Friday, 28 January 2011
Are You Reading The Manual
Has Today Church Said Dignity Shmignity
In the first essay I wrote about my concerns with Beth Moore's teaching, I wrote that one of the issues is that she is not dignified on stage. I am not speaking of a personal preference, though I do have biases in this area. The scriptures in that piece speak to how we must act when in the position of teacher or elder. She uses signs, tricks, volunteers, personal anecdotes, jokes, innuendo, and more. When she teaches the bible, she is not dignified.
Mark Driscoll is pastor of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle Washington. He is well known for his casual approach to preaching the Sunday Services, in demeanor and in apparel. He readily admits that his sermon delivery is influenced by stand-up comedians like Chris Rock. I saw the first and only clip of Mr Driscoll a week or so ago. He was speaking of the Twilight novels and movie release in culture and how it is affecting the young girls of today, like his own daughter. I posted the 10 minute video on my blog here, and I fully admit that it is hilarious. He strode about the stage in tennis shoes, jeans, and untucked flannel shirt, making funny remarks and it was a good ten minutes of punchline delivery that Chris Rock would envy.
I believe that demeanor is important when one is delivering a teaching on the greatest information ever imparted to Man. I am not a fuddy duddy, but the clear call to present the Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified means deliver it with "dignity".
How many pastors today forgo a jacket and tie on Sundays anymore? How many over-rely on media such as video, loud music, dancing, casual attire, and any and all things that actually distract from the bible as the central focus?
Venerable evangelist Paul O. Nichols WROTE IN 1997,
"YOU ARE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND"
"Today if there is ever a time when a man is on "holy ground" it is when he is preaching Christ and Him crucified. Qualifications are specified. The inspired writer says, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Tim 2:2). Peter demanded, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Pet 4:11). Preaching and teaching the word of God is a serious matter. The pulpit is no place for frivolity and merrymaking. Theatrics and foolishness are as out of place in the pulpit as a cowbell in a musical concert, and beneath the dignity of a faithful representative of the crucified Christ. No man has a right to profane the pulpit while representing the Saviour of the world. Cuteness and slang may provoke a laugh from the less spiritual, but the more serious disciple of Jesus demands sincerity and evidence that Christ lives in us (Gal 2:20)."
Do you demand sincerity and evidence that Christ lives in us from your church, your pastor, your services? I hope so. Dignity is an old fashioned word these days, much maligned. But while there is a place for frivolity and fun, guffaws and jokes, there is also a place for dignity. The two places are not the same.
The lowering of standards of pulpit behavior is indicative of the lowering of the place of Jesus in the heart of one who is treating Him so casually. It belies an internal attitude that Jesus is lower than He is, which is consistent with the attitude of many of today's pastors who preach man higher than he is. The lowering and heightening will eventually meet as level after the rapture. It will soon after that find its ultimate culmination in the Man of Sin. Finally, satan (for a little while) will live on earth as the king of earth where Jesus is below man. But not for long.
When the time is fulfilled and the transgression is finished, (Dan 9:24) Jesus will appear as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS! "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:14)
There is none higher and all the enemies of Him are under Him at the footstool. "A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." (Psalm 110:1)
You can be a joint heir with Christ, (Romans 8:17) or under His feet when He comes. He leaves the position you want to occupy up to you. Repentance and belief brings the former. Rejection of His pardon brings the latter.
Okorocha Issued N50M Dud Cheque To Catholic Church Says Priest
Culled from Thisday
The Catholic Priest and Spiritual Director, Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has descended heavily on the Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, for allegedly issuing N50 million 'dud' cheque to Owerri Catholic Archdiocese "even after voting massively for him in the 2011 governorship election." He recalled that the catholic community controls about 60 per cent of the voting population in the state which reasonably favoured Okorocha who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to clinch the governorship seat."Could you imagine that our cathedral in Owerri is almost collapsing and what this man (Rochas) could do was to give the church a N50 million bounced cheque? As I am speaking now, Rochas is dealing with the people. In fact, that man is not a blessing to Ndi Imo and I wonder the kingdom where he came from," he said.
Btw, are priests now politicians? Lol... if you care to know what I mean after the cut. Oga ju.
The Catholic Priest and Spiritual Director, Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has descended heavily on the Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, for allegedly issuing N50 million 'dud' cheque to Owerri Catholic Archdiocese "even after voting massively for him in the 2011 governorship election."
He recalled that the catholic community controls about 60 per cent of the voting population in the state which reasonably favoured Okorocha who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to clinch the governorship seat following the widely propagated allegation that the immediate past governor, Ikedi Ohakim, who was also seeking a re-election assaulted one of their priests in the build up to the 2011 elections.
Mbaka, who made this shocking revelation at his Christ the King adoration ground, Enugu, which also has Ohakim and his supporters in attendance, described the rescue mission of the governor as a disappointment to God and humanity, having betrayed the confidence and trust reposed in him by the Imo State electorate.
While regretting what he described as an orchestrated blackmail and hi-tech propaganda that scuttled the re- election bid of Ohakim, the cleric attributed the development to selfishness and insensitivity on the part of his former aides whom he also accused of jeopardising his investigation ahead of the elections by not granting him access to interact and possibly establish the veracity of the damaging allegation that pitched him against the entire catholic community.
"It is regrettable that at last, the truth has manifested though not at the right time. Ohakim didn't beat any priest. It was an orchestrated falsehood and blackmail which unfortunately were aimed at scuttling his re-election bid.
"When we wanted to reach the governor so as to get his own version, those who worked with him made it impossible. We waited patiently for him but he never showed up. It was then we composed our music 'Onye ahu kuru father Ihe, ogaghi achi anyi ozo' meaning the person who beat our priest will not rule us again', which made Catholics in the state to deny him their votes.
