The sunrise filtered through the window… my eyes opened from my slumber… these thoughts started stirring in my head…
Take care of the first issue and the rest will follow.
A CEO once said… people like to boil oceans… their focus is an inch deep and a mile wide.
Due to boredom, people love to stir up sensations at every turn. We’re tempted to travel the wide twisting road of wasted time and ruin lined with thrills of the flesh and distractions. This is an attempt to keep this world, dwindling down with cursed drab tedious diminishing returns, on “life support”.
If we choose this wide road, the appeal of the narrow straight road of Life… of Light… becomes contorted—it’s eventually swallowed up by the night where we’re blind to find it.
With our choices, we’re either slowing dying… the “druggie/alcoholic” world convinces us to trust it having no desire to become sober… or… we’ve been reborn, becoming sober, alive, and growing towards…
Listening to Pastor Bill Randles’ teachings (see source list at end), along with writing about this before (see the essay The Familial at the Writings Page), helped develop the following context of my morning thoughts.
Proverbs 9 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
Who’s on first?
The 10 Commandments of God were written on two tables by His own hand.
The 1st table starts out with recognizing, obeying, and worshipping only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of Israel. That we have no other, false or strange, gods—the 1st Commandment…
This leads to having no adulterous idols attempting to replace God in our lives—the 2nd Commandment…
This leads to NOT degrading, abusing, and misrepresenting God’s name—rubber stamping our shady behaviors and deals in attempt to “sell” our acts of self-righteousness to our, and everyone else’s, conscience—the 3rd Commandment…
This leads to trusting and resting in the Lord to redeem and save us to become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ… to be reconciled, brought into right standing, with God through Christ’s Blood. The life of the flesh and atonement for it are in the blood. Eternal Life and Eternal Atonement are in Jesus Christ’s shed Blood… nothing less will qualify to forgive our sins (Leviticus 17:10-12; Hebrews 9). Jesus Christ is the Sabbath rest for man—the 4th commandment…
This leads to living a life of fearing (reverencing), honoring, worshipping the Lord our God, which really does honor our father and mother. God brought us into the world through them, and with their sacrifices, we’re able grow up and live a life. Honoring God with our life does honor our parents—the 5th commandment…
This leads to treating others, our neighbor, with love, honor, and respect—the last five Commandments on the 2nd table.
Proverbs 3:15-17 16 Length of days is in her [Wisdom of God… Salvation of our soul from God through Jesus Christ… Eternal Life] right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour [living well with others and reaping the blessings of… including those blessings of the age-to-come, Eternity].
Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, summed up the two tables of God’s Law … Matthew 22 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets [Mark 12:29-31; Romans 13:8-10; 10:3-4].
Where I’m going with this…
The reasons I hear from many for marching lock-and-step to all government barked orders… masking up… social distancing… taking “the jab”… closing and rejecting local businesses… are… I want to love and respect others… I don’t want to make others feel fearful and uncomfortable… I want to act “peaceful”… I want to protect others… we’re to obey the government with this… this is helping others… I want to be “safe”. Some are legitimate concerns and actions from the 2nd table of the 10 Commandments.
However…
From the same, I don’t hear the 1st Commandment and the others on the 1st table as the initial reason(s) for following the “edicts”.
What do I mean?
Filtering through, or in context of, the 1st Commandment, I ask myself the following questions.
Is ______ my God… is it my “strange god”?
To fill in some blanks…
Is man…the fear of him… my God… is he my “strange god”?
Is the government my God… is it my “strange god”? (In context of government rule that contradicts the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of Israel. If the government commanded… go and murder your neighbor… would you do it?)
Is the mask my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is social distancing my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is the jab my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is destroying another person’s business, livelihood, and life my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is the disease my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is the woman my God… is she my “strange god” (speaking as a man)?
Is the “good work” my God… is it my “strange god”?
Is the “ministry” my God… is it my “strange god”?
Are my loans, career, job, house, car, money, stock portfolio, silver and gold my God… are they my “strange gods”?
Are my food, drink, and clothing my God… are they my “strange gods”?
I could go on… inserting lust of the flesh, pride of life, and love of the world in “the blank” for this question.
Jeremiah 32 27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Do I trust what’s filled-in “the blank” more than the Lord God to give me life and protection… provide what I need… to save my soul and life? Do my answers reveal the first-line of defense… go-to-source… armor of protection… what I bow the knee to in my heart, which causes me to act, to be saved?
Psalm 31 14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.
When “the blank” is filled in with the God of Israel, honoring the 1st Commandment… does not obedience to and worshipping God, expressed with the other Commandments on the 1st table, start to happen?
Followed by…
Do we not end up loving, honoring, and respecting our neighbor, expressed with the Commandments on the 2nd table? We refuse squelch their breath-of-life, kill their business or job, and demand they get jabbed—we don’t want to destroy (murder) their lives and families. We refuse to kill, cheat, steal, and lie to pillage their life for our personal gain… to save our skin… to secure and protect our own comforts and life-style.
Jeremiah 17 5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
Does this not fulfill the Law of the Spirit that Jesus Christ talked about… loving God with our all, first… then, loving others as we love ourselves?
Isaiah 26 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee [Philippians 4:4-8; Romans 12:17-21].
Revelation 2 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Because we’re not starting out addressing the 1st Commandment that… God is our God and we’re not… so we reject false gods… are we getting a mouth full of gravel… the carnage?
