THE SCRIPTURES – Bonita Bible Mission

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

OUTLINE OF GENESIS CHAPTER 2 & 3.
1. Moses recounts the handiwork of the creator.
2. The unique creature: man with a living soul
3. They spurn eternal life for supernatural knowledge.
4. The woman is attracted to deceptive phenomena.
5. Eve misled by the god of reason.
6. Eve succumbs to philosophy, doubt & sin.
7. Earth is cursed & human life shortened.

End of Outline for Genesis 2 & 3.

THE BOOK OF GENESIS.
CHAPTER TWO.
MOSES RECOUNTS THE HANDIWORK OF THE CREATOR.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

A UNIQUE CREATURE: MAN HAS A LIVING SOUL
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that which encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eatest thereof you shall surely die.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

THEY SPURN ETERNAL LIFE FOR SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE.
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

THE WOMAN IS ATTRACTED TO PHENOMENA.
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of te trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die:

EVE MISLED BY THE GOD OF REASON.
5 For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

EVE SUCCUMBS TO PHILOSOPHY.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are you?
10 And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.

EARTH IS CURSED WITH DEGENERACY.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

End of Holy Scripture.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTERS 2 & 3.
GENESIS 2: 7. God’s spirit has part in each human birth. As tripartite: (body, soul, & spirit) man was created in the image of a triune God: Father, Word (Son) & Spirit. The Father’s true human image was the Word made flesh in His Son Christ Jesus.
Adam & Eve chose supernatural knowledge instead the God’s offer of everlasting life. (Tree of Life’s fruit.) Thus God’s penalty cursed Adam’s race (Romans 5). The image in which Adam was created was therewith deadened becoming dysfunctional to the godly bias of his conscience, mind, emotions, & will. Man’s volitionary bias was thereby imprisoned by the bondage of his will. Though the light of God’s image is innate at birth, albeit distorted, it is too weak to overcome the bias of the will) though many struggle against it. Only a second birth can release the prisoners.

GENESIS 3:1-5. In the Garden of Eden Satan was temporarily incarnate in a talking serpent. Indeed this phenomenon drew Eve’s attention. The Prince of Darkness plied philosophical questions and subtle reason for her to allay her fears & consequences should she reject the Tree of (eternal) Life. He offered the power of spirits mystical knowledge in lieu of the Holy Spirit. Jesus (the last Adam) was also tempted in this manner. She, the bride of Christ (the invisible church) has been warned to be wary of the same trap set for the first woman, Eve. I.e. beware of hankering for emotional phenomena that others may manifest under the guise of spirituality. Many of Satan’s ministers of light imperatively compel ‘this experience’ or ‘that experience’ to gain spiritual power. Paul said that the believer’s mortal body would be quickened when he received within him the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. This was at conversion and the simultaneous outward baptism of fire & the Holy Ghost.
End of Footnotes

REFERENCES: 1 John 5:7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:3; 3:36; Luke 3:38; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 15: 45; John.1:4; 1:9; John 3:36. 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 1:11-14; John 20:22; Acts 1:11.

Credits:
Holy Scriptures from King James Version: (Public Domain).
Footnotes; chapter headings & summary outline: John David.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

BIBLE CHAPTER FOR DAY

THE BOOK OF GENESIS

The first book of Moses’ Pentateuch (five books)
Annotated by John David from the King James Version..

Genesis 1
The beginning; Moses’ six days’ record of God’s creation.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meal.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meal: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
End of Genesis One.

Source: King James Bible. (Public Domain) 1611
Credits: Headings & Footnotes:- John David. 2020

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER ONE.
GENESIS. 1:28. Image: see footnote to Genesis 3:7.
GENESIS 1:1. The Lord’s progressive revelation of creation given to Moses started with a preamble (vss.1-2) that preceded his six day journal. God had created the heavens & the earth.

GENESIS 1:2. ‘Earth was without form and void’: a dark cooling molten mass covered with water, both above and beneath its surface. Its immediate surrounding aerosphere was densely saturated with hot water & its accompanying steam prevented sunlight’s penetration. (Cp. Job 38)
God moved’: He continued to fashion the molten sphere with cooling winds upon the hot waters, dividing them therewith.

GENESIS 1:3 Probably this was Day One of Moses’ journal after a revelatory preamble in verses 1 & 2. ‘Let there be light’: In the cooling process of the new planet the steam began to dissipate enough for light to penetrate. Sunlight was pre-existent to Day One described in the opening two verses’ creative preamble. A swaddling band of water encircled the planet, hence the dividing process of verse 4.

