His providence...

I am a firm believer in the Providence of God; I believe that He is in total control of all things and all events, in my life and in the life of any other person, be it a believer or a non believer.  Calvin was of the same opinion, in fact he dedicates a whole chapter of his greatest book to this very subject, here are some paragraphs for your delight:

"...we must consider that the Providence of God, as taught in Scripture, is opposed to fortune and fortuitous causes. By an erroneous opinion prevailing in all ages, an opinion almost universally prevailing in our own day, viz., that all things happen fortuitously, the true doctrine of Providence has not only been obscured, but almost buried. If one falls among robbers, or ravenous beasts; if a sudden gust of wind at sea causes shipwreck; if one is struck down by the fall of a house or a tree; if another, when wandering through desert paths, meets with deliverance; or, after being tossed by the waves, arrives in port, and makes some wondrous hair-breadth escape from death - all these occurrences, prosperous as well as adverse, carnal sense will attribute to fortune. But whose has learned from the mouth of Christ that all the hairs of his head are numbered (Matt. 10:30), will look farther for the cause, and hold that all events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God...

...And truly God claims omnipotence to himself, and would have us to acknowledge it - not the vain, indolent, slumbering omnipotence which sophists feign, but vigilant, efficacious, energetic, and ever active - not an omnipotence which may only act as a general principle of confused motion, as in ordering a stream to keep within the channel once prescribed to it, but one which is intent on individual and special movements. God is deemed omnipotent, not because he can act though he may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct he continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel. For when it is said in the Psalms, “He has done whatsoever he has pleased” (Psa. 115:3), the thing meant is his sure and deliberate purpose. It were insipid to interpret the Psalmist’s words in philosophic fashion, to mean that God is the primary agent, because the beginning and cause of all motion. This rather is the solace of the faithful, in their adversity, that every thing which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under his hand".

Many times in my life I look at the circumstances in which God has placed me, and my natural (carnal as Calvin says) inclination is to complain that they do not fit into the image I had in my mind as to how things should be; then almost immediately I remember who God is, and put my hand over my mouth in repentance; it is not a good thing to complain that God has seen it fit for me to go through adversity, the less when I remember that, one of the very promises that has been engraved in my memory is that which Jesus made: "in this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world".

That sentence: "This rather is the solace of the faithful, in their adversity, that every thing which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under his hand"; must be true for me and for you, that is if indeed you are a believer in this amazing God who created us.

What does it all mean?  It means that whatever my experience of reality is, God has planned it and ordained it to happen as it has happened, and it will continue to happen according to His wisdom, and  (I believe) in His love for me and you.  It also means that whatever you set your mind to do regarding righteousness and living, and whatever your heart is set to pray for, finds its origin in the most holy counsel of God's will; and even if failures look like failures, and evil looks like evil, God has intended it for good and that is exactly what the end will be.

Almost every one I know knows this verse, many know it by memory: (Jer 29:11)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
That is the King James, here is the NASB: 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope'.  (Jer 29:11).
Here is the Amplified Bible: For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.  (Jer 29:11)

"Expected end", "a future and a hope", "hope in your final outcome"; they all mean the same thing, that God is on my side, and that, as David says, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Some times I have very bad days, really bad indeed, and I know that you must also go through the same thing; today was one of those days; I could find no relief no matter what I did; and by God's providence I started thinking about His providence, redundantly, and I felt like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert; I ran towards that thought as if it were cold water in the heat of the day; what a refreshing thing it is to find it; fellowship with Jesus, as Spurgeon puts it, is the fountain from which the pilgrim drinks; and I am thirsty.

When I think no one cares, and we all do think that at one point or another, I pray that the Spirit will cause me to remember the providence of God, and to meditate in His perfections; and I do pray the same for you if you are reading this.  I want to encourage you in your day, today, and tomorrow; God reigns over all things, and our faith makes it certain in our hearts. To live in this thought is worth it for me; I just could not live any other way, the lack of peace would drive me crazy.  It is amazing grace indeed.

Have a nice day, again.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The Mystery Of The Teacher In The Sermon On The Mount...

