Daniel’s 70 weeks

Last time we left our Galatians study (it was the blog from August
12 entitled “The Substance of Shadows”) we looked at an interesting
verse in Colossians 2.

Col 2: 16,17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” 

The emphasis in this verse is that all of these feast instructions
written by Moses so long ago were actually pointing to Christ and His
work here on earth and in our hearts.  I thought it was very
fascinating however that Paul also talked about the festivals being a
shadow of  things to come.   This was certainly
true of the feast of Passover.  Christ fulfilled this with his perfect
sacrifice as the Lamb of God on that very feast day…. exactly as Daniel
had prophesied… Then He arose on the feast of First Fruits!  The
timing is amazing!!! 

Blessings, Bee

There are a few different variations of these calculations but suffice
it to say, all are very close to the date that Messiah was “cut off” or
crucified, “but not for himself”, it was for us.

Daniel Chapter 9


24 “ Seventy weeks are determined

For your people and for your holy city,

To finish the transgression,

To make an end of sins,

To make reconciliation for iniquity,

To bring in everlasting righteousness,

To seal up vision and prophecy,

And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “ Know therefore and understand,

That from the going forth of the command

To restore and build Jerusalem

Until Messiah the Prince,

There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;

The street shall be built again, and the wall,

Even in troublesome times.

26 “ And after the sixty-two weeks

Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself”……….

First of all, to understand this prophecy we need to note these are 70
“weeks of years”. The length of a “prophetic year” being only 360 days
instead of 365! These 70 weeks will begin with the decree to rebuild
and restore Jerusalem completely (“with streets”, not just the wall.)
We know this date from the documentation of the decree in Nehemiah 2:1
“And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of
King Artaxerxes,” Most historians know when this twentieth year was and
understand this date to be around March 5th 444 BC. Keep this date in
mind.

I am going to “sort of” divert ever so slightly from Galatians.
Bernie (site located HERE) had asked an interesting question over at his site and it
prompted a “thought”… (yeah that can be dangerous… but eh… I will
just live “dangerously” today.)

His question was concerning the “Ark of the Covenant,” he essentially asked…. 
“Where is the Ark of the Covenant and should we be looking
for it?”

At first glance it seems like that question would be easy enough to answer.  Well… not exactly… you see the topic is actually much
BIGGER
than one would first expect.   Funny how that always happens with God. He is always so
much bigger than we think and His deeds are so much bigger than we can
imagine!  So, let’s
dig a little into this……..
Bee

All physical principles (being created by an amazing God) carry within
them the “finger print” of the creator, light and darkness is no
exception.  I would like to take a peek (particularly in the epistles
since we are in the Book of Galatians,) at an interesting word in
scripture… the word is “Shadow”. 

There is a fascinating verse in Hebrews 8:1-5.  It is obviously
contrasting the eternal priesthood of Christ with the earthly
priesthood, but what I want you to notice is the phrase I underlined….
 
“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have
such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of
the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.  For every high priest
is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is
necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on
earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the
gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things,
as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the
tabernacle. For He said,  “See that  you make all things according to
the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

Hmmm… these things that Hebrews speaks of… the Tabernacle, the
Priesthood, etc… the author says that these things are but a “shadow”
and a “copy” of the heavenly things!  This got me to thinking about the
nature of shadows in general and I began to apply that to what we knew
of these things that were symbols of God’s interaction with mankind
over the ages… (things like the Ark of the Covenant.)

To help get a picture of this… let’s first look at the
characteristics of a shadow.  What causes a shadow?  Is it not the
position of the Light? 

1. The Fore-shadow:  This is the shadow that is cast “in front of” a
person or thing.  This happens when light from behind is shown on the
object.

2. Absence of Shadow: This indicates that light is directly overhead shining down on the person or object.

3. The Aft-shadow:  This is the shadow that falls behind someone and
indicates that light is coming from in front of a person or object.

Now let’s apply these characteristics to those things spoken of in Hebrews and think of a time line……

1. Fore-shadow:  The light from eternity past has spoken and a “shadow”
began to form.  The shadows at first appeared like symbols such as the
Tabernacle, the Ark, and others but soon they began to take on the form
of a Savior and preceded the arrival of Messiah!