GENESIS 1:4. ‘God divided the light’: increasingly more light was able to penetrate the atmosphere, and sunlight would eventually reflect from moon and stars in the relevant geographic shadowy period of earth’s rotation.

GENESIS 1:6-7. ‘A firmament’ was the aerospace placed between the oceanic water & the aerospace’s water in orbit.

Source: King James Bible. (Public Domain) 1611
Credits: Headings & Footnotes:- John David. 2020

BIBLE CHAPTER FOR THE DAY

THE BIBLE’S SIXTH BOOK: JOSHUA.

JOSHUA:- Israel’s long-awaited entry into the Promised Land
1) PROLOGUE,
2) CHAPTER HEADINGS,
3) EPILOGUE.

PROLOGUE TO THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
This is the sixth book of the Holy Bible after the five books of Moses, called the Pentateuch. Those are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Book of Joshua is a record of Israel’s overdue entry into the Promised Land over the flooded Jordan River.

Forty years God had sent them wandering into wilderness terrain until all but two of the army’s six hundred thousand rebel doubters had died within its barren bounds. Joshua and Caleb were the only two adults in the original ‘exodus’ to enter the ‘Land of milk and honey.

Instead of believing the good report of the two faithful spies, the Hebrews chose to believe only the doubts of the remaining ten spies. Thus, they wanted to stone both men of faith and go back to Egypt, the land of their bondage for the food it offered.

Yet, God had provided immeasurably for them in the desert with daily manna for bread and quail for meat, while at the same time always leading them to hidden sources of water. Miraculously, their feet had neither swelled nor had their clothes worn in the abrasive desert conditions.

Despite their frequent, but intermittent murmurs of ingratitude that tested Moses to the point of exasperation, God’s mercy and loving-kindness continued because of His covenant with Abraham and the blood of the Passover Lamb. This was notwithstanding Israel’s chastening ordeals driving them to repentance.

For forty days the twelve had espied the Land of ‘milk and honey’ and its hinterland of vast resources ready for the Hebrew people to possess.
But in the grand national mutiny at Kadesh, after receiving the spies’ report, God deemed that forty days would incur a forty-year entry taboo to the Land: a sentence for Israel’s rebellious disbelief.

Even after thirty-eight years in the wilderness the final stage of the second attempt to enter the Land almost failed because of the Moab-Midia nexus of conspiracy. Devilishly, it employed Balaam, the spiritistic false prophet, to stop Joshua’s host and prevent them from crossing River Jordan into Canaan. However, the Lord intervened to stop Balaam in a most remarkable way. Nevertheless, Balaam worked with the conspiratorial nexus to beguile Israel’s camp with the sexual religion of Baal-Peor’s gods of erotic worship.

Joshua’s mighty host had neared its long-awaited destiny predicted by Abraham when Israel’s invisible arch enemy’s final almost succeeded. He had created an irrevocable anticlimax that would have aborted the saga of Israel’s pilgrimage.

SUMMARY INDICATIVE CHAPTER HEADINGS
JOSHUA: 1.
Joshua prepares to enter the Promised Land of Canaan.
JOSHUA: 2.
The spies enter Jericho; Rahab secretly gives them refuge.
JOSHUA: 3.
Jordan River stops flowing; Joshua crosses on dry ground.
JOSHUA: 4.
Jordan’s waters return to their normal course.
JOSHUA: 5.
Joshua circumcises minors of the Exodus Red Sea crossing.
JOSHUA: 6.
Seven days’ march around Jericho leading to the wall’s collapse.
Rahab’s scarlet thread; Joshua rescues her entire family.
JOSHUA: 7.
The curse of Achan costs many lives.
JOSHUA: 8.
Joshua builds an altar in Canaan inscribing the Law upon it.
JOSHUA: 9.
Canaanite kings prepare against Israel; Gibeonite deception.

JOSHUA: 10.
Five kings attack Gibeon for defecting to Isra

WHEN CLOUDS FURROW YOUR BROW

WHEN CLOUDS FURROW YOUR BROW

When dark clouds crease your brow in your life’s path,
Lessen not your pace walking in the dark,
Shadow’s gloom may cover your face awhile,
Heaven’s Son that made them has watching smile,
Hidden from downcast eyes of transfixed gaze.

