Solomons words

Daily Readings

2023.06.08 07:00 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
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2023.06.08 06:25 bikingfencer Galatians, chapter 4 - election

GALATIANS  
Chapter Four (https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Galatians+4)
 
-3. … we were enslaved [משעבדים, MeShoo`eBahDeeYM] to fundamentals [ליסודות, LeeYÇODOTh] [of] the world.  
“The word τα στοιχεια [ta stoikheia], the elements ... meant (a) the letters of the alphabet… (b) the elements of which a thing was composed, as the fire, air, earth, and water of which the world was thought to be constituted; (c) the elements of the universe, the larger cosmos, including the sun, moon, planets, and stars; and (d) the spirits, angels, and demons which were believed to ensoul the heavenly bodies, traverse all space, and inhabit every nook and cranny of earth, particularly tombs, desert places, and demented persons. These spirits were said to be organized like human governments. In Rom. [Romans] 8:38 Paul calls them ‘principalities’ and ‘powers.’ And vss. [verses] 9 and 10 of our present chapter indicate that he has them in mind in vs. [verse] 3. …  
Paul … includes in ‘the elements of the universe’ all sub-Christian ideas and observances, both Jewish and Gentile. He regards these ‘elements’ as slave drivers who frighten men with curses for not propitiating them by observance of special days and seasons, food taboos, dietary fads, and circumcision. In Christ he declared his independence of Fate, Fortune, Luck, and Chance, and from astrology, the counterfeit religion and bastard sister of astronomy, whose practitioners exploited the superstition that the stars controlled men’s lives from birth to death.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 521 & 522)  
The elements of the world] A mere Jewish phrase, יסודי עולם הזה yasudey ‘olam hazzeh, ‘the principles of this world;’ that is, the rudiments or principles of the Jewish religion. The apostle intimates that the law was not the science of salvation; it was only the elements or alphabet of it.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 387)  
-4. But [אבל, ’ahBahL] as that was filled the time, sent forth, Gods, [את, ’ehTh (indicator of direct object; no English equivalent)] His son, born [of] woman, and subject [וכפוף, VeKhahPhOoPh] to instruction [Torah, Law].  
“The four words, το πληρωμα του χρονου [to pleroma tou khronou], the fullness of the time, express a whole philosophy of history. The Hebrew prophets and Jewish apocalyptists believed that their God was the creator of the universe and arbiter of the destinies of all men and nations. Nothing could happen that was not his doing, either directly or indirectly through angels and men. He had a time for everything, and everything happened exactly on time. … The completion of this present age would be marked by a blood-red revolution, in which all good men and good works would be ground under the heel of the tyrant, while the wicked reigned supreme. Then suddenly God would intervene with the lightning of judgment to snatch the world from the mouth of the bottomless pit and restore it to Paradise, whence it had fallen with the sin of Adam. Sorrow and sighing would flee away, and the Messiah would reign with the perfection of a theocratic king.  
At this juncture, says Paul, when the appointed period of history was ‘full,’ god sent his Son γενομενον εκ γυναικος, γενομενον υπο νομον [genomenon ek gunaikos, genomenon upο nomon], ‘born of woman, bοrn under law.’ … Jesus was not only born under law, but was subject to it all his life. ...The ‘yoke’ of the Torah demanded that he observe the customs of his forefathers, such as wearing phylactery and prayer fringes, ceremonial washing of hands before eating, giving thanks at mealtime, praying at stated times, bringing tithes and sacrifices, and obeying the Ten Commandments.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 522 & 523)  
Not to mention circumcision, kashrut, and the prohibition of associating with gentiles.  
Sent forth refers to God’s sending of his Son from his pre-existent state in heaven (I Cor. [Corinthians] 8:6; Phil. [Philippians] 2:6-8; Col. [Colossians] 1:15-17). Yet this Son was born of woman. There is nothing in these words, or elsewhere in Paul’s letters, to prove or disprove that he knew the story of the miraculous conception. His point here is that the Christ, although he was the pre-existent Son of God, did not come into this world with a body composed of celestial substance, but was woman-born like all other human beings. … It was very different from the conception of royal sonship in Ps. 2, where the king is called God’s ‘Son; because he has been chosen to be the Messiah. In Paul, Jesus is God’s Son by nature, and his Christhood follows by virtue of this sonship. This belief was the fundamental cause of the split between the Jews and the Christians. The lowly birth, the obscurity of Nazareth, and the fact that Jesus was a common laborer, constituted a grievous scandal in the eyes of all who were expecting their Deliverer to come riding on a chariot of clouds wielding the lightning of judgment. Paul’s gospel contradicts every form of hyperspirituality that fixes a gulf between God and his material world. On the other hand, his conception of the coming of Jesus was poles removed from the pagan stories of the births of heroes, savior-gods, and kings, whose legends were freighted with illicit relationships and lawless conduct like the lives of the devotees who had created them in their own image.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 523-524)  
“Nothing is said explicitly about the Son’s preexistence, which is at most implied … born of a woman: … The phrase is derived from the OT [Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible] (Job 14:1 …). So born, Jesus submitted to the law by being circumcised and thus became capable of falling under its curse. But lest the Galatians draw a wrong conclusion, Paul [and The Interpreters’ Bible] does not mention Jesus’ circumcision. Instead of genomenon, ‘born,’ some patristic writers read gennomenon, and understood this ptc. [participle] as referring to Mary’s virginal conception; but this is anachronistic interpretation.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 787)  
-7. Accordingly [לפיכך, LePheeYKhahKh], you are not [אינך, ’aYNKhah] a slave anymore [אוד, ’OD], for if [כי אם, KeeY ’eeM] a son, and, if a son, then [אזי, ’ahZahY] also heir from favor [מטעם, MeeTah`ahM] [of] Gods.  
“This is Paul’s proclamation of emancipation.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 528)  
…………………………………………  
Worry of Shah’OoL to Galatians
[verses 8–20]  
-8. In [the] past, in a time that you did not know [את, ’ehTh] Gods, you slaved [את, ’ehTh] who that in their nature [שבמנהותם, ShehBeMahHOoThahM] were not Gods.  
“The Jews never ceased to ridicule idols and denounce idolaters… They demoted the old gods to the rank of demons and made a list of detractive names for them: angels, shepherds, princes; kings, emperors, benefactors, heroes; demons, personifications, idols, nonentities. Some were living, some dead; some were good, but were not God. Most of them were bad, and their idols were but images of ‘things of nought.’ …  
Paul did not deny the existence of these beings whose ignorant worshipers called them gods, but he declared that they did not partake of the nature of God (I Cor. 8:4-6). God permitted them to plague mankind to punish sin, especially the sin of participating in the sacraments of the Gentile cults (I Cor. 10:19-22; 11:28-31). But Christ had conquered them and no Christian needed to fear them.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 529)  
-10. Behold, you are honoring days and new-[moons], seasons [מועדים, MO`ahDeeYM] and years.  
“Days like the Sabbath and Yom hakkippurim [“Day of Atonement”] are meant; months like the ‘new moon’; seasons like Passover and Pentecost; years like the sabbatical years… Paul can see no reason for a Gentile Christian to observe these.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
…  
…………………………………………  
Two the covenants
[verses 21-26]  
-21. Say to me, you, the wanters to be subject to Instruction, have you not heard [את, ’ehTh] the Instruction?
-22. Is it not written that to ’ahBRahHahM there were two sons, the one from the maid [האמה, Hah’ahMaH] and the second from the woman the free [החפשיה, HahHahPhSheeYah]?
-23. But [אך, ’ahKh] [the] son [of] the maid was born according to [לפי, LePheeY] the flesh,
and however [ואילו, Ve’eeYLOo] [the] son [of] the free upon mouth of the promise.
-24. The words the these, they are a parable to two the covenants:
the one from Mount ÇeeNah-eeY [Sinai], the birther to slavery, and she is HahGahR [“The Sojourner”, Hagar].  
“It is well known how fond the Jews were of allegorizing; every thing in the law was with them an allegory: their Talmud [ancient commentary] is full of these; and one of their most sober and best educated writers Philo, abounds with them…  
It is very likely, therefore, that the allegory produced here; St. Paul had borrowed from the Jewish writings; and he brings it in to convict the Judaizing Galatians on their own principles: and neither he, nor we, have any thing farther to do with this allegory, than as it applies to the subject for which it is quoted; nor does it give any license to those men of vain and superficial minds, who endeavour to find out allegories in every portion of the Sacred Writings; and by what they term spiritualizing, which is more properly carnalizing, have brought the testimonies of God into disgrace. May the spirit of silence be poured out upon all such corrupters of the word of God!” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 390)  
“Allegorical interpretation rests upon the belief that every word, figure of speech, and grammatical form in scripture has a special ‘spiritual’ significance besides its literal meaning. The theory is that the God who dictated it meant more than rests on the surface and that while he said one thing, he also meant something else in addition to the literal sense… The Greeks had long since applied the method to explain away the immoral things which the gods said and did in Homer… Then Greek-speaking Jews, like Philo Judaeus, employed it apologetically to read Greek philosophy into the O.T. [Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible], proclaiming that Moses had said all these good things long before and better than Homer and Plato.  
The wonder is that Paul has so little allegory. His restraint is explained partly by his training as a Pharisee. The rabbis were suspicious of any interpretation of scripture that tended to make Jews lax in their observance of the law. Jews with Gnostic leanings, and those who considered some of their ancestral customs outmoded, could resort to allegory to justify their philosophy and conduct, while maintaining that they were the spiritual superiors of the conservatives who held to the letter of the law … His argument, however, is never strengthened by allegorical symbolism and typology, for these are convincing only to those who by imagination can find them so. Rather, as in Rom. 9-11, he introduces unnecessary complications such as the moral difficulties involved in predestination. His gospel does not rest on the quicksands of allegory, a specious method of interpreting scripture. Its interpretations are of interest to the historian not as correct representations of what the writers and first readers of the Bible had in mind, but only as source materials for understanding the life and thought of the allegorists themselves.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 540)  
-25. Hagar signifies [מסמלת, MeÇahMehLeTh] [את, ’ehTh] Mount ÇeeNah-eeY, that is in Arabia, and parallels [ומקבילה,OoMahQBeeYLaH] to Jerusalem of our day, for she is in slavery with her sons.  
“… why does Paul mention Arabia…? Possibly because Mt. Sinai is in Arabia[?], which is Ishmaelite territory; he thus associates the Sinai pact with the eponymous patriarch of Arab tribes … Paul thus suggests that the law itself stems from a situation extrinsic to the promised land and to the real descendants of Abraham. Paul’s Jewish former co-religionists would not have been happy with this allegory.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
-26. But [אבל, ’ahBahL] Jerusalem from ascended [מעלה, Mah`eLaH], [the] daughter [of] freedom [חורין, HOReeYN] is she, and she is mother to us.
 
“The Jerusalem which now is was a most unholy “Holy city”, full of injustice, violence and murder, and subject to the cruel and wicked rulers imposed by a Gentile empire. But over against this Jerusalem of slavery lay an ideal celestial city, unseen at present, but destined soon to supersede it. Paul called it the Jerusalem above. Sarah, the free-woman, was the ancestress of its citizens, who were the people of faith and of freedom in Christ…  
Paul speaks of Jerusalem above, because this new city of freedom already exists in heaven where Christ is, where dwell the souls of those who have died in Christ. But it also exists on earth as the church, the body of Christ, whose members are colonists from heaven sent to prepare men for the full establishment of God’s kingdom at Christ’s second coming (Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:1-3).  
The biblical root of this conception of an ideal future and heavenly Jerusalem is Isa. [Isaiah] 54. Other descriptions appear in Ezek. [Ezekiel] 40-48; Zech. [Zechariah] 2:1-13; Hag. [Haggai] 2:6-9; Tob. [Tobias] 13:9-18 Ecclus. [Ecclesiasticus] 36; Pss. Sol. [Psalms of Solomon] 17:33. Historically the expectation assumed three forms. According to the earliest hope, God would build the new Jerusalem in Palestine and make it the capital of his theocratic world government. The plan of this glorious city was graven upon the palms of his hands (Isa. 49:16). From this idea it was but a step, especially for those influenced by Greek ideas, to think of this ideal Jerusalem as already existing in heaven. According to the Apocalypse of Baruch, God had shown it to Adam in Paradise before he sinned; to Abraham on the night mentioned in Gen. 15:12-21; and to Moses on Sinai, when he gave him the heavenly pattern for an earthly tabernacle (II Baruch 4:1-6; cf. [compare with] Heb. [Hebrews]12:22). The third conception combined these two ideas. The Jerusalem which was ‘above’ would come down to earth to be established in Palestine in place of the city that ‘now is’ (cf. Rev. [Revelation] 3:12, 21:2; II Esdras 7:26; 13:36; 10:54).  
So the new Jerusalem belonged to both worlds and to both ages, to heaven and earth, to the present and the future. Its constitution was the new covenant, and its citizens were the men of faith in Christ, a new kind of freemen who traced their spiritual ancestry through the line of Isaac and his mother Sarah as heirs of God’s promise to Abraham. As for Ishmael and his tribe, they were the men of law, predestined to be slaves forever. Needless to say, the Judaizers found Paul’s allegorical exclusion of themselves utterly unacceptable. They believed that the Torah was God’s blueprint for all creation, and that it would be observed forever in the new Jerusalem. That, they said, was why God was going to purge the old city – to establish an order of life in which perfect obedience to his law would be possible.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 541-542)  
“…it was a maxim among the rabbins [rabbis], that, ‘Whatsoever was in the earth, the same was also found in heaven; for there is no matter, howsoever small, in this world, that has not something similar to it in the spiritual world.’ On this maxim, the Jews imagine that every earthly thing has its representative in heaven: and especially whatever concerns Jerusalem, the law, and its ordinances. Rab. ["Master", Rabbi] Kimchi, speaking of Melchisedec, king of Salem, says, זו ירושלים של מעלה Zu Yerushalem shel me’alah – ‘This is the Jerusalem that is from above.’…  
There is a spiritual Jerusalem, of which this is the type; and this Jerusalem, in which the souls of all the righteous are, is free from all bondage and sin: or by this, probably the kingdom of the Messiah was intended; and this certainly answers best to the apostle’s meaning, as the subsequent verse shows.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 391)  
-27. That see, is written:  
Chant, barren, not birthing, [רני עקרה לא ילדה RahNeeY 'ahQRaH Lo’ YahLahDaH] burst chanting and shouting, not travailing, [פצחי רנה וצהלי לא-חלה PeeTsHeeY ReeNaH VeTsahHahLeeY Lo’-HahLaH] for multitudinous are sons of her deserted than [מי, MeeY] sons of her mistress [כי-רבים בני-שוממיה מבני בעולה KheeY-RahBeeYM BeNaY-ShoMahMeeYHah MeeBeNaY Be'ooLaH].”  
“A telling item in the counterpropaganda of the legalists was the argument that even among the Christians only a radical fringe consisting mainly of foreign Jews, of whom Paul was one, were proposing to abandon the law of Moses. …  
In one respect his quotation of Isa. 54:1 does not fit Paul’s allegory. It was Sarah, the mother of freemen, who possessed the husband, and Hagar, the slave, who was the deserted woman. As usual with Paul’s illustrations (cf. Rom. 7:1-4; 11:17-24), the details cannot be pressed without making them go lame …  
The Isaian figure to describe the plight of Jerusalem during the Babylonian exile grew out of a common experience in Hebrew family life. Childlessness, particularly the failure to bear sons, was great grief and disgrace. Such was the sorrow of Jerusalem; but the prophet bade her look forward with courage to the time when all her scattered children would come back to her (Isa. 54:3). God was her ‘husband,’ and he would treat his faithful remnant with everlasting lovingkindness, making them more numerous than the former population and giving them a heritage of great peace and prosperity (Isa. 54:13-17).” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 542)  
“The prophet’s words are addressed to deserted Zion, bidding it rejoice at the return of the exiles.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
-28. But you, my brethren [τεχνα, tekhna, “children”], you are the sons of the promise, as was YeeTsHahQ [“He Laughed”, Isaac].  
“The Judaizers claimed that Abraham had obeyed the law of Moses by anticipation, and that God’s promise was his reward. Consequently the descendants of Isaac were children of promise only if they followed Abraham’s example in obeying the law. Paul turned it the other way about: the promise must be taken on faith, not as credit for obedience.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 542)  
-29. And just as [וכשם, OoKhShayM] that then pursued, [רדף, RahDahPh] the son that was born according to [לפי, LePheeY] flesh, [את, ’ehTh] the son that was born according to the spirit, yes, also now.  
“In Gen 21:10 Sarah, seeing Ishmael ‘playing’ with Isaac and viewing him as the potential rival to Isaac’s inheritance, drives him and his mother out. Nothing in Gen is said of Ishmael’s ‘persecution’ of Isaac, but Paul may be interpreting the ‘playing’ as did a Palestinian haggadic explanation of Gen 21:9 (see Josephus, ANT. [Antiquities] 1.12.3§215 …” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
“A rabbinical tradition of the second century A.S. interprets the Hebrew participle מצחק [MeeTsHahQ, “play”] (LXX [Septuagient, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] παιζοντα [paizonta] in Gen. 21:9 to mean that Ishmael’s ‘playing’ became so rough that Isaac’s life was in danger. This son of a slave is said to have shot arrows at Isaac to kill him, and Paul’s statement shows that some such tradition was current in his day. He applied it to the Judaizers who were trying to force the Christians to observe the whole law of Moses, and to the unbelieving Jews who were excommunicating the Christians and their families and getting them into trouble with the civil authorities (1:5; 4:17; 5:10; I Thess. [Thessalonians] 2:14-16).” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 543)  
-30. But what says the Written [Scripture]?  
Banish [גרש GahRaySh] the maid and [את, ’ehTh] her son,
for not will inheritI [יירש, YeeYRahSh], son [of] the maid [האמה, Hah’ahMaH], with son [of] the free.”  
“The quotation is from Gen. 21:10 … The speaker of these words is Sarah, who is filled with rage against Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham is represented as greatly grieved, but God is said to have sanctioned the demand of the cruel and jealous wife….  
This story was one of the effects and one of the causes of the perpetual feud between the Israelites and the tribes that descended from Ishmael. The Hebrews were so sure that God wanted them to have Palestine that they found no moral difficulty in saying that it was God himself who had overruled Abraham’s conscience (Gen. 17:18-21). They affirmed that Ishmael’s character and destiny had been predetermined (Gen. 16:12). Consequently, even his circumcision at the age of thirteen could not make him a member of God’s chosen people. However great this innocent victim of a family feud might become by virtue of the halfhearted blessing conceded by an uneasy conscience (Gen. 17:20-21), he and his descendants were barred forever from the higher blessing. Theirs was to submit to the religious imperialism of the most favored nation or die. Moreover, all Abraham’s other sons except Isaac were barred from the promise and sent away ‘unto the east country’ (Gen. 25:5-6). And yet while all this was said to be the Lord’s doing, it was in the same breath declared to be the doing of the human actors in this drama of the nations. Sarah herself was said to have suggested that Abraham become a father by her Egyptian slave girl. Then, too, it was explained that Hagar’s flight from the cruelty of her mistress was voluntary, making her, rather than the callous compliance of Abraham, responsible for her plight ‘in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur’ (Gen. 16:7).  
Paul’s use of Abraham’s expulsion of Hagar and her child has its parallel in the equally heartless treatment of Esau which he employs in Rom. 9-11 in his longer discussion of the divine process of selection. Here too it was assumed that the hatred generated by centuries of war for the possession of Palestine lay in the heart of God. “I hate Esau,” said Malachi (1:3), making God the speaker; and Rom. 9:6-13 presses it to the utmost limit of predestination. But the love of God in Christ Jesus made Paul’s heart better than his inherited doctrine … When the history of the struggle for the possession of “the Holy land” is allegorized to justify a doctrine of “election” which foredooms countless souls to an eternity of torment in a future hell, it becomes as morally atrocious as it is irreconcilable with Paul’s gospel.  
Nevertheless Paul’s allegory gives the historian an insight into Paul’s mind as he wrestled with the insoluble problem of God’s sovereignty and human freedom.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 543-544)  
“Paul bids the Galatians rid themselves of the Judaizers – and, ironically enough, obey the Torah itself.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)   An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible
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2023.06.08 03:26 savingsandstuff Did Jews always believe in a purgatorial hell?

