REFLECTIONS ON THE PAPAL ANTICHRIST. STEPHEN BHOR,Secrets Unsealed. Part 1of 4

My many thanks to Pastor Bhor, for his research on this topic. John B.

Note(JB): All of humanity are Children  of God and all deserve to be treated as such. However this is  NOT, a derogatory against the people within this church system, but it is against the System itself, and the leadership, down through time, who know better but are spoken of in ....  2 Thessalonians 2.. Christ shall render His judgments, not men.

   The question that confronts us at this point it this:  HOW and WHEN was the restrainer 'taken out of the way'?  What or who removed the man of sin's chains so that he could come forth from hiding and fully reveal himself? We find the answer in the Books of Daniel and Revelation and in human history. [ Read this in 2 Thessalonians 2.]

   A careful examination of Paul's prophecy indicates that in the forefront of his mind was the prophecy of the Little Horn in Daniel 7:23-24.. In fact, virtually all bible scholars agree that the man of sin and the Little Horn are symbolic of the Antichrist.

Note(JB): 1Jn 2:18. 1J n. 2:22. 1Jn. 4:3 and 2Jn. 1:7 all use the word Antichristos, as the opponent of Christ. Most scholars today tend to use the word INSTEAD OF CHRIST.  YOU'LL LEARN LATTER BY THEIR OWN WORDS OF THE WHY.

     Daniel 7 describes in chronological sequence the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms from the time of Daniel until the year 1798 AD.as follows....

            Kingdom              time               King                       Metal man.. from dream

• The Lion:Babylon (605-539 BC.) king Nebuchadnezzar  Head of Gold
• The Bear:Medo-Persia (539-331 BC.)                           Arms-chest of silver
• The Leopard: Greece. (331- 168 BC. A. the Great         Belly/thighs of Bronze.
• The Dragon  Pagan Rome 9168- 476 AD.                    Legs of iron
• The Ten Horns on the Dragon                                    Feet of iron and of clay
• Little Horn from the Dragon's head: Papal Rome   9538-1798 AD  the Ten Toes.

NOTE(JB):  The reason the Bible refers to those kingdoms under the symbols of beasts, is that the king/leader, ruled both the religious and the civil as one unit.Violating this..Separation of church and State.

Mark 12:17 " And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him."

Notice that Daniel 7:23,24 describes three consecutive stages of the fourth beast (the dragon) "Thus he said: the fourth beast shall be a {1} fourth kingdom ,[the Roman Empire] on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces, 

{24} The {2} Ten Horns, are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom {the divided Roman Empire} and {#} another shall rise after them {Papal Rome} :HE shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings." Daniel 7: 23-24. 

   According to these verses, after a time the Roman Empire  would break apart into the Ten Kingdoms and then the little horn or the Man of Sin would rise to power from this divided kingdom.

    Summarizing the three stages of the dragon beast:

• The Dragon The Pagan Roman Empire (Paul lived during this period)
• The Ten Horns  The Roman Empire Divided (Future to Paul's day)
• The Little Horn The Divided Roman Empire, ruled by the Little Horn (Paul's future).

The apostle Paul was living during the period of the Roman (Pagan) Empire before the emergence of the Ten Horns and of the Little Horn. This means that the ittle horn would would rise to power sometime after the year 476 AD when the Empire fell apart into  t4en kingdoms.

    The Book of Revelations describes this transfer of power from the Ten Horned Roman Empire to the papacy:

Revelation 13:2  And the beast [the papacy] which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon  [ the Roman Empire] gave him [the papacy] his power, and his seat, and great authority.

NOTE(JB): History notes that when the last Emperor vacated his seat, the Bishop of Rome's church moved to occupy it, taking the place of the Caesars! Date ? 538 AD.

   In her book, "The Great Controversy" p.54 she, Ellen White, wrote this: "In the sixth century {538 AD] the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the Imperial City and the Bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast 'his power, and his seat and great authority'.

Revelation 13:2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority 

And, now began, the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5-7.

Daniel 7:25 "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."

Revelation 13:5-7 "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."  [The Great Controversy P. 54. for further study.]

CYRIL of Jerusalem: (318-386 AD.) he lived just before the break-up of the Pagan Roman Empire, understood very well the link between  Daniel 7 and @ Thessalonians 2. "But this afor-said Antichrist is to come when the (1) times of the Roman Empire shall be fulfilled, and the end of the world is drawing near. There shall rise up together (2) ten kings of the Romans, reigning in different parts, perhaps, but all at the same time and,after those, an eleventh, the Antichrist, who by his magical craft shall seize upon the Roman Power;and the kings who reigned before him, "three he shall humble" and, the remaining seven he shall keep in subjection to himself."
'Catechetical Lectures' section 15, on 11 Thessalonians 2:4 . [Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol,VII, p.108 {New York: The Christian Literature Company, 1895 ]

Carl Conrad Eckhadt's "The Papacy and World Affairs, [Chicago 'The University of Chicago Press, 1937, p.1

In this he described the three (3) stages of Rome;: "Under the Roman Empire {stage #1, the dragon] the popes had no temporal powers. But when the Roman Empire had disintegrated [Stage #2  the ten horns ] and its place had been  taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms, the Roman Catholic Church [stage # 3 as the Little Horn-Daniel 7] not only became independent of the states in religious affairs but DOMINATED SECULAR AFFAIRS AS WELL."

THE REMOVAL OF THE RESTRAINER.

     HOWEVER, THE QUESTION THAT REMAINS UNANSWERED IS HOW THE RESTRAINT UPON THE 'MAN OF SIN' "WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY"

2 Thessalonians 2:3  "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;"

Human history has the answer: In the year of 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved the seat of Government of the Roman Empire to his new capital Constantinople {Istanbul today] for the Eastern Roman Empire, leaving the Western parts, politically, and militarily, weakened., by  series of weak Emperors, the last being Romulas Augustus was the last in 476 AD.
    All during the late fourth and early fifth, centuries, hordes of barbarian tribes, from the north invaded and carved up the Roman Empire west.
Paul Hutchinson & Winnifred E. Garrison, '20 Centuries of Christianity: A concise History First Edition p.93 1959, Harcourt,Brace & world Inc. New York please find this: " When the insignificant Romulas Augustus was deposed 94760 there was no longer eve n a titular emperor."

Note(JB) That why history admits that the Popes slid into the seat of the Emperors, and ruled as they used to rule total and complete, until 1798 and Berthier leading a French army arrested the then pope, and removed its secular powers, until Mussolini restored it to the Vatican's 114 Acre nation again in 1929!

    As history proves, when Constantine abandonment of the Western Empire this allowed the barianians to their incursions into the West Empire and leaving turned upside down, ands caused the civil society to fall into disarray, allowing the Bishop of Rome to claim the an emperor's title! Thus bringing some semblance of order to the old empire.
   The results was that the Bishop of Roman church was NOT ONLY the Spiritual leader but he also became the TEMPORAL Ruler of the state. THUS THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS 'taken out of the way'  to give way to the papacy.

NOW WE LOOK AT HOW THIS IS SHOWN BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

    The Roman Catholic historian. James P. Conroy, explains it this way: Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western Emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to the one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus, in this simple manner the best title of all, to to Kingly Right, commenced the Temporal Sovereignty of the popes, and Meekly {??  JB has there ever been a meek pope?} stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter [and crown] to which the Kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages." American Quarterly Catholic Review, April 1911.

CARDINAL EDWARD MANNING [ Formerly the titular head of the Anglican church of England, now serves the pope!]  who converted the Church of England to the Roman Catholic Faith explaining the importance of Constantine's transfer of the Roam Empire to the east. "But from that hour, when Constantine, in the language of Roman law ' Deo juente,' 'by the law of God', TRANSLATED  the seat of power to Constantinople, from  moment there never reigned in Rome, a temporal prince to whom  the Bishops of Rome owed a permanent allegiance"  "The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, second edition London, Burns & Lambert,pp 11,12.   
      Cardinal Manning , also described The Manner in which the Roman Pontiff originally rose to civil power in the Roman Empire due to the barbarian incursion in to the Empire:  "Now the abandonment of Rome was the Liberation, of the pontiffs. Whatsoever claims to obedience the emperors may have made, an d whatsoever compliance the pontiffs may have yielded, the whole previous relation, anomalous, and annulled again and again by the vices and outrages of the emperors, was finally dissolved by a Higher Power, . The providence of God permitted a succession of irruptions, Gothic, Lombard { Southern Italians] and Hungarian, to desolate Italy, and to efface from every remnant of the empire. The pontiffs found themselves Alone, the sole fountains of order, peace,law, and safety. And from that hour of this Providential Liberation, when, by the DIVINE INTERVENTION, the ... chains fell off, from the hands of the successors of ST.Peter, as once before from his own, no sovereign has ever reigned in Rome except the Vicar of Jesus Christ."
The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Preface ,pp xxviii, xxxix. London Burns & Lambert, 1862. 

