Revelation 6:1-2 KJV  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.  (2)  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Daniel 7:19-27 KJV  Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;  (20)  And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.  (21)  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;  (22)  Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.  (23)  Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.  (24)  And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.  (25)  And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.  (26)  But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.  (27)  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Daniel 9:24 KJV  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Thy people – Israel
Thy city – Jerusalem

Daniel 9:25-27 KJV  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  (26)  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  (27)  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The tribulation will be seven years but Jesus tells us that when the abomination os set up then it is the great tribulation.

Seven years the Anti-christ will sign a peace agreement but in the middle, 3 1/2 years into it, he will cause sacrifices to stop.

Talking to the Jews in Jerusalem

Matthew 24:15 KJV  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

When they see an idol standing in the holy place of the temple they need to get out of town.

Matthew 24:20 KJV  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-14 KJV  (1)  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,  (2)  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.  (3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  (4)  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.  (5)  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  (6)  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.  (7)  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  (8)  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  (9)  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,  (10)  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  (11)  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:  (12)  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  (13)  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:  (14)  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 6:1-2 KJV  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.  (2)  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

The unveiling of the anti-christ.

What follows this is war, famine, and death. What follows this rider is mayhem. That’s the anti-christ.

Daniel 2:26-45 KJV  The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?  (27)  Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;  (28)  But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;  (29)  As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.  (30)  But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.  (31)  Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.  (32)  This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,  (33)  His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.  (34)  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.  (35)  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.  (36)  This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.  (37)  Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.  (38)  And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.  (39)  And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.  (40)  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.  (41)  And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.  (42)  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.  (43)  And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.  (44)  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.  (45)  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Last days – 10 kingdoms
Forced union. Rock cut without human hands smashes the statue in the toes. Destroys the whole statue. Becomes giant mountain whose kingdom shall have no end.

Jesus comes – destroys world governments – sets up His kingdom.
(But that is jumping ahead back to Revelation 6)

Russia will try to invade Israel. How many remember the war of Lebanon?

Israel had the persona of being invincible.

1948- they declare themselves a nation in a day just as Isaiah promised in this prophesy in Isaiah 66. Immediately they are attacked by their enemies. Miraculously they survive.

1967- 6 day war- again attacked by their enemies. They regain Jerusalem. Again amazing victory.

1973- Yom Kippor War. Attacked by their enemies again defeat their enemies.

There had been this persona that Israel is invincible.

The other year they went into Lebanon because some of their soldiers had been kidnapped by Hezbollah. Went in and did not achieve their objectives. In fact what happened is , they didn’t get their soldiers back. They really didn’t make a whole lat of progress in Lebanon aside from blowing a lot of stuff up and they eventually had to retreat because of  world pressure. And so when the Arab world saw this they said their power is shattered. They are not as tough as we thought they were. They basically told the whole Arab world the Israel is vulnerable. Syria is after them. Lebanon is again after them. Alquida is after them. They are surrounded by enemies.

Russia with others will invade Israel. As they invade, Ezekiel says, God Himself will destroy 5/6th of their army. So the Russians come in to invade and they loose 5/6th of their army. Basically it breaks the power of Russia and that leaves a power vacuum in Europe.

10 toes- 10 kings to fill that void. One rise up and depose 3 and there you have your anti-christ.

We are possibly and I don’t know how long, on the edge of watching these political things play out. All we are waiting for is something to tip it all off. That is where we are prophetically in the world today as believers.

Ok now we have the background. We will actually get more into Revelation 6:1-2 tomorrow.

God bless

Sunday November 9th is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Every year thousands of churches and individuals around the globe remember the suffering church on this day.

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is a global day of intercession for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Prayer changes things. God invites us to present to Him our requests and to pray without ceasing. Persecuted Christians often plead for prayer to help them endure. The most we can do is the least we can do — pray.

Christian girls are kidnapped and forced to Islam
College students risk expulsion or worse if they profess the Word of God
Pastors who give their lives for their faith, leave behind traumatized children

Order a free IDOP kit for your church or small group

Over 200 million Christians around the world suffer persecution. Depending on the country, each form of persecution is different. But it is real, and its threat to the Church is serious.

