The Plan

The Political Class, the Councilmen, Mayors, Representatives and Senators, County, City, State, and Nation they think that they are the movers and shakers, he one who make things get done.  But they arebut the stagehands setting the stage for the real actors the people. The people who work and live their lives in anonymity to the movers and shakers.  The workers, Doctors, Plumbers, The Carpenters, Lawyers, Engineers, The Farmers, Mechanics, Labors, The Technicians, Nurses, Clerks, and on and on and on and on… The People.

The people's stories are seldom told, other than by word of mouth.

But upon this stage they play out their lives In Drama, Comedies, Farces, and yes As often as not in Tragedies. Or, as the Man said: “Full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing”, from top to bottom. The Lord has a Plan And everything is going accordingly.  The Muckedey Mucks live at the top; on the back of the Mucks’ who carry the load.  The high and the mighty, the rich and the powerful

They are all in the palm of His hand working for His plan’s fulfillment,

Willingly or not they put each piece in its place Like when the brother’s sold Joseph into slavery for their own reasons to work God’s plan.

Now come to today and do you think just because time has passed

That God has forgotten His plan? What plan is that, you ask?

Why you really do know, it started when Adam took on sin,

And worked on out to where Jesus came to put to an end

To the separation from God we have endured from our birth into sin

That has led to the death of every soul borne unto flesh.

To move us, His creature, made in His image and likeness

From the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the finite to the infinite.

In His plan’s working death came into the world by the actions

Of one man’s disobedience when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit

And came to know that he stood naked before God.

And the Son of Man’s obedience unto His death on the cross

Devouring the fruit of sin which was death when He arose from the grave.

What you say, that was a long time ago and we are still dying?

True, but the plan, remember the plan?  It is not complete until Jesus Returns,

And the adversary is locked away into the fiery pits of Hell

The Third Commandment

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” the third commandment.  Two questions come to my mind when I read this, the first is just what is the name of God, and second is what does vain mean.

 Is God’s name God?  We know that it is not for when Moses asked Him He responded, “I am who I am”.  And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM (YHWH) has sent me to you.

If God is not God’s name how is saying “God damn it” or “Oh my God” taking his name in vain?  And what about saying “Jesus Christ!!” whennyou see something shocking?  In the Old Testament, bringing dishonor on God’s name was done by failing to perform an oath or vow taken in His name (Leviticus 19:12). Any man who swore by God’s name to legitimize his oath, and then broke his promise, would demonstrated hislack of reverence for God as well as a lack of fear of His holy retribution.  This would be the same as denying God’s existence. For Believers there is instruction not to use God’s name to legitimize an oath, letting our “yes be yes” and our “no be no” (Matthew 5:33-37).

Now on to the vain part: The Hebrew לא תשא לשוא is translated as "thou shalt not take in vain". The word here translated as "in vain" is שואshav' "emptiness, vanity; emptiness of speech, lying", while "take" isנשא nasa' "to lift, carry, bear, take, take away" (appearing in the secondperson as תשא ). The expression "to take in vain" is also translatedless literally as "to misuse" or variants. Some have interpreted the commandment to be against perjury, since invoking God’s name in anoath was considered a guarantee of the truth of a statement or promise. Other scholars believe the original intent was to prohibit using the name in the magical practice of conjuration.  The object of the command "thou shalt not take in vain" is את־שם־יהוה אלהיך at-shem-YHWH elohik "this-same name of YHWH, thy elohim", making explicit that the commandment is against the misuse of the proper name Yahweh specifically.  Wikipedia.