    2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 "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; 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."

NOTE(JB): All one needs to do is Google Inquisition, or Eric Phelps "Vatican Assassins, or Foxxes' "Book of Martyrs." as well as many other historians writing about the Dark or the Middle ages of Europe, and the millions that Rome's "Believe as I say or die" dogma, ruled for 1260 years just as Daniel foretold 500 years before Christ!

Please know.... Catholic dogma declares that the Writings of the Church Fathers is most important, the Holy Bible is but Secondary 5to their faith, and here's the why.....

  "Apostolic Digest , Book 5  "The Book of Obedience"  Pope Boniface 13th ... "We declare and pronounce, that it is absolutely necessary, for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

YOU must choose  believe God or man?  {by the way has man ever told a lie?)


John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

From Evangelical Christendom, January 1, 1895 P.15 [ Pub. i n London bt J.S. Phillips] P{ope Pius 10th, said this, " The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ. On the contrary he is Jesus Christ, under the veil of flesh"
   "Does the Pope speak? It is.....Jesus Christ who is speaking. Hence, when anyone speaks of the Pope, it is not necessary to examine but to obey"

Acts 5:29 "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."
 Jesus Christ walked upon the water, and healed the sick and raised the dead, has any Pope done this?

Daniel 7:25 "........ and THINK to change times and laws........"

Genesis 1 shows clearly that God set the days from SUNSET to Sunset as the 24 hour day but Pope Gregory 13th {The Great..but at what"] changed this from that to our current Mid-night to midnight, as our 24 hour day. PLUS.. Read Exodus 20:7-11 about the Sabbath Worship of the 7TH DAY, look at most calendars and know which is the Seventh day!  Year =earth's evolution of the sun,
Month = lunar cycle, day = one earthly spin cycle o n its axis 24 hours, but where did the 7 day weekly cycle come to us?

     Genesis 2:1-3 "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."\


SANCTIFIED  IT: What did God sanctify but the seventh day Sabbath, now can man, or men make a day holy? NO! Only God is able. Yet do not most churches then obey the Roman Popes for Sunday, the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, TO WORSHIP thus obeying ,am rather than God?????

Luke 4:16 " And he [who is this He..but Jesus?]had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."

How many of you, think that God did not know this Sabbath change by men,A ND THAT it WAS COMING??

Mark 7:9  "And he unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."

Anyone who has even read both Daniel and Revelation, with prayers asking for wisdom to understand, will learn that  near the end of flesh  humanity, there will be only two camps. the sheep and the goats, the sheep are those who follow and believe i n Jesus Christ, the goats are those who believe in human laws.  Which camp have Y O U chosen.

PAUL'S  CRYPTIC LANGUAGE.

  The church fathers both before and after the Council of Nicaea (325AD) were virtually unanimous that the "RESTRAINER" of 2 Thessalonians 2:6

    2 Thessalonians 2:6 " And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time."
This speaks the what the restrainer/withholder.[ The Roman Empire].In the next verse...
     2 Thessalonians 2:7 "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."
This speaks to the WHO,. {The Roman Emperors} using the masculine article HOkate`chon in Vs 7.The neuter article TOkate`chon referring to the Roman Empire.. InVs 6 used the masculine article referring to who as the Roman Emperors as masculine article for who as HOkate`chon.

  Obviously, as Paul was subject to Roman Law, he could not in reality write that the Roman Empire would soon fall away!, and not be open to a charge of sedition.

SADLY, EVANGELICALS...

    Who believe in the Rapture of the church BEFORE the tribulation erroneously identify the restrainer as the Holy Spirit, Whom God will remove from the earth before the tribulation. This understanding is incorrect because God did not Remove the restraint of the Holy Spirit from the earth when the Papacy first arose to power in the sixth century. It is clear that Paul could not Identify the "Restrainer" openly and he did not need to, because the Thessalonians knew who the restrainer was, the Pagan Roman Empire.

Cardinal Manning, also described THE MANNER in which the Roman Pontiff originally rose to civil power in the Roman Empire due to the barbarian incursion into the Empire." Now the abandonment of Rome was the LIBERATION of the Pontiffs. Whatsoever compliance may have yielded, the whole previous relation, anomalous, and annulled again and again by the vices an d outrages of the emperors, was finally dissolved by a HIGHER POWER. the Providence of God permitted a successions of  irruptions.......
   This language Manning used is very significant. He wrote that the fall of the Roman Empire led to the LIBERATION of the Roman Pontiff. Thus it was the old Roman Empire's Emperors that was the RESTRAINER!

TERTULLIAN (160- 240 ad)
     
    2 Thessalonians 2:7 " For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."

Iniquity, mean s lawlessness regarding the Ten Commandments, thus this lawless power was already working at lawlessness. The power that is not LETTING, him ( the worker of iniquity)  to do as he will So Tertullian wrote: "What obstacle is there, but the Roman Empire, , the falling away, by being scattered into the Ten Kingdoms, shall then introduce Antichrist, upon its own ruins?" And then shall the wicked one be revealed."   "On the Resurrection of the Flesh" Chap 24. ANTE-NICENE  FATHERS. vol. iii p.56

CHRYSOSTOM (DIED 407AD )   Ambrose (337-397 AD) Lantantius (240-320) agreed as did Jerome (347- 420 AD)

    When the Roman Empire, is taken out of the way, then he [ The Antichrist]  shall come. As long as the fear of this Empire lasts, no one will willingly exalt himself, but, when it is dissolved, he will attack the anachary, and endeavour to seize upon the government of  both man and God. Homily o n 2 Thessalonians. 'Nicene and Post-Nicene. vol XIII.p389 {New York Charles Scribner's And Sons . 1905.    

I N HIS TIME:

The apostle Paul continued his line of thought:

     2 Thessalonians 2:6 " And now ye know what withholdeth [ blocks, strains]  that he might be revealed in his time."

REVEALED IN  HIS TIME....must mean that God has set a specific time frame for this event. Yet we must again, link the prophecy of 2 Thessalonians and Daniel 7:25 where in we are told that there was a specific time for this Little Horn  {horn indicated earthly power) to rise and fall., that is time, times and the dividing of time,' Revelation 13:5, refers to this same period as 42 month and Revelation 12:15 as 1260 days.{set on as the Hebrew's year as 360 24 hr days.)

NOTE (JB):Daniel 9:25  the order to rebuild came from Ezra 7::11+ and the King Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. and it is this date that must be used as starting date, for Daniel 2300 years of prophecy, this ended in  the year of 1843 A.D.It accurately gave, the beginning od Christ's ministry post baptism and His death 3.5 years {one half week later 3,5 days/years.from Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 1`4:34)

Find this also in the book "The Great Controversy, by E.R. White, P. 356. by the way this books lst chapters give a n outline of the the events found in Revelations of Jesus Christ. By the way, few even teach from this Bible's last Book, but look...

.
Revelation 1:3 " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."

Many men say, it's not for our understanding, other say they totally refuse to teach from it, so why did God cause John to write it and please explain the above highlighted verse!

THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.

  2 Thessalonians 2:7 " For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."

THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY WAS already at work in the days of Paul. The word 'Iniquity' is identical word that is translated 'transgression of the law'  as used in 1 John 3:4. The 'man of sin' would teach his followers to transgress the law. As is well known, the papacy openly  violates the Second Commandment that forbids the making and bowing before idols and claims that God's DAY OF rest IS NOW ON Sunday, THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IN PLACE OF GOD'S SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH ON FRIDAY'S SUNSET TO SATURDAY'S SUNSET! (SPLITTING THE 10-TH INTO 2 PARTS!  yet THEIR DOUAY Bible SHOWS THE TRUTH, proving few even read it?

This ends PART 1.

Thanking Y O U for your time   Questions?  Comments? Bazenj@gmail.com

Want/Need more? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM.
Do you know that in 80 some languages their word for Saturday is their word for REST and Sabbath means REST! Now remember the Tower of Babble? "Let us go down and confuse their language, and they broke up into glaguage groups, as God gave them to speak and understand????? Now youi know the why of those 80 tongues!

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tHE

SVS


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A Look Back To 1930. "ONCE UPON A TIME" LIBERTY MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2018. B.H. HARTOGENIS

My many thanks to both the author and this magazine. (John B)

SUB-TITLE:  " Denial of Equal Rights to Religious Minorities and Nonbelievers in the United States."