The world’s worst persecutor of Christians in the world is North Korea.

In Saudi Arabia, practicing Christianity can result in death by beheading or stoning.

Over 90% of China’s Christians worship in hidden, underground house churches to avoid government regulations and restrictions.

There is only one Christian church left in the Gaza Strip, and its membership has dwindled to less than 100.

Algeria is about a quarter of the size of Texas, and only 3% of the population are Christians.

There are 69 languages in Iran, and only three of them have a completed Bible. Iran is also the third worst persecutor of Christians in the world.

It is believed there are less than 500 Christians living in the Maldives.

Open preaching in Sudan is punishable by beatings or imprisonment.

Christians make up less than 1.7% of the population in Pakistan, and over 70% of them are the poorest of the poor.

It is estimated that there are 1,100 Christian missionaries living in Turkey.

This post will take the rest of the week. We will spend the rest of the week on Revelation 6:1-2.

Revelation 6:1-2 KJV  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.  (2)  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

How many of you have seen what is going on with Russia? Did you see Russia has claimed the Arctic Circle? Russia has been flexing its muscles.

There is more then one battle to talk about so it is easy to get confused.

First battle

Ezekiel 38:1-39:29 KJV  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  (2)  Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,  (3)  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:  (4)  And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:  (5)  Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:  (6)  Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.  (7)  Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.  (8)  After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.  (9)  Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.  (10)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:  (11)  And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,  (12)  To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.  (13)  Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?  (14)  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?  (15)  And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:  (16)  And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.  (17)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?  (18)  And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.  (19)  For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;  (20)  So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.  (21)  And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.  (22)  And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.  (23)  Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.  (39:1)  Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:  (2)  And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:  (3)  And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.  (4)  Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.  (5)  Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.  (6)  And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.  (7)  So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.  (8)  Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.  (9)  And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:  (10)  So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.  (11)  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.  (12)  And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.  (13)  Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.  (14)  And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.  (15)  And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.  (16)  And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.  (17)  And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.  (18)  Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.  (19)  And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.  (20)  Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.  (21)  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.  (22)  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.  (23)  And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.  (24)  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.  (25)  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;  (26)  After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.  (27)  When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;  (28)  Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.  (29)  Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

Israel will be invaded by Russia, Libia, Persia (we know it as Iran), Egypt, and a few others in the middle east.

These nations will come and will invade Israel. As this happens all sorts of things will happen because of this.
(We will get to that tomorrow.)

Second major battle… Armageddon

Armageddon is where satanic activity is getting the nations together for battle at the valley of Armageddon against the anti-christ and his forces as they begin to rebel against him, but as this battle is getting formed and engaged Jesus Christ returns from Heaven and the armies of Heaven with Him like lightning from the east to the west. Every eye sees Him. And the armies decided to join together rather then fight each other and unite and fight God.
They lose.

Third Major Battle

The third major battle comes after the 1,000 year reign of Christ. Satan is released. He is allowed to go through the nations and tempt and test them for a final time and he actually finds a group that will come with him in rebellion and fight against Jesus in Jerusalem at the end of the 1,000 year reign. As they come to Jerusalem to attack, fire comes down from Heaven and totally consumes them. They lose.

There are the three major battles.

The question comes up . . . The first battle, when will it happen?

The bible says Israel will be back as a nation. That has happened. It says they will become serious again for God. Right now they are a secular country, pretty much. The invasion will come as they get serious for God.

Some say it will happen before the rapture. Some say it will happen right after the rapture. I don’t know. Could be either side of it. But the next major event for us to watch for militarily is for this freak invasion of Russia into the middle east to go after Israel.

Revelation 5:9-14 KJV  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  (10)  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.  (11)  And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;  (12)  Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.  (13)  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.  (14)  And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

We have been purchased for an incredibly high price

I got this from someone else and thought it was so good it has to be passed on to others

Ten little Christians
standing in a line,
One disliked the pastor, then there were nine.
Nine
little Christians stayed up very late,
One slept in on Sunday, then there
were eight.

Eight little Christians
on their way to heaven,
One took the low road, then there were
seven.
Seven little Christians chirping like chicks,
One disliked the
music, then there were six.

