon’s Temple, just as the Second Temple, was intended to be a permanent House for God, and someday it will be rebuilt! In the wilderness, tabernacles were tents, or canopies, so that each family could stand in their canopy and see God in a cloud in the central Canopy.
  Tabernacle worship was an emulation of original worship! Back in the Garden, the other “trees” were the individual "tents," overall the canopy of the Garden, with God in the midst (Gen 2:9). Blind Bartmaeus, as Jesus restored his sight, “saw men; as trees walking” (Mark 8:24). I was amazed because my vision of the Garden was as trees looking at the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden!  Of course, the Tree of Life is the manifestation of God as Jesus. Always remember; seeing Jesus is seeing God, for He is the Invisible God made manifest to mankind!
  Tabernacles are of two types: (1) The main tabernacle is where God resides, and (2) the lesser tabernacles are where human beings are blessed by and honor God who blissed them. As such, the human soul is the Tabernacle of God which Christians call “the temple of the Holy Spirit” and is Jesus’s house, tabernacle, or tent. (All in quotes as each are a representative of the soul.) When natural man’s “old decaying trees” are weary of perishing, they look toward the Tree of Life for supplication, and are born again when they see Jesus as a tree (called “pole” in John 3:14). Of course, the dead serpent on the pole represents the dead Serpent all red from the blood of Jesus which killed him. It was the false “Jesus” (Judas) that the serpent represented. Judas, who Satan entered, was the new Serpent, and like the animal that was the first “Beast.”
  The “tabernacle” is wherever God Is and where people look toward Him for His Plan for us and for a future (Jer 29:11). That answers questions #3 and #4. When those Jews returned from “sin,” there was a new beginning, and it was celebrated just as the Hebrews of the Exodus did with their expected end. The Feast of the Tabernacles is deserving of celebration by all God’s people, but there are less obvious ways that it can be celebrated.
  Question #5 is, “How is the feast kept?” It’s honoring the Law, but removing it from the Face of God. When the Glory of God was on the Ark of the Covenant, the priests withdrew the Torah (the Law) from God’s Presence. It was a modification in the terms of the Covenant. The original Abrahamic Covenant seemed to be strict obedience to the Law. God asked not for obedience with circumcision of the foreskin, but ALL the “skin,” represented as “circumcision of the heart.” The Feast represented a new beginning which Christians call “born again.” If a young man’s bar mitzvah falls during that year, the Feast of Tabernacles is when he is circumcised. Hence, Sukkot is honoring the advent of the new person, and for Christians, honoring the second birth, as the Jews were honoring the Second Temple.
  What has the Feast of Tabernacles to do with Christianity?

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)

  In the year that Jesus said that, it was on Roshana Rabbah. The Jews were celebrating the “new beginning” when the Law was removed from the presence of God. Roshana Rabbah celebrates the coming of Jesus who came to fulfill the Law, and not to do away with it (Mat 5:17). Jesus spoke of the Spirit entering into the souls on those who trust him. He supplied (The Great Supplication or Feast of the Tabernacles) with his Holy Spirit.
  Note the last words of that passage; Jesus was speaking of the Spirit. Why? Because Jesus had not yet been glorified, or arisen to the Presence of his Father. If you’ll remember from his death, Jesus “gave up the Ghost” (Mark 15:37). His “Ghost” had business to do while Jesus slept; the Ghost of Jesus delivered all the sins of mankind into Hell. Once that was completed, Jesus’s Ghost and Flesh were reunited and then he ascended and was glorified (Acts 1). Immediately, Jesus’s Ghost returned, and living waters filled the Jews (Acts 2). The Church was built during Jewish Pentecost, but Jesus revealed the Plan on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
  The Second Temple was not built during Sukkot, but was celebrated when the foundation was laid. Likewise, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus revealed his plan to build the true Temple; that he would live in the hearts of mankind. Their souls would be his Temple, and his death was laying the foundation that he promised on Roshana Rabbah.
  What did the building for God a Second House have to do with Christianity? Rebirth! Just as God regenerated another Temple where the old once stood, His Plan was to build other “temples” in the hearts of men. Removing the Law from the Ark of God was the Jewish thought on a new beginning. It was a preview that circumcision of the foreskin was not efficacious, but circumcision of the heart truly was. Baptism is the bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs for Christians as representative of the living waters which cleanses. Perhaps Christians’ baptisms during the Feast of Weeks would be meaningful, as it is for the bar mitzvahs for the Jews.
  Now, study the picture of Tabernacle worship below. Replace the outlying tents with trees, all together with a huge canopy. Then substitute for the large tent in the center, the Tree of Life with its canopy in continuity with the surrounding tree canopy. It should be clear, that tabernacle, or tent, worship is much as the worship in the Garden, only with not as many living souls as there were trees in the beginning!

