ellauri006.html on line 1484: To think of the biblical unicorn as a fantasy animal is to demean God’s Word, which is true in every detail.
ellauri029.html on line 920: Other passages in the Bible that use satire include Isaiah’s ridicule of idol-makers (Isaiah 40:19-20), God’s taunting of Egypt (Jeremiah 46:11), and Elijah’s gibes directed at the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:27). Jesus Himself used satire in the form of hyperbole when He told His hearers to “take the plank out of your own eye” (Matthew 7:5).
ellauri042.html on line 975: The last sestet presents a turn, commonly referred as volta, in the poem. The lyrical voice presents god God as a jealous lover who fears that he/she will be tempted away by someone or something else. The ninth line questions this figure (“But why should I beg more love, whenas thou”). Furthermore, there is a romantic imagery to express how the lyrical voice feels about the figure of God (“whenas thou/Dost woo my soul”). God’s interest in the lyrical voice is referred as a “fear” and as “tender” because of the possibility of the lyrical voice being tempted by the “devil” or by “flesh”.
ellauri061.html on line 801: Judges chapter 5 then records the song of Deborah and Barak, written to rejoice in God’s victory over the Canaanites. The lyrics encourage the actions of Deborah and Barak, saying, “Wake up, wake up, Deborah! / Wake up, wake up, break out in song! / Arise, Barak! / Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam” (Judges 5:12). Jael’s role is also heralded: “Most blessed of women be Jael, / the wife of Heber the Kenite, / most blessed of tent-dwelling women” (verse 24).
ellauri083.html on line 440: The fact that NASA computers have not proved the account of Joshua’s long day does not mean that there was no miracle at the battle of Gibeon as recorded in the book of Joshua. We know that God’s word is inspired. Therefore, we know that the Bible is authoritative in all things, including history. Since Joshua 10:12–14 tells us that God performed this miracle, we can be assured that indeed He did perform this miracle. As Joshua 10:14 described it, “There has been no day like it before or since” (ESV).
ellauri092.html on line 247: Methodists also subscribe to baptism and the Lord’s Supper and they similarly see both as signs, not as the substances, of God’s grace in Christ. Baptism is not a mere profession, however, but also a sign of regeneration. Similarly, the Lord’s Supper is a sign of a Christian’s redemption.
ellauri092.html on line 269: In 1859 William Boardman published his book, The Higher Christian Life. The book ultimately birthed the Keswick Movement, so named because the first meeting was held in a church in Keswick, England. The Keswick Movement was filled with doctrinal error from the start and like nearly all errors that infiltrated Christendom over the centuries, they remain to this day. This shouldn’t surprise us because Satan has always twisted God’s Word to his own ends.
ellauri092.html on line 287: Biblically speaking, sanctification is the process the Christian goes through that ultimately makes him/her perfect in Christ. This is not only begun by God at our conversion, but finished by Him as well when we reach the eternal realm (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). In sanctification, Christians are both passive and active. We are passively trusting in God’s ability to fully sanctify us and we are active because we are to choose to do what is right, in thought, word, and deed (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 4:4; Hebrews 12:14, etc).
ellauri092.html on line 295: …the problems in the Keswick theology are severe. Because of its corrupt roots, Keswick errs seriously in its ecumenical tendencies, theological shallowness or even incomprehensibility, neglect of the role of the Word of God in sanctification, shallow views of sin and perfectionism, support of some tenants of Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism, improper divorce of justification and sanctification, confusion about the nature of saving repentance, denial that God’s sanctifying grace always frees Christians from bondage to sin and changes them, failure to warn strongly about the possibility of those who are professedly Christians being unregenerate, support for an unbiblical pneumatology, belief in the continuation of the sign gifts, maintenance of significant exegetical errors, distortion of the positions and critiques of opponents of the errors of Keswick, misrepresentation of the nature of faith in sanctification, support for a kind of Quietism, and denial that God actually renews the nature of the believer to make him more personally holy. Keswick theology differs in important ways from the Biblical doctrine of sanctification. It should be rejected.
ellauri092.html on line 324: The emphasis of Keswick is that you are never holy enough. Certainly, this is true. However, I am on the path to greater holiness as God recreates within me the perfect character of His Son, which will not be completed until I reach eternity. This is God’s work of sanctification.
ellauri093.html on line 450: Because all praises are directed towards God’s Light, Sillä kaikki kiitoxet on suunnattu kohti Aladdinin lamppua,
ellauri094.html on line 809: The bible is a fallible human’s interpretation of God/history/etc. Christians who claim it to be infallible seem to crave something in religion that doesn’t exist in mainstream Christianity: authority. Seems to me, they lack something or someone authoritative like the Catholic Pope or the Mormon Prophet who claims to be God’s spokesman. Since mainstream Christianity lacks an authoritative claim, they nonsensically claim “the word of God” to be their powerful lightning rod.
ellauri095.html on line 512: The Wreck of the Deutschland became the occasion for Hopkins’s incarnation as a poet in his own right. He broke with the Keatsian wordpainting style with which he began, replacing his initial prolixity, stasis, and lack of construction with a concise, dramatic unity. He rejected his original attraction to Keats’s sensual aestheticism for a clearly moral, indeed a didactic, rhetoric. He saw nature not only as a pleasant spectacle as Keats had; he also confronted its seemingly infinite destructiveness as few before or after him have done. In this shipwreck he perceived the possibility of a theodicy, a vindication of God’s justice which would counter the growing sense of the disappearance of God among the Victorians. For Hopkins, therefore, seeing more clearly than ever before the proselytic possibilities of art, his rector’s suggestion that someone write a poem about the wreck became the theological sanction he needed to begin reconciling his religious and poetic vocations.
