Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 4:13 (KJV)

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

 

This chapter is scathing to say the least, 

Hosea 4:11-12 (KJV)

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

 

God doesn't accuse; He knows it to be fact that they are drunken, involved in whoredom, erring, and seeking counsel from others beside Him. There is nothing in this passage to suggest any good of the people. So, when the text says, “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good,” I take this to be negative as well. Various commentaries suggest they like the shadows because it hides their evil deeds. Sin likes darkness. Sinners cover their sins. They have no intention of quitting the sin, but neither are they comfortable being exposed.

 

I see another application among those who follow a path of worship different from the Bible. There are those who claim to worship God but want to do it in the most comfortable way possible. Not like the Anabaptists, who refused the shelter of Rome under the shadow of the Catholic Church. Not like those faithful believers who were brutally slaughtered because they would not yoke with the Protestants. Not like those who lost their lives because they owned a Bible, rejected infant baptism, and worshiped in secret conventicles.[1]

 

These today look for places of worship where the music pleases their ears rather than God’s, where the atmosphere seems more like a Saturday night sock-hop than a worship service, where the message, if there is one, is more about themselves than about the Lord, and where sin is minimized, and man’s potential is the focus. The shadow of today’s spiritual whoremongers may look more like a church building than a tree, but it is no less true that they are attracted to it because “the shadow thereof is good.”

 

#SpiritualWhoredom #FalseWorship #SinfulShadows #TrueWorshipVsFalse #GodlyWorship

Lost in the Shadows: The Deceptive Allure of Comfortable Worship

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[1] Early Baptist Churches in England (pre-1600's) were called “conventicles” which means “an illegal place of worship.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation

Hosea 1:11 (KJV)

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

 

The Bible is not a harsh and mean book. It is honest and real. It is earnest and caring. It has the work of the policeman "to protect and to serve." It reflects, of course, the heart of it's author, Almighty God. It does not whitewash and cover the problem, it exposes sin so sin may be corrected.

 

The book of Hosea, and in fact, the first chapter of Hosea is a reflection of the heart of God. The sinner and the hypersensitive might see it as mean spirited.

Hosea 1:9 (KJV)

Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

 

But while this was the present reality, it is not the final word of God. Hosea functions like a roadmap.[1] It takes the reader from the place they were, "...ye are not my people." to where God will one day have them, "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together..."

 

And that is exactly the plan of God,

·       For the Bible

·       For the future and

·       For you and me

 

The Bible serves to take us from where we are "dead in trespasses and sins"[2] to where God would have us "for by grace are ye saved."[3] And from the place of salvation to be seated, "together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."[4]

 

The Bible is no harsh book. God is not mean spirited and monstrous. But sin is monstrous, and this world is harsh. God is our Rescuer, Deliverer and Saviour. He is our Hero. It is true blindness to reject Christ for the world.

 

#GodsHeart #RedemptionRoad #SinExposed #DivineRescue #GraceAndMercy

From Rejection to Reconciliation: Finding Hope in the Heart of God

 

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[1] Chapter one appears in my opinion to be a summary of the book as a whole.

[2] Ephesians 2:1 (KJV)

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

[3] Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

[4] Ephesians 2:6 (KJV)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation

Daniel 12:2 (KJV) Wrestling with the Resurrection

Daniel 12:2 (KJV)

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

The doctrines concerning the resurrection can be confusing. I don't believe any of us can claim to have an exclusive handle on it. I think of the Jews prior to the birth of Christ. They had the Old Testament, but they could not fully perceive that the Old Testament pointed to Christ. While the New Testament sheds light on many, if not most, of the mysteries of the Old Testament, there are still unresolved aspects:

·       We do not know the day or the hour of the Lord's return.

·       We do not precisely know the lineage or the background of the man of sin.

·       We see several possibilities for the timing of the rapture.

·       We see at least two, and I believe there are more, resurrection events.

 

While I hold very strong convictions, such as the pre-tribulation timing of the rapture, I believe the wisest course is to be gracious with those who hold a different point of view. I don't think differing viewpoints necessarily need to coexist within the same church, but nor do I believe I must be an enemy to those who belong to a different church. I think that's why God provides for local congregations rather than the universal church position some hold.

 

Regarding the resurrection, we have an outline of the different events in,

1 Corinthians 15:22-26 (KJV)

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

 

·       There was a resurrection in Jerusalem that took place at the moment of Christ's crucifixion.