The following is today's post from the Desiring God blog, I liked it, so I am pasting it in here for my keeping, and of course to share it with you, I hope it blesses you. I copied the picture from another site, just to put a frame of reference to the Sermon on the Mount (I'm probably braking some copy right law somewhere, at least I'm being honest about it).  Also, I made a link to the website just in case you want to go there:

The Mystery Of The Teacher In The Sermon On The Mount
By John Piper

One of the first books I read in seminary was The Riddle of the New Testament by Edwyn Hoskyns and Noel Davey. The riddle was this: How did Jesus himself relate to the teachings of the New Testament? Was his person essential, for example, to the ethics of Christianity?

 It was bracing to discover again and again in the New Testament that, just when you thought Jesus was a revolutionary Jewish teacher of love, you were smacked with the reality of his outrageous claims about himself.

Words That Awaken.
The old liberal view that Jesus taught the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the ethic of love, shattered over and over on the rocks of Jesus’ persistent self-exaltation. This is what drove C. S. Lewis to say,

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell". (Mere Christianity)

I was struck again recently how true this is in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the most famous collection of Jesus’ ethical teachings. Here is where the old liberals found the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the ethic of love.

“Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9).
 “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12).
 “Judge not, that you not be judged” (Matthew 7:1).
 “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44)

But, just when you thought, Jesus was a good Moses-like, Confucius-like, Mao-like, Mahatma-like teacher of the way, suddenly, right there in the Sermon on the Mount, the imperial “I” or “me” or “my” smacks you awake.

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21–23)

Astonishing Claims.
Three things are astonishing here. Jesus accepts the title “Lord, Lord,” even in his lifetime. The problem is not that people call him Lord, but that it doesn't mean enough to change them.

Even though “the will of the Father” will be the criterion of acceptance at the last judgment, Jesus himself will be standing there for people to see and appeal to: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?” Not only will Jesus be there, he will be the one who renders all the judgments and makes all the decisions about who enters heaven. “I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

In other words, this teacher of the Sermon on the Mount is the Judge of the universe. Or again in the first chapter of the Sermon (Matthew 5:17), Jesus shocks us with his claims. We think he is going to say, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to confirm them.” That’s not what he says. He says, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Jesus was not just another member in the long line of wise men and prophets. He was the end of the line. In his own person and work, the law and the prophets were fulfilled. Which is why, six times in Matthew 5, Jesus stunningly confronted Scripture and tradition with his supremely authoritative words, “But I say to you” (Matthew 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 44, 49).

The Inseparable Truth Finally, just when the Beatitudes are sounding like the words of a lowly, wise spiritual guide, Jesus tells us that we are blessed for being reviled on his account. Not God’s. His.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” And what’s more, he says we can rejoice in that day, because we are in the same category with the prophets who were persecuted on God’s account.

The Riddle of the New Testament has an answer. How does the person of Jesus relate to the teachings of Jesus? The divine majesty of the person is woven inseparably into every layer of the story and the teaching. There is no portrait of Jesus as merely a human teacher of ethics in the New Testament. There is only the Lord of glory. The fulfiller of history. The Judge of the universe.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Calvin again...

I went looking for my blog to write another post, and the whole thing had disappeared, I know that can happen,and will probably happen one day, when Google decides to not let people write about God and guns, and other things.  Imagine that.  Oh wait, it is already happening.  Oh well, long blogs should be banned anyway.  And, by the way, I hate email.

Here is another section from John Calvin's Institutes, yeah the same I quoted from yesterday, this time is the following two or three sections, I hope I'm not the only one who gets excited about this book, well, I know I am not the only one, but I hope it is as interesting to you as it is to me.  There are no pictures this time, they will appear again in the next post, I went to the J Street marina to watch the sunset with my dog, and I took some pics with my phone, you'll see them soon.

Calvin is taking about the uses of the Law; and he makes some very good points, I really pray you get as blessed as possible, at least as much as I get blessed:

Book 2, Chapter 7.
10. The second office of the Law is, by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice. Such persons are curbed not because their mind is inwardly moved and affected, but because, as if a bridle were laid upon them, they refrain their hands from external acts, and internally check the depravity which would otherwise petulantly burst forth.

