Song 9 -- Tomb into Temple

This song came about wanting to communicate the fact that for a believer, when they are transformed by Jesus, their bodies go from being a tomb into being a temple.  Everyone ever born, except Jesus, was born a tomb, without life in their soul.  The only way a soul can have life is if Jesus is allowed to come into it and give it Life.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  We are all created tombs for that purpose, because in that tomb, if you let Him, Jesus will create a New Creation that has Eternal Life. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians Chapter 2, verse 5, " Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ....." Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians in Chapter 6, verse 19, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,....."  Anyone who receives Jesus, is transformed from death into Life.  One of the main reason that people don't receive Jesus is out of fear.  Fear of how they will look to their so called friends.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of change.  In John's first letter Chapter 4, verse 18, he wrote that perfect Love cast out all fear.  Jesus is that perfect Love.  Jesus said that He came to destroy the fear of death.  In the book of Hebrews, Chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, it states, Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through His death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." When someone receives Jesus, they no longer fear death, because they then know that they have Eternal Life.  In Revelations Chapter 3, verse 20, Jesus says, " Behold I stand outside the door and knock; if ANYONE hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and him with me."  To hear the song, google search Yeshuasfriend1 Youtube.

Revelations Chapter 2 (Thyatira)

Thyatira has the important qualities for a church, but the thing that is hard to understand is why they tolerate Jezebel.  Jesus is very firm about the consequences of not dealing with the issue, and the consequence is pretty severe.

Jesus is:
The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze.
            The fire reveals the purification characteristic of Jesus.  Thyatira has gold mixed with dirt.  To get rid of the dirt and retain the gold, Thyratira has to be refined with fire, or respond and brush off the dirt.

Praise:
They have love and faith and perseverance, and their deeds are greater than they were at first.
             This is a church with all the right qualities, but they need to realize that love also means not allowing deception and protecting the spiritual welfare of the believers.

Warning:
You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
             It's obvious that this was a common practice of that day, becaue the issue was addressed to the early church.  It seems that the problem with the early churches, as well as even today, is that what some churches attempt to do is add the truth of Jesus to the spiritual practices of the day.  This practice is reffered to as adulterating the Word of God.  In the Book of Acts Chapter 15, verses 28 and 29, it states referring to Gentile believers,

 " For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep youselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell." 

So Jesus was putting on Gentile believers no greater burden than just obeying these few essential  commands.  So why would they even tolorate  the only thing that they were told to abstain from?  They, like a lot of churches today, tolerate many different kinds of deceptions for many different reasons.  One reason is because they don't understand that love does not mean that you tolerate anything someone does.  God's word teaches that if anyone in a fellowship is discovered to be involved in acts of immorality or deception (doctrine of demons), or (idolitry)worship of anything or anyone other than Jesus, that in love, they should be addressed one on one, and if there is no repentance(turning away from your era) on their part, then two believers confront the issue.  Then if there is no correction, you expose it to the whole fellowship.  After this, if there is no turning away from their practices, then you you ask them to leave the fellowship.  Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 5, verse 5, wrote,

 "I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

 This sounds harsh, but it is love, because Paul is concerned about this persons eternal destiny.

       Another reason why churches might tolerate a person such as Jezebel is because of her financial support to the church.  I hate to say that, but I have seen this happen.  Jesus brother James wrote in his letter in Chapter 2 about the sin of partiality.  This would be when you give more preference to someone with money over someone who seems to be without means.  He said in doing so you become judges with evil motives.  To tolerate a Jezebel over the welfare of the body(church) because of her monitery influence, is evil.

Jezebel's consequences:
          Because Jesus gave her time to repent and she did not want to, she will be cast upon a bed of sickness, and everyone who has commited adultery with her, if they don't repent, will go though great tribulation with her.  Jesus will  kill her children with pestilence.  This sounds pretty harsh, but Jesus is showing the seriousness of allowing His church to be infiltrated and decieved by things that are not Holy and according to His will.   He did this to let the churches know that He is the One who searches the minds and hearts; and that He will give to each one according to their deeds.

Jesus said that those who did not participate in her immorality and teachings and have not known the deep things of Satan, He places no other burden.  Just hold fast until He comes.

Overcomers Reward:
         Those who keep His deeds until the end, to them will be given authority over the nations, and they shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give them the morning star.  The Saints dwelling will be the Kingdom that Jesus is preparing for them.  From there they will help rule over the nations during the millenial rule of Jesus.

Revelations Chapter 2 ( Pergamum )

Pergamum had a lot of issues.  They were one messed up church.  This was a result of being in the place where Jesus says that Satan's throne was.  There was definitely a lot of demonic warfare going  on in the area and thus influencing the church there.  We see this even today in many places around the world, where churches are influenced by by the fleshliness around them.  We are all born with a fleshly nature.  We have the sin nature of fallen Adam.  The flesh nature is selfish by nature.  Like I had written before, with the empty soul, apart from Jesus, people look for anything to fill up the emptiness they feel.  Remember, the empty soul was intended to be the place where Jesus would create a New Creation.  If they don't know or have never heard this, then they are always seeking for anything to comfort the void they feel in their lives.  Pergamum have a variety of all these negatives influences.  With Satan's throne being there, this influence had to be very invassive.  This is why it is important for all believers to realize that they are in a spiritual battle.  There are two opposing forces in the spiritual realm.  There is the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light.  The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians in Chaper 5, verses 8,

 " For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light( for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth ), trying to learn what pleases the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitfull deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them".

 We are all born under the power of the kingdom of darkness and apart from Jesus that is where we dwell. When a person comes to Jesus, they are delivered from the kindom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of God ( Light ).  All believers had once dwelled in the kingdom of darkness and therefore satan knows all their weaknesses.  He is aware of all the things that that person use to use to try and fill the void.  Satan uses these things against a believer to tempt them into doing things that would not be aligned will how a Saint should conduct their lives.  Then he floods them with guilt.  Jesus will only convict a believer with a soft word in their spirit.  This is why the Apostle John wrote in his first letter in Chapter 1, verse 9,

" If we confess our sins then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all unrighteousness." 

So there is no reason for a believer to get rapped up in guilt, or even waiste their time with it.  One important thing to understand is this, there is a fundamental difference between religion and truth.  Religion is mans attempt to be worthy to God, so they do all the things that they think God wants them to do.  They polish up the outer man to look good on the outside, but their soul is still dead.  The Truth is totally opposite.  When you allow Jesus to come into your heart, He becomes your Righteousness and therefore you are worthy before God, apart from anything else you may do.  The New Creation starts out as a baby , you might say, as it grows it pushes to the surface sins ( things of the fleshly man ) that we didn't even know we had. You might even act on it, or it might just be an improper thought.  This is why as you recognize it, all you have to do is confess it and you are clensed of it.  For a believer, at first the outer actions are usually the first things that are brought under control, but as the fleshly man is being pushed outward by the spiritual man, it is usually the deeper things of the heart and mind that come up.  The solutions is still the same, just confess it.

Getting back to the letter Pergamum,

Jesus is:
The One who has the Sharp two- edged sword.
         This is very fitting for Pergamum's condition.  Jesus is the Word of God, and that Word gives life.  Also, a good thing to note is that all scripture is the God inspired Word.  This is why the writter of Hebrews wrote in his 4th Chapter, verses 12 and 13,

 " For the word of God is living and breathing and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division between soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is NO creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him of whom we have to do".

