Tag: hell

  • My HOT reaction to a 1st. c. Hot Topic

    My HOT reaction to a 1st. c. Hot Topic

    As I read my own contemporary REACTION to Paul’s epistle (letter) to the ‘foolish Galatians’ I realized that the Apostle had provoked PREACHING in my own commentary.

    Which HOT Topic that matters to YOU will push your button of REACTION?

    WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO PERVERSION?

    OR YOUR REACTION TO HYPOCRISY?

    HOW DO YOU REACT TO SIN?

    IF you even hold that SIN is identifiable in a man or woman.

    IS YOUR REACTION TO OPPONENTS OF GOD SIMILAR TO PAUL’S?

    IF YOU YOURSELF are not opposed to the ONE GOD and JESUS CHRIST?

    REACTION to Galatians

    Think of this an extended personal COMMENT and reaction to my own post 
    AND then ADD your reaction to Paul's letter with YOUR comment.
    
    Please forgive any overlap of content from Scripture. It is my hope that these exhortations may also convict 21st century christians in addition to the Galatians.

    Galatians 1:7b LSB – .. there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

    Apostasy appears throughout the Holy Bible when God’s people become unholy.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

    It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

    Paul’s epistle to the churches in Galatia 3:1 ESV
    Bible and milk? for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. Hebrews 5:13

    Foolish Reactions of milk-fed christians

    (My REACTION to those led to ‘some other gospel,’ as Paul puts it.)

    For the turning away H4878 of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

    See Paul’s reference to foolishness according to Proverbs

    God’s reaction to worshipers turning from HIM!

    Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine:

    the soul who sins shall die.

    the word of the LORD through His Prophet Ezekiel 18:4

    It is NOT ONLY the flesh which will wither and die; but, SAYS THE LORD, ‘the soul who sins shall die.’


    Galatians 4:

    SON OF A SLAVE! (What’s your reaction to that?)

    8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.


    DOES THIS NOT CONTINUE TO BE THE CONDITION OF EVERY CHRISTIAN BEFORE WE TURN TO JESUS CHRIST?

    So why then, O foolish 21st century sinner, do you speak of reparations for slavery when you continue to refuse release from the CHAINS of CULTURE?

    We are ENSLAVED by CULTURE! – the PERVERSE cultures of media leavening every moment of our day; the PERVERSE claims of political leaders PAID FOR secretly by those evil ones of Satan to whom their parties are chained.

    The list is endless in these last days of this 21st century since the ascension of the risen Christ until HE returns to judge the living and the dead.


    What’s your REACTION to HELL?

    Now there's a HOT Topic to avoid for those who pervert justice and oppose the Gospel of Christ's return. Again Paul's concern for the Galatians ought to mirror our own concern for 21st century church.

    9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

    OR, foolish claimant of Christ, is your own perversion of the Gospel leading your own soul into inevitable darkness, death, Judgment and right punishment for preaching culture and not Christ?

    15 What then has become of your blessedness? .. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

    DO YOU CHOOSE THE TRUE GOSPEL or have you foolishly followed the descending flow of their cultural gospel (which is false) into the very pit of perdition?

    17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

    The Apostle Paul exhorts so-called christians of the churches of Galatia to return to the GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 
    
    I, too, have cultural HOT buttons of REACTION.

    how do you react to denied HOT topics of Truth?
    false – for it is intolerant of Christ and Scripture
    coexist and tolerance = apostasy
    Syncretism

    You can’t be Orthodox AND Roman..

    You’re no longer Catholic..

    You can’t be righteous to Allah if you claim Christ..

    Moroni and Smith hid in a secretive and false church of Jesus Christ in these latter days..

    Our preaching is NOT Universal and CANNOT accept all religions..

    what is your REACTION to yoga? SELF-worship? It is Apostasy
    GOD calls SELF-worship ‘SIN.’

    Buddha can help you find your true SELF..

    Our gods of the earth and nature bring you to the karma of this life..

    We are ALL good..

    The Bible is just another book.. )

    DO YOU SEE THE DANGERS?

    Pride in sexual perversion is not only sin, but not the only perversity of rejecting the Gospel of God.

    Evidence of Christ or Signs of Apostasy?

    No Bible translation I know is so brash as to use this HEADING for Paul’s closing argument in his case against some members of the churches we call Galatians;

    yet I’ll risk closing this HOT topic with such a summation for a jury of my Christian peers.


    4 You are severed [cut away] from Christ, you who would be justified by the law;

    you have fallen away from grace.


    The GOSPEL of Christ’s grace IS good news not only to the redeemed but in its evidence to others.

    17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,

    and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh,

    for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

    CAN THE PERVERSITY OF HYPOCRISY BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS IN ITS WITNESS THOUGH THOSE WHO CLAIM CHRIST?

