We have been pondering survival in many ways over the past year or so, and on several of our sites, but very recently thought it might be an interesting topic for our esteemed readers of Joshuah’s House too.  So we wrote a little bit about the basics of survival (Survive !) and also about polygyny in this particular context (Polygyny as a Tool of Survival).

Enjoy.

We have put together a few paragraphs appropriate for the season.  If you feel like there is something very wrong with Christmas the way you are experiencing it out there, you are probably right, though you might be astonished about what is wrong with it in particular.  Please visit Joshuah’s House to read more:

Merry Christmas – or should it be “Merry Krampus” ?

Enjoy.

“For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.” (Psa 66:10)

God tests people. It is obvious, though, that His testing is different from the testing man does when man tests either God or his fellow man. When God tests, He already knows the outcome of the test, whereas, when man tests, he tests to find things out. Israel tested God to find out whether or not God was with them (Exo 17:7). God tested Abraham so as to demonstrate that He, God, was faithful and kept His promises. When Abraham prepared to offer Isaac, he proved that he trusted God and obeyed His command, knowing that God means what He says and says what He means, and that everything was possible for God, even raising Isaac from the dead, so that His promise would still be fulfilled. This faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, and serves as an example for us today.

“And he [Abram] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:6)

Note that Abram “believed God” – not “believed in God”, as some translations would have it. It is a rather straight forward and practical thing here: God promises Abram that his very own son shall be his heir and that his offspring will be numerous, and Abram believes that what God says is true.

In other words, Abram trusted, and obeyed:

“And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Gen 22:15-18)

Abraham’s behavior serves as an example in the New Testament:

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Heb 11:17-19)

So when God, the Almighty and All-knowing God, tests a people or a person, He does it to reveal something of Himself to His people and to the nations, at least that’s one of the reasons. In another instance we see God testing people to separate them (Jdg 7:5-7), but more often, He tests the minds and hearts, refines people in the fire, to reveal His glory to them, and us, in the way He deals with those that are faithful to Him.

“And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:9)

The reaction of the tested people in the bible is significant because, whether they stand or fail the test, God does to them as He promised, depending on the obedience, the love they show to Him. God is faithful and His love is steadfast, for those who walk in His way and listen to His voice.

“All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” (Psa 25:10)

The bible is not about you and me, it is not about people in the first place. First and foremost, the bible is about God. He reveals Himself in Scripture, reveals what He deems good for us to know about Him, and reveals, more importantly, what He wants us to do: Have faith and be faithful, that means, believe God, trust that God means what He says and says what He means, and obey His commandments, statutes and precepts. If you do that, He says, it will be counted to you as righteousness.

In an article about the Christian left supporting Obama in the political game (read the article here), a “Matthew 25 political action committee” is mentioned. Here is what is said about it:

Obama’s outreach to evangelical voters has also included private summits with pastors, an effort to reach out to young evangelicals and a fundraiser with the Matthew 25 political action committee. It describes itself as a group of moderate evangelicals, Catholics and Protestants committed to electing the Illinois Democrat president.

Matthew 25’s name is inspired by a biblical passage, in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.” The name is meant to signal the group’s focus on social justice concerns about hot-button cultural issues.

Brian McLaren, a former pastor who spent 24 years in the pulpit and is now an informal adviser to the Obama campaign, believes that a significant portion of evangelical voters are ready to break from their traditional home in the the Republican Party and take a new leap of faith with Obama.

“I think there’s a very, very sizable percentage — I think between a third and half — of evangelicals, especially younger [evangelicals], who are very open to somebody with a new vision,” McLaren said.

That new vision, he said, isn’t focused on traditional social issues like abortion and gay marriage but more on efforts to end global warming and the war in Iraq.

First, Christian left, please ask yourself what feeding the hungry and giving the thirsty something to drink has to with cultural hot buttons, global warming or the war in Iraq. Even if Jesus was talking about supporting the unfortunate in general here, which He isn’t, the aim of the group and its name have nothing to do with each other.

Second, let’s take a moment to look at Scripture to see how much these people butcher God’s Word to make it conform to their political or otherwise motivated ends.

Matthew 24 and 25 present us with Jesus’ longest sermon in the bible. He is addressing His disciples – please keep that in mind for further reference. They question Him about the end times, and He warns them not to be deceived, then tells them about the tribulations that are to come, the persecution of the elect and a general collapse that will be so bad that, if God did not shorten these times as He surely will, not even the elect would survive. They should not despair, however, for they will receive help for Christ’s sake from people who are not part of the remnant. To these people, the disciples can promise salvation on the Last Day,

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” (Mat 25:35-36)

These people helping the elect who are persecuted (”these my brothers”, Mat 25:40, and not anybody and everybody who is in need, no matter how ungodly he or she is) are called righteous and are told that they will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat 25:34).

Sooo… What in the world has all this to do with social hot buttons, global warming, the war in Iraq, or even gay marriages and abortion ? People have been misinterpreting and misusing the parable of the sheep and the goats greatly, and this committee butchered Scripture real bad.

Now go ahead, grab your bible, read Matthew, stop wasting your time in political activity, take care of your God appointed responsibilities, and stay home on election day.

So someone wrote to the editor of this paper commenting…. I find the last sentence especially significant, given that I have heard many so called good christian women argue with “common decency” when it came to dress codes… Oh well.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2Ti 3:1-5)

Via: TheStar.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Jun 29, 2008 04:30 AM

Re:Man at centre of end-of-life debate dies

June 26

When are we going to stop letting people’s religious beliefs override basic human rights? When doctors try to save a life by providing a proven cure to a young child, the parents claim that it is their religious right to deny treatment because “it is in God’s hands.”

However, when an old man is dying from conditions for which there are no cures, his family, unwilling to accept life’s natural cycle, claim it is their religious right to force doctors to provide torturous treatments.

I heard that the family claims “it’s against God’s will to deny treatment to him,” but it seems that his God had tried to exercise His will some time ago.

Religious beliefs are personal beliefs for which a religious precept can be found. If “an eye for an eye” or “turn the other cheek” can be invoked depending upon a person’s mood, how can there be religious truths that would prevail over common decency?

Ian McLaurin, Port Perry, Ont.

“The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.  The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.” (Pro 10:29-30)

And how do we know “the way of the LORD” ?  Where does the LORD tell us about His “way” ?

As Christians all over the world observe this weekend “a festival [that] was celebrated by our pagan ancestors in the month of April (Webster)” “in honor of the resurrection of the Saviour” (Barnes), we feel the need to point out the obvious problem with this (”Passover, not “Easter”), to remind everyone what Passover – which is coming up in about a month’ time – actually is all about (“The Passover Sacrifice”), and what it means that Christ is indeed our redeemer (“Christ Our Redeemer”).

Read,  and ponder.

Our network is growing…

The most recent additions are two sites that tackle issues of God’s Law-Word (Mosaic-Law.com and Biblical-Law.net), one that is devoted to everything pertaining to Biblical Patriarchy (Biblical-Patriarchy.com), one that elaborates on the divine turf war (Nachash.info), and last but not least our new “Harbinger of Doom” site (GetOutOfDodge.net). You find the links in the sidebar too, for later reference.

Have a look, if you so desire.

Joshuah’s House will be publishing a series of articles on the biblical definition of witchcraft in the days to come. The first page is there already – have a look:

On Witchcraft

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