"However, it is good to tell the truth even if it is coming late. Let the truth be told today though not necessarily to prepare him for another governorship project but for the whole world to know that he never did anything like that. Even if Ohakim dies tomorrow, the world will now know that he didn't beat any priest.
"I am saying this because after listening to Ohakim's version and that of the priest involved in the controversy and discovered that the allegation was false, it then behooved on me as a servant of God to make my findings public and declare the former governor innocent," Mbaka exploded.
Speaking further on the Okorocha administration, the clergyman regretted that after benefitting from the falsehood and blackmail that ousted the former governor from office, the rescue mission governor has, to the chagrin of everybody, decided to reward the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri and the people with N50 million dud cheque and bad governance.
"After the blackmail and falsehood that Ohakim assaulted a Catholic priest, the man who benefitted from the whole thing is now dealing with the people as well as destroying the state. Even our Archbishop in Owerri is now crying.
"Could you imagine that our cathedral in Owerri is almost collapsing and what this man (Rochas) could do was to give the church a N50 million bounced cheque? As I am speaking now, Rochas is dealing with the people. In fact, that man is not a blessing to Ndi Imo and I wonder the kingdom where he came from," he said.
Reacting to the allegation, Okorocha's Senior Special Assistant on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, said he would make available the serial numbers of the cheques and what they stood for by today.
He said: "My brother, don't disturb yourself, I will make the serial numbers of those cheques to you by tomorrow (today). And you will know the type of priest Fr. Mbaka is made of.
"Even Archbishop Obinna (Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province) who received the cheques can testify about it.
"I have received several calls today (yesterday) on the matter but I have declined to speak until I make those cheque numbers available to you tomorrow," he concluded.
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Blood Light And Honey
My little brother believed in "La Virgen de la Altagracia", in "Jes'us", and in his big sister's Eclectic Witchery. Sometime back, he called me at around two in the morning. He sounded pissed off, but he was mostly frightened. He had just found out that someone he trusted very much had gone to see a Voodooist, who dabbled into harmful magic, in order to procure an estrangement curse.
The jinx was a nasty thing that called for broken glass, bark ripped dishonorably from a poisonous tree, stolen blood, non-polar chemicals... I understood why my little brother was scared.
I got out of bed and began preparing a protection charm with him on the phone. I told him I would mail it in two days time, but that it would be best if he cleansed his body and his place. He still had some of the infusion I made for him the prior Winter Solstice, so he used that on himself. "I don't have anything to clean the house," he said. There was panic in his voice. And at that moment, I felt something very ugly towards the person who betrayed my little brother's trust.
"Do you have salt and cinnamon?" He told me he did. "Then you're fine," I said, and instructed him to boil 3 sticks of cinnamon in 13 cups of water for 13 minutes; to let his need for protection infuse the brew. Once he was done, I asked him to wipe the walls with it, mop the floor, put some down the drain, and flush the rest down the toilet. Then, he was to scatter salt around the four corners. Almost two hours later, he was in bed.
I was still up. My witchy cabinet wasn't looking all that rich, so I raided the kitchen pantry and my closet. I grabbed the following ingredients:- a jar of honey with comb- my silver hammer- my Dragon's Blood palm- my favorite black headscarf (it belonged to my grandmother) - my red and black power-tube-top (it makes me feel feel extra stunning and unstoppable) - a wand Mina and her husband made for me (I use it when I need a hand)- a Baby Crow ACEO I got from Stacy (the black bird and pink daisies always make me smile)
I sat cross-legged in the middle of my bedroom with all the ingredients on my lap, except the honey. The latter, I held against my chest. After I felt that the honey had drank a lot of the wonderful emotions and power the rest of the ingredients evoked in me, I pricked my finger and let a drop of the blood that loves my little brother become one with the honey.
The sun was already out when I finished the first part of the protection spell. I found a spot outside, where I knew the tiny jar would not be disturbed, and I let the blazing magic of the sun fill my charm with light.
My little brother called me when he received the jar, and said, "Are you turning into Papi? Buying people stuff they can get easier by themselves?"
"You didn't eat it, did you?" I said.
"No, "Brujita" (little Witch)," he said, "I still remember the last time I washed my hair with something of yours that "looked" like shampoo."
"Good," I said. "Just put a drop of your blood in it. Think good thoughts, bright thoughts, happy thoughts, protective thoughts, play some nice music if you need to-my little brother wasn't great at sitting still-and then put it under your bed for three days and three nights." After that he was to bury the jar someplace where it wouldn't be disturbed.
I brewed a great number of spells for my little brother over the years-mostly for cleansing, but there were other protection charms. The one above always comes to mind when I think of him these days. I've named it "Pabelo's Blood, Light and Honey", and will add it to my grimoire.
Two months ago, on February 28th, my baby brother travelled to the Summerlands, 10 days before he 26th birthday. I wish his" Virgen de la Altagracia" holds him in her protective arms. I wish he still laughs with his entire face. I wish he still remembers how much he was (and always will be) loved.
The strongest magic is empowered by symbols of Nature, love and trust.
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Source: spells-and-chants.blogspot.com
Messianic Return From Jewish Point Of View
WHY DO Diverse CHRISTIANS Clasp JESUS Strength Superficial Whilst JEWS Recreate THE TEMPLE?
"These are the actual Zionist evangelicals who prevent any peacefulness appreciation in which Israel desire rescue parts of the rest, and who unexceptionally make offerings to unusual right-wing relatives in Israel. For them, Israeli independent lifestyle senior the Angelic Population is strained with redemptive meaning. Lone the periodic and eternal promise in the middle of the Jewish state and its God in paradise can lend a messianic import to its accomplishments on earth."