https://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/belief-in-heaven-is-fundamental-to-judaism
"Judaism’s view of hell more closely resembles purgatory. However, the pain the soul experiences is not physical. It has been compared to psychological anguish, shame and healing upon reviewing the history of one’s life in a body, and how it wasted opportunities to serve God. This may explain why people who have near death experiences often claim their entire life flashed in front of them.
This self-inflicted chastisement cleanses and refines the soul of blemishes that interfered with the soul’s perception of God. The concept of refinement is found in the prophets, “I (God) will refine them as silver is refined” (Zechariah 13:9)."
I've talked about NDE a lot in this sub, this is the first Jewish site i have seen make the connection.
Also very interesting that it talks about our "return" to God, and oneness, concepts found in mysticism.
"The body does serve an important purpose. It enables us (our souls) to live a life in this physical world. This presents us with the unique opportunity to serve God by following His divine game plan as outlined in the Torah. Following God’s will by fulfilling His commandments in this physical world connects us to God spiritually (the root of the Hebrew word “mitzvah” is “tzavta” which literally means “to connect”), refines the physical world, and proclaims the glory of God — that He exists everywhere. This is our mission while on earth.
At death the soul and body separate. King Solomon said, "The dust will return to the ground as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:17). This means the soul returns to heaven, back to God, where it is enveloped in the Oneness of the Divine."
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2023.06.08 00:05 bikingfencer Galatians - chapter four - Paul wrestles with election

GALATIANS  
Chapter Four (https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Galatians+4)
 
-3. … we were enslaved [משעבדים, MeShoo`eBahDeeYM] to fundamentals [ליסודות, LeeYÇODOTh] [of] the world.  
“The word τα στοιχεια [ta stoikheia], the elements ... meant (a) the letters of the alphabet… (b) the elements of which a thing was composed, as the fire, air, earth, and water of which the world was thought to be constituted; (c) the elements of the universe, the larger cosmos, including the sun, moon, planets, and stars; and (d) the spirits, angels, and demons which were believed to ensoul the heavenly bodies, traverse all space, and inhabit every nook and cranny of earth, particularly tombs, desert places, and demented persons. These spirits were said to be organized like human governments. In Rom. [Romans] 8:38 Paul calls them ‘principalities’ and ‘powers.’ And vss. [verses] 9 and 10 of our present chapter indicate that he has them in mind in vs. [verse] 3. …  
Paul … includes in ‘the elements of the universe’ all sub-Christian ideas and observances, both Jewish and Gentile. He regards these ‘elements’ as slave drivers who frighten men with curses for not propitiating them by observance of special days and seasons, food taboos, dietary fads, and circumcision. In Christ he declared his independence of Fate, Fortune, Luck, and Chance, and from astrology, the counterfeit religion and bastard sister of astronomy, whose practitioners exploited the superstition that the stars controlled men’s lives from birth to death.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 521 & 522)  
The elements of the world] A mere Jewish phrase, יסודי עולם הזה yasudey ‘olam hazzeh, ‘the principles of this world;’ that is, the rudiments or principles of the Jewish religion. The apostle intimates that the law was not the science of salvation; it was only the elements or alphabet of it.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 387)  
-4. But [אבל, ’ahBahL] as that was filled the time, sent forth, Gods, [את, ’ehTh (indicator of direct object; no English equivalent)] His son, born [of] woman, and subject [וכפוף, VeKhahPhOoPh] to instruction [Torah, Law].  
“The four words, το πληρωμα του χρονου [to pleroma tou khronou], the fullness of the time, express a whole philosophy of history. The Hebrew prophets and Jewish apocalyptists believed that their God was the creator of the universe and arbiter of the destinies of all men and nations. Nothing could happen that was not his doing, either directly or indirectly through angels and men. He had a time for everything, and everything happened exactly on time. … The completion of this present age would be marked by a blood-red revolution, in which all good men and good works would be ground under the heel of the tyrant, while the wicked reigned supreme. Then suddenly God would intervene with the lightning of judgment to snatch the world from the mouth of the bottomless pit and restore it to Paradise, whence it had fallen with the sin of Adam. Sorrow and sighing would flee away, and the Messiah would reign with the perfection of a theocratic king.  
At this juncture, says Paul, when the appointed period of history was ‘full,’ god sent his Son γενομενον εκ γυναικος, γενομενον υπο νομον [genomenon ek gunaikos, genomenon upο nomon], ‘born of woman, bοrn under law.’ … Jesus was not only born under law, but was subject to it all his life. ...The ‘yoke’ of the Torah demanded that he observe the customs of his forefathers, such as wearing phylactery and prayer fringes, ceremonial washing of hands before eating, giving thanks at mealtime, praying at stated times, bringing tithes and sacrifices, and obeying the Ten Commandments.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 522 & 523)  
Not to mention circumcision, kashrut, and the prohibition of associating with gentiles.  
Sent forth refers to God’s sending of his Son from his pre-existent state in heaven (I Cor. [Corinthians] 8:6; Phil. [Philippians] 2:6-8; Col. [Colossians] 1:15-17). Yet this Son was born of woman. There is nothing in these words, or elsewhere in Paul’s letters, to prove or disprove that he knew the story of the miraculous conception. His point here is that the Christ, although he was the pre-existent Son of God, did not come into this world with a body composed of celestial substance, but was woman-born like all other human beings. … It was very different from the conception of royal sonship in Ps. 2, where the king is called God’s ‘Son; because he has been chosen to be the Messiah. In Paul, Jesus is God’s Son by nature, and his Christhood follows by virtue of this sonship. This belief was the fundamental cause of the split between the Jews and the Christians. The lowly birth, the obscurity of Nazareth, and the fact that Jesus was a common laborer, constituted a grievous scandal in the eyes of all who were expecting their Deliverer to come riding on a chariot of clouds wielding the lightning of judgment. Paul’s gospel contradicts every form of hyperspirituality that fixes a gulf between God and his material world. On the other hand, his conception of the coming of Jesus was poles removed from the pagan stories of the births of heroes, savior-gods, and kings, whose legends were freighted with illicit relationships and lawless conduct like the lives of the devotees who had created them in their own image.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 523-524)  
“Nothing is said explicitly about the Son’s preexistence, which is at most implied … born of a woman: … The phrase is derived from the OT [Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible] (Job 14:1 …). So born, Jesus submitted to the law by being circumcised and thus became capable of falling under its curse. But lest the Galatians draw a wrong conclusion, Paul [and The Interpreters’ Bible] does not mention Jesus’ circumcision. Instead of genomenon, ‘born,’ some patristic writers read gennomenon, and understood this ptc. [participle] as referring to Mary’s virginal conception; but this is anachronistic interpretation.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 787)  
-7. Accordingly [לפיכך, LePheeYKhahKh], you are not [אינך, ’aYNKhah] a slave anymore [אוד, ’OD], for if [כי אם, KeeY ’eeM] a son, and, if a son, then [אזי, ’ahZahY] also heir from favor [מטעם, MeeTah`ahM] [of] Gods.  
“This is Paul’s proclamation of emancipation.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 528)  
…………………………………………  
Worry of Shah’OoL to Galatians
[verses 8–20]  
-8. In [the] past, in a time that you did not know [את, ’ehTh] Gods, you slaved [את, ’ehTh] who that in their nature [שבמנהותם, ShehBeMahHOoThahM] were not Gods.  
“The Jews never ceased to ridicule idols and denounce idolaters… They demoted the old gods to the rank of demons and made a list of detractive names for them: angels, shepherds, princes; kings, emperors, benefactors, heroes; demons, personifications, idols, nonentities. Some were living, some dead; some were good, but were not God. Most of them were bad, and their idols were but images of ‘things of nought.’ …  
Paul did not deny the existence of these beings whose ignorant worshipers called them gods, but he declared that they did not partake of the nature of God (I Cor. 8:4-6). God permitted them to plague mankind to punish sin, especially the sin of participating in the sacraments of the Gentile cults (I Cor. 10:19-22; 11:28-31). But Christ had conquered them and no Christian needed to fear them.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 529)  
-10. Behold, you are honoring days and new-[moons], seasons [מועדים, MO`ahDeeYM] and years.  
“Days like the Sabbath and Yom hakkippurim [“Day of Atonement”] are meant; months like the ‘new moon’; seasons like Passover and Pentecost; years like the sabbatical years… Paul can see no reason for a Gentile Christian to observe these.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
…  
…………………………………………  
Two the covenants
[verses 21-26]  
-21. Say to me, you, the wanters to be subject to Instruction, have you not heard [את, ’ehTh] the Instruction?
-22. Is it not written that to ’ahBRahHahM there were two sons, the one from the maid [האמה, Hah’ahMaH] and the second from the woman the free [החפשיה, HahHahPhSheeYah]?
-23. But [אך, ’ahKh] [the] son [of] the maid was born according to [לפי, LePheeY] the flesh,
and however [ואילו, Ve’eeYLOo] [the] son [of] the free upon mouth of the promise.
-24. The words the these, they are a parable to two the covenants:
the one from Mount ÇeeNah-eeY [Sinai], the birther to slavery, and she is HahGahR [“The Sojourner”, Hagar].  
“It is well known how fond the Jews were of allegorizing; every thing in the law was with them an allegory: their Talmud [ancient commentary] is full of these; and one of their most sober and best educated writers Philo, abounds with them…  
It is very likely, therefore, that the allegory produced here; St. Paul had borrowed from the Jewish writings; and he brings it in to convict the Judaizing Galatians on their own principles: and neither he, nor we, have any thing farther to do with this allegory, than as it applies to the subject for which it is quoted; nor does it give any license to those men of vain and superficial minds, who endeavour to find out allegories in every portion of the Sacred Writings; and by what they term spiritualizing, which is more properly carnalizing, have brought the testimonies of God into disgrace. May the spirit of silence be poured out upon all such corrupters of the word of God!” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 390)  
“Allegorical interpretation rests upon the belief that every word, figure of speech, and grammatical form in scripture has a special ‘spiritual’ significance besides its literal meaning. The theory is that the God who dictated it meant more than rests on the surface and that while he said one thing, he also meant something else in addition to the literal sense… The Greeks had long since applied the method to explain away the immoral things which the gods said and did in Homer… Then Greek-speaking Jews, like Philo Judaeus, employed it apologetically to read Greek philosophy into the O.T. [Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible], proclaiming that Moses had said all these good things long before and better than Homer and Plato.  
The wonder is that Paul has so little allegory. His restraint is explained partly by his training as a Pharisee. The rabbis were suspicious of any interpretation of scripture that tended to make Jews lax in their observance of the law. Jews with Gnostic leanings, and those who considered some of their ancestral customs outmoded, could resort to allegory to justify their philosophy and conduct, while maintaining that they were the spiritual superiors of the conservatives who held to the letter of the law … His argument, however, is never strengthened by allegorical symbolism and typology, for these are convincing only to those who by imagination can find them so. Rather, as in Rom. 9-11, he introduces unnecessary complications such as the moral difficulties involved in predestination. His gospel does not rest on the quicksands of allegory, a specious method of interpreting scripture. Its interpretations are of interest to the historian not as correct representations of what the writers and first readers of the Bible had in mind, but only as source materials for understanding the life and thought of the allegorists themselves.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 540)  
-25. Hagar signifies [מסמלת, MeÇahMehLeTh] [את, ’ehTh] Mount ÇeeNah-eeY, that is in Arabia, and parallels [ומקבילה,OoMahQBeeYLaH] to Jerusalem of our day, for she is in slavery with her sons.  
“… why does Paul mention Arabia…? Possibly because Mt. Sinai is in Arabia[?], which is Ishmaelite territory; he thus associates the Sinai pact with the eponymous patriarch of Arab tribes … Paul thus suggests that the law itself stems from a situation extrinsic to the promised land and to the real descendants of Abraham. Paul’s Jewish former co-religionists would not have been happy with this allegory.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
-26. But [אבל, ’ahBahL] Jerusalem from ascended [מעלה, Mah`eLaH], [the] daughter [of] freedom [חורין, HOReeYN] is she, and she is mother to us.
 