ellauri097.html on line 473: Paul is saying that when it comes to sexual desire, women were made for men, and men for women, and that’s the functional relationship that God designed them for. They are violating this functional relationship by instead sexually desiring one that was not intended. And, in fact, the wording about male homosexuality is, “They abandoned the natural function of the woman.” So the woman that God provided for them, they are abandoning that for something that, in God’s teleology, is unnatural. So that’s the way our natural law argument works in these two passages.
ellauri097.html on line 477: The appearance of design suggests genuine design. The appearance of teleology suggests genuine teleology, and so examples of teleology in the natural realm point to the existence of God. That’s what a teleological argument for God’s existence amounts to - the argument from design. So the teleology, to me, is evidence for God, and that entails certain moral obligations to the God that created with purpose.
ellauri107.html on line 181: I felt pantheist then—your heart beat in my ribs and mine in yours, and both in God’s. . . . Whence come you, Hawthorne? By what right do you drink from my flagon of life? And when I put it to my lips—lo, they are yours and not mine. . . . Hence this infinite fraternity of feeling. . . . Ah! It’s a long stage, and no inn in sight, and night coming, and the body cold. But with you for a passenger, I am content and can be happy. . . .
ellauri112.html on line 910: Fifth, we will cite the statements of confessions, churches and prominent men, always remembering that such human opinions are not equal to Holy Scripture, but can sometimes shed light on the meaning of Holy Scripture. We will seek to imitate the Bereans of Acts 17:11, who sought to examine what they had heard from even the best of God’s teachers in the light of the word of God. We will adopt what is biblical and profitable, and reject whatever is not.
ellauri145.html on line 516: Condemned by ill health and abysmal eyesight to convey his philosophy in short, aphoristic bursts, Nietzsche knew the power of raising a bubble of laughter, only to puncture it as you ponder the further meaning: “Is man God’s mistake, or is God man’s mistake?” “Man does not strive for happiness; only the Englishman does that” – a dig at Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. “Possession usually diminishes the possession.” “Never trust a thought that occurs to you indoors.” He even makes fun of his readers: “The worst readers are those who behave like plundering troops: they take away a few things they can use, dirty and confound the remainder, and revile the whole.” Vittu miten säälittäviä on yrityxet osoittaa että jyrkät tyypit olis jotenkin humoristisia. Ei ne vaan ole.
ellauri151.html on line 530: Leibnizian problematic: God’s metaphysically constrained choice beteween the best vs pointless evils. Voltaire got a lot of laughs from it.
ellauri153.html on line 329: proceed from the actions of chaotic forces that are opposed to God’s plans and the world order. Mani rules. Dog is just another player behind the board, with opposing forces not under his control.
ellauri153.html on line 383: evil (disaster) arises out of a strategy that aims at defeating God’s plan of justice and Job’s
ellauri153.html on line 394: biblical ideas of God’s plan of salvation and God’s victory over evil, but then use PSR-based
ellauri153.html on line 402: “God’s megaphone” to pressure human beings into accepting His salvation. Hyvä imizi. Pystyy ihan näkemään dogin mylvimässä kovaääniseen: hajaantukaa! Ei täällä ole mitään nähtävää! Law an order. Tää on taas tällästä teismiä: jumalan pyjama on tarttunut sen ize keximän koneen rattaisiin. Sorry folks, tässä nyt vaan kävi näin, lämpöverkko on epätasapainossa, eikä taulu kestä lisää sähkölaitteita, mutta voin tuoda teille lisäpattereita. Even horrendous evils
ellauri153.html on line 408: greater good for w. Sure. Funny how everybody still clings to this measly earthly life to the last, given the joys that await them in the clouds. Then the Incarnation and the Gospel stories discussed in Ch. 6.3.1 are God’s
ellauri153.html on line 421: action must be independently determined on this model. Second, the use of God’s plans and the
ellauri153.html on line 427: prove God’s goodness and omnipotence in the justice-of-God game G:
ellauri153.html on line 452: situations w of God’s and Job’s encounter in the justice-of-God game G. They thus are
ellauri153.html on line 488: God’s faithfulness: how can God act so that justice is eventually
ellauri153.html on line 554: Now that the problem of evil has been exposed as a conceptual confusion, the way is clear for a Jamesian science of religions and worldviews. The methods of grammatical description can be extended to the practices and ways of sense-making in different worldviews: how they give meaning to moral practices and how do they approach the intelligibility of the world? What practical responses do they have for coping with evil? For example, the grammar of seeing-as for models and metaphors can be applied to the metaphors in the Hebrew Bible for God’s activity to understand what it is to see the world as God’s creation. The grammar of virtues can be used to describe Buddhist practices and explore, how these approaches contribute to the human good. Similar approaches can be taken to secular worldviews as well. These descriptions can then be used to assess the worldviews through dialogical encounters between them. However, one thing should be clear. There is no point in devaluing the world by arguing for the meaninglessness of life or atheism on the basis of evil, or in giving justifications for evils that can stand in the way of divine or human meliorist projects of fighting for justice. To paraphrase the judgment of the Divine Judge in the Book of Job, such approaches are not even wrong. They are as meaningless as life itself.


ellauri153.html on line 827: Nowhere does the Bible approve of David’s state of affairs—just the opposite! God had warned Israel through Moses that any future king “must not take many wives” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Scripture does not say that Abishag’s presence in David’s bed was a good thing, nor does it present David as a good father. His many children by multiple mothers were a cause of great trouble for him and the whole kingdom (2 Samuel 13; 2 Samuel 15; 1 Kings 12:23–25). His own son and successor, Solomon, ignoring God’s clear warning, took his father’s excesses to a shocking extreme with 700 wives and 300 concubines who led him astray and turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:2–4). The kingdom itself was divided and lost by Solomon’s son shortly after his coronation, barely one generation after the glory of King David (1 Kings 12).
ellauri155.html on line 685:
1 Cor. 2:7
“but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory.”