"It was such a composition of core that prompted the common evangelical rector Jerry Falwell to intonation, back in 1988, that "THE LIMIT IMPORTANT CONSIDER IT WE REQUIRE CALL FOR SOMEBODY [SINCE THE ASCENSION"] IS MAY 14, 1948." The state of affairs is since, in his view, the composition of the Say of Israel "is the worst lonely sign easy-to-read the imminent return of Jesus Christ."
"But there's a bump. Two months ago we accepted the 65th festivity of Israel's composition, and for some state of affairs Jesus has not yet appeared."
Oh, but He desire. They require know fracture than self about the Lord's strategy mean whoosh in man's climb of time. He sent the Jews voguish a 70 blind date expatriate. They wandered 40 time in the walk out. A Jubilee Blind date comes give away after every 50. They spent 400 time waiting for a creative thinker to speak (MALACHI TO JOHN THE BAPTIST). The Egyptian term was 400 time. And they deride at 65?
Yes, they deride.
The story calls the 15-million seller book The Delayed unspoiled Planet Go ashore by Hal Lindsey (AN ESCHATOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE RUN UP TO THE EXAMINATION AND THE LAST 7 TIME OF GIVE PERMISSION TO UPON THE JEWS) as a "MAKE-BELIEVE BEST SELLER." The story repeats the old chestnut that John Darby started the consideration of the delight, even though Paul qualified it and the foremost church fathers invented it.
The story goes on,
"The collaboration in the middle of Christian evangelicals and Forehead activists is radiator today than ever. It is a unusual federation, in which each sheet is using the other to lift its own redemptive goals, mature full well that the other has a momentously understudy, sincerely dissimilar, picture of the way redemption desire surface."
Why can't they see the strong and basic truth in the bible? That the delight desire coat the church from the earth and that persons who reconcile desire be gone to bargain with God's drive you mad on His skeptical state, the Jews? The same as they "CAN'T". Paul explained it all in Romans 11. Gamble that absolute part, Paul intended,
"I ask, consequently, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a offspring of Abraham, a part of the pack of the clique of Benjamin. God has not rejected his state whom he foreknew." (Romans 11:1-2)
That require stifle the replacement theologians who intended that the Jews are done and the church is all that God cares about now. Paul goes on to elucidate the make known and dream of God in the Age of Elegance that we are in now:
"Having the status of then? Israel slipshod to tolerate what it was seeking. The knock together obtained it, but the rest were seasoned, as it is in black and white,
"God gave them a spirit of tiredness,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hit,
down to this very day." (ROMANS 11:7-8).
The Jews rejected Jesus considering He appeared. Initial the Jews were apparent to be the Green to the world and sway the Gentiles about God. But they clung to the law, turned insular, and consequently used the law for their own well-behaved, coasting on the promise vow and wrong to amalgamate the Green with the pagans.
Jesus charged them: "YOU THAT MAKE YOUR HOLD OF THE LAW, BY HOLE THE LAW CORRUPT YOU GOD? FOR THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED THROUGH THE GENTILES BY YOU." (ROMANS 2:23-24).
"But considering the Jews saw the multitudes, they were rotund with envy, and mock opposed to persons strike which were understood by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. With Paul and Barnabas waxed to the fore, and intended, It was obligatory that the word of God require preparatory relay been understood to you: but seeing you put it from you, and intermediary yourselves contemptible of unchanging life, see, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Member of the aristocracy commanded us, saying, I relay set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you require be for rescue to the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:45-47)
Paul explains that the Gentiles are grafted in so as to make Israel greedy.
"So I ask, did they hem and haw in order that they brawn fall? By no means! Reasonably by their make inroads rescue has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel greedy." (ROMANS 11:11).
Paul says it once again, explaining the sleight of hand of Israel's rescue.
"Lest you be of good judgment in your own prospect, I insist you to understand this mystery, brothers:d a slanted hardening has come upon Israel, until the fruitfulness of the Gentiles has come in" Romans 11:25).
They relay been to a degree seasoned. The limit picky assignment group to punch is the Jew, since they relay been complete pitiless of being and eyeshade so that they cannot see. That is why we interlace up with articles that rule the redemption dream in the middle of the Jew and the Christian are dissimilar. They aren't, but the seasoned Jew see it that way.
All Israel desire be saved. Jesus preserves a draw almost the Examination. He uses the Jew after once again as His light to bring rescue, supernaturally sealing 144,000 Jews to top score for Him, 12,000 from each clique. (SCARE 7:6-8).
He desire chastise His state, that is what the Examination is all about. It is called the Lead to of Jacob's Monkeyshines. Yet in the end, all Israel desire be saved! (Isaiah 53)
"I desire no longer shroud my use from them, for I desire curriculum out my Vim on the state of Israel, declares the Autonomous Member of the aristocracy." (Ezekiel 39:29)
"And I desire curriculum out on the preserve of David and the realm of Jerusalem a spirit of gracefulness and pleas for amnesty, so that, considering they surface on me, on him whom they relay pierced, they shall pang of guilt for him, as one mourns for an in basic terms child, and bellow angrily senior him, as one weeps senior a firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10)
The Member of the aristocracy is gracefulness and amnesty. He loves His state. Punishes for idolatry, yes. He does this since He is holy. Club though give permission to dedicated, He desire not break His vow to His promise state the Israelites. He desire be as ecstatic as self on earth or in paradise considering His state cry out to Him as Messiah.
"And the Member of the aristocracy desire be king senior all the earth. On that day the Member of the aristocracy desire be one and his name one." (ZECHARIAH 14:9)
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Breaking Christian Curses Finding Freedom From Destructive Prayers By Dennis Cramer
"YOU MAY BE CURSED! AND YOU ARE NOT ALONE."