“The Jerusalem which now is was a most unholy “Holy city”, full of injustice, violence and murder, and subject to the cruel and wicked rulers imposed by a Gentile empire. But over against this Jerusalem of slavery lay an ideal celestial city, unseen at present, but destined soon to supersede it. Paul called it the Jerusalem above. Sarah, the free-woman, was the ancestress of its citizens, who were the people of faith and of freedom in Christ…  
Paul speaks of Jerusalem above, because this new city of freedom already exists in heaven where Christ is, where dwell the souls of those who have died in Christ. But it also exists on earth as the church, the body of Christ, whose members are colonists from heaven sent to prepare men for the full establishment of God’s kingdom at Christ’s second coming (Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:1-3).  
The biblical root of this conception of an ideal future and heavenly Jerusalem is Isa. [Isaiah] 54. Other descriptions appear in Ezek. [Ezekiel] 40-48; Zech. [Zechariah] 2:1-13; Hag. [Haggai] 2:6-9; Tob. [Tobias] 13:9-18 Ecclus. [Ecclesiasticus] 36; Pss. Sol. [Psalms of Solomon] 17:33. Historically the expectation assumed three forms. According to the earliest hope, God would build the new Jerusalem in Palestine and make it the capital of his theocratic world government. The plan of this glorious city was graven upon the palms of his hands (Isa. 49:16). From this idea it was but a step, especially for those influenced by Greek ideas, to think of this ideal Jerusalem as already existing in heaven. According to the Apocalypse of Baruch, God had shown it to Adam in Paradise before he sinned; to Abraham on the night mentioned in Gen. 15:12-21; and to Moses on Sinai, when he gave him the heavenly pattern for an earthly tabernacle (II Baruch 4:1-6; cf. [compare with] Heb. [Hebrews]12:22). The third conception combined these two ideas. The Jerusalem which was ‘above’ would come down to earth to be established in Palestine in place of the city that ‘now is’ (cf. Rev. [Revelation] 3:12, 21:2; II Esdras 7:26; 13:36; 10:54).  
So the new Jerusalem belonged to both worlds and to both ages, to heaven and earth, to the present and the future. Its constitution was the new covenant, and its citizens were the men of faith in Christ, a new kind of freemen who traced their spiritual ancestry through the line of Isaac and his mother Sarah as heirs of God’s promise to Abraham. As for Ishmael and his tribe, they were the men of law, predestined to be slaves forever. Needless to say, the Judaizers found Paul’s allegorical exclusion of themselves utterly unacceptable. They believed that the Torah was God’s blueprint for all creation, and that it would be observed forever in the new Jerusalem. That, they said, was why God was going to purge the old city – to establish an order of life in which perfect obedience to his law would be possible.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 541-542)  
“…it was a maxim among the rabbins [rabbis], that, ‘Whatsoever was in the earth, the same was also found in heaven; for there is no matter, howsoever small, in this world, that has not something similar to it in the spiritual world.’ On this maxim, the Jews imagine that every earthly thing has its representative in heaven: and especially whatever concerns Jerusalem, the law, and its ordinances. Rab. ["Master", Rabbi] Kimchi, speaking of Melchisedec, king of Salem, says, זו ירושלים של מעלה Zu Yerushalem shel me’alah – ‘This is the Jerusalem that is from above.’…  
There is a spiritual Jerusalem, of which this is the type; and this Jerusalem, in which the souls of all the righteous are, is free from all bondage and sin: or by this, probably the kingdom of the Messiah was intended; and this certainly answers best to the apostle’s meaning, as the subsequent verse shows.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 391)  
-27. That see, is written:  
Chant, barren, not birthing, [רני עקרה לא ילדה RahNeeY 'ahQRaH Lo’ YahLahDaH] burst chanting and shouting, not travailing, [פצחי רנה וצהלי לא-חלה PeeTsHeeY ReeNaH VeTsahHahLeeY Lo’-HahLaH] for multitudinous are sons of her deserted than [מי, MeeY] sons of her mistress [כי-רבים בני-שוממיה מבני בעולה KheeY-RahBeeYM BeNaY-ShoMahMeeYHah MeeBeNaY Be'ooLaH].”  
“A telling item in the counterpropaganda of the legalists was the argument that even among the Christians only a radical fringe consisting mainly of foreign Jews, of whom Paul was one, were proposing to abandon the law of Moses. …  
In one respect his quotation of Isa. 54:1 does not fit Paul’s allegory. It was Sarah, the mother of freemen, who possessed the husband, and Hagar, the slave, who was the deserted woman. As usual with Paul’s illustrations (cf. Rom. 7:1-4; 11:17-24), the details cannot be pressed without making them go lame …  
The Isaian figure to describe the plight of Jerusalem during the Babylonian exile grew out of a common experience in Hebrew family life. Childlessness, particularly the failure to bear sons, was great grief and disgrace. Such was the sorrow of Jerusalem; but the prophet bade her look forward with courage to the time when all her scattered children would come back to her (Isa. 54:3). God was her ‘husband,’ and he would treat his faithful remnant with everlasting lovingkindness, making them more numerous than the former population and giving them a heritage of great peace and prosperity (Isa. 54:13-17).” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 542)  
“The prophet’s words are addressed to deserted Zion, bidding it rejoice at the return of the exiles.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
-28. But you, my brethren [τεχνα, tekhna, “children”], you are the sons of the promise, as was YeeTsHahQ [“He Laughed”, Isaac].  
“The Judaizers claimed that Abraham had obeyed the law of Moses by anticipation, and that God’s promise was his reward. Consequently the descendants of Isaac were children of promise only if they followed Abraham’s example in obeying the law. Paul turned it the other way about: the promise must be taken on faith, not as credit for obedience.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 542)  
-29. And just as [וכשם, OoKhShayM] that then pursued, [רדף, RahDahPh] the son that was born according to [לפי, LePheeY] flesh, [את, ’ehTh] the son that was born according to the spirit, yes, also now.  
“In Gen 21:10 Sarah, seeing Ishmael ‘playing’ with Isaac and viewing him as the potential rival to Isaac’s inheritance, drives him and his mother out. Nothing in Gen is said of Ishmael’s ‘persecution’ of Isaac, but Paul may be interpreting the ‘playing’ as did a Palestinian haggadic explanation of Gen 21:9 (see Josephus, ANT. [Antiquities] 1.12.3§215 …” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)  
“A rabbinical tradition of the second century A.S. interprets the Hebrew participle מצחק [MeeTsHahQ, “play”] (LXX [Septuagient, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] παιζοντα [paizonta] in Gen. 21:9 to mean that Ishmael’s ‘playing’ became so rough that Isaac’s life was in danger. This son of a slave is said to have shot arrows at Isaac to kill him, and Paul’s statement shows that some such tradition was current in his day. He applied it to the Judaizers who were trying to force the Christians to observe the whole law of Moses, and to the unbelieving Jews who were excommunicating the Christians and their families and getting them into trouble with the civil authorities (1:5; 4:17; 5:10; I Thess. [Thessalonians] 2:14-16).” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 543)  
-30. But what says the Written [Scripture]?  
Banish [גרש GahRaySh] the maid and [את, ’ehTh] her son,
for not will inheritI [יירש, YeeYRahSh], son [of] the maid [האמה, Hah’ahMaH], with son [of] the free.”  
“The quotation is from Gen. 21:10 … The speaker of these words is Sarah, who is filled with rage against Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham is represented as greatly grieved, but God is said to have sanctioned the demand of the cruel and jealous wife….  
This story was one of the effects and one of the causes of the perpetual feud between the Israelites and the tribes that descended from Ishmael. The Hebrews were so sure that God wanted them to have Palestine that they found no moral difficulty in saying that it was God himself who had overruled Abraham’s conscience (Gen. 17:18-21). They affirmed that Ishmael’s character and destiny had been predetermined (Gen. 16:12). Consequently, even his circumcision at the age of thirteen could not make him a member of God’s chosen people. However great this innocent victim of a family feud might become by virtue of the halfhearted blessing conceded by an uneasy conscience (Gen. 17:20-21), he and his descendants were barred forever from the higher blessing. Theirs was to submit to the religious imperialism of the most favored nation or die. Moreover, all Abraham’s other sons except Isaac were barred from the promise and sent away ‘unto the east country’ (Gen. 25:5-6). And yet while all this was said to be the Lord’s doing, it was in the same breath declared to be the doing of the human actors in this drama of the nations. Sarah herself was said to have suggested that Abraham become a father by her Egyptian slave girl. Then, too, it was explained that Hagar’s flight from the cruelty of her mistress was voluntary, making her, rather than the callous compliance of Abraham, responsible for her plight ‘in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur’ (Gen. 16:7).  
Paul’s use of Abraham’s expulsion of Hagar and her child has its parallel in the equally heartless treatment of Esau which he employs in Rom. 9-11 in his longer discussion of the divine process of selection. Here too it was assumed that the hatred generated by centuries of war for the possession of Palestine lay in the heart of God. “I hate Esau,” said Malachi (1:3), making God the speaker; and Rom. 9:6-13 presses it to the utmost limit of predestination. But the love of God in Christ Jesus made Paul’s heart better than his inherited doctrine … When the history of the struggle for the possession of “the Holy land” is allegorized to justify a doctrine of “election” which foredooms countless souls to an eternity of torment in a future hell, it becomes as morally atrocious as it is irreconcilable with Paul’s gospel.  
Nevertheless Paul’s allegory gives the historian an insight into Paul’s mind as he wrestled with the insoluble problem of God’s sovereignty and human freedom.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 543-544)  
“Paul bids the Galatians rid themselves of the Judaizers – and, ironically enough, obey the Torah itself.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 788)   An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible
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2023.06.07 20:45 ArchaicChaos Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah 9:6: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Trinitarians often claim that this is a prophetic verse about the birth of baby Jesus, who will be called "mighty God," which proves that Jesus is God.
There are several problems with this interpretation.
Trinitarian Problem 1
First, if you read Isaiah 9, there's nothing in this passage about a future prophecy regarding the coming Messiah. There are passages that are directly and explicitly about the future Messiah, for example, Genesis 3:15 or Micah 5:2-5. Isaiah 9 is about king Hezekiah in that time period (see 2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 29-32).
Trinitarian Problem 2
Second, this passage is never directly attributed to Jesus in the NT. Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:1 in Matthew 4:15-16. It is assumed that Matthew is applying the entire passage to Jesus and Jesus' time, but this is only an assumption. While I do not deny that there is a secondary fulfillment of this verse in Jesus, we can't ignore its initial fulfillment. If this were a prophecy specifically about the coming Messiah and announcing that he would be God, the Trinitarian argument would have more credibility. Considering that it is a prophecy that was to be fulfilled in Isaiah's time, we have to synthesize it accordingly. If this passage is about a coming king who is God, how is it applied to Isaiah in his time? What does this say about king Hezekiah?
Trinitarian Problem 3
Third, there's a problem with the phrase "mighty God." The two Hebrew words used, "el" "gibbohr" do not really mean this. Both words mean something to the degree of "powerful." Martin Luther translated this passage as "mighty hero." The same phrase is used (in the plural rather than singular) in Ezekiel 32:21. "The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol" (ESV). This phrase is not an explicit claim that someone is the one true God of Israel. It is rather a simple statement that someone is very mighty and powerful in some respect. The very name of the archangel Gabriel (gibbohr-el) comes from this same phrase. Does this mean the archangel is God, too?
Trinitarian Problem 4
Fourth, it may be worth noting that in some of the LXX manuscripts, this phrase does not even appear. It reads: "For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him" (Brenton Septuagint Translation). Eusebius noted varied readings among manuscripts in his time, and Codex Vaticanus omits the phrase "mighty god." It is also possibly noteworthy that in Greek, the definite article is lacking, which has led some to translate this as "a strong god." Similarly, in the Hebrew, the word is not "Elohim," the typical word for "God," but rather "el" which gives a similar reading to how the Greek has been translated above.
Trinitarian Problem 5
Fifth, the following phrase "everlasting Father." Jesus is never said to be our Father. He is our brother, and we share the same Father (John 20:17). If Isaiah 9:6 is listing the names of Jesus, and he is the everlasting Father, then we must question what he's the Father of. We must also ask if the "child to be born to us," is really their father. This child is their father? "Have we not all one Father?" (Malachi 2:10). Is Jesus everlasting or eternally anyone's father? Who is his son? As discussed in the article on Jude 5 it is impossible for a Trinitarian to say that both Jesus and the Father are our father's. The modalists generally love to quote this scripture, thinking that it is calling Jesus our Father, and Trinitarians have not had a very good record at responding to them.
Hezekiah and past tense
We will not be descending into a deep debate on this issue. However, some have argued against Hezekiah being the referent of Isaiah 9. If they argue that Hezekiah was not the original fulfillment of the prophecy, then this is a prophecy without a fulfillment in anyone other than Jesus. This fact is very heavily debated between Jewish and Christian scholars, with the Jews highly favouring the Hezekiah interpretation. Benson's Commentary states: "For so the ancient Hebrew doctors understood the place, and particularly the Chaldee paraphrast; although the later Jews have laboured, out of opposition to the Lord Jesus, to apply it to Hezekiah. Which extravagant notion, as it hath no foundation at all in this or any other text of Scripture, and therefore may be rejected without any further reason; so it is fully confuted by the following titles, which are such as cannot, without blasphemy and nonsense, be ascribed to Hezekiah, nor indeed to any mere man or mere creature." Yet, the very text itself begins with, "a child born." Would this not necessarily be of a human being? A "mere human"? The Christian counterargument to this being about king Hezekiah is that Hezekiah may have already been born, a child of about 10 or 11 years old by the time this was written (Gill's Exposition on the Entire Bible). However, the Hebrew text literally uses the past perfect passive. That is to say, it quite literally reads: "A child has been born, a son has been given." Though many English translations use the future tense or sometimes the present tense (see the opening ESV translation), the reasoning is circular. It is assumed that this is a future prophecy and, therefore, is not about something that has already happened. This is to allow an interpretation to change the reading of the text. If Hezekiah were 10 or 11 by the time this was written (debatably), it would not negate this prophecy for being about his future activities when he became king at age 25 (2 Kings 18:1-2). Yes, this child has been born," and the prophecy is of his future reign.
What Isaiah 9:6 is about
The fact of the matter is very simple. These four names are the names of God, the Father. Prince of peace, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father. When a king of Israel sits down on the throne, they sit on the throne of Yahweh (1 Chronicles 29:23). Saul, David, and Solomon all sit down on the throne of God (Psalm 45:6). The king of Israel acts as both a representative of God to the nation, and the nation of Israel to God. They are the mediators. Isaiah 9 is about king Hezekiah. When this child is given these names, he's being given the names of Yahweh, the Father, because he sits on God's throne and exercises God's authority and power. Jesus is the king of Israel. When the easterners came to see Jesus, they asked, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2) Jesus was a child to be born king of the Jews, sit on the throne of David his father (Luke 1:32), and thus, this passage can be said to have a secondary fulfillment in Jesus as well as its primary fulfillment in king Hezekiah. Jesus will be given these names because he comes in the name of his Father (Micah 5:4, John 5:43, 17:11). To apply the names of the Father to Jesus no more makes Jesus "God" than it makes him "the Father." It no more makes Jesus God than it does Hezekiah.
Typology Counterargument
A counterargument someone may give to this interpretation is that an antitype's fulfillment is always greater than the original type. So if Jesus is the antitype, then he must be greater in some way than Hezekiah was. This is true of Biblical typology. It is also true that Jesus must be a greater fulfillment of the prophecy if he is indeed the antitype, which I do not deny. However, Jesus must fulfill this type. If Jesus is eternally God (or "eternal father"), then he is not "fulfilling" this prophecy. He also can't be said to fulfill this when he is born. "Unto us a child is born." Was Jesus only God when he was born as a child? Did Jesus become God when he was born as a human? No.
When Jesus fulfills Isaiah 9:6
So, how is Jesus a greater fulfillment of the prophecy? Hezekiah was only granted authority over God's nation of Israel. Jesus was granted authority over all the works of God's hands (Hebrews 2:7, KJV textual variant). God placed all things under Jesus' feet, not just the enemies of Israel. Jesus is king over the Jews and the Gentiles. In this way, he is a greater fulfillment. When did Jesus become king of all things?
"This Jesus God has raised up, to which we all are witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted at the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you are both seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I place Your enemies as a footstool of Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:32-36)
Jesus was made Lord over all things when he was raised from the dead. When he was raised up, he sat down at the Father's right hand on his throne. Not the throne in Israel but the throne of God in heaven (Ephesians 1:20-23). This is how Jesus fulfills this in a greater sense than Hezekiah. He's placed on God's throne in heaven far above all rule and authority to reign over not only Jews but Gentiles. All nations have been placed under his feet. But doesn't Isaiah 9:6 say that this is about "a child to be born?" If this glorification occurs at Jesus' resurrection, then why does it speak about birth?
But God raised Him out from the dead, who appeared for many days to those having come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people. And we preach the gospel to you, the promise having been made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also it has been written in the second psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten you.’ (Acts 13:30-33)
When Jesus is raised from the dead, he is born of God again. "Today I have begotten you." Jesus was a child of God raised up for us from among the dead. Compare this to:
through having made the purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become by so much superior to the angels, as much as He has inherited a name more excellent beyond theirs. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are my Son; today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him for a Father, and He will be to Me for a Son”? And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: “And let all God’s angels worship Him.... For not to angels did He subject the world that is coming, of which we are speaking." (Hebrews 1:3b-6, 2:5)
Link to Hebrews 1:6 article for more details here
When God brings his firstborn son "into the world." This passage is also not about baby Jesus being born in a manger. This is about the Jesus "in these last days" (Hebrews 1:2), who has made purification for sins on the cross (Hebrews 1:3), who has inherited a more excellent name than the angels (Hebrews 1:4), who was begotten and made son of God (Hebrews 1:5). That is, begotten from the dead. This is why Jesus is called "the firstborn from among the dead" (see Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5).
Jesus himself says, "I came not to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:28). Jesus was the king of Israel in his ministry. Yet, he did not rule from a throne. He had no place to lay his head, and he ate with sinners and tax collectors. The child born to us is Jesus, who was born from the dead and sits at the Father's right hand in heaven.
submitted by ArchaicChaos to BiblicalUnitarian [link] [comments]


