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Tag: John

Lazarus – HELP from the grave
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.

עָזְרֵ֤נוּ אֱלֹ֘הֵ֤י יִשְׁעֵ֗נוּ עַל־דְּבַ֥ר כְּבֹֽוד־שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וְהַצִּילֵ֥נוּ וְכַפֵּ֥ר עַל־֝חַטֹּאתֵ֗ינוּ לְמַ֣עַן שְׁמֶֽךָ׃
Psalm 79:9 – NASB, Masoretic Text

Where does my help come from?

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2 KJV

Each year as the festival crowds approached Jerusalem, weary and faithful Jews making the pilgrimage would pause to rest in places nearby before their walking ascent up the hill leading to the Temple.

Bethany would have been one of these places – a town where Jesus would stay with a good friend and later perform a sign the He IS the Messiah of Israel.

John 11:

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany…

John’s Gospel begins by mentioning the village along with details of Mary and Martha which do not happen until later, but of course have already happened by the time John writes his Good News to the churches and unbelievers.

Although we have just read of a story from the festival of Hanukkah where Jesus may have also stayed over at Bethany (we cannot be certain), I remind us that John’s Gospel is not strictly chronoligical.

The importance here relates to the characters – the real people of this family living in the village of Bethany outside Jerusalem. And what we are about to witness is not only a miracle and sign of Jesus, but the human love of true friends of this family by the Lord.

A messenger asks Jesus to help a friend

3 So the sisters sent a messenger to tell Yeshua, “Lord, your close friend is sick.”

These friends knew where to find Jesus, where He was preaching.

Jesus most likely had already been in this part of Judea, but departed for Samaria and other distant places as was His custom traveling from town to town preaching the Good News.

4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John gives us an important background to their friendship without providing specific details of where Jesus was teaching, but he tells us something important about this family in Jesus’ earthly relationships.

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:5

It is the same description John uses so often to describe the Incarnate Lord Jesus – ἀγαπάω – agapaō – ‘of persons to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly.

Christians are to love the world in this same way Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. For John uses this same word to describe how God ‘loved’ humans made in his image.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NASB – agapaō

Yet the messenger might have thought Jesus’s response to be somewhat dismissive. “This sickness is not to end in death…”

6 Yet, when Yeshua heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Then, after the two days, Yeshua said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

What do we fear?

Even in the unexpected crisis of these last days what does man fear most?

Death!

It was the death of their brother Mary and Martha feared. And the Apostles also fear capture and death due to several previous attempts by Jerusalem’s religious officials to kill their friend Jesus. The Disciples fear death even though Jesus had demonstrated His power over nature time and time again.

8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, not long ago the Jews wanted to stone you to death. Do you really want to go back there?”

9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day don’t stumble, because they see the light of this world. However, those who walk at night stumble because they have no light in themselves.”

Jesus again assures His own Apostles that He is the Light of the world and reminds that Jerusalem’s leaders have no light of God in their actions.

Lazarus

… and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”

Of course the Apostles continue in their regular banter questioning the Lord as to His motives. Yet before we proceed to Jesus’ sign, let’s take a closer look at His friend Lazarus.

Λάζαρον –

Λάζαρος
Lazaros – Lazarus = “whom God helps” (a form of the Hebrew name Eleazar)

Jesus also tells a parable of another man, Lazarus, a poor beggar who died and God helped.

אֶלְעָזָר

el·ä·zär’ – same meaning in Hebrew was the name of Aaron’s son, also a Levite Priest, as well as several others in this Bible.

Clearly, if Jesus is going to help Lazarus it is God who helps the man close to death.

Lazarus is dead

Jesus has not spelled it out in His first mention to the Apostles as they attempt to convince the Lord not to return to Judea.

12 Then the disciples said to him,

“Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

(The Disciples certainly do not care to risk returning to Bethany near Jerusalem.)

14 Then Yeshua told them plainly,

“Lazarus has died, but I’m glad that I wasn’t there so that you can grow in faith. Let’s go to Lazarus.”

How does Jesus know these things?

Can a mere man know such truths?

Of course the Disciples had witnessed such knowledge possible only from God before. Yet like us, they lack faith that Jesus can take authority over the situation as it involves their mortal lives.

16 Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples,

“Let’s go so that we, too, can die with Yeshua.”

Isn’t that how we feel when confronted by death?

How will Jesus help us, we ask ourselves?

Can the Son of Man HELP a man already dead?

That’s the question lurking in the back of our minds when we pray to God.

Can God help me even though I am dead? Will the Lord keep me from death?

Jesus returns to Bethany and eventually Jerusalem to answer the immediate questions of Lazarus’ death, the soon-to-be asked questions about the Disciples’ deaths due to following Jesus and most importantly our eternal questions about death appointed to each mortal man and our only hope of resurrection to the Light of eternal life.
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To be continued, God-willing...
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March 27, 2020
If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly
The Messiah at Festivals

So what does the Messiah of Israel do at festivals and feasts? How does the Messiah lead followers to worship the Lord our God, our Father in heaven?

It was the Feast of Hanukkah at Yerushalayim.
John 10:22 Hebrew Names Version

Yeshua mashiyach

Just a reminder to Christians of this 21st century, Jesus was Jewish.

