Wednesday Bible Study: Lying to myself

 

I want next to do a study on lies and lying.  It may sound a bit like Solomon's study of madness and folly, but it all revolves around wanting to expose the lies I tell myself, so Satan can come in and lead me to sin.  I want these lies to wilt in the light of day; hence I am going down this path.

To understand lies, one must understand the source- Satan.  Jesus said of him,

(to the Pharisees) Joh 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

He speaks out of his own character.  What does that mean?  That is one way to get to where I'm going.  How I got there, though, was a little more around the barn.  I was looking for examples of lying, and first up was Satan (the Dragon) lying to Eve.  And I asked, "Why does Satan hate us so?"  And as it turns, that was the key question.  And that, as the lawyers say, goes to character.  And thus, we have to ask what was- and is- his character?

For that, we turn to Ezekiel:

Eze 28:12  “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 

Eze 28:13  You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your flutes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. 

Eze 28:14  You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 

Eze 28:15  You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. 

Most of this chapter, though God calls him, as a comparison to a contemporary, "the King of Tyre", is about Lucifer, he who became Satan. He was, at the start, the greatest, most perfect being God had created. He was every gem that man would imagine.  He was a living musical instrument- see the end of v13 above.  The word "anointed" in v14 is often translated "covering", which confused the bedazzles out of the commentators, but it's really very simple:  He was heaven's worship leader, standing between God and the angels as no one else could (in the midst of the stones of fire);  He literally covered their eyes from the full force of seeing God.  Thus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John all talk about Cherubim that cover their eyes with one set of wings, because Lucifer no longer does it for them.

What could make such a being turn so drastically?  Ezekiel explains the trajectory in verses 5 and 17.

-He used his wisdom to gain riches;

-those riches lifted his heart in pride;

- and that pride spoiled his wisdom.  How very much like Solomon's case.  In a way, God gave Solomon the chance to be a human Lucifer; and for a time at least, he, too, became a Satan.

In Isaiah 14, that prophet also gives a detailing of Satan; but before I go there, I was astonished by how it fit a list I found of Five reasons Satan hates us- see how this all ties together?

Those five reasons, shuffled to match what we will see in Isaiah:

1- We are a threat to him.  We keep him from destroying mankind by our faith.  And one day we will meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17), and join the army that destroys his minions (Revelation 19).

2- God gives us authority over him: Jas 4:7  Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Not only can we resist him, but we will judge him: 1Co 6:2  Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3  Do you not know that we shall judge angels, not to mention the things of this life? 

3- You will be taking his old job, the worship leaders of heaven: Rev 7:9  After these things I looked, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands. 10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb. 

4- Because God loves you.  Pro 8:30  even I was a workman at His side; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; 31  rejoicing in the world, His earth; and my delight was with the sons of men. 

5- We look like God: Gen 1:26  And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness...

Now, let's see how that meshes up with Lucifer's own claims in Isaiah 14:

 Isa 14:12  How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 

1-  For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens... (v13) Instead, he's cast down, and we will be lifted up.

2- I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;  (v13)- instead, he will end up lower than us...

3- I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. (v13) He has LOST his spot before the congregation...

4- I will go up above the heights of the clouds; (v14) Instead, the God who died for us will bring us there...

5- I will be like the Most High. But God never made angels in His image; He made US in His image.

This is why he hates us; he can never be what God made us to be.  But he still believes in these five acts of pride; thus, his entire character is built on the lie.  Much like many people who are too caught up in politics: His whole self-esteem is tied up in his agenda.  He has but 2 choices now; believe the lie, or destroy himself. 

In a way, that fits me.  There are certain parts of my self-image that need not be there, and the Lord has relieved me of the most of them.  But there are the ruts they leave, that I fall into; and more, there are ones yet to be exposed.  But see, Christ gives us a third choice, which the angels do not get; the choice of salvation.  And I hope with salvation to root them out as we go along for this ride.

PIctures! (Melted variety)

 So we finally took a walk Sunday night after the race.  It was much like wrapping up under about six of your favorite winter comforters, and then walking for two miles.  The weather almanac claims the conditions were about the same as right now- 86F withn76% humidity- I guarantee you that our walk was at least five points higher on both.  There was literally no air to breathe.  Nevertheless...

Picture looks foggy because the camera lens fogged up as soon as we stepped out...

The cloud situation.  An hour and a half later, the cow was on the flat rock (Chris for "It rained a bunch".)

Bunny #1 of five on the night.

Caught him in mid-spring.  His sibling was up the trail and skeedaddled when we saw her.

Yellow butterfly

Me pretending to breathe

We never did figure out was this was- it wouldn't come apart, that's for sure.

Doggie sensed major varmintage.  Heard it once, never saw.

Okay, I just looked this up.  The event was Saturday; the "League" is 

the League for the Blind and Disabled; 7 categories up to a 7.5K run/walk, which the winner beat everyone else by just under 6 minutes.  Congrats, and no I'm not about to do that in that sun.

Bunny #3 by the stone pile

"Keep up the good work", they say, as my back starts to tingle in the heat.