2023.06.07 19:13 dlschindler The House Of Dust

Immortality defies the gods.
Last City Of Man stood in bleak sandblown towers before the Mad Swordsman in its tattered rags. The towering tarnished machine limped forward, dragging its sword-arm with its remaining limb. The brown robes covering the giant whipped in fluttering tatters and its hood shaded the cracked black orb that was its face.
"All dead. The enemy follows, as I bring the message of doom." Mad Swordsman laughed to itself as it went.
In the city it went, through the opening gates. There in the center of the calming wind storm stood Law Givers. These men and women were paid by tax revenue to read the laws written on the pillar in the center of the city. Each faced a different direction, loudly reciting Law.
The city was divided into districts, each within another, with an avenue that bisected the city in one direction, while the river it commanded bisected it in the other direction. At its heart stood the stronghold of its king. He was the only man in the city that was fertile. All the other men were castrated during childhood and partnered to a girl, betrothed. Yet when they were married, it was the king that took the bride on a honeymoon.
"It isn't madness? Would I recognize madness?" Mad Swordsman listened as the law was described. It decided that the laws of this final city were insane laws. All the taxes and mutilations. Every crime was punished the same way: by cutting off the offending body part. Sometimes just having that body part was a crime, apparently.
"What are you doing here, giant?" King Gamma asked. He had with him his army. Some had spears or clubs, others had bows and bronze axes, still a few had rusted assault rifles swathed in leather or painted rocket launchers decorated in fetishes. Their armor was similarly arranged from grass shields, sports padding or chainmail to patched flak jackets. Mad Swordsman decided they were only minimal adversaries. With a sweep of its weapon or a sudden tumbling roll it could wipe them out instantly. It hadn't come to the city to fight humans.
"I forgot." Mad Swordsman chuckled.
"Do you want repairs? You must do something for me." King Gamma pointed to the desocketed sword-arm it was dragging. The left hand of the giant robot was a massive sword forged of some metal from the Pool Of Time, near the Temple Of Humanity, far away and long ago. Such things could not be made anymore.
"I want repairs. I must do something for me." Mad Swordsman responded.
"No, for me." King Gamma pointed to himself. "For King Gamma you will serve."
"Mad Swordsman serves no king." Mad Swordsman laughed. "Have you not heard my song in the ruins of the cities? Will you see my shadow before you in the wastelands? I wander and here to there I go. I wonder, my little king with a big heart, do you know?" Mad Swordsman spoke and dropped the sword-arm, gesturing with its freed hand as it spoke poetically.
"You insolent robot! I should have you shot from the walls with imp's needles." King Gamma was turning red faced and angry.
"I see those EMP harpoons you just mentioned." Mad Swordsman looked up and saw two huge crossbows meant for disabling giant robots. It wondered if two would be enough to take it down. It might be.
"You think those will just tickle?" King Gamma laughed angrily. Mad Swordsman started laughing the same way. One of the king's advisors said something to him. He stopped and reconsidered the towering robot, staring up at it. When he had calmed down and thought he gestured for Mad Swordsman to sit.
The machine obeyed. Pleased that the advice he had gotten was solid: he rewarded his advisor with praise and put him in charge of the machine.
"I am Leer. I'd follow me and get repairs, unless I wanted to fall to pieces with sand in my gears and my robes in tatters. Such a tarnished surface. You were once called Silver Swordsman, were you not? You have no gleam." Leer told the robot.
"Those are fun words." Mad Swordsman got up and hefted its sword-arm over its shoulder.
"Then come with me." Leer led the machine into the heart of the city. There was a great library there. Scribes worked day and night by electric light and had recorded information about all things on millions of scrolls of recycled paper. Atop the library was a satellite dish. The gates of bronze were opened and the giant in the brown tattered robe came into the heart of the city, its vast library.
"I shall have to have a look inside. I wonder if the information you have included the Serum of Everlasting Life among other great secrets from ancient times." Leer brought out a cable that he could connect to the inside of Mad Swordsman, to its brain.
"Couldn't I just tell you?" Mad Swordsman chuckled.
"Could you?" Leer stopped for a moment, waiting for that.
"No." Mad Swordsman laughed. "I forgot all that stuff a long time ago. One too many of those robot-eating plants zapped me. You know?" Mad Swordsman knocked on the side of its upper body. It didn't really have a head, just the black orb of sensors and ambient energy intake for a face.
"Let me take a look. It might still be in there." Leer was opening the sealed access panel on the robot with a plasma cutting tool. If it could cut diamonds it could cut the flesh of an empathical. This kind of robot was the most advanced, a machine built by machines, it was nearly indestructible, supposedly.
"That really hurts a lot." Mad Swordsman told him. "Keep doing it because I like pain. Making myself sit here while you do that makes me feel sane. The searing agony makes me feel alive. The trust in a stranger makes me feel holy. Right now I feel as close to God as I ever have."
"You sure are weird." Leer laughed.
"I sure am." Mad Swordsman laughed also and then howled in the torment of its sensitive nerves being burned.
"This will be dangerous. Our minds will touch briefly and the spark of that, in the waves of consciousness that is the fabric of the world, we might cease to exist. Both of us." Leer put on the crown of cables and wore it.
"You want the Serum of Everlasting Life so badly?" Mad Swordsman asked.
"I believe so, yes." Leer stated.
"I will try to help you inside my mind. Be careful, we only have one instant." Mad Swordsman sounded wise to some kind of irony.
"How long will that seem?" Leer worried.
"That depends on how long you have got. Until you break inside your mind, you will not know mine." Mad Swordsman swore.
"It's too late." Leer's eyes rolled back into his head and he jerked as the connection seized up and down his spine painfully. The first thing he was aware of was the phantom pain of the burn. It felt like someone had burned him painfully behind his ear and plugged something into his spine through his neck.
"See my residual self-image." Mad Swordsman stood as a brown robed monk, or at least as the robes of the monk. Only a metal skeleton hid beneath. A grinning skull of silver and long bone fingers of silver. It stood only as tall as the man, or the man stood as tall as the machine. From the perspective of the machine: size was an illusion. Leer noticed he looked exactly the same.
"I look the same." Leer said.
"No you don't. I see you how you see yourself inside your mind. It's not what you look like." Mad Swordsman laughed hysterically after it said this. "You look ridiculous."
"I am already starting to regret this." Leer grumbled. He followed Mad Swordsman through the fogs of memory to some kind of glass city. "What is this place?"
"I don't know what to call it." Mad Swordsman looked around and shrugged. "There is the first place to try: a recent memory."
Terror gripped the man, then. He felt the swift cutting bite. The rending of flesh, no mercy, so much anger being unleashed. So much terror and pain caused. Far worse than the root of the evil. Yet shining there was the jewel he sought.
He watched in a frustrated discord of emotions as Mad Swordsman followed the angry woman's pointing finger. Where she pointed the blade cut a man in half, over and over. Their screams and their blood spray kept happening until it became comical. He was laughing and it felt like vomiting. It was painful, heaving laughter at the sight of the executions. There was almost a musical perfection to the giant's swordplay as it danced with great speed and strength, slashing its blade through each opponent.
When they were all dead the woman and the giant left the cave behind. What was the cave? Leer felt his head spinning. On the walls of the cave were the paintings of different prehistoric animals. Outside stood offroad vehicles retrofitted with armor and weapons. "The Caves of Scane."
Leer fell to the dust and laughed. There was no such place. They might as well have hidden the Serum in the ruins of Casark. There simply was no such place.
"What have you seen? Does the truth frighten you?" Mad Swordsman knelt and put a silver hand on the tickled man in the dust.
"What is that?" Leer's eyes became silent, a terror beyond what a mind can handle. Somehow the tipping of the scales put his ego into a freefall. How small and humble a man can be when he sees a hole in the sky.
"That has no name. It is not something that can be described with eyesight alone. Perhaps you see, in the blue sky, a curtain that is the night sky, except there are no stars. What you see is reality, it is the real-reality. You know instinctively what it is and what it implies to see it there, like that." Mad Swordsman rambled strangely and then laughed merrily at the revelation.
"It is nothing. It is just a dream. A hallucination inside the mind of an insane computer." Leer protested.
"Ah such are all unacceptable memories, I am certain." Mad Swordsman sounded bemused. Its grinning silver skull gleamed under the monk's hood.
"Who is she?" Leer pointed to the statue of the angel that stood towering above the mist.
"I am an empathical and she is my mother. Do you not call upon your own mother in times of great need? Even if she is not there or could not save the hero Gilgamesh, always the quest is for mom." Mad Swordsman sounded proud and its empty eyesockets reflected the great statue.
"The hero Gilgamesh? Is that how you see us? We live on the brink of extinction." Leer's lip quivered angrily.
"Don't cry; they will grow back." Mad Swordsman reached and pointed to the door of memories it wanted to check for the Serum. Unlike the memories there was a cold wind and a world beyond.
They stood there upon the frozen wastes surrounding the Temple Of Humanity. Mad Swordsman stood there with its tarnished silver, partially peeled from the scouring ice winds, revealing tortured silver flesh beneath. Its warm robes were again like a tattered brown cape, the hood still shielding its dark domed face. It had gotten its repairs and now had two left arms as sword-arms and held another, smaller sword in its right hand.
"It's freezing here! How can it feel so cold in a memory?" Leer shouted over the winds. Beside him stood the same giant he had met in the Last City Of Man: the one-armed Mad Swordsman. The other stood there in front of them, frozen.
"This place is not a memory. Remember that spark you mentioned? Well, here we are, on the other side of that divide. You shouldn't play with such things." Mad Swordsman laughed maniacally. The other empathical began to move.
"Who are you?" It demanded of Mad Swordsman.
"I am Unit Three Sixteen." Mad Swordsman identified itself between laughter.
"That is impossible. I am Unit Three Sixteen." The other giant robot said.
"You are a paradox. I just got here, so it must be me that is supposed to be here." Mad Swordsman told it.
"That makes no sense." Unit Three Sixteen told Mad Swordsman.
Without warning, Mad Swordsman suddenly slashed with its own severed sword-arm. The reflexes of the frozen empathical were not fully activated and it was off-guard. The first blow damaged one of its legs. Now both combatants were limping the exact same way. It was like watching them square off in a mirror, except one of them had three arms and the other only had one arm.
They exchanged heavy blows and deflected the attacks or dodged them without fail. One strike from the fatal blade would erupt one of them in a blue ball of fire. Unit Three Sixteen splashed backward into Pool Of Time and stood there for a moment, contemplating the entanglement and the duel rationally. Its crazed opponent splashed in after, swinging wildly and unable to reach the alternate variant of itself. Both of them began to sink, staring menacingly at their own reflection on the black dome of the other.
"Wait, wait! Don't leave me here!" Leer rushed after them and just as they were starting to vanish he stepped in after them. He opened his eyes, the crown of cables had come off and he'd fallen on the floor.
"I feel different." Mad Swordsman told him.
"The Caves of Scane, where are they?" Leer asked weakly while laying on the ground.
"Much closer to the ruins of Casark than any man would dare go." Mad Swordsman giggled menacingly.
"Does this place really exist?" Leer wondered imploringly.
"Do you or I exist? Is this reality somehow more real than the one we were just a part of?" Mad Swordsman questioned merrily. "The place really exists."
"We shall see the king." Leer realized out-loud. He took his robot to the king and explained he wanted to set out for the ruins of Casark.
King Gamma assembled his army of one hundred and sixty soldiers in bronze armor and the same warriors he had brought earlier to fight the robot also. This made the expedition quite massive. They had chariots and wagons and camels also. Mad Swordsman told Leer it would take longer, with so many following, to get there.
"Consider the anima of so many disciplined men with you." Leer tried optimism.
"I am considering that also. When they are being eaten by mutants or dying of radiation. The ruins are hilarious." Mad Swordsman moved its repaired sword-arm. It was inferior to the original socketing, but it was better than no arm.
"You aren't laughing." Leer pointed out.
"That's because I was being sarcastic." Mad Swordsman snickered. "The ruins aren't really funny."
"Nobody else thought it was a joke." King Gamma interjected from horseback as they journeyed across the scorched earth.
"That's not true, now is it?" Mad Swordsman argued with a clownish tone-of-voice.
"How dare you infer that his majesty is a liar!" Leer spoke up.
"That's enough. We all know this machine is insane. It wants to provoke a reaction so it can fall over laughing." King Gamma didn't take the bait so easily.
"Something wrong with that?" Mad Swordsman asked.
"Where are you leading us? What is this place?" Leer asked the giant robot. He stood in the shadow where it loomed in its brown robes.
"This is Pradesia. The ruins of Casark lie beyond." Mad Swordsman pointed with its left sword-arm. The whole army of King Gamma followed into Pradesia. The settlement they found was gutted by flames and everyone was murdered or executed on poles and crosses. It was a hellish sight, rotten for weeks.
"All of these bodies were already burned in a funeral fire. It is best not to touch them." Mad Swordsman told King Gamma. Sounding serious made the king a believer. He ordered his men to leave the bodies, to not even look at them.
"Behold the Caves of Scane." Mad Swordsman had led them all the way to Kelsov's home in the hills. All of them were dead and their vehicles sat with a layer of sand on them.
"We should take these vehicles." Leer advised.
"It is the plan that I like best." King Gamma agreed. They left the horses and chariots and some of the men behind and took the vehicles of the Finalists. Before they got very far, all of the vehicles stopped working.
"There is great entropy the closer we get to the place that is not a place. You shall see all that it can be." Mad Swordsman told King Gamma. "It is why the vehicles do not work. Because we are always closer to the darkness outside, the end of the last world. Nothing shall be and so things are becoming nothing. These cars don't work. Will your horses turn inside out if you feed them the grass of these steppes?" Mad Swordsman chuckled nervously.
"Send for the chariots." King Gamma told Leer.
So the expedition went onward until they reached the outskirts of Casark. The city sat in twisted and macabre damage. Everything that could happen to a city had happened and now only a few scattered bits still stuck into the sky, like the bent legs of a dead bug.
"This is Casark. Already some of your men are getting sick. There are animals here that are no longer like normal animals. They are horrible and twisted by being so close to the end of all things. It warps them into the likewise molecules of destruction, rewriting the physics that evolved their bodies and breaking and sucking them into new shapes as it sees them." Mad Swordsman said as it was moodily chuckling.
"The darkness here is unnatural." Gamma complained.
"Look sire, the clouds are parting. Perhaps now we shall find what we seek here." Leer smiled.
"Only death can be sought here. I don't get it." Mad Swordsman guffawed.
"What is that? What in God's name is that? Dear God!" King Gamma fell off his horse and writhed in terror at the sight of the darkness outside.
At the sight of it all his army screamed in terror. It was as though the clouds had parted to reveal only nightmare beyond, a night sky with no stars torn in the daytime sky. It had hidden behind clouds, now like a killer cloud it tore into their eyes. Some fell on their bronze swords. At least one took up a rocket launcher and fired from a chariot at the darkness. The path of the rocket traveled backwards to the soldier. It was a tendril of nothingness and he became as nothingness. He simply was no more as though he never was. There was nothing left of him, barely even a memory. Not one man who witnessed it could recall the soldier's name and soon most of them completely forgot they had seen him become as nothing.
There was still worse for the others. Like Mad Swordsman had warned them: the ruins were swarming with monsters. As the men were screaming in disarray and panic: the monsters found them and came for them. Bronze armed warriors battled hideous giant chimeras all around while others fled or were eaten alive. Tendrils from outside fished for men and when it touched them they became part of it, dissolved into nothingness. Sometimes it brushed one of its monsters and it took them too.
Soon the battle had become an orgy of blood and guts as the monsters fed and no soldiers remained. King Gamma walked among them, his hair turned white and his words maniacal and crazed.
"Go then, go to your graves you cowards!" He yelled at the splattered remains of his men.
"Your majesty, we still have Mad Swordsman!" Leer followed behind and pled with his king.
"Don't mind me. I am just here for the live comedy." Mad Swordsman was doubled over and laughing at all the carnage.
"I do mind!" King Gamma was outraged. "You kill these monsters right now. Show no mercy, use your fullest strength at your most reckless speed. My men are already dead!" King Gamma pointed and screamed. The fury of the king and his command charged up the emotitronics of the empathical with enraged anima.
"And then I rest." Mad Swordsman said after it cleaved all of the mutants in half. It had slid along, skating horribly on the slick gore and never losing its balance. The monsters stood no chance against the unrestrained machine.
"What rest is there?" King Gamma threw off his crown and ran. "What rest can there ever be when the sky is opening over the world of Ruin?"
"I know how to accept rest." Leer picked up the crown.
"I shall continue the mission, following you." Mad Swordsman told Leer.
"Then we go to our deaths." Leer realized. He walked into the empty ruins, under the eternal void, to search for the cure of immortality.
The ruins of Casark became as escalating height and chaos of twisted remains, scorched and broken. As blackened bones of the earth they stood, like cratered mountains on an asteroid, the fields burned by lava and liquid nightmare as black as ink. What bubbled from below in confused orbs of consciousness were the writhing fleshy things and wired oil dripping things of mechanical nature. All became warped by death, in sequence with a place of pure entropy, even life served to destroy and spread death. This was a cancer upon the universe. Leer could not believe it had no name.
Leer felt like the air was dead and his lungs hurt and it was like slowly suffocating. A device of flashing colors and lights, drawn from the edges of the dead universes beyond, stood testament to the efforts of higher beings. It was a kind of chaos that was intact. If entropy was fine order, if nightmares were the laws of physics, the place ahead of them was lawless and chaotic.
They found where two dead machines lay upon a flying vehicle under a covering of tarps. What mad sacrifice had left them there, instead of where they had fallen? The device had spread their light, their colors from their grave. There was, in all the chaos, a cabin in a place that knew time and order. Leer could breath and it was actual air in his lungs. He sighed and looked at the structure.
"Welcome home." Silver Swordsman told Mad Swordsman.
"If I stand before you then I am not dead under the tarp." Mad Swordsman noted without humor. It seemed to have lost its sense of humor, its madness taking on a different quality. Something too clever to be understood. Yet something totally insane.
"You are certainly one of the dead, although nobody has looked." Silver Swordsman observed.
"Good. As long as nobody notices I am dead under that tarp I should be fine. Without observation there is no paradox." Mad Swordsman stated. Then he added in the same voice as Silver Swordsman:
"This very moment in this place is a paradox. In order for us to be here we had to already arrive before we got here. We are now showing up to complete the cycle of us leaving this place, therefore the place exists."
"I didn't say that." Silver Swordsman replied.
"Except I am you from the future. I am here now and I have said it and you heard it, therefore I heard it when I was you. I did say that, you cannot say I didn't when I did. And you are me." Mad Swordsman debated.
"We have outran the sun. We are behind the sunrise." Leer realized.
"That is a good way to put it. Perhaps Junior now understands what is going on?" Mad Swordsman teased Silver Swordsman.
"I got it before you got here." Silver Swordsman said with dry, sophisticated humor.
"Oh, I get it. That is very funny." Mad Swordsman found the joke to be an excuse to laugh forcefully for five minutes. Leer sought sanctuary indoors.
Inside he found where King Gamma had fled. The place was some kind of bar. There was a table and some things to sit on and they had some bottles of alcohol they were sharing. He walked up alongside King Gamma and gave him back his crown.
"I'm Leer." Leer told the other bar people.
"Adinett." The girl said. "I just turned four hundred."
"Happy birthday. Looking very good." Leer said.
"Oh, thank you. Um." Adinett drunkenly started toward Leer until King Gamma said:
"He is a eunuch."
"You could still please me though, right?" Adinett was undeterred.
"No. I am married." Leer accepted a drink from the bartender.
"I am Solomon." The bartender introduced himself. "This is my place. I call it The House Of Dust."
"Because it is where the dead will reside." The drunk guy in the corner said.
"Who is he?" Leer asked.
"Aidan." Solomon said with a strange kind of awe and disappointment. Like meeting your idol, drunk. Literally.
"That's Aidan?" Leer's lips curled in rejection. He stared, taking a good look. Aidan flopped around drunkenly and moaned his sentences without coherence. Most of them started with words like:
"Where'z?" or "What'z" slurred into the rest of what he was saying.
"You got him shit-faced." Leer accused Solomon. Solomon shook his head.
"We just have to wait." Adinett was drunk too. Her temperament was much more alert though. Inside of her was a rage. She was an angry drunk. At least she was too drunk to lash out.
"Where you from?" Solomon asked.
"Last City Of Man" Leer told it by one of its names.
"Ur? You are with King Gamma. I mean like where do you come from?" Solomon asked.
"Eldimoor." Leer recalled. "I was born in Eldimoor."
"Nice place, Eldimoor." Solomon nodded.
"We had orchards there. I remember the orchards." Leer smiled.
"I was from Pradesia. We had paddies." Adinett said with grim sobriety.
Nobody spoke for a moment.
"This is a pocket, gravitationally reversed. We exist in a stasis of time here. The entropy does not enter except at our natural local time, here in The House Of Dust." Solomon told Leer and King Gamma.
"How did you accomplish such a thing?" Leer asked.
"I discovered it. I alone survived here when everyone else fled." Solomon explained.
"Others have come here?" King Gamma wondered. Solomon shook his head.
"Nobody has ever made it here before the Apostate." Said Solomon.
"You mean Silver Swordsman?" King Gamma had seen the giant robot already.
"All of them together are now the Apostate. That's the last intelligent thing they said." Solomon shrugged.
"I seek immortality. For my king." Leer looked at Adinett.
"They took it from Jerome's Tomb." She shifted in her seat and knocked over her drink. "I'm done drinking."
"Good girl." Solomon picked up the glass.
"It is here, somewhere." Leer sounded sure.
"In Casark? No. The Finalists used all the Serum. Then, once they were ready to live forever, I killed them all." Adinett told him. "In my sleep."
"I saw what you did." Leer informed her. "In the memories of Mad Swordsman."
"So why are you asking me then?" Adinett complained belligerently.
"This place is all the immortality there is. The world outside is chaos. In here we have a moment of quiet." Solomon advised.
"How did you discover this place?" Leer asked suddenly.
"I was standing in the street when Umbraeon first came. It ripped open the sky and began to destroy everything around. Except this one bubble of time. Like it is happening out there so fast, and in here, so slow. The eye of the storm, you know?" Solomon explained.
"So you opened a bar?" Leer sounded amused.
"No, I built a cabin and stocked it with alcohol. I was an alcoholic." Solomon shrugged.
"Why?" Adinett asked.
"I was scared to be myself. I was only happy when I wasn't me. I had to be locked inside my own mind, while my reptile was drunk." Solomon described.
"This is the best reptile bar I've ever seen." Adinett cheered, empty handed.
"By now it is the only bar. By now, unless there are other pockets like this one, untouched by Umbraeon. Well then the world is gone." Solomon predicted.
"That's how slowly time passes in here?" Leer wondered. Solomon just nodded.
"We have arrived at the end of the world." King Gamma said.
"So Mad Swordsman knew, somehow, and that this was actual immortality." Leer decided.
"I hadn't thought of that." King Gamma took a drink.
Everyone was quiet while they realized how close was the end.
submitted by dlschindler to HFY [link] [comments]