It is true, they are not on this account either better or more righteous in the sight of God. For although restrained by terror or shame, they dare not proceed to what their mind has conceived, nor give full license to their raging lust, their heart is by no means trained to fear and obedience. Nay, the more they restrain themselves, the more they are inflamed, the more they rage and boil, prepared for any act or outbreak whatsoever were it not for the terror of the law. And not only so, but they thoroughly detest the law itself, and execrate the Lawgiver; so that if they could, they would most willingly annihilate him, because they cannot bear either his ordering what is right, or his avenging the despisers of his Majesty.

The feeling of all who are not yet regenerate, though in some more, in others less lively, is, that in regard to the observance of the law, they are not led by voluntary submission, but dragged by the force of fear. Nevertheless, this forced and extorted righteousness is necessary for the good of society, its peace being secured by a provision but for which all things would be thrown into tumult and confusion. Nay, this tuition is not without its use, even to the children of God, who, previous to their effectual calling, being destitute of the Spirit of holiness, freely indulge the lusts of the flesh. When, by the fear of Divine vengeance, they are deterred from open outbreakings, though, from not being subdued in mind, they profit little at present, still they are in some measure trained to bear the yoke of righteousness, so that when they are called, they are not like mere novices, studying a discipline of which previously they had no knowledge.

This office seems to be especially in the view of the Apostle, when he says, “That the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” (1Tim.1:9-10). He thus indicates that it is a restraint on unruly lusts that would otherwise burst all bonds.

11. To both may be applied the declaration of the Apostle in another place, that “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Gal. 3:24); since there are two classes of persons, whom by its training it leads to Christ. Some (of whom we spoke in the first place), from excessive confidence in their own virtue or righteousness, are unfit to receive the grace of Christ, until they are completely humbled.

This the law does by making them sensible of their misery, and so disposing them to long for what they previously imagined they did not want. Others have need of a bridle to restrain them from giving full scope to their passions, and thereby utterly losing all desire after righteousness. For where the Spirit of God rules not, the lusts sometimes so burst forth, as to threaten to drown the soul subjected to them in forgetfulness and contempt of God; and so they would, did not God interpose with this remedy.

Those, therefore, whom he has destined to the inheritance of his kingdom, if he does not immediately regenerate, he, through the works of the law, preserves in fear, against the time of his visitation, not, indeed, that pure and chaste fear which his children ought to have, but a fear useful to the extent of instructing them in true piety according to their capacity. Of this we have so many proofs, that there is not the least need of an example. For all who have remained for some time in ignorance of God will confess, as the result of their own experience, that the law had the effect of keeping them in some degree in the fear and reverence of God, till, being regenerated by his Spirit, they began to love him from the heart.

12. The third use of the Law (being also the principal use, and more closely connected with its proper end) has respect to believers in whose hearts the Spirit of God already flourishes and reigns. For although the Law is written and engraven on their hearts by the finger of God, that is, although they are so influenced and actuated by the Spirit, that they desire to obey God, there are two ways in which they still profit in the Law.

For it is the best instrument for enabling them daily to learn with greater truth and certainty what that will of the Lord is which they aspire to follow, and to confirm them in this knowledge; just as a servant who desires with all his soul to approve himself to his master, must still observe, and be careful to ascertain his master’s dispositions, that he may comport himself in accommodation to them.

Let none of us deem ourselves exempt from this necessity, for none have as yet attained to such a degree of wisdom, as that they may not, by the daily instruction of the Law, advance to a purer knowledge of the Divine will. Then, because we need not doctrine merely, but exhortation also, the servant of God will derive this further advantage from the Law: by frequently meditating upon it, he will be excited to obedience, and confirmed in it, and so drawn away from the slippery paths of sin.

In this way must the saints press onward, since, however great the alacrity with which, under the Spirit, they hasten toward righteousness, they are retarded by the sluggishness of the flesh, and make less progress than they ought. The Law acts like a whip to the flesh, urging it on as men do a lazy sluggish ass.