2. Absence of shadow:  He is here.  Christ walked this earth in the flesh and light from above illuminated him.  There was no “shadow” we saw him in the reality of space and time.

3. Aft-shadow:  Christ has ascended….has “passed by us” so to speak,
but behind him we see a “shadow” because there is a “future light”, (or
light from in-front-of) that is being cast upon him.  This light from
the future points toward a “glorified Christ” who will rule and reign
as was seen at His ascension.

I know this is rather abstract, but bear with me.

The “shadows” of things past … the tabernacle, the ark of the
covenant, the priesthood, all of these things spoke of Christ, His
character and His redeeming work.  That is why God was so particular
about the pattern!  

Now here is something else interesting… look at this verse… it
speaks of a shadow as being something that indicates not just past
things but also “things to come.”

Col 2: 16,17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” 

The feasts, festivals and sabbaths point to “things to come”, (at least
that was the understanding of the first century church at the time.) 
There is much in prophecy about a “sabbath rest” for the people of God,
a time when they will be in the promised land and the lion will lay
down with the lamb, swords will be made into plowshares, etc… 
There will be a literal rule and reign of Christ on this earth, at
least until the “new heavens and the new earth” are created.  And when
the new heavens and the new earth is created, there is an
interesting thing that shows up. 

Revelation 21 describes the new heavens and the new earth and in
particular the “New Jerusalem”… also called “The Bride”… it has the
names of the twelve apostles on it’s foundations and the names of the
twelve tribes of Israel on it’s gates.  There is no need for a temple
in this city because as vs.  22 says the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
is it’s temple.  The lamb is also it’s light source.  How glorious this
city will be!  But there are a couple of strange verses… look at
15,16…

“The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick
to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. When he measured it, he
found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.”


The New Jerusalem will be a perfect “cube”, how odd!  Not
really, if we study the “shadow”…. the “Most Holy Place” or “Holy
of Holies” within the Tabernacle was a perfect cube, this was also the pattern in the Temple.

1Kings 6:20 “The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits
wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and
overlaid the altar of cedar.”

Do you see what has happened!!??  The thing that was only a
“shadow” has actually become a reality and expanded to fill
everything!  The small intimate Holy of Holies that only the priest
could enter into once a year now fills all in all!  We must always remember that the shadow is never as glorious as the reality it points to. 

So to answer Bernie’s question… should we be looking for the Ark of
the Covenant?  I would say yes…… but we will find it much BIGGER
than we ever imagined.

First a few words about a translation I am going to use today and some additional study helps…

You know I kinda like the “New Living Translation” although I use “New
King James”, (or sometimes old King James) for my mainstay.  Hubby
likes the “New American Standard”.  There are lots of options out there
these days!  BTW, just to let you know, the NLT is not
a “paraphrase” like the old “Living Bible” was.  People get these
confused but they are completely different. The NLT is an actual
translation.  I just happen to like how “plain” it says things, so you
may see me use it frequently here.  I am after all kind of a “plain
talker” ….. yup…. no “wordy eloquence” coming out of this site!
Although I hope it is truth… understandable truth.

I know some people who get “heartburn” over various translations.. and to be
honest there are probably some kind of issues with every one of them. 
But I would encourage you not to just stick with one.  Look at all of
them… dig into the original languages… leave no stone unturned! 
This is part of true Bible study also.  For those who want to dig
further into translations and Bible study helps I have linked to some
resources below.  I do have one word of caution however concerning
study helps.  Don’t just go to the “commentaries” and read what these
old dead guys wrote and pick the one you like the best!  Please don’t! 
When you do that you rob yourself of the blessing of allowing the Holy
Spirit to take the Word of God and make it come alive in your heart and
not just in your mind!  The Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and
do the Work of God, never forget it.  All Bible study must be
“Bible centered”, so cling to the Word!

Below is a quick list of online “study helps” in case you have not discovered these for yourself.. enjoy!