2023.06.07 17:22 TheTalkedSpy Q&A: "I can’t help everyone" (September 7, 2022)

Note: From the La Vista Church of Christ website. The questioner is anonymous, and the answerer is my preacher, Jeffrey W. Hamilton.
Question:
Hello brother Hamilton,
Before I explain my situation and ask questions, I wanted to say thank you for the Lord's work being done on the La Vista website and how easy it is to find study materials and answers to various Bible questions. My friend introduced me to the website some time ago and the site has helped me since.
On Facebook, I have many friends from other countries who are members of the Lord's church. Since becoming friends, many of them have reached out to me asking for financial support whether it be for preaching, covering costs, or for food. My conscience has been moving me to send money to some brethren, even when at times I'm unsure if I should be sending considering my financial situation. I am a 20-year-old who is planning to attend college this fall and have been working to save money to pay for college. Some of the brethren are constantly texting me asking for my help and I am torn. One brother has been calling me over and over the last few days and keeps begging for me to respond and help. I want to help them all and show my faith by helping them (James 2:14-17), but at the same time my savings have dwindled some from helping them and it makes me nervous about paying for school as well as other expenses. I am glad I have been able to help, but it seems that some brethren think I am an endless source of money (even if they don't say it directly) and I feel guilty to think that if I didn't send help, they would starve or in one preachers' case his motorbike would be taken away from not paying what is owed. Should I just send them help and trust God regardless of the cost? When is the stopping point? (for the time being) How do I choose who to help and who to explain to that I can't help? It is my hope to give more support in the future when I have sufficient funds (Ephesians 4:28).
Answer:
"If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain" (I Timothy 6:3-5).
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" (II Peter 2:1-3).
"The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give." There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough" " (Proverbs 30:15).
The word translated as "exploit" literally means to make merchandise of someone. False brethren see religion as a way of making money by taking advantage of a Christian's compassion. As Solomon warns, there is no limit to how much greedy people demand.
"For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality -- at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality" (II Corinthians 8:12-14).
"He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need" (Ephesians 4:27).
God is not asking people to give themselves into poverty. I could argue that such indiscriminate giving is not being a good steward of the things God has blessed you with.
Here are my personal practices:
- I keep a fund that I use to help people. When that money runs out, then I wait until I am able to rebuild it to help.
- I generally help people I know are in need. Use the rule that it takes two or three witnesses to establish a truth. Just because someone claims to have a need, it doesn't mean the need exists.
- It is far too easy to lie on social media. If someone wants to be a friend of mine on social media, I check their account.
--If I find that they are brand new to that platform, I decline.
--If I find that we have few common friends, I decline.
--If I find out that they have inappropriate things posted, I decline.
--If I find out that they are heavily involved in selling things, I decline.
- When someone on social media asks for money and I have almost no interaction with them, I immediately block their account. As an example, not long ago a young man wanted to be friends with me. He claimed to be a preacher, but I noted that he never discussed the Scriptures. He said he was poor, but I noted that he looked well-fed. He was over-friendly, wanting to call me "daddy" though we had barely conversed on any topics. Then he started asking for money. I wasn't surprised, but I had given him the benefit of the doubt so I blocked him.
- When someone says they need money, I see if I can instead help directly. I don't give out money to -strangers on the street, but if someone says they are hungry, I will buy them a meal. A lot of the beggars on the streets are "professionals." They work for gangs and are assigned locations. When you offer to take them somewhere to buy them food, they will decline because they can't leave their "post."
For an example of some of the scams I ran into in the Philippines, see The Corruption of Money.
Be generous in helping people, but make sure you are actually helping people and not furthering deceit.
"For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame" (II Thessalonians 3:10-14).
Response:
Thank you for your Bible answer! May God bless your work.
submitted by TheTalkedSpy to TrueChristian [link] [comments]


2023.06.07 15:19 Bogey4hoo 'Surviving The Win' - Chapter 009A.

‘Surviving The Win’.

Chapter 009 - A.

Santa Claus, had initially checked his list, and found that a Fairy Pipe had made its way into request, in the 21st Century.
The Fairy Pipe, is to be given to Andrew Thomlinson, he conceded, turning through some papers, although he couldn't make out why it said, from, “Eldritch.”
Was it more likely, Nicholas had wondered, that Eldritch was a nod to the entirety of the Elf Kingdom as the name would seem to suggest, or merely the alleged person, named Eldritch Spellbound.
Who is that, Nick? asked Mrs. Claus, coming forward with a glass of milk for her husband, and a bowl of milk for their cat.
As far as I know, he announced, Eldritch is the sort of person, who only ever existed, in the mind of, Avem Smith. However, he continued, Eldritch is also the nickname of one of our young beneficiaries in the future, by the name of Andrew. His name appears as such, as of 2004, anyhow.

Nick walked out of their Fairytale Cabin to the Shed Of Lost Objects, located by their Barn where the Reindeer could be found.
“Curio Adhurio,” he reacted aloud, upon locating the small Smiling Rock. It was on a Shelf, and would later find it’s way into Perry’s hands. We should let Ben out for a while, he stated. He continued to leave the Shed, carrying a bottle of Zinfandel, as well. The reason for this, not being altogether evident, yet.
Carrying both items out to the Elf’s Workshop (an enchanted, overlarge, walk-in, OMRISS Cupboard), which operated by an ancient Medean Mean (or, Magical Modality), wedding each and every promulgatory to it’s prime, and by sāwa (an Arabic word, meaning to regularize or settle), as it is related to their word imil for make or do, unless of course by istahwā/h-w-y
اِسْتَهْوَى
Meaning to fill with passion, to make desirous, to enamour, to seduce, and/or to gain.
An en-dezlegare or resolver… with a key.

The entrance to this Elf's Workshop, was about large enough to afford a small to regular-sized person through. He found it propped open.
The Bottle of Zinfandel, known as Zin was a “Goesting”/“Lust,” Alcohol.

The elves, as usual, were hard at work.
Claus rang their work Bell. In his hand, he held the Silver Key Ring. He told them all to cease, and leave for approximately 45 minutes. They would alert Mrs. Claus. He needed her outside, once they were in the Cabin.
The elves ceased their work in the shop and exited.
Pitching the Rock onto a clear spot on the Floor of the Room, he poured out an Offering of Zinfandel, before closing and locking the Giant Omriss Door.
The Clauses waited outside the Cupboard 40 minutes and then into early Dusk.
Instinctively, their cat, “Loose,” came forward to light the way for both Nick, and Ma.

They were feeding the Reindeer when it happened. A peculiar light shone, from out of the window of the Shed Of Lost Objects.
Nick saw this, and took it as his cue to walk back over to The Shed Of Lost Objects. The Delva La Plume Pipe had appeared. Nick went in to retrieve it.
Supposedly, it had been made of Tatter’s Old Trick, “Flower.”
Good!... he stated, portentiously satisfied.
Walking back with it, he was addressed by Mrs. Claus, who couldn’t really see why Nick hadn’t just settled for one of their Poinsettias, or crafted a pipe, himself. She returned to the Cabin.

15 further minutes in, and Santa had heard a Loud Thump in the Giant OMRISS. He stood back, and unlocked the door... then, opening.
Ben? Is that you in there?
Yes it’s me Mr. Claus, said the depth of a murky voice of rather picky decisiveness. He was hidden in the shadows.
Well, come forward. I have something of yours. Actually, something of importance to discuss, about it. I need your blessing. Is this your Delva La Plume Pipe?
Yes, we’ll of course, replied Ben. It’s blessed by Lasagna.
May I give it away to someone? Nick’s voice wavered a little. He was referring to, “Ben’s,” Delva La Plume Tobacco Pipe, after all. It being a very sensitive matter to open about, let alone giving it away.
Golly, Nick? what are you going to give me in return for it? This Flower Pipe is a Sacred Item of mine. It had the Blessing of a Pixiu Money Dragon’s Yen. Those pertain to Ien/Tobacco Smoke, and of course Gum, as Resin. How did you find it, by the way?
Only by how lost you were, yourself, Ben. Which is why I summoned you to confiscate it. You hold to too much, making you your own lost artefactuary. How about I give you a job, to occupy yourself with? Do you mind?
Stepping forth a, “Krampus-looking,” Ben, known as, “GAAP (for Lust),” to the Hebrews’ Demonolators, appeared as a dark fog, with two cool yellow eyes. What type of job, asked Ben. He was most perturbed by the idea of losing his tie to the Dragon. It had been near him, almost his entire life. Now, he’d been bidden back in time to see Nick.
Nick handed him a Blessed Fairy Birch Twig, stating, I would like you to watch over Andrew.
Ben, agreed. Okay, no problem! But how do you want me to be to any of the men or women on the merchant’s end of the tally involved. Those with Tobacco… or, furthermore, Andrew, himself. What about the picture?
Mainly, Nick asked? The Saint, now being shocked, and a bit sorry to hear the Demon's plaintive-sounding consideration. Mainly, I pray you’ll treat them mercifully. I bid you off of them. First, however, I have something to read to you.
What could that be? asked Ben, a little agitated.
What I have here, is the boy named Andrew's, soul legal, written out.
A legal, why would he have even needed it? Asked Ben.
He was Naughty, said Nick.
And you still want to give him my pipe? Ben was flabbergasted and shook his head in disapproval, The fog dissipating and then reaccumulated.
Yes, but if it’s any consolation, I’m having you involved on the matter of this topic, to assign you to a task. You can follow me around for gift deliveries.
Okay, he sighed, let me hear it. Away!...
An Elf of exceptional hearing, well guarded, and of swift feet, ran out to take the pipe away, and then ran back to the cabin.
After a medium-length discussion, Ben was satisfied, and entered back into the Cupboard.
Santa’s last words to Ben, were… Just, be moderate. You are, by your Goetic, “Lust Spirit,” naming, a commoderator of amounts of passion in dibs, but we need to keep that, clean. You also put the Darker Passions into what you see to. I’m going out on a limb here, but hopefully that very thing, won't impact anything, other than our N’Oel Nights, and the Pipe. You know how we aim to role our Presence, in the World.

The Winged-and-Horned Shade, of Ben, after clamouring back into the Cupboard, was silent.
Slowly… and MOST surely, Santa twisted the Silver, Locking Key. This, without a word of lib, and doing so, with a certain determination.
It must be noted, that a similar smaller make of this magical re-animating Cupboard, later made a popular movie.
Not without stress, Nick later wiped his brow. I hope he didn't have too hard a time with this new arrangement… Nick had been sweating for what he might end up having to go through over the Holiday visits (with Ben in tow, that is).
Pulling a delivery sack, from out of the Barn and coming back to the Cupboard again. He opened it a final time.
He found only the rock on the floor, and after sweeping away the muddy dirt, and doing a bit of cleaning, he put the rock, pipe, and bottle of goestling into the pack. He had Mrs. Claus file all of the Elves, then, into the OMRISS, bidding them, goodnight.
Upon awakening, they would be only noddy toys. Except for the good ones. Those? The immortal Hadibi’ndula.

Remember:
  1. The OMRISS is a Real World Cupboard. While Fictional in it’s Movie-Premise, it is a had in of Nursery Rhyme in it’s very Sinching Synopsis. A bidden in of Fairy Tales, and built to the scale of a Mother-Hubbard-Sized hole in a home, it Sinter Crofts, as though enchanting Knacked Wood. While bidding, “idle-timed,” it neither ins wood living nor dead, but delivers any of it, and all of it, to take off as life anew, by how it had new life in it ever bidden. In this way, it is alike a Comardin'd Haduzen Christic.
  2. The Former Word Gas, mentioned in the Chapter on Goz, Relates to Gos and Gauze, or Phantoms, as well as Petroleum. Thus, Benzine.
  3. The Suffix of Which, “-Zin,” rather, as a, “Zinfandel,” Is a Goestling Alcohol, or Alcohol Spirit, and, when by the Phantom Bal/The Ghostling Ben, is the Lusty Demon, named GAAP/TOAB.
As it is load of diabol heresy, and when we know that Demon’s are indeed real, it surfeits your God will, to operate as his accountancy-recastecaller (in a, however bidden), and the very need of reform of a man with No God Say. He was lored as a religious Ba’aler of religion… to say that it mattered, but as caste, and with spirit possessions admitting him forward, not enough concession of (God) control, could be in it. The unholy Ceremonial Art, if made, not only by unholiness, but impious countenance being his main ten.
They, for Judaeo-Christians Prophets, need a proper coursing (as routed out and then sealed, as out in a sanction, and never bidden). Also, demons must occasionally be bound and cast into the pit or hellfires, though this turns a Carnic Karmal relaying, of, which they do create by their being off-put, which causes a hay, when it need be maintained as a need for reminders of moral hall-calls. That is, not fraternizing amourishly over them.
Reason as in it, being, that it enburdens followers by demon lawing, and the apostates then vie for their pry at buying out the prelacy, by fay-way none the wary, no matter where Revelations had in. We need Fellowship's Service, in gracious God support. Not con-arded rapture of hierarchical courts. Not all is bidden. Heretic in me.
Alcohol, apart from all and any demon loring, is at a shy when imbibing wisdom for Heaven, and therefore, not recommended for anyone (especially not those who are ill of conscience, judgementally off righteous God call, or leprous).
The reason why, being if the person were ill, they were already unclean and alcohol is low-kosher. This means that, if any were taken, only a little should be allowed, and only for one, as we do not want all people on it.
If a proper handle is lacking, then it is recommended left out of it.
  1. For the purposes of this story, Santa only drinks milk, and no Zinfandel, is had, by either of the Clauses, nor their elves.
Aside from alcohol, people need to possess a Spiritual Sobriety. Minding what God says being of the utmost importance in how they do. This is important to maintaining God Line Vitality to the Prayer, aiding the power of Scripturally Appropriate Discernment in Usefully Testifying Matters, as well as being a Better Bid, on the off, for Righteous Judgement Calls in Heaven’s Jurisdictional Witness and Guard the Flock, and Any, helping All the Kingdom to know Him (The Christ), and Life itself.