Even in the case of a spiritual man, inasmuch as he is still burdened with the weight of the flesh, the Law is a constant stimulus, pricking him forward when he would indulge in sloth. David had this use in view when he pronounced this high eulogium on the Law, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psa. 19:7-8). Again, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psa. 119:105). The whole psalm abounds in passages to the same effect. Such passages are not inconsistent with those of Paul, which show not the utility of the law to the regenerate, but what it is able of itself to bestow.

The object of the Psalmist is to celebrate the advantages which the Lord, by means of his law, bestows on those whom he inwardly inspires with a love of obedience. And he adverts not to the mere precepts, but also to the promise annexed to them, which alone makes that sweet which in itself is bitter. For what is less attractive than the law, when, by its demands and threatening, it overawes the soul, and fills it with terror? David specially shows that in the law he saw the Mediator, without whom it gives no pleasure or delight.

13. Some unskilful persons, from not attending to this, boldly discard the whole law of Moses, and do away with both its Tables, imagining it unchristian to adhere to a doctrine which contains the ministration of death. Far from our thoughts be this profane notion. Moses has admirably shown that the Law, which can produce nothing but death in sinners, ought to have a better and more excellent effect upon the righteous. 

When about to die, he thus addressed the people, “Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life” (Deut. 32:46-47). If it cannot be denied that it contains a perfect pattern of righteousness, then, unless we ought not to have any proper rule of life, it must be impious to discard it. 

There are not various rules of life, but one perpetual and inflexible rule; and, therefore, when David describes the righteous as spending their whole lives in meditating on the Law (Psa. 1:2), we must not confine to a single age, an employment which is most appropriate to all ages, even to the end of the world. Nor are we to be deterred or to shun its instructions, because the holiness which it prescribes is stricter than we are able to render, so long as we bear about the prison of the body.   It does not now perform toward us the part of a hard taskmaster, who will not be satisfied without full payment; but, in the perfection to which it exhorts us, points out the goal at which, during the whole course of our lives, it is not less our interest than our duty to aim. It is well if we thus press onward. Our whole life is a race, and after we have finished our course, the Lord will enable us to reach that goal to which, at present, we can only aspire in wish.

End of Calvin.

Is that awesome or what?

Have a nice day...

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Pink clouds and Calvin...

(If you want, click on the pics to open them, and click them again to expand them, I'm just saying.)

It has been my custom to read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion every night before I close my eyes, I have been doing this for the last five years at least, it has been a blessing, and every night I thank God for this man John Calvin, besides the multiple blessings that God bestows on me every single day; just look at the pictures above, that's what I see every day, or almost every day;I have some very beautiful sunsets captured from my backyard, God really blows my mind; I really have no idea what He has prepared for those who love Him.  I am a very blessed man, and I have more to be thankful than I can list; I have a shelter, have a bed, I have clothes, food and water, electricity, air conditioning, medicines for my ailing body, I have transportation if I need it, you see what I'm talking about?  All my needs are met, but God still gives me more than I need and deserve.  So thank you Lord for your amazing grace.

Here is a section from the Institutes that I read last night, Calvin is talking about the use of the law,  Another one of those sections of the book that strikes my mind like a hammer; the more when I think that he published the final revision when he was in his mid twenties, just amazing.  By the way, this is Book 2, chapter 7, sections 6-9. Enjoy.

6. That the whole matter may be made clearer, let us take a succinct view of the office and use of the Moral Law. Now this office and use seems to me to consist of three parts. First, by exhibiting the righteousness of God,--in other words, the righteousness which alone is acceptable to God,--it admonishes every one of his own unrighteousness, certiorates, convicts, and finally condemns him.

This is necessary, in order that man, who is blind and intoxicated with self-love, may be brought at once to know and to confess his weakness and impurity. For until his vanity is made perfectly manifest, he is puffed up with infatuated confidence in his own powers, and never can be brought to feel their feebleness so long as he measures them by a standard of his own choice. So soon, however, as he begins to compare them with the requirements of the Law, he has something to tame his presumption.

How high soever his opinion of his own powers may be, he immediately feels that they pant under the heavy load, then totter and stumble, and finally fall and give way. “Law, lays aside the arrogance which formerly blinded him.” In like manner must he be cured of pride, the other disease under which we have said that he labors.