EDITORIAL NOTE: This part was part of an article that first appeared in the Yale Law Journal of March 1930, which clearly shows the diversity of law and conflict of judicial opinion on the subject of religion legislation, and the rights of minority sects before the law. It was reprinted in Liberty magazine third quarter ,1930, as a service to readers that and is reprinted now in 2018 as a reminder of the legal challenges that still persist.

Note (JB): Please allow me to insert this Bible passage:: John 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
  Is this not the why the people of ISIS, kill,none believers? Is this not the reasoning that Rome applied during the her reign of terror during the 1260 years she ruled supreme?  YES! Yet today all the world's "Religions" are rushing to her, to kiss the Papal ring in fealty and loyalty, under the name of Ecumenical Union, Even to obeying her Sunday law, for which they admit there is no Scriptural warrant for it!

This SECOND COMMANDMENT IS MISSING from all the Catechism books, [but is in their bible, showing few, if any, read it!]:

Deuteronomy 5:8-9  "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,"

This Commandment is broken by 96% of Christendom:

Exodus 20:8-11  "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

GET IT???  THE SABBATH [REST UNTO] THE LORD. IT'S HIS HOLY DAY, HOW CAN ANY MAN, OR MEN, CHANGE GOD'S LAW?   READ DANIEL 7 AND NOTE
vs. 25! THINKS TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS?  THE 2ND AND THE 4TH, COMMANDMENTS,  THEN SPLITTING THE 10TH INTO 2 PARTS! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE FOOLING?  NOW TO THE STORY....

  EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW, for all mankind, is the ideal which seers and philosophers have looked forward for ages, is far from being attained even i n the United States,
despite of such slogans as the "Rights of Man," "Freedom of Religion, and of Conscience," "A Free State," "All Men Are Created Equal." The  First and the Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the like. The Revolutionary War,, so we are taught in school, separated church and state, but that meant merely, that the colonists were no longer subservient to the Church of England. For the purpose of putting an end to the arrogant "toleration" of religious minorities, by providing equal rights and religious freedom for all, it succeeded merely in giving all Christian sects equal rights before the law. Rights have consistently been denied other religious minorities. This is not merely a legal proposition; for in fact an invidious difference is being paid by the state to the miscalled "National Religion" of the majority, beyond a mere recognition thereof, a difference that entails and hardships in certain states to nonconformists and unbelievers alike, all under the color of law. Typical of this in equality was the disallowing and discrediting of testimony of unbelieving in the re3cent Gastonia trials in North Carolina.
     The purpose of the present discussion is to show how religious beliefs of the dominant Christians in the United States are allowed effectively to control our moot questions or exotic dead-letter blue laws, but through laws that are actually in force, or if  not enforced, still dangerous to civil rights of citizens because enforceable at will.

CHRISTIANITY PART OD OUR LAW.

    Actual deference is accorded federally and in the states, generally, to Christianity, as; (1) a religious belief, in manner of offensives to opposing creedlists and nonbelievers:  (2) a church established for such believers, i n some states; (3) a church supported by militantly evangelical laws, in a few states....
   When Chancellor Ke3nt of New York said, "The people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrine of Christianity as a rule of their faith and practice." he meant "in due form of law." as it had been generally understood under Lord Coke's dictum that "Christianity is part and parcel of the Common Law, and not merely in recognition of the palpable fact that the majority wer3e Christians whose practises must be respected. For this dictum that those exotic beliefs were "Imposters", {mentioning the Muslims, then having more votaries in [believers] in, the world than Christianity}, and that such infidels had no rights before a court in a Christian land, which Americans were bound to respect. Worse than all, this opinion is a keynote, often cited to this day by appellate courts, i n deciding religious controversies. There is thus imposing on the religious minorities a subservience insulting to their patriotism.
     Following a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court  [JB Sorry only Christ is the Supreme Judge] in Church of the Holy Trinity V. United States, i n 1992, Mr. Justice Brewer, in the Haverford Lectures in 1904, showed, with ample citations and authorities, that this is in fact a "Christian nation of Mr Justice Story in the Gerard College case as to Christianity: "". He approved it: "Its divine origin and truth are admitted." and for that reason "Christianity must be neither impugned nor repudiated."
   Lord Coke's dictum, now disposed of as mere rhetoric and not law has been recognized in many decisions of courts, nicely discriminated in some few states, repudiated in others, but in several states pressed to its logical conclusion. Thus in Maryland to this very day,.according to its highest court of appeal:
     "The Sabbath is emphatically the day of rest here is the Lord's day or the Christian Sunday.... Ours is a Christian community, and the day set apart as the day of rest is the day consecrated by the resurrection of our Savior..... And if the Christian religion is benefited and fostered by this day of rest, as it undoubtedly is, there is all the more reason for enforcement of the laws that help preserve it..

Note(JB): Sorry there's not one word about changing the Seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week, i n fact>>>  Luke 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
 This is what Jesus asked us to do in remembrance and NOT His resurrection to be used as a reason to change the holy Sabbath days! Many a man and women, have changed the Bible's words to suit themselves! This is the how we now have 100's of denominations: the root meaning of this word is DENOMINATOR WE get this only by divisions,as the left-over number. Satan is the ever divider!

   I n some states constitutional provisions and statues and bench-made law call for the observance of Christian Doctrine and dogma by its citizens. In so doing they deny citizens their inalienable rights and "Exclude, in whole or part, certain persons not belonging touch adopted religion from participating in public honors, trusts, emoluments, privileges, and immunities. Religious proscriptions are found in the following:

• Test of Office, being an  oath on the faith of a Christian.:
•      Marriage in the face of the church, as a condition precedent to validity.
•    Blasphemy of the Savior and Holy Trinity..

     At times the religious proscriptions amounting to persecution by our courts have been reported i n the Press, notably of Seventh-day Adventists,  and Seventh day Baptists in 1893-1894 in Maryland, and again in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kansas

     And to cap the climax, Christianity is being militantly forced as a creed in several states which require under penalty, observance of the "Lord's Day", not as a day of rest, but religiously, and the r4eading and the t4eaching of the New Testament in public schools.. The following sectarian practises, moreover, are uniformly used by both federal and state authorities:

•       "Year of the Lord", as used in official documents and attestments.
•   Legislatures all ope n with prayers to the God of Christianity.
• Sunday Laws call for the no work thereon by government officers and employees.
• The days within which a veto must be expressed under the Federal Constitution and those of nearly all states are limited by the phrase, "Sunday excepted."

    Considering the fact that the history of America's colonies shows that they were established to further Christianity, it is not remarkable that th4e newly constituted states began to establish Christianity during and immediately after the revolutionary War. In all the state constitutions there is mention of God, but in none of them is there a mention of Jesus Christ, or the Holy Trinity, and the duty to worship God. Yet it may be argued with Mr. Justice Brewer that, because of religious references in certain of these constitutions, especially to Christian beliefs and dogmas, and likewise in decisions of appellate courts, that reference is thereby made to God of the Christians.

   By the Constitution of South Carolina of 1778, "The Christian Protestant religion was constituted and declared to be the established religion of the state."   Under the constitution of Maryland of 1776, the legislature may in its own discretion lay a general and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion,  The constitution of Massachusetts of 1780 was mandatory, requiring municipalities to make provision for the support of Protestant teachers of religion. In Vermont's constitution of 1793 and 1831 every denomination of Christians :"ought to observe the Lord's Day and keep up so me kind of religious worship.." By New Jersey's constitution of 1776, no Protestant inhabitant shall be denied the enjoyment of his civil rights. Both Connecticut (1818)  and New Hampshire (1912) not only state that every denomination of Christians shall be equally under the protection of the law, but New Hampshire allows municipalities to  to levy a tax to support Protestant Christian Schools, and Connecticut prescribes rules for Christian church membership. The Mississippi  constitution prescribes that the Holy Bible must not be excluded from the public schools.

NOTE(JB):  These so-called "Blue-Laws", are on the books., and generally not enforced today,  and that's good thing, agree? Yet there shall come a time, (Revelation 13 and 18:4.) when this shall all became reality! Why? Prophecy has been 100% spot-on for about 95% of the total, what makes anyone think the last 5% will not happen?  Please think men lie right, God can't! LIE!

Titus 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

     More liberally the constitutions of Nebraska and Ohio prescribe that laws shall be passed to protect every kind of religious worship. These religious discrimination's are in a different category from the generalizations of Virginia's constitution of 1902, where it stated that the moral duty of all is to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity, following Thomas Jefferson, who disbelieved in th3e New Testament's miracles, but published the morals of Christ.