    Perversion of the FLESH? vs. Fruit of the SPIRIT?

    WHICH do YOU choose AND what evidence does every juror see, you who have been given the Gospel?

    19 Now the works of the flesh are evident:

    sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,

    and things like these.

    I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;

    Paul’s epistle [instructive letter to the churches] to the Galatians 5:22-23a ESV

    against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

    ARE YOU a christian wearing the Cross of Christ while living in the flesh just as Paul calls out to the Galatians to return to the GOSPEL of CHRIST?

    • Does REACTION to your christian claim lead to further apostasy from God?

    Does Paul’s HOT Topic #2 for the saints of the churches in Galatia CONVICT YOU?

    WHAT FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT do you lack?

    OR

    Is your witness as a christian saint somewhat steeped in the unholiness of the fruit of the flesh?

    COMMENTS? or Questions?

  • Apocalypse 7 – Death & Hell follows him

    Apocalypse 7 – Death & Hell follows him

    When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!”

    Revelation 6:7

    Four Living Creatures: “Come!”

    Note the description of this fourth beast and the other living creatures who have summoned John to the apocalypse of the Book (scroll).

    Recalling that the four living creatures worship the LORD day and night and that they reside even closer to the Throne than the thrones of the Elders of Heaven, image how in awe of these you would be as a mere mortal.

    • The first living creature was like a lion;
    • the second living creature was like an ox;
    • the third living creature had a face like a man
    • and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

    And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

    Revelation 4:8 KJV

    The Fourth Seal:

    Death and Hades

    Revelation 6:

    8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse..

    Describing ashes, a very symbol of repentance or death — some versions translate the colorless look of the fourth horse as ‘pale.’ Look on the ashen or pale horse as you might view the face of one close to death.

    .. and the one who sat on it had the name Death..

    Little surprise here as the three riders before had carried a bow, a sword and scales to weigh the scarcity of famine. In fact, after mention of hell, the remainder of the prophesy refers to the judgment given to them all!

    and Hades was following with him.

    Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

    What the Hades?

    • How many of us have faced death?

    If you have, perhaps then the prospect of heaven or hell became more pressing in your consideration of the Lord God and Jesus Christ.

    This apocalypse of Jesus Christ to John seems far from the Good News of the pristine amusement parklike picture of heaven many of us hope for after the inevitable end of our mortal life.

    • Do you have a ‘happily ever after’ view of heaven?
    • Isn’t Hell just a threat to everyone else but ME?
      • (For surely I don’t deserve punishment, because Jesus wants everyone in my church to be with Him.)
    • I believe in God and Heaven and Jesus,
      • BUT I don’t really think Hades or Hell exists — does it?
    • Can’t the evil lives of others just end so we won’t have to put up with THEM anymore?
    ᾅδης – Hades

    What hidden (and perhaps dreaded) truth is being revealed here in this awful ἀποκάλυψις apocalyptic appearance to John?

    The KJV translates Strong’s G86 in the following manner: hell (10x), grave (1x).

    Jesus spoke of it in His teachings. The rebuke of the Lord was for those of His own home town, churchgoers (synagogue šabāṯkeepers) where the māšîaḥ preached to those who denied that He IS the Son of God.

    “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; or if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

    Matthew 11:23 NASB

    Yes, Capernaum was destroyed — and it did not take until the end of all days of the heavens and the earth.

    So it will be for most mortals who must face death.

    You will face death: you may die in suffering or war of even in peace — but the judgment of all flesh will come at the end of these last days.

    • Will it be heaven for you (even as those in Capernaum believed)?

    Or Hell, the same Hades of which Christ Jesus cautions Capernaum?

    Hell on earth!

    NO, it will not be only on earth — but from beneath it and into the depths of the seas the vengeance of Almighty God will finally punish the wicked and sinners.

    And let’s not forget that we ALL have sinned!

    As it is now we see in Revelation that even the saints suffer; but in the judgment of the end, only the saints of the Lord have Good News.

    And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

    And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

    Revelation 6:8 KJV

    Death… and Hell always follows.

    After warnings to the seven churches, the Apocalypse began its Revelation of unseen Truth near to the Throne of Heaven.

    From there the seals removed by the Lamb have revealed the voice of what is to come — spoken in Heaven.

    We have seen the terrible messengers sent to the four corners of the earth in a time that is yet to come. Now note the extent of death on the earth.

    If the Vision was for today

    And I make not any claim that it is; but look at the numbers:

    Source: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ 
    
    [Secure links on talk of Jesus {dot}.com provide additional opportunity to research scripture and other facts beyond those mentioned here and in other posts.]
    • Does this mean that after war and famine on the earth — that one fourth of mankind will suffer death?
    Lincoln penny 2020

    We have already seen a frightful vision [Revelation 6:6] of the time when a day’s wages of a denarius (comparable to a penny) might only feed one man or small family for just one day — AND that assumes that a man could find work in an economy devastated by war.