Bible Gateway,  http://www.biblegateway.com/

Blue Letter Bible,  http://www.blueletterbible.org/

E-Sword,  http://www.e-sword.net/

Online Parallel Bible, 

http://bible.cc/

Online Greek Interlinear,  http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm

Hebrew Lexicon,  http://www.studylight.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=3727

Commentaries,  http://www.biblestudytools.com/Commentaries/

  Bee

Last time, we left Paul as he was “lowering the boom” on some guys
distorting the Gospel. Paul stops for a minute here as if to “take a
breath” and essentially says
… “O.K. guys here is where I am coming from … just so you know why
all the passion…. Here is some background… here is my story.”  And
it
is a wild story…. Paul’s life was definitely a “God thing”… and as
we will see Paul’s message was a total “God thing” as well!

Galatians 1:10-21 (NLT)

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of
God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. 
Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel
message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my
message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received
it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. You know what I was like
when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s
church. I did my best to destroy it.  I was far ahead of my fellow Jews
in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.  But even before I was
born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it
pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good
News about Jesus to the Gentiles.  When this happened, I did not rush
out to consult with any human being.  Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to
consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away
into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.



Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I
stayed with him for fifteen days.  The only other apostle I met at that
time was James, the Lord’s brother. I declare before God that what I am
writing to you is not a lie.



After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 
And still the Christians in the churches in Judea didn’t know me
personally.  All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who
used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to
destroy!”  And they praised God because of me.”


Paul will go on with his story in chapter two which we will begin next time but I want to pause for a minute to consider something.  Most
of us can not relate to being even remotely responsible for someone’s
murder… yet what was Paul confessing here?  He was not only
responsible but he was excited about murdering these people!  He tried
to destroy as many as possible!  Not only that… they were innocent
people… family men, women, children!  (We know this from the
histories of the first century martyrs.)  I don’t know if it ever
really hit me like it did today but I just realized…. PAUL WAS A
MONSTER!  (Before he came to know the Lord that is.)  How on earth could he live with himself knowing what he had
done!?  The only reason these innocents were murdered was because they
loved the Lord Jesus Christ!  I have to wonder if Paul struggled with
“flashbacks” or moments of guilt that would rush back into his mind? 
Perhaps he saw the face of Stephen in his nightmares and recalled that first
sickening thud as the stone hit his innocent body…
 
Acts 7:58 “..and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the
witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named
Saul.”

It goes onto to say.. in 8:3 “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women…”


I don’t know if Paul struggled with those thoughts or not… but I do
know that God can and will transform and forgive so completely that
after He has cleansed and forgiven us….. we should not even be called
by the same name!  Hence Saul became Paul.  Wow… the amazing
redemptive work of God transformed this “Monster” into an Apostle and
it changed the whole world! 

Muslims and Jews may Rebuild the Temple Together!?

What? Muslim leader wants Temple rebuilt

Jewish Sanhedrin rabbis unite with Turk on common cause



“In a column penned in WND today, author Joel Richardson reveals the historically unprecedented development…..
 

Adnan Oktar, who uses the pen name of Harun Yahya, is a controversial
but highly influential Muslim intellectual and author with more than 65
million of his books in circulation worldwide. Oktar recently met
with three representatives from the re-established Jewish Sanhedrin, a
group of 71 Orthodox rabbis and scholars from Israel, to discuss how
religious Muslims, Jews and Christians can work together on the project.


“The objectives of the alliance include waging a joint intellectual and
spiritual battle against the worldwide growing tide of irreligiousness,
unbelief and immorality,” explains Richardson, who met in Turkey with
Oktar. “But even more unusual is their agreement with regard to the
need to rebuild the Jewish Temple, a structure that Mr. Oktar refers to
as the ‘Masjid (Mosque)’ or the ‘Palace of Solomon.’”