(Picture from truthnet.com)

Add caption

NOW YOU KNOW THE UNSEEN

NOW YOU KNOW THE UNSEEN

Previously, I wrote about knowing that the faithful knew science before the those of the Enlightenment. In other words, divine wisdom preceded and superseded scientific knowledge. Little things in a big universe was first hypothesized in the early 1800s, initially by Max Planck, and mostly by Albert Einstein. Recently, Mikao Kaku has added to the knowledge of little things; how little things move in a “string” with its own quantum gravity. God made all the big things of little things. Everything seen is made of things unseen. Does that sound familiar?
  The apostle Paul understood science when he made comments (key verses) such as, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), and “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb 11:3). Why is that? “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18).
  Understanding the profundity of Paul’s knowledge blew me away! Paul knew the things that Job learned from the test of his faith. In the Tribulations of Job, nowhere is faith mentioned at all, but most agree that God was setting up a test of faith for Job. Job had the characteristics of one who was faithful in that God said of Job, “(he) is a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8). Job had three things commendable to God: His works were there, he feared God, and he despised evil. We learn later that Job says he trusted the Lord:

Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. (Job 13:14-16). 

  That “trust” in the Lord seems to be by Job’s own efforts. Job showed God how much he trusted Him by what he did. By the way, “faith” is not mentioned at all in the chapter on Job and neither is faith associated with Job, but I, as do most students of scripture, understand the Book of Job as a test of faith.
  Job trusted in the Lord for one thing: for his maintenance, or call it his “salvation.” That is the same “trust” that Christians have to this day. But did Job truly have faith in God? Do all “Christians” truly have faith in God? True Christians must believe that God is truly “God.” What makes a god? The power to create and maintain all existence (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). It seems that Job allowed that God maintained existence (salvation, or regeneration as it is called), but no mention was made that Job truly believed that God was the Ultimate Existence; that is to say, The Supreme Being,” (The Great I AM or truly Yahweh).
  What I am getting to is that Job was much like many Christians today; they believe God can save, but disbelief or fail to understand that God CREATED!
  In the key verses, I always understood that “things unseen” were Heaven, God, and the angels. Of course, God, in Job’s day, was the Ultimate Unseen Being, and unseen angels were part of the unseen realm of Heaven. Was Paul writing about more than the heavenly kingdom? God’s response to Job’s trials points toward a deeper meaning! Paul believed strongly in God the Creator. He indicated that in the key verses and validated it to the Colossians when he wrote, “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Col 1:17).
  That statement is profound! Paul wrote that God is the beginning and sole Existence, and that He Created all things that exist. Paul announced the Equation of Specific Relativity; that energy and mass are different forms of the same “thing.” The “Thing” is God. Paul knew that, and knew that God Existed alone, and then by the power of His Holy Spirit, transformed His “goodness” into “good.” As the Master Craftsman, God’s virtue flowed from Him (Mat 6:19) to make everything entirely good (Gen 1:31).
  The “Energy” which flowed was virtuous – perfect and good. The Power of God is His Holy Spirit. Processes require catalysts to initiate the transformation of one substance into another. God’s “Energy” was transformed into existence of two types: material and the non-material – the seen and the unseen.
  I always think of the unseen in the Creation as the space or void in which things were placed. That is true, but there is more to it than that. In the process of creating, unseen matter flowed and conglomerated enough to become visible matter. Having faith in the unseen is essentially knowing God as the Creator! It appears that Job knew a protecting God but not a Creator God. None of his three philosophic friends were wise enough to explain the Creation. God did that Himself in Job 38. (More on that shortly.)
  The story of Job, therefore, is not one of protecting a man of faith, but a man who was willing to be protected. He did things to God’s satisfaction, and God appreciated that! On the other hand, Job didn’t seem to understand who God IS. I submit that is much like modern-day Christians; they want there to be a God, but don’t understand Him. They think that God can regenerate a new existence, but fail to understand that God generated the original existence! Many people often refer to God as you understand Him. People fail to understand God. Job didn’t understand God, until God explained Himself to Job, whereas all the philosophers missed the mark!
  God was the “Scientist” who Created everything, but who was His “hand” that drove the Process? John knew quite well, who the Catalyst is:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2,14)