     Despite the general impression to the contrary, the First Amendment to the federal Constitution did NOT for all time fix religious freedom to America: it merely denied to Congress the right to establish religious worship, reserving this power to the States.And religious liberty. in several states has progressed no further than this definition; "ALL PERSONS PROFESSING THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ARE EQUALLY ENTITLED TO THE PROTECTION OF THEIR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.".

  Indeed equality of all Christians, before the law,  was the4 highest ideal of the colonists, and it has continued so, even in those words,

      Most of these laws are not know to even most legal minds,, and the mischief lies in the Capital made out of the statement by Coke, and as re enforced by Chancellor Kent for America, establishing precedents her which it will be hard to uproot, and a body of substantial law, difficult to se5t aside, wand worst of all, a public opinion not be changed at all, if the present zeal of bigots is to measure it.

Thanking Y O U, for your time, Questions? Comments John at bazenj@gmail.com

"Liberty Magazine", being a publication of The Seventh-day Adventist church, is in truth a Non-denomination magazine, considering all faiths to be due their liberty in religious freedoms, that do not harm others.

WANT/NEED MORE? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist church,any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 A.M.and learn the truth from God and not from men!

Other sites:  aftv.org:   blbn.org:  amazingdiscoveries.org : itiswritten.com. servantsite@wordpress.com

cc/jkb

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES GOD' S LAW MAKE? lOREN SEIBOLD- SIGNS OF THE TIMES aPRIL/2019/

My many thanks to both the author, and this magazine. John B.

SOME CHRISTIANS ARGUE THAT THEY ARE NOT "UNDER THE LAW", MEANING GOD'S LAWS. BUT OBEYING GOD'S MORAL LAWS IS REALLY IS VERY IMPORTANT!

NOTE (JB) : BECAUSE THEY ARE THE LAWS BY WHICH ALL HUMANS SHALL BE JUDGED!
               
       Romans 2:12  "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;"

     Many insist the law has been "Nailed to His Cross"

      Colossians 2:14 " Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"

    These are the CEREMONIAL LAWS, which were replaced in total by Christ's death!
    Deuteronomy 31:24-26  "And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee."  {Malachi 3:6- Hebrews 13:8}   Now to the story!

   
During the few weeks of each year, my back-yard patio becomes a demonstration lab for one of the most famous laws of science: The Law of Gravity. Above the deck stand several large black walnut trees that produce 1,000 's of hard, andheavywalnitsfor few weeks in the autumn, you relax on the patio at your peril;, unless you are wearing a hard hat! Only the squirrels are delighted.
     Now walnuts, have been falling for eoins, before Isaac Newton formulated the human law of Gravitation. Newton's law doesn't make the walnuts fall--- it only explains why they fall. There are, in fact 100' s of laws of science. You may remember some of them from School: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction: energy cannot be created or destroyed;  you can know either the location of a particle, or its momentum, but not both.
     The laws of science differ from the laws by Governments. A friend was driving above the speed limit when she saw the read and blue flashing lights of a patrol car in the rear-view mirror. She was so startled ( it was her first encounter with the law0 that by the time the patrolman asked her, to roll down her windo, she was weeping. He took mercy on her and gave her a warning instead of a ticket. A person can SOMETIMES get5 away with breaking government's laws, but the laws of science, though, aren't negotiable They are the invariable facts of physics, in the physical world. One would be very foolish to jump of cliff, without a parachute, in order to test the Law of Gravity, if only to test that its still in  effect! The bottom of the Grand Canyon is too far down, and there's no soft rocks!

    GOD'S INVARIABLE LAWS.

        God's the Original Originator of all the "Natural Laws" of nature ....>;

NOTE(JB): Please think about this....God had had to have all Natural laws in place before he began to Create, or just allow things to float in space willy-nilly?  Remember the Star we call "The Dog Star," is so big that an estimated millions of our suns can fit within it! Yet the Sun, our sun, can hold one million earths!

.....>; in that He created all that we describe by them. Because the laws of nature not only, never fail, but they do not change, thus help us understand the the physical world and how it works; we can make use of them in order to fly planes and heat our homes, or even hammer a nail into a board.
      The God who designed the physical operation of the universe also created the laws for our human behavior. He designed us in such a way that certain moral choices will always result in certain consequences. These laws, too, are necessary for us to understand how the world works.
    The story of God' s Law begins with a deep fand fatal wound in the spiritual fabric of the universe. In the beginning, God designed human beings to live happily and peacefully { for eternity] PROVIDED we follow His instruction. He gave Adam and Eve but ONE RULE they could.go anywhere in their garden home and eat anything except the fruit from one particular tree.
     Because God created them {and us} with a sense of curiosity and the freedom of a free-wll, to chose,, they became interested in in that forbidden tree! Plus with a little  help from the devil [Whose greatest con-job is that most of us think he doesn't eve n exist], they did precisely what God told them NOT to do!  It soon became apparent to Adam and Eve, and to all that followed them, that one doesn't defy God's rules with impunity. The consequences were foretold, and death is our enemy, plus toil, sickness, pain and sadness.{None of these hurts God wanted for us, but they are the results of of our sins, thus self inflicted, due to our choices}
     The breaking of the mrule changed something, deep and fundamental. Sin became, from that point forward, a sort of universal systemic infection.....>

NOTE (JB):  Yes just as any systemic infection we need outside help to remove it, that help is Christ Jesus.

    ....> There was no longer just one point wherein human beings could fail , but many. That's why God gave His people the Ten Laws by which to live by. The Spiritual history of humans ever since has been our efforts to follow God's perfect, invariable {they do not change) rules, and God's efforts to save us from our inevitable failures.

THE CRUCIAL TEN.

     A few of these rules are respected by all human legal systems>: killing, stealing, unkindness to our family members, and dishonesty are unlawful nearly everywhere. Governments know that a society where people could kill, steal with impunity would be very unhappy one. For God's other laws, though, human society is of little help. For example God tells us to avoid sexual sin, while Western culture is saturated with sexual immorality. "Don't covet what you don't have," yet much of the world is engrossed upon gaining more and more stuff, within the world's economic system. that holds 'You need more and, and more, and nicer stuff'.
    Some of God's laws are just between YOU and God, {The first four}" Honor no other god before me, Don't take personal advantage of My Name, Remember to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, for it's My Holy day for your rest." Yes, God asks us to obey these laws, though we have the freedom not to.

NOTE(JB):  Yes we do have the freedom to ignore His laws but none can escape its consequences, just look at divorce rates and aids, which are in direct rates to human sin-filed actions.

   Following God's laws, then, is more than just staying our of court and being a good citizen. If you want to capture God's original intention for humankind, you'll have to be intentional and purposeful about doing what God wants you to do, both in public and in private. And when you do make that attempt, you'll discover a couple of things.
     First, you'll discover that by following God's laws, you'll become a happier, more peaceful in family and community. Just as most cooks find that they have a more tastier, more nutritious results when they follow a recipe, so to are we humans happier when we follow God's recipe for life.
    The second thing you'll discover, though, is that you can rarely keep God's laws as consistently as we would like, as we will still keep finding ourselves, as Paul says, doing what we don't want to do, and not doing what we want to to do {Romans 7: 15] 

WE ALL NEED HELP.

    To Jesus, the Ten Commandments weren't just rules, but principles. He summed the m up in this way: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart"  [Commandment 1-4, and love your neighbor as yourself [6-10 commandments]. I n saying this, Jesus closed closed all the loopholes we might leave for ourselves. Most have not killed another human being but look......>

   ..
     Matthew 5:22  "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, [ empty one, fool, stupid] shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
     Matthew 5:28 " But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Note(JB): The above are but two examples of the PRINCIPLE of the law!

.......>This leaves humans i n a quandary, for it means that even the best intentioned of us inevitably follow in the footsteps of Adam.

     Romans 3:23  "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Are we then without hope?  NO!.....>
   
    Romans 3:24-27  "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."

    Romans 7:14-17  "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."

   Is it no wonder that we find this...

   Romans 7:24-25  "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

Note(JB):  There's no Salvation in knowing the Bible, Satan knows it far better than any human, but it'll not save him. No Church can Save anyone, nor can any human, only Jesus Christ is able to save anyone and every one IF they have accepted Him i n loving obedience.  Everyone that desires life eternal will do that which is needed, and Jesus will do the rest!

   However, and PLEASE..... remember that without Jesus, God's laws would be as sure and certain and unforgiving as the laws of nature. Prove the law of Gravity, by jumping of you roof....

    Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin, is death........." Pure, Simple and as inexorable as the law of gravity, to one suspended over the Grand Canyon, but by the intercessions of Jesus, our sins can be forgiven and forgotten, as if they had been cast into the Mariana Trench!

    AGAIN, PLEASE.... do not be presumptuous, and think just because God truly loves each one of us, so much so, that He'll not allow us to suffer the results of our sins, as in smokers getting cancer!

    Romans 6:22-23  "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Note(JB):   Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. are the 10 in their fullness.

Thanking Y O U for your time.  Questions? Comments?  John at servant@frontier.com

other sites? AFTV.org. BLBN.org Amazingdicoveries.org itiswriten.com

Want/Need more? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist Church any Sabbath/Saturday at 9-10 AM, Knowing that The Creator God has a place set-aside just for Y O U, in Heaven!
cc/jb
 

"JONAH MEETS ISIS" BY Omar Miranda, Signs of the Times, Jan, 1219 Issue.

My thanks to both the author and this magazine.  (john B)

"IN A WORLD THAT'S FILLED WITH HATE, HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN RESPOND?

   "God bless Great Grandma,, and, Daddy.. Help us to have a good night's sleep. And oh, yah,God, please Bless and protect all those people in Syria and rag that are being killed and terrorized, and please bless and be with those ISIS people, You know that they nare so angry because they don't know You, and don't love You, Amen"
     I kissed my 8 year old son, put him to bed, and in shock walked back to my bedroom. As I sat down, my head was spinning. Did my son just ask God to bless and be with terrorists?? Why would God, the Creator of all, be with those who force people to "Convert of die"?
    
    All others in the house were either asleep or otherwise occupied, and I was alone with my thoughts. I kept asking God, "Why would my boy ask You to bless them"
     It was the summer of 2014, and the world and I watched with horror as the ISIS terrorist organisation attacked, persecuted,killed, and drove out thousands of people from their homes, just because they disagreed with them. I had asked God to stop them, but I was taken aback by my son's love even for THEM.
    Just A few hours before, as mu family sat around the dinner table, and talked about our day. I had given my children, age appropriate version of the day's world events. When we got to the situation in Iraq, my son asked a simple question" Daddy why are these ISIS people doing this"?
      My 12 year old daughter- who is convinced she knows everything already, shot back ,"Hurting People, hurt people!"  They are doing this because they are very angry and they hurt people, because they don't know Jesus!"
     My Son said, "OK" and finished his meal. Relieved, I thought the episode was over. Little did I know that still waters run deep. Fast-forward to his bed-time, and well-- you know how that turned out.
      But his prayer kept eating at me. I couldn't shake it. Did God really expect my family and me, to be praying that God would bless ISIS?. This question drove me to deep and prolonged prayers and Bible study. I needed to know what God siad about terrorists--people who purposely and ruthlessly harm and persecute others, simply due to a difference in values, religion, or beliefs. And if God did say something about them, how does it relate toy life?
      s I prayed, read, studied and struggled with the cognitive dissonance I felt by being someone who passionately love God and others but one who hates sin. I n all its forms., I came to this conclusion: God addresses terrorism and persecutions in surprisingly clear and plain language. He gave us a principle in an Old Testament story (actually an entire book) and then teases out that principle in several New Testament passages.

MUCH MORE THAN A FISH STORY.

      The ols Book's story of Jonah bears a striking resemblance to what's happening with ISIS. Jonah, a prophet of God, was told to deliver a message, to the people of Nineveh,  which was the most flourishing capital, of an incredibly ruthless, and evil Assyrian Empire, a kingdom in the northern Mesopotamia, a kingdom of the center of none of the great empires of the ancient Middle East. I was located in today's northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Nineveh was built on the banks of the Tigris River, opposite of today's Mosul, Iraq-- which in 2014 was the heart of the very region that was terrorized by ISIS.
    The Assyrians, and by extension, the Ninevites, were a wicked, cruel and paga dpeople. They. They pioneered brutal and unspeakable ways to torture others, especially Israel.

NOTE(JB) : There's much agreement among historians and archaeologists, that they "INVENTED" the "ART" of crucifixion, a method of killing, which a strong man may last up to three days before the mercy of death. Remember that Rome, came on the picture of history much latter, by some 1,000 years!

So when God told Jonah to deliver a message of Judgment and destruction, he was thrilled. He was excited that God wanted to destroy the Ninevites, because... well they deserved it, in Jonah's mind.

NOTE(JB): a bit of background here.... Dagon, their "FISH-god," Google it and see pictures of rock carvings, showing his priests in a fish tail, with scales and wearing a fish-mouth hat. The same
"MITER-HATS" we see on the Catholic Church's leaders yet today!  The "Prayer-beads" came from the Hindus, as well as their many "Processions".Much of their doctrines came to them from Babylon,, such as eternal souls, die and go to one's reward, Easter from Astarte their Queen of heavens and fertility symbols of Bunnies and Eggs, to which they revere Mary as of 1850's! Mary death is not recorded in the Bible, nor is her resurrection!
    1 Timothy 2:5  "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"

   Please note ONE MAN, as The Mediator, that excludes their Mediatrix Mary, who is still in her grave along with King David!  Learn the Bible and take God's word in place of those of men, whose bloated ego's are too large for mortal to carry, without Satan's help! 2 Thess. 2:1-15 and Revelation's 13: 2 and 18:4. Yes men say Revelation's is not for us to understand but they then ignore Rev.1:3 and besides read John 1L:1-3 and 14 and ask "Why would Jesus, "The WORD" write Revelation if he did n't want men to read and study it? Besides much of this book borrows from the Old Book words phrases and whole verses, especially Daniel which without it one can't understand the symbolics, of "The Revelations of Jesus Christ"!

    SO when the Holy Bible's "fish" spewed up Jonah on the beach, he was a living messenger of their god Dagon, and they ALL headed his words, and collectively repented, as their king demanded and God relented and chose NOT to destroy them, then! When this happened Jonah decided, wrongly, to put God i n His place by whining and complaining to Him about his frustration.. The book ends with Jonah seemingly not getting the message that God is kind and compassionate and seeks to extend mercy to all--- the same mercy He extended to Jonah and his fellow Israelites.
     Jonah's stubborn, uncaring attitude smacks uncomfortably close to the attitudes of many Christians as we see the atrocities of ISIS unfold right before our eyes. If was say we love God and others, shouldn't we respond and pray for God to bless and to bring them all to repentance--- not just to destroy them?

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.

     Look at how the following verse expands upon the principle of the Jonah story.....in Christ's words.....
     Matthew 5:38-48  "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, 39. That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.40  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?  48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"
     WHAT! Did Jesus really mean what He said?? That we are blessed when we are to love those who seek us to do things that are hurtful and not good?  That we should give to others all that they ask of us by demand? We should walk with them Vs. 40-41? Plus to love, and pray for them, and not to resist an evil person Vs. 39.
   Did Y O U make note of His stinging rebuke  at the end? "Be ye perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect" Vs. 48.Jesus is here telling us not  only that these "strange" actions are mandated but that they are possible only through His powers at work within uis and in our lives.
     Here's the more troubling question: "Does Jesus want us to be Christian Carpets and let all others, who seek to do us wrong, just walk all over us?"
   Well, YES and NO! Let me explain.
    The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Rome, clarified Jesus' instructions through his unique perspective. Let's not ever forget that Paul used to be called "Saul" and he had persecuted Christians to the point of death! Paul reminded the Roman Christians that they shouldn't take revenge on others,  but instead should let God take care of that.....
     Romans 12:9 " Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."
       Hebrews 10:30  "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people"
    Paul ended his counsel with this.unbelievable zinger: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" Vs,21.

THE THIRD OPTION.

     Paul, --like Jesus--- made it abundantly clear that we are not to seek revenge when persecuted. This emotion follows anger, and its perfectly normal for all humanity, but as Christ men and women, we are not to respond in this way.

       Ecclesiastes 7:9 " Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools."
Note(JB) : ever notice when anger enters the hearts of people, wisdom departs? People do and say things they'd never do or say otherwise!  The culprit? Most often it's self-pride! IT is this very emotion that changed Lucifer into Satan!  Get the connection???

    So, if we shouldn't 'pay-back' evil for evil, should we do nothing?  That's not right either, now is it?
That's why Jesus and Paul recognized that the best option is the third one: To let God take care of it. If we truly love Him, and believe in His Word, and we trust Him because we know that HE has all the powers, and is the perfect and ultimate Judge, then we can leave those wrongs in the safest place of all: in HIS hands.

  Hebrews 10:30 " For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people."
NOTE(JB) : If the Hatfields and the McCoys had followed Christ's advice, this feud would not ever take n place.