So long as he is permitted to appeal to his own judgment, he substitutes a hypocritical for a real righteousness, and, contented with this, sets up certain factitious observances in opposition to the grace of God. But after he is forced to weigh his conduct in the balance of the Law, renouncing all dependence on this fancied righteousness, he sees that he is at an infinite distance from holiness, and, on the other hand, that he teems with innumerable vices of which he formerly seemed free. The recesses in which concupiscence lies hid are so deep and tortuous that they easily elude our view; and hence the Apostle had good reason for saying, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." For, if it be not brought forth from its lurkingplaces, it miserably destroys in secret before its fatal sting is discerned.

7. Thus the Law is a kind of mirror. As in a mirror we discover any stains upon our face, so in the Law we behold, first, our impotence; then, in consequence of it, our iniquity; and, finally, the curse, as the consequence of both. He who has no power of following righteousness is necessarily plunged in the mire of iniquity, and this iniquity is immediately followed by the curse.

Accordingly, the greater the transgression of which the Law convicts us, the severer the judgment to which we are exposed. To this effect is the Apostle's declaration, that "by the law is the knowledge of sin," (Rom. 3:20). By these words, he only points out the first office of the Law as experienced by sinners not yet regenerated. In conformity to this, it is said, "the law entered that the offence might abound;" and, accordingly, that it is "the ministration of death;" that it "worketh wrath" and kills (Rom. 5:20; 2 Cor. 3:7; Rom. 4:15). For there cannot be a doubt that the clearer the consciousness of guilt, the greater the increase of sin; because then to transgression a rebellious feeling against the Lawgiver is added.

All that remains for the Law, is to arm the wrath of God for the destruction of the sinner; for by itself it can do nothing but accuse, condemn, and destroy him. Thus Augustine says, "If the Spirit of grace be absent, the law is present only to convict and slay us.”

But to say this neither insults the law, nor derogates in any degree from its excellence. Assuredly, if our whole will were formed and disposed to obedience, the mere knowledge of the law would be sufficient for salvation; but since our carnal and corrupt nature is at enmity with the Divine law, and is in no degree amended by its discipline, the consequence is, that the law which, if it had been properly attended to, would have given life, becomes the occasion of sin and death.

When all are convicted of transgression, the more it declares the righteousness of God, the more, on the other hand, it discloses our iniquity; the more certainly it assures us that life and salvation are treasured up as the reward of righteousness, the more certainly it assures us that the unrighteous will perish.

So far, however are these qualities from throwing disgrace on the Law, that their chief tendency is to give a brighter display of the divine goodness. For they show that it is only our weakness and depravity that prevents us from enjoying the blessedness which the law openly sets before us. Hence additional sweetness is given to divine grace, which comes to our aid without the law, and additional loveliness to the mercy which confers it, because they proclaim that God is never weary in doing good, and in loading us with new gifts.

8. But while the unrighteousness and condemnation of all are attested by the law, it does not follow (if we make the proper use of it) that we are immediately to give up all hope and rush headlong on despair. No doubt, it has some such effect upon the reprobate, but this is owing to their obstinacy. With the children of God the effect is different. The Apostle testifies that the law pronounces its sentence of condemnation in order "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God," (Rom. 3:19). In another place, however, the same Apostle declares, that "God has concluded them all in unbelief;" not that he might destroy all, or allow all to perish, but that "he might have mercy upon all," (Rom. 11:32); in other words, that divesting themselves of an absurd opinion of their own virtue, they may perceive how they are wholly dependent on the hand of God; that feeling how naked and destitute they are, they may take refuge in his mercy, rely upon it, and cover themselves up entirely with it; renouncing all righteousness and merit, and clinging to mercy alone, as offered in Christ to all who long and look for it in true faith. In the precepts of the law, God is seen as the rewarder only of perfect righteousness (a righteousness of which all are destitute), and, on the other hand, as the stern avenger of wickedness. But in Christ his countenance beams forth full of grace and gentleness towards poor unworthy sinners.