Webster Dictionary Definition of VAIN

1

: having no real value : idle, worthless <vain pretensions>

2

: marked by futility or ineffectualness : unsuccessful, useless <vain efforts to escape>

3

archaic : foolish, silly

4

: having or showing undue or excessive pride in one's appearance or achievements : conceited

From this it seems as though saying “God dam it” does not fall into the taking of God’s name in vain category, but what about the “Jesus Christ!!!” part?  In the OT God declared that His name was YHWH (Exodus 6:3; 20:7; see also 3:14). Scholars believe that "YHWH," or "Yahweh" is the third person singular form of the ancient Hebrew verb, "haya," meaning "to be." The basic thrust of this verb describes the state of existence. As the third person form of haya, Yahweh literally means "He is," or "He exists." It is a description of who God is. He isthe self-existing one.  God's name, YHWH, is a full sentence. It just so happens to be the shortest sentence in any language--"I am.

In Hebrew Jesus' name is spelled as "Yeshua." The "Ye" in Yeshua is the abbreviated form of YHWH. "Shua" is from the Hebrew word for salvation, yasha. Jesus' name literally means "YHWH is salvation.  Christ means: anointed, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word translated “Messiah”.  Thus when you say, “Jesus Christ!!!” you are in effect saying “the anointed bringer of YHWH’s salvation”, and still is no more the name of God than God is the name of God.

I am not saying that you should not strive to keep our euphemism for the Lord’s name as holey as we can, I am saying that neither saying “God Damn!” or “Jesus Christ!!!” will dam you to hell.

The 4th Commandments

Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour,and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.:

God instituted the Sabbath to Israel as a weekly reminder of two things. First is that all true blessing comes from His grace, not their labor. Secondly, that they should hallow him and honor Him and keep the day holy so to seek the fullness of His blessing by there giving our special attention to Him on the 7th day of each week.  Remember the Law, i.e., the Ten Commandments and everything in Deuteronomy was given unto Israel not unto the world at large like Jesus' crucifixion was.

 Deuteronomy 5 explains why the Israelite were to keep the Sabbath holy:  Verse 15: 

"You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an out stretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."  Christians were not carried out of Egypt so this reason does not apply to those under the Blood and not under the Law.  So I am not convinced that this injunction against laboring on the Sabbath holds for Christians.  And it would be a good thing if we were not for Christians have not observed the Sabbath since the beginning of the church almost.  The Sabbath commandment does not require worship, it prohibits work. Worship can occur on any day.  And the Sabbath's constrain against work is directed to the Jews, not Christians.

The early church did observe the Sabbath but the apostles had a meeting to decide which of the Jewish laws apply to non-Jewish Christians. Their decision is recorded in Acts 15:24-29. If you read it carefully, there is nothing in there about the Sabbath. Any modern Jewish rabbi would agree—the Sabbath law only applies to Jews. If you want to keep the Sabbath holy, you can but since Jesus rose from the grave on Sunday, that is the best day to celebrate it in worship.  

The point?  If you are stressing over not keeping the Sabbath holy by working on Saturday and/or Sunday as well, well don't it is of no consequence.

No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him

"No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." Joh 6:44

"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you." Jer 31:3  "There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God." Rom 3:11

How many sermons have you heard preached on those three verses?  I lay you odds that you have never heard a preacher say them.  For how could they read theses and then turn right around and tell you that it was all up to you to be saved?  That all you had to do was accept Jesus in your heart and your salvation was assured.  "Whether you are old or young, rich or poor, a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a murder and so on, if you truly repent in your heart and accept Jesus, YOU WILL BE SAVED" is how the line goes leaving out that the Bible declares humankind is so destitute that it cannot even seek God on his own. 

God has to draw us to Himself through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Joh 16:7-11). This is why Isaiah admonishes us to "seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near" (Isa 55:6). We cannot come to God when we get ready for we will never be ready on our own (Rom 3:11). We come to Him only when He is drawing us.  

If our salvation depends upon our accepting Jesus, then by accepting Jesus we save ourselves thus making us equal partners with Jesus in our salvation.  I cannot tell you how many time I have heard in church and on TV the invitation to accept Jesus and be saved without evern hearing that you cannot truly accept Him until and unless His Father has called you to do so.

