Who is Man? Part 2

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”

 

There is no mention of man in the Bible until the sixth day of creation and then God said:  “Let us make man in our image.” There is also no doubt that man is different from all of the other creatures that God had made previously.

 

One might ask the question if there is any difference between image and likeness. Some Bible students say that ‘image’ refers to constitution which includes the gift of personality, mental and moral capacity, and free will. Whereas, ‘likeness’ refers to the moral and spiritual resemblance to God.

 

Man has faculties that no other creature has that God made. Man was and is able to see God in His work. Romans 1:19-20 “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

 

Man is able to see the wisdom of God. We read in Psalm 104:24 “How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Man can also marvel at His power. Psalms 150:2 “Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.”

 

Man, above all of the other creatures that God created, can appreciate the goodness of God. Psalms 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.”

 

Man’s ability to think, acquire knowledge, making deductions from knowledge gained that lead to practical results all shows how man is different.

 

Probably one of the greatest things that the Lord has given man is the ability to speak, or the gift of speech in which to express his thoughts. Like someone said: “Animals may have instinct, but man has intellect to guide him in important decisions.”

 

In considering man we need to see and understand that he was fashioned by God with deliberation and bore the stamp of the divine and made partaker of many divine qualities. There is no doubt that man is the crowning work of God’s creation.

 

That drunken man lying in the street gutter still has the image of God on him, even though the man is not living it out. It is important for us to see this truth about man; that although every human being is made in the image of God, we each must come to acknowledge it, appreciate it, and live it out – unto the glory of our Creator Father.

 

 

We Don’t Need More Laws!

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

More laws only create more criminals! So why do we need more laws? What we need is to have stronger consequences for existing laws, and for our law enforcers to have the support they need in carrying out the laws.

 

If a person is sentenced to death, then carry it out quickly. This is wisdom from God. But look how long it takes for a condemned murderer to be put to death, if at all?  Even in prison the Lord can reach a criminal and change his/her heart, but the consequence of the crime is still to remain whether a person has a change of heart or not.

 

In our nation a progressive is one who believes that more laws are needed, and they are the same ones who feel compassion for the guilty, and have soften the consequences and obstructed our law enforcers from carrying out the law in the way they are trained to do. Therefore, people have no respect for the law, or for the people who carry out the law.

 

In the church we see the same thing happening with God’s laws and therefore with how God’s own people have no fear in breaking God’s laws. But the truth is that God WILL JUDGE us all, but for now He waits for people to come to His Son for forgiveness and the new life of His Holy Spirit. Those who break His moral laws – will suffer now for it. The condition of our lives on this earth can be the consequence of God’s laws being broken and not respected.

 

It’s been said that this physical life is the worse it will ever be for the children of God, but for the enemies of God – this life is the best it will ever be.

Who is Man?

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

Isaiah 40:6 “A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.’”

 

When we think of reformation we need to come back to what the Bible says about man. We, here in the West, live in the days that were like the days of King Nimrod when they were building the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar (modern day Iraq).

 

In the days of Nimrod man was supreme, he was his own god. Man was in rebellion against God. God had told mankind to multiply and fill the earth. Genesis 9:1,7. Instead we read that under the leadership of Nimrod men stayed together and built themselves a Tower that in their mind would reach into heaven with the desire to make a name for themselves.

 

Man thinks that he has the answer to all of life’s questions. When we look back at the 20th century and the wars that came through Nazism, Fascism and Communism where literally millions of people died, it is incredible that man can still think he has the answers.

 

Yet man generally believes that he is god and master of his own soul; that he can manage without God, even if all of the evidence proves otherwise.

 

This type of thinking has pervaded the church as well. We do not voice it, but our actions speak louder than words that we can manage God’s work without the Spirit of God. One example of this is in the lack of prayer that we have today in the average church.

 

A question was raised: What ever happened to the prayer meeting? The answer has come back loud and clear through our actions that we can manage quite well by ourselves without any help from the Divine.

 

It is imperative that we see ourselves as God sees us and we come back to what God has intended for man.  This to me is what reformation will do. Bring us back to the Biblical view of man.