Jesus is letting Pergamum and any future fellowship of Saints know that nothing is hidden from Him.  So don't get complaisant in your walk to where you are not aware that Jesus is there to lead you into all Truth.  With the Word  you can resist the darkness and it's deceptions.

Praise:
        Jesus let them know that He was aware that the place where they have their church is a challenge because satan's throne was there.  The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 6, verses 10-13,

"Finally, be srong in the lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood ( Man ), but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm".

 With Ephesus knowing these things, you notice in the letter sent to them that they didn't have the issues that Pergamum had.  It was vital to Pergamums success as a church to be able and willing to confront deception and exspose the darkness and lies.  They were probably more concerned with loving people, but part of loving people is not wanting them to live in ways that are harmful to their spiritual existence.  Even though Ephesus was able to deal better with fighting the darkness, they had been loosing their focus on what was really important, and that would be their first love, Jesus.  We need both, the willingness to fight against darkness and the love for Jesus and people.
Peramum held fast to His name.  Which means that they are not ashamed or afraid to confess the name of Jesus.  Also they did not deny the faith, even though one of the apostle was killed there because of his witnessing about Jesus.

Warning:
They had some who were holding to the teachings of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak.

          This was a teaching that continued from before the cross, but with a new twist.  Before the cross Balaam was an enemy of Israel and he was always cursing Israel, tempting them to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.  Now satan was using the same hatred towards the Christian churches as against Israel.  Satan also tried to get believers to hate Israel for putting Jesus to death.  Israel did not put Jesus to death.  They could not have stopped it if they wanted to.  Jesus came to earth to lay down His own life as a sacrificial Lamb.  Any Christian church, even today, that holds to such a thing, should be held in question.

They also had some who  held to the teachings of the Nicolaitians.
           This was the practice of having a hiararcy, where some are held in higher esteem than others, because they have a higher position.  This is opposite of Jesus way, since the greatest is the least among you.  The greatest is the servent of all.  Jesus did not come to be esteemed by men, but laid down His life.

Action Needed:
Repent or Jesus will come quickly to make war against them with His mouth. 

Overcomers Reward:
They will be given some of the hidden manna, and Jesus will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who recieves it.

Song 8 -- Alpha and Omega

In the Book of Revelations, Jesus reveals Himself as being, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, and the Beginning and the End.  Like I stated in other Bloggs, besides Jesus revealing to John things about the end times, in the Book of Revelations, Jesus also revealed who He is.  In the Book of Isaiah Chapter 44, verse 6, it reads, " Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ' I am the first and the last, and there is no God besides Me."  In verse 24, "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the One who formed you from the womb, I the Lord, am the maker of all things, Stretching out thet heavens by myself, and sprending out the earth all alone."  The first and the last is a King, the Lord, God , Creator and Redeemer.  A redeemer is someone who pays the price to gain pocession of something.  This is exactly what Jesus did by dying on the cross.  He died in our place, and as a result, he purchased for us, what we were not able to purchase for ourselves, and that is salvation.  Thus the name Jesus (Yeshua), which means, the Lord our Salvation.  If someone comes to Jesus and receives what He did for them, then Jesus' Spirit will dwell in them.  This is why Paul said in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians Chapter 13, verse 5, " Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you ----."  Jesus dwells in believers by the presence of His Holy Spirit.  His Spirit is what allows someone to be born of the Spirit, which Jesus also referred to as being born of above and born again.  This is how the New Creation comes into existance.  In the same letter chapter 5,verse17, Paul wrote,"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away: behold new things have come."  Jesus said that he removed our sin as far as the east is from the west and that they would be remembered no more.

Revelations Chapter 2 ( Smyrna )

The short letter to Smyrna is an interesting one.  Remember that all these letters to the seven churches were also intended for the churches throughout the world , in the last days.  All the praises,warnings, resolutions and rewards are also intended for all who believe in Jesus unto salvation.  So there is alot to learn in these letters.

To the Church in Smyrna,

Jesus is:
1) The first and the last, who became dead, and has come to life.

Praises:
1) I know your tribulations and your poverty (but you are rich)
                  Does that sound like rich to you?  In the visible realm, it does not look that way.  In the Spiritual realm it looks totally different.  The apostle Peter wrote in his first letter Chapter 1, verse 6 and 7,

" In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

 Jesus is letting believers know that He is aware of the trials that the believers go through. One of the reasons He allows it,  is because it shows evidence of a persons faith in Jesus.  To me faith is defined as, trusting Jesus.  Trials show more evidence of that trust, when you are still able to acknowledge and confess Jesus in the mist of them.  If a persons life is going perfectly fine and all is good, it does not require as much trust as it would someone who is in tribulation and poverty.  Also, the trials are more presious than gold, so the more trials a believer has to go through in their lives, the wealthier they are.  In the apostle Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians, in Chapter 4, verse 17,Paul wrote,

 " For momentary, light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison."

 Believers are change from glory to glory. If you compare it to someone who is trying to build muscle, to build muscle you have to keep adding resistance (weight).  The trials we go through are the resistance (weights) for the spiritual man, the New Creation.  This is why it says that all this will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  When Jesus is revealed, the New Creations will be revealed with Him.  Hebrews Chapter 12, verse 2, says

"That for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross."

  With or without the cross, Jesus would have joy.  So what does this mean?  Jesus saw the joy of what He would create by His sacrifice on the cross and that would be the New Creations.

2) Jesus lets them know that the blasphemy is coming from an oppisition that calls themselves Jews but are not.  Instead they are a synagogue of Satan.
Warning:

Jesus' warning is not a warning to the church at Smyrna because they were doing something wrong.  Instead,

1) Jesus was warning them not to fear what they were about to suffer.  As if things weren't bad enough.  I'll tell you what, these are very special believers.  I can not wait to see what they look like when we meet together in the air.  All I have to do is look for giants.

2) Jesus tells them that  the devil is about to cast some of them into prison, that they might be tested, and they will have tribulation ten days. This group just keeps getting richer and richer.

       Jesus is reminding them that even though they may be put in prison by men, that they are actually being put there by satan.  So therefore they are reminded the writting of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians Chapter6, that says that we do not war against flesh and blood (man), but against principalities, powers and demonic forces in the heavenly realm.

Overcomers Reward:

1) Be faithful (trust Jesus) until death, and Jesus will give you the crown of life.
2) You shall not be hurt by the second death.
The first death is the death of the body.  The second death is the death of the spirit.  The second death will come about after Jesus thousand year reign over the earth.  Then there will be judgement made from the great white throne that Jesus will sit on. Everyone who ever existed will be before the throne and whoevers name is not found written in the Book of Life will suffer the second death in the lake of fire.  This lake was only intended for Satan and his demons (fallen angels).  Everyone was intended to have eternal life and be written in the Lambs Book of Life, but not everyone wanted it.  Those who refused the Truth as to be saved. So there spirits had to go were spirits are put to death, an eternal death.  Satans has always tried to decieve as many people as he could, so that he could drag as many as he could into this second death..  Jesus is the Book of Life.  Just make sure you get in Him.