    See what that could look like in these last days in the year of our Lord, 2021.

    A.D. 2021 – counting what counts

    We easily get lost in today’s HEADLINE numbers of bad NEWS, but let’s begin with a couple of everyday numbers from which we can weigh what happens on a daily basis AND and give context to the foreboding projections of Revelation.

    Current World Population

    7,845,681,871 >TODAY

    More than 7 BILLION, 800 MILLION

    • Deaths this year >7 MILLION
    • Deaths today >92,600

    Deaths of 25% of Mankind

    > 1 BILLION, 961 MILLION

    MORE THAN the TOTAL POPULATIONS of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern America, (including the U.S.) and Oceania.

    One fourth of ALL mankind destroyed by God’s wrath!

    Now see TODAY’S HEADLINES in light of the apocalypse of THE END.

    A closer look at A.D. 2021 population:

    • China > 1.4 BILLION — Deaths of 25% > 360.7 MILLION
    • India < 1.4 BILLION — Deaths of 25% > 347.1 MILLION
    • U.S. < 0.3 BILLION — Deaths of 25% > 83 THOUSAND
      • * US> 332,221,081

    Compare today’s HEADLINES:

    • CORONAVIRUS DEATHS = 2,411,000
    • COVID deaths per million of population = 0,000,309.3
    • Abortions this year > 5.2 million
    • Communicable disease deaths < 1.6 million
    • Cancer deaths this year > 1.0 million

    Death Toll: 1/4 of the earth!

    And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

    And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,

    to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

    Revelation 6:8 – apocalypse of the fourth seal

    AS OF TODAY …

    https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

    more than 7 BILLION, 8 million souls …

    MORE THAN 1 BILLION, 961 million lives would end in death!

    Math of the fourth seal of Revelation applied to AD 2021

    Do you indeed speak righteousness?

    (WLC 58:11) יִשְׂמַח צַדִּיק כִּי־חָזָה נָקָם פְּעָמָיו יִרְחַץ בְּדַם הָרָשָֽׁע׃

    The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked

    So that men will say,
    “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
    Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

    excerpt from Psalm 58: NKJV


    NEXT: The fifth seal + the saints cry out... 
  • The Tongue is a Fire! – Politics

    The Tongue is a Fire! – Politics

    In politics bitter tongues spew hatred from each side over the airwaves and into our devices. Broadcasters claim a ‘balanced,’ supposedly unbiased approach, while we ask: ‘What now? Will this never end?’

    Oh, the hateful words of a tongue on fire! Media broadcasts them every day, sometimes even minute by minute.

    Breaking News over BBC background logo

    BREAKING NEWS! (Politics, again)

    Media and now #socialmedia broadcast fiery furious tongue-lashings available on demand from any public figure. Winning politicians hope to burn their opponent with their own words and rally opposition. Who might join their cause of shouted hatred?

    Our present political battlefield seems hopeless to those beaten by the constant plummeting of hellacious accusation and diffident denial. The politics of the day of course is nothing new under the sun, as a once-great leader long ago lamented.

    Never discuss religion or politics

    In fact history of the ages will confirm assassinations to ascension, misleading public proclamations and attempts of cleansing lands of religious and political opponents.

    I don't make jokes, just watch government - Will Rogers quote

    We can make light of it all (and sometimes should), but government always gets out of control.

    Presidents, senators, representatives, prime ministers, premiers, governors, kings, queens, princes, dictators and despots – ALL will always have critics (and often they should). But careful what your tongue speaks against those in power and watch each touch of your inciting visual indictment pointing a finger directly into the eyes of the victimized masses.

    Many have given up hope for any sane solution to this country’s current problems. Our current lack of civility in the media marketplace stems not from disagreement, but from frustration.

    Yet I ask, which country do I speak of and which troublesome time now or in our past?

    great thieves in public office quote of Aesop
    Aesop – 5th c. B.C. Classic quote about politics

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

    Plato – Greece 4th c. B.C.
    1984 MINISTRY OF TRUTH

    In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

    George Orwell – U.S.A. A.D. 1946
    Washington DC mall

    Preparation for HATE WEEK

    The Ministry of Truth — Minitrue, in Newspeak — was startlingly different from any other object in sight. It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 metres into the air. – 1984 ch. 1 – George Orwell

    & let’s not ignore the politics of religion

    Has the tongue been condemned for truth or held mute for silence?

    Yes, of course; again and again. Controversy is no stranger to politics of power or conflicts of religious belief.

    Occasionally a man or woman of principle will prevail; but more often than not, the sharp tongues of adamant belief will ignite shouts of suspicion from crowds bent on justice.

    Ignorance ignores mercy and truth in deference to hell-bent justice shouted from the masses.