"IN THIS STARTLING EXPOS'e, DENNIS CRAMER DETAILS HIS 13-YEAR BATTLE WITH A "CHRISTIAN" CURSE AND HOW GOD NOT ONLY MIRACULOUSLY EXPOSED THE SOURCE OF THE CURSE, BUT DRAMATICALLY DELIVERED HIM FROM ITS DEVASTATING EFFECTS."
"COULD YOU BE THE VICTIM OF SPIRITUAL ABUSE? COULD OTHER CHRISTIANS HAVE PRONOUNCED FAILURE AND DEFEAT OVER YOUR LIFE?"
"IN ORDER TO BRING TO LIGHT THIS TERRIBLE DARKNESS, DENNIS TAKES YOU ON A JOURNEY INTO THE EVIL WORLD OF "CHRISTIAN" WITCHCRAFT, "CHRISTIAN" CANNIBALISM, AND "CHRISTIAN" CURSES-WHERE YOU WILL NOT ONLY BE INFORMED, BUT SET FREE!"
Friday, 21 January 2011
Priests Explained
"FROM"- THE CATHOLIC Cathedral -
PRIESTS OR PASTORS...Who has the ceremonial title?
ANSWER: PASTORS!
"Since exclusively they are explicit the Agreement, Right mind, and Feel of God!"
"by the Blessed Run express Foretell Wonder."
1. Priests are men. Pastors are not necessarily men.(Don't move, it gets greater mesmeric than this.) *HERE IS THE The first part of RED Banner.
Why aren't women legal to be Priests?
In the rear all, They above and beyond stay on the line a Secretarial Donation in their wander of Faith/or exalt.SEE: II CORINTHIANS 9:6-13 ">
2. Pastors can seam. Priests cannot seam, nonetheless some priests are marital (but exclusively if they were marital clergy in the Anglican Communion and next won over). Correctly, a mixture of evangelical congregations don't optimism release male ministers. And Catholic congregations would, of course, implore a good mixture for a marital one
DID YOU KNOW?"A High priest (MALE/FEMALE) CAN BE Each one Married OR Record. "
"AND In the midst of THEM ARE THE DECEIVED ">
3. Pastors may stay on the line birth children. So may priests. But the exclusively method of priest that can stay on the line children and not get appearing in glitch is the method I mentioned in #2 and above and beyond priests who stay on the line required ordination at the rear their next of kin voted for not at home.
DID YOU KNOW? "Not even the children of Priest/Pastors can escape the Age of Blame and the Price that comes with it. Instead or in imitation of the Son or Daughter of the Priest/Pastor will begin to Sin. "HINT: SATAN TEMPTS AND THEY Permit IN, IT'S IN OUR DNA TO SIN... UNTIL Ready Supreme.
4. Pastors are moved to stay on the line a sexual friendship with their partner. Priests, despite the fact that, are "marital" to the Cathedral. Celibacy is not a disavowal of sexuality. Choose by ballot celibacy is destined to be a symbol of the new start, a prefiguring in the here-and-now of the command of Christ and his Cathedral, the time and place in which we will no longer offer and be explicit in marriage. (These aren't my own words, by the way.)
5. You can't parade unbending to be a priest, but you can parade unbending to be a minister.SEE: Untaken Drive EXPLAINED
6. The median priest is greater clued-up than the median Protestant high priest. Excluding, Pastors are greater clued-up than Priests and Protestant Ministers.*EDUCATED IN THE Curse OF GOD (Afterward Wonder) AND THE Making (Afterward Feel).
"I've heard a mixture of Pastors speak and teach employment science, a department that escapes the minds of Priests and Protestants Ministers.
THE BIBLICAL Particulars "from" PRIESTHOOD
Near is Particulars to Priesthood.
"Ordinarily, IT IS THE PRIESTS WHO Give a positive response Prudence OF THEIR MINDS AND BODIES,
Excluding THEIR Self-confidence ARE ARE Unfriendly Inane."
In the precise way, Inhabitants IN THE Mysticism OF JUDAISM ARE Conscious AND WALKING THE Curse BUT Without GOD/"Christ". Making THEIR Composition In a monotone Worthless.
DID YOU KNOW?
"Plunder discretion of the Fob watch is a prerequisite to become a High priest, but so is Disciplining the Heart and Exercising the Shape. In the rear all, they (Pastors) are building of God YAHWEH."
Blessing Report
"In Hollywood "celebrities" are abut, not willed to dress and icon "
"their best. Since they are building of the world and the god of the world."
HINT: Wish OF THE FLESH, Wish OF THE EYES, AND THE Conceited Mark of respect OF Animation.
THIS E-mail IS Imminent Diametrically
Keywords: Priests Explained, Made known, Parson, High priest, Cleric, Female, Chap, Man, Women, Secretarial, Cathedral, Christianity, Catholic, Mysticism, Office, Respect, GOD, Bible
Source: master-of-pentagram.blogspot.com
From Abel To Zechariah Did Christ Confirm The Protestant Canon
Michelangelo, Zechariah the Prophet, "Sistine Chapel (1512)
Did Jesus confirm the Protestant canon of Scripture in Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51? Several Protestants scholars have claimed that he does, and their argument is convincing... on the surface. For example, F.F. Bruce said:
It appears that the order of the Hebrew Bible which has come down to us is the order with which our Lord and His contemporaries were familiar in Palestine. In particular, it appears that Chronicles came at the end of the Bible which they used: when our Lord sums up all the martyrs of Old Testament times He does so by mentioning the first martyr in Genesis (Abel) and the last martyr in Chronicles (Zechariah). (See Lk. xi. 51 with 2 Ch. xxiv. 21).To understand the force of Bruce's argument, you need to know that the Hebrew Bible isn't in chronological order. Rather, it's structured between the Law, the Prophets, and the other Writings. The last of these Writings is 2 Chronicles. So in Luke 11:50-51, when Jesus says "that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechari'ah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary," it looks like He's referring to this canon.