Peace to you.

Revelations Chapter 2 ( Ephesus )

Both the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Book of Revelations are about the letters that are written to the seven churches in Asia.  There are four aspects to each letter.  In the beginning of each letter, Jesus reveals something about Himself to that church.  He then gives some praise for the good, reveals a warning to their eras and then reveals what is in store for the overcomers.  I will break each church down to these categories, Jesus is, Praise, Warnings, Action Needed,  Consequences and Overcomers Reward.

To the church in Ephesus,

Jesus is:
The One who holds the seven stars (Angels of the Churches) in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (The Churches).

Praise:
1) Jesus knows their deeds, toil and perseverance.
2) They don't endure evil men.
3) They test self proclaimed apostles and have found them to be false.
4) They have persevered and endured for His name's sake, without growing weary.
5) They hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans as He does.  ( The Nicolaitans had hierarchy of superiority, where some were looked at as more important than others.  This is opposite of what Jesus wants, because Jesus said that the least among you shall be the greatest, and the greatest shall be the servant of all.)

Correction:

1) They have left their first love. ( Their first love would be a love for Jesus and others.)
                            How can a church that has deeds, toils and perseverance and keeps and eye on
that     
                            which is not true be seen as doing something wrong ?  The doing means nothing if you
                            loose focus on the most important thing about being a believer in Jesus, and that is LOVE,
                            Foremost a love for Jesus and then overflowing to a love for your neighbor.  They
                            had gotten all caught up on formalities and going through religious motions that they forgot
                            what was really important.  Jesus had said, in Mathew Chapter 25, verses 35-40, " For I
                            was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something
                            to drink; I was a stranger and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick
                            and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.........Truly I say to you, to the
                            extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it 
                            to Me".  Just like today we have many churches with the same flaws.  They get so caught
                            in playing church, that they miss what is important.  The function of the church becomes
                            more important than the welfare on the people in the church.  Those people are actually
                            the church.  The main purpose of a church is to first proclaim the Gospel to let people
                            know the way to eternal life, then second to love them.  If you really love them, then you
                            will care for them as yourself.  When one suffers, we all suffer.  How we love others is
                            how we are loving Jesus.

Action Needed:
1) They are told to remember from where they have fallen.
2) Do the deeds you did at first.

Consequence of not:
1) Jesus will remove their lampstand right out of it's place.  Which means that their organization won't last.

Overcomers Reward:
1) Jesus will grant you to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
At the end of every letter it says, "He who  has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."  When John had written all that he had been given in Jesus' revelation to him, it included all the letters to all the churches, just like we have today.  That is why what is said to one church was also to be heeded by all the others also, as we should do today.

 Peace to you.

                

Song 6 -- Life Giver

Life Giver came about by the thought that what do you communicate to two different spectums of life that they both need life.  You have people in this world that really stuggle.  Life is hard and there seems that there is no way out of their life situation.  On the other hand you have people that seem to have everything and their life seems to be very smooth.  The fact is that apart from Jesus, they feel the exact same.  Without Jesus, there is an emptiness that everyone feels.  We all try to mask it, or try to fill the hole in our hearts with such things as drugs, over drinking, sex, cars, clothes, image, religion and just a lot of things in general.  That hole only fits One thing and that is Jesus.  Everything else is just a temporary fix and when it wears off, the emptiness seems even bigger.  That is why a lot of people destroy their lives by over trying to fill the emptiness.  We say that these type of people are addicted.  Without Jesus, everyone is addicted to something to mask over the emptiness.  When Jesus is permitted to fill that hole that He intended to create a New Life in, that is just what happens.  He gives that person a new existence, one that actually has the life that they were purposed to have.  There is no longer the sense of hopelessness or emptiness.  You now have real life and that life is eternal, because Jesus is Eternal and He becomes your life giver.  Therefore, the person who has the stuggles in this life, can now have hope and joy.  Not because their life circumstances might get better, but because even if it does't, they will have Jesus peace in the mist of storms and know that this life on earth is all temporary and that there is a greater place waiting for them.  For the person who seems to have it all, but probably feels even emptier,  possesions will no longer seem as important or needed by them.  They will be freed from striving after wind and they to will realize what is really life.  Again, peace to you and if you have access to Youtube just key in Yeshuafriend1.

Song 5 -- Glory Glory Jesus Is Lord

This song came as a simple tune to the words, Glory Glory Jesus Is Lord.  I then felt that I had to add to it, of course.  So it came to me, Jesus is Lord, why?  Thus the song.  It points out almost every aspect of the four gospels that would declare Jesus as being Lord.  So you might say that it is the Gospel Song.  It is a summation of the Gospel, from start to finish.  It is a good song to meditate on.  Especially as the Christmas season approaches.  The Truth of the Gospel is about the ultimate Gift from God to man and the purpose for your existence.  I hope you enjoy it. To view this song, just do a Google search for Yeshuasfriend1 Youtube.  Peace to you.

The Christmas Story -- Song 7 -- The Star in the Sky

As we enter the Christmas season, that is celebrated this time of year by many throughout the world, it is a good time to reflect on the Christmas story and what this means for you.  The prophecy of the Christmas story actually begins in the Book of Genesis, which is the first book in the Bible.  In Genesis Chapter 3, vesres 14 and 15, right after Satan the serpent had deceived Adam and Eve into breaking the only command that God had given them, God told Satan," Because you have done this, ......... I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heal."  Enmity is defined as a deep seated hatred or hostility, as between enemies or opponents.  In Psalm 101, verse 1, David wrote," the Lord said to my Lord sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for thy feet".  In Mathew Chapter 26, verse 64, Jesus, after being questioned by the high priest as to if He was the Christ, the Son of God, said this, " You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see The Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."  So what we see in this, is that Jesus is the One who is being referred to as being at the right hand (power) of God, and that Jesus' enemies will become a footstool for His feet. Therefore, Jesus will bruise satan and all who choose him on the head, and Jesus heal will be bruised. So what we can conclude, is that Jesus is the enmity that will come between satan seed and  the seed of woman, who choose to be Born of Above in Jesus.  So what does all this have to do with Christmas?  Well, it shows that from the beginning, God had planned to send an enmity (Jesus) into the world with a very special purpose.  Jesus would be special.  In Isaiah Chapter 9, verse 6, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."  Note: this verse is quoted many times during the Christmas season, but the one part of it that seems to be overlooked is that this child is referred to as the Eternal Father. 

The details of Jesus birth is best found in Luke's Gospel, starting in Chapter 1, verses 26 -38," Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  And coming in, he said to her," Hail, favoured one!  The Lord is with you."  But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be.  And the angel said to her, " Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus." ( Note: His name in Hebrew was Yeshua, which means, the Lord our Salvation.)  " He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." ( Note: this was because Mary and Joseph were from the lineage of David.  They were also descendants of Jacob (Israel).  No matter how much Satan tried to destroy the descendants of Jacob, God would always intervene to protect them, because it was from this lineage that He would come into the world.)  "And  Mary said to the angel, " How can this be, since I am a virgin?"  And the angel answered and said to her," The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring will shall be called the Son of God......And Mary said, " Behold the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word."  And the angel departed from her."