9. There are many passages in Augustine, as to the utility of the law in leading us to implore Divine assistance. Thus he writes to Hilary,  "The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace." In like manner, he writes to Asellius, "The utility of the law is, that it convinces man of his weakness, and compels him to apply for the medicine of grace, which is in Christ." In like manner, he says to Innocentius Romanus, "The law orders; grace supplies the power of acting." Again, to Valentinus, "God enjoins what we cannot do, in order that we may know what we have to ask of him." Again, "The law was given, that it might make you guilty--being made guilty might fear; fearing, might ask indulgence, not presume on your own strength." Again, "The law was given, in order to convert a great into a little man--to show that you have no power of your own for righteousness; and might thus, poor, needy, and destitute, flee to grace."

He afterwards thus addresses the Almighty, "So do, O Lord, so do, O merciful Lord; command what cannot be fulfilled; nay, command what cannot be fulfilled, unless by thy own grace: so that when men feel they have no strength in themselves to fulfill it, every mouth may be stopped, and no man seem great in his own eyes. Let all be little ones; let the whole world become guilty before God."

But I am forgetting myself in producing so many passages, since this holy man wrote a distinct treatise, which he entitled De Spiritu et Litera. The other branch of this first use he does not describe so distinctly, either because he knew that it depended on the former, or because he was not so well aware of it, or because he wanted words in which he might distinctly and clearly explain its proper meaning.

But even in the reprobate themselves, this first office of the law is not altogether wanting. They do not, indeed, proceed so far with the children of God as, after the flesh is cast down, to be renewed in the inner man, and revive again, but stunned by the first terror, give way to despair.

Still it tends to manifest the equity of the Divine judgment, when their consciences are thus heaved upon the waves. They would always willingly carp at the judgment of God; but now, though that judgment is not manifested, still the alarm produced by the testimony of the law and of their conscience bespeaks their deserts.
End of Calvin.

Maybe tomorrow I will post the next section in this chapter because I am leaving you in the middle of his argument, but I don't want to post it here because it will make the post too long, and that is an old complaint from a brother who didn't like to read more than a sentence.  I guess no one has the time to read anymore, and that is a shame, there are numerous books that deserve to make the time to read them, the bible is one, and the most important, I may say, of them all.

Have a nice day, and try to look at the sky once in a while and be blessed.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The news...

I don't watch TV, I'd rather look at the sky, but if I want to know what's happening I look in the net; I have no idea what the media is saying through the TV networks, but I read my bible and sometimes I get some useful info via emails; I thought I would share the news from one particular outfit called Debka.

I get an email from Debka with the latest developments in Israel, maybe once a week (can't remember), these are the headlines from the last one, each headline has a brief attached to it but I didn't copy it, all I'm doing is listing the headlines only, it was dated 25Jul14 but the events took place between the 18th and the 25th: (read each one slowly, the whole thing tells a story, I hope you see what I see, you might have to read it more than once though)

• Egypt holds Hamas responsible for Israeli invasion
• Chancellor Merkel (Germany): Hamas has new weaponry
• Israel launched its Gaza ground operation cautiously in the South. Hamas ran from a fight by sheltering in the crowded towns.
• 18 July. The first hours of Israel's Operation Defensive Edge ground phase against Hamas were marked by heavy artillery and air pounding to soften up the terrain as the ground forces went in Thursday night, July 17. The troops advanced in two heads - one north to Jebalya and Beit Lahiya and the other south, where it went into action initially against Khan Younes and Rafah. The IDF took its first casualty before dawn Friday: Sgt. Eytan Barak, 20, from Herzliya, who served in the Nahal Division.
• Israel mobilizes another 50,000 reservists.
• Two Israeli officers killed fighting off Hamas infiltration from Gaza
• How Human Intelligence (HUMINT) works for Israel's Gaza operation - its crucial eyes on the ground.

Second Obama call to Netanyahu about Gaza operation. US President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday to voice serious concerns about the rising number of casualties in Gaza.

