| (Copyright) by Steven Blackledge (Sonora, California) |
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| To Be Set Free by Applying HIS WAY through HIS SON… Hope your sabbath has been a refreshing, and joyous one so far… Hard to believe a week has come, and gone as the Passover season once again is but a memory… Hope yours was spiritually edifying… I wrote what was below yesterday to help those who are still under the impression that God’s holy days were no longer necessary to be maintained… It is so easy to gravitate towards beliefs that are contrary to God’s Word… We are all born with a rebellious spirit to one degree, or another, and find it easier to adopt forms of worship that are contrary to how our Wonderful Father desires for us to honor Him due to this carnal state of being… Coming out of her, spiritual Babylon, and keeping oneself from consuming the cup of abominations that she symbolically wields, takes more than just ourselves to overcome as we all know… As Revelation chapter 17 declares: “17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment and doom of the great [a]prostitute who is seated [b]on many waters [influencing nations], 2 she with whom the kings of the earth have [c]committed acts of immorality, and the inhabitants of the earth have become intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.” 3 And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was [d]entirely covered with blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls, [and she was] holding in her hand a gold cup full of the abominations and the filth of her [sexual] immorality. 5 And on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES (false religions, heresies) AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints (God’s people), and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus [who were martyred]. When I saw her, I wondered in amazement.” The Spirit of God helps us to understand just how seductive Satan is through the harlot… One could surmise that the serpent is the harlot simply because she represents everything that he has propagated, and manipulated mankind via various means to sin against the will of our Creator… All of course for control purposes as the more lawless behavior defines an individual’s spiritual state, Satan is given control over the lives who continue to exercise what God considers sin, and with extremely sinful behavior, abominable… If sin is not dealt with in accordance to God’s definition of what HE considers transgressing His commandments, over time, and as history has proven repeatedly, abominations become adopted as an exercise of one’s freedom of expression within society… We are clearly seeing this now within the USA as morality is eroding, and good as God defines it to be, has become evil… The seduction, as we have witnessed here in America since the 1960’s, has taken time… But when what some may consider the least of God’s commandments are broken on a continual basis, or changed to conform to a traditional way of worshiping God, the seduction is afoot for Satan… Simply because all the devil needs is a little bit of bad leaven, or sin that is a normalized function within society, in order to ensure his manipulating tactics to succeed… Full reliance upon our Savior’s help via His Spirit is so essential… Yet, as has always been the case for humanity, that which is seen is far easier to believe in than the ONE WHO is not seen, but is Spiritual… The devil utilizes acceptance by one’s family, and peers within society as a tool for compromising the Eternal One’s will also as sin is normalized even within the worship of God… I addressed the fact that the apostles, and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ continued to worship God through their keeping of God’s holy days even after His death as scripture points out… We have to be careful not to omit God’s traditions of worship by replacing them with doctrines that are essentially sinful from His vantage point… We can most certainly convince ourselves that we honor HIM by doing so… When in fact the opposite is true… But one must also understand the importance of ensuring that the life we live also honors God while worshiping HIM in accordance to HIS will… It is a process, and at times can be arduous… But as we learn to love God, and revere HIM through His Way of worship, it becomes easier, and more meaningful… We only make God’s commandments a burden when we do not in reality want to exercise them… That can get one in trouble simply because from a spiritual perspective it is easier to devise ways to get around maintaining the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE that our Savior has always represented… Oh those false doctrines through the manipulation of God’s Word via taking a verse out of context… Instead of ensuring we search for the Truth on all matters pertaining to God’s will for us by utilizing all of His Word… While being led by the Spirit of God to do so… The Truth will set us free from what is in reality spiritual bondage when we fail to embrace the WAY that our SAVIOR represents in SPIRIT, and in TRUTH… God bless, and I hope your Sabbath is an edifying one… What a blessing to have the freedom to maintain that which has always been good, and based on our Father’s righteousness… Take care, and again below this is what I had written, and posted on another site… Love, and peace through our Beloved Friend, and Savior… ############################################################# We are redeemed from sin, and set spiritually free from spiritual bondage due to this former fallen state of being by the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ… The Passover week, or 7-day period of Unleavened Bread, officially ends today, and serves as a reminder of what our Messiah did for those who place their faith in Him, and His redemptive sacrifice made on our behalf nearly 2,000 years ago… In Acts chapter 20, God’s Word reminds us that Paul continued to maintain this 7 day period of Passover week… As it is how our Creator, and Savior is honored in His declaration as to how HE is to be worshiped in accordance to the very Word He represents… Reminding one that does so it is by HIS sacrifice, not animal sacrifices, nor ceremonial washings, we are made spiritually clean… Paul, and the original apostles-maintained God’s holy days after His death, and resurrection… Our Creator had begun with physical Israel to show the nations how the One True God wanted to be worshiped, and they were to be an example of HIS WAY… But instead of exercising the will of God, which they had made a covenant with HIM to do, Israel adopted false forms of worship, and committed idolatry by taking the customs of the Gentiles, and how they honored their so-called gods… Assimilating them