1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
10 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Verse eleven makes me believe John the apostle will be one of the two witnesses, I think Enoch will be the other one. Thing is, I wonder about the mystery part. I keep thinking that as history unfolds we see the prophecies in the Bible more clearly. Sometimes I wonder if John the apostle was taken up into heaven before he died like Elijah was, or if he's been wandering the earth, ageless and anonymous all this time. Do you wonder why I ask myself these questions?
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
That verse alone makes me skeptical at best about people who say they've lived many lives.
Scientology says we are all aliens who were dropped off here to learn what it's like to be limited and we keep being reborn when we die because we've forgotten our true ancestry.
The eastern zen religions believe we live however many times it takes us to learn our lessons and that if you lived many lives it's because you either didn't learn the first times or else you did badly in those lives. This viewpoint makes empathy less of a virtue and more of a liability. They can turn their backs on bad situations because they believe to help someone less fortunate is to interfere with their karma, which is their own responsibility. Do you know how a Scientologist sounds to a Buddhist most likely? Never mind, they say find your own path and they believe all paths lead to the ultimate goal, which I believe they think is to become one with the universe. Would that consider that to be the plasma of life? I don't know.
You wouldn't believe the controversy I've found myself in online because of my failure to assimilate. Of course that was a long time back, I wish I could say it didn't affect me now. When philosophy and religion intersect, you get all kinds of discussions and opinions. The best ones are when both parties walk away better educated on one another's viewpoints without feeling violated concerning their own. If you think that's a liberal way to evangelize, allow me:
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
That tells me that I can share the gospel and any other teaching from the scripture and that is enough. I used to be desperate to have people believe on Christ for their salvation but one day I realized that not everyone is supposed to go to heaven because if they did, they'd just transform it into what we have here. You see, heaven and the new earth......they will be new creations made for those who made informed decisions about where their allegiance has been. We are all products of our own free will, whether we share our conclusions with one another isn't always that important, God knows the heart of man, sometimes better than the man does. Don't believe me?
Consider the life of Paul. When Jesus hijacked his life, he was on the road to Damascus to kill and imprison Christians, he'd already stood vigil at the stoning of Stephen. God saw love for him in the heart of Paul but it was misplaced loyalty that was the problem. Paul had been an excellent student of the law and he believed a zeal for the law was loyalty to God. The Lord fixed the problem by getting Paul's attention with blindness and a chance meeting on the road and then opening his spiritual eyes to discern the scriptures when he opened his physical eyes. For Paul, the veil dropped off the scriptures and he saw Christ for the first time within the context of the old testament. It wasn't his zeal that was the problem, it had been misplaced loyalty with no discernment. God knew the heart of the man was for the truth. Do you know how many people on this planet have and do stick to their guns long after they realize they are in the wrong out of pride? Isn't that like them saying they'd rather see God be wrong than find themselves having to out themselves as being wrong?
Abraham Lincoln said he was more concerned about being on God's side than he was about God being on his side. The Lord doesn't ignore that kind of mindset. I have seen people go to great lengths to maintain a lie when the easier way is to tell the truth.
My first husband used to use physical force with me believing that to do so would make me bend to his will. When bruises were involved he would admit what he did wasn't right but would follow up with, "but you...." In his mind he's reactionary to everything around him and doesn't initiate any of it. A man with no conscience is a man who feels no culpability for what he does. Society still expects us to have a conscience even if it's about the wrong things, he pawns his off on other people.
My current husband uses denial. For some reason he seems to think that saying something wasn't said or didn't happen makes that true. They call that gaslighting and some people place evil intent behind it. I'm not sure if that's always the case or not. I can't talk about philosophy or religion with him, he has his own thinking on things and I've already denounced much of it. He romanticizes the native american ways without thinking about the fact that in many aspects, their ways were hard ways. It's not lost on me that Wicca and the native religions are very similar but I think it's lost on him. Maybe because he's never in learning mode unless it's technical and methodical and extremely male, I think he views philosophy as a woman's endeavor.
Did you know that to follow the law properly the women have to be separated to a special place away from everyone else during their period? It's because they are considered unclean during that time period. Some people might think that's sexist but think about it........a slew of women being fed and cared for by others who are still clean, gathered together in a dwelling and free from housekeeping and cooking and carrying water and childcare for an entire week or longer. Do you know what most women today would give for that? A week's vacation every month from the responsibilities of life and waited on like that. I can imagine the husbands and fathers would have much more appreciation for their wives and daughters if we did that today. Can you imagine the gossip in that tent? Gossip is good to keep others accountable. I've seen some people go to great lengths to make certain that gossip about them is a good thing.
Hope you all have a good day.
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