Proverbs 20 17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
We’re witnessing the assault and loss of the dignity of… male and female created in God image—the abuses rage throughout the world… in the name of counterfeit love. The joys of life are fading… the world is becoming darker traveling deeper into death—we’re treating each other like animals… and animals like people, giving them equal status to humans. It’s not new… along with the repercussions of the defiled land spewing out the offenders (Leviticus 18:23-30).
The vote has been in favor of drugs like marijuana, along with participation of yoga, contemplative prayer, and other occult mystical practices, because they’re considered vogue and harmless. If so, Arizona is loaded with prime ocean-front property. In reality, they’re hatching confusion we’re witnessing.
Matthew 6 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Does the turbulence mean the protection covering… deliverance from evil… that God offers mankind is withdrawing? Is all hope lost (Isaiah 30:2-3; Psalm 107:9-14; Hebrews 13:5-6)?
No… there’s ultimately a calming for the raging seas when Jesus Christ returns to set up His Kingdom on earth… until then, His followers do experience His peace.
Psalm 89 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? 9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them [Matthew 8:25-27; Psalm 107:25-30; 36:6-9; 57:1; 63:6-8; 91:1-7].
After all, Jesus Christ is the first for His saints, brethren, His body… the Church—He is the first born, first fruit, and chief corner stone. We start out from Him… because of Him, the saints exist (Matthew 1:24-25; Romans 8:28-30; Colossians 1:17-19; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21; Ephesians 2:19-21).
There is the cure for this disease of neglecting, or ignoring, the 1st Commandment that starts us out on the straight and narrow road… the only Way… to Eternal Life.
Being human and receiving this cure requires judging the roads set before us. And, who said… we shouldn’t judge?
If we deny the basis of choice for being masked, tested, locked down, jabbed, working, and what we allow to enter our bodies… leading to life or death… will we revoke the same regarding Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? If we’re willing to advocate “at-gun-point” destructive and fatal practices, will we champion the same for the soul… in essence, demanding the denial of accepting Jesus Christ’s Salvation?
To mandate rammed-down-your-throat orders leading to one’s demise, is this not saying… you must reject life and accept death? Does this not translate to… pressing for Death—contempt of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the only Way to God, Jesus Christ… Life or the 1st Commandment?
Have not the world governments shuttered the doors of Christian churches and organizations and silenced the worshipping of God… where exposure to the 1st Commandment happens? Again, you do the math that the creators and enforcers of the tyrannies don’t want us to.
Grievously, some of these organizations, that have yet to “break rank-and-file” from the government “edicts” destroying lives, claim to be sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it betrayal or unfair to ask… what do they really stand for… which gospel are they really sharing, is it the Gospel leading to Eternal Life or a gospel promoting death forever—do they believe in and honor the 1st Commandment with their actions?
Is this why a major world religion will operate their soup kitchens in the light of the day…. rape children in the darkness of the night… set a weekly table of cannibalism… worship their “woman savior” and the environment… have a history of being involved in the slaughter of people… while their leader attempts to squeeze Allah (aka…Satan) into, forcing the God of Israel out of, the 1st Commandment?
Then, some organizations believe they’re good partners for sharing the gospel. Does this indicate which gospel they’re really sharing… is it the one that worships the god of this world?
Are they dead-set on their course… hiding their deception (who they really serve) in secrecy under the cloak of the night? Has the “sting of poison” from the serpent paralyzed them? If so, will they look to the Cross of Jesus Christ, His shed Blood, that crushed the serpent’s head… to save them from continuing to slide towards Death?
The pole where God hung the bronze fiery serpent was a testimony to this, but God destroyed it because Israel turned it into an idol… not trusting God (Genesis 3:15; Numbers 21:6-9; John 3:13-17; 2 Kings 18:4).
No, I’m not exempt—I’m vulnerable to temptation and evil like everyone else… that I pray God continue to prune and rescue me from this world.
Psalm 40 4Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Is this God’s judgment on us? Babies have no voice or choice when the wolves come to prey on them in, and from, the womb… however, as adults, we do. Since we’ve kept silent… are we now being silenced? Why should I trust these barbarian slaughter butchers of people to oversee my medical treatments? Do you?
Again, does exploitation of our neighbor for mammon indicate the repudiation of… God is God, and we’re not?
These are the questions I’m resolving for my life. To do so, I “look through the magnifying glass” at… is the God of Israel truly my God—the 1st Commandment?
What’s our hope in the end? Is it not what God, the only Begotten Son of God, judges or measures Himself by? Is it not His own Word… who He is (Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 45:17-19; John 14:10-11,28; 5:30-31; Matthew 4:8-11; 5:48; John 12:47-49)?
God set the example for us of… Who’s on First… if we want to share in His Life.
External Sources referenced…
Pastor Bill Randles Blog https://billrandles.wordpress.com/
Believers in Grace Fellowship YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjrSfLoALib2ohIPW76wRgg/videos
Oregon Bill to BAN Livestock – Stunning War on Farming/Ranching https://www.bitchute.com/video/BKQawCUMn3JN/
Top 10 Sickening Details About How Federal Employees Trafficked Baby Body Parts https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/26/top-10-sickening-details-about-how-federal-employees-trafficked-baby-body-parts/
updated 821… 2 Kings 18:4 script added w/comment
Hope Is Here... The Road Home 