  In many places, scripture indicates that Jesus molded things. In effect, the hand of God (Jesus) took the unseen particles and made them into large objects, and Jesus made them from the virtue of the Holy Spirit. Not to be disrespectful, but the Holy Spirit is the “String” that created the big things from the small things! He (referring to the Holy Spirit) first took His own Power, made small things, and took the small things further in the processes and made them big things. God, by the hand of Jesus, made things unseen from things seen just as Paul said.
  Max Planck was not the first to understand that. We know that Paul did, but long before Paul, Job finally understood that truth! It was a tough process to persuade Job, but unlike Antipas Herod, Job was persuaded.
  In the beginning, Job had everything: material, health, friends, family, and even his idea of God. God generated all those things. It is possible that Job was maintained by God, but had no idea that it was Him who maintained the “world.” God used his fool to destroy all that Job had, even Job’s flesh, but then God regenerated Job, first spiritually, and then entirely. Job’s world was created, existed, destroyed, and re-created just as all of our existences shall be. Job’s life was one of genesis to a re-genesis just as Genesis to the Revelation, which is as well called, “Re-Genesis.”
  Before we go further, understand a few terms and ideas. “Deists” believe that God Created, but do not maintain what He Created. From the definition, their “Deo” is not Yahweh, who is the True God, and Creates and Maintains what He Created. Spinoza’s God, of whom Einstein and Kaku believe, is that same “Deo” who Created, but then abandoned His Creatures. They are very similar to Deists. On the other hand, modern-day Christians, and even Job, treat God as if He maintains (saves), but did not Create. Both “vocations” of God are necessary to be as God is defined. Ironically, Adam’s vocation was to dress and keep the Garden, which I prefer an alternate translation – to serve and preserve (Gen 2:15).
  Adam, or mankind, as the image of God, was to do what God does: serve (create) and preserve (maintain). “As God” means that Christians do not have the knowledge and wisdom of God, but the same responsibility to serve and preserve mankind. God serves men by creating and saving, but he also maintains faithful people by keeping them safe from the wiles of the Devil. That safety is the “hedge” that Satan knew that God had around Job (Job 1:10). Now examine what Job learned about God from the Voice whose Word is called Jesus (Job 38; NKJV):

I will question you, and you shall answer Me. (38:3b)

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?

Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?

Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (38:4-7)

Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? (38:33)

Who can pour out the bottles of heaven? (38:37b)

When the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together? (38:38)

  Job was not to question God! (v. 3b). In the Greek, the name Saul means “questioning.” Job means “he who returns” …perhaps from questioning. Indeed, the trials of Job left him questioning God and his three philosopher friends! God asked that rhetorically.  He already knew Job’s answers, and they would differ from His.
  Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where was Job then? He certainly wasn’t creating! His soul was lingering there in oblivion waiting to be Created. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephes 1:4). Well, Job was blameless: “Job… that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). Job was planned before the foundation of the world. God would have a creature whom he could persuade!
  It was God who laid the foundation of the world, and not Job. None of Job’s handiwork was required to Create, and neither was it to Save. It is imperative to know that it is God who is Almighty. With that said, God must be elevated, and Job diminished.
  Then God asked, “Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?” Job needed to know that. To revere God, believers must understand that God is God. Even the demons believe that and tremble (Jas 2:10). Well, God did the measuring.
  That was not a rhetorical question! God revealed that to Isaiah:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him? (Isa 40:12-13)