Six little Christians
seemed very much alive,
But one lost his interest, then there were
five.
Five little Christians pulling for Heaven’s shore,
But one stopped
to rest, then there were four.

Four little Christians,
each busy as a bee,
One got her feelings hurt, then there were
three.
Three little Christians knew what to do,
One joined the sports
crowd, then there were two.

Two little Christians,
our rhyme is nearly done,
Differed with each other, then there was
one.
One little Christian can’t do much ’tis true;
Brought his friend to
Bible study, then there were two.

Two earnest Christians,
each won one more,
That doubled their number, then there were four.
Four
sincere Christians worked early and late,
Each won another, then there were
eight.

Eight little Christians,
if they doubled as before,
In just a few short weeks, we’d have 1,024.
In
this little jingle, there’s a lesson true,
You belong to the building, or the
wrecking crew.

Author Unknown

Revelation 5:6-10 KJV  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.  (7)  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.  (8)  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.  (9)  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  (10)  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Jesus redeems His bride.

This is where we get the idea that we’re going to have harps in heaven. It’s kind of funny to think that there are churches that frown on musical instruments. They don’t frown on them in heaven!

Our prayers are sweet to the Lord.

Your prayers are before God’s throne.

He is worthy because He is our kinsman redeemer

He’s our closest relative, He became flesh and blood to be like us.

Hebrews 2:14-18 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

As one with enough buying power, He was sinless and didn’t need redemption Himself, He had an eternal life to exchange

1 Peter 1:18-19 KJV Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; {19} But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

This kind of gives new light to the parable:

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Revelation 5:9-10 KJV  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  (10)  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

My bible (KJV) says US. Some of you may have bibles that say THEM.

I want to touch on that. It does make a difference. You have been redeemed. The church has. BY the blood of the Lamb.

Out of all the Greek NT manuscripts all except one has us. That one has them. The one that has them came from Alexandria. That is where the group of heretics called the gnostics were. It was from that town. However the NRSV and many other modern versions have decided to use that one text instead of all the others. All the others agree with each other but many modern versions use the one that doesn’t agree with all the rest.

Simple knowledge would tell you that you go with all the big bunch that all agree and say the same thing and not the one that is different.

You might say who cares? I do.

I would suggest you go out and do some serious study on the issue of translations. I am giving a few links.

KJV

Examination of Modern NT Text

FOUR-FOLD

I realize that this post went on a bit of a bunny trail. It will be back on track on Monday

There are rumors going around about the girl scouts becoming new age.

They are encouraging yoga.

There is also supposedly an ‘Over the Moon Award’ for ages 8-11 and the ‘Hart and Crescent Award’ for ages 12-18. The awards are offered ‘to any young person…who is a member of any nature-oriented religion (Wicca, Druid, Asatru, etc.).

I have been researching this since it being brought to my attention. My daughter is not in girl scouts so it doesn’t really affect me, but thought I would do the searching since I am sure it affects many and because I want to hear everyone’s thoughts on it.

The girl scouts have introduced a new “Girl Scout Leadership Experience,” a new curriculum, titled “Journeys.” The “Journey” for the oldest Girl Scouts is called “Your Voice, Your World: The Power of Advocacy.” Many people have expressed serious concerns about this new curriculum.

Here’s one of the Girl Scouts’ new values:  “Girls learn to quiet themselves, taking ‘full stop moments’ where they can connect with a silence that is perfect and pure, an internal blank canvas….The girls ‘find their own compass’ through a model that starts looking within to find their purpose, values and vision and ends with clear strategies, action and planning.”

Here’s “The Girl Scout Promise,” according to the GSUSA website:

    “On my honor, I will try:
    To serve God* and my country,
    To help people at all times,
    And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”

The asterisk is explained at the bottom of the page:  “The word ‘God’ can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one’s spiritual beliefs.  When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word ‘God’ with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.”

Some parents have taken issue with the fact that the girl scouts (unlike the boy scouts) allow gay leaders.

Some are taking their children out and putting them in a Christian alternative called American Heritage Girls.

What do you think about this? Why would you (or wouldn’t you) let your children join the girl scouts?