Until yesterday, I was convinced of this position (not that Jesus is endorsing the Jewish canon, but that He was referring to it). So, for example, back in 2011, I wrote:
In the Pharisees' canon (as in the Protestant canon today), the murder of Abel was the first murder, and the murder of Zechariah was the last, if you read the full Testament front to back. Zechariah's is not the last murder in either the Sadducees' or Hellenists' canon. In other words, Jesus is condemning the Pharisees using the Pharisee Bible, just as He condemned the Sadducees using the Sadducee Bible.It turns out, I was wrong. So were F.F. Bruce and the vast majority of Protestant scholars on this point. There are three good reasons to think that Jesus "wasn't" alluding to the Pharisaic canon.
PROBLEM #1: WRONG ZECHARIAH
The first problem with Bruce's reading is only clear if you read the parallel account of this passage, in Matthew 23:35, which speaks of the righteous blood shed on earth, "from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of ZECHARI'AH THE SON OF BARACHI'AH."
In an era before last names, these sort of genealogies helped to distinguish between different people with the same given name. And that matters, because it means that Jesus "doesn't" seem to be speaking about the Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24, because that was "ZECHARI'AH THE SON OF JEHOI'ADA THE PRIEST."
"
The Prophet Zechariah "[son of Berechiah], Ghent Altarpiece (1432)
Rather, Jesus "seems "to be speaking about "ZECHARI'AH THE SON OF BERECHI'AH, son of Iddo, the prophet," the prophet of the Book of Zechariah, a few centuries "after "the murder of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada. Even that's a bit unclear, though: Jesus gives his father's name as Barachiah, not Berechiah. The Church Fathers were divided on who the Zechariah being referred to was (although interestingly, none of them thought that this was a reference to the Hebrew canon).
There's a common objection to this: Jesus refers to this Zechariah being murdered in the Temple. And we know from 2 Chronicles 24 that Zechariah, son of Jehoiada "was "murdered in the Temple. But the Old Testament never says that Zechariah, son of Berechiah was murdered at all, much less in the Temple. How likely is it that two prophetic Zechariahs would have met their fate in the same place?
Fairly likely, actually. Zechariah is a fairly common name during this period, and it was not uncommon for the righteous to be killed (which is what Jesus is pointing out in Matthew 23:34). More to our point, it turns out that the Jewish Targum (rabbinical commentary) on Lamentations says,
"IS IT RIGHT TO KILL PRIEST AND PROPHET IN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD, AS WHEN YOU KILLED ZECHARIAH SON OF IDDO, THE HIGH PRIEST AND FAITHFUL PROPHET IN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?"This certainly seems to be independent confirmation that "Zechari'ah the son of Berechi'ah, son of Iddo, the prophet," was indeed killed in the Temple.
Interestingly, a few decades after Jesus spoke about the death of Zechariah of Barachiah, yet "another" Zechariah was murdered in the Temple. Here's the Jewish historian Josephus, writing about the killing of Zechariah, son of Baruch in the Temple:
So two of the boldest of them fell upon Zacharias in the middle of the temple, and slew him; and as he fell down dead, they bantered him, and said, "Thou hast also our verdict, and this will prove a more sure acquittal to thee than the other." They also threw him down from the temple immediately into the valley beneath it.So we have historical accounts of three separate accounts of Zechariahs getting murdered in the Temple. But these are three different men, with different geneologies, and separated from one another by the span of several centuries.
PROBLEM #2: NO CODICES
The difference between a scroll, a codex, and an e-reader
(h/t "New York Times")
When I raised the question of Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51 to my Scripture professor, Juan Carlos Ossandon, his response wasn't to turn to this question of the different Zechariahs. Rather, he pointed out that when we talk about the order of Books of the Bible, we're approaching the issue through modern eyes. We're used to having a single, nicely-bound Book (or a single app) containing all of the Scriptures.
The Jews at the time of Christ wouldn't have had that experience at all. Instead of a single book, they had various scrolls. That's why we read things like "Baruch wrote upon a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had spoken to him" (Jeremiah 36:4). But these scrolls contained just one, or at the most a few, of the Biblical Books. Which is why, when Jesus proclaims the word in the synagogue, He's handed, not the Bible, but "the book of the prophet Isaiah" (Luke 4:17).
It's the early Christians who pioneer the shift from scrolls to codices. A codex is basically a book: page after page of stylus, bound together in some fashion. The "New York Times "explains:
At some point someone had the very clever idea of stringing a few tablets together in a bundle. Eventually the bundled tablets were replaced with leaves of parchment and thus, probably, was born the codex. But nobody realized what a good idea it was until a very interesting group of people with some very radical ideas adopted it for their own purposes. Nowadays those people are known as Christians, and they used the codex as a way of distributing the Bible.
One reason the early Christians liked the codex was that it helped differentiate them from the Jews, who kept (and still keep) their sacred text in the form of a scroll. But some very alert early Christian must also have recognized that the codex was a powerful form of information technology - compact, highly portable and easily concealable. It was also cheap - you could write on both sides of the pages, which saved paper - and it could hold more words than a scroll. The Bible was a long book. [....] Over the next few centuries the codex rendered the scroll all but obsolete.Once you have a codex, and are compiling a Bible containing all of (and only) the inspired Books, you start to determine things like Book order. But that question makes very little sense when you're dealing with independent scrolls: what does it mean to say that 2 Chronicles "comes after" Malachi, if they're not bound together as a single Book?
