Twice in March 2020, God opened my eyes to see what scripture meant. I had read these two sections of scripture for decades without understanding. Then God allowed me to understand. That is the way it is sometimes with Bible. One scripture is in Old Testament and the other in New Testament. What God showed me is revealed in this Podcast.
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Jesus opens our eyes to understand the scriptures:
Luke 24 (after Jesus was crucified but before Jesus ascended into heaven HE revealed the scriptures and Himself to men along the road.)
15 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.
17 And HE said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And HE (Jesus) said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then HE (Jesus) said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew HIM; and HE vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while HE talked with us by the way, and while HE opened to us the scriptures?
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In 1982: God gave me understanding concerning a portion of scripture in II Thessalonians 2.
II Thessalonians 2 KJV
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
II Thessalonians 2 KJV
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Before Jesus could return, churches had to "fall away" from scripture.
NASB
5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders
KJV
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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Jesus says:
Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
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Matthew 16
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We, the church, are built upon "that rock", that Word, that is revealed to us by God.
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Several times God has revealed the meaning of scriptures to me. This happened twice in March 2020. It is always so wonderful when God shows us the meaning of scripture.
Many years ago, my pastor often spoke the following scripture, but I didn't understand what it means and that pastor perverted the meaning of this scripture.
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Pastor used this scripture to show it was alright to compete and try to be equal with God.
That didn't seem right to me but I didn't know what this meant.
Here is the complete scripture:
Philippians 2
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Recently the Holy Spirit led me to use this body of scripture in one of the Podcasts, but when I got to verse 6, I said to God, "I can't speak this verse for I don't understand this verse."
And immediately God gave me understanding.
The verse:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Jesus was in the form of God, but Jesus did not consider that HE had to be equal with God. HE came to earth in the flesh looking like man, making himself even lower than the angels, so HE could do this will of God and die for men to be saved, even die on a cross which was a curse for man to do.
Jesus did not consider this to be "robbery" to Himself to make himself lower than God, though Jesus, the Word, was God.
God showed me the exact opposite to that which this pastor has taught for the pastor was trying to teach that Jesus tried to be equal to God.
That made no sense to me in context to the complete scripture.
God allowed me to see the truth. I didn't go about asking other humans. I didn't read that which other humans wrote. I understood that when God wanted to show me the truth of this verse, HE would do so. And that is what God did.
Some people in churches run to other humans asking them, "What do you think?"
We might never know the truth if we do this.
Instead we should turn to God, telling God we just do not understand, and then wait patiently until God opens our eyes to the truth. God might do it through another person speaking truth. Or God might speak the truth directly to us. But the truth must be sought by us through turning to God.
Another scripture which made no sense to me: Uzzah steadies the cart and God was angry and struck Uzzah dead. Why did God kill him. All he did was to try to keep the ark of God from falling when the oxen stumbled. This looks like a "good" thing to do, doesn't it?
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Jesus was in the form of God, but Jesus did not consider that HE had to be equal with God. HE came to earth in the flesh looking like man, making himself even lower than the angels, so HE could do this will of God and die for men to be saved, even die on a cross which was a curse for man to do.
Jesus did not consider this to be "robbery" to Himself to make himself lower than God, though Jesus, the Word, was God.
God showed me the exact opposite to that which this pastor has taught for the pastor was trying to teach that Jesus tried to be equal to God.
That made no sense to me in context to the complete scripture.
God allowed me to see the truth. I didn't go about asking other humans. I didn't read that which other humans wrote. I understood that when God wanted to show me the truth of this verse, HE would do so. And that is what God did.
Some people in churches run to other humans asking them, "What do you think?"
We might never know the truth if we do this.
Instead we should turn to God, telling God we just do not understand, and then wait patiently until God opens our eyes to the truth. God might do it through another person speaking truth. Or God might speak the truth directly to us. But the truth must be sought by us through turning to God.
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Another scripture which made no sense to me: Uzzah steadies the cart and God was angry and struck Uzzah dead. Why did God kill him. All he did was to try to keep the ark of God from falling when the oxen stumbled. This looks like a "good" thing to do, doesn't it?
Here is the story from the Bible:
II Samuel 6
1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
2 And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.
3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.
4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.
5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
8 And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.
9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
(How can David move the ark of God, thought David.)
10 So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
Sometimes scripture explains scripture.
In reading the following scripture, I understood the problem that had come when they first tried to move the ark of God.