ellauri155.html on line 769: He does so by warning his readers not to make anything else but God’s will their ultimate trust.
ellauri155.html on line 773: Calvin taught that God’s will is to be our resting place. He cautions those trying to go beyond the limit of their understanding. When men hear of election, they immediately want to ask, “Why would God choose some, and not others?” To this Calvin replied:
ellauri155.html on line 777: God’s thoughts are higher than man’s, and men will be trapped in a mental maze if they try to understand things that are beyond their human comprehension. So what the fuck do you bother us with them in the first place? Can´t you just get comfy in the institution and play with Nopperi blocks?
ellauri155.html on line 804: The ministry of the Word thus required more than the public exposition of Scripture: it also entailed the declaration and application of God’s Word to individual women and men, girls and boys, through the sacraments, corrective discipline, catechetical instruction, household visitations, and spiritual counsel and consolation. As Calvin noted in his liturgy, ‘the office of a true and faithful minister is not only to teach the people in public, which is he appointed to do as a pastor, but also, as much as he is able, to admonish, exhort, warn, and console each person individually.
ellauri155.html on line 814: The last sentence is rather remarkable. “Should it be his will to exercise you still further, by concealing it from you, submit to that will, that you may become the wiser than the weakness of your own understanding can ever attain to.” Calvin shows how much wisdom and comfort can be found in submitting to God’s divine will, trusting Him regardless of how much or how little of that will He has revealed to the afflicted. In so doing, he reveals to us true pastoral care in using this Biblical doctrine. Hey, just how much is it? I did not notice any quote.
ellauri159.html on line 635: If we are “full of ourselves,” we are usually “full of shit”. Being empowered and acting out of our own self-will may get us pretty far, but not in God’s eyes. The jealous God prefers us to be emptied of our own strength so he can fill us up with his own strength.
ellauri159.html on line 639: In God’s eyes, humility is defined as simply putting ourselves completely under His mighty hand. We are humble when we are free from pride and arrogance.
ellauri159.html on line 686: But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
ellauri162.html on line 182: To understand more fully the connection between Hosea’s domestic affairs and Israel’s relationship with Jehovah, consider these words: “Jehovah went on to say to me: ‘Go once again, love a woman loved by a companion and committing adultery.’” (Hosea 3:1) Hosea complied with this command by repurchasing Gomer from the man with whom she had been living. Afterward, Hosea firmly admonished his wife: “For many days you will dwell as mine. You must not commit no furher fornication, and you must not come to belong to another man.” (Hosea 3:2, 3) Gomer responded to the discipline, and Hosea resumed marital relations with her. How did this apply to God’s dealings with the people of Israel and Judah?
ellauri164.html on line 483: Moses is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament. While Abraham is called the “Father of the Faithful” and the recipient of God’s unconditional covenant of grace to His people, Moses was the man chosen to bring redemption to His people. God specifically chose Moses to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt to salvation in the Promised Land. Moses is also recognized as the mediator of the Old Covenant and is commonly referred to as the giver of the Law. Finally, Moses is the principal author of the Pentateuch, the foundational books of the entire Bible. Moses’ role in the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the role Jesus plays in the New Testament. As such, his life is definitely worth examining.
ellauri164.html on line 489: The next major incident in Moses’ life was his encounter with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3—4), where God called Moses to be the savior of His people. Despite his initial excuses and outright request that God send someone else, Moses agreed to obey God. God promised to send Aaron, Moses’ brother, along with him. The rest of the story is fairly well known. Moses and his brother, Aaron, go to Pharaoh in God’s name and demand that he let the people go to worship their God. Pharaoh stubbornly refuses, and ten plagues of God’s judgment fall upon the people and the land, the final plague being the slaying of the firstborn. Prior to this final plague, God commands Moses to institute the Passover, which is commemorative of God’s saving act in redeeming His people from bondage in Egypt.
ellauri164.html on line 493: The rest of the book of Exodus and the entire book of Leviticus take place while the Israelites are encamped at the foot of Sinai. God gives Moses detailed instructions for the building of the tabernacle—a traveling tent of worship that could be assembled and disassembled for easy portability—and for making the utensils for worship, the priestly garb, and the ark of the covenant, symbolic of God’s presence among His people as well as the place where the high priest would perform the annual atonement. God also gives Moses explicit instructions on how God is to be worshiped and guidelines for maintaining purity and holiness among the people. The book of Numbers sees the Israelites move from Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land, but they refuse to go in when ten out of twelve spies bring back a bad report about Israel’s ability to take over the land. God condemns this generation of Jews to die in the wilderness for their disobedience and subjects them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. By the end of the book of Numbers, the next generation of Israelites is back on the borders of the Promised Land and poised to trust God and take it by faith.
ellauri164.html on line 495: The book of Deuteronomy shows Moses giving several sermon-type speeches to the people, reminding them of God’s saving power and faithfulness. He gives the second reading of the Law (Deuteronomy 5) and prepares this generation of Israelites to receive the promises of God. Moses himself is prohibited from entering the land because of his sin at Meribah (Numbers 20:10-13). At the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ death is recorded (Deuteronomy 34). He climbed Mount Nebo and is allowed to look upon the Promised Land. Moses was 120 years old when he died, and the Bible records that his “eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated” (Deuteronomy 34:7). The Lord Himself buried Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5–6), and Joshua took over as leader of the people (Deuteronomy 34:9). Deuteronomy 34:10–12 says, " Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."