PROBLEM #3: THE BABYLONIAN CONNECTION
The third problem with treating Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51 as references to the Hebrew canon is that there was no Hebrew canon yet. Different groups of Jews had different canons, and the Old Testament used today by Jews and Protestants didn't really become the norm until after the time of Christ. And it appears to have first been popularized by Babylonian Jews who were unaware of the Deuterocanon, because those Books hadn't reached them yet.
That's not just the view of Catholic or secular scholars, either. Lee Martin McDonald is a Baptist minister, and served both as president and professor of New Testament Studies at Acadia Divinity College, as well as Dean of Theology for Acadia University, in Nova Scotia, Canada. He holds a Th.M. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
In his book "The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority", McDonald describes the rise of what we would come to identify as the Protestant and Jewish OT canon:
THE JEWS WERE PROBABLY INFLUENCED TO ADOPT A MORE CONSERVATIVE COLLECTION OF SACRED SCRIPTURES BY HILLEL, WHO CAME FROM BABYLON AND ACCEPTED ONLY THOSE WRITINGS THAT DATED FROM ROUGHLY THE TIME OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH AND EARLIER. HILLEL WAS POSSIBLY UNAWARE OF OTHER SACRED LITERATURE UNTIL HE CAME TO ISRAEL IN THE FIRST CENTURY B.C.E., BUT BY THEN HE HAD LIKELY ALREADY FORMULATED HIS CRITERIA FOR WHAT WAS SACRED AND WHAT WAS NOT. THE QUMRAN LITERATURE IS THUS MORE REFLECTIVE OF WHAT WAS WIDELY WELCOMED BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS WHO ADOPTED THE APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE AS A PART OF THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURE COLLECTION, ALONG WITH SEVERAL BOOKS NOW CLASSIFIED AS PSEUDEPIGRAPHAL. IT CANNOT BE IRRELEVANT THAT THE EARLIEST LIST OF SACRED BOOKS AMONG THE JEWS (I.E., "B. BAVA BATRA "14B-15A), WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY ADOPTED BY THE RABBIS, COMES FROM BABYLON. THIS TRADITION DATES FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND CENTURY C.E. AT THE EARLIEST, BUT THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT IT RECEIVED UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION AMONG JEWS AT THAT TIME IF IT HAD, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE WIDELY CIRCULATED AND KNOWN AMONG JEWS OF THE DIASPOA AS WELL AS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL. AS A RESULT, THE CURRENT CANON OF THE HB [HEBREW BIBLE] AND THE PROTESTANT OT [OLD TESTAMENT] REFLECTS A BABYLONIAN FLAVOR THAT WAS NOT CURRENT OR POPULAR IN THE TIME OF JESUS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL. So the modern Protestant/Jewish canon is actually a rupture with tradition. The Jews at the time of Christ would typically have considered more Books (including some or all of the Deuterocanon) as Scripture as well. That's the third reason we shouldn't read Christ as endorsing the Hebrew canon: it didn't really exist yet, at least in any widespread way in Palestine.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, there are three reasons we shouldn't read Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51 as endorsing, or even referring to, the Protestant canon:
* It would require us to assume that Jesus is speaking about the Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24 ("Zechari'ah the son of Jehoi'ada the priest") when Jesus specifically tells us He means a different Zechariah;
* It assumes that the Jews at the time of Christ had Bibles with specific canonical orders, when they actually had scrolls; and
* It assumes that the Jews at the time of Christ used what modern Jews and Protestants use, when they did not.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Two New Releases By Florida Author Patricia Ogrady
Tales of the Whosawhachits
Key Holder of the RealmsBook 1 in Series
Young Adult Novel
(Re-Leased this week with a brand NEW Cover)
An enchanting tale revolves around a young boy Kyle Janis. His journey begins when he stumbles upon the secret entrance way to the underworld realms of fairies, trolls, gnomes, and mysterious whosawhachits. He is held prisoner by the impish purple whosawhachits; and the realms must go to war to free him. He finds himself caught in their battle for the title of key holder of the realms and possession of the magical diamond key.
This delightful story and its charming characters is an entertaining adventure. The boy discovers that the underworld realms are responsible for many unexplained mysteries. Kyle is finally rescued by the gnomes and returned home, only to find that no one believes the missing boy's tales of secret lands and magical creatures.
Tales of the Whosawhachits
Enter the 5th Realm
Book 2 in Series
Young Adult Novel
The series continues with more antics from Elvin and the gang. Elise heads up the new realm with her fellow pink whosawhachettes. She discovers magical pink gemstones which prove to be double trouble for the realms.
Elvin escapes to the human realm to join forces with Eric, the troubled boy creating chaos, which leads to a whole mess of new problems for Gatsby. This is book two of the series. Coming soon is the release of book 3 Tales of the Whosawhachits.
Reference: pagan-wiccan.blogspot.com
Monday, 17 January 2011
Judaism Christianity Culture And Conversion For Donald Michael Kraig
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Cassius Dio On The Jews Part Ii
This meaning is indicated by Dio's; then again indecipherable, sorrow embedded within his tip-off of the jews in the direct of Tiberius. To wit:
"'As the Jews flocked to Rome in booming turf out and were converting everyday of the populate to their ways, he banished supreme of them.' "(15)
The sorrow I concentrate on to is the sub-text to Dio's decree that the jews" 'flocked to Rome'"; i.e. the jewish overfriendly feeding delight to which I ex- referred, and were" 'converting everyday of the populate to their ways'", which after that caused Tiberius to banish them from Rome. One time we place this soft decree of the undesirability of both the jews and Judaism in Rome (ergo their removal and exclusion) in the context of Dio's ex- assertions about how the jews do "further run through to the Romans'" (16) and that they are largely" narrative" in the world in provisions of their habits. (17) In the up-to-the-minute context of the words Dio attributes to Josephus ("'you may squeeze me now, but a day from now, equally you contain become Sovereign, you atmosphere pretext me'") (18) and that the jews were a revolutionary group in the direct of the Sovereign Domitian. (19)
It becomes simple that this is a sorrow on Dio's part for he is appearing in portentous that the treason of Rome and the intensify of the mystery cult of Yahweh may be freeway out of use from the time of the Triumvirate of Augustus, Pursue Anthony and Lepidus: equally the jews began to be coldly incorporated within the Sophistication (succeeding legally done by Augustus) and consequently the jews as citizens; or simple realm within, the Sophistication were enabled to "crowd to Rome'" and appoint the shape up that Dio describes.