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD.

     The simple truth, there's nothing more difficult that dealing with one whose sole purpose for living is to torment and persecute us and those whom we love. Yet Jesus did not give us a pass on this. If...if...we call ourselves His followers--- if we seek to be like Him--- we must by necessity, act as He acted, agree?
     Today,, I want to challenge Y O U to do five things for those who purposely persecute you in order to respond to that persecution as Jesus would:

1) PRAY FOR YOUR PERSECUTORS. Commit to praying for them each, and every day. At this point, don't inform them th.at you're praying for them. Remember, this IS NOT about YOU, jit's about them! It's been my pleasant experience, that after a few or more prayers,  it's very difficult to remain angry with them, and still hate them.
2) FORGIVE THEM.   Yes, forgive before your Father-God, in Christ's name and for sake! AND YOURS!  Look at the example Jesus set before us at the Cross!

           Luke 23:34  "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."

Therefore if we want to be like Jesus, we must also do and act as He, agree?

3) DO SOMETHING FOR THEM.  Several years ago my daughter was singled out for verbal bullying and abuse by an older girl. After my daughter spoke with her mother and me, she prayed about it and felt strongly impressed to begin praying for this girls every day. She also picked some flowers and gave them to her. The next week my daughter was pleasantly surprised to see a positive response from this young lady, and the bullying stopped. Pray, and take the time to listen to God's Holy Spirit, and then give a kindness to your persecutor.
4) ATTEMPT TO EMPATHIZE.   Remember what my daughter said about ISIS? "HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE" They are doing this because they know not Jesus, and the fact that they've been brought up with this kind of thinking, "All who do not believe as we do, are to be killed" This is all most of the living members of this faith, have known since birth, for generations i n fact, look.......

     Genesis 16:11-12  "And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.  And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

NOTE(JB)  :  Yes Ismael and his Mom got a raw deal from Abraham, by sending them away empty- handed, yet this region will not ever see true peace until Jesus returns! How many have seen the news file, about the interview of a two year boy, who was asked, "What do you want to do, when your are grown up? He shouted "KILL JEWS!" Would YOUR two year have given such an answer? NO!

   Thus, trying to understand where the other person is coming from, and how that colors his or her actions.

5). BE OPEN TO BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP.

    YE,S IT'S TRUE, THAT YOU MAY NOT EVER WANT TO BE BEST FRIENDS,  with that person, who makes it is or her purpose in life to to make your life miserable. However, we are here, to fulfill our main purpose,, to make disciples for Jesus! You may not like it, nor enjoy this, but people are watching you how you handle this situation, even the one who hobby is making you miserable!

Note(JB) : They will be the most impressed with your Christ-like dealings with them, and that they may have a change of heart

"I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU....REALLY!

      Hebrews 13:5" Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."


THIS IS hIS promise TO EACH ONE OF US!   Claim it every day in prayers.  WHY?
    Living on this earth in these bodies of flesh, humans all, are subjected as Christians to Satan's and the world' anger. Persecutions, and torment, and deceptions galore! However, things SHALL get much, much worse to closer we come, in time to His Second Coming! The closer we get, to that point in time, the faster events will progress.However, we can be fully assured that no matter what happens, God will not ever leave those who claim Him through Christ Crucified yet lives to intercede on our behalf.. In full truth...
 
     Matthew 28:18-20  "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

This is the very reason that we MUST turn the other cheek, and allow God to guide and protect us, and for HIM to judge and recompense us!  Let's all make up our collective minds to not be as knuckle-headed as Jonah, who has not as yet learned about God's grace! Remember His promise.....

John 14:1-4 " Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."

How can Y O U know?  read His 66 Love Letters to Y O U His child! The Holy Bible!

All quotes ar3e from the King James Version (John B)

Thanking Y O U for your time, Questions?  Comments? John at servant@frontier.com  or bazenj@gmial .com

NEED/ WANT more? Visit you Seventh-day Adventist Church, knowing that ONLY Y O U can fill the place your Father has set aside for you, forever, in heaven.

OTHER SITES:  EDW@CENTERFORONLINEEVANGELISM.ORG   ; blbn.ORG:  AFTV.org:

                        Amazingdiscoeries.org  : itiswritten.com  :  redeen.international servantsite@wordpress.com

cc/jb

     


   

 
     

Marvin Moore's "FOOLING WITH TIME". Signs of the Times, November 2018.Issue.

My many thanks to both author and this magazine. (John B)  TO ORDER CALL 1-800 545-2449 [USA] [CAN] 1-800 765-6955 THIS MONTHLY MAGAZINE.  [Contains NO advertisements, but a call to Jesus] 

Marvin Moore reflects on the meaning of time, how we organize it, and how it can be an important part of our Spiritual life.

  Please, do me a favor...... define the word TIME!   Take a moment to think about it before you continue to read on.


       WHAT DID YOU come up with?   When I first tried to define it, I had a hard time coming up with an idea without using the very word TIME! "TIME is the TIME, in which we do things." "TIME is the TIME, in which we do things."  "TIME  is the TIME, in which things happen."   Eventually, I came up with the word PERIOD: "TIME is the PERIOD, in which we do things."  "TIME, is the PERIOD in which events happen."   Webster's o n-line Dictionary agrees, it defines time as "the measured or measurable PERIOD during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues."  I like the definition of TIME, my wife Lois, came up with: "TIME is a way to measure how long it takes from one event to another."

      TIME is such a basic part of our existence that it's impossible for us finite humans to imagine a "TIME" when TIME didn't exist. Throughout every day we're aware of passing, TIME. We have appointments to meet on TIME, Jobs to complete on TIME, and bedtime, daytime, and nighttime. Toward evening we'll say "Where on earth has the TIME gone?" Plus by the middle of June, we are exclaiming, "The year's barely started, and we're already halfway through it?"
    TIME and living are practically synonymous. Without time we'd never get anything done! Stop and think about this...... "We couldn't even exist without time!?

ORGANIZING TIME.

    We humans have been fooling with time for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found evidence of time keeping as far back as thousands years ago. However primitive this would be compared to our methods today. We divide time into milliseconds, [1/1000 ths] seconds minutes hours days weeks months years and decades and eons, even millenniums. We have clocks and calendars that help us keep track of time. That way we can make appointments, and keep them on time\, and we can  even plan for our retirement at a future time..

      However, watches, clocks are a fairly recent innovation. The ancients kept track of time by the movements of the heavenly bodies, which helped mankind to divide time b y day\s, months and seasons, and years. The Jews of the Bible times divided the light and dark parts of their days into 12 parts each. For example, Christ was crucified at about, "The Third hour, and He died at about "the ninth hour", which would have been about 9 AM and about 3 PM in our time system, today.
     Mark 15:25  "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him."
     Matthew 27:45-50 "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."   [His  Spirit/Breath of life/breath His last]

    We must know that these times in hours are but our estimates,as THEN, the length of an hour depended on the time of year, During the summer months the day would be longer , thus making the hours in winter shorter than summer hours!...,...> Cont.

NOTE(JB) : At their Latitude, the simmer's longest day, of daylight, would be from 5:30- AM to about 8 PM., but in the winter it would be from about 7:00 AM to about 4:30 PM. This is the reason why of the time frames in Genesis 1: 5,8,13. From sunset to sunset as one full day, thus all would be able by the sun's position to know the time beginning for the Seventh-day Sabbath, and when it would end!
Bur, sadly men think they know better and changed the Sabbath from the Seventh-day, to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, PLUS changed the day's beginnings and endings to midnight. The time of darkness, that much, but not all, earth embraced Rome's edicts,  of Sunday's Sacredness, in 321 A.D. by the order of Constantine, the Emperor,  and the time of the starting of a new day, at midnight in 1503 AD, by the decree- Papal Bull- by Pope Gregory III, {The Great}He also is known for the calendar we use today, The Gregorian, for in 1582 A.D. he dropped 10 days from the month of October, as Rome's "EASTER" was getting too far away from the SPRING SOLSTICE. Thus Monday October 4th was followed by Tuesday October the 15th. This changed the Julian {Caesar} calendar began in January 1, 45 B.C. . Yet please make note, there's not ever been a change made to the same rotaion and sequence we use then and now, regarding the order of the seven days within a week. The Sabbath still falls on the original Seventh day, and the FIRST day of the week is still named after the Sun-god...... Sunday!  Monday= Moon day: Tuesday =  Thor's day?   Wednesday = Woden:  Thursday = Thor's day: Friday = Freidah : Saturday = Saturn. Sunday = The Sun-god.

Cont....> Calendars have been around for some 500 years. Wikipedia lists more than 80 cultures's calendars, from the Mayan to the Hebrew one of the Jews, to today's Gregorian calendar.

COORDINATING MONTHS WITH YEARS.

     I mentioned a moment ago that the three most obvious ways to divide the passing of time, are to base it on the cycles of the heavenly bodies: the rotation of earth on its axis to mark our days, the orbit of the moon, around the earth to mark our months, plus the orbit of the earth around the sun to mark our years. In addition we mark our year into seasons, which are also based on the rotation of the earth around the sun.[ We''l discuss the division of time into weeks, in a moment]
     A major problem, presents itself to every culture, has to be with its synchronizing lunar months with solar years. The earth orbits sthe sun about every 365,25 days, while the moon orbits the earth about every 29.53 days, which means that there are about 12>53 months in a Lunar Year. Thus, the months don't fit neatly into the years the way round pegs fit into round holes. Some cultures have solved this problem by using strictly the Lunar Calendar, others with a combination of Lunar and Solar calendars, and still others with strictly solar calendars.
        LUNAR CALENDARS: In a strictly Lunar year, such as the one the Muslim's use the months are about 11 days days short of completing a year, which is the why the date of the Muslim Ramadan varies to widely from Solar year to Solar year.
       LUNAR-SOLAR YEARS:  To solve the problem presented by the difference in the Lunar months, and the Solar Year, many ancient cultures tried to align the Lunar with the Solar year to year.One of the most common ways to do this was to add a month every second or third year. The Hebrew religious calendar is an example of this calendar system.. Of course, with this calendar system, the time for the seasons varies quite widely from year to year.
      SOLAR CALENDARS: The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar adopted a strictly Solar calendar on January 1, 45 B.C., and it became the norm throughout the empire for more than 1,600 years. Its years had 365 days divided into 12 months, with a leap year added to February every four years.. However even this system was slightly longer that a full year. Thus by the year of 1500 A.D. the spring planting season had slipped about 10 days back into February.
     To correct this problem, and the fact that the Spring Solstice {EASTER}had also moved back, Pope Gregory III introduced a revised calendar that compensated for this "slippage" of time. This calendar cut out 10 whole days out of October calendar of 1582, so that Monday October the 4th was followed by Tuesday October the 15th! To prevent continued slippage the Gregorian calendar also cut out some of the leap February days. The LEAP DAY in years that are divisible by 4 is maintained EXCEPT for the years that are divisible by 100 [1800, 1900 etc] . However the years that are divisible by 400, such as 1600 and 2000 are LEAP YEARS.
    All nations ruled by the Catholic Church adopted this immediately, but the last one was Greece, in 1923. By the end of the 20th Century, nearly all nations had adopted it at least for the political and economic reasons. Orthodox Jews continue to use the Hebrew religious calendar, and as noted, dthe Muslims still use their religious Lunar calendar.

THE WEEK.

      THE WEEK, is the only measure of time that isn't based on the movements of earth, moon, or sun. Today the seven=day week is almost universal. However, throughout the world's history various cultures have used weeks that range form four to ten days. The ancient Romans.held an 8 day week, and during the French revolution, they observed a 10 day week. So where and why do we observe this seven day week? Where was the foundation for it?

    Genesis 1:5  "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
NOTE(JB) : This set the parameters of the 24 hour day, from Sunset to Sunset.

     Genesis 2:1-3  "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made"

NOTE(JB) : This then set boundaries for the Sabbath day, from Friday;'s Sunset to Saturday's Sunset.
                   By His BLESSING the SEVENTH Day, He created a weekly MEMORIAL to the CREATION WEEK, and by HIS SANCTIFICATION, made this day a HOLY DAY, set aside for a religious purpose! This means that man/men have no right, no power, to change this day period!

    Exodus 20:1-17  And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.COMMANDANT 1  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  #2Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.  

#3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.   #4.  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.   #5  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.     #6. Thou shalt not kill.    #7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.       #8. Thou shalt not steal.     #9.   Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.     #10.   Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

NOTE(JB) : The above are the whole and full Ten Commandments, in the books of Catholic Catechism, and the last Number ten has been split into two parts so that they can show ten! However, they've removed many, many words from each of them especially the fourth the sabbath Command. Not ever wondered nor questioned the why of this? Please THINK, no church no man can save YO U but Christ!   LOOK......

    Revelation 22:18-21 " For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

Note(JB) :  Yes I've heard this, "Well but that is only concerning the Book of Revelation!" To which I ask, "Are Y O U sure you want to hang your eternal life on this remark?"

WHAT'S THE THEOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WEEK AND ESPECIALLY OF THE SABBATH?

    Exodus 31:17 " It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."

NOTE(JB) : Rome's big argument is that "This is for the Jews ONLY! "  Oh really????
      Galatians 3:7 " Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."
      Galatians 3:14 " That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

It is one's love and faith in Jesus Christ, that makes ALL a "Child of the Promise", or a "Spiritual Israelite,"   ARE YOU, MY FRIENDS, BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND, THAT BIBLICAL ILLITERACY, CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO SALVATION?  YOUR SALVATION?  NEVER EVER TAKE WORDS OF MAN/MEN, FOR THE WORD OF GOD, LEARN THAT FOR SELF!!!

  Please take note that the weekly Sabbaths, are also a point in time. So that from the very beginning of human history, God did something very special with time.Next take notice of the first words in the statement of time/Sabbath: "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing."

   Genesis 2:2 " And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

    If you've ever looked real close at anything found in nature, you'll appreciate His consummate artistry.  Its plants, animals and especially its twoans, as His 'Masterpiece".  We humans are prone to mark our "SPECIAL DAYS" right? Birthdays, Anniversaries, graduation Weddings, and so on, so God did the very same thing! He "SET-ASIDE", for a holy purpose the Seventh-day Sabbath, as a special weekly memorial, to celebrate His CREATION!

     Genesis 2:3  "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

SANCTIFIED: (SANK'TA-FI`D) adj. dedicated,consecrated, made holy.affecting sanctity. New World Dictionary, Simon & Schuster. 2nd College Edition.

Note(JB) QUESTION: "What can man make holy"?   NOTHING! Thus "Sunday Sacredness" is but of human tradition!  Mark 7:9  "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
    Disagree? Speak to the Author of the Bible about this question, He's eager to hear from Y O U!

 .....>  Remember the story of Moses, and the burning bush? Moses was told to remove his shoes for he was on Holy Ground?   [Exodus 3:1-5] So also does He expect us all to show this special respect for the Holy Time on HIS ....yes HIS .......Sabbaths! By honoring His Memorial Day the Seventh day Sabbaths! No need to remove one's shoes.Just surrender one's heart.

THE SABBATH A SPECIAL DAY FOR HUMANS.

    REMEMBER... all that The Creator created during the six days of Creation week had to do with the physical world: a planet with its atmosphere, plants, animals and humans. BUT... on the SEVENTH DAY God created something special, that's especially for intelligent human beings. To the animals, the seventh day of the week is just like any other....>

NOTE(JB) : Science has shown that many life forms, from plants to bacteria, really slow down their activity on the Sabbath. WHY IS THAT?  IF THERE'S NO GOD.HOW CAN THIS BE SO????

.....> Only thinking humans can recognize the significance of the Sabbath sd holy time. Thus the Sabbath is God's special Creation action, a TEMPLE IN TIME!. That only Humans can understand and be participants in it!
     There's a profound reason for this....the most fundamental aspect of the Sabbaths is for a Loving and personal relationships, with the all the members of the Godhead as well as with our fellow believers.You see, God created millions of angels......

     .Revelation 5:11  "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;"
      Daniel 7:10  "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened".

....> He wanted intelligent beings whom He could love and who could love Him in return, and He as far as we can know, created each one individually, one by one. However, He gave humans the ability to koin Him in creating more humans. Given enough time, there's no limit to the number of people we humans are capable of creating.. That's how much God enjoys having relationships with other intelligent beings.
      And, of course, these relationships take time......>

NOTE(JB) : no human can love an unknown being, and the only source we have to know God is from his Holy Book, the Bible! Most don't read it!

...> That's why God set-aside the Sabbath at the very beginning of world's history as a TIME. He could then relate to us and we to Him. And He embed this principle in His law of the Ten Commandments. It's why He made the day holy---  so that we would set it aside as time for enjoying a loving relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

     Y O U, may say, as many do, "I worship God every day," That's good, and God is pleased. But HE also set aside an entire day for us to fellowship with Him and each other in a special way.
      OR, Y O U may say, "It doesn't matter which day I keep so so long as it's one day in seven."
Well, God is pleased when we spend time with Him on other days but there's only ONE 24 hour day that He asks us to observe in honor of His Creation of our world and us.. There's but ONE day He asks us to spend time with Him and each other in a special relationship with Him and others.
.
     Exodus 20:9-10  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

    Mark 2:28  "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath."