An official statement about the meeting has been published on the
Sanhedrin’s website. Concluding the statement is the following call:


   

“Out of a sense of collective responsibility for world peace and
for all humanity we have found it timely to call to the World and
exclaim that there is a way out for all peoples. It is etched in a call
to all humanity: We are all the sons of one father, the descendants of
Adam, and all humanity is but a single family. Peace among Nations will
be achieved through building the House of G-d, where all peoples will
serve as foreseen by King Solomon in his prayers at the dedication of
the First Holy Temple. Come let us love and respect one another, and
love and honor and hold our heavenly Father in awe. Let us establish a
house of prayer in His name in order to worship and serve Him together,
for the sake of His great compassion. He surely does not want the blood
of His creations spilled, but prefers love and peace among all mankind.
We pray to the Almighty Creator, that you harken to our Call. Together
– each according to his or her ability – we shall work towards the
building of the House of Prayer for All Nations on the Temple Mount in
peace and mutual understanding.”

(complete article located here:  http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105938)

Below is the Sanhedrin’s website and the confirmation of their
initiatives which besides assisting with rebuilding the Temple they
also want to start the Passover sacrifices again. (Make sure to scroll
down and check out the “Turkish Islamic Union” also, VERY interesting!)

http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/index.php/Hachrazah_5769_Tamuz_9

“Oktar added that the Temple of Solomon “will be rebuilt and all
believers will worship there in tranquility.” During his meeting with
the Sanhedrin Rabbis, Oktar expressed his belief that the Temple could
be rebuilt in one year:


“It could be done in a year at most. It could be built to the same
perfection and beauty. The Torah says it was built in 13 years, if I
remember correctly. It could be rebuilt in a year in its perfect form.”


“This should be fairly simple,” explained Rabbi Hollander. “It is
said that the structure of the Dome in Haram E-Sharrif (the Temple
Mount) was originally meant by (Caliph) Omar to be a House of Prayer
for Jews, and the Al-Aqsa for Muslims.”


Richardson sees such plans tying in to Barack Obama’s calls for internationalizing the city of Jerusalem.”

Here is one of Adnan Oktar’s web sites:
http://www.unionoffaiths.com/


Obama makes plans for Middle East peace conference this year

DEBKAfile’s political sources report that Israeli defense minister Ehud
Barak’s prediction Tuesday, Aug. 4, that the US is preparing to present
a “Middle East peace plan” within weeks, which Israel should accept,
was misleading. According to our Washington sources, the Obama White
House is not thinking in terms of a new Middle East peace plan but a multinational conference to take place in November this year.”


Read the rest here:  http://www.debka.com/index1.php 

I really want to go through this section by section instead of just a
“quick overview” so it may take a while…. But… just to let you
know, I still may have to post “current events” also interspersed in
here because so much is happening in our world today especially in the
Middle East!  In the midst of all of the global and national upheaval
we need to also keep our eyes on Israel!  Last time I briefly mentioned
Romans chpt. 11 where God says that He still has a plan for the
“nation” of Israel.  Here are those verses…

Romans 11:11,12

‘I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!
But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come
to the Gentiles.  Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their
failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!’

Romans 11 goes on to say Israel has been blinded but only for a
time…. look at this key verse  25…

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in
part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come
in.”

The “Time of the Gentiles” will reach a point of completion and then
the Lord will begin to open the eyes of the Nation of Israel and we
will see some amazing prophecies fulfilled!!  (If we are still here.
)  This is why I keep my eyes on Israel and my ear to the ground to
listen for the “tuning of the orchestra”.  I don’t want to be
distracted when that first trumpet note sounds!!

Blessings, Bee

Chpt 1:1-9 (NKJ)

“Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus
Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the
brethren who are with me,

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in
the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but
there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of
Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any
other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

Paul is not pussy-footin’ around in this letter.  He starts out by
stating the authority by which he is about to speak and that authority
is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father!  He is
serious.  This is not some nice little social note…. this will be
“big stuff” he is about to tell them!

He begins by greeting them, but not in just any ol’ way… he greets
them by giving glory to God for His amazing work.  I thought this was
interesting.  How many times do we just impetuously jump into a tirade
when we have something to get off of our chest?   That my friends is a
sure sign of a work of the flesh.  Paul here focuses on Christ and his
finished work first and stops to give God the glory then he starts in! 
FOCUS is everything…. we have to get our focus first… then we
minister!

