Spring is for Planting Seeds

I've been behind in preparing the garden for spring planting because I'm battling a terrible cold. I hope to get out there today to dig around a bit. Just like our vegetable gardens soil require preparation, so also do the hearers of God's word need their soil worked up to receive the good news. There are lots of weeds growing out there!!!

This is what Jesus had to say about it:

The Parable of the Sower
Luk 8:4-8  And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:   A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.   And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.   And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The Purpose of the Parables
Luk 8:9-15  And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?   And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.   Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.   Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.   They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.   And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

A Lamp Under a Jar
Luke 8:16-18  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.   For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.   Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

The fields are getting ripe for harvest...so hopefully the seeds planted will bear much good fruit!!

The Gospel

I posted this a few years ago on the Flutterbys blog, but I think it’s a better fit here:

I understand that we don't want to get into arguments, and we need to present the truth "in love". So why did the people of Paul's time kill people like Stephen, Peter, Paul, John the Apostle, John the Baptist, etc, etc, etc? Jesus said if we stand for the truth and proclaim it, the world will hate us....why? And if the world doesn't hate us, does that mean we are not actually proclaiming the gospel?
I understand that the Lord's sheep will come to Him, does that let us off the hook from proclaiming the truth which the world hates to hear about? Paul named names of those who didn't preach the truth, are we somehow better than he is if we don't argue?

Edit: I would add to this that the word “gospel” means GOOD NEWS. Also, the original post had great comments after it, if you (like me) enjoy reading comments, you can go to the link:
http://susanflutterbys.blogspot.com/2011/0
Just some things to wrestle in the spirit about.

God’s Word to Us

What a blessing that the Lord would supply us not only with life and the things pertaining to life; food, water, air to breathe, and the beauty of creation all around us; but also His word which are not only His instructions, but also His warnings and promises, both conditional and unconditional promises.

The Flutterbys blog is mainly for musings, home and garden updates, and also to look at controversial topics, to examine things that are happening in the world by trying to make sense of it through the lense of God’s word. I hope you’ll join me there and perhaps share your thoughts on the timing of the rapture and the coming of the Lord. The link to my Flutterbys blog is located on the sidebar ——>

Let’s use scripture to explain scripture and not base it on traditions and feelings and excited utterings. I do not deny prophesying, but let’s not put the cart before the horse by basing scriptures on prophecies (eisegesis), instead of examining prophecies on the plain reading of scripture  (exegesis).

Hope to see you there ❤️

Greater than Abraham

This morning I was thinking about Moses, his trials and tribulations, his temper costing him the blessing of entering the Promised Land, and how that often gets interpreted as meaning one can lose one's salvation. I thought about how Moses begged the Lord  to change His mind, however the Lord is the Lord, and His final answer was "no".

I'm not going to take this into the whys of it not being about losing salvation. That is something that is amply discussed and easily refuted with careful study.

As I thought about Moses and his foibles as well as his triumphs, I thought about how much like Moses our walk with Jesus is. We have our struggles, and failures, and triumphs! and failures....etc, and many times we fail in trusting the Lord, we fail when we lose our temper with coworkers, or even worse; our spouses...but Moses was an exceptional leader and a pillar in the Jewish people's faith. Christians think about Moses once in a while, mostly  when watching Charleton Heston play him in the movie "The Ten Commandments" at Easter / Passover time. But for the Jews Moses is a much bigger deal. Moses recorded the first five books; The Torah. He led Israel out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea!!!...well, actually God did, but Moses gets the credit....but he did that one little thing wrong; striking a rock; and it carried a huge penalty. Remember the Egyptian he murdered? That didn't cost him the Promised Land. Anyway, that's how my musings went this morning...AND THEN the words "Greater than Abraham is here".

That thought took me aback for a moment. Abraham was great, even by Jewish thinking, as well as Christians and even Muslims too!!! And Abraham had his issues as well, he told some "little white lies" about Sarah being only his sister that got Sarah into some awkward situations. I wish I could have been a fly on their wall to hear what she had to say about that, because knowing Jewish women I know she would have had some words! Yet he is the father of the "great faiths" of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. And pondering over that, then pondering those words of Jesus: "I tell you greater than Abraham is here".

We as people tend to idolize other people, not all people, but certain ones. Many people, even Christians, idolize President Trump right now. They probably would be thrilled to meet him, and be thoroughly gobsmacked in such a situation. I would too! I thought about the people that I hold high...I thought Charles Krauthammer was amazing, what an intellect, but he did not accept Jesus as Messiah, and unlike what many Christians believe, Jews do not get an automatic pass. They revere Abraham and Moses, but "Greater than Abraham is here". Any one of us might get excited to meet with and get the attention of some great world leader, or even a famous movie star, but "Greater than ABRAHAM  is here" who is even greater than anyone we can currently put on a pedestal.