into their worship of Him… Which God considered dishonorable to HIM, and eventually lead to Israel actually forsaking God altogether… Except of course when HE began to withdraw His blessings for their disobedience… But even then, it was God that was being unjust, and unfair from their vantage point… Repentance for their sinful ways was the furthest thing from their hearts, and minds due to sins power over their lives…Their idea of right, and wrong had been skewed by their practice of lawlessness as God defined it to be. Simply because sin, the false worship of God, as well as other so-called deities can in time cloud our judgment, and become so habit forming… Like a spiritual drug, and even with the best of intentions, transgressing God’s commandments, or confusing the WAY, or TRUTH our Savior represents, can cloud one’s judgment, and if not dealt with through repentance, can lead to even greater confusion within one’s worship of God… As Acts chapter 20 verse 6 reminds us of Paul continuing to honor God with his Creator’s Way of worship… But with an even greater understanding because of God’s Truth being magnified within Paul’s heart, and mind through the Son, and HIS SPIRIT within this apostle of God… “6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread (Passover week), and within five days we reached them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days. Recall that it was on the 50th day after our Lord Jesus Christ had been resurrected, and arose to heaven to be accepted by HIS FATHER to fulfill the sacrifice as the Wave Sheaf, and the First Born among many brethren, that those who believed in HIM were commanded to meet together in Jerusalem, and receive the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost… Acts chapter 2 reminds us of what God began, and continues to do within us on a Spiritual level… Receiving the Holy Spirit is the beginning of one’s growing in grace, and in knowledge as the unearned GIFT of salvation is granted those who believe in God’s grace shown through the Son of God: “2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, 2 and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 There appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were being distributed [among them], and they rested on each one of them [as each person received the Holy Spirit]. How much one grow’s in grace, and in knowledge depends on how much of God’s Word, what our Savior represents, is applied in how we live our life… Is it in accordance to God’s will, or strange doctrines that have been brought into the faith which do not honor God at all?… As Paul warned Timothy, as well as those who read his 2nd letter, we have to allow for God to lead us to Truth in accordance to HIS WORD… God is not the author of the confusion that exists in our world today as it pertains to how we are to live the life HE has granted us through His Son both physically, and spiritually… Our Father in heaven grants us His Spirit to help us on this spiritual journey through His Son in order to ensure we are rightly discerning the very Truth HE represents… With the understanding that we have been redeemed through His death, and resurrection to have life, and to utilize HIS WORD to prove all things… While working out our salvation with fear, and trembling as Philippians chapter 2 reminds us… In the 3rd chapter of 2nd Timothy Paul instructs us to be diligent in Truth in our worship of God… As Christ Jesus our Lord died to ensure we would understand the true worship of God, and to bring us out of our spiritual stupor through the application of God’s will for us as HE trains us in the WAY of righteousness: “12 Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith]. 13 But evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It is HIS will that is to be done in our lives, and when Jesus returns to establish HIS kingdom on earth, the peoples of the nations will be instructed to come up to HIS holy mountain… So as to worship our Great Creator in Spirit, and in Truth… As Zechariah chapter 14 declares to us of this yet future time: “16 Then everyone who is left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of Egypt does not go up [to Jerusalem] and present themselves, then no rain will fall on them. It will be the plague with which the Lord will strike the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 19 This will be the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of Egypt, and the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles).” The nations that challenged our Savior’s authority over them after HE establishes Zion upon HIS return, occurs after the 1,000 year reign of peace… Also known as the Gog, and Magog war of Ezekiel chapters 38, and 39… In Revelation chapter 20 it is summarized as follows: “7 And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison (the abyss), 8 and will come out to deceive and mislead the nations which are in the four corners of the earth—[including] Gog and Magog—to gather them together for the war; their number is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints (God’s people) and the beloved city [Jerusalem]; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.” Which is why it is vital for those called through the Lord Jesus Christ to embrace God’s Way of worship, and how we are to conduct ourselves as HIS saints… The Truth will be applied to all nations, tribes, and tongues when Christ Jesus returns as KING of kings, and LORD of lords to establish the kingdom of heaven upon earth in accordance to the will of the Father… Even if our Savior has to use a rod of iron to do so… Which, according to what God’s Word declares, Jesus will be forced to do so… It would also behoove us as HIS disciples to ensure we are on the same page as well now… After all, HE suffered, and died because of our spiritually dead state of being due to embracing lies rather than the TRUTH HE alone represents… Coming out of Spiritual Babylon is done by seeking, and applying God’s Word in Spirit, and in Truth… We must allow for our Savior to teach us the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE HE alone represents by submission to the Father’s will as Spiritual Israel… Called out of the fallen state of this world as ambassadors of the kingdom of the Most High from every tribe, nation, and tongue. God is not a respecter of persons, and if one is willing to learn, and apply HIS WAY once saved by the blood of the Lamb, they will be blessed, and be the living sacrifice we are called out through Christ Jesus to be… The application of the Truth of the gospel concerning why HE died will be even greatly understood because of Truth our Redeemer alone defines… God bless, and have a wonderful day… |
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