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Friday, September 26, 2014
Decalogue or ten commandments - The first threeDecalogue or
ten commandments - The first three
 Do you know there is a piece of parchment – 2010 to 2060 years old that is part of the Dead
Sea scrolls that has parts of the ten commandments on it?
They are real old! They are found in the bible!
Where?
Exodus 20 : 1-17
Deuteronomy 5 : 4-21
Yet there has been a number of sources of the information that has given
input to what is in our bible today.
These sources of information do not have exactly the same thing written in them;
There are four sources to be mentioned today...
·
Septuagint – Greek Old Testament
o Sometimes called LXX (70)
o 70 Scholars translated the Torah for Ptolomy II who followed Alexander the Great
· Philo – Jewish philosopher
o 25 to 50 AD
o
While Jesus lived
o Philo bases his doctrines on the Old Testament
o He repeated the know 10 commandments of his day
·
Talmud – Hebrew Oral law
o Babylonian Talmud
o oldest full manuscript of the Talmud is from 1342
o Words remembered and repeated go back more than 500 years before Jesus
·
Augustine of Hippo – early Christian theologian and philosopher
o 354 to 430 AD
o Writings influence Western Christianity
Why mention this?
THEY DIFFER SLIGHTLY!
| Septuagint | Generally exactly what we
follow | | Philo | What we follow but order of Killing(6) and Adultery(7) commandments are reversed | | Talmud | Makes “I am the Lord your God” the
first commandment.Combines our 1 and 2 into
the second commandment. | | Augustine | Combines verses 3–6, Leaves out the prologue as a commandment Splits
coveting into two |
Septuagint and Philo - closest to Jesus time – They should have more impact right?
Where did the commandments come from?
Exodus 19 (NIV) explains...
16 On the morning of the third
day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the
camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of
the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed
up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice
of God answered him.[c]
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and
the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of
them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break
out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned
us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron
up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out
against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
What Exodus 19 does not tell us is how long Moses was up on the mountain...
Exodus 24: 12-13 (NIV)
15 When Moses went up on the
mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud
covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites
the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud
as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
OR what they were written on
Deuteronomy 9
9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the
tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty
nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of
God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
11 At the end of the forty days
and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord told
me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned
away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”
These laws form a baseline of our beliefs and we
cannot disagree with them in the slightest way, Jesus supported them fully...right?
Matthew 5
18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Agreed?
Okay so
let’s look at the first three commandments
PROLOGUE
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out
of the land of slavery”
Why say this?
To ensure they did not mix the
TRUE
GOD up
with the multitude of other gods they knew.
[At the time there were many Ba’al’s or gods.
The Egyptian Gods...
Ammut, Anput, Anubis, Anuket, Apophis, Aten, Babi, Bastet, Bes,
Geb, Gengen-Wer, Hapi, Hathor, Heket, Horus, Isis, Kebechet, Khepri, Khnum, Khonsu, Ma'at, Mafdet, Menhit, Nephthys, Nekhbet,
Nut, Osiris, Ptah, Ra, Sekhmet, Serqet, Seshat, Seth, Shu, Sobek, Tawaret, Tefnut, Thoth, Wadjet]
There were Phoenician Gods
Ahtart, Atherat, Asherah, etc.
There were many gods.
Yet there was only one God that brought them
from Egypt. That was the God that was delivering the commandments.
Do we agree on this?
COMMANDMENT ONE
“You shall have no other gods before me.
Or
You shall have no other gods besides me.
(see small letter in NIV version that gives alternative meanings)
What does this mean?
·
Can we worship our God alongside for
example ... Ra of Egypt? No
· Can we worship our God alongside for example... Mohammed?
No
· Can we worship our God alongside for example... Buddha?
No
· Can we worship our God alongside for example... the Druid’s “Great Spirit”?
No
· Can we worship our God alongside for example... the “Great Mother Earth”?
No
· What if we combine these all into “The Great Architect of the Universe”.
Can we be pure in our love of God and then worship our God in agreement with others who worship other gods, but who all agree
to call this supreme god “The Great Architect of the Universe” and worship him/her together?
No
That is disobeying
the first commandment!
Disobeying it would be wrong wouldn’t it?
COMMANDMENT TWO
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image
in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those
who love me and keep my commandments.
Images, symbols, symbolic things ... we worship.
Pop stars, people we put on a pedestal, objects
we endue with godly powers, cultic objects....
These are all referred to by this commandment are they not?
Do you have a belief, or concept, or follow a deity or organization that puts themselves
above Jesus?