• Hamas requests, then violates truce in Sejaiya, Gaza City.
• Golani Brigades lose 13 officers and men in Gaza.
• The IDF embarks on perilous urban stage of Gaza operation.
• IDF death toll jumps to 25 in four days.
• Kerry and Ban launch truce bid to save Hamas from defeat.
• EU strongly urges the disarming of all terror groups in Gaza.
• US and European airlines suspend flights to Israel.
• 20,000 Maccabi fans attend 1st Sgt. Sean Carmeli's funeral.
• Israeli man injured in drive-by shooting on West Bank.
• Ashdod school hit in first round of Hamas rockets Tuesday.
• Smugglers' boat loaded with arms intercepted on Dead Sea.
• The missing Israeli sergeant's uncertain fate. His family won't accept his death. Hamas claims his capture.
• Israeli forces are fighting hard to win their first battle against Hamas, a savage and tenacious enemy.
• Hamas leader turns down unconditional truce.
• Central Israel again under heavy rocket barrage.
• Three Israel paratroops killed in Gaza Wednesday.
• 30,000 mourners pay last respects to Sgt. Max Steinberg. Some 30,000 mourners were moved spontaneously to attend the funeral of Sgt. Max Steinberg, 24, a lone soldier from Los Angeles who enlisted with the IDF and was one of the 13 Golani Brigades fighters who died in the Gaza Strip Sunday. Sgt. Steinberg was one of the two American IDF volunteers to be killed in action in the Gaza Strip.
• Israeli forces shell Wafa hospital after anti-tank rockets fired.
• Kerry arrives in Israel to promote Gaza ceasefire.
• Mortar fire from Gaza kills a foreign worker in S. Israel.
• IDF: 150 Hamas operatives surrender to Israeli troops in Gaza.
• Israel denounces the UN decision to probe Israel's actions in Gaza
• The decision by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to probe Israel's actions in Gaza on the day that 80 Palestinian rockets were fired at the Israeli population was a "travesty," said the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. This is "a kangaroo court." The Council acted on charges of war crimes brought against Israel by the Palestinian Authority at the initiative of its Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
• Europe joins US federal authority in lifting ban on flights to Israel.
• Hamas needs truce to counter Israeli Chariot-4 tank's Windbreaker armor.
• Early rocket fire against south spreads to central Israel.
• Jordanian air force intercepts a Syrian drone intruder.
• Crashed Algerian flight feared downed by Al Qaeda rocket.

I'm not going to say anything, it is all very clear to me.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and have a nice day.
By the way, you can subscribe to Debka here: Debka Subscribe. After you get there, look on the top left, you will see the link "Subscribe to Debka weekly" below the "Home" button, click there.


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One day is as a thousand years...

As I was looking at the sky this afternoon, I started thinking about what is going in the world today, I went to the store and saw the main page of the New York Times, it had a photo of a bunch of Israeli people stopped on a highway next to a wall trying to protect themselves from a possible rocket strike, like the one in the picture; it is getting nasty over there; these are very weird times in which we live right now; have you been thinking the same way?  I hope so.

What is happening in the world looks as if the stage was being set up for the battle of Ezekiel 38; or at least it does to me.  Just do some research on your own and you will see what is going on, the Ukraine situation would be a good start.

Then I had the realization of what is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual world.  Think about it, there are billions of people in this planet and every one has been born into this sinful place, from the seed on one man and one woman; and every single one has been infected with this disease called sin, of course Jesus being the exception.  Obviously you have to be a believer to see things this way, but think about the billions and billions of sins that have taken place since the beginning of the human race, imagine the indescribable offence that God has received.

Only one sin is an indescribable offence to The Lord, imagine the billions and billions of times that the holiness of God has been acted against; the bible speaks about the righteous anger of God against sin, against just one sin; now try to imagine what that is like, to be offended billions of times, this requires a righteous response: the wrath of God poured out on those who have offended Him, every single one of them, since humans were created, will pay the price for these transgressions.  There will be a day of reckoning for the total consummation of God's plans for this universe, and it is coming.

I have been reading the book of Revelation again, The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the apostle John and His church, what an amazing book it is, the more I think about it, the more I see how easily God will make all of it take place; and what is even more amazing is that He reserves and calls a people to Himself to be partakers of what The Lamb purchased with His blood. That just blows me away with wonder and a very deep gratitude overtakes me, and I'm not kidding.

For the children that Jesus came to rescue, the just response of the wrath of God was placed upon His only Son instead of being placed on them that have been called and are being called, it happened on that cross, on that hill called Golgotha, 2000 years ago.  Two thousand years is a long time, but for God a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, according to Peter; so it is like it just happened last week.