    Greece: 4th c. B.C.

    Socrates – Philosopher opposed to our gods

    Scene of Socrates taking the cup of Hemlock after being sentenced to death by the court in Athens
    399 B.C. Socrates sentenced to death

    399 B.C.

    Socrates’ accusers cited two ‘impious’ acts: ‘failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges’ and ‘introducing new deities.’

    A majority of the 501 dikasts (Athenian citizens chosen by lot to serve as jurors) voted to convict him. Consistent with common practice, the dikasts determined Socrates’ punishment with another vote. Socrates was ultimately sentenced to death by drinking a hemlock-based liquid.

    It’s the very kind of accusation which takes place to this day.

    Authoritative secular leaders or tyrannical religious leaders decide justice for those who oppose their iron-fisted rule. So one man or a few in power determine justice and death of men of popular opposition.

    Classic Greek Democracy & Culture of Religion

    Life in Athens’ 4th c. B.C “Golden Age.”

    • Greek influence northern rim of the Mediterranean Asia Minor to the Italian peninsula
    • only men could be citizens
    • only upper-class males (aristocracy) enjoyed a formal education
    • 25% population made up of slaves, usually prisoners captured during the many clashes that extended Greek influence overseas.
    • Slaves provided much of the manpower of a burgeoning economy
    • 12 Olympian gods & goddesses + a whole society of lesser gods, demigods, mythic creatures, immortals, plus godly entities that existed before the Olympians such as the Titans.

    Politics behind the scenes of Socrates’ trial.

    Another commentator investigating the motives behind Socrates’ “suicide” (which was far from voluntary) states:

    • Socrates was 70 years old and familiar to most Athenians.
    • His anti-democratic views had turned many in the city against him. [politics]
    • accused of “refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state” [religion] and of “corrupting the youth.” [politics]
    • Two of his students had twice briefly overthrown the democratic government of the city,
      • instituting a reign of terror in which thousands of citizens [aristocracy] were deprived of their property
      • and either banished from the city or executed.
    • Socrates was found guilty by a vote of 280 to 220.

    It’s a house divided or a city-state, if you prefer, divided by politics with religion and corruption of culture as an excuse.

    Socrates: GUILTY by a poll of the leading citizens

    56% voting Guilty & 44% (4 of every 10 men) voting Not Guilty.

    Justice by majority meant death to the philosopher so the accusers could blame Socrates for their problems. Who shall we blame for our?

    Jerusalem, A.D. 1st. century Politics

    If we took time to dig into the archeology of the time between Socrates in ancient Athens and Jesus in first century Jerusalem we would discover politics, not justice. Many similarities between the complex politics of their times four centuries apart point to true injustice of the ambitions of man.

    You would discover more than just rebellion, but war between east and west. Babylon and Persia to the east, Egypt to the south and Rome to the west all had roles in the philosophies, culture and religions imported into the place still known for controversy. The city and state strategically buffering these powers in the centuries before Jesus: Jerusalem in Judea of Palestine (named variously by capturing powers.

    How often we overlook context of the past while judging the present. Think back four centuries from this present trouble to the 1600’s and world power and politics would look very different, having undergone many violent political upheavals.

    Is 1st c. Jerusalem so different?

    Hate Week in Jerusalem is about to become a week of hypocritical religion meeting with the brokers of political power to preserve a captive land. Israel is no more; but captive spoil, vassal states under the rule of their Roman rulers. Their local political king must negotiate with political religious parties to maintain a delicate peace of Rome in a city ripe for rebellion of crowds in the name of God.

    The holiest time of pilgrimage brings thousands into a Jerusalem guarded by Roman troops. The only political card Jews held what that of helping Rome keep the peace for the sake of their considerable trade and commerce. Money flowed into the city each year at Passover and on into Roman coffers which paid their oppressing legions and built the ports and roads of Roman ambition.

    Into this very visible public square of the Temple courtyard and markets, enters Jesus.

    statue of Roman god mars at Louvre in Paris
    Mars – Roman god of war

    Greece had idols and gods for everything. A Roman peace offered to its captives promoted the ancient greek culture. And like the greeks, Rome worshiped many gods, idols of culture.

    • 67 different gods and goddesses in the Roman pantheon, and plenty more demigods, each ruling over a particular dominion and watching over particular professions and classes of people.

    Like Plato four centuries earlier, Jesus’ reputation precedes Him.

    Unlike Plato, Jesus is only thirty years old. Yet He acts more like a king than a boisterous rebel. This Jesus, with both reputation and crowds following Him to the gate of Jerusalem is a man to be watched.

    a Lamb of Sacrifice for Justice

    The Gospel (Good News) of John, chapter 11:

    47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

    And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them,

    “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

    John 11:49b-50 NKJV

    53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.

    To be continued...