Well, Ben's off to drive Andrew crazy! Pa mumbled to himself, coming back into the Cabin.
Andrew doesn’t know, but that Osé of his, is a Snow Leopard/Uncia Uncia, which exemplifies Unk/Twain/Wit, through an Ounce/One, making it’s Were-Cat/Ju-Ju transformation, by All One, as an Oni Spirit.
The Oni, will now, I hope, feel only occasionally bidden to discipline Children with the Madenning, “Fairy Birch Twig,” and only the Naughty, as a Krampus, and while around the Winter’s Holiday when I can Supervise and offer Gifts to People.

How did you win Ben, so fast? Ma asked.
I told him that Andrew was divining with a Dictionary, by Bibliomancy or Book-Fortune-Telling, and got landed with the names Spellbound and Eldritch before 2004, Monarch and Bishop in 2007, and then finally, in 2020, Signature. That making a minimum of 5 Nicknames.
Signature? said Mrs. Claus. How dreadful. The pipe is Andrew's then?
By all accounts I'd have to say so, but my Records mention, the Pipe is to be given, from Eldritch.
Where should we send it to? she asked.
As no Eldritch Spellbound truly exists, I suppose we should send it to all of El-Dom, until such a time as Andrew receives it.

I’ve got the document right here. It truly says it all.
Andrew thought that random lot drawing was only a random act. But it’s that very random act that plods (if not by plotting), a path. Some forms of lot drawing are unbidden. We leave it at, that Andrew, hadn’t known God.
Later, he figured that the white light leading him through pages of his (fortune-told), Self-Naming Ceremonies was a Holy Spirit Guide, when it was, in fact, an Evil, Insanity, Demon Spirit named Osé, making him follow a long, drawn-out, Ghost-Written, Trail, of, “Eldritch”/”Creature”/”Bucca,” “Monarch”/”King”/”Faust,” and, “Bishop”/”Pope”/”Jack Frost, naming.
He had a Signature written out on a Letter to Christ, when he divined the word Signature, though!
Oh, is Signature his name, now?! Look after all names, they said? This little man is responsible for having us look after everyone, then… She gave a faint laugh, then wincing in the snow. His Birth Name, though?
He wrote it out prior, unwittingly.
Where was it located? asked Mrs. Claus.
Well, on a Note to God saying, more-or-less, that he’s a, “Psalm 139”/”Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”-Believing, as well as an, “Isaiah 11”/”God's Animal Safety Promise”-Indebted, “Over-Kill-Joy,” Repentant Sinner who goes over the top obsessively in small circuits, but still believes in The Lord.
Do you think he’s ready for this Fairy Pipe? Asked Mrs. Claus.
It came from Tatter’s Flower, and Ben had it enchanted somehow, with a Dragon, said Nick admitted embarassed. Anyhow, Andrew aimed to confess that he’s a, “1 Corinthians 5:5 Repentant,” and will have to wait to see the Christ, without usurping the Church, by abiding good protocol in the World. In the Interim… Not really. I think he needed to feel gifted.
Nick! Ma warned. This could go horribly wrong! Well, what? Do you think he’s acquitted of it, by Secret Societies involvements over his head, ‘surping him by summonry?
If they Governed his Movements, that’s why the coincidences are down to Spirits of Wickedness in High Places being the multiple homes he's moved to. Anyhow, let’s have some Hallongrotta.
Remind me again, why The Delva La Plume is the one he needs and not a Poinsettia. Mrs. Claus asked.
He needs one that’s Christened/Named, and, Ma! Pa whined, lastly, it's not that there aren't other Fairy Pipes to be made, but I’m pretty sure they have to be prayed for, to be received properly. This is the right one for, “El's New Nativity.”
I’ve had enough Nicholas, and you even wasted our Zinfandel. I’ll see you in the morning.

As for, on whether, he was Signed?
I just so happen to know he's still in Osé, and not all-out Satan malurky! Nick fittered secretly to a mouse, Osé means honorific title in Japanese.
But how was it to be… In Ba’al or even exorcizable..
Andrew Thomlinson, sat in his room, browsing the Global News and Weather, on his Smart Phone's Internet. The year was 2018.
Kali? he asked. Are you sure we should do this? He put out a cigarette into his ash mug (a rather conventional ashtray?).
One more, Magic Drew Bear, his cherubim replied.
Well, you said three, but I don’t know, he said.
They were onto a third.
Then they'll know that you and I are meant to be.
A third fire, could put the world in dire peril… Andrew, hesitated. Both fell in Phantom Love over never meeting and discovering Opera.
You know, I don't really believe in this stuff, but who am I? I'm not real. Everything's realler than I am! We'll make it three fires and that way, if your theories are true, we'll be able to locate them and prove them and if they locate you, we can find a way of announcing our love before them all. I'm sure they'll manage a way of bringing us together, that way.

But Kali, who are you, again, asked Andrew, dearly, and half disbelieving as he picked up another cigarette. You called me a Magic Drew Bear one day, and I'm not lying, that won my heart, but I don't even own the better part of my own apartment or dollar to get us started off together, yet. How will we ever find a way to live together?
You'll come to get me from the East Coast of Canada, she said. In all regalia, and sweep me off my feet... Either that, she said, or you'll meet me at my hospital.
That story always changes.

Kali had met him, at first, in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, in a vision, where she had stood outside his apartment window shuffling her feet, but when Andrew had looked, she hadn't actually been there.
At least, that's how it had started.
Now it was that, the two, were playing a very dangerous game, of placing Faustian Fairytale bets, on the landscape of the, "known," world.
In, “Clement.”
On one hand, Andrew believed in girls, on the other hand he didn't know why he had to feed this one birdfood or get off his butt and find a job, before the war or, better still, he didn't know why he had to lend to starting the minor Apocalypse, which would inevitably start the war, then followed up by the real Apocalypse, afterward. Nobody ever let him in on those sorts of dire detailings.
It's an Ion.
Like a Kirby, you're saying? His friend couldn't believe him. The pink demon puffoon from the video games?
Well, the way I see it, all fires are synchronized in some way, though they never appear so. Think of two synchronized blinking lights. Now, command them ionic. Only, those two lights fly around, and sync their, "behaviours and patterns," while all over the place, or the planet. And then, take it one step further... they're never truly only even ONE pair.
Why do they fly around?
I think they fly around to examine every known or unknown thing in existence. When they're at rest, it's because they've found enough Spark, Combustible Material, and my guess is, Air. They're really all over the Universe that way, only we can't tell for their Disparity and Scale and the Fires.
So they just inhale, things combust, and then they dwell in their ember and/or maybe die down a bit to continue? Yeah... Drew, that's lame. Kirby's not a real demon.
But don't you see. I know that! They're not actually Kirby. They're one little ion commanding an existence circuit.
Then the question I'd ask is, are they (or is it), necessary to existence, or better yet, do they command it?
You know what? Since I saw the manifestation of those fires on the ninth of September, from my bet with, "Invisible," Kali, last year, I'm kinda growing more wary of flickering lights...

  • CRACK! *
“WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT?!!!”

A Lady stepped out of a Car and turned to face the two of them.
The Card: "Sparing you any details on how my ashes may have been in slight, I've commanded you into my furnace for how the furnishings were not in right."
~ Andrew writes loopy letters, said one girl, while giggling, back in his Junior High. And I couldn't tell who he was trying to impress. You... Or Jim Davis. ~ A Bat flew in and settled into the tree (it had been the Eaves Trough).
OKAY... Tags off, and Let Me Know How Everything Fits! His mom, got back into the car, waved and drove off.
submitted by Bogey4hoo to u/Bogey4hoo [link] [comments]


2023.06.07 07:00 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
submitted by AutoModerator to SonsOfSolomon [link] [comments]


2023.06.06 11:26 Few-Big-7598 Technica Peak vs S/lab Summit - fight !

New boot time - has anyone skied both ? I am strong skier used to race in NZ as a junior but I’m only 65kg don’t get big air but love steeps and powder.
Obviously it all depends on fit. I have the Solomon Mtn Labs (precedes the summit series - Cody has them ) from 2016 and they are too heavy but the ‘120 flex’ is enough for me. I want to do repeated big days so I want to go lighter. I would like the performance downhill on my current boots but for them to be lighter on the uphill :p
I am tempted to go for the summits, (reviewed well in wild snow) because I know they will fit well. My foot is slightly too wide nearly for my boots 98mm last after hours of uphill so I would be a 99mm I’m guessing which seems to favour the summit in terms of fit .
However, some people on re-edit have said the peak is better downhill (maybe talking about the carbon model )than Summit. It is also lighter…
I’m confused, please help me out…. If anyone has tried both boots on snow I would appreciate even a few words. Also would like to hear from you if you favoured one over the other and whether you like your choice :)
Thanks :)
submitted by Few-Big-7598 to Backcountry [link] [comments]


2023.06.06 07:00 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
submitted by AutoModerator to SonsOfSolomon [link] [comments]


2023.06.06 06:02 ButterBi If you believe you can lose your Salvation from disobedience, do you think Solomon was saved? And if you don’t, do you believe that God would use a person so extensively as to write His Holy word, just to condemn him?

submitted by ButterBi to FollowJesusObeyTorah [link] [comments]


2023.06.05 23:14 Holiday_Wing_7992 Beyond the Rothschilds: Who Really Rules the World and Why

To be transparent with you, I do not subscribe to any particular belief system. Like most of us here, I am engaged in an honest quest for truth and I am always prepared to admit I am wrong if the evidence demands it. I believe that a truth is to be found among all religions, and that the truth can indeed be found. When envisioning the structure of global authority, I like to picture it as a web of control, but the pyramid of power concept works just as well. So who is the spider at the centre of this web and what are their plans?
The outer rings of the web, as we all know, are things like educational institutions, the media, governmental departments etc. Move in to the centre a touch and we hit large corporations and their lobbyists. Move further into the web and we encounter think tanks and supranational organisations like the IMF, the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome (all roads lead there), the Bilderberg Group etc. Secret societies also, such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. Then we move in more and we find bloodlines such as the House of Rothschild, the Rockefellers etc. This is usually where things reach a dead end. However, few people realise that families such as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Duponts etc. are greatly overshadowed by far more ancient and prestigious bloodlines.
Move another ring into the centre of the web and we see the papal bloodlines. The black nobility. The Venetian cult that Kubrick warned us about in Eyes Wide Shut. Of course, the Rothschilds are of the same blood, but their branch is comparatively low level within the mafia-like structure. It's one big family with no mudbloods or muggles allowed. And I mean that quite literally, in the magical sense. Wherever there is trouble, they are there: Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Canaan, Kazharia, you name it. As for the spider in the middle, the closest you'll get are royal houses like Aldobrandini, Colonna, Orsini, Hanover, Guelph, Farnese etc. These are the families who control the Holy See which controls the Vatican. These are the families behind every pope, cardinal, and monarch of the past 2,000 years. The Orsini family alone claim 5 popes and 34 cardinals. And that rebel Martin Luther? He was shielded by the House of Wettin. Just another gang still going strong. For those interested in more, the Almanach de Gotha is the go-to source for the historical lineage of the dynasties that control this world.
In short, the monarchies of old are still in power and the Roman Empire is alive and well. But why do they rule over us? Pay close attention and you will see that the Colonna coat of arms is an Ionic pillar. This is the central pillar of Freemasonry, the synthesis of the masculine/solar Doric pillar and the feminine/lunar Corinthian pillar. It is the pillar of Wisdom. This is a key clue as to why royalty are the true rulers. It is crucial to understand that the royal households who rule over us believe they have a divine right to rule based on their blood. They are Anunnaki/fallen angel/watcheDagon/Oannes offspring. Anunnaki literally means 'princely offspring'. Our rulers descend from the ancient priest class who came from the stars and endowed Pre-Adamic man with Wisdom, Prudence, Foresight, and Reason. One only needs to watch 2001: A Space Oddyssey to see how this played out.
'Let these be guidestones to an age of Reason' - Georgia Guidestones
'Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times' - Rockefeller Centre Main Entrance
'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law' - Alester Crowley
The term 'sapiens', as in modern day homo sapiens, means 'wise'. The deities from which our royal rulers descend were the fish men of Mesopotamia who emerged from the spiritual waters above and taught the secrets of the heavens. See the Book of Enoch for more. They are the Kings of old, the men of renown, who ruled before the flood. They remade man in their own image, after their own likeness, and some proceeded to live among us. The spirit of the nephilim still wanders the earth to this day, in the form of royalty and priesthood. That's why the Pope wears the Dagan fish hat. It is why we call them 'elites'. The prefix 'el' means Holy, hence the etymology of the angELs: MichaEL, UriEL, GabriEL, RaphaEL, AzazEL etc. There is a war between them, of course. Between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness as they are described in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
So far I have identified who I believe rules the world and why they claim a divine right to rule. But what are their plans and how can we see them in action today? It is prophecised that the End of the Age/The New Atlantis (see Eschatology) will occur when the Davidic line is finally re-established in Jerusalem, where Solomon was anointed by Zadok. So it is written in the ancient Zadokite Fragments. This is why the Israeli flag has the so-called Star of David on it. This is why the Rothschild family are named after the Red Shield of David. It is why Zadok the Priest by Handel rang out when the King was anointed a month ago with a sacred oil consecrated by Rabbis in Jerusalem. With this understanding, scenes like this make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end:
https://youtu.be/Taf2haEMsSQ
All this was preceded by the Archbishop of Canterbury (the city where I go to work, just a few miles from my home) celebrating the coming establishment of a 'Royal priesthood and a holy nation'. Holding his sceptre, Charles III literally became the next incarnation of the Davidic line. In the words of the Biblical Jacob himself: 'The Sceptre shall never depart from Judah until the Messiah comes'. They continue to await their Messiah. Why else do you suppose every Pope and President dons the skullcap and visits the Western Wall at the foot of Mount Zion? And let me be clear: anti-Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism. The world's first Zionest Conference was changed from Munich to Basel due to fhe sheer number of anti-Zionist Jewish protestors. They wanted no part in it. In the 1930s the Nazis tried desperately to solve the Jewish question (fulfill prophecy). They signed the Havaara Agreement with the Zionists allowing safe passage for Jews to Palestine. I did a three year history degree with a particular focus on Nazi Germany and had never heard of it before diving down the rabbit hole. The problem for the Zionists was that most German Jews were deeply embedded within German society and they didn't want to move to a dust bowl called Palestine. By 1948, after much maneuvering, the Zionist dream came true. It is no irony that Holocaust literally means 'burnt offering'. This was the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Jewish journalist Barry Chamish is excellent for truth on how the Jews are pawns in the hands of the Zionists. He paid the ultimate price for that.
Throughout his coronation, Charles sat upon the Stone of Destiny, the Rock of Ages, symbolising the stone that was given by 'God' to Jacob and was prophecised to be handed around among his kingly descendants. The Stone upon which Jacob had his dream and from which he hew a pillar on the very same spot upon which Solomon built his temple. Only to see his temple destroyed on the 9th day of the 11th month. The Second Temple was also destroyed on the 9th day of the 11th month. Known as Tisha Bav, the 9th day of the 11th month has always been a day of mourning in the Jewish calendar. After September 11th, they hew a pillar in the place of the twin towers. Part of the memorial was constructed by the Rock of Ages granite company. Truly, it is mind blowing. And the symbolism was written throughout the entire coronation ritual. But who will be installed as monarch in Jerusalem as Plato's Philosopher King, and when? I don't know. I have a feeling, though, that it will be timed in accordance with the positioning of the great universal sky clock, based as it is around the 'chief watcher of the heavens' in Plutarch's words, the Star of the Magi, Sirius (see my post '10 Crazy Facts About the God Star Sirius' for more).
Despite their notoriety, the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and other more recent families are minions in comparison to other bloodlines. Although, the Rothschilds did marry into the Aldobrandini bloodline through Olimpia Aldobrandini and David Rothschild. You could of course take it a step further to the centre of the web, but then you're dealing with the archontic forces I have mentioned - not all of them negative - that exist in other realms and express themselves through the stars and planets. Towering over all of creation, the Demiurge, the grand architect of this maya, or illusion, in which we dream. The god who seeks to impose his sense of order upon primordial chaos. Always manipulating, never creating. Finally, we arrive at the apex of the pyramid; the father, the monad, the eternally tranquil one from which the antagonistic two came into being.
submitted by Holiday_Wing_7992 to conspiracy_commons [link] [comments]


2023.06.05 09:59 pplovesk I summarized info from an interesting (but rather old) video discussing true nature of the Beasts

https://youtu.be/GPrgmddKBLs
Vid’s title : “A Beast has no Love for Humanity” (it came out almost 2 years ago, even before Tunguska)
Main topics handled : Discussing the true nature/definition of "Love for Humanity", "Beast's principle/logos" and "Nega Skill"




- Kiara’s definition of “love” (= satisfying hedonistic desires) and “humanity” (=herself) was a prime example used to support this theory. The vid OP said that “If this counts as “love for humanity” then isn’t it pretty much the same as Douman’s motive? If that so why couldn’t he manage to ascend?”


- “Pity” turns the normal desire of not wanting see anymore suffer from death into a plan to recreate a new humanity, the one that is free from what he perceived as the source of their suffering.

- A desire to “Regress” back to the state where she once was able to live alongside her children twisted the simple love for her children into the love for the children that she will create who won’t leave her again.