·       There is a resurrection of those that sleep in Christ just previous to[1] the Great Tribulation.[2]

·       There is resurrection of the unjust to stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment.

 

I believe the faithful Jews who have died[3] will be resurrected just before the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. And I believe that is what is prophesied in this verse.

 

#ResurrectionMysteries #EndTimesDoctrine #RaptureTiming #ResurrectionEvents #GraciousDebate

Wrestling with the Resurrection: Insights and Considerations

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[1] And at the moment of the rapture.

[2] 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

[3] Such as David.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Daniel 12:2 (KJV) Wrestling with the Resurrection

Acts 5:1 (KJV) Deceit in the Early Church

Acts 5:1 (KJV)

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

 

They say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

 

Ananias and Sapphira were professing Christians in the earliest days of the faith. I do not know if they had heard or seen Jesus personally, but this is certainly early enough in the history of Christianity that they knew the Apostles, and couldn't have made the argument, so common among skeptics today, that they had made it up long after the fact.

 

Ananias and Sapphira had a possession. 

The early believers were not impoverished, ignorant, illiterate people. At least not all of them. To claim that they couldn't read so there was no motivation for the apostles to write is ignorant. To claim that the apostles couldn't write, so they could not have recorded their observations about being with Christ, is just wrong.

 

Ananias and Sapphira sold a possession. 

The Bible does not say what the possession was. I think we all assume it was land because the Bible says in the previous chapter that is what Barnabas sold. I want to comment on the economy. They had a possession - at least some of them did, and the economy was healthy enough that they could sell it, for sufficient to give, and even, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, to give some of it and keep back a part of it. These were not ignorant, destitute people who had professed faith in Christ.

 

Ananias and Sapphira lied about the sale. 

This is very early on in the Christian faith, and already, there were people involved in the local church whose heart and spirit were not pure. I don't want to speculate whether they were genuinely born again. God knows the truth about that. Just as it is true with every one of us, only God knows whether any other member of a local church is genuinely born again. I can know I have eternal life.[1] I cannot know that about anyone else. What I can say about them is, whatever their relationship with the Lord, it wasn't what it ought to have been. And it cost them.

 

My concern is for those whether saved or unsaved, I cannot say, God knows, whose relationship with the Lord is not what it should be. I can see that. And I can warn them that such a poor relationship with Christ will cost them, their families, and the church to which they belong. My plea is, as was Paul's, that men and women professing faith examine themselves[2] seriously and frequently, whether they are in the faith and whether their faith is what it ought to be.

 

#AnaniasAndSapphira #EarlyChurch #ChristianFaith #HeartCondition #ExamineYourself

Deceit in the Early Church: The Tragic Tale of Ananias and Sapphira

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[1] 1 John 5:13 (KJV)

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

[2] 2 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV)

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Acts 5:1 (KJV) Deceit in the Early Church

Daniel 10:5 (KJV) The Certain Man

Daniel 10:5 (KJV)

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:

 

The text of Daniel chapter ten indicates, I think, three separate individuals.

·   One is identified as Michael the archangel.

· One is unidentified, but appears to my thinking to be the angel Gabriel.

·  One is a certain man, unique, different than the other two.

 

I agree with John Gill that He is the Pre-incarnate Christ.

· His description in verses five through six is similar to that of Christ in Revelation chapter one.

·   Daniel's meeting Him in verses seven through eight is similar to the Paul's meeting with Christ in Acts chapter nine.

·  Daniel's response in verses nine through ten is similar to Isaiah's response in Isaiah chapter six.

 

All of this leads me to meditate on how "certain" Christ is.

·     Christ is certain in the sense of true.

·  Christ is certain in the sense of reliable, trustworthy.

·    Christ is certain in the sense of being unique, the only begotten Son of God.

·    Christ is certain in the sense of being distinct, He is not an angel.

·    Christ is certain in the sense of being God.

 

The Hebrew word rendered certain in this passage is one that means "unity, or one." I am reminded of Genesis 1:26 (KJV) “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." This is not religious speak but a reality. God is one God and three Persons.

1 John 5:7 (KJV)

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Colossians 2:8-9 (KJV)

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

 

And it is to this "certain man" Jesus Christ, we must lean for salvation.

Acts 4:12 (KJV)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

 

#CertainMan #PreIncarnateChrist #CertainChrist #SalvationInChrist #UnityInGod

The Certain Man: Understanding the Pre-incarnate Christ

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Daniel 10:5 (KJV) The Certain Man