Imagine yourself in the city of Jerusalem, a gentile in the middle of the Jews, and someone tells you what just happened; the Jerusalem Post main page would read something like 'Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph and Mary's son, crucified with thieves by the Romans for claiming to be God in human flesh and the Jewish Messiah' and in the sideline 'reports of people coming back from the dead on Sunday, after a great earthquake in which the curtain in the temple covering the Most Holy place was rent in half from top to bottom', a week later it would read 'Jesus' disciples claim that He is risen from the dead, women report to have seen Him', a month and a week later it would read, 'for 40 days more than 500 people claim they have seen Jesus who is called the Christ'.  By the feast of Pentecost the headline would be 'Thousands turn to Christ and believe the good news that He is their savior during the preaching of the gospel by Peter, close friend  and disciple of Jesus, in the morning hours of the day after the Sabbath, Peter and his friends have been accused of being drunk by 9:00 A.M.'; right? Maybe not.  Of course not.

Surely, word of mouth was the only way to hear the news and respond.  Thousands of people had already witnessed the miracles and the signs that certified without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, God in human flesh; but still only a small percentage believed at the beginning, until it became the greatest story ever told in the last two thousand years.

It is a historical fact that Jesus was here, the fact that today we can say it is the year 2014 is because of His presence in this planet; the date testifies that He was here, He came and divided time in two, B.C. and A.D.  The presence of Israel today is the clearest evidence of God's word coming to pass; God promised that He would bring them back from being dispersed all around the world, and they came back to that land; the very existence of this tiny nation called Israel, points me back to the word of God, which came through Israel into all the world, you have to be blind to not see it.

'On May 14, 1948, the last British forces left through Haifa. The same day, in a public ceremony in Tel-Aviv, Ben-Gurion read the Israeli Declaration of Independence, declaring the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.[109] Both superpower leaders, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, immediately recognized the new state".  Wikipedia.

Why do we know that events really happened?  Testimonies.  The testimonies of people who actually saw the events occur.  These witnesses wrote down the events as they saw them, and they wrote those letters inspired by God the Holy Spirit, and we have these letters in the bible.  God sent people to preach before that, His prophets, and they all spoke of things that they themselves did not understand at the time they spoke, but as Paul says, they were written for our consolation and for our instruction, God is that good to us.

I think it is all going to get worse in the world; in fact it has gotten worse in a matter of days, so what am I to do?  To start, I need to pray for those people whom I think need to be saved from the wrath to come, I know several of them; some of them claim to be Christians but their actions deny their words.  Then I need to read the bible and study it; I think I have at least 10 different bibles in my house, which is a good thing; then I need to repent as I have been repenting, I also need to forgive those who have hurt me in any way, and I need to ask God to heal me; and I need to do the first works as Jesus says in Revelation, and I need...so on and so forth, but the main thing I need to do is trust in God, to trust in the Lord with all of my heart and not lean on my own understanding, to acknowledge Him in all my ways so that He will direct my path.

What makes possible my ability to trust in God is the very faith that He gave me; without it I would be swept away by every wind of doctrine, and without faith it is impossible to please God, as Hebrews 11 says.  It is as clear as purified water, faith is the channel through which the grace of God reaches me, and it is through it that I am saved and have peace with God.  I think that is amazing.

I'm telling the truth, every morning I wake up I thank God for life, for this very life I have, and then I reckon that I am still a believer, I still have faith in Christ and in His word; that my friends, I think is even more amazing.  One time as a way of experimentation, I tried to not believe in the gospel and I just couldn't do it, I used every single argument I could think of for not believing, and I had no success.  That is a good thing for me.  I don't recommend you do that but try it and you will see, I'm just saying.

To me at least, reading about what is going on in Israel really makes me think about Jesus coming back just as He said He would; He never lies, God cannot lie, and Jesus will come back.  I am convinced of it, the bible says that He will, and He will; but there is a lot of people who would do anything to deny His coming back; for a lot of them is just like Peter says, they will rationalize it by saying, "where is the promise of His coming", here it is so I can stop writing:  (and have a nice day)

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
(2Pe 3:4-14)

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