Alright… now Paul lowers the boom.  I like how the New Living
Translation puts it…. “I am shocked that you are turning away so
soon from God..”  Paul was not a happy camper here…. the
Galatians had turned away from what Paul had just taught them!   The
verse goes on to say…“You are following a different way that
pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are
being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning
Christ.”  Uh Oh!  Looks like the Galatians experienced a “power
vacuum” after their teacher Paul left and so they began to listen and
follow the most smart-sounding or good-looking self proclaimed leaders
they could find and …. sigh…. it led them away from Christ and from
the simple Gospel of salvation by Grace.  You know I don’t think the
Galatians had the “corner of the market” on this kind of behavior.  How
many times have we seen churches and individuals become drawn to a
charismatic, intelligent sounding, smooth talker only to months later
find themselves wayyy down the road toward something that doesn’t even
look like the Gospel any more?  Yeah… one thing you can say about our
enemies… the flesh and the devil… they are consistent.  It doesn’t
matter if it is the first century or the twenty first, some things
never change.

Paul goes on to blast these guys by saying “let them be accursed”…
and he even says it twice for emphasis… “let God’s curse fall on
anyone” (NLT) who distorts the Gospel like this… “anyone, including
us or even an angel from heaven!”  Wow, Paul is ticked…..  this is
serious….. what on earth happened! 

To be continued……..

To begin our study here is an introduction to the book. 

Blessings, Bee

Where?  

Galatia was not a town in itself but was the name for an “area” of Asia
Minor that contained the towns of Antioch, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and
Pisidian.  

When?  

Possibly 49 A.D.  sometime before Paul went to the council in
Jerusalem, (Acts 15:1,2)

Who wrote it?  

Apostle Paul.  God had called him specifically to preach the Gospel to
the Gentiles.

Who was it written to?

A group of Gentile Churches in the “Galatia region” of Asia Minor.

Why was it written?

Within this area of  Galatia some “learned” teachers fleeing persecution in Jerusalem had appeared on the scene. (Some believe they were converted Pharisees.)  These men taught
that to be “saved” one must be circumcised and follow the Law of
Moses.   

Acts 15:1-5  “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and
were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to
the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2This brought Paul
and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and
Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to
Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3The
church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia
and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news
made all the brothers very glad. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they
were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they
reported everything God had done through them.  5Then some of the
believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said,
“The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of
Moses.”
 

It appears some of these men (sometimes called “Judaizers”) were so influential that Barnabas
and Peter were temporarily swayed. (Gal. 2:12,14)  Paul in his letter here was correcting
this error,  and began clarifying that salvation was not only
of the Jews but was also for “who-so-ever-will.”   The “Gospel of the Grace
of God” was that now by the blood of Jesus Christ anyone could become a
child of God.  The Law was to show us that all are under sin. God’s
Grace shows us that all can be cleansed of that sin.  Law vs Grace
& Works vs Faith are brought into contrast throughout all of
Galatians.
 

The confusion in ministries, (Peter’s and Paul’s) and in what God was
doing, centered on the fact that the saving ministry of Jesus Christ
ended up being bigger than any of them had ever  thought!  He was
drawing ALL MEN unto Himself and He was raising up Paul to share the
Good News with some people very much on the “fringe.”  Paul  talks
about his ministry as revealing the “mystery”.  (Eph. 3:3-7) That
mystery being that Jew and Gentile would be “joint heirs” in the Church
of God!  What a HUGE pill  for the Jews to swallow, (who previously
were admonished to “be separate” from the uncircumcised pagan
Gentiles!)  Gentiles were even called “dogs”, but now the Jews were to
be sharing their inheritance of the Kingdom with them!  What a paradigm
shift…. what a change!  Paul spends much time in his epistles
addressing this very difficult issue,  that Jew and Gentile are now
“one in Christ”, and that Gentile believers need not feel like second
class citizens.  Paul being the apostle to the Gentiles teaches much
about our inheritance as “spiritual” children of Abraham.   (In Romans
11 Paul does specify that God still has a plan for “national” Israel,
the Church has not replaced that…. but we are the “spiritual”
offspring.)  That is why you will notice Paul uses many “inheritance”
related words in his books…. words like:  children, seed, promise,
heirs, covenant, adoption, sons.  Actually, even the words “elect” and
“chosen” are inheritance terms, they refer back to the fact that Israel
was God’s “chosen people ”.  Praise God that now by the blood of Christ
we  are also being “included with the beloved”!