In Mathews Gospel, Mathew details how this was communicated to Joseph in the first Chapter, verses 18 -25.  He writes, " Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.  When His Mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.  (Note; if Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit, then that would make the Holy Spirit also His Father.)  And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly.  (Note: this would protect her from being stoned to death.)  But when he had considered this, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, " Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, For it is He who will save His people from their sin.  ( Note: He will save His people, therefore Jesus (Yeshua), The Lord Our Salvation.)  Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fullfilled, saying, " Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, " God with us."  (Note: this was phophesied by the prophet Isaiah in his 7th Chapter, verse 14.)  And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. 

Now about the time that Jesus was to be born, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, which is the city of David, because Caesar Augustus had made a decree requiring everyone on the earth to register for the census in their own city.  They had to go to Bethlehem because Joseph was of the house and family of David.  When they got there the Inn was full so the only place inside that they could go was in a stable.  How fitting, although many would ask, "Why would God choose to have Jesus born in a stable?" Jesus is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  This was His whole purpose for coming to the earth.  Where else should a lamb be born, but in a stable.  When Mary had giving birth to Jesus in the stable, she wrapped Him in cloth and laid Him in a manger.  At the same time that Jesus was born, there were shepherds in the same region, that were in the fields that night watching over their flock.  All this is written in the Gospel according to Luke in his 2nd Chapter, and starting in verse 9, Luke writes, " And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the Glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.  And the angel said to them, " Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the City of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  (Note:  Good News for all the people.  The house of Israel was choosen to be the lineage in which Jesus would come into the world and He still is going to do a special thing with the house of Jacob in the world to show that He is God.  But His main  reason for coming was to bring joy and do something for all people.  He came to be the Lamb of God, who would die for all sins, so that anyone who would believe would have eternal life and become a New Creation. Thus we have a Savior, Yeshua, the Lord our Salvation.)  The angel continued in verse 12, " And this shall be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying," Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (Note: this is the most misquoted passage of scripture in the Bible.  What you will hear is, "Peace on earth and good will towards men."  The actual scripture says that there will be peace among men with whom He is pleased.  The only way to please God is to recieve the gift that Jesus came to give.  The peace is an internal peace in the soul.  He did not come to bring peace to the earth, for apart from Him there is no peace.) The shepherds made their way to the stable and found Jesus in the manger just as they had been told.  They also told Joseph and Mary all that had been revealed to them about Jesus.  And all who heard it wondered at the things that had been told them by the shepherds.  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as they were told.

We finish the Christmas story back in Mathew Chapter 2, when the three wise men come traveling from the east to find, " He who has been born the King of the Jews."  That was their word.  Imagine, here are three men, not of Israel but from the east.  They know of the coming of the Messiah, and were looking for it.  (Note:The house of Israel, who were told by their prophets about His coming, were caught off guard because they were not looking for the Messiah that would come as the Lamb. Rather, they were looking for the Messiah that would use Israel to show His Power to the world.  This is still the case for a lot of Jewish people, they are waiting for The Messiah's second coming, but to be the recpient of His power, you need to acknowledge the Lamb, His first coming.)  The three wise men had seen a star in the sky on the night that Jesus was born and followed in the direction that they saw the star.  They were coming to worship Him.  I believe what they saw is what the shepherds saw, the multitude of heavenly host.  I believe that above Bethlehem that night, the sky opened up between heaven and the earth  and the light of heaven was coming through.  They eventually found where Jesus was and fell down and worshiped Him; and opening up their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.  These were all very costly idems.  Today, what can we bring Him to worship Him?  We all have what he would like as a gift.  He would like us all to offer our hearts to Him, so that he could fullfill His purpose for coming to you personally.  That would be creating in you a New Eternal Creation.  Invite Him into your heart and He will give you the greatest Gift ever possible.  The ultimate Christmas Gift.  Peace to you.

If you would like to know more about this New Creation, you can read read one of my previous bloggs intitled: How can one man death forgive sin and give Eternal Life?, The New Creation, and Why all this for a New Creation?

Revelation Chapter 1 (Part Three)

In completing Chapter 1, we find John on the Island of Patmos, where he was sent because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  Patmos was like a detention Island were people were sent for crimes.  John's crime was the refusal to stop teaching about Jesus.  How could he have stopped? Like I said in an earlier blogg, he saw and heard and felt so much of the power of God, that it was impossible for him not to want to share what he knew to be true.  John considered himself a fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus.  Notice how John describes how he was partaking.  For the sake of the kingdom, John was persevering in his tribulations.  He was willing to go to prison for his testimony of Jesus.  Jesus used this for good by having John's full attention and declaring to him the most important writtings of scripture for the believers, pertaining to the end times.  John is told to write down the vision and make sure that each of the seven churches in Asia, an area which is today Turkey, get the vision along with a specific message to each church.  John heard the voice of the one who was giving him the instructions and when John turned to see who was talking to him, he saw Seven Golden Lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands was one like the son of man, with a robe down to His feet, and across His chest was a golden girddle.  Also, His eyes were like a flame of fire and His feet were like glowing bronze in a furnance. The prophet Daniel was giving a vision of the end times by the same One, in Daniel chapter 10, verses 5 and 6.  The difference is, Daniel saw a vision of the end times, where he saw the future glorified body of the Living God, the Lord Jesus, whereas John, in the present, was seeing the gloified Lord Jesus.  John said that His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow.  This is how Daniel, in Chapter 7, verse 9, describe the One that he refered to as The Ancient of Days who took His seat on the Throne.  This is the One that the anti-christ, that Daniel talks about, will make his pround boast against.  John said that His voice was like the sound of many waters.  When Jesus was here, before the cross, He had once spoken to a Samaritan woman, who was worshiping as Jacob's well.  He told her, in John Chapter 4, verses13 and 14,

           "Evereyone who drinks of this water, refering to the well, will thirst again; but
           whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thrist; but the water   
           that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

Jesus voice probably sounded like many waters, because His words are like water that gives life.  The Word of God is Living and breathing and is food for the spirit.  John continues to say that he saw in His Right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth came a shape two edged-sword; and His face was like the son shinning in all it's strength.  As to the two-edged sword that came out of His mouth, in Hebrews Chapter 4, verse 12, it talks about God's word again.  It says,

           "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged, and piercing
           as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the 
           thoughts and intentions of the heart."

 After seeing all this, John fell at Jesus feet as dead, he was told not to be afraid.  Jesus put His right hand on John told him this,

             " Do not be afraid; I am the firsrt and last, and the Living One; and I was dead,
             and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to Death and Hades.  Write
             therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things
             which shall take place after these things.  As for the mistery of the seven stars which
             you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands; the seven stars are the
             angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."

Song 4 -- You Are My Neighbor

This song is just a very basic message.  It came about by just a desire to present a simple gospel message.  Jesus summed up the 10 commandments with 2.  One was, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind."  "This is the great and foremost commandment".  "The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  " On these two commandments depend the whole Law of the Prophets."  Everyone is my neighbor and if I love them like I love myself, then I am going to want them to know the gospel message, so they can make their decision for themselves if they want to recieve Jesus into their heart so that they can have eternal life.  Jesus died and shed His blood so that our sin nature could be forgiven by putting it to death on the cross with Jesus.  Jesus rose again to put in us the power of His Eternal Spirit, that allows us to have Eternal Life.  Jesus will come again, and when He does, He will caught the believers up to where He is, and in the twinkling of an eye their eternal Spirit will join a new Glorious ressurected body.  They then will be greater than the angels.  It is written that, " For the glory set before Him, Jesus endured the cross.  The glory that Jesus saw was not His for He always had it.  The glory that Jesus saw, was Glory of the New Glorified Creations that would come about by His death and ressurection.  If you do not know what these songs are about, I have a youtube account at Yeshuasfriend1 where I am introducing a song once a week for 52 weeks.  Peace to you.

Revelations Chapter 1 (Part Two)

The Book of Revelations is not just the revealing of the events of the end times to John from Jesus.  It is also the revealing of who Jesus really is.  You might say that it is the Revelation from Jesus and the Revealing of Jesus.  John will be sending this revelation along with individual messages to seven churches in Asia, which were all in the region near Greece, that is now Turkey.  Starting in verse 4, John tells them this,

            "Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and is to come; and from
            the seven Spirits that are before His throne;" 

So we see Jesus on a throne with seven Spirits before it.  Spirits was capitalized, so these are the seven Spirits of God.  Verse 5 continues,

             " and from Jesus Christ , the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler
             of the kings of the earth.  To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by
             His blood, and He made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be
             the glory and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.  Behold He is coming in the clouds,
             and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and the tribes of the earth
             will mourn over Him.  Even so, Amen."  I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the
             Lord God, who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Jesus is:                                                                           Saints (Believers) are:
He who is and was and is to come                                      Released from their sins by His blood
The faithful witness                                                            Made to be a kingdom
The first born of the dead                                                    Made to be priests unto God
The ruler of the kings of the earth                                       Loved
The One who has the glory and dominion forever
Coming in the clouds
The Alpha and Omega
The Lord God
The Almighty

When it talked about Jesus coming in the clouds and they will look at Him whom they pierced, this vision was even seen by the last prophet of the Old Testament.  In the Book of Zechariah, Chapter 12, verses 9 and 10, Zechariah wrote;

             " And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations
             that come against Jerusalem.  And I will pour out on the house of David and the
             inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will
             look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns
             for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a
             first born." 

This prophecy, by Zechariah was a double prophecy.

First, it foretold of the One who would be pierced, not only was Jesus pierced through His side on the cross, but I am sure that the biggest pierce was the pierce He must have felt in his heart by the rejection.  Although, it was His plan all along to come and die to create a New Creation.

Second, it foretold of Jesus second coming, when He will come and defend the remnant of Israel that He will bring back to Jerusalem.  This will happen after the anti-Christ comes against Israel and scatters them from the land, half way through the seven year peace covenant.  Jesus will bring a remnant of Israel back to Jerusalem.  When Jesus comes in the clouds, there will be two groups of people left on the earth, mourning for different reasons.

 One group will mourn at the wrath that Jesus will bring upon the earth because of those who were destroying the earth.  Jesus said that if he had not shortened those days, when man was destroying the earth, that no flesh would have survived. 

The second group is the remnant of Israel that will mourn because they will realize that Jesus was the Lord that they rejected.

There is a third group.  These are the New Creations that will be with Jesus in the clouds, to execute the wrath with Him.  They were caught up to meet Him in the air at the end of the tribulation.  The only people left on the earth, at this time, are the remnant of Israel and those who refused to believe the Truth as to be saved.  Jesus is the Ark(The Love Train), that if you are in it, then you are saved.  Everyone is invited, get on board. They are preserved from the wrath of God.  You can read more on this in previous blogs.

Revelations Chapter 1 (Part One)

Before I return to the conclusion of Daniel, I would like to go through the Book of Revelations.  I am going to go through Revelation, one chapter at a time.  It is not as hard to understand as people try to say it is.  It is not a book of misteries.  In fact it is a condensed version in places and expanded versions in other places, of scripture in the Old Testiment written by the prophets.  It is intermingled with new insight also.  I will reflect back to Old Testiment correlations as we go along.  The first thing to understand about the Book of Revelations is that is the Revelation of Jesus.  Jesus reveals, to His Apostle John, the things that will take place on the earth and in Heaven, just prior to His return and what that means.  The human mind can not understand the things that are written in scripture without the Spirit of God living in your soul.  In earlier bloggs I explain how that is possible and what that means.  You might want to read some of the bloggs about the new creation.

                                                              Chapter One

Chapter one starts off saying what I have just said about the revelation given to John by Jesus.  It says that it was given to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.  I guess that is one of the reasons why Jesus trusted John with the revelation.  He new that he would not keep it quiet.  You have to put John into the right perspective.  He was an apostle of Jesus.  He was taught by Jesus about receiving Eternal Life.  He witnessed the thousands of miracles that Jesus did.  John even conlcuded his writting of the Gospel in Chapter 21, verse 25,

             " And there are so many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written in  
             detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain books which were written". 

John was one of the three apostles that witnessed Jesus transfigured in all His Glory.  He was at the foot of the cross when Jesus died.  John was with Peter when they discovered Jesus' tomb empty.  Jesus was with the disciples off and on for forty days after His ressurection.  John experienced the infilling of the Spirit of God, on the day of Pentecost.  Which is meant by, born of above.  After all of these experiences, John could not help but tell all who he saw about Jesus and all he knew to be true.  John was the perfect person to be intrusted with this revelation from Jesus.  This is the only book in the Bible that says what is written in verse 3.

            " Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed
            the things which are written in it; for the time is near".

 There is a special blessing that comes with reading and heeding the Book of Revelation.  It is not a book to fear, as many would think.  The truth shall make you free.

Song 3 -- Jesus Thank You

With a collective day of thanksgiving coming up, I only find it fitting to do the song, Jesus Thank You.  This song came about when I was considering just what people seem to give thanks for.  I noticed that people where always ready and wiiling to give thanks for all of the blessings.  That is good, the problem is that most of those blessings were things that were happening in peoples lives that were visably good.  What about the things that seem visably bad.  Are those a time to give thanks?  I say, more so.  One of my most favorite passages of scripture are found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians chapters 4 and 5.  They explained what Jesus said and what he meant when he said "In this world you will have many trials, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." In Chapter 4, verses 8 -11, Paul writes, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh".  Verses 16 -18, "Therefore we do not loose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is creating for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal".  Although the trials may not look like they are a good thing, they are being used to create, in a believer in Jesus, what they will be forever.  The hard times that you go though are like weights to a body builder,  as the weight increases your muscle grow and the more you can carry.  So I find it very important to give thanks in both the good things that happen in our lives and more so the things that seem to be not so good.  Good or bad, it's all good.  Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5, verse 18, " In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus".  Peter wrote in his first letter, Chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, "......even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith is more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Have a great collective day of thanksgiving, but more importantly remember to give thanks everyday, whether good or bad, for it is all good.  Peace to you .