Obey man? OR obey God?  Who can save you, man?  NO! Man can't even save himself! Thus not YOU either.

.....>; God longs so much, to have a specail relationship with Him, that when we turned against Him, He gave His Son to die for us, to save us from our own sins. [John 3:15-16]. He made this great sacrifice just so that He could spend time with us, just so that we could love him as He loves us.
   He also is a God of order, but there's ONE DAY e set aside at the very beginning of time as a special celebration of our Creation.. There's just that ONE day, the Holy Sabbath, the day for us to have a corporate special personal relationship with Him. And its high danger to fool with that time!

NOTE(JB) Sabbath in the Hebrew means REST, yet in 80 of earth's 190 languages, plus all the dialects, the 80 has for their name of the day we call Saturday, is THEIR WORD FOR REST!   Pluis:

    Genesis 11:7-9  "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

QUESTION:  WHO CREATED EARTH"S LANGUAGES?  THINK, use your mind, your intellect, and not your emotions! 
pPp




   

JULIE GUIRGIS' "SELFIES, SCALPELS and, SOUL SURGERY.Signs of the Times Oct. 2018.

My many thanks to the author and this publication. (john B)

   Yes these days, almost an. BUT, warns this author, one can photoshop their selfies (self phonto) t6o perfection, It's no longer only for the glamour studios,ONLY. but SHE WARNS  there's no solution for the ugliness of SELF-LOATHING!

     Thanks to Social Media, we're exposed to multitudes of images of unattainable beauty every day! Before the digital age ofr the new cell phones/computers, we could see images of impossibly perfect beauties of many celebrities on billboards, T.V. and magazines, but we were mot overwhelmed by them , for most of us. But now were, especially teens tend to be consumed by them for hours each day...>.

Note(JB) : I have seen Teens, after school, in a cafe, having a soda, and they are "TEXTING: each other, rather than having a conversation!  This is making conversations obsolete, and spelling, going out the windows of "Progress"? Let alone proper grammar, as conversations are reduced to to LOL and CU Soon?

....> Social Media, Facebook, twitter, and Instagram are the primary way many young people communicate with the outside world, even within many households!  I n 2013 2/3 of American Teens were on Facebook, where they psted images that were shared by millions each and every day....>

Note(JB) : More that a few, were taken in their "Birthday suits," and once on the web, they are there for ever! On millions of smart-phones, laptops etc, that can not ever be deleted!

....> The effects on these young people's psyches is troubling. Viewing pictures in magazines, and o n T.V. that show thin, attractive woman, muscular lean men has been shown that can lead to self-body dissatisfaction. And it's not just the exposure to these images that's damaging; it's also the pressure to have perfect bodies, and a perfected profile pictures of ourselves, and then comparing ourselves to the photo shopped perfections of the images see. This became a danger, of a constant analysis of our own bodies, compared to the fake perfection, that Photo shop can do, that we see in many venues.

    Phillpa Roxby, in her article, "Does Social Media Impact on Body Image?" published  by the B.B.C. tells the story of Kelsey Hibberd, who lives in South End, United Kingdom. Hibberd recalls her high school years ad "Being Miserable". She intentionally kept her Face book friends to a minimum, choosing to communicate only with those who wouldn't make fun of her, and pick on her.
     "I'd always been tall, and  was a bit pudgy too."he said. "No-one seemed to notice in primary school, but then in the 7rth grade everyone started pointing at me, noticing things, making me think that I was ugly and not special."
    Hibberd became e self-conscious about small things, like the shape of her eyebrows and the size of her forehead. She was bullied from the ages of 11 to 16. Thus she knows first hand that t3ens can have thousands of "friends", online yet be vulnerable to having body issues..
    "You put forward your best self, and that can be a bit dangerous, because you naturally compare yourself to others." Hibberd says.

COUNTERING DAMAGING SELF-PERCEPTIONS.

    Roxby also points out that in 2012, Australian members of Parliament  [MPs] recommended that all school children should take part in compulsory body image and self-esteem lessons.An inquiry by the ALL-PARTY Parliamentary Group on Body image heard evidence that girls as young as five were worrying about their size and appearance."

Note(JB) : From without a doubt, headed by some Liberal PhD's Who try to conform all the rest of us, into their thinking and actions! They are the same-- world over! As if they are telepathically linked! Individual thoughts are discouraged!  Group think is were they find comfort thus religion is also out of step, according to most of the like-minded thinkers! [Or is it stinkers?]

"It was also pointed out that among adults about 60% felt ashamed of the way they looked. The report said that the pressure to look good had pushed up cosmetic surgery rates by nearly 20 percent!"

    Roxby also says that MP Caroline Nokes is a member of the parliamentary group that--with several charities,  businesses, and public bodies--"Is launching a campaign to change attitudes toward body image, called "Be Real: Body Confidence for Everyone."  With this she visited schools and spoke to 12-13 year old about how easily images in the media can be altered, enhanced and improved to create something far from realistic. "They understand, she said,  because they go through the same process when they post images on social media sites."

   It's true! Young people ca n "DOCTOR" the images themselves that they send to their friends.


Note(JB) : Most computer Operating Systems have a photo enhancement programmer. Within which one cam remove pimples, blotches, increase or decrease ears, nose, or chin. With enough practice one can make their "SELFY" look as great as any Hollywood star, or starlet!

   I have asked many groups, to put their hands up, if any have doctored-up their images o n face book? Most put their hands up! Thus"social media", has such a huge effect on young people's bodies, confidence and it just can't be ignored.
    "They can make decisions not to look at magazines and TV," Nokes says, "but social media networks are the primary way they communicate and {it's} their main channel to the outside world. But they are seeing the world through a filter, and that's not reality. It's really important we try to instill  confidence that they each ,can be, who they are."

Note(JB): Remember, skin deep, but ugly goes on forever!This was the saying when this man 76 year old was a teen! She and others are asking the ad people to incorporate all types of body types and looks. Yes, that happens only on second Tuesday of next week! As in never!

FALSE--GOOD LOOKS.

   note(jb) :  Many know that a Hollywood star, whose been in the "Media" for 50 plus years, yet facially still looks like she did in the 20's, from the neck up, know that she's a product of a plastic surgeon!  Why think Y O U it's called PLASTIC, because the results are PLASTIC and not real! Can you really imagine a world where all the girls look like Marilyn Monroe and the guys are as Errol Flynn?

    This must raise many questions for JOHN Q.PUBLIC, and it should! The main concern is that it builds and intensifies a restless culture built upon superficial anxieties about appearance--- a culture that honors endless renovation over hard work, and a secure sense of individual identity.No wonder that as per the American Academy of Facial and Reconstructive Surgery, reported a 31 percentile increase in requests from people who wanted to look better on Social Media!
    The most popular demands are nose jobs and fillers! Yet is not the greater problem one of people trying to recast their personal I.D? This along with Cosmetics, clothing companies, therapists, gyms and surgeons all make millions from these insecurities!

NOTE(JB) : The heads of Silicone Valley in California USA, send their children to private schools, that's not news. What is news, is that these schools, have not one "Smart-Phone, P.C. note-pad nor even a calculator for student use, by PARENTAL REQUEST!  Is because they know something we don't?  YOU BET! If they don't want for their children, should the public not take note, and do the same for our children?

The ame king of thinking also make all the diet programs so popular.. Poor body image, and the mental image we have for own self, is oft linked to to this image, and yet we in the overfed-overweight west,  diet, but not because of the overweight issue but for the poor self-image, and not for health reasons.
   
Note(JB) : describes the values, beliefs, and attitudes we have towards ourselves! It reflects the overall opinion we have about self, Healthy self-esteem is a bout accepting ourselves, despite of our flaws and defects.We should not try to improve self with Botox, which is nothing more than a toxin! Who is willing to eat mouldy fruit, filled with toxins????? So why pay many $$ to be injected with them?

Personally all this to me, shows, a great lack of Bible Knowledge, after all we are made in the image of The Creator-God, and He made only ONE of YOU and me! That's good enough for me and I Pray it is for you as well!

Thanking Y O U for your time.   Questions?  Comments?  John at servant@frontier.com

Want/need more? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM, and learn that God The Father, has set aside a special place for you in His Kingdom!

Other sites:  aftv.org.  blbn.org.  redeem.international    amazingdiscoveries.org  itiswritten.com
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