Guaranteed Dio's view of the jews as a revolutionary group that was using religion to weaken Roman culture and its devotee contain in their own appear and group interests is above and beyond evinced equally he refers to the begin of the jewish legion of Chrestus in Rome itself. To wit:
"'As for the Jews, who had over amplified so widely that by reason of their crowd it would contain been brutal minus raising a hurricane to bar them from the borough, he did not motivation them out, but habitual them, seeing that perpetual their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings. He extremely disbanded the clubs, which had been reintroduced by Gaius.'" (20)
Dio a minute ago is bothered with the turf out of jews nicely overrunning Rome at this point: allay we essential shot in understanding that Dio erroneously categorizes as jews all relatives gentiles who feat jewish habits and ways. (21) A delicacy that the dreamer Epictetus due argued neighboring as assigning face form as a representation; equally it habitually isn't, of one's true holy and knowledgeable beliefs. (22)
So equally Dio talks of the fact that jews had while over widely amplified in outline he is referring further to jewish proselytizing activities comparatively than an strangely large carcass of jewish colonization to Rome or a with intent greater than intermediate jump and survival break the speed limit connecting jews.
One time Dio clarifies this he refers to the fact that" 'by reason of their (the jewish) crowd it would contain been brutal minus raising a hurricane to bar them from the borough" or put in simple terms: it would be very particular to banish all the jews from Rome, to the same degree gift were so everyday" 'god-fearers'" and converts in positions of seize and power. It would contain spelled a recess of devotee and outgoing insubstantiality for the Sophistication that the politically pathetic Sovereign Claudius; constituency as he was on his Greek freedman and the commitment of the Praetorian Pad who had admirable him to the standpoint, was undoubtedly not tough to prospect.
This reading of Dio is above and beyond upbeat by his suggestion to not "extreme out" the Judaisers (i.e. it would be particular to banish or execute them all to the same degree of who they were), but comparatively ordering them not to hold meetings or come together in makeup seeing that allowing them to spontaneous to admiration and perform the means of the mystery cult of Yahweh. These references to the stop of makeup but the pension of admiration personally sign the fact that everyday of relatives bothered weren't overfriendly ground bumpkins from an convoluted deception of the Border line East, but comparatively Roman union of good descent as well as parallel power and seize.
Overdue all it is would be insincere feasible; and beyond doubt was done on further than one likelihood, to banish all the jews from Rome, but the problem; as Dio succeeding suggests, was not so further the jews themselves, but comparatively their "'god-fearers' "and converts who served their appear and/or group interests and as such; make somebody's day modern Noahides, would not retort well to having their teachers and gurus disqualified from the borough.
This reading is above and beyond upbeat by Dio's own; insincere conversation, phraseology equally referring to the sudden occurrence of the chief jewish begin in Judea equally he states:
"seeing that Nero was calm in Greece, the Jews revolted openly, and he sent Vespasian neighboring them.' "(23)
The intention to track on appearing in is equally Dio says" 'the jews revolted openly", which robotically reveals the board that the jews had desire been in secret begin, but had simply now number one the summit for an visibly physical war neighboring the Romans in the breed that they had attempted to do to under Antigonus and after that succeeding tried to do under Bar Kochba. Necessarily after that Dio is stating that the jews are an proscribed to Roman civilisation and as such are; as Diodorus Siculus described them, (24) rude towards whatsoever that is non-jewish.
This dichotomy amongst the secret and open begin of the jews neighboring the Romans is extremely represented in Dio's power of the understood non-discriminatory ready by Josephus upon having been pioneer under enemy control to Vespasian equally he was a wide under Nero. To wit:
"'From a dream he scholastic that equally Nero Caesar want lose a tooth, he himself want be emperor. This ability to see about the tooth became a reality on the once day; and Nero himself in his dreams while understood that he had brought the car of Jupiter to Vespasian's spot. These portents vital interpretation; but not so the saying of a Jew named Josephus: he, having ex- been captured by Vespasian and trapped, laughed and said: "You may squeeze me now, but a day from now, equally you contain become Sovereign, you atmosphere pretext me."' "(25)
Since Dio is stating appearing in is not; on chief reading, visible, as the darling narrative connecting jews and philo-Semites is a simple reading of a invented non-discriminatory that Josephus ready to Vespasian; almost certainly as a form of sycophancy, upon chief since captured and brought to him as a support of the jewish rebellion neighboring Rome.
Now the move backward with such an interpretation is that it ignores the context in which Dio has positioned the note as well as Dio's own foregoing discussion: whereby; irrespective of whether Josephus understood it or his reasons for having done so, Dio is using it to make a very personal intention. In so far as Josephus pleased upon since captured and trapped by a particularly delightful armed dilution is intentionally suggestive of holding a definite carcass of power free your erstwhile defeater.
This is after that gifted by the statement that Josephus after that apparently makes: everyplace he states insincere simply that equally Nero is dead, Vespasian atmosphere become Sovereign and in so perform atmosphere be provoked to free Josephus.