- A deity who governs love, lust, and desire, instead of continue doing their duty as a regulator and facilitator of those emotions, decides to spoil/grant every person’s desire to make them feel fulfilled and “Lapse” into inactivity/sloth instead.

- An individual, whose inherent goodness allow her to possess a potential to become a savior to many, wakes up to “Rapture” (thanks to getting fused with her horny alternate self) and redefines her altruistic love into hedonistic satisfaction of her own carnal desires instead (remember that pre-Zepar FGO’s Kiara was a genuinely good individual).

- Her love for all animals (including humans) and empathy towards their suffering are twisted into her desire to “Cherish” all of them as her prized possessions, not as individual beings each with their own ego.

- The suffering of living for an unimaginable amount of time causes him to wake up to the principle of “Oblivion” to no longer have to relive the nightmares, pain and suffering of losing his dear ones ever again, turning him from the king whose love for his people was unmatched into a man who ran away from his own memories, despite currently being the only one to really remember them by and inherit their legacy. Was depicted as a stark contrast to Nitocris, who insists on remembering every of her fallen retainer who has become her undead minions.

- The embrace of the “Depravity” people projected onto her caused her love towards the prosperity of her Roma (kingdom/people), and her wish of not wanting anyone to relive a tragedy she has met — a lonely final moment where you don’t have anyone besides to see you through as you die — to twisted into the desire to stimulate growth and prosperity of civilizations so that she can devour them when their depravity reaches to its peak, like a ripen fruit just before they start to rot, so that she can both satisfy her depraved appetite and be the one who stays by their sides and sees them through as they perish by her hands.

- PS. Kama’s and Draco’s logos are the same word in Japanese (堕落) but their English counterparts and their stories shedded more light on the difference : Kama fulfills their desires so that individuals can fall into laziness while Draco encourages them to work hard to satisfy their unending desires for prosperity so that they can fall into the inevitable moral depravity that comes with it.

submitted by pplovesk to grandorder [link] [comments]


2023.06.05 07:01 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
submitted by AutoModerator to SonsOfSolomon [link] [comments]


2023.06.05 02:23 newmusicrls Simon Dunmore Defected Selectors June 2023

https://minimalfreaks.co/2023/06/simon-dunmore-defected-selectors-june-2023/
  1. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Osunlade Remix) 07:52 120bpm Gm
  2. Bobby Womack – How Could You Break My Heart (Original Mix) 05:17 128bpm Am
  3. Ultra Nate – Joy (Original Mix) 05:17 124bpm Gbm
  4. Air Power – Be Yourself 06:16 128bpm Gm
  5. James Brown – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Original Mix) 06:09 114bpm Am
  6. Aretha Franklin – Jump (Original Mix) 02:19 121bpm A
  7. MJ Cole, Nova Caspar, Jay Dee – Sincere (Re-Cue’D) 05:38 132bpm
  8. Fela Kuti – Shakara (Oloje) 13:25 120bpm Bbm
  9. Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You 04:27 112bpm
  10. Guru, DC Lee, Ronny Jordan – No Time To Play (Original Mix) 04:54 100bpm A
  11. Donald Byrd – Places And Spaces 06:19 184bpm
  12. Prince – Sign ‘O’ The Times (Original Mix) 05:02 99bpm Cm
  13. Leroy Hutson – All Because of You (Single Edit) 03:29 87bpm
  14. Mr. Fingers – Mystery of Love (Original Mix) 07:10 115bpm G
  15. Stevie Wonder – Living For The City (Original Mix) 07:22 99bpm Gb
  16. The Salsoul Orchestra – Ooh I Love It (Love Break) (Original Mix) 07:49 114bpm Bb
  17. The Reese Project – Direct Me (Joey Negro Mix) 06:47 122bpm Dbm
  18. Zak Abel, Tom Misch – Beautiful Escape feat. Zak Abel (Original Mix) 04:36 120bpm F
  19. Soul II Soul, Rose Windross – Fairplay (Original Mix) 03:58 101bpm Cm
  20. Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Original Mix) 03:07 88bpm C#m
  21. Sounds Of Blackness – The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix) 08:24 127bpm Fm
  22. David Bowie – Young Americans (2016 Remaster) 05:13 83bpm G
  23. Bobby Womack – Give It Up (Original Mix) 04:38 96bpm D
  24. Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time (Original) 04:42 120bpm Dm
  25. Digital Underground – Doowutchyalike (LP Version) 08:53 108bpm
  26. Nuyorican Soul, Jocelyn Brown – It’s Alright, I Feel It 03:22 122bpm
  27. Etienne De Crecy – Prix choc (Original Mix) 08:52 128bpm C
  28. Inner Life – Moment Of My Life (12″ Version) 06:32 113bpm F#m
  29. Daft Punk – Alive (Original Mix) 05:16 129bpm Bb
  30. First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12″ Mix) 08:01 119bpm Dbm
  31. Dennis Ferrer – Church Lady (Original Mix) 07:19 126bpm Gm
  32. Masters At Work – To Be In Love (MAW ’99 Mix) 11:54 122bpm Cm
  33. Clivilles & Cole – A Deeper Love (A Deeper Love Mix) 12:04 121bpm D#m
  34. Archie Bell & The Drells – Where Will You Go When The Party’s Over (Original Mix) 04:05 117bpm Em
  35. Womack & Womack – Baby I’m Scared of You 05:38 216bpm
  36. The Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods 03:37 126bpm
  37. Kathy Sledge – Take Me Back To Love Again (Shelter Me Mix) 06:51 123bpm A
  38. Ashford & Simpson – Love Don’t Make It Right (Original Mix) 04:23 111bpm A
  39. Blaze – My Beat (Original) 05:19 126bpm Gbm
  40. Eighties Ladies – Turned on to You 05:28 bpm
  41. Blaze – Wishing You Were Here (Original) 06:56 123bpm Cm
  42. Coati Mundi – Que Pasa / Me No Pop I (Original Mix) 06:25 110bpm Db
  43. Massive Attack – Safe From Harm (2012 Mix/Master) 05:19 165bpm Bm
  44. Incognito, Jocelyn Brown – Always There (David Morales Remix) 06:36 115bpm
  45. Lee Fields & The Expressions, Lee Fields – Ladies 04:17 176bpm
  46. Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (Original Mix) 05:26 160bpm Ebm
  47. CeCe Rogers – Someday (Original Mix) 07:17 119bpm Am
  48. Honey Dijon, Nikki-O, Annette Bowen – Downtown feat. Annette Bowen feat. Nikki-O (Louie Vega Extended Raw Dub Mix) 03:33 126bpm Bb
  49. Quartette Tres Bien – Boss Trés Bien 05:28 120bpm
  50. Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Don’t Leave Me This Way (Original Mix) 06:04 125bpm Gm
  51. The Staple Singers – Trippin’ On Your Love 04:27 bpm
  52. Curtis Mayfield – Back to the World (Original Mix) 06:50 164bpm Db
  53. The Specials – A Message to You Rudy (Original Mix) 02:54 104bpm C
  54. Black Coffee, Bucie – Turn Me On (Original Mix) 07:25 124bpm Cm
  55. Bob Sinclar – My only love (Original) 04:34 123bpm Gbm
  56. Love Unlimited – Move Me No Mountain (Original Mix) 03:55 90bpm Fm
  57. River Ocean, India – Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn) [feat. India] (12″ Club Mix) 09:51 119bpm Gm
  58. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Original Mix) 08:00 123bpm Gm
  59. D’Angelo – Brown Sugar (Edited) 04:22 83bpm A
  60. Roisin Murphy – Incapable (Extended Mix) 08:25 114bpm Dm
  61. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker – Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) 03:52 126bpm D
  62. Bobby Wilson – Deeper and Deeper 06:23 176bpm
  63. Sharon Ridley – Where Did You Learn to Make Love the Way You Do 04:51 bpm
  64. Alice Clark – Don’t You Care 02:50 bpm
  65. Earth, Wind & Fire – Devotion (Live) 04:52 92bpm Am
  66. Sharon Redd – Try My Love On For Size (Original Mix) 05:08 120bpm Am
  67. Ten City – Right Back To You (Extended Version) 09:10 120bpm D#m
  68. Incognito – Always There (David Morales Remix) 03:35 115bpm
  69. Public Enemy – Can’t Truss It (Original Mix) 05:22 102bpm Bbm
  70. Luther Vandross – Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) (Original Mix) 04:57 109bpm F
  71. Grace Jones – La vie en rose 07:28 176bpm C
  72. Ashford & Simpson – It Seems To Hang On (Original Mix) 05:12 114bpm Bm
  73. Leroy Hutson – Love the Feeling (Original Mix) 02:53 97bpm Bb
  74. Mr. Fingers – We Can Work It Out (Original Mix) 05:43 113bpm Gbm
  75. Loleatta Holloway, Bastian Zacit – Love Sensation (Original Mix) 06:06 126bpm F
  76. Adeva – Musical Freedom (Original Mix) 06:22 113bpm C
  77. Yazoo – Situation (12″ Remix) 05:46 119bpm Db
  78. Jamiroquai – Blow Your Mind (Original Mix) 08:32 105bpm Am
  79. Arrested Development – Tennessee (Original Mix) 04:32 100bpm Ebm
  80. Trussel – Love Injection (Original Mix) 07:56 112bpm Abm
  81. Mary J. Blige – My Love (Original Mix) 04:12 86bpm F
  82. De La Soul – Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge) 03:25 bpm
  83. Maze, Frankie Beverly – Joy And Pain (Remastered) 07:14 106bpm Bm
  84. Soulsearcher – Can’t Get Enough! (Vocal Club Mix) 06:53 128bpm Em
  85. Whitney Houston – It’s Not Right but It’s Okay (KCC’s Release The Love Groove Bootleg Mix) 07:02 128bpm Cm
  86. Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard (Original Mix) 06:45 129bpm Dbm
  87. The Salsoul Orchestra – Seconds (Original Mix) 08:58 105bpm Em
  88. Lady Blackbird – It’s Not That Easy 03:00 bpm
  89. Mass Order – Lift Every Voice (Take Me Away) (Classic Boot Mix) 07:25 bpm
  90. Deep Dish – Flashdance (Original Club Mix UK Radio Version) 06:45 bpm
  91. Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch 04:42 119bpm
  92. Junior Jack – Hola (Original Mix) 04:12 121bpm Am
  93. Voices Of Life – The Word Is Love (Say The Word) (Silk’s Anthem Of Life) 08:10 bpm
  94. Celeda, Danny Tenaglia – Music Is The Answer (Original Extended 12-inch Mix) 14:10 126bpm Abm
  95. Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime (2005 Remaster) 04:19 116bpm
  96. Jungle Brothers – What “U” Waitin’ “4”? (Radio Edit) 04:04 110bpm Cm
  97. Kings Of Tomorrow – Finally (Extended Mix) 05:58 125bpm C
  98. Supershy – Change feat. Wayne Snow (Original Mix) 04:50 120bpm Cm
  99. Hannah Wants, Clementine Douglas – Cure My Desire feat. Clementine Douglas (Extended Mix) 06:38 122bpm Ebm
  100. Channel Tres – Just Can’t Get Enough (Original Mix) 05:03 121bpm Cm
  101. Ziyon, El Payo – Tailor Made feat. Ziyon (Original Mix) 05:22 120bpm Eb
  102. Close Counters – SNAP TO IT! (Original Mix) 03:30 131bpm Eb
  103. Three Kings, Jaygun, Bashy – Shake Dat Booty feat. Jaygun feat. Bashy (Original Edit) 07:34 125bpm Dm
  104. Felix Da Housecat, Chris Trucher – Chicago Love (Original Mix) 05:05 124bpm A
  105. Benny Mussa – If You Want (Luke Solomon’s Body Remix) 07:07 128bpm Dm
  106. Beyoncé, Madonna – BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX) 05:56 120bpm Abm
  107. Daphni – Cloudy (Original Mix) 06:51 128bpm Cm
  108. Larse – A Part Of (Extended Mix) 04:38 128bpm Dm
  109. Virginia – Funkert (Original Mix) 04:27 127bpm Dbm
  110. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Vertigo (Original Mix) 04:16 132bpm Em
  111. Sable Sheep – Upon Burning Skies (Original Mix) 08:24 123bpm Em
  112. Dam Swindle – Good Woman (Edit) 03:35 125bpm Am
  113. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Original Mix) 07:26 125bpm Dbm
  114. Honey Dijon, Sadie Walker, Channel Tres – Show Me Some Love feat. Sadie Walker (Extended Mix) 05:51 126bpm D
  115. Shiba San – I Wanna (Tchami Remix) 03:35 127bpm Fm
  116. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Vintage Culture Extended Remix) 05:33 128bpm Bbm
  117. OFFAIAH – Find A Way (Extended Mix) 06:29 124bpm Gm
  118. Mr. V – Jus Dance (Dennis Quin Remix) 03:36 94bpm G
  119. Alister Fawnwoda, Tyesha Blount – Starlight (Original Mix) 05:59 125bpm Em
  120. Mistura, Dave Lee ZR, Jemini – Want Me Back (Jimpster Peak Time Deepness) 06:27 122bpm Db
  121. Girls of the Internet – Sound Asleep 03:45 124bpm G
  122. Tom Middleton – Cicadas (Maya Jane Coles Remix) 06:24 123bpm Dbm
  123. Rampa, Keinemusik, chuala – Les Gout (Original Mix) 05:44 120bpm Fm
  124. Crackazat – Demucha (Original Mix) 04:15 124bpm Cm
  125. Mary J. Blige – Good Morning Gorgeous (Kelly G Morning Pose Dub Remix) 03:27 125bpm Bbm
  126. Butch – Same Like Dope But Different (Original Mix) 04:41 123bpm Dbm
  127. Kabbala – Ashewo Ara (Dave Lee Afro Fusion Mix) (Original Mix) 05:59 124bpm Am
  128. Max Millan, Simon Adams – Mr. Franklin (Miguel Migs Salty Rub) 06:15 124bpm Am
  129. Situation – Get To Know Me (Hot Toddy Dub) 05:46 117bpm Dm
  130. Beanfield, Marzenka – Alone feat. Marzenka (Original) 07:29 122bpm G
  131. Delano Smith, Diamondancer – A Message For the DJ featuring Diamondancer (Original Mix) 05:36 126bpm F
  132. Clive From Accounts – 4 Time (Original Mix) 05:38 127bpm Dm
  133. Jerk House Connection, Akram Sedkaoui – Each & Every Day (Life Goes On) feat. Akram Sedkaoui (Rocco Deeper Mix) 08:35 127bpm Gm
  134. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Your Mind (Original Mix) 05:40 130bpm Gm
  135. Rodney Hunter – Temperature’s Rising (Original Mix) 03:51 118bpm Dm
  136. Pugs Atomz, Inkswel, Eliza Dickson – Why Don’t You Listen (Fred Everything Remix) 06:02 119bpm Fm
  137. Folamour – Fearless (Original Mix) 05:23 122bpm Gm
  138. Mr. Flip – Hit Different (Afefe Iku Remix) 04:51 113bpm Dm
  139. Jonny Miller, Kid Fonque, ASAP Shembe – Connected Beings feat. ASAP Shembe (Jazzanova Remix) 05:56 120bpm C
  140. Carlo Gambino – Dance For You (Original Mix) 07:27 122bpm Am
  141. Gerd – We Bring U Muzik (Warehouse Mix) 06:08 126bpm Ab
  142. Joeski – Rude Boy (Original Mix) 06:20 125bpm C
  143. Musta, Venessa Jackson – Loving Me (Hot Toddy Remix) 08:00 84bpm Am
  144. youANDme, Kristina Sheli – Moment 04:35 124bpm C#
  145. OVEOUS, Don Kamares – Legacy (Original Mix) 05:35 123bpm Dm
  146. KE, Risk Assessment – Feel That (Franck Roger Remix) 06:28 124bpm Ebm
  147. Paperclip People – Throw (Original Mix) 06:47 127bpm C
  148. Austin Ato – When Love Is Tender (Original Mix) 08:42 127bpm Ab
  149. Francisco Allendes – What You Do (Original Mix) 06:49 127bpm D
  150. Particle – Let It Go (Original Mix) 06:34 87bpm Cm
  151. Afefe Iku – Sista Georgia (Original Mix) 11:35 122bpm Dm
  152. Mike Steva, Stevo Atambire – Destiny Song (Pa’ala) feat. Stevo Atambire (Original Mix) 05:54 121bpm Bm
  153. PAWSA – Room Service (24 Hour Mix) 04:44 130bpm Am
  154. Kerri Chandler – Coro (DJ Spen Kaoz Re Edit) 06:30 124bpm Dm
  155. Awen, Caiiro – Your Voice (Adam Port Remix) 04:20 122bpm Gbm
  156. Inaya Day, Harry Romero – Rise Up (Extended Club Mix) 06:19 127bpm Cm
  157. Pig&Dan – Rock You All Night (Original Mix) 03:27 123bpm Bm
  158. Yousef, The Melody Men – Hear That Sound feat. The Melody Men (Club Mix) 05:56 128bpm D
  159. GruuvElement’s – Boom Room (Original Mix) 06:39 94bpm Em
  160. Dam Swindle – All I Want (Edit) 03:56 124bpm Dbm
  161. Mike Dunn, LOA. – When The Dust Clears feat. LOA. (MD MixX) 03:42 124bpm F
  162. Seamus Haji, Phebe Edwards – Better Come Again 04:00 120bpm Em
  163. Suzanne Palmer, Mark Picchiotti, Craig J. Snider, The Absolute – I Believe feat. Suzanne Palmer feat. Craig J. Snider (DJ Spen & Michele Chiavarini’s Higher Love Dub Mix) 06:15 124bpm Eb
  164. Paul Kalkbrenner – Bengang (Original Mix) 05:30 128bpm Dbm
  165. Louie Vega, Robyn – All My Love (feat. Robyn) 05:58 127bpm Gb
  166. Daniel Steinberg – Groove People (Original Mix) 05:29 125bpm C
  167. Purple Disco Machine, Kaleta, Bosq – Wake Up! (Extended) 06:56 122bpm Dm
  168. Kon, Fiorious, Saturday Love – 2 B Free (Oliver Dollar Remix) 04:31 123bpm Em
  169. Lady Blackbird – Lost and Looking (Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy Cosmodelica Remix) 03:42 120bpm G
  170. Kerri Chandler, Bluey Robinson – Tenacity (Main Vocal Edit) 04:25 124bpm D
  171. Honey Dijon, Ramona Renea – Love Is A State Of Mind (Original Mix) 03:13 125bpm Cm
  172. Adam Port, Alan Dixon – Forms Of Love (Original Mix) 06:03 122bpm Bb
  173. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Original Mix) 03:31 128bpm Bbm
  174. Fka Mash, Sio – Bumblebee 03:38 116bpm Gm
  175. Dennis Cruz – Ready For The Blues (Original Mix) 05:00 128bpm Cm
  176. Ramin Rezaie – Searching (Original Mix) 03:57 131bpm Am
  177. Tony Lionni – Out Of Sight (Special Edit By Jerome Sydenham) 06:15 124bpm C
  178. HRDY, Paulo Maria – Connected (Original Mix) 05:42 124bpm Gm
  179. Dario D’Attis – Tanzstube (Original Mix) 07:44 120bpm Bbm
  180. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Two Soul Fusion Remix) 03:07 125bpm G
  181. Low Steppa – Closer (Original Mix) 04:57 125bpm Bbm
  182. Fred Everything – Searching (Original Mix) 08:03 120bpm C
  183. Sophie Lloyd, Pauline Taylor – Angels By My Side feat. Pauline Taylor (Floorplan Remix) 03:28 125bpm Fm
  184. S.A.M., Sarah Ikumu – Spotlight feat. Sarah Ikumu (Mousse T. Shizzle Mix) 03:20 123bpm Gbm
  185. Malone – Time To Move (Original Mix) 03:08 125bpm Em
  186. Steve Bug, Mr. V – Back To ’95 feat. Mr. V (Cinthie‘s ‘Just A Vibe’ Remix) 06:12 124bpm Gm
  187. Khan, Julee Cruise – Say Goodbye feat. Julee Cruise (LoSoul ‘She’s Homeless’ Mix) 07:08 116bpm F
  188. Dam Swindle – Hey Mister 03:59 126bpm Am
  189. Julien Jabre – Voodance (Original Mix) 07:29 123bpm Dbm
  190. B Beat Girls – For The Same Man (Nic Fanciulli Remix) 03:34 127bpm E
  191. Mark Broom, Riva Starr, Star B – Fire (Ron Bacardi Remix) 05:42 126bpm Bb
  192. Make A Dance – I Need Somebody (Original Mix) 03:20 122bpm Bm
  193. Beyonce – BREAK MY SOUL (Original Mix) 04:38 115bpm Abm
  194. Zach Witness – Frankie & Levan (Original Mix) 03:41 127bpm Am
  195. Danny Tenaglia – The Brooklyn Gypsy (Original Mix) 07:41 153bpm Dm
  196. Beau – Losing You 03:23 124bpm E
  197. Felipe Gordon – The Love (Original Mix) 07:38 120bpm Gbm
  198. Ferreck Dawn, Izzy Bizu – Life (Original Mix) 02:51 125bpm Cm
  199. Kimberly Davis, The Shapeshifters – Love’s Been Waiting (7″ Version) 02:48 123bpm Gbm
  200. ANOTR, Sebastian Kamae – Time To Smoke (Original Mix) 08:46 130bpm Gb
  201. Daniel Anthony – Endless (Original Mix) 07:03 126bpm Dbm
  202. Jamie Jones, AMEME – Pliva 04:04 123bpm Fm
  203. Darius Syrossian, DJ Supreme – I’m The Joker (Original Mix) 02:36 129bpm Gm
  204. Oliver Way – Stained Glass Shadows (Robert Hood Remix) 06:54 128bpm D
  205. Sailor Jane, R.E.A.D. – Where’s My Phone? feat. Sailor Jane (Marco Faraone Remix) 03:35 128bpm Fm
  206. Daniel Steinberg – Take My Hand (Original Mix) 05:17 130bpm Gm
  207. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Folamour 12″ Remix) 04:30 121bpm Am
  208. Brian Burnside – This Generation (Franck Roger Mix) 08:20 127bpm Dm
  209. Chymamusique, Colbert, LaTique – Above My Head (Radio Mix) 04:34 118bpm Gbm
  210. Brooklyn Baby – NYC (Original Mix) 05:04 128bpm Em
  211. Marlon D – Jesus Creates Sound (Original Mix) 05:30 126bpm Ebm
  212. Kiko Navarro – Dope High (Vocal Mix) 07:52 92bpm Fm
  213. Franck Roger – Don’t Ever Luv Me (Original Mix) 06:44 124bpm Dm
  214. 40 Thieves, Qzen – Don’t Turn It Off (Original Mix) 04:38 117bpm Em
  215. Linkwood – Tears (Original Mix) 08:39 96bpm Bm
  216. Mr. V – Somethin’ Wit Jazz (Dario D’Attis Extended Remix) 07:08 122bpm Bbm
  217. David Morales, Elle Cato – Holding Me Touching Me feat. Elle Cato (Extended Mix) 06:58 126bpm Bbm
  218. Bassfort – Moon Shadow (Joe ‘Joaquin’ Claussell Remix) 11:26 124bpm G
  219. Close Counters – GET DOWN! (Original Mix) 04:17 122bpm Ebm
  220. Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh – If Only You Knew feat. Joy Farrukh (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm Am
  221. Todd Terry, Riva Starr – This Is The Sound (Original Mix) 06:07 126bpm Gm
  222. Honey Dijon, Dope Earth Alien – It’s Quiet Now (Original Mix) 03:02 123bpm Cm
  223. Jon Cutler, E-Man – It’s Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) 05:39 126bpm Am
  224. Thakzin – The Magnificent Dance (Original Mix) 07:05 88bpm F
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2023.06.04 13:43 TonyChanYT Your throne shall be established FOREVER