Men are evil continually: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen 6:5)

Men love evil and hate good: "You love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah." (Psa 52:3)

Men unable to go to God: "And he said, Therefore said I to you, that no man can come to me, except it were given to him of my Father." (Joh 6:65)

Men in the flesh cannot please God: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:7-8)

Men are under Satan: "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1Jo 5:19)

 Romans 8:28 promises that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. You can find no verse is the Bible that gives the power of you salvation in your own hands.  So just what can we do?  God is sovereign and He will do what He will do for what ever reason He wishes.  We can just pray that we are of the ones He has chosen for his own, but our prayers will not make it so for we cannot control God.  I will leave you with the following verses to contemplate:

No Man Can Come to Me, Except the Father Which Hath Sent Me Draw Him

Psalms 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Acts 2:38-39, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

Acts 2:46-47, "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Romans 8:28-30, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

Romans 9:1-24, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"

1 Corinthians 1:26-29, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Timothy 1:8-11, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Titus 3:3-7, "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world [NKJV: to be] rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:

2 Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Luke 18:6,7 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him...

Eph 1:11-12 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, after the counsel of his obeing predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1 Cor 1:27-29 God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

1 Pet 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

A Funeral

Yesterday, August 1st, 2013, I spent the day driving up to Spindale, NC to attend my first cousin Alice Sexton's funeral.  She was 77 years old and the last of my father's sister Aunt Carries' children to pass.  Her liver had failed he and she was racked in pain these last few and the passing was a blessing.  I got to spend some time with some of my second cousins, and meet a few thirds.  But this post is not about me nor my family, it is about the two preachers who presided at the services for the funeral.  I am printing this and plan to mail it to then latter.  Had this been a regular church meeting I would have stood up in the middle of the sermon and ask for them to justify with scripture what they were preaching.

I have two bones to pick with the first preacher, and since one of them is also the problem I have with the second preacher I will explain that issue first.  He was the guest preacher and during his sermone preached from the Book of Job to make a point that as believers we will be tested by the Devil, and while the Lord will giver Satin power over our things and the power to make us sick, but the Lord would not give the power of death over us just as He had held that power from Satin over Job.

This is what I would have the first preacher explain with scripture, how does he explain Saint Peter and all the other Christians Martyrs who have died for their faith from the ones fed to the lions in Rome to the ones in the Mideast today being killed for no more than refusing not be a Christian and convert to Islam.  Preacher think about what you are saying, just because we American Christians have not been put to that test yet does not mean that the Lord will require our life to prove our faith.

Now to the second issue which both preacher were guilty of preaching a heresy.  While both brought up the resurrection several time each, they both over and over again drove home the false belief that Alice was in Heaven as soon as she died, that she was looking down on us as they spoke.  They both used this, that if we wanted to see Alice again that we had better get right with the Lord and accept Jesus as our Savior. I ask both of you is preaching a lie, e.g., the departed whomever they maybe, is sitting in Heaven as they sit through the sermon, is worth to your sole what little confort you think this lie will give the bereaved?

Preachers you just preached away the Resurrection and the judgment, since you both preached the Resurrection and that Alias was with the Lord as you spoke what would you have us believe?  That the Lord will put Alias back in the grave to open it up ate the end of days so she can be resurrected and have her name read from the Book of Life?In closing I would suggest that a funeral should be about the deceased and not an opportunity to preach to a captive audience.  I will give it to the second preacher, he did bring Alice's name into his sermon much more that did the first preacher, but he did not know Alice but in passing.  

You, whom ever was in charge of the service, should have asked those who came if they had anything to say about Alice, her live that they knew she had lived, and shared with her.

I would have talked about our playing as children, how my father would visit he mother almost every weekend of my childhood.  How the grass could not grow in their yard because of all the children playing in it.  I would have expressed my sorry in her leaving, and my belief that come the Resurrection she would be raised from the grave and called before the Lord and the Lamb would read her name from the Book of Life.