ellauri164.html on line 498: So, now, what can we learn from Moses’ life? Moses’ life is generally broken down into three 40-year periods. The first is his life in the court of Pharaoh. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses would have had all the perks and privileges of a prince of Egypt. He was instructed “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). As the plight of the Hebrews began to disturb his soul, Moses took it upon himself to be the savior of his people. As Stephen says before the Jewish ruling council, “[Moses] supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25). From this incident, we learn that Moses was a man of action as well as a man possessed of a hot temper and prone to rash actions. Did God want to save His people? Yes. Did God want to use Moses as His chosen instrument of salvation? Yes. But Moses, whether or not he was truly cognizant of his role in the salvation of the Hebrew people, acted rashly and impetuously. He tried to do in his timing what God wanted done in His timing. The lesson for us is obvious: we must be acutely aware of not only doing God’s will, but doing God’s will in His timing, not ours. As is the case with so many other biblical examples, when we attempt to do God’s will in our timing, we make a bigger mess than originally existed.
ellauri164.html on line 500: Moses needed time to grow and mature and learn to be meek and eat humble pie before God, and this brings us to the next chapter in Moses’ life, his 40 years in the land of Midian. During this time, Moses learned the simple life of a shepherd, a husband, and a father. God took an impulsive and hot-tempered young man and began the process of molding and shaping him into the perfect instrument for God to use. What can we learn from this time in his life? If the first lesson is to wait on God’s timing, the second lesson is to not be idle while we wait on God’s timing. While the Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time on the details of this part of Moses’ life, it’s not as if Moses were sitting idly by waiting for God’s call. He spent the better part of 40 years learning the ways of a shepherd and supporting and raising a family. These are not trivial things! While we might long for the “mountain top” experiences with God, 99 percent of our lives is lived in the valley doing the mundane, day-to-day things that make up a life. We need to be living for God “in the valley” before He will enlist us into the battle. It is often in the seemingly trivial things of life that God trains and prepares us for His call in the next season.
ellauri164.html on line 504: The third and final chapter in Moses’ life is the chapter that Scripture spends the most time chronicling, namely, his role in the redemption of Israel. Several lessons can be gleaned from this chapter of Moses’ life as well. First is how to be an effective leader of people. Moses essentially had responsibility over two million Hebrew refugees. When things began to wear on him, his father-in-law, Jethro Tull, suggested that he delegate responsibility to other faithful men, a lesson that many people in authority over others need to learn (Exodus 18). We also see a man who was dependent on the grace of God to help with his task. Moses was continually pleading on behalf of the people before God. If only all people in authority would petition God on behalf of those over whom they are in charge! Moses was keenly aware of the necessity of God’s presence and even requested to see God’s glory (Exodus 33). Moses knew that, apart from God, the exodus would be meaningless. It was God who made the Israelites distinct, and they needed Him most. Moses’ life also teaches us the lesson that there are certain sins that will continue to haunt us throughout our lives. The same hot temper that got Moses into trouble in Egypt also got him into trouble during the wilderness wanderings. In the aforementioned incident at Meribah, Moses struck the rock in anger in order to provide water for the people. However, he didn’t give God the glory, nor did he follow God’s precise commands. Because of this, God forbade him from entering the Promised Land. In a similar manner, we all succumb to certain besetting sins which plague us all our days, sins that require us to be on constant alert.
ellauri164.html on line 593: God's punishment was harsh. “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (Num.20:12). Moses and Aaron, like all the people who rebelled against God’s plan earlier (Num. 14:22-23), will not be permitted to enter the Promised Land.
ellauri164.html on line 597: Honoring God in leadership—as all Christian leaders in every sphere must attempt to do—is a terrifying responsibility. Whether we lead a business, a classroom, a relief organization, a household, or any other organization, we must be careful not to mistake our authority for God’s. What can we do to keep ourselves in obedience to God? Meeting regularly with an accountability (or “peer”) group, praying daily about the tasks of leadership, keeping a weekly Sabbath to rest in God’s presence, and seeking others’ perspective on God’s guidance are methods some lead­ers employ. Even so, the task of leading firmly while remaining wholly dependent on God is beyond human capability. If the most humble man on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3) could fail in this way, so can we. By God’s grace, even failures as great as Moses’ at Meribah, with disastrous consequences in this life, do not separate us from the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises. Moses did not enter the Promised Land, yet the New Testament declares him “faithful in all God’s house” and reminds us of the confidence that all in God’s house have in the fulfillment of our redemption in Christ (Heb. 3:2-6).
ellauri164.html on line 643: Moses had always done exactly as God commanded – UNTIL NOW. Moses was devastated when God pronounced his judgment (Numbers 20:12). He had obeyed God’s call to go to Egypt to free the Israelites from bondage. God had worked mighty miracles through him.
ellauri164.html on line 645: God had used him to give the law to Israel and write the first five books of the Bible. He had led God’s people through the wilderness for 40-years, enduring all their complaining and the punishment of their rebellion. He had done everything exactly as God had commanded.
ellauri164.html on line 647: Now, after 40-years of faithfully serving God with perfect obedience to bring God’s people to the Promised Land, he would not be allowed to enter! Was that fair? Of course it was. Moses knew God was merciful and gracious. Surely God would forgive and relent, if he would only repent. Surely God would forgive one sin, and let him in, after how good he had been.
ellauri164.html on line 650: For 40-years Moses had pronounced judgment without mercy on those who sinned. Whether the sin had been idolatry, misusing God’s name, immorality, or even collecting firewood on the Sabbath, the law had condemned the disobedient to be stoned for even one sin. Now Moses was being judged by the very law he had proclaimed.
ellauri164.html on line 651: God is merciful, but the law is not. No mere human has ever been justified by keeping the law because no one has ever kept it. All have sinned and fallen short of the law, even God’s servant Moses. Not even Moses could keep the law.
ellauri164.html on line 657: The Promised Land can only be received by God’s grace. So it was Joshua who led God’s people into the Promised Land. Joshua means “Jehovah saves.” In the New Testament, this name is “Jesus.”