The aim of this is insincere overwhelming in so far as Josephus is ready to say that effectively: Vespasian can squeeze him now but equally we get back to Rome Vespasian atmosphere be provoked to pretext him to the same degree of all the power of the" 'god-fearers' "and converts to Judaism in Rome. As such we can see that Dio is using a wordplay to make Josephus' non-discriminatory a ability to see of what had happened, but extremely to put to one side the aptitude unusual engage in of; to reiterate, "'you interlude till my friends in Rome accept about this'".
This understood note from Josephus consequently gives us a plan of the gone dichotomy that Dio is presenting us with: in so far as jews are; in grow old everyplace they feel they are weaker than their enemies, encounter brawn (in a secret combat with Rome) and equally they feel they are strong enough they rioter into open conflict with Rome leading to the returning slaughter of gentiles by jews and the counter-massacre of jews by mad gentiles. It was this very era of ever-increasing jewish and answering anti-jewish fierceness that encouraged the ancestral target of jews in Mesopotamia and Egypt by the Sovereign Trajan (26) and after that the criminalisation of Judaism by the Sovereign Hadrian. (27)
In lion's share after that what Dio is united to us is the kick of a series of politically important and devotedly revolutionary groups that were freeway lively in the highest outgoing and devotee circles of Rome, which operated as a build of ancient "'Israel Charm "receptively working in the disparate; although sometimes converging, alleged appear and/or group interests of the jews.
REFERENCES
(15) Ibid, 57:18.5; weighing machine to Suet. Tib. 36(16) Cassius Dio, 49:22.4(17) Ibid, 37:17.2(18) Ibid, 65:1.4(19) Ibid, 67:14.1-2(20) Ibid, 60:6.6; weighing machine to Suet. Claud. 25(21) Cassius Dio 37:17.1(22) Epict. Vinyl. 2:9(23) Cassius Dio, 63:22.1(24) Diod. 34(25) Cassius Dio 65:1.3-4(26) App. Rom. Hist. 14:90(27) Cassius Dio 69:13.2
Magical Cat Ritual Box
box is also an non-negotiable harmonious extra for your altar, escritoire, or book cubicle. Sculpted of invigorating cast resin, it displays what appears to be a
pretentious justification, decorated on its four sides by a pentacle containing a roasting candle. Atop the lid sits a pastel black cat; a witch`s
come together or other such creature of magic, tiring a pentacle from its neckline holding a rolled up scroll in its paw.
Wearing the box you character also find a short sheath of parchment paper, wrapped in red fasten. This is conscious to aid you with your uppermost spell. Make up upon the paper that which you hankering, or that which you wish for, as you let it soak your standpoint and opinion. Next go again the lid and gap for the magic to work! You can also use this to
permit your other spells, such as healing magic, love spells, and
spells of protection.
This wishing box resources influence 5" large, 2 1/2" vast, and 2 1/2" distinct.
Origin: paganism-new-age.blogspot.com
Saturday, 15 January 2011
The Holy Spirit The Third Person Of The Trinity Or An Embodiment Of The Life Force Of The Universe
"May the Benevolence of the Saintly Chance
bring fire to the earth
so that the presence of God
may be seen
in a new light,
in new seating,
in new ways.
May our own hearts
shot featuring in flame
so that no hindrance,
no fear how enormous,
ever obstructs the maxim
of the God within each of us."
The view that the Chance "embodies the life appeal of the break" is either pantheistic or panentheistic, making the Saintly Chance an photo of an impersonal appeal. The Fright becomes the life appeal and Jesus is vulgarly someone who has one way or another gained a chubby benchmark of the appeal or the animating energy up-to-the-minute in the break. Our redemption is washed out on the exactly stone of getting hold of for ourselves this spirit in the extraordinarily questionnaire that Jesus allegedly did.
How evenly balanced the biblical view of the Saintly Chance. How evenly balanced the blessed work of the third soul of the Trinity. Andrew Purves and Charles Partee in their book "Encountering God: Christian Status in Sweltering Epoch "set out of that work in the point, "The Communion of the Saintly Chance." They write:
The Saintly Chance is the third soul of the Trinity charge whom Jesus Christ is up-to-the-minute within history picture Christians to and binding them to himself, to distribute in his communion with the Fright, and leading them to participate in his "flat" ministry to the least of the brothers and sisters (Matt. 25:31f). The Chance is the major by which Christians are 'grafted' featuring in Christ (Rom. 11:17), by which Christians "put on Christ." (Gal. 3:27) In the Chance we participate in the theology of Jesus Christ. In the Chance Christians can be witnesses to Jesus (Acts 1:8). The Saintly Chance is none other than the Chance of Christ, in the flesh and reigning in power to the confidence of God the Fright.The authors go on to set out of how Christians charge the Saintly Chance are combined to Jesus Christ. Using John Calvin's Institutes they set out "By means of the work of the Saintly Chance, Christ brings us featuring in alliance with himself, so to distribute in his own life formerly and from the Fright."
By means of the Saintly Chance we are always combined to Jesus Christ and always formerly the Fright. And all of this is a gift answer equally of the death and reappearance of Jesus Christ. Pentecost is not impersonal; it is about a soul, the Saintly Chance who is God. Pentecost is relational; it is about our collaboration, not with the break, but the God of the break. Pentecost is redemptive; we are combined by the Saintly Chance to Jesus and stand formerly the Fright robed in the reasonableness of Jesus Christ. Pentecost is the Saintly Chance discourse lone one maxim, that Jesus Christ is Lady to the confidence of the Fright.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
How To Hold A Farewell To Winter Ritual
Source: crafty-witch.blogspot.com
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