Song 2 -- Jesus is the Same

This song comes from Hebrews Chapter 13, verse 8, " Jesus is the same, yesterday and today, yes and forever."  If you live long enough, you will find that life is always changing.  There is not anything that stays the same.  Things in life are one minute going great and on a dime it can turn and become very challenging.  There is a place where it is possible to have an existence where a part of you is in an unchangeable place.  Jesus died to put a New Life inside the soul of anyone who would let Him.  That New Life is transformed into a realm that is not effected by what the body goes through in this life and all of the changes.  The only effect the changes and trials of this life, that the body has to experience, has on the New Life, is that it will determine what the New Life will be forever when it comes into the Heavenly Kingdom of God, when the body is shed off.  For a New Creation, the changes and trials that they go through are the building blocks that will determine what they will be forever.  For if you put yourself in Jesus you will be eternal for that's what He is.  To veiw the video, Google search Youtube, key Yeshuasfriend1. Peace to you.

Song 1 -- Wandering Joe

For my regular readers wondering what this is about.  I just started a Youtube account to introduce songs that I have written.  The last song was written in 1999.  I have around 52 to introduce.  Hopefully, one a week for 52 weeks.  I am directing viewers of the videos to check my Blogg to get some history about the different songs.  Wandering Joe was first a poem I had written about a guy who was out wandering and wondering.  Like all of us, Joe was going through life avoiding the unknown.  When we avoid the unknow, we just wander through life relieing on everything we see to determine what we do.  Joe never realized that he had the opportunity to inherit possessions that his Dad had left Him.  He avoided reading a letter that told him about his inheritence.  He spent his life unsure of where he was going in his life, beiving that he had no worth, he would seek things that were just mirages and never really knew what he was thought of.  We all have worried about such things at one time or another in our lives.  Joe could have avoided all of that, if he had done more wondering about the unknown than wandering according to how he percieved things.  If Joe had read the letter he had gotten, which for him was the unknown, it would have answered all his questions he had had about his life.  The direction in his life would have changed, he would have know his worth, he would not have dangerously saught the things that fade away, and he would have know what he was thought of.  We all have that opportunity in our lives to avoid all the waisted time.  Jesus made the way for all of us and He provided us with a letter for Life, the Bible, that shows us the way to the inheritence and what He thinks of us all.  Read Jesus letter though the apostle John, in John's Gospel.  It shows the Way.  To see the videos, just Google search Yeshuasfriend1.  Peace to all of you.

Racing Toward The Beginning

Jesus said that He would rap up His work quickly.  I need to explain what I see happening, now in the world, that has definitely been speeding up.  I came to know Jesus, 34 years ago.  Although I was raised in a church that is based on a form of Christianity, I didn't know Jesus.  I believed  that Jesus came and knew about Him, but I didn't know Him.  I was taught that salvation was based on what I did and how good I could be.  Born with a sin nature, it was very frustrating, because it was impossible to do all that was required, having a nature that was contrary to how I was required to be.  Fortunately, I came across the Truth.  Man's righteousness is filthy rags in the sight of God.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Sounds hopeless, but what I learned next transformed me from the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of Light.  When I learned that, by Grace we are saved through faith and not of works, so that no man can boast, I was freed from the mindset that I had to earn salvation.  I learned that, God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten son, that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish but have Everlasting Life.  Also, If we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, then we shall be saved.  In the book of Revelation, Jesus said that He stands outside the hearts door and knocks and if anyone opens the door and lets Him in, that He would come in.  That is how I went from knowing about Jesus, to actually knowing Him.  At that point I was freed from the deception of darkness and now know the Truth in the Light.  I read the Words of God.  I absorbed myself in the Prophets and their writtings and the Book of Revelations, which is the revelation of Jesus about the end of the age, that He revealed to the apostle John.  At the time I started learning about how it would be in the last days, there was a lot that had to happen to line up the events.  I learned, in the book of Revelation, about two witnesses that will come on the scene with much power and a sharpe word of prophecy to the world, for three and a half years.  Many who try to kill them will be devoured, until they are finally killed by the anti-christ when they go to Jerusalem.  The whole world at that time will celebrate like it was Christmas morning and they will exchange gifts to one another.  This is what was impossible at the time I first read this.  It says that they will lay in Jerusalem three days and on the third day they will raise from the dead and be caught up to the heavens and the whole world will see.(Revelation Chapter 11).  The part that looked far off to me, was how the whole world could witness this as it happened.  We know now, that today, with the new technology of the cell phones and other devices, that anyone, almost anywhere, in the world could see this all at the same time.  I told people that one day the world will be united economically, which sounded rediculous 34 years ago.  There was no euro, all Europe had their own currencies.  I also told them that one day the world will be united in their monetary currency.  This even sounded more rediculous.  Not even ever possible.  But, looking at things that have been happening, in recent weeks, throughout the world, with difficult economic situations in many countries, one of the solutions might be to unite currencies.  If not now, then it is quickly heading in that direction.  I wrote in earlier blogs that this is bigger than man.  Everything  is being orchestrated from the kingdom of darkness.  To the people involved in bringing this about, it seems to be a good solution and maybe the only one.  Getting to this point took very many unwize decisions by countries, that were either orchestrated or insane.  What made me believe that the world had to get to this point, was that the anti-Christ, in the second half of the seven year covenant, will require every man, woman, and child to need a mark on their hand and forehead to buy or sell. (Revelation Chapter 13, verses 16 &17).  This would require a connected or electronic monetary exchange.  Charge cards were just for individual stores and there was no debit cards when I first started reading about these things.  In finishing, I will close with warnings. First, if you get the mark, there will from that point be no way for you to obtain eternal life, it is an eternal death sentence.  Second, there is a possibility that people will be inticed to turn in Christians for credit to their accounts during that time, and you will probably need the mark to be credited the money.( Matthew Chapter 24, verse10, and Mark Chapter 13, verses 12 &13).  Many of the betrayed will be family members. Such a sad time, ultimate greed.  If you take the bait, you better spend it quick, for Jesus will soon be coming.  For some the beginning, for others the end.  The choice is yours.  Knock knock!  Peace to you.

Jesus says look to Daniel ( Part 5 )

At the end of Daniel's writings in chapter 9, Daniel is given a vision of the last seven years of this age.  In Chapter 9, verse 24 it talks about 70 weeks that are decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make a end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the holy place.  It says that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. From the time that the decree was made, until Jesus the Messiah was cut off, was seven and sixty-two weeks of years.  This equals sixty- nine weeks of years, or 483 years.  Daniel saw Jesus being cut off.  Daniel saw Jesus the Messiah on the cross.  By Jesus being cut off, on the cross, He was the atonement for iniquity, He made the end of sin, He forgives transgression, and He brought in everlasting righteousness, He anointed the Holy Place with His own blood.  This leaves one more week of years left, or seven years.  Daniel was shown the vision of those seven years.  If it is already accomplished, then why are there still seven years left of sacrifices.  The reason is because Israel's sacrifices were required for the atonement for sin and until the end of age, they can still try, under the law, to earn salvation.  The problem is, to be found righteous under the law, you have to be guiltless to every do and don't in accordance to the law.  This is impossible for man.  The only man to be able to acheive this was Jesus and this was because he was concieved by the Spirit of God.  He was born sinless.  Not like all the rest of us who were born from the seed of Adam, causing us to have a sin nature.  Jesus was the only man able to fullfill all righteousness and that is why we can now have eternal life and enter heaven.  If we except what Jesus did on the cross for us, then Jesus becomes our righteousness and we are able, because we are now in Him, to pass from death into life.  Jesus is the vehicle that takes us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of Light.  As long as Israel refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is their promised Messiah and chooses to continue to strive under the law, then they can still try until the end of the age.  Right now they need Jesus' protection more than ever. Calamity is about to befall them. The time of Jacob's trouble is going to begin half way through the seven year period that is soon to begin. It is very importent for all those in Israel to know, if Israel won't acknowledge Jesus as a nation, then the people there and throughout the world should acknowledge Him individually for their own Salvation.  The end of the age is drawing near.  This time of trouble will not just end in Israel, but it will begin in Israel and spred throughout the world.  So don't gloat over Israel's calamity, for your only hope is also in Jesus.  For when He comes to put an end to those who are destroying the earth, you want to be with Him.  To finish this up, in Chapter 9, verse 26 and 27, Daniel wrote,