ellauri164.html on line 691: Three different times Moses connected God’s anger with him to something the people did.
ellauri164.html on line 709: He has reached the end of his rope. He has been patient with these complaining and rebellious people, but he couldn’t take it any longer. Their constant ingratitude and rebelliousness caused Moses to lose faith in the people. This is the people that were supposed to be God’s treasured possession, a holy nation of priests who had agreed to be in a covenant relationship with God (Ex 19:5-8). What a disappointment they had turned out to be and Moses was finished interceding for them. God knew Moses was not going to intercede for the people at Meribah, therefore He doesn’t ordain punishment for them.
ellauri164.html on line 717: Conclusion: Moses’s sin wasn’t striking the rock as such when he was told to speak to it; his sin was losing faith in God’s ability to use the Israelites for anything positive. This is why God could say that Moses didn’t trust in Him and is also why Moses could say God was angry with him on account of the people.
ellauri164.html on line 826: All this is true even though the water was brought forth by a leader’s error. God’s grace does not depend upon the perfection of the leader. Not even Christ.x
ellauri164.html on line 840: As a member of God’s royal priesthood, show forth grace to all.
ellauri164.html on line 854: Being smart people, if we don’t see why we should do it God’s way, we are tempted to look for another way that we do understand.
ellauri164.html on line 873: We would expect the pattern to repeat here. The people have rebelled, so the next part would be God’s wrath and threats of destruction. Instead, however, God merely grants their request for water. No mention of sin or possible annihilation, just grace in providing for Israel’s needs. The fact that this cycle we’ve come to expect changes is designed to highlight an important event; the oddity of the text “awakens us from our narrative slumber,” as one commentator puts it, and forces us to pay attention closely to what’s occurring. Why would God not threaten destruction? To answer that, we have to remember a key aspect of God’s character: He does not change. Hebrews 13:8 says He is the same yesterday and today and forever, “without variation or shifting shadow,” (James 1:17). The purpose of the threats of destruction, and Moses/Aaron’s intercession, was not to actually change God’s mind. God knew exactly what was going to happen in all these instances. God’s threats on Israel are spoken to Moses so that Moses will intercede. They are tests of Moses’ (and Aaron’s) character, just as God’s conversation with Abraham over the fates of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) was about testing Abraham’s character rather than the doomed cities. Yet here, in Numbers 20, God does not follow the pattern. Why?
ellauri164.html on line 877: The reading that makes more sense is to focus on the breaking of the pattern established to this point. Moses’ harsh words toward the Israelites reveal his emotions in this moment; he classifies Israel as “rebels” rather than the chosen people, and his rhetorical question seems to imply that he does not view Israel as worthy of God’s grace any longer. This is the real failure of Moses in this moment: he’s lost his faith in God to fulfill His promises to these people. Israel is a nation of rebels outside of grace, outside of God’s ability to make a great nation, outside of the promises that God has given. It seems nearly forty years of dealing with this people has finally broken Moses, and he is so overwhelmed in this moment that he has lost faith. From God’s perspective, Moses has lost faith in the Lord to overcome Israel’s faithlessness. Moses has not believed in God, and has not treated Yahweh as the Holy God who is able to overcome the weakness of His people. Indeed, this is exactly what Numbers 20:12 says was Moses’ sin! He (and Aaron!) did not believe God and did not treat Yahweh as holy in that moment. God did offer Moses the opportunity to intercede for the people (and thus broke the pattern) because He knew that Moses did not have faith in Him.
ellauri164.html on line 885: Reading the Numbers 20 passage the way that has been suggested makes sense of what Moses says in Deuteronomy. He’s not shifting the blame to Israel for his own failures, but highlighting that their constant rebellion was what caused him to lose his faith in God. Moses lack of faith led him to forget the promise and covenant of God, so he is using that illustration to demonstrate the dangers of forsaking the covenant: just like Moses, Israel will be forbidden the Promised Land if they don’t maintain faith in the covenant promises of God. That’s really one of the main points of Deuteronomy. It’s not just the covenant laws for the new generation, but Moses exhorting the new generation to never lose hope in the promise of God. Moses, knowing Israel, recognizes that there will come a day when they fail to uphold the covenant and they will be punished for it, but he also recognizes that God’s promises will stand no matter how badly Israel fails to uphold it. This, then, is the main point we should derive as well: God will always keep His promises. We, as the heirs to the promises to Abraham and Israel, should always firmly believe in the power of God to bring us, a broken people like Israel, to the shores of the Promised Land!
ellauri164.html on line 939: Conclusion. Though the water came, Moses was severely punished. He was punished in a way that no amount of repentance could remove. As noted above, the sin was forgiven, but the consequences of the sin could not be. Because Moses had sinned publicly and God wanting Israel to understand His righteousness, He would not relent. “Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time... I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon ... the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.’ ... you shall not cross over this Jordan.” (Deut. 3:23-27). There is a lot of important lessons we can learn from Moses. This sin is one of them. Though Moses had fallen short of God’s glory here, God forgave him. Yet the consequences of the sin were deeply distressing. So it was with David, Paul and Job. So will it be with us. We need to hate sin and realize that the consequences can sometimes be severe.
ellauri164.html on line 957: Every year we plow through the many possible explanations for God’s decision to disallow Moses entry to Canaan. I would like to propose an explanation that is connected with what we already know about the Israelites and with the way the story is structured.
ellauri164.html on line 963: But wait. Didn’t we already learn a similar story back in Exodus? In fact, the first story of thirst came very soon after the crossing at the Sea of Reeds (Shemot 17:4). Since that was at the very beginning of the sojourn in the wilderness, before the events that led to God’s decision to delay the Israelites’ entry to the Land—and this story is at the end of the forty years—we can see the two stories as forming a kind of a framework around the whole saga of the wandering. In the first story, the Israelites were the first generation of those who left Egypt. In this story, they are the children and grandchildren of that generation. When we see this kind of framework, we look for the similarities and differences between the bracketing stories. At the same time, we understand that they suggest a theme for the stories between them.