 

 

Are You a Freedom Fighter?

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

A question for the church: What has our government given to the church that has made them fearful to preach against sin? Their non-profit corporation status! In the coming days if the church does not adhere to “political correctness” they will take this status from them and make them pay taxes on all the money that comes in to their church. Does the loss of tax exemption bring fear to our church leaders? Do they think paychecks, programs and buildings will be affected if people are not given these tax deductions?

 

When someone or something can control how you think and live you have become their slave. Their control over you is nothing more than intimidation to make you fearful about what they can take from you or use you for.

 

For people to accept living as slaves depends on how long it takes for those who keep freedom alive – to die out. Here in America we have freedom-fighters working against the government programs that are slowly enslaving us by making us dependent on them for all our needs. After the freedom-fighters are gone who will carry on in their place and fight for American liberty?

 

Our forefathers knew slavery in England and came to this land to start a new life of liberty and dependency on God. They knew that eventually the threat of slavery would come again, so they made a monument to show us how to ward it off, and even come back and be a free people again if we have become slaves in any generation. It is the “National Monument to the Forefathers.” Here are the words that are at the bottom of each statue on the monument.

 

The steps to freedom and how to stay a free people:

 

1. FAITH: in God alone. His written word is absolute truth.
2. MORALITY: you cannot have morality (godliness) without God and His truth. With morality come the prophet and evangelist to reveal immorality (wickedness).
3. LAW: following the laws of God, not the laws of man. With God’s laws come justice and mercy. Without God’s law you will have confusion, not knowing right from wrong; injustice.
4. EDUCATION: to teach the next generation the words and wisdom of God. Learning starts in the family unit with the parents and grandparents teaching their children.
5. LIBERTY: willing to fight tyranny to preserve liberty; knowing that peace comes out of liberty.

 

The road of liberty (freedom) starts with people who no longer depend on what our government can provide for them. History has shown us that in order to make a nation of slaves it will only take 3 generations of twisting the truth and pumping lies into the people. Every generation is responsible to keep truth alive by first knowing what God says, living it out personally and then going public with it.

 

The people who walk this road of freedom will be men and women who will take on the intimidating giants; they will be over-comers of lies and deception. Our forefathers were freedom fighters, but over the generations we have seen a subtle deception because it is easier to allow the government to provide for us than to do for ourselves.

 

The road of freedom is a very narrow road; too narrow for most. It will require us to come out of dependency on government systems, and to depend upon God instead. The power of God’s freedom is that with Him all things are possible for those who believe. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

 

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” (Quote from Gerald R. Ford)

 

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” (Quote from Ronald Reagan)

 

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” (Quote from Abraham Lincoln)

 

“Never, never, never give up.” (Quote from Winston Churchill)

 

The Proverbs 31 Woman – Ch. 12 – Feeding Her Family

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

There are two kinds of nutrition the wise woman prepares ‘with her own hands’ each day for her family: food from God’s Word and food from her kitchen. The spiritual and the physical are connected.

 

The wise woman eagerly rises before the sun to talk to her Father God and hear from Him in His Word and in prayer for she is convinced that she needs to receive her own strength FIRST from God before she puts together what her family needs for their day.

 

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

 

It should give a wife and mother great satisfaction to know that with her own hands she puts together well-balanced meals for those in her household; that they have what they need each day when it comes to nourishment for their body and encouragement for their soul.

 

I see commercials suggesting that working mothers buy their junk food from producers in order to make the morning easier to get everyone off to work and school. How absurd! You can plan ahead the night before to have simple nutritious breakfasts. You can plan days ahead to have nutritious dinners too. All it takes is the desire; for when there is the will to do so – there is a way to get it done. There is so much information available to help with this on eating healthy. Most mothers have been raised themselves to do what’s easy instead of doing what is right and so they continue on with that terrible thinking, and so on with each generation becoming more sickly and foolish.

 

We shouldn’t make the mistake in thinking that our spiritual food is more important than our physical food, or the other way around. The body can not live without water, and the spirit’s soul can not live without the Holy Spirit. The physical and spiritual are connected. Both come from God so that we are both physically and spiritually fit for every good work on the earth and for eternal life with God after we die.

 

Poverty is on the rise because righteousness is on the decline.

 

Jesus went to beggars and gave them the opportunity to believe in Him. If a poor man put his faith in Jesus – he was no longer begging people for food or money because God had become the man’s provider and enabler. After the Lord delivers you from poverty so that you have enough to feed yourself it is your responsibility to then move through His open doors of success and prosperity so that you can meet the needs of your children/family, and go from there to become His servant in helping others in your path. God blesses us so we can be a blessing to others expressing God’s love for them.

 

“The righteous are rewarded with good things.” Proverbs 13:21

 

“Those who work their field will have abundant food.” Proverbs 28:19

 

“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11

 

Your children and husband will be stronger or weaker depending on the kind of food you feed them. The health of your husband and children is mostly your responsibility as a wife and mother unless you have given over to your husband the responsibility God gave to mothers. More and more men today (working men) are the cooks and shoppers of food, even doing the laundry as well as keeping up the house and outside yard. Women who work should have the help of their husbands as well as children, but what is becoming commonplace is for women to care more about their careers outside the family and home so that they expect others to do what they should be doing. How refreshing it is to see true mothers and fathers today, by God’s definition of a mother and father.

 

Woman, not knowing how to cook is not a good excuse for why you and your family eat out at restaurants or at fast-food places, nor is it your husband’s responsibility to prepare meals for the family because you don’t like to cook, and won’t learn to. Neither is being gone all day (at work or otherwise) an excuse for serving your family packaged and prepared foods.

 

In America we see the traditional roles within the family being exchanged for unnatural roles. Just because you like this “role exchange” doesn’t mean it’s a good way to live, and then we wonder why families are so frustrated and insecure, and why there is so much upset within the whole of society.

 

Are there certain natural foods you don’t like and therefore eliminate altogether in meal planning? Natural foods are those that God made; things that grow out of the ground, as well as living creatures. Denying your children and husband the foods they need just because you don’t like them is not wise and caring. We all have different likes and dislikes and little children need to be introduced to all kinds of natural foods.

 

Gagging on physical food is something children do to get out of eating the food that is good for them, unless you are trying to feed a toothless baby meat. Gagging on spiritual food is a mental problem unless you are trying to feed the “meat of God’s Word” to a new believer. There are those who ARE old enough for the meat of God’s Word but simply don’t like what they read or hear from out of God’s Word – refusing to take it in: resisting the conviction or instruction of the Holy Spirit of God’s Word.

 

Hebrews 5:12-6:3 “You ought to be teachers, but instead you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

 

The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:1

 

I hated liver growing up. It made me gag, but my mother would make us eat a couple bites each time she made liver. She would also make mashed potatoes with it and I would heap on the potatoes with each bite to just get it down. When I got out to live on my own I never ate liver, but the day came, after I was married and being pregnant with our first child, that my doctor told me I was mildly anemic and should eat LIVER of all things! My husband liked liver. So I found a recipe to use so that I could get it down. All through my years of being pregnant I made it a habit to eat liver from time to time, and to make our little ones eat a little too and with LOTS of mashed potatoes.

 

Little by little, anyone can learn to eat anything they don’t like the taste of. I have a motto: “The more you eat it – the more you’ll like it!” Our children and grandchildren learned to eat salad and all kinds of vegetables by telling them this and making them repeat it because like I said it is a mental problem; a matter of choice and perseverance. If children can do this, so can adults.

 

I also hated beets growing up until I grew my own and pickled them. I learned gardening and canning from my mother-in-law Lois. There’s something very appetizing when seeing food spring up from a garden you planted, cultivated and harvested. It excites the taste buds! God has created natural foods for the health of our body. God cares about our health so much that He made fruits and vegetables to look like parts of our body that affect that part of body. For example:

 

Slice a carrot cross-wise and see the human eye in the middle. Carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. Slice a tomato cross-wise and you will see the four chambers of your heart. Red, like the heart, a tomato is a heart and blood food. A walnut looks like a brain with a right and left hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. The wrinkles and folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. Walnuts help develop more than 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function. Kidney beans heal and help maintain kidney function and they look just like a kidney. Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb – look just like bones. They target bone strength. Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the female womb and cervix and they look just like these organs. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. Avocados help in female hormone balance. Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow just like a man’s testicles. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the number of sperm. Figs help overcome male sterility. Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually help balance the glycemic index of diabetics. Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries and they look like ovaries. Oranges, grapefruits and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of breasts. Onions look like the body’s cells and help clear waste material from all of the body cells. They produce tears, like no other vegetable or fruit, which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

 

When we buy processed foods the benefits for our bodies are not there. Far too many people get sick or die from processed foods and from eating out in restaurants where cooks are not that careful. As wives and mothers we need to know exactly what is going into the mouths of our family.

 

Does the food and teaching you and your children take in each day have God’s seal of approval?

 

I recently listened to a new report about a pregnant couple who were radically in to “health,” and decided they would NOT give their newborn baby breast milk or dairy substance of any kind. They gave the newborn soy milk. The child died before it was a year old from malnutrition.

 

Who else knows what is best for our minds and bodies, but our Creator Father? People will believe almost anything when they do not know the truth.

 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me (godly wisdom) your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.” Proverbs 9:10-12

 

Feeding yourself and your children “the truth” will do wonders for your body, soul and spirit. When we take the truth to application we will see most of our problems leave, both physical and spiritual. Doctors should never be regarded as having the final say in your situation or in your child’s situation. What your child’s school teacher says or your church pastor says should be compared to what God says, after you go to Him and wait on Him to answer you out of His Word or in prayer. But you must ask Him! “Ask and it will be given you,” says the Lord. “Seek and you will find,” says the Lord. “Knock and the door will be opened to you,” says the Lord.   Believe what God says and then stand firm on it. Even people with good intention can lead you away from the truth.

 

When it comes to vaccinations and any type of “preventative” medicine – you don’t need to feed that into your body. You have God as your preventative measure! God is your protection and provision; so trust Him.

 

What is this “teaching/food” that Jesus says seduces and misleads His servants into sexual immorality? (Revelation 2:20) Food and suggestive teaching is what Satan used on Eve in the Garden to ruin her relationship with Adam her husband and to ruin Adam’s relationship with God. We always need to remember that this is the devil’s number one scheme, and by the looks of our society Satan has been VERY successful.

 

The best meal of the day, of any day, is found sitting at God’s Table, but most of us have either gone without that ‘first’ meal of the day or replaced it with junk. Sleep is good for our physical bodies, we need it, but if we let sleep replace God’s Word then that extra amount of sleep can’t help with what’s ahead in our day that God would help us with if we took the time to be with Him. Your “first spiritual meal” of the day should not come from ‘other’ books that talk about the Bible, or tell you how to interpret or understand the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us what Jesus said, and how to think about it as it applies to our lives. I hear from so many Christians how they read what other Christians write about the Word of God as their quiet time with the Lord. No, that’s their time spent with other Christians, not with the Lord personally.

 

If we replace God’s Word with other people’s devotionals, newspaper, emails, music, television, etc. – we will be depleted of nourishment. Are you exhausted? Are you worried? Are your emotions up and down? Are you short-tempered? Are you indecisive? Are you confused? Are you depressed? Are you anxious? Are you hopeless? You will not overcome any of these things unless you come to God’s Table and let Him serve you the food He has prepared with His Hand.

 

When Moses was leading the children of God through the desert they were told to gather just enough manna (His bread) as they needed for the day. If they tried to gather any more than a day’s, that which they had gathered for the next day spoiled; it was full of maggots and began to stink. (Exodus 16:15-20) The Word of God is for daily use. God feeds us with exactly what we need for that day, 24 hours. God will not give you more than you need and neither will He give you too little.

 

When you sit down to feast on God’s Word don’t get up till He has fully satisfied and strengthened your soul and spirit. Prepare ahead of time to spend enough time with the Lord. This is wisdom and God will honor it and bless it mightily. Don’t let Satan tell you that you don’t have the time. Make the time. The Lord has His table set for you each morning and He is ready and eager to serve you.

 

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalms 107:8-9

 

Don’t sit and read any longer than you need to either. Some of us can spend hours in the morning without having to be anywhere punctual. Know when you’ve had enough, just like you should push yourself away from the table when you are full, not stuffed. Too much of any good thing – is wasteful.

 

Jesus had a crowd of people before Him that had come to Him to be healed. After He had healed them of all their physical problems He turned to His disciples and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” (Matthew 15:32) Three days without food? Two days without food? Wow! They had been ‘spiritually’ satisfied by the teaching (healing) of Jesus so that their physical hunger was not felt in comparison. But Jesus cares about our physical hunger because the physical and the spiritual are connected. His food allows us to live the full life instead of the empty life.

 

 

JESUS – Who is He?

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

 

After 9/11 everyone was talking about God. I was thrilled to hear that God’s name was being invoked other then used in swearing. I would see different groups of people gathering together in public forums and they would be talking about God. I was thrilled that God was back in the public forum. However, I soon noticed that on the same platform talking about God were Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. I then began to wonder what God they were talking about.

 

Never once did I hear the Name of Jesus. As a matter of fact it seems that people hate the Name of Jesus. When God is talked about people are somewhat civil, but mention the Name of Jesus and they get angry.

 

This brings us to a very important question when thinking about reformation and that is: who is Jesus? One of the big hang-ups that we have when witnessing to Muslims is what we mean by calling Jesus the Son of God. For the Muslim this is blasphemous because they think we are saying that God had an immoral affair with Mary and through it a son was born called Jesus.

 

What does Scripture say? Several things that I would like to mention that are important in this case. First, we know that John calls Jesus the “Word of God.” (John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  To speak a word it takes breath. Some who work with our Muslims friends say that what they mean by calling Jesus the Son of God is that He is the Breath of God.

 

However, we are told in Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” This means that He is the precise image of God. If we could take a photograph of God it would be Jesus. If we want to know what God is like then we can look at Jesus. If we want to know what God would do then we can look at what Jesus did. So, like the writer of the book of Hebrews says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

 

Another aspect that we need to look at regarding Jesus is found in John’s gospel. When Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the soldiers “Who is it you want?” (John 18:4) They replied “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied: “I AM.” With that divine utterance they fell down backwards.

 

What happened? What were the dynamics involved here.  When the soldiers came to Jesus to arrest Him they were asking for Jesus, but when Jesus answered them He reverted back to His Old Testament name “I AM.” When He uttered that truth – they fell down backwards.

 

What we see coming out is that the Name of God is I AM, but He does business down here on earth as Jesus His Son. Who is Jesus? He is God, the Creator, upholder of all things and by Him all things exist, says the Word of God.

 

Is it not humbling to think that this God became a man, dwelt among us and tasted death for all men. The Author of life tasting death, the Ruler and Sustainer of all things coming into this world as a little baby needing the care and nourishment of an earthly mother.

 

This is our God; this is our Savior Jesus Christ. He deserves all of our worship as we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” In Matthew 16 Jesus asks His disciple who people say that He is, and they answered Him saying, “One of the prophets.” Basically this is what we hear today, but then Jesus asked these 12 disciples of His, who had been with Him for almost 3 years, who they thought He was. Peter’s bold declaration was: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16

 

Reformation brings us back to the realization of who Jesus truly is.

What Made America Great?

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

I just watched a movie called “Touchdown” and it showed me what made America great! It is not jobs and benefits or how advanced we have become with Technology and weaponry. Although we need a prospering society and strong military and law enforcement, what made America great in the past is how people ‘used to’ care for others, even making personal sacrifices to help someone in need.  We are the greatest when we care enough to help those around us.

Today we have government politicians thinking they are the ones supposed to meet the needs of people. They are not. This is not what government is supposed to do. Government is to protect its citizens and keep the peace; making sure that those coming into our country obey our laws as well as wanting to become an American.

I reminded of when I watched my grandson play baseball and there was a very good ball player on his team. I wanted to tell this induvial that to become great he must help make his teammates good. If his goal in life is to be good himself then all he has to do is watch out for himself only, and not anyone else.  Isn’t this what is mostly happening today in America and why the government thinks it must do what people are to do for one another?  So we have more and more entitlements which are only making people more and more self-centered.

To make America great we must lift up all those around us. But they first must be willing to take responsibility and not expect from others what they are capable of doing themselves.

Glory of the Lord

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

Isaiah 40:5 “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

 

In the Book of Ezekiel chapters 10-11 we see the Glory of the Lord departing from the temple. In the first chapters of Ezekiel God brings out the sin of His people. God is warning them, but they are refusing to listen. This is most usually the case of His people. Not listening to His admonitions or warnings until it is too late.

 

Because they will not listen we see in chapters 10 and 11 that the Glory of the Lord is beginning to depart from the temple or mercy seat. The glory of the Lord is leaving the place of mercy (mercy seat) and entering into the place of judgment.

 

However, it is important for us to see that when God moves from a place of mercy to judgment it will always be with a steady but slow pace. But when He moves from judgment to mercy it will always be instantaneous.  We see this in Ezekiel chapters 10-11 where the Glory of the Lord is departing from the temple and entering into a place of judgment.

 

What is interesting is to see how He moves. In 10:18 we see the glory of the Lord over the threshold. There God waits to see what His people will do. Will they listen to the prophets, heed the warnings and repent, or will He have to take another step towards judgment? They do not repent so He takes another step of leaving the temple and place of mercy. In verse 19 we see how He is now over the east gate and there He is waiting again. What will God’s people do?

 

They do not repent and so we read in chapter 11:23 that the glory of the Lord is now over the Mountain East of it: Mount of Olives. The glory of the Lord has now departed from the temple. God has moved into a place of judgment. We see the judgment that fell on God’s people for almost the rest of the book of Ezekiel, which also models the history of the Children up until today.

 

However, we find that repentance does come in and the Glory of the Lord returns. We read about this in Chapter 43:4 “The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.” What is interesting is that there is no stopping over the Mountain, or east gate, or threshold, but immediately the Glory of the Lord is pervading the temple over the mercy seat.

 

In the New Testament we see something that is parallel to this: Luke 20:9-15 where we have the parable of the tenants. Here we see the landlord that planted a vineyard and went on a journey. Harvest time he sent his servants to gather fruit, but were wrongfully treated and cast out, some were killed. Almost in desperation we hear the owner say: “What shall I do?”  and then it goes on to say: “I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.”  But he is rejected, cast out and killed.

 

This ties in with Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”  Here we see the heart of God: “how often I have longed to gather your children together.” We also see the heart of man: “but you were not willing.”

 

So we read in Matthew 24:1 “Jesus left the temple.” The Glory of the Lord of Israel had departed from the temple.  Jesus never came back to the temple after this. Where did He go? He went to the Mount East, the Mount of Olives. The Glory of God had departed!

 

Can we see God acting in this way in America with God’s people?

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America began with God, but now they dishonor His Name. Therefore, America has become full of darkness and violence! Our leaders and our judges think no one can touch them. They have eyes only for greed and dishonesty. They say, “Who is the Lord? Why should I listen to Him?” They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they slander my Lord’s name.

I see them prosper despite their wickedness and they seem to live such painless lives. They don’t have troubles like other people. They wear their pride like a jeweled necklace and have everything their hearts could ever wish for!

Forgive me Lord, for my heart is bitter. I get torn up inside when I see evil called good and good called evil. Lord, in Your word You said, “In the last days people will turn away from the truth, and will follow deceptive teachings.” You remind me that when people refuse to listen to You they become more evil and violent. But You Lord uphold Your righteous ones!

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

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God says, “It is good for you to eat, drink, work, and to accept your lot in life. It is a good thing to receive wealth from Me and the good health to enjoy it. So enjoy your work and accept your lot in life, and I will keep you so busy enjoying life that you will have no time to brood over the past.”