                    (26)".....and the people of the prince who is to come (the anti-christ) will destroy
                    the city and sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there
                    will be war; desolations are determined.(27) And he will make a firm covenent
                    with the many for one week (7 years) but in the middle of the week
                    (after 3 1/2 years) he will put a stop to the sacrifice and grain offering; and on the
                    wings of abominations (detestible things) will come one who makes desolate
                    (causes horor), even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured
                    out on the one who makes desolate." 

After Daniel saw these things, he wrote in Chapter 10, that he mourned for three weeks.  If you have not yet read any of the previous bloggs, you can read more about Gods plan to give you eternal life.

Peace to you.

Jesus says look to Daniel ( Part 4 )

Again looking to Daniel, as to the signs of the end of the age, as instructed by Jesus, in Mathew chapter 24.  In Daniel's writings, Chapter 9, Daniel is now in a supplication mode after seeing the visions that he was shown.  He now in verses 6 -16, confesses the short comings of Israel and acknowledges that he understands why this will befall Israel and cries out for forgiveness.  He then prays to God to take action for His own sake because of the City called by His name.  Verse 13 is telling, when Daniel says,

                    " As it is written in Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have
                    not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and
                    giving attention to Thy truth."

Jesus is the Truth.  Remember, by now Daniel has seen in one of his visions the resurrected Lord on His throne and one like the Son of Man.  Daniel saw Jesus, and all that he had perceived in his religious mind,  had been transformed to understand that reality was way beyond what he could have perceived by his earthly religious practices.  He then knew the plan of God's salvation for Israel and overflowing to the gentiles,  was a sacrificed and risen Lord, that was rejected by Israel when He came.  He now understood that by their rejection and reluctance to acknowledge Jesus as their Lord, has lead to the calamity that Daniel saw befall Israel in the end times.  So whether you are of the line of Jacob or a gentile, please know that reality is way beyond what we may perceive by our earthly religious practices.  That the simplicity of the Truth may contain more wisdom than the confusion of man's attempt to please God by their religious practices.  When all is said and done, true religion is summed up in this: Jesus stands outside the hearts door and knocks, and if anyone hears His voice ( every time you hear this word it is His voice ) and lets Him in; He will come into your soul and make you a New Creation, born of above.  You can read previous blogs to get more detail on this.  Peace to you.

Jesus, if He's a Good Prophet then He must be God

There are many religions that refer to Jesus as being a good prophet.  To be a good prophet, every prophetic prediction must come true and no lie should be found in your mouth.  Jesus said that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him.  Jesus also predicted His death and Ressurection.  He said that He would destroy this temple, referring to Himself , and raise it up in three days.  This did occur, it was noted by the historians at that time, like Josephus.  Jesus told His disciples that He was going away to prepare a place.  He said that His Fathers house has many mansions, if it wasn't so, then He would not say it.  He said that if He goes and prepares a place, then He whould come back and take them to were He was.  That would have been a remarkable thing for the disciples to ponder, but their response was about Jesus reference to the Father.  They asked Him to show them the Father, for Him they have not seen.  Jesus reply to them was an interesting one.  Jesus said to them, " how long have I been with you, and you say ' show me the Father ', he who has seen meen has seen the Father.  For Jesus to be a good prophet, then He must be God as He said.  If He is not God, then He has to be considered to be a liar, and therefore He cannot be considered to be a good prophet.  Therefore  people have a decision to make.  You cannot blend Jesus into other beliefs as a good prophet and not believe that He is God.  I know for a fact that Jesus is God.  You can know Him as that too.  Just ask Him to come into your heart (soul ).  He made that possible on the cross when He unlocked the door to every heart.  He won't push His way in.  If He is invited in, He will be more then happy to come in and make you a new creation.  Then you can know that He is God and a Good Prophet.  Read my previous early blogs for more insight on this.  Peace to you.

Jesus says look to Daniel ( Part 3 )

In Daniel Chapter 8, it is revealed to Daniel in a vision, a further expansion of what he was shown in Chapter 7.  He talks about the Ram in, verse 3, having two long horns with the longer one coming up last. The Ram with two horns are later revealed, in verse 20, as Media and Persia, which is the modern day territory of Iran.  The Ram will push towards the west, north and south, in verse 4, having strong force with no one to rescue from his power.  So he did what he pleased and magnified himself.  Then a Goat, in verse 5, comes from the west over the whole surface of the earth, without touching the ground, having a prominent horn between his eyes.  The Goat is revealed, in verse 21, as representing the king of Greece, with the large horn that is between the eyes, as being the first king.  In verse 6 & 7, the Goat comes, with a mighty wrath, against the Ram that is standing in front of the canal.  The Ram could not withstand the force of the Goat and was trampled and defeated.  Now, in verse 8, the Goat magnifies himself.  Is there no humility?  Now the Goat became mighty, and then was broken.  I guess pride comes before a fall.  Then came up four prominent horns, towards the four winds of heaven.  In verse 22, these are four kingdoms that will arise in his place, although not with his power.  In Verse 9, from one of these horns will come forth a rather small horn, which will grow exceedingly great towards the south, east and the Beautiful Land.  It says in verses10-12;
 
            " and the horn grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some 
            of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.  It even magnified itself to
            be equal with the Commander of host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him
            and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.  And on account of transgression the
            host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth
            to the ground and perform its will and prosper". 

The angel Gabriel tells Daniel, in verses 17 and 19, that these are visions that pertain to the time of the end.

Please take note, I just noticed, for the first time, something very interesting and something that makes a lot of sense.  In verses 10 - 12, when referring to the little horn that came forth from one of the four kingdoms, this horn was always referred to as IT, not he as all the previous horns.  I have written in previous blogs and will continue to reveal things about the anti -Christ.

Short timeline of events:
1) He makes a 7 year peace covenant allowing sacrifice and grain offerings. Daniel Chapter 9, verse 27.

2) Half way, 3 and a half years in, IT removed the regular sacrifice.  Daniel Chapter 8, verses 11 and 12.

3) He, the little horn, is broken.  Revelation chapter13, verse 3, one of the heads recover from a fatal wound and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. 

4) In Revelations Chapter 12, verses 10 -14, Satan is cast down to the earth, knowing his time is short, 3 and a half years.

5) Second Thessalonians Chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.  This is the Abomination of Desolation that Jesus spoke about in Mathew Chapter 24, that would be a sign of the end of the age.