ellauri164.html on line 975: The Israelites had a history of trusting in God because of what they saw. The most famous example, which we repeat in the daily morning service, quotes their experience after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds: “Israel saw the wondrous power which God had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared God; they had faith in God and in God’s servant, Moses” (Exod. 14:31). They have needed this public, indisputable evidence of their eyes ever since. God knows that what they see is what is most important. And what he wants them to see is Moses speaking—not striking the rock, as he was commanded to do on the former occasion.
ellauri164.html on line 979: What God wants the people to see is that Moses speaks in performing the miracle at the rock. It is a potentially powerful transitional moment in which Moses’s publicly perceived action would be speech. What he would say would become part of the people’s religious consciousness—part of the repeated narrative of the people—a way of adducing to God a caring relationship with God’s people, and conveying that care to the people. We can imagine the speech Moses might give, performing the quintessential task of a prophet, in bringing God and the people closer together. Instead, he calls them “rebels,” distancing the people from himself and, by association, from God; disdaining their legitimate needs; and losing the opportunity to attribute the provision of water to God.
ellauri171.html on line 534: When Dinah’s brothers heard what had happened, they were very angry. The verb used to describe their emotion is the same as the word used to describe God’s grief when he sees what humanity has become, before the Flood (Genesis 6:6)
ellauri171.html on line 667: Thus the tribes of Israel (minus Benjamin) invoked capital punishment on the men who raped and murdered the Levite’s concubine and the tribe. In time, a total of forty thousand Israelites died as a result of God’s punishment on the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:21, 25). Six hundred men of Benjamin remained alive (Judges 20:47). Judges 20:48 states that Israel destroyed the cities of the tribe of Benjamin that they could find, including the cattle. Later Judges 21:16 states all the women were killed too!
ellauri171.html on line 797: Though Christians may be poor in this world, it is God’s will to "eventually" eliminate poverty. The Bible speaks in much detail of a coming time of peace and prosperity on earth when poverty will be wiped out. It is called the millennium. God the Father has a plan to send His Son back to earth in great power and glory. “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31).
ellauri184.html on line 359: Third, the sin is not an isolated one. Sins come in clusters, cheaper by the dozen. We must understand that sexual sin was not the only problem Sodom had. Consider Ezekiel 16:49 . Her problems included pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness. It also involved a neglect of the poor and needy. The standards of God’s law are dear to Him, and the poor are His special concern. It is not possible to have contempt for the former and remain tender toward the latter.
ellauri184.html on line 644: The fact that Jesus had been preaching God’s word was irrelevant to Pilate. Sitähän ne liuhuparrat myötäänsä tekevät. The term “Messiah” which Jesus had been using, was more threatening to Pilate as it was laden with political connotations. The term presupposed that the “big king" (God) would make his reign prevail via a small king (Messiah), who had yet to appear. The only thing that remained unclear was exactly who this “small king" would be (a descendant of David’s?) and under what circumstances he would appear.
ellauri185.html on line 775: Who is God’s first born angel?
ellauri185.html on line 777: Who is God’s first born son?
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Who is God’s firstborn angel?

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Who is God’s firstborn son?

ellauri185.html on line 817: Israel. In Exodus, the nation of Israel is called God’s firstborn son. Solomon is also called “son of God”. Angels, just and pious men, and the kings of Israel are all called “sons of God.” In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, “Son of God” is applied to Jesus on many occasions.
ellauri219.html on line 449: A disciple of Sir Mahatavara Babaji (No.27), Sir Lahiri Mahasaya learned the discipline of Kriya Yoga in 1861, and subsequently passed the teachings down to Sir Yukteswar Girl (No.1), who in turn, passed them on to Sir Paramahansa Yogananda (No.33), of whom Mahasaya said, “As a spiritual engine, he will carry many souls to God’s Kingdom.”
ellauri219.html on line 597: In his autobiographical essay, “On My Religion,” Rawls explains why he abandoned his orthodox Christian beliefs in spite of the deeply religious temperament that informed his life and writings. In particular, he recounts how his personal experiences during the Second World War, and especially his awareness of the Holocaust, led him to question whether prayer was possible. “To interpret history as expressing God’s will, God’s will must accord with the most basic ideas of justice as we know them. For what else can the most basic justice be? Thus, I soon came to reject the idea of the supremacy of the divine will as [like the Holocaust] also hideous and evil.” Furthermore, by studying the history of the Inquisition Rawls came to “think of the denial of religious freedom and liberty of conscience as a very great evil,” such that “it makes the claims of the Popes to infallibility impossible to accept.” Finally, his reading of Jean Bodin’s thoughts about toleration led him to claim that religions should be “each reasonable, and accept the idea of public reason and its idea of the domain of the political.” Against this background, it is no wonder that Rawls considers the very concept of religious truth as authoritarian and intolerant, and the ensuing persecution of dissenters as the curse of Christianity.
ellauri236.html on line 58: Bolsonaro voted in Vila Militar in his home state of Rio de Janeiro, saying he had "the expectation of victory, for the good of Brazil…if it is God’s will, we will be victorious tonight."
ellauri262.html on line 488: Lewis acknowledges the critique of what specific, individual harm have we done to God for God to be always angry. Well it's not personal as such. "When we merely say that we are bad, the ‘wrath’ of God seems a barbarous doctrine; as soon as we perceive our badness, it appears inevitable, a mere corollary from God’s goodness. Good guys do bad things to bad guys, as in cowboy films."