  What is the answer to God’s question? God’s “Counselor” did that. Jesus is the mediator (counselor) with God, and it was him who measured and weighed the Creation.
  And the right answer, Job, is Jesus Christ. You should know that! The apostle John knew that (John 1); why did not you? Perhaps because John was His beloved; how about you?
  Jesus measured. As a Great Tradesmen, there was a reference from which to measure. Distance was measured from some data (plural of datum). “Who laid its cornerstone?” THE “Cornerstone.” Jesus the Tradesman laid the cornerstone of the foundation, as is written: “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22) and in Matthew 21:42 we find the Chief Stone or Cornerstone as Jesus.
  Bear with me as God did with Job. God was using His Word (Jesus) to explain how the Creation was superintended to persuade Job to recognize Jesus as Creator.
  God asked, “To what were its foundations fastened?” Pagans believe that Hercules holds up the world. His people are to believe that God holds up the foundation of the world, specifically Jesus. Again, Jesus as the Chief Stone holds up the foundation of the world.
  Did you not know that the world has a foundation stone? Yes indeed! It is a most Holy Place, was where God lived, and is now covered with a dome. The foundation stone lies beneath the Dome of the Rock. It is believed to be the foundation stone of the world, and the celestial axis of the universe. With that, it is the “navel of the world.” Why navel? It was where the Earth was born and it was Adam’s, or mankind’s, symbolic “navel.”
  Within that Foundation Stone there is a hole. It is the datum, perhaps, of the cosmos. It is where Jesus measured from! The celestial axis runs through it, and the celestial sphere is centered on it, and is the double dome or firmament between the world and the heavens.
  Then God asked, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?” “Ordinances” in this case is limits. Do you, Job, know about the cosmos and matter placed in it? (Here I take “earth” in the general form - as material.) It seems that God was asking if Job knew about particle physics, and string theory! I bet he did not, although the author, Moses, of Genesis did.
  God continues to question Job about the Creation: “Who can pour out the bottles of heaven?” The liquids separated in Genesis 1 was called “waters from the waters,” but specifically, the Hebrew means semen from semen. Semen consists of sperm in seminal fluid. It may be that refers to bosons and fermions separated by hadrons from the field of quantum mechanics. “What is that?” You ask? Quanta are objects with have both particles and waves. String Theory describes particle movement in the waves. Bosons are visible and fermions not, with hadrons conforming some to each, and separates the two.
  Those quanta are cosmic semen, perhaps. God poured them out from “the bottles of heaven.” The Great “Bottle” would be all of Existence Who preceded the pouring out of His Goodness! God’s living waters?
  God expounded upon the question: “When the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together?” Particles in physics is possibly the cosmic “dust” of which the Word spoke. Process One – The First “Day” – was God generating the cosmic semen and the cosmic seminal fluid [i.e., the two types of particles – the visible (matter) and the invisible (anti-matter)].
  Later on, in the Fourth Process (Fourth “Day”), the particles were hardened, obviously from their liquid heated state, to states of equilibrium. And with that “clods,” or cosmic bodies were formed, and some continue to this day (era) in formation!
  God’s Energy in the processes was Light that was required to transform His Energy into matter. On the First “Day” the First Process was completed with the warming twisting to cooling (Gen 1:4) and the First Process was complete. All the quanta were generated for continuing the other processes.
  “Heaven,” or the Unseen, was completed in the Second Process of the Second “Day.” That wrapped up the production of the fermions, perhaps. The “firmament” or the celestial sphere, enclosed the place for the Earth (planet) at the end of that Process. Then preparation for generating the World was in the following Process on the Third “Day.”
  The “clump” called the “Earth” was the first heavenly body which was created, not from the Sun, but one process before that. Thus, the Zodiac is Earth-centered, and there is no evidence that planet Earth was ever part of the Sun around which it rotates? Why then would people worship the Sun when Earth came before it, and was heated by God’s energy without the need for another “clump” to do so?
  God spoke those things so that Job knew how the cosmos was Created. Why would God do that? So that mankind would someday understand that it was God who generated all things, and mankind only sought to discover the mystery of God. (Mikao Kaku just did discover that, and confirmed it with String Theory). With that said, Job and many of the other patriarchs knew String Theory before any others were ever enlightened. They also knew that the Creation is essential to salvation in that god’s both Create and Save, and it only takes one Real God to do that!
  Mankind was created to have dominion over the animals. Beasts have no need to understand the Creation because only men and women have God’s Spirit breathed unto their immortal souls. God shared with Job knowledge and understanding to make him wiser than ostriches.
  Using an ostrich as the example, God questioned Job, “Her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding” (Job 39:16b-17).
  After explaining to Job that He Is Creator, He asked this question and gave His challenge: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it” (Job 40:2).
  It would have been arrogant for Job to contend with God by knowing more than God does. God revealed to Job how He generated the cosmos, and warned against contention with His knowledge. It was fair warning as brilliant men still contend with God about how it “evolved” and that existence required no Being to generate it. God, using reason and logic, persuaded that God is known by the Creation. That Great Plan is the icing on the cake, and all the philosophers in the world cannot change ultimate truth.
  Why did God use His time to persuade Job that He Is Creator God? Because God’s ability to maintain the Creation as god’s do, He must have Created it first. The Tradesman both creates objects then maintains them in use. If anyone goes to another to maintain what someone else made, then its maintenance would be sub-standard. The Perfect God made all things perfect (“very good” it says), and maintains all things to perfection who seek the Perfector!