Sun’s rays make silver linings in cloud’s maze,
No matter your waiting for rendezvous,
Pain endures the soul for a night! It’s true!
But in the morn’ comes joy’s radiant sight!
Soon ‘twill be dawning day of hope and light,

Then your own woe will not long be your plight,
Your knees may be feeble, hands hung not right,
But grace will lift them! Soon will go the frown.
He makes straightened paths for your feet’s new sound.
Lame steps once cowered in grief, He makes bound;

Once a flagging dawdler, now leaps on ground,
Former hapless walk becomes a quicker stride,
Vim’s vigour born on hope’s rising tide.
“Laugh at impossibility!” faith cried.
The fading night of darkness has belied:-

Righteous faith, stark, leaping grace from on high.
Where is your flight carrying sparks of light?
Youth renewed, mounting up in eagle-flight?
Will-o-the-wisp has gone; true glow leads on:
The Lord has taken your hand with a song.
John David 2020

WHEN CLOUDS FURROW YOUR BROW

Ten of Christ’s Commandments

Ten of Christ’s Commandments
These were given to the eleven apostles over forty days.
1. Do not leave Jerusalem. (Acts 1:4a)
2. Wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. (Acts 1:4b)
3. Tarry in prayer at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:49)
4. Be my witnesses from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the regions beyond. (Acts 1:8)
5. Preach repentance and remission of sins. (Luke 24:47)
6. Feed my sheep; feed my sheep, and feed my sheep. (John 21:17)
7. Go! As my Father sent me, so I send you. (John 20:21)
8. Be baptized with the Holy Ghost. (Acts 1:5)
9. Do not be looking up for heaven’s phenomena. (Acts 1:11)
10. Do not try to know dispensations of future times. (Acts 1:7)
Nine were given to the apostles in Judea near or a little distant from Jerusalem on the day of resurrection and the day of ascension from Jerusalem’s nearby Mount of Olives at the Sea of Tiberias.

Ten of Christ’s Commandments

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.
Oh, the shackles cramping both my legs in this heat;
My heavy hands hang down, utter total defeat.
My head is bent eyeing their bonds with a stiff neck;
Where are the wise who’ve done no wrong; without defect?

Let them learn from my cries, dead in sins I had vent;
Life was half gone before it dawned I was hell-bent.
God’s finger of Law lit my soul and showed my fate,
When I learned my state, reading commands far too late.

In rebel’s room with no way out, locked and no relief
Beyond belief, when I found that I’m sinners’ chief.
My, oh my! What a plight, condemned and out of sight!
To whom shall I appeal? Is there proof I’m not right?

Surely I’m not that bad; some goodness must avail.
He’ll balance me up, weigh the scales if justice fails.
Then when I appear before the judge, I’ll not fudge.
I’m the man, O Lord, I admit I did misjudge.

But at last, I’ve come to my senses; I can’t succeed!
Pardon is my only hope! To whom shall I plead?
Against the laws that indict my offence
To a just judge, this would not be right. Oh, I’m dense!

Who is this that hearkens my call, coat stained with red?
His voice in the wind calls: “I’ve borne your sin instead
I’ve been bleeding, but how can I help you the best?”
Lord, save my soul from this body’s death; this my quest.

“Come follow me to my tree! Find a sight to see,
Where my burst heart’s water paid penalty for thee
My blood was shed to wash your sins, to blot them out!
I ransomed you to break your iron chains apart.”

John David

John 19:34
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
1 John 5:6.
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood..
1 John 5:8
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood..
*1Titus 3:5-
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost..
*1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
*Ephesians 4:5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism…
*Ephesians 5:26
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word..

*The sole baptism required for regeneration. To hope in others for it brings damnable false hope.
Poem: John David
Scriptures quoted from King James Version of the Bible (Public Domain)

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.

DAILY BATTLE OF THE SAINT (1)

THE DAILY BATTLE OF THE SAINT (James 5:16)
We need transparency and each other’s prayers.