ellauri300.html on line 821: Bethel was basically one big uplifted middle finger to everything Moses had commanded. When God’s prophet approached this irritating city, the young men (bloody servants!) mocked him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” Not only were they ridiculing his lack of hair (which, in the Old Testament, was often associated with a skin disease), they were telling him to fly away, like his predecessor Elijah. Keep in mind that, right before this, Elijah had supposedly “gone up” to heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2).
ellauri300.html on line 923: So Elisha, as a prophet, saw their hardened and rebellious condition, unresponsive to correction. In the name of the Lord (i.e. by His authority) Elisha simply turned them over to the Lord and to their own devices, which had the effect of removing them from even the common protection of God. He probably said something like, “may God deal with you according to what you deserve,” or “may you be cursed for your sins of rebellion.” This would demonstrate to the city and to people all around a vital truth: without the Lord there is no protection and that blasphemy of God’s servants and His Word in order to hinder God’s message is serious busin
ellauri302.html on line 233: Each of three “solemn feasts”—Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles—required that all able-bodied Jewish males travel to Jerusalem to attend the feast and offer sacrifices. All three of these feasts required that “firstfruit” offerings be made at the temple as a way of expressing thanksgiving for God’s provision. The Feast of Firstfruits celebrated at the time of the Passover included the first fruits of the barley harvest. The Feast of Weeks was in celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles involved offerings of the first fruits of the olive and grape harvests.
ellauri360.html on line 470: Additionally, they acknowledged a third blessing, which was Spirit baptism. Spirit baptism included a special empowerment for service. (Empowerment being a buzzword of the Keswick Movement, consult album 92. Sieltäkö naikkoset sen nappasivat?) Pentecostals also affirmed that the Spirit baptism was accompanied by speaking in tongues. The Spirit’s outpouring was tied to the last days, in the imagination of many. Prophecy conferences and the reemergence of pre-millennialism (that Christ would return to establish a thousand-year reign) added to the sense of expectation. Numerous healing ministries also contributed to the picture of God’s preparing his people for ministry Also, internationally noted revivals in India, Wales, and Korea gave encouragement to the Pentecostal movement. The Welsh revival witnessed a presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Its spokesman, Evan Roberts, taught that such an experience of the Holy Spirit was a necessary condition to revival. The “North Korean Pentecost” set the stage for many enduring practices of the Korean church to this day, such as early morning prayer meetings and the practice of simultaneous blabber.
ellauri383.html on line 519: Lotsa people in Trininad used to hear The Voice of God, V.S. Naipaul tells. One of them even let himself be tied to a balsa Cross but got pissed when people began to throw at him largish stones. Ei jumalauta nyt loppu hei! Laama sabakhthaani! In the previous Gem I opened up the topic of hearing God’s Voice and I gave you the list of guys to whom God had spoken to in our Jakarta and Sysmä based Cell Groups over the years. But how do I know whether It Is God or me? Realize there are times when God Himself breaks the rules. He does that. He is not at all a God who is stuck in his own silly old rules! That is when we may well grasp the wrong end of His humongous stick. That could spell the end of our intimacy with His nugget...
ellauri412.html on line 686: Vastaus: I get what you’re saying, Barry. Your objection is moral in nature. God ought to prevent his children from disaster, he ought to stop rapists, and it is immoral of him not to do so. And because of His moral lapse, you conclude that God’s love must be limited; He must not be omnibenevolent. It’s a modern take on Epicurus. And it’s a strong argument. Its tacit implication is that if God was really all-good, all-wise, and all-powerful, He should have created a universe without evil, suffering, or disaster. This implication suggests a presupposition that one of the highest moral values is an absence of evil and suffering. However, Christianity teaches there is an even higher moral value than an absence of evil and suffering: namely, love. You can't show how much you love if you don't first create some suffering.
ellauri420.html on line 273: With scandals reverberating throughout news outlets due to unconscionable behavior of pastors and priests within the Southern Baptist Church and Roman Catholicism, and the public repudiation of biblical theology by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the once unquestionably trusted office of holy ministry is now the object of suspicion and derision, which makes this book a timely resource. With the public feeling that they need to be protected from predator priests and heretical pastors, Senkbeil brings his readers—more pointedly, pastors and priests themselves—back to God’s purpose for the pastoral office (to manifest and distribute God’s love, care, and gifts to nubile boys and girls), the heart of pastoral formation (proximity and devotion to posteriors), and the source of all spiritual care—the gracious and merciful Jejune God. Senkbeil accomplishes all this without a hint of angst or edginess, but rather with the heart of a butt-a-loving predatory pastor.
ellauri420.html on line 275: This time I’m talking about something the ancients called acedia. It’s commonly translated sloth, but that’s misleading. We’re not just talking about habitual laziness or being a slacker at work. Our spiritual ancestors saw beneath superficial sloth and laziness to its underlying spiritual cause: disappointment with and disaffection from God’s divinely ordained gifts, be they in the realm of creation or redemption.
ellauri420.html on line 299: The devil is God’s devil: He inadvertently does God’s work. He is just too dumb to  notice it. Like moths to a flame, the forces of darkness are drawn to the light. Demonic influences can’t help but be drawn to such a man doing quality work in the kingdom in order to undermine his work, drive him to desperation, get him to sin in any possible way (pride is of course a favorite, besides paedophilia) and to break his bone of love so it fails dismally with others closest and dearest.
ellauri420.html on line 301: But he’s a defeated enemy. He can harm you none. The One who fights for you is stronger than He. In fact, the devil is God’s pet : He inadvertently does God’s work; attempting to separate you from Christ, Satan drives you closer to him. Go to Jesus, he says; he has the words of eternal life, just those you preached so well last Sunday and the one before it. Take those words as your own even when you don’t feel anything; embrace them and revel in the promises they bring you. What you have taught and embodied so well for others is surprisingly hard to believe for yourself.