Credit: How Stuff Works

NOW YOU KNOW!

  Skeptics consider faith to be irrational when in actuality, when anyone looks at existence, it is irrational to think, It just happened. Scripture offers “existence” itself as the proof of God’s Existence: “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead” (Rom 1:20). People have faith that there is an invisible kingdom because of the majesty of things that are made. Those things are evidence of His Power and Godhood. Rational people recognize the intricate, complex, and interdependent things that they see means that there is an Almighty God! God is seen in the creation.
  Another rational reason to believe in the Word of God is it is the same Word from the beginning of existence up until now, and unto the end. The Bible commences with generation of all things, and ends with regeneration of all things. The common thread throughout the Bible is that God makes it possible that the “bliss”that Adam had in the Garden is the same bliss that is offered to Christians in the City of God. It makes sense that a Garden was only required for two, but a great city for Christians. One command in the beginning was for the two to multiply. Thus, the requirement for God’s creatures was known, his Plan for our future is New Jerusalem built on the same foundation that the Garden occupied!
  “Science” is the study of things for which there is evidence. Invisible things are non-evidentiary. Thus, science does not explore what they cannot see or measure. That is irrational because the nuclear world was once unseen and immeasurable. Who is to say that God, as always, knows more than His creatures? Science studies what God claims to have made, but if He is God, He has the knowledge, power, and wisdom to create the things that science only studies! Let’s look at a few examples.
  Columbus discovered the Americas because he believed that the Earth is a sphere, whereas early “scientists” believed the world to be flat. Why did Columbus see what was invisible to the eyes? Because He had faith in God’s Word. God had something to say about the shape of the earth: “It is He (God) that sitteth upon the circle of the Earth” (Isa 40:22).  A sphere is generated by rotating a circle about its axis, and that is how a globe is designed to this day. God generated the Earth from circles whose axis was through the Foundation Stone in Jerusalem. For the globe, the circles of longitude describe a sphere, as well as the circles of latitude. Columbus had faith enough in the Word of God that he chanced (he seemed to be certain) a voyage to the unknown! Isaiah wrote about that circa 740 B.C. Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 A.D. Isaiah knew what Columbus had faith in over 2000 years before! Is not God knowledgeable!
  Travelers began to wander the globe that they thought was flat even before Noah’s time. Sailors and  such saw stationary objects in the heavens that gave them coordinates for their location. They followed a celestial map that most thought was flat. Job knew that the celestial map was not a flat “curtain” but sphere: “He (God) walketh in the circuit (circle) of heaven” (Job 22:14). Combine that with another of Isaiah’s visions, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain” (Isa 40:22). From God’s vantage point in the heavens, the Earth’s inhabitants were tiny. That implies that he was walking the circle of the celestial sphere; the very astronomical map that was first drawn in 1515. Isaiah envisioned that map more than two millennium before it was drawn!
  Furthermore, the first astronomical map was drawn flat just as a “curtain” -  the same way Isaiah envisioned it. In the sacred writings of 2 Enoch, he described the movement of the stars and constellations’ movement in the Zodiac. He observed first hand in his travels with the angels what scientists learned thousands of years later, and wrote a book about the heavens! Job credited God for Creating, as is written, “He God (alone) spreads out the heavens” (Job 9:8). Job believed what he saw. He saw the heavens and believed to the extent that although he was tormented to give up his faith, he would not!
  Pagans thought the Earth was held up by something. Hercules was thought to hold up the world in his strong hands. Job knew better! “He (God) hangs the Earth on nothing” (Job 26:7)!
  The patriarchs of the Bible knew how the heavens and Earth was Created. They also understood that God formed everything using circles. In modern times, with our technology, we see things as pixels. Early on, even television screens were a matrix of circles with light shining on some, and not on some. That’s the way existence is. The world, even the universe, is made-up entirely of spherical “pixels” which are called “atoms.” In he beginning, it was revealed that the heaven and earth were generated by God, and somehow the writer knew that the first things God created was atoms and the space to put them in! Atoms were only discovered in 1800 by John Dalton. Moses wrote about the energy generating all the atomic structure of the universe ca 950 B.C. about things of done in 4000 B.C. Mr. Dalton was late, but he discovered how God made all things! Not to be outdone, recently the most notable astrophysicist today finally relented. Mikao Kaku’s “string theory” provided the information that God must have generated it all! Dr. Kaku should be commended for finally accepted what Jews and Christians knew all along!
  In the Book of Job, the most knowledgeable man, Elihu, understood the hydrological cycle and wrote about it: “For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, Which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (Job 36:27-28). In 1580 A.D. Bernard Palissy discovered the hydrological cycle. Let’s see here; Elihu was written sometime around 500 BC according to some sources. Elihu was at least 2000 years ahead of his time. Perhaps Elihu, as his name suggests, had divinely inspired wisdom as he said that he did!