Even if people acknowledge Jesus is a god then move onto saying he is one of the god’s people
could worship together as long as they focus on Jesus while doing so, then we would be worshipping an idol if we worshipped
such a god, would we not?
We all make mistake! I am sure we all have things we have perhaps falsely worshipped and put above Jesus.
However, that needs to be fixed
folk!
We need to realize our God is a jealous God.
Nothing can be placed ahead of Jesus! Nothing!
If ywe do place something ahead of Jesus,
we break commandment 2.
Have you been doing so?
In some way perhaps even I have.
We need to repent and turn to God and keep his commandments.
COMMANDMENT
THREE
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his
name.
Misuse...what
do we think that means?
Take in vain...
·
emptiness, nothingness, vanity
·
of ineffective offering to
·
make nothing
·
empty of speech, lying
·
make of worthless conduct
·
desolate
·
ruin
·
make useless
These are misusing his name...
THAT MUST NOT BE US!
What must we do as Christians...
Philippians 2 (NIV) says it well.
2 Therefore if you have any encouragement
from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not
looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have
the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in
appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to
death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and
every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Which name above every
other name?
JESUS CHRIST
n ot Buddah, not Mohammed, not Justine Bieber, not Mother Earth, not the Great Architect,
just JESUS...
that we in love and rejecting pride
and false humility have to acknowledge is the ONLY God while loving each other, our neighbours as they perhaps do not agree.
However to be true Christians, means we must agree Jesus is the ONLY God!
Fri, September 26, 2014 | link
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
May we have your justice and righteousness, dear GodMay we have
your justice and righteousness, dear God
 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!~Amos 5:24 NIV
There are times when we get someone who cuts
in front of us in our travels and they almost cause an accident. They are uncompromisingly selfish and nasty!. At times like
these many of us can get angry and worked up. We are annoyed not only for ourselves, but feel that someone should teach this
other person manners.
This
sometimes then results in the conclusion “I must”.
That’s the start of road rage, unpremeditated murder and many other things
that delight the devil.
It’s the start of a day that takes down the person who thinks they are about to teach the other a lesson.
That is not the Christian
way!
We
simply pray and ask God to add it into the things he will judge in the judgement and that he will be the one who administers
justice and righteousness.
That way we stay
in joy, we make way for people who are selfish, like God did for us, and everyone lives a
better day.
The person may “apparently”
get away with their behaviour, but ultimately this too will be dealt with. Instead of getting wound up, we maintain a peaceful
heart and God’s will not Satan’s is done.
That’s the Christian way and our challenge for today. We are lovers not fighters!
Have a great day!
Tue, September 23, 2014 | link
Monday, September 22, 2014
Idiots and Idols, what do they have in common?Idiots and Idols,
what do they have in common?
 Any
man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
Have you noticed how similar the words idiot and idol are in the English language?
That got me thinking...
An idiot is an intellectually disabled person who acts in a self-defeating
or significantly self-damaging way. This person does not have the ability to comprehend the damage they do themselves and
lacks insight to even know what is right or wrong.
An
idol is an image
or representation of a god
used as an object of worship or alternatively a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered for specific qualities
that may or may not be valid.
What has this got to do us with as a Christian people?
Well, we are to love the idot’s and hate the idols.
Strange people us Christians.
God tells us “‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’” Mark
12. That includes the idiots out there.
Yet we are to have nothing to do with anything or anyone who takes
our worship away from God. ““I
am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.You shall have no other gods before
Me.” Exodus 20
Yet isn’t it true that it is in combining the two we make our
biggest mistake?
The
biggest mistake occurs when we idolise ourselves (thereby making ourselves idiots)!
It’s when we think we are god’s and make out we know everything
and can do everything. Some people think our current progress in the sciences makes mankind invincible, or soon to be invincible.
This is idolatry
in the worst form and turns us into idiots.
We don’t even understand the basics of life and in spiritual terms we become spiritually disabled
acting in a self-defeating or significantly self-damaging way.
Spiritual morons, we then stumble around in darkness proclaiming we are the bringers
of light.
Even Lucifer thought he was enlightened and that was his downfall.
Similarly those who fail to acknowledge the God of the universe
and instead idolize themselves think they are enlightened.
God cast Lucifer from heaven.
What will he do with those who do not repent of this similar sin?
Yet God is love, truth and true light. He
offers us wisdom and it is for the taking. All we need is the spiritual awareness to know Jesus is the son of God and the
one who makes all the difference in life.
Acknowledge that and we go from moron to a forgiven loved and wise child of God.
Today let’s pray for those that still
have to make that step!
Mon, September 22, 2014 | link
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
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| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
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