White butterfly

"Ahhhh!

Yep, me too

After a bit of a break- and mind you our 2 miles in about 50 minutes wasn't close to the winner's 4.6 miles in 26 minutes- we continued on down south canal, Misty said hi to a little girl (and climbed between her bike wheels, and we all watched...

A deer cooling her feet in the canal

The Corner Bunny (AKA #4)

This is me attempting and failing to snap a little otter we saw crossing the footbridge

We would later see both Bunny #1 and big Bunny #5 coming back into the complex, but by this point, a cold shower was all I could cogitate on...

Random Wiki stuff

 Well, it's been too hot/humid and /or rainy for much in the way of walks, so I thought I'd try something I came up with the other day- hit the Wikipedia "random article" button and see if we get anything interesting.

First stop was Alberto Gallego Ruiz, a Spanish cyclist in the 2010s-2020s who torpedoed his career by using performance enhancing drugs.  His bad test, which he attributed to "supplement contamination", came just 3 days into his pro career.

Second stop was Qatil Aur Ashiq, a Bollywood (ie Indian) movie from 1986, about which virtually the only thing I found about was the title means "Murderer And Lover".  Not getting great stuff here yet, Mr Random!

Article #3 was about a song called "Close" by Canadian country artist Jade Eagleson. It was off his 2020 debut lp (self titled) and apparently was the "most streamed debut album by a domestic (Canadian) artist in the last ten years".  You take your fame where you can get it.

The fourth stop was Doobidoo, an apparently cursed Swedish game show.  The article told very little about the show itself (other than having to go on a year's hiatus while host Lasse Kroner defended himself against sexual abuse charges).  However, it did say there was an Australian version attempted called You May Be Right.  The curse took on a life of its own there:

Seven bosses ordered a major overhaul, including new sets and lighting, after the first show was plagued by embarrassing production problems. It took over four hours to tape the first one-hour show, due to various technical problems, faulty buzzers, over-running segments, and host Todd McKenney's repeated flubbing of his teleprompted lines. Ten episodes were originally planned, but after declining ratings the show was cancelled within a month of being on air.

At least the Swedish version lasted 16 years....

Fifth article is on Carfax College, which- to my American readers- yes, is a legit school.  To the rest of you, my amusement would be due to this:

#6 is the Myrmarachne, which are spiders that pretend they are ants...

 

Seventh was for the soundtrack to Perambu, as Wiki is definitely pushing the Bollywood today.  A lovely movie about a man working in a distant city to support his family when his wife decides she doesn't want to care for their disabled daughter (who, just to mess up us English speakers, is named Pappa), and dumps her off and disappears.  Pappa and Papa try their best, but Pappa (the daughter) gets sick and Papa (the Papa) decides they'll end it all by walking into the sea.  Suddenly a kindly trans "woman"  comes along to stop them, and they all live happily ever after.

#8 is Jordy Peffer, a soccer/Futbol player from Belgium who is actually a big star for a team who just got promoted to the Belgian top tier.  I wonder if he could ship me some tripels and quads...

Ninth is Minoru Watanabe, a Japanese stuntman, whose claim to fame was playing the bad kaiju in 2000s' Godzilla vs Megaguirus.  Mega is apparently the queen of the species from which the giant dragonfly Rodan came from.

Our final stop is the 'Special Administration of the Holy See', which was a department started by Pope Pius XI in 1929 to manage the windfall they got from the treaty with Mussolini that gave the Pope his own country again. In 1967, it was combined with a commission started in 1878 to manage what was left to the Church after Italy ended said independence, and now the combined agency is basically the budget/treasury of the Vatican.

For the most part, I think I shall categorize this as a "looked better on paper" experiment.  

Music takes a hard blow...

 

It started last week with Connie Francis... and like a plague, swept these five from off their spots in our collective consciousness.    Hulk Hogan... a man who only recently got saved, and will be spending eternity in heaven.  Malcom Jamal Warner... will anyone ever forget his performance as the "lead singer" of the "family band" on the Cosby Show?

Then the musicians.  Connie Francis- 14 top tens and the #1 My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own. Ozzy Osbourne- 18 million selling lps between Black Sabbath and solo.  Chuck Mangione- over thirty lps, two Grammys and the worldwide hit Feels So Good.  And the one you missed- George Kooymans, lead guitar for Golden Earring, and writer of the #1 Twilight Zone.

In honor (and excepting Mangione, whom I wasn't all that familiar with), here are my top fives from each of these acts....

Connie Francis

1- Where The Boys Are

2- Lipstick On Your Collar

3- Who's Sorry Now

4- My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own

5- V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Ozzy Osbourne

1- Over The Mountain

2- Iron Man

3- War Pigs

4- Crazy Train

5- Flying High Again

Golden Earring

1- Radar Love

2- Twilight Zone

3- She Flies On Strange Wings

4- Candy's Going Bad

5- Th Devil Made Me Do It

Hopefully a more normal music post next week.