Here are some thoughts from Scripture that may be helpful in reminding us of the cycle of temptation lest we let these things slip. (Hebrews 2:1)

James says that our own inner lust of body members can tempt us. Jesus agrees with James by his description of the inner recesses of the human heart and its capacity for evil, if left to itself. Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. (James 1:14-15; Jeremiah 29:13)

After a sinner repents, believes, and has the washing of regeneration by the water of the Word and renewal of the Holy Ghost, the ‘old man’ and his deeds are banished and buried. But despite the indwelling Spirit of Christ in the saint, there remains another force within that opposes the Spirit. It is called the flesh. It will be his bane until the redemption of his body when he is promoted to glory. It will need to be constantly mortified and resisted if the believer is to walk in the Spirit and live in its direction.
(Galatians 5:17; Romans 6:6; Romans 6:6.)

The joyous newborn lamb, free of condemnation and at peace, will be soon tempted, as will the mature sheep of the fold. Too often Satan is seen as responsible for temptation, or his demons that wage warfare against the saints. But before he can do his work the believer must neglect his armour (Ephesians 6) and forget to put off the motions of the flesh in his members.
(Romans 7:18; 7:22-23; Ephesians 4:22)

Suggested catalysts hereunder are those that determine whether or not we succumb or resist the temptations by the flesh. When we succumb it can give an opportunity for the roaring lion to set in motion a chain of events unless we quickly have a penitent attitude of confession for cleansing & reconciliation to our Abba Father and the indwelling Spirit which was grieved. (1 John 1:6-10; James 5:16)

Determinants and/or catalysts to the saint’s response to temptation.
1. Ignoring or admitting that the flesh is the antagonist of the indwelling Spirit
2. The individual’s besetting sin admitted or excused
3. The motions of the flesh in the body admitted or excused
4. Doubt & self-condemnation from self-pity or the reigning assurance thru walking in the light.
5. Inherited family traits: recognized or ignored.
6. Personality flaws and foibles: admitted or denied.
Bible References.
Falling: Proverbs 24:16;
Temptation: James 1:2; 1:12;
Common temptations: 1 Corinthians 10:13.

DAILY BATTLE OF THE SAINT (1)

OUR PRAYERLESS CHURCHES (Pt.3)

Since the Reformation, until the mid 19th C the weekly intercessory gathering of the saints was an essential meeting for the whole congregation. From time immemorial this was the secret of survival for the New Testament church at Jerusalem and Antioch when it was still a persecuted and vilified minority.

Today, with very few exceptions, free prayer participation of spoken intercession is a forgotten public meeting. It was once a staple part of the church programme. It has been abandoned as too archaic and old-fashioned in the modern 21st-century hustle, and bustle addicted to restless compulsive busyness.

The unions secured the right of the worker to 8 hours work, 8 hours sleep, and 8 hours leisure. Today’s frenzy of movement, predicted by the ancient prophets, seems to allow time for busy social media, electronic interactive screen communication and entertainment for leisure, leaving little or no time for private devotion to God in the Scriptures and prayer. Much is often determined by their master, the smartphone allowing them any quietude. Heaven forbid that they dare silence or switch it off! Such action would be anathema to their so-called friends sending the latest interactive hearsay rumours.

Truthfully, on average the godfearing and the upright professors of moral rectitude and religion could not possibly stop still in prolonged silence without image, icon or decibel to preoccupy their minds. Why? Because they do not want to be discomforted facing their own naked soul unmasked of its pretence, and spurious profession of walking with the Intercessor: the Saviour.

Prayer, the clergy says, in this ‘modern-day’, can be automated and privatised by circulating lists of their people’s needs to the faithful for their petitions, in private prayer via prayer-chains. Whether by Bible Study hand-outs, email, smartphone, or social media, they are in reality, obfuscating as clergy and elders as they silently proclaim: “Why pray, when the church can SAY it some other way? Viz: said prayers, read prayers, and dead prayers?

When the human spirit prevails in an assembly the spirit of prayer is unwelcome. Preachers and leaders bypass it altogether and relegate public assembly prayer to individual home activity. When this happens hot coals cool; luke-warm embers become cold; broken reeds become more bowed; saints forget how to pray and when they try they are lost for words the vapour of smoking flax ascends. They with the household of faith need the old-time fire of free spontaneous vocal saints’ praying in the midst of the assembly. Without it they are separated from the Spirit’s dynamic of fire that God has deigned to ignite only when saints pour out their hearts aloud to Him. In a day of false-fire, it must be understood that prayer is in the language of the people, not the indulgence in eccentricity via popular hypnotic entrancing gibberish. The latter can be made unwelcome by precluding outsider participation.