So what we have is one of the world's leaders making a 7 year covenant allowing sacrifice and grain offerings.  After 3 and one half years he is killed.  At the same time Satan is cast down to the earth.  IT comes back to life and the whole world is amazed.  So IT does away with the sacrifice and grain offerings and instead seats himself in the Temple of God, claiming to be God.

Daniel 23 -25 will finish it off with this:

" And in the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king ( IT ) will arise insolate and skilled in intrigue.  And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and holy people.  And though his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;  And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease.  He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency."

This is why the Wrath of God  will come.  Jesus will come and stop Satan from destroying the earth.  At that time, all who believed the Truth, allowing themselves to become a New Creation, will be with Him.  If Jesus had not executed His Wrath, no life would have been spared.  Mathew 24, verse 22.

Latest 5.8 Earthquake and Huricane Irene

Towards the end of the book of Daniel, Daniel wrote in Chapter 11, verse 33, " And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many;......".  There seems to be a pattern now of natural events occuring at a more frequent pace.  I wrote in earlier bloggs about this, when in Mathew 24, Jesus gave the disciples some signs of the end of this age.  He told of earthquakes that would occur in various places, that would increase with more intensity and more frequent.  One of the reasons why this is occuring more in the United States, is because America was once a beacon of the Truth to the world.  The Gospel of Jesus was a common belief in the U.S. .  Sunday mornings were once full of television programs where the Gospel of Jesus was well recieved and the teachings were coveted.  The spirit of the anti-Christ has crept in.  It was the last domain that Satan had to defeat to accomplish his goal of total world domination.  If the U.S. turns back from this attack, then it will explain why there will be armies that will come against the power of this anti- Christ in the end times.  If the U.S. fails to return with freedom to the freedom and love of the Truth, then more natural disasters will befall her.  Jesus protected the U.S. as long as she acknowledged Him, but in 1963 they removed Him out of the schools.  Ponds of Satan have made up a thing called seperation of church and state.  They are making more and more things to be considered parts of the state.  On the current course, soon the Truth will not be allowed to be proclaimed anywhere.  If this is what the framers of the U.S. Government had intended, you think that they would not have allowed the Bible to be taught in schools back then, or have the Bible the book by which people in courts would swear to tell the truth, or it's politcal officers swear by it to defend the Constitution, or allow a Congress chaplin to pray before it's sessions began. If abolishings the Bible from the Government is what they had intended, they would have never allowed it. The U.S. once was a country of heavenly ambassadors who took the Truth of the Gospel to many nations.  God's devine protection was upon her.  Now with more and more rejections of the Truth, she is tieing His hands from being able to protect her.  At a memorial for one of her most horrifying events, Jesus is not even allowed to be mentioned.  He is known as the Protector, Comforter, Refuge, Redeemer, Savior, Councelor, Strong Tower, Peace and summed up in all He is LOVE.  You would think they would want Him there.  They are loosing their Way, Please pray for them.  Please don't mistake this with being anything to do with politics.  We are now way beyond politics.  There are well meaning ponds in all political groups, as well as not so well meaning ponds in all political groups.  Satan knows what will happen towards the end.  He is and will try to discredit the signs of the end  of the age.  He is already using global warming, climate change or whatever he wants to call it, to explain all the natural disasters that will be occuring.  There will be two endtime witnesses that will appear on the earth , and one of them will make a proclamation that no rain will fall on the earth for three years.  That would be a convincing sign if not for Satan pushing it off as global warming.  I will leave you with one more word for thought.  The Book of Revelation is the revelation of the end times from Jesus to John.  I will be talking more about this book in future bloggs.  It says that in the middle of that seven year peace pact with Israel, three and a half years in, that the anti-Christ, at that time, will suffer a fatal wound.  Simultainiosly at that time, in the Book of Revelations, Chapter 12, verse 9, it says that Satan and his demons( fallen angels) will be cast down to the earth.  The anti-Christ will recover from his wound.  Satan is already, at this time, the god of the earth, can't you tell?  He and his demons already have acsess to the earth.  They are already here in the spiritual realm influencing what is going on here on the earth.  It says that even now, Satan has access before the Throne of God, and there he accuses the brethren.  Go figure.  The thing I leave you with is this, What will the difference be and how will they explain where they came from?  They can't say who they really are.  Hint: extra.  Are they preping their entrance? Peace to you.

The Day of the Lord

Before I continue in Daniel about the abomination of desolation, I need to make clear what the timelines are in regards to what Paul refers to as the day of the Lord.  In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians in the 4th chapter, he wrote,

             " But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who have died,
             that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus
             died and rose from the dead, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen
             asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive,
             and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.
             For the Lord Himself will decend from heaven with a shout, with the trumpet of God;
             and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then those who are alive and remain shall be
             caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we
             shall  always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

This will be a glorious event.  It says that all creations yearns to see the revealing of the New Creations.  All believers will be changed at that moment into a new glorified creation that will become a creation that will be in the same likeness as their Gorified Lord, Jesus.  Unimaginable.  Paul wrote about this in His first letter to the Corinthians in the 15th chapter, and in it he wrote,

            " Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God;
            nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold, I tell you a mistery; we shall 
            not all die(sleep), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
            at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
            and we shall be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this                              mortal must put on immortality"

You may have noticed that in both of Pauls writings, he refers to a trumpet sound.  When the Book of Revealations is woven into this picture, you will see what these are.

Now as to the time of this event.  Getting back to Paul's first letter the Thessalonians, he wrote in chapter 5,

             " Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be
             written to you.  for you yourselves know full and well that the day of the Lord will
             come just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, "Peace and safety!"
             then  destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a women
             with child; and they shall not escape.  But you, brethern, are not in the darkness,
             that that day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of the day. 
             We are not of the night or of darkness."

 A couple important things to note.  One, is that the world will be saying, "Peace and safety!".
 Remember in Daniel that he was told of a seven year peace covenant that the anti- Christ will make with Israel and then break it after three and a half years. 

The second thing to note, is that believers will not be unaware as to, at least, when the day of the Lord will be nearing.  No man knows the day or the hour,  but the saints will not be unaware as to what is going on.  The saints do know that they are preserved from the wrath of God.  Not only preserved, but they will execute the wrath with Jesus,  as revealed in Daniel and my last blog.  This will not occur until after the anti- Christ is revealed.

Paul wrote in his second letter to the Thessalonians in the 2nd chapter a warning as to storys that where confussing the church as to the day of the Lord.  Paul wrote,

          " Now we request you , brethern, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
          and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your
          composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the
          effect that the day of the Lord has come.  Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will
          not come unless the apostasy( the falling away from the faith, by those who were christian
          by name only, who were deceived by the deceptions of the anti-Christ) comes first, and
          the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,  who opposes and exalts
          himself above every so- called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the
          temple of God, displaying himslf as being God.  Do you not remember that while I was
          still with you, I was telling you these things?  And you know what now restrains him now,
          so that in his time he may be revealed.  For the mistery of the lawless one is already at
          work; only he who now restains will do so until he is taken out of the way.  And then
          the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth
          and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that, is, the one whose coming is
          in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with
          all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of
          the truth so as to be saved."

 Note that people only perish because they do not receive the love of the truth as to be saved.