And then I thought about the fact that Jesus gives us the honour of meeting with Him, being in His presence, ANYTIME. Wow! Yet we often look at prayer and reading the Bible as things to do at the bottom of the list of things that we need to get done.

Just something I was pondering this morning....

Unhindered Prayer

Yesterday morning while reading 1 Peter my attention was drawn to two verses in which Peter touched on something that can hinder our prayers:

The first one comes at the end of a warning to husbands and wives to love each other, summing up this admonishment with this:

"and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered." 1 Peter 3:7 (ESV)

The second comes after stating the importance of avoiding temptations to join others in following after lusts of the flesh, human passions, and debauchery and then saying:

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1 Peter 4:7 (ESV)

It is less clear in the KJV where it is:

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

 

While reading it made perfect sense that when we live a careless life, doing those things that we have freedom in Christ to do, yet things that are not profitable to do (1st Corinthians 6:12), we hinder our relationship with Christ in the same way we hinder our relationship in a marriage where our communication then as a consequence suffers. 

If we truly love the Lord we want to have that right relationship, one where we stay in communion with each other, praying for each other, even for our enemies, forgiving each other as Jesus has forgiven us and steering clear from those things that would hinder our prayers and our communication with the One who loves us the most.

The Feminization of Everything part 2

In the previous post I linked to an online book I’m reading http://www.crossroad.to/Books/TwistofFaith/1-Father-Mother.html

This book brings much to light regarding what we see today, and is even infecting our churches. That is a point I would like to explore a little more in this posting.

I admit that I spend more time than I should debating things that would be better to leave to the Lord to deal with Himself. While trying to make sense of the many ridiculous statements made these days, even by Christians (so-called) I cannot help but notice how the pagan ideas which influence the feminist movement are seeping into mainstream Christian theology and practice. I must admit that I also often feel the tug of the seductive imagery of the woman warrior dressed for battle against satanic foes. But is that image truly accurate and in line with true Biblical teaching? Actually, no, it is not.

Warriors in scripture have always been men. “Oh, but what about Deborah mentioned in the book of Judges!?” Interesting that Deborah is often brought up in these discussions to bolster their argument that God puts women in positions of power and authority. But truly if one really examines what occurred in the account of Deborah in the book of Judges one finds that it actually dismantles the notion that it was a good idea for a man, a general in the Israeli army, to have wanted to trust and obey and even hide behind a woman to fight his battle.

I hope and pray anyone reading this will read the book I linked to as well as the story of Deborah in the book of Judges...and revisit what happened in the garden of Eden as well. Then also read about Jezebel and Ahab, and the Jezebel mentioned in the book of Revelation in the 7 letters to 7 churches. Do some careful study of these things and see where this stuff is leading to. I promise you, if God grants you wisdom, you will find that it is not leading to a good place.

The Feminization of Everything

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness....
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:20-21

I recently found an online book that explains much of what we see happening in churches, and in the entire world for that matter. It began gradually and subtly, as these things do, and recently these things have been ramping up.

There are many things that are upside down and backward from “the way it’s supposed to be”, many are inherent to this fallen world: crime and violence, lying, cheating, wars and rumours of wars, etc, and these also are increasing dramatically. We have the ability to blow the entire planet to smitherines...but the book I mentioned above goes into something else, and we’ve been hitting all around what the problem is, but not actually getting at it’s very root.



The “gender issues” and the feminists rage and outrage increasing combined with the call for “getting in touch with your inner warrior”, and the symbols of warrior princesses and goddesses on the warpath are now creeping even into Christian congregations...but there was something that I still wasn’t quite getting, I mean, yes, of course it is satan inspired and the paganism components are understandable enough, yet I still wasn’t quite piecing it all together.

 (While searching for a good Greek goddess depiction I stumbled onto this interesting site: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-roles-of-women-in-mythology.htm# )

 Artemis/Diana

http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub367/item2023.html

The above linked online book does that "piecing it all together" for me. It packs a punch at really getting at the very root of these issues and why gender confusion and the feminine power has become the rallying cry for women and many men as well trying to “access their feminine side”.

It all goes back to that original problem of the original sin...and of course I knew that, but looking at these things once again what do we see? It is the woman that succumbed to "the evil one" and sought her own wisdom to lead her instead of trusting what God had told them. And today we see it shouted loud and proud that God's way is evil and puts women down, that Christianity is to blame for making this "a man's world" and blames God and men for all the ills of the world, but not all "gods" are to blame, only the God of the Bible, the God that sent Jesus to ransom us from sin...oh, and there's no such thing as sin...

Hmm, now where would such "new" information come from do you suppose? Is Eve getting duped all over again?