  And perhaps the wisest man on Earth, perhaps not as wise as Elihu though, knew the hydrological cycle as well. He wrote, “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again” (Ecc 1:7). That was written around 935 B.C. – even before Elihu, and 2500 years before Palissy! Wizards - those scientists, but not as smart as Columbus who abandoned the Flat Earth Society before 1492.
  Many Americans are familiar with the Gulf Stream. There are other air streams all over the world, unseen by the naked eye. Solomon understood wind currents long before weathermen came into vogue. Preceding what he wrote of the hydrological cycle, Solomon wrote about air streams, “The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit.” (Ecc 1:6). Solomon, using the word “circuit,” knew of the circle-type motion of air streams, and without fancy radar equipment. Likewise, he also knew about the motion of the sun, albeit he may have thought the sun rotated around the Earth: “The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose” (Ecc 1:5).
  In the story of Noah, the first tsunami was described. “…all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen 7:11-12). Only recently did science discover that there is an ample reservoir of water beneath the crust of the Earth to flood the surface to that extent. At one time I doubted God because, as Solomon pointed out, the hydrological cycle means a closed system, but yet, water was more abundant than all the oceans. Scientists now believe that there are reservoirs beneath the surface that would hold three times the surface water. Noah believed that would happen, and it did; albeit it had never happened before. Noah thought the irrational things would happen, but all the bystanders only scoffed! What early mankind thought were miracles were God’s handiwork.
  Who would have thought in 30 A.D. that anyone could rise from the dead? Some scientists say it has happened in modern times, but men of faith believed it would in ancient days. Isaiah, for instance, saw Jesus arise from the dead in his visions. God showed him that and he believed in the impossible. Likewise, Abraham understood that, but many yet today do not! Of course, science has raised the dead after only a few minutes, of course with God’s help, but God by Himself, did that after four-days with Lazarus (John 11) and three with Jesus as is well-known.
  Lazarus stank he was so dead! (John 11:39). Jesus knew that someone could be raised from the dead even though he was decayed. In modern times, wealthy men have paid to be cryogenically kept safe from the world, so as not to stink, believing that someday science will raise them from the dead. I KNOW that I shall be raised from the dead because righteous Lazarus was. Rich men pay the price for their own possible resurrection for a short period in time, but Jesus paid the price for mine, and for eternity!
  Some think that cryogenics is rational thinking, but resurrection is irrational. Lazarus died to persuade the Jews and Jesus died to persuade all skeptics. Reasonable people should think, If Jesus is still alive, maybe I can someday be as well! Ironically, that was the purpose for which Jesus died.
  Some question whether Jesus was resurrected or not. Islam demands that he was not. Billions of people are deluded because they think what seems impossible is possible. They miss the mark with God, for with God, all things are possible. Who said that? The Son of God who most believe never existed. It is documented: “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mat 19:26); Matthew transcribed what Jesus said about himself before it happened.
  The resurrection of Lazarus was thought to be impossible, and likewise for Jesus. There is convincing evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead, not by men, but by God. The evidence is overwhelming, and there are books written as depositions to the truth of Jesus’s birth, life, words of wisdom, knowledge of the workings of the universe, his death, entombment, after-death experiences, and that he was still alive when he arose to another world, not of this one. Those books are the four gospel truths – the good news that God had fulfilled all His covenants.
   God’s body was there, and then it was gone. No one had stolen it, but in a few days, those who saw him die, saw him alive. There was no body to be found because Jesus’s body has been regenerated and is still alive - to convince mankind that if they are like God, indeed, that they too can die and live again like God did!
  The prophets and patriarchs believed that three-thousand years ago. Adam believed it six thousand years ago, but most people still don’t believe it today! Herod Antipas was almost persuaded while it was fresh in his memory, but just could not believe that a man could die yet live again. For that reason, Antipas is still suffering a neverending death! If only he had been persuaded by reason and logic, he too would be in Abraham’s comfortable “boson” to this day. What seemed silly to most, Antipas almost believed. Even many “Christians” still have doubts. God planned it, foretold it hundreds of times in scripture, and then made it happen. People still refuse to rely on God’s Plan and fail to trust that he followed through.
  God knows it all! Elihu, in the story of Job, knew much and was wise, but he did not know it all. Stephen Hawkings may have been the smartest man in the world, but he was not even as wise as Job. Hawkings is still suffering, but Job’s sufferings have ended. Even to this day Job’s body is glorified – returned to its state of bliss – while Hawkings remains in deathly paralysis. That may seem cruel, but that is Divine Justice. We all have heard how to avoid eternal death, but most smart people are not humble enough to admit their ignorance of things unseen.