The modern church focuses only on public praise in worship of song and overlooks the other. No one denies that God has chosen the ‘foolishness of preaching’ to save, keep, and revive, but only free public prayer generates the fire of the spirit of prayer in the heart of the newborn lamb. Down through the ages until the mid-19thC. our godly forefathers took this as incontrovertible. This was so in the New Testament church at Jerusalem and later at Antioch.

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

“Gird yourselves, and you priests lament,: you ministers of the altar howl: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God…Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.” (Joel 2:13-14)

Credits: King James Version-(Public Domain);
Article: John David

OUR PRAYERLESS CHURCHES (Pt.3)

UNDERSTANDING THE VIRGIN MARY’S HERITAGE

UNDERSTANDING MARY & JOSEPH’S HERITAGE BY ANCESTRY.
MATTHEW 1 (see also Luke 3: 23-38)
Contrary to Rome’s tradition, the genealogy of Mary is given in Matthew 1:1-17. Although it is an ascending lineage from Abraham’s wife Sarah, only three of the Virgin Mary’s matriarchs are familiar to the student and a number are only implied: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachael, and Bathsheba. Thus at first reading, it would seem to be a patriarchal list, because it was written in a strongly patriarchal culture. The three familiar ancestors listed are Tamar, Rachab, and Ruth, as Mary’s matriarchal antecedents. Heli was the father of Mary, but Jacob the father of Joseph with many illustrious patriarchs well known the Bible student.

Luke the physician, the writer of the gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles, gave a patriarchal descending list of forbears of Joseph. He was the Lord’s stepfather because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Joseph’s wife, Mary. While she was not sinless, as Rome claims, she had not been impregnated with man’s inherent accursed seed (via Adam’s fall) that Joseph would have given her.

Though Joseph’s genealogy is remarkable, (Luke 3:23-38) his ancestry the best of the patriarchs, princes, and kings; God’s curse was nonetheless present in his seed that generated Jesus’ brothers. Only the Holy Spirit of the Heavenly Father could plant a sinless seed within Mary’s womb that would be “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners”.

The reader must realize that both parents possessed the heritage within the tribe of Judah. Indeed, Jesus is called the Lion of Judah.

The promise made to King David and Solomon, (reiterated time again by the prophets) was that the coming Saviour and High Priest of elect believers, would come from the tribe of Judah to lead another priesthood in his new kingdom of heaven. He would be a descendant of David whose forefathers were shown to be from Judah, the son of Jacob (Israel), and grandson of Abraham ‘the father of all believers’. Remember that Abram met Melchizedek and blessed him with the grace of faith, among other gifts. (Genesis 14) A few verses later in Genesis 15 Abram is at last able to believe the impossible promises he had previously disbelieved and therewith was justified by faith and became the ‘father of all believers’.

Both Matthew’s and Luke’s list of lineal ancestry, are meant to confirm Jesus’ maternal and neo-paternal heritage as the Son of David, the Son of Man, and the Son of God. Yet paradoxically, Jesus Christ our Lord (whose name, before his incarnation, was The Word of God) had no beginning and has no end, just like Melchizedek. Thus the Lord Jesus is the Christ, forever the High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
References:
Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 19:13;

Detailed Study: Compare of Hebrews 7 in the following verses:
Hebrews 7:1-3; 7:12-15; 7:17; 7:21; & 7: 21-24.

Scriptures read and referenced are from the King James Version (Public Domain) which was the fifth and last reprint of the first English New Testament (Tyndale 1526). The Reformers published the first New Testaments from the Koine Greek (in Erasmus’New Testament 1516) and translated into European languages. The Greek manuscripts of the NT from Constantinople had only arrived in Europe some fifty years earlier after Islam laid siege to Constantinople.

Article by John David.

UNDERSTANDING THE VIRGIN MARY’S HERITAGE

UNDERSTANDING DIFFICULT PASSAGES OF THE BIBLE.
Romans 7:5-14. The essence of vss: 5-14 by John David using the King James Version (Public Domain).
But when we were in the motions of sin it did work in our members, but now we are delivered from them wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit.
But sin had wrought in me all manner of lust. In the oldness of the letter of the Law I knew sin by its commands which condemned me.
Before I knew the Law I was unaware of sin within me. But when I learned of the Law’s commands I was condemned to death. Its commandments wrought in me self condemnation and guilt. It was deadly to my spirit, crippling me.
The good commandments unto life I found to be deadening, though they are holy, just and good. Was the Law killing me? God forbid! It exposed my sin consciously making me captive of my carnal state.