u/Electronic_Lake_2159, u/User avatar, u/HappyLittleChristian
2 Samuel 7:
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
The immediate fulfillment was pointing to Solomon.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
The ultimate fulfillment pointed to Jesus.
14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
That applies to both Solomon and Jesus.
When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
That applies only to Solomon.
15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
That's Jesus.
17In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
Nathan's prophecy had a double fulfillment.
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2023.06.04 09:23 Adventurous_Goose852 The Bible uses the words “Look” and “Yes” so much.

Anyone else noticed this? I started seeing it in Genesis and it’s everywhere. Is this a translation error? Or is it just a word they liked using a lot?
“Gather together—yes, gather together, you shameless nation.” ‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers— yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭32‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.” ‭‭Malachi‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬
““Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭14‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Is it like the scribes making a surprised face like ‘no way that happened!!!’ and then the author is like “yes! yes it did!”
And then there’s “Look,”
““Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”” ‭‭Ruth‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭19‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬
And I guess the look one makes more sense. But they say it a lot! Is it one of their crutch words?
submitted by Adventurous_Goose852 to Christianity [link] [comments]


2023.06.04 07:00 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
submitted by AutoModerator to SonsOfSolomon [link] [comments]


2023.06.04 00:30 Polyphemus117 Despite his powerful connections, one of the most prominent gang bosses in New England simply disappeared without a trace. What happened to Danny Walsh?

As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, it was obvious to the American public that the “noble experiment” of Prohibition was a complete failure. Despite the promises of religious leaders and lawmakers, the total ban on the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic beverages had led to an increase in crime and violence throughout the United States. A lucrative black market for illicit alcohol had created a climate that allowed organized criminal syndicates to flourish. Public sentiment was turning against Prohibition, and more and more voices called for its repeal.The shrewder gangsters realized that Prohibition would soon no longer be the law of the land and they would need to find alternate sources of income. As the more prescient mobsters made plans to go into alternate ventures such as gambling, sex work, narcotics, or labor racketeering, it was clear there would not be enough business to go around. Competition would have to be eliminated. The long established partnerships between Italian, Jewish, and Irish gangs began to fray. The former two, in many cases, conspired together against the Irish mob. Irish immigrants had arrived in the US earlier and possessed the advantage of already speaking English on arrival. Irish gangsters enjoyed exclusive connections with politicians and law enforcement officials- connections that the Italian and Jewish gangsters knew they would need for themselves once the country went “wet” again.
Accordingly, from the years 1928 to 1933, there was a wholesale massacre of top-ranked Irish mobsters and bootleggers all over the United States. In St. Paul, MN, “Dapper” Danny Hogan started his car and was blown to pieces by dynamite planted by his Jewish counterparts. In New Orleans, the Italian mob gunned down Bill Bailey in a drive-by shooting. In Brooklyn, Charles “Vannie” Higgins was shot and killed in front of his 7 year old daughter. Similar stories were happening in many major cities throughout the United States.
Rumrunning in Providence, RI, was largely done by Danny Walsh. Born to Irish immigrants in 1893, Walsh was a true underworld success story. When Prohibition became the law of the land in 1920, he was a lowly clerk in a hardware store. Fast forward only five years, and Walsh was a multimillionaire with multiple country estates and luxury apartments in Providence. Walsh had assembled a fleet of boats and airplanes that supplied the thirsty Rhode Islanders with liquor under cover of darkness. His fortune grew further when he became involved in the lucrative world of horse racing. Even the stock market crash of 1929 hardly slowed down the bootlegging business. Despite a few minor brushes with the law- including a much-publicized 1929 incident when the Coast Guard killed three of his men- Walsh seemed largely untouchable. Like many gangsters of this period, he was something of a public figure, the local press often reporting on the exploits of his gang.
Walsh consolidated his power by making connections with the elite of the both the upper crust and the underbelly. His friends in Boston included both the notorious mob boss Charles “King” Solomon and a fellow Irish-American powerbroker by the name of Joseph P. Kennedy- though you may be more familiar with his children and grandchildren. Known as a gangster who preferred to settle disputes with a handshake rather than a tommy gun, Walsh was reportedly respected and well-liked even among his fellow criminal kingpins.
Someone clearly felt otherwise.
On January 24, 1933, King Solomon was shot dead in the men's room of a Boston nightclub he owned. With Solomon dead, Walsh no longer had the protection offered by his alliance with a larger outfit. This may have been a contributing factor to what happened next.
On February 2, 1933, Danny Walsh met six associates at the Bank Cafe in Pawtuxet Village, RI for a business dinner. These six men saw him off as he got into his car to drive home. They were the last people to ever see Danny Walsh.
For several days there was no leads for any of Walsh's family, business partners, or underworld partners to follow. Finally, an anonymous note was delivered to Walsh's brother Joseph- a ransom demand for $40,000 to be delivered to the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. While the idea of kidnapping a mob boss for ransom might seem laughable today, the “snatch racket” was hardly uncommon at the time, especially as the Depression forced more and more people into financial desperation. Criminal operations usually considered it more pragmatic to simply pay the ransom and recover their operatives rather than lose whatever talents or skills they possessed, which would cost them more money in the long run. Joseph and a few of Walsh's most trusted lieutenants complied with the demand, bringing $40,000 in cash to Boston and handing it around a hotel room door to a man they could not see. They returned to Providence and awaited word of Danny's release.
Word never came. It became increasingly clear that Danny Walsh had vanished without a trace and was never coming back.
Rumors spiraled in the press, the underworld, and even in an inconclusive federal investigation. There were reports of Italian men being spotted in the act of digging a large hole on one of Walsh's properties and sprinkling lime into it, but nothing came of further investigation. Some newspaper articles at the time gave lurid accounts of Walsh being stood in a tub of cement until it hardened around his feet and then hurled into the ocean- the first appearance of the “concrete shoes” trope that appears so often in gangster fiction. These, too, were dismissed as fabrication.
The disappearance of Danny Walsh has entered Rhode Island folklore. As recently as 2017, unidentified remains found in the area have been seriously investigated as possibly being his corpse. This practice will no doubt continue until a definite ID is made.
What became of Danny Walsh? In light of the wider wave of murders targeting Irish racketeers, it seems probable he was murdered. But who is responsible? Where are his remains? Was the unidentified man who collected a ransom at the Copley Plaza Hotel the real culprit or simply an opportunistic scam artist?
It seems probable that anyone with firsthand knowledge of this crime is long dead. Perhaps one day a corpse will be found that will answer at least one question, but until then this remains unsolved. Danny Walsh is doubtlessly but one of many victims of violent crime from the “noble experiment” of Prohibition.

If you're interested in learning more about the story of Danny Walsh, here's a few good articles.
A writeup by the New England Historical Society
An article about remains that were investigated as possibly being those of Walsh
An interview with a descendent of Walsh
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2023.06.03 15:24 JayMag23 What is Heaven?

What is heaven? I would expect that most reading this have at least pondered the question once or twice in their lives—but, sadly, the truth of this topic is hidden behind a massive wall of religious confusion. Tomorrow’s World holds the Bible as the origin and authority for wisdom and knowledge—so what does the word of God actually teach about this subject?
The word “heaven” occurs approximately 501 times in the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, and 551 times in the original King James Version. The Hebrew word for heaven is šāmayim, referring to sky, atmosphere, celestial bodies, or the abiding place of God. The Greek word is Ouranos, which carries the same meaning. Let’s examine some different areas of scripture where these terms are illustrated so we can gain a clear vision of what heaven really is from a biblical perspective.

FIRST HEAVEN: THE ATMOSPHERE

We read in the book of Genesis that “God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven” (Genesis 1:7–8). Early on, God labeled the firmament—the atmosphere or the sky—as heaven. We also read later in Genesis 27:39 that the “dew” comes down from heaven, indicating that rain and moisture come from the atmosphere or the sky, which we know scientifically to be true today. Farmers throughout history have trusted in the rain, and the Bible reveals those rains being “poured on them from heaven” (2 Samuel 21:10). These scriptures indicate that the first heaven is the physical atmosphere, where weather patterns and storms occur and where the ozone layer exists.

SECOND HEAVEN: OUTER SPACE

Another heaven, above the sky and atmosphere, is described as the dwelling place of the stars and other celestial objects, such as planets, moons, and comets. We read that God describes “the sun, the moon, and the stars” as among “all the host of heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:19). Jesus Christ also illustrates this point when speaking of the Day of the Lord, God’s time of pouring out His direct wrath on mankind: The “sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29). These scriptures indicate a second “heaven” beyond the atmosphere that we identify as outer space, the home of innumerable stars, planets, and galaxies.

THIRD HEAVEN: GOD’S DWELLING PLACE AND THE HEADQUARTERS OF HIS GOVERNMENT

Scripture also points to a third heaven, magnificent and glorious. The Apostle Paul described how he was “caught up to the third heaven,” a place where he was in “Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). Whether bodily or in a vision, he bore witness to the dwelling place of God Almighty—the Headquarters of all things spiritual and physical. This is where God makes decisions regarding His plan and purpose for mankind, and it is the seat of His laws, statutes, and judgments, which He uses to guide and direct us in righteousness. God specifically states, “Heaven is My throne” (Isaiah 66:1) and King Solomon asked God, “Hear in heaven Your dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:30).
In Revelation 4 and 5 we are provided with a vivid illustration of the headquarters of God and His throne room. The Bible paints a very clear picture that the third heaven is God’s dwelling place and the seat of His heavenly government.

A NEW HEAVEN TO COME

The Bible also provides insight into the future with a beautiful illustration of “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1). The word for “new” in the Greek is kainos, meaning unused, recently made, fresh, unprecedented—indicative that after God purges out all wickedness, He will establish a new heaven where He will dwell (v. 3)—one that is fresh, clean, and pure, and one that will usher in a new era full of everlasting peace and joy!
We have seen illustrated from Scripture that the first heaven is the sky and atmosphere, the second heaven is outer space, which houses the stars and planets, and the third heaven is the very headquarters and dwelling place of God. We also see in Bible prophecy a new, future heaven, where God will dwell and establish everlasting peace and joy. So, what is heaven? A really awesome truth!
For more information regarding this spectacular topic, please watch the video short “What is Heaven?” Also, be sure to check out the Tomorrow’s World telecast “Heaven, Hell, and the Resurrection.”

Article appears in Tomorrows World magazine Commentary June 3,2023 by Justin D. Ridgeway.

submitted by JayMag23 to Christianity [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 07:00 AutoModerator Daily Readings

1.) Pray the Nine Psalms of the Diaspora (123-131)
2.) Study Proverb 3
3.) Contemplate Matthew 4:4

Pray the Psalms of the Diaspora, and when you do, consider replacing the word "LORD" with "Jesus Christ" and "Israel" with "Church." Like Israel in Babylon, we are the Church in the world, apart from our holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Their Temple was built of gold and silver, but ours of God Himself — the Temple of Jesus Christ.
Then study the wisdom of Solomon and use it throughout your day to love all people just as Christ has loved you. Finally, if you are able, contemplate the words of our Lord — what He said, what He meant, what it means to us, His Church.

God be with you all!
submitted by AutoModerator to SonsOfSolomon [link] [comments]