What Should We Do With the O.T. Law?

This series of blogs was brought on due to a discussion I had recently
with a few of my “Messianic” brothers and sisters in Christ.  I want to say right off the bat, I very
much love and respect these brothers and sisters and I learn incredible
things from them…  But we do not always agree on things. Which is
actually very good if you think about it because if we did agree 100%
on every little thing, chances are we would belong to a “cult” and not
to the Body of Christ.   We can always find a point of disagreement
somewhere and that fact makes some people uncomfortable and they will
avoid those points like the plague.  I for one however don’t mind them
at all, in fact, I see them as an opportunity for “iron to sharpen
iron”, providing it gets us to digging into God’s Word and not immature
ranting or name calling etc…  (BTW, anyone that does that kind of
thing on my site gets deleted and blocked … just a polite heads up
for any new visitors.)  You know we should be able to study together
and examine the Scriptures back and forth without contention.  When
there is anger and contention that arises it is a sure sign there is
“pride and self-importance” at the center and NOT God!  (I could go on
to the “whys” of this but that is another topic.)

So let’s jump right in!  To try to boil down what I think most of the
disagreements “center on” it would be this one question… “What should
we do with the
Old Testament Law?”  I think I can say that most of my Messianic
friends will take the position that “all believers” whether Jew or
Gentile must keep all of the Levitical and Moral Laws of Moses except
for the sacrifices.  (Correct me if I am wrong here.)  The position
that I am taking in these writings is that we are “free” to follow the
Levitical Law or not as our personal conviction dictates. (The “Moral
law” is something that gets written on our hearts at Salvation and is
administered by the Holy Spririt.)  Also, if as a believer in Christ we
do decide we want to follow the Levitical law we do so in a way that
looks to the
fact that Christ has fulfilled that requirement and we are practicing
something in remembrance of His finished work….. and not that our
attempting to conform closer to the Law makes us a more mature or
“better Christian” than a brother or sister who chooses not to follow
the Law.

Beginning our Study


After much thought…. I decided I think Galatians is the place to
start.  I will tell you why… I love Romans and it has a lot to say
concerning Law and Grace, but Paul gets rather lawyer-esqe (or complicated) in Romans.  It is a large letter and is designed to be read all at once, but we
always pick it apart and it loses it’s context very easily that way…
so it is difficult, (and long.) 

I love Ephesians… and there is not doubt we will “visit” there, but
it has some rather “ethereal” passages that are kind of difficult.  Not
to mention the main purpose of the book being to encourage believers
concerning who they are in Christ as opposed to specifically
concentrating on the Jew and Gentile distinction.

So….. Galatians it is…. I will begin with the “intro” tomorrow.  I am looking forward to it and getting back into the Word, hope you will join me!!

Love, Bee

Wise Judgement

I really enjoyed this word of wisdom from “Pastor Roy”.

Blessings, Bee

I Love This Story!!

Especially in this day and time where the “end of life” issues are debated and the ominous specter of euthanasia and the “value” of the elderly are looming before us…. this story is a good reminder of how the elderly can teach us great lessons!

Love, Bee

http://deltackett.com/2007/04/20/the-most-beautiful-hula-dance-ever/

When I saw this … (meaning the trailer for this conference,) first… the hair on the back of my neck stood up… then…. I got mad!! 

I’ll tell you why I got mad… it is because the precious blood of our men on the battlefield was shed to buy the freedom that allows these people to hold a conference that openly anticipates and even celebrates the demise of our country!  (Note: especially notice the shape of the dollar bill in the movie.) How dare they! Why don’t they leave if they don’t like our system?  I’ll tell you why… it is because they are all about “going forth conquering and to conquer”… think about it!
  Bee

BTW… for more info on the organization (Hizb ut-Tahrir) that held this conference… check this out:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir