EPISODE FIVE
In Psalm 91 these principles are shown clearly to anyone who, with a sincere heart, choose to serve God.
He who dwells in the SHELTER OF THE MOST HIGH will REST IN THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY. I will say of the Lord, "He is MY REFUGE and MY FORTRESS, MY GOD, IN WHOM I TRUST."
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings YOU WILL FIND REFUGE; HIS FAITHFULNESS IS A SHIELD AND BUCKLER.
You will NOT FEAR the TERROR of the night, NOR the ARROW that flies by day, NOR the PESTILENCE that stalks in darkness, NOR the DESTRUCTION that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but IT WILL NOT COME NEAR YOU. YOU WILL only look with your eyes and SEE THE RECOMPENSE OF the WICKED.
Because YOU HAVE MADE THE LORD YOUR REFUGE, THE MOST HIGH YOUR HABITATION, NO EVIL SHALL BEFALL YOU, NO SCOURGE COME NEAR YOUR TENT.
For HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OF YOU TO GUARD YOU IN ALL YOUR WAYS. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
YOU WILL TREAD UPON the LION and the COBRA; YOU WILL TRAMPLE the GREAT LION and the SERPENT.
"BECAUSE HE LOVES ME," says the Lord, "I WILL RESCUE HIM; I WILL PROTECT HIM FOR HE ACKNOWLEDGES MY NAME. HE WILL CALL UPON ME, and I WILL ANSWER HIM; I WILL BE WITH HIM IN TROUBLE, I WILL DELIVER HIM and HONOR HIM and SHOW HIM MY SALVATION."
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Bible Principles:Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Vertical Control
EPISODE FOUR
In Psalm 83 those Bible Principles are shown in a moment of overwhelming battle between the forces of evil and the people of God.
O God, DO NOT KEEP SILENT; BE NOT QUIET, O God, BE NOT STILL. See how YOUR ENEMIES are in tumult; those WHO HATE YOU have RAISED THEIR HEADS.
They lay CRAFTY PLANS AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE; they CONSULT TOGETHER AGAINST YOUR PROTECTED ONES. "Come," they say, "Let us destroy them as a nation," that the name of ISRAEL BE REMEMBERED NO MORE."
With ONE MIND they PLOT TOGETHER; they MAKE A COVENANT AGAINST YOU - the TENTS of EDOM and the ISH'MAELITES, MOAB and the HAGRITES, GEBAL. AMMON and AM'ALEK, PHILISTIA with the inhabitants of TYRE; ASSYRIA also has joined them; they are the STRONG ARM OF the children of LOT.
DO to them AS YOU DID to MIDIAM, AS YOU DID to SISERA and JABIN at the River Kishon,
who WERE DESTROYED AT EN-DOR, who BECAME DUNG FOR THE GROUND.
MAKE their NOBLES like OREB and ZEEB, all their PRINCES like ZEBAH and ZALMUN'NA; who said, "LET US TAKE POSSESSION FOR OURSELVES OF THE PASTURES OF GOD."
O my God, MAKE THEM like WHIRLING DUST, like CHAFF BEFORE THE WIND.
As FIRE CONSUMED the FOREST, as the FLAME SETS the MOUNTAINS ABLAZE, so PURSUE THEM WITH YOUR TEMPEST and TERRIFY THEM WITH YOUR HURRICANE!
FILL THEIR FACES WITH SHAME, so that MEN WILL SEEK YOUR NAME, O LORD.
LET THEM BE PUT TO SHAME and DISMAYED FOREVER; LET THEM PERISH IN DISGRACE.
LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU ALONE, whose name is THE LORD, are THE MOST HIGH over all the earth.
In Psalm 83 those Bible Principles are shown in a moment of overwhelming battle between the forces of evil and the people of God.
O God, DO NOT KEEP SILENT; BE NOT QUIET, O God, BE NOT STILL. See how YOUR ENEMIES are in tumult; those WHO HATE YOU have RAISED THEIR HEADS.
They lay CRAFTY PLANS AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE; they CONSULT TOGETHER AGAINST YOUR PROTECTED ONES. "Come," they say, "Let us destroy them as a nation," that the name of ISRAEL BE REMEMBERED NO MORE."
With ONE MIND they PLOT TOGETHER; they MAKE A COVENANT AGAINST YOU - the TENTS of EDOM and the ISH'MAELITES, MOAB and the HAGRITES, GEBAL. AMMON and AM'ALEK, PHILISTIA with the inhabitants of TYRE; ASSYRIA also has joined them; they are the STRONG ARM OF the children of LOT.
DO to them AS YOU DID to MIDIAM, AS YOU DID to SISERA and JABIN at the River Kishon,
who WERE DESTROYED AT EN-DOR, who BECAME DUNG FOR THE GROUND.
MAKE their NOBLES like OREB and ZEEB, all their PRINCES like ZEBAH and ZALMUN'NA; who said, "LET US TAKE POSSESSION FOR OURSELVES OF THE PASTURES OF GOD."
O my God, MAKE THEM like WHIRLING DUST, like CHAFF BEFORE THE WIND.
As FIRE CONSUMED the FOREST, as the FLAME SETS the MOUNTAINS ABLAZE, so PURSUE THEM WITH YOUR TEMPEST and TERRIFY THEM WITH YOUR HURRICANE!
FILL THEIR FACES WITH SHAME, so that MEN WILL SEEK YOUR NAME, O LORD.
LET THEM BE PUT TO SHAME and DISMAYED FOREVER; LET THEM PERISH IN DISGRACE.
LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU ALONE, whose name is THE LORD, are THE MOST HIGH over all the earth.
Bible Principles: Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Vertical Control
EPISODE THREE.
In Deuteronomy 10 we can meditate in the deepest formation of these principles:
At that time the Lord said to me, "Chisel out TWO STONE TABLETS like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a WOODEN CHEST. I will write on the TABLETS the WORDS that WERE ON the FIRST tablets, which YOU BROKE. Then you are to PUT THEM IN the CHEST.
(The stone tablets are the symbol of strength and power that this God's words have in the spirit of man and the wooden chest symbolize the emotional flesh of the human being. As long as the words of God stay alive inside the human heart then a sincere feeling of belonging to the forces of goodness will increase in power and strength).
So I made the ARK out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the TWO TABLETS in my hands. The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the TEN COMMANDMENTS he had proclaimed to you on the mountain OUT OF THE FIRE, on the DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY....
Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was NOT HIS WILL TO DESTROY YOU. "Go," the Lord said to me, "and LEAD the PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY, so that they MAY ENTER AND POSSESS THE LAND THAT I SWORE TO THEIR FATHERS TO GIVE THEM."
And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but TO FEAR the LORD your GOD, to WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS, to LOVE HIM, to SERVE the LORD your GOD with ALL YOUR HEART and with ALL YOUR SOUL, and to OBSERVE the LORD'S COMMANDS and DECREES that I am giving you today for your own good.
To the LORD your GOD belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers (people who believed in Him) and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants (if you continue with that earnestly Love), above all the nations (fleshy love), as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your GOD is GOD of GODS and LORD of LORDS, the GREAT GOD, MIGHTY and AWESOME, WHO SHOWS NO PARTIALITY and ACCEPTS NO BRIBES.
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
FEAR the LORD your GOD and SERVE HIM. HOLD FAST TO HIM and TAKE your OATHS IN HIS NAME. HE IS YOUR PRAISE; HE IS YOUR GOD ..........
In Deuteronomy 10 we can meditate in the deepest formation of these principles:
At that time the Lord said to me, "Chisel out TWO STONE TABLETS like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a WOODEN CHEST. I will write on the TABLETS the WORDS that WERE ON the FIRST tablets, which YOU BROKE. Then you are to PUT THEM IN the CHEST.
(The stone tablets are the symbol of strength and power that this God's words have in the spirit of man and the wooden chest symbolize the emotional flesh of the human being. As long as the words of God stay alive inside the human heart then a sincere feeling of belonging to the forces of goodness will increase in power and strength).
So I made the ARK out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the TWO TABLETS in my hands. The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the TEN COMMANDMENTS he had proclaimed to you on the mountain OUT OF THE FIRE, on the DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY....
Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was NOT HIS WILL TO DESTROY YOU. "Go," the Lord said to me, "and LEAD the PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY, so that they MAY ENTER AND POSSESS THE LAND THAT I SWORE TO THEIR FATHERS TO GIVE THEM."
And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but TO FEAR the LORD your GOD, to WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS, to LOVE HIM, to SERVE the LORD your GOD with ALL YOUR HEART and with ALL YOUR SOUL, and to OBSERVE the LORD'S COMMANDS and DECREES that I am giving you today for your own good.
To the LORD your GOD belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers (people who believed in Him) and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants (if you continue with that earnestly Love), above all the nations (fleshy love), as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your GOD is GOD of GODS and LORD of LORDS, the GREAT GOD, MIGHTY and AWESOME, WHO SHOWS NO PARTIALITY and ACCEPTS NO BRIBES.
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
FEAR the LORD your GOD and SERVE HIM. HOLD FAST TO HIM and TAKE your OATHS IN HIS NAME. HE IS YOUR PRAISE; HE IS YOUR GOD ..........
Monday, 29 December 2014
Bible Principles: Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Vertical Control
EPISODE TWO
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said,"What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"
Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."
Moses father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people -men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home in peace."
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, fifties and tens.
They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.
The principles of reciprocity, redistribution and vertical control will always be until eternity become a reality.
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said,"What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"
Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."
Moses father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people -men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home in peace."
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, fifties and tens.
They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.
The principles of reciprocity, redistribution and vertical control will always be until eternity become a reality.
Biblical Principles: Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Vertical Control.
EPISODE ONE
It has to prevail always the sovereign authority of God, not sovereignty of the state, or sovereignty of man.
In the Book of Exodus, chapters 18, 19 and 20 explain to us the deep root of this principle.
18: Jethro (a Kenite), the priest of Mid'ian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zippo'rah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom (for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"), and the name of the other, Elie'zer (for he said,"The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh").
And Jethro, ... , came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness of God. And when one told Moses, "Lo, your father-in-law Jethro is coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her," Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare, and went into the tent.
Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.
And Jethro rejoiced for all the goods which the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them."
And Jethro, ... , offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
It has to prevail always the sovereign authority of God, not sovereignty of the state, or sovereignty of man.
In the Book of Exodus, chapters 18, 19 and 20 explain to us the deep root of this principle.
18: Jethro (a Kenite), the priest of Mid'ian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zippo'rah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom (for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"), and the name of the other, Elie'zer (for he said,"The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh").
And Jethro, ... , came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness of God. And when one told Moses, "Lo, your father-in-law Jethro is coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her," Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare, and went into the tent.
Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.
And Jethro rejoiced for all the goods which the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them."
And Jethro, ... , offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
Sunday, 28 December 2014
Why Moses did not enter the Promised Land?
Moses was a "divinely appointed child." He was born in Egypt, being the son of Amram, the grandson of Kohath and the great-grandson of Levi. His mother Jochebed was Kohath's sister. Moses was three years younger than his brother Aaron. Miriam their sister was some years older.
Moses' life was spared from Pharaoh's genocidal decree commanding the destruction of every newborn Hebrew male. He was hidden by his mother for three months, then placed in a papyrus ark on the Nile River, where Pharaoh's daughter found him. Through the courageous action of his mother and sister, Moses came to be nursed and trained by his mother because she was hired by the Pharaoh's daughter as a nurse, given the fact that she adopted the child as her son.
In his early life as a member of Pharaoh's household he was "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," becoming "mighty in his words and deeds," powerful in both mental and physical capabilities. Ex.2:1-10; Acts 7:20-22. In spite of his favored position, Moses' heart was sincerely united with the roots of his real parents, the hebrews. In fact he was hoping to be used by God to bring deliverance to their people from the burdens they were bearing in the land of the Egyptians.
In the fortieth year of his life, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew. In taking up his fellow brother's defense he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Actually, Moses felt that the time had come that he, as a man of great power, would be able to give the Hebrews salvation. But the people was not ready and God's due time had not yet arrived. Moses' plan did not work out and he was forced to flee from Egypt when Pharaoh heard of the slaying of the Egyptian. Ex.2:11; Heb.11:24-26.
Moses had to undergo another forty years of training. The qualities of patience, meekness, humility, long-suffering, mildness of temper, self-control and learning to wait on God's due time, needed to be developed in him. He had to be prepared to endure the discouragements, disappointments and hardships he would encounter, and to handle with loving-kindness, calmness and strength the multitude of problems a nation would present.