credit: Walking Terra Christa

THE ULTIMATE TEST OF FAITH

He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me.

Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.

All my close friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned against me. (Job 19:13-19; NKJV)

  Job was stricken with boils, lost his prestige, and his property was taken from him. That was made clear in the earlier chapters, but now Job talks about his isolation from his servants, friends, and even his family. Of all the despair thus far, communion with those closest to him was his greatest loss.
  I have written on several occasions about the importance of a man’s family. The family, after the “Church,” was the second institution constructed by God. Think of the Church as no more than communion with those who are loved, and they who have accord with God and each other (Acts 2:1). Of course, the Garden of Eden was not populated before sin entered in, but the Garden was the tabernacle of God, and was his first tent of meeting.
  Like most new churches, it began with the husband and wife team. Their role was to “dress and keep” the “Tabernacle” (Gen 2:15), so to speak, or better to yet, to serve and preserve those who would reside in the Tabernacle. Obviously, God’s Plan was for bliss for humankind to be in Paradise, and that remains His Plan to this day! In fact, that is the intention of all His Covenants with mankind.
  The Adamic, or Edenic, Covenant can be found in Genesis 1:26-30 and 2:16-17. The curse for its violation is in Genesis 3:16-19. The Covenant was that man would be like God, the condition was that they honor God’s Will, and the curse for breaking the Covenant was hardship. The grace of God in their breaking the Covenant was that they were still His creatures, and that He would keep them safe by covering them with the flesh of a dead animal, most certainly an innocent lamb! (Gen 3:21).
  Note that Adam worked himself and made aprons of fig leaves. His work and partial coverage of their shame was insufficient, and God made them coats of skins; thus Jesus Himself, covered all their flesh with his own handiwork! Then Adam and Eve were cast out into desolation – outside Paradise. That’s much like where Job found himself after living in bliss in the land of Esau right inside the boundaries of what would become the boundaries of the Kingdom of David, or Promise Land.
  Adam sinned, and he was cast from the presence of God. However, because he wore God’s coat, he was protected to some degree. He still had to suffer his sin, but the coat protected him from the elements and death. The hedge around the Garden had been his safety, but outside Paradise, the coat was his portable safety shield. Wherever he went, God went with him as long as he kept on God’s coat. Think of that coat as Job’s hedge of safety shield because of his faith. In apostolic times, Paul admonished Christians to, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephes 6:16).
  Adam’s shield was the coat that God made. It kept Satan’s barbs out, in that part of the curse was that, “thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee” (Gen 3:18). Job’s shield was his faith, it protected him from all the barbs that Satan threw at him! Not by coincidence, Jesus had a crown of thorns placed on his head by Satan’s representatives who tried once more for God to deny His Flesh. That was the last barb that Satan would deliver to Jesus – the man without sin or blame! The Father never abandoned His Son although Jesus felt isolated from His Father.
  Job was feeling that same isolation. Just as Jesus was abandoned by family, friends, acquaintances, apostles, and nearly everyone; Job was as well. Like Job, all Jesus’s disciples were his “children” and they abandoned him too!
  Job was without blame. That did not mean that Job had not sinned because he was born in iniquity and all men have sinned. However, because of his faith, God had covered and “forgotten” Job’s sin in that they were not held against him. Jesus, on the other hand, never sinned at all! Thus, Job was only a type of Christ, and his temptations were the Temptations of Christ. Satan attacked Job intensely, whereas Satan did not go after Jesus’s “biological” family, he did Job’s. Why did he do that? Because in ancient times, families were a father’s pride! In the case of Jesus, he was God’s “family” and His source of pride. Job was required to give up what the Father gave up at the crucifixion of His Son.
  Job was not God, and he certainly was not Jesus! That was part of his faith; that he knew his value compared to God. In fact, he was God’s servant, and Job served him well. Satan desired to see just how well Job served God.