I Chronicles 15
2 Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto HIM for ever.
3 And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it.
4 And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites:
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13 For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought HIM not after the due order.
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel.
15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.
God had set forth "an exact way" to move the ark. It had to be done that way.
In the New Testament church, Jesus gave ministers to work in the church.
11 And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
In many cases today, "vile" men, thinking to do good, make themselves ministers of God by going to seminaries and by being ordained by men but not called by God nor ordained by God for the ministry.
They forbid apostles and prophets to work in the churches and say there are no more apostles and prophets, denying the scripture given in Ephesians 4. These people who deny scripture are "antichrist" in the churches.
King Jeroboam was one of the most evil of all the kings of Israel. He set up 2 golden calves for the people to worship, putting one worship place in Bethel and the other in the city of Dan.
In those days of the Old Testament, the ministers of God were the tribe of the Levites and they were called "Priests." (There are no priests in New Testament church according to New Testament Bible. Today the ministers are: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers.)
Jeroboam would not allow the Levites to minister. Instead Jeroboam set up the lowest of men to be "priests." The Levites had to move to the tribe of Judah to minister.
I Kings 12
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan
31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
Therefore Jeroboam is very evil in the sight of God and is an evil "by-word" throughout the examples of the Old Testament.
New Testament churches, Catholic & Protestant, have done exactly the same type sin as did king Jeroboam. These churches were set up by fleshly men who did things according to their own heart, and not according to that which is spoken concerning the ministries in the New Testament Bible. All types of idols were set up to make the congregation "feel" they were doing something religious. And the people were taught to put their trust in their own church doctrines rather than in God and what HE commanded for the church in the New Testament Bible. This is what we see today in these different churches, Catholic & Protestant.
Such things are great sins and will be strongly judged by God, as will also the people who follow these sins and bow down to church idols.
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Some of those "idols" set up in today's churches which are not in the New Testament Bible.
* Men calling themselves "Reverend" and allowing themselves to be called "Reverend." This is a great idol in churches for these men set themselves up to be worshipped and they are worshipped by people in their congregations. No one in Bible called himself "Reverend." In Bible, New Testament ministers are: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. (Ephesians 4:11)
* Crossing yourselves
* Lighting candles with prayer, or any other time as a part of religion
* "Holy" water to cross yourselves
* Wearing crosses or "religious" medallions
* Praying to anyone other than God
* Calling crackers & grape juice "The Lord's Supper" (The Lord's supper is partaking of the Word of God.)
* Christmas has become an idol greatly observed: Not in Bible to do this at all.
Easter is not in Bible to observe this. (Unger: Easter was added to the church by men in 8th century. Easter was taken from the pagan goddess of spring.) In Acts 12, the word Easter means " The Passover".
Lent: Jesus paid sacrifice for us in today's church. To pay your own sacrifice by stopping doing something at "Lent" is an abomination and denies the sacrifice paid by Jesus with HIS own blood.
* Graven images: Setting up statues in the church building and kneeling before statues in religious ceremonies
* Music: when used as entertainment in the church
If we practice idolatry, we will not inherit the kingdom of God, says Paul.
* Crossing yourselves
* Lighting candles with prayer, or any other time as a part of religion
* "Holy" water to cross yourselves
* Wearing crosses or "religious" medallions
* Praying to anyone other than God
* Calling crackers & grape juice "The Lord's Supper" (The Lord's supper is partaking of the Word of God.)
* Christmas has become an idol greatly observed: Not in Bible to do this at all.
Easter is not in Bible to observe this. (Unger: Easter was added to the church by men in 8th century. Easter was taken from the pagan goddess of spring.) In Acts 12, the word Easter means " The Passover".
Lent: Jesus paid sacrifice for us in today's church. To pay your own sacrifice by stopping doing something at "Lent" is an abomination and denies the sacrifice paid by Jesus with HIS own blood.
* Graven images: Setting up statues in the church building and kneeling before statues in religious ceremonies
* Music: when used as entertainment in the church
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If we practice idolatry, we will not inherit the kingdom of God, says Paul.
It is therefore important for each of us to recognize those things that are idolatry in religion.
Idolatry is setting up anything that we can see with our natural eyes that is used in religion to make us think by use of such we will get our prayers answered, or making us think by these visible things we will connect with the spirit of God.
These are very evil to do.
These are very evil to do.
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