It was while Israel was encamped at Kadesh, at the extremity of Edomite territory, in the fortieth year of their wanderings that he made a serious mistake. The fact that he not only was in a highly powerful and privileged position, but under very heavy responsibility as leader and mediator to God for the nation, Moses was supposed to endure against the attack of the devil putting up with the perverseness and insubordination of the nation. Instead, he sinned against God. Exasperated and embittered in spirit, he an his brother Aaron stood before the people as God commanded, but instead of calling attention to God as the Provider, they directed the attention of the nation to themselves.
Later God decreed: "Because you did not show faith in me to sanctify me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land that i certainly give them." Num.20:1-13; Deut.32:50-52; Ps.106:32,33.
Monday, 1 December 2014
The symbolism of the INCA CROSS.
The INCA CROSS represented the energy forces of Mother Earth. It was conceived as a three-steeped cross, representing the three realms of the cosmic world. Each realm was subdivided into three levels, making all together nine levels of realities in which ours was in the middle.
The Inca represented the highest realm in the earth reality and the shaman, considered the mediator, journeyed through the central axis of energies in a trance first to the lower plane, the realm of the Underworld, and from there to the higher levels, inhabited by superior entities or as they thought, those who were choose to the serve the gods and the superior souls of the gods themselves, to find out the reason for misfortunes on the Earth level.
The Incas believed in the after life and symbols of these beliefs are found in Inca architecture and artwork.
The snake, puma and condor are symbolic representatives of the three realms. The snake represented the Underworld (Uqu Pacha), the middle world of humans (Kay Pacha) was represented by the puma, and the upper world of the Gods (Hanan Pacha) was represented by the condor. All of these three spirited animals were thought to have an active role in the every day life of the Inca world.
According to them, when a person died, the soul went with the spirit of the snake to the underworld. This was a place of cleansing. For an individual amount of time, the soul of the deceased stayed there. Even the souls of the upper class and the Inca itself went there. The souls were judged after completion of the cleansing time. The ones who were abandoned by their guardian spirits (thieves, breakers of the nature laws or other similar crooks) were sent to a different place to get their punishment. The other souls who completed their cleansing were permitted to return to the middle level and reincarnate or continue to the highest levels to serve the gods. The spirit of the Puma descended into the Underworld to collect the souls who were allowed to leave the premises, the souls of the ones expecting reincarnation were delivered by the puma in one of the realms of the middle world, then the spirit of the condor took the ones who qualified to serve the gods and delivered them to the upper world of the gods.
The corners of the Inca Cross (Chakana) represented the values of the Inca Culture, such as the love of the laws of nature (munay), the love of knowledge through the nature (yachay), and the love of work to maintain it (llankay). Also the cross represented the respect and obligation to their ancestors, to the inca ruler, and to the Creator of everything.
The Inca represented the highest realm in the earth reality and the shaman, considered the mediator, journeyed through the central axis of energies in a trance first to the lower plane, the realm of the Underworld, and from there to the higher levels, inhabited by superior entities or as they thought, those who were choose to the serve the gods and the superior souls of the gods themselves, to find out the reason for misfortunes on the Earth level.
The Incas believed in the after life and symbols of these beliefs are found in Inca architecture and artwork.
The snake, puma and condor are symbolic representatives of the three realms. The snake represented the Underworld (Uqu Pacha), the middle world of humans (Kay Pacha) was represented by the puma, and the upper world of the Gods (Hanan Pacha) was represented by the condor. All of these three spirited animals were thought to have an active role in the every day life of the Inca world.
According to them, when a person died, the soul went with the spirit of the snake to the underworld. This was a place of cleansing. For an individual amount of time, the soul of the deceased stayed there. Even the souls of the upper class and the Inca itself went there. The souls were judged after completion of the cleansing time. The ones who were abandoned by their guardian spirits (thieves, breakers of the nature laws or other similar crooks) were sent to a different place to get their punishment. The other souls who completed their cleansing were permitted to return to the middle level and reincarnate or continue to the highest levels to serve the gods. The spirit of the Puma descended into the Underworld to collect the souls who were allowed to leave the premises, the souls of the ones expecting reincarnation were delivered by the puma in one of the realms of the middle world, then the spirit of the condor took the ones who qualified to serve the gods and delivered them to the upper world of the gods.
The corners of the Inca Cross (Chakana) represented the values of the Inca Culture, such as the love of the laws of nature (munay), the love of knowledge through the nature (yachay), and the love of work to maintain it (llankay). Also the cross represented the respect and obligation to their ancestors, to the inca ruler, and to the Creator of everything.
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