  Christians are not God, and good people suffer bad things because their faith is being tested. Of course, they are not truly “good” but only forgiven people just as Job. Contemporary men and women still face hardships as tests of faith. The prosperity gospel is silliness; the story of Job and even Paul and all the apostles, demonstrated that. God still allows Satan to have his way with Christians to see which way they shall go as tests of faith.
  My family has always been my pride. My siblings and I were my parents crown: “Children’s children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father” (Prov 17:6). My children and grandchildren are this old man’s “crown” and my own father was my glory, and it is my wish that I be my children’s glory! Familial love is paramount for me; it always has been. The family of my youth was my safety and source of love. Today’s youth miss that glorious feeling of familial love.
  In a previous relationship, my mate could not get revenge on me through me, but she soon realized that she could through my family. In times of discord, I remained unscathed until she hurt a family member. I don’t think it was planned that way, but that is how it was. The M.O. was the same for my parents and my children. I have forgiven her of that because hurt people need relief, and that was her way for revenge. My point is that my family is my glory and “crown” and by removing that crown, my glory is lost. Even loved ones often do Satan’s will because Satan directs them to what hurts the most. For Job, he endured until it came for his loved ones, and then he was in despair. Even Jesus endured until he felt as if his Father had abandoned him.
  Jesus deposited all the sins of mankind in Hell during his three days of “rest.” While God’s Flesh was resting, the Father continued with His Plan as the Holy Ghost deposited the sins of mankind in Hell. Jesus was not abandoned, but surely felt the isolation of relinquishing His Father and Ghost for a while. Indeed, in Hell, sinners will suffer isolation from friends, families, and God. Job lost his friends and family, but he still had God!
  That is the way many are in this age of dishonor; where it is socially acceptable to dishonor parents, and it is assured, that if anyone can dishonor parents, they may certainly dishonor friends! Job found himself in a situation where everyone dishonored him, and that was his greatest curse. For myself, sometimes I feel alone in a crowd, even a crowd of “friends.” Added to that, I feel alone in the world, as my family is in isolation from me in other places and attitudes. When my wife and I are in discord, as most sometimes are, I feel alone in the world. In those times, my home is nothing more than an empty house.
  Job actually was alone in his despair. Everyone had abandoned him. Why? Because Satan willed it, and God allowed it as a test of faith. When I feel alone in the world, God Comforts me with His Holy Ghost. Jesus is with me even when my friends and family are not! Job, likewise, lost all his human comfort, but through his shield of faith, he was still safe! If Job endured the Devil’s test - he would be saved. He did and was! For us Christians who endure to the end, we too shall be saved!
  I have it easy. I always say, “Parents should never outlive their children!” I saw my own Mom outlive her son, and it was devastating! My cousin outlived her son, and it was as if she lost part of herself. (I sense that from our conversations.) Is it worse to lose a son by death or lose one by deed? God accepted the loss of his Son by death, but He will not accept the death of His other children by deed. God’s children must always revere their Father, and in like manner, God expects children to honor their own fathers. That is not really an expectation, but evidence of the ability to love and honor!
  Church friends become family in the absence of family. Have you ever felt alone in a church? Many of us have! It is a feeling of despair when Christians feel is if close friends have abhorred them, and turned against them. I have had Christians, even church friends, unfriend me for my beliefs and actions. What if God abandons us if we transgress His Will. He comes even closer to those who need it, as Jesus demonstrated, when he even made drunks and brawlers his friends.
  It is a shame when churches fail to include their Christian brothers. Rather than churches as  sanctuaries for accord, such churches are prisons in discord! It’s a shame when Christians feel alone even in church. The Holy Ghost reveals his presence only where his children are of one accord (Acts 2:1). Without accord in the church, Christians are isolated from God, and are merely play-acting church, as well as presenting faux love as the real thing. That’s how Job felt, but he clung to his faith and to God. Even when God does not reveal himself to others, He is evident to faithful Christians.

Credit: teespring