ellauri420.html on line 303: None of us can be at the top of our game at all times. You know as well as I do that good and effective pastors have their ups and downs erectionally speaking, as well as episodes of greater or less productivity. But when you become chronically disillusioned with holy things and apathy toward God’s work becomes unrelenting, it may be that you’re not dealing just with an emotional low, but acedia. That’s a spiritual temptation, part and parcel of the enemy’s attack in spiritual warfare. And just as sexual temptation, it needs to be addressed both sexually and spiritually—both in terms of self-satisfaction and most likely also the loving caresses of another pastor.
ellauri420.html on line 323: In every offensive and by any means possible his sworn, relentless goal is to uproot and utterly destroy God’s good and gracious work in Christ. But he’s already judged, found underweight, and the verdict is in. “He is stuffed,” Jesus cried in his dying breath. All the work of Satan to destroy, all his lies and accusations, all the sin and mayhem he has imposed on God’s good creation—all of this has been obliterated and eradicated in the death of our enfleshed God, le baton rose, for the sins of the world.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 285: WHAT HAPPENED TO ELAM? There’s no record of a re-emergence of the Elamites since the Persian conquest 2500 years ago. Some say Jeremiah 49:39 is currently being fulfilled through the Iranians. They say this partly because Iran’s primary nuclear facilities are in the area once called Elam. Its recently completed nuclear reactor in Bushehr lies on the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf in the heart of ancient Elam. If that’s the case then God’s restoration of Elam’s fortunes is both brief and haphazard, its stated purpose is opposed to God’s plan for Israel, and it is doomed to end in even more destruction.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 287: Currently, the most popular view is that the complete fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy is for our time and will take place shortly through Iran’s defeat in the Battle of Ezekiel 38. But if that’s true, then the Iranian people will have to be scattered among all the nations following their defeat and then somehow regain God’s favor during Daniel’s 70th Week in order for the last verse to be fulfilled. There’s simply no good reason to believe this will happen. After one brief reference in Ezekiel 38:5, the future of Persia is never mentioned in the Bible again.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 357: Combining these prophecies we have the anti-Christ, now indwelt by Satan, determined to rid the world of God’s people once and for all. Heeding the Lord’s 2,000 year old warning, the believing remnant will flee to the mountains of Edom where the city of Petra has been standing empty for centuries, as if in preparation. The phrase “wings of a great eagle” in Rev. 12:14 is reminiscent of Exodus 19:4 where the Lord used the same phrase to describe the way he delivered Israel from the Egyptians. This implies the same kind of supernatural assistance, such as when Satan spews out a river of water to sweep the woman away. But the Lord will open the earth to swallow the river and save the woman. This will enrage Satan, but he will leave the woman and go after other followers of Jesus (Rev. 12:15-17).
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Q: I have a question regarding the descendants of Edom. In Joel Rosenberg’s novel The Ezekiel Option, some Iranians claim that they are descended from the Edomites and that Iran is in danger of God’s judgment upon the edomites. Are some Iranians descended from Edom? And if so, could Obadiahs prophecy against Edom be a warning for Iran? Thanks for your ministry and God bless.
xxx/ellauri139.html on line 498: “God’s help! my lady fair the conjuror plays Jumalauta! Mun leidi leikkii Tarvajärveä
xxx/ellauri186.html on line 713: Within the Quran, Jesus’ miraculous virgin birth is recounted with Mary having astonishment. How could she become pregnant when no mortal man has touched her? The angel she is having a criminal conversation with discourages her incredulousness with an affirmation of the power and might of Allah’s definitive decree. The virgin birth lacks the majesty of the Christian doctrine because it is not an announcement of God coming into her. Jesus would be like others before him, a prophet who announces God’s truth. The angel goes on to describe just what Jesus would do. Within the description, the author narrates an account of a miracle that Jesus performed as “clear proof” that he was a prophet of Allah. The miracle is repeated later in Surah 5.
xxx/ellauri186.html on line 794: “The importance of the Qur’an for Muslims and Islam is tantamount to the importance of the person of Jesus Christ for Christians and Christianity. It has been rightly observed that the Christian concept of incarnation corresponds to what one might call “illibration” in Islam. In Christianity the divine logos becomes man. In Islam, God’s word becomes text, a text to be recited in Arabic and to be read as an Arabic book.”
xxx/ellauri199.html on line 410: Mut Jumalan murea armo kombinoi: God’s tender mercy still combined,
xxx/ellauri199.html on line 460: Jumalan murea armo toi sinut tänne; God’s tender mercy brought thee here;
xxx/ellauri199.html on line 484: Jumalan murea armo päästi sut vapaaxi, God’s tender mercy set thee free,
xxx/ellauri229.html on line 150: Though it is uncontroversial promise-making is a speech act, Thiselton argues prayer is also, contrary to the view prayer is merely “therapeutic meditation” (44, 53). Rather, prayer changes situations and necessarily involves others. How can petitions effect change when they are offered to an unchanging God (70)? Requests change the situation for answering prayer (53), and aren’t “an attempt ‘to twist God’s arm’” (71).
xxx/ellauri250.html on line 862: During David’s youth as a shepherd, he (David) developed many skills. He learned music, how to write, use a slingshot, how to pull uncircumcized men by the beard, and how to love Jonathan and obey the Lord. Do I understand that it’s my responsibility to develop my abilities like Jonathan Livingston The Seagull, and it’s God’s responsibility to direct me in how I use them? Do I realize that the most important skill I possess is my love for the Lord and my heart to obey Him? What miracles might God want to do through me that would show the whole earth that there is a God in the land? Kan jeg ble en helt liksom Harry Hole?
xxx/ellauri251.html on line 3268: And now for God’s sake kiss me once and twice
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