Wednesday Bible Study: Fear

 

A few days back, a relative had an adverse reaction- to a Bible verse I posted on social media.  While the verse's overall theme- and my intent- was to show God's mercy, it used early on the word, "fear".  Her reaction was, basically, God has always been here for me, helping me out when my life was messed up, and now I'm supposed to be AFRAID of Him?  I tried to explain, that 'fear' in this context didn't mean a "He's scary" as much as it indicated a step beyond reverence, and that the way she interacted with God was fine IF she was a believer and obedient.

Which is a good answer for a FB comment.  But her question is a good one, especially if you haven't really dug into your Bible.  And I thought today, I could expand on it a bit.

There are three big groups of people who really could look at the word fear three different ways.  The first group fits exactly what I said in my reply.  If, you believe in the sacrifice of Jesus for your sins, and you do as God told Abraham:

Gen 17:1  When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless...

This is the obedience God asks.  And again, here the words in English aren't exactly the best way of reading it, because the Hebrew and Greek of the originals express so much more than the English of today,  Blameless does NOT equal "perfect".  Take David for one example.  He is described as "a man after God's own heart", and with the many mistakes he made, how could that be?  Because every time he made a mistake, he came right back in repentance and humbleness to God.  With the one exception:

1Ki 15:5  because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 

It was there that David compounded one sin with the next and the next, until he was FORCED to come in repentance.

The second group of people are those like three examples I have in mind- Samson, Saul, and Solomon.  Understand, then, the Spirit didn't come and STAY with someone, as He does after the promise of Christ.  If you acted against God, He left- and that happened to these three.  For the sake of this study, let's apply the same lesson from them to us.  Because while the Spirit won't LEAVE a believer now, He WILL go silent.

Saul thought he could do God's will HIS way. You know, pray the occasional prayer, when you're in deep enough, forget to thank Him for all He's done, the "God is for Sunday" attitude.  In the end, he found himself, alone, cut off, with God refusing to answer his prayers ( 1 Samuel 28:6), until at last he paid for his disobedience with his life.  This can happen to us if we choose to believe but not really LIVE like we do. 

Samson was a bit different:  He didn't disobey God, except in ONE THING- and that thing brought him to the same place.  God didn't QUITE abandon him as he did Saul- but he did "walk away", and he did not know that the LORD had left him. (Judges 16:20).  Here the ending was he came back to God, but God did not spare him the consequences of his actions:

Jdg 16:28  Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 

Jdg 16:29  And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 

Jdg 16:30  And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 

So here, the Lord DID answer him in mercy; but He DIDN'T stop the world coming down on top of him.

Solomon, we just went through his story in three parts, so to sum up: He chafed at not being able to do what only God can do, and spent a lifetime trying to see how to just do it himself- only to find that he couldn't- to do it himself was "vanity, and a chase after the wind." (several places in Ecclesiastes)  His surrender and return to God benefited all of us who read Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon- but the forfeit was his son- who followed the earlier example rather than the later, and destroyed Solomon's kingdom.

The third kind of people are those who do NOT believe.  Where the first kind have fear as something that reminds them God is merciful, and the second have the reminder that they need to respect God for the consequences of 'partial obedience', these third have one great thing to fear, and Jesus says it over and over:

Mat 10:28  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 

The unrepentant sinner, the unbeliever, THEY have something terrible to fear- there is a limit to God's mercy to them.  Jesus died to give them a way to escape judgment; they are rejecting it, and Him.  In the end, they should fear themselves, because they are condemning themselves to hell.

So yeah, the fear of the Lord can be a confusing concept- IF you do not read your Bible, if you don't look for someone to explain it to you.  But if you DO these things, Solomon will tell you:

Pro 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

New pics

 Well, maybe not so new... most of the last couple of weeks it has been like today- right now at about 0830 it's 73F and 93% Humidity.  I take Misty to the barky park, but that's mainly 15 minutes of: two poops, running back and forth at anyone unfortunate enough to walk past barking at the top of her lungs, and staring at distant doggies going the other way.  Let me see what I do have in the bag...

These are from a week ago Thursday, last true day of vacation...

Humidity visibly hanging

What a tremendous job done patching the potholes.  See ya in another four months!

River's a bit scummy

Then came Friday morning...

New, big, ugly signage at the pitch

It was a lonely walk...

Varmint false alarm

First sign of life, guy riding around on a lawn mower

In honor of what used to be on sesame Street before it went full woke:  This walk is brought to you by the number 2

The days of raspberry breakfast are over

More varmintage at the Swamp...

...which is essentially slime-o-turf now

So our whole walk we saw the lawn guy, these two, a pair of fishermen and one walker with her face shoved into her phone.  One squirrel.  Not even a mosquito was out...

Misty even refused the river!

South Canal is dry

This clump of leaves fell out of a tree in the woods, right in front of Misty.  Made us both jump!

A few nights back, Laurie saw a raccoon family casing the neighbor's car.  Next night, Misty and I met this little guy...

And finally, we had to post this one on FB.  We had just ordered door dash, and every little sound was making Misty think the food was here!  Finally tired of being yelled at, she waited by the door...