Yeshua, from Ἰησοῦς in Greek, Iēsous from יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Hebrew meaning Yĕhowshuwa` (Joshua or Jehoshua = “Jehovah is salvation”) in English: Jesus. (The One born to a Jewish mother, a virgin betrothed to a faithful Jew, Joseph son of Jacob {Matthew 1:16}.)

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Gospel of Matthew 1:1 KJV

Although we have been following Jesus through the Gospel of John, for our understanding of the Messiah and His jewish upbringing as the Son of Man, we have just left some predictions of the Prophet Amos.
Amos – Not immune from judgment
For those who turn justice into wormwood
Amos the Seer: “I told you so (5x) – GOD showed me
Who better to ask about the Lord God in heaven than the one who came down from heaven, sent by God the Father?

This is where we left off in the Good News from the Apostle John.

Jesus healed a man born blind, which has prompted much discussion and considerable controversy in Jerusalem.

The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Is this Man a Gate and the Door to heaven?
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44:1  וַיָּשֶׁב אֹתִי דֶּרֶךְ שַׁעַר הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַֽחִיצֹון הַפֹּנֶה קָדִים וְהוּא סָגֽוּר׃
44:2  וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי יְהוָה הַשַּׁעַר הַזֶּה סָגוּר יִהְיֶה לֹא יִפָּתֵחַ וְאִישׁ לֹא־יָבֹא בֹו כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא בֹו וְהָיָה סָגֽוּר׃
 {Masoretic TextShow Cantilliation Marks OffShow Vowel Points OnMasoretic Text} http://blb.sc/00AONj
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Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. The LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
Ezekiel 44:1-2 NASB

“The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
Ezekiel 45:19 NASB

John 10:

2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

7 Yeshua emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep.
John 10:7 NOG

Later Jesus will tell the Apostles to also be wary of these religious hired hands determined to devour all opposition.

John tells us how Jerusalem’s religious leaders opposed the Messiah after Jesus healed a man blind from birth. But Jesus tells the crowds a parable against them.

12 A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away.
John 10:11 NKJV

19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words…

After this, a most popular Messiah Jesus enters Jerusalem for a festival.

Jewish festivals

22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

A brief overview:

The Hebrew Civil Year began with Tishri [October]. At the Exodus the Ecclesiastical Year was made to begin with Abib [April], which, after the Captivity, was called also Nisan.- Hitchcock’s Topical Commentary

“Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
Deuteronomy 16:16 NASB

But this minor feast (we now call the festival of lights) held importance to a Jerusalem which presumed to have purified and rededicated the Temple. In commemoration of the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes. –H.

The Story Behind the Feast of Dedication

Prior to the year 165 BC, the Jewish people in Judea were living under the rule of the Greek kings of Damascus. During this time Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, took control of the Temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people to abandon their worship of God, their holy customs, and reading of the Torah. He made them bow down to the Greek gods. According to ancient records, King Antiochus IV defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and spilling its blood on the holy scrolls of Scripture.

Source:

Jerusalem’s crowed festival

23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews surrounded him and asked,

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them.

Do you believe His signs?

Even in this day some will believe and come to faith through the Messiah, He IS the gate to salvation and the door to heaven. Others remain blind to truth.

Jesus has already given several signs, proofs in various places of miracles only God could do. The most recent of these, of course, was giving a blind man sight right there in Jerusalem.

“The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.

Who do you follow?

Some preacher, a rabbi or teacher?

None are the Son of God, the Shepherd of the chosen ones of God our Father.

The Way to heaven

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

Why would you doubt the authoritative gentle voice of the Shepherd at the door?

If you believe in God Almighty our God and Father, do you not see His power and compassion in the Only Son, Shepherd of the chosen to enter into His Glory?

Is Jesus your Lord and Shepherd?

For His love and anointing must be clear to those who are no longer blind.

Would you humbly turn from your sin to hear His gentle voice?

“Follow Me.” “I am the way the truth and the life.” *

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

A decision of life or death

How many times can you recall that the LORD strikes down the one who sins?

More times in scripture than we can recall.

The LORD GOD IS ALMIGHTY! Fear only him, the LORD, the Existing One.
- John the Baptist had testified of the Holy Spirit of God descending upon Jesus.
- The Lord Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind. A Man of God thought to be from Nazareth asked men and women to follow Him.
- Jesus, Son of Man as He referred to himself, showed signs and wonders to many.
What is left for the Messiah to tell us?

If we must follow Jesus, is He God in Person? – a “Son of Man” the very human Image of God (as a Son of His Father born to a woman)?

For the LORD God is One and our decision to obey the LORD is a matter of eternal life or judgment and punishment of our soul in death.

“I and My Father are one.”
John 10:30 KJV

Truth? or Blasphemy?
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31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.

 32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

 33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

 34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?
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Jesus, Son of Man filled with the Holy Spirit of Almighty God! Once again the Lord confronts the hired hands of Herod, wolves luring the faithful away from the Shepherd, with Scripture and Truth.

How can they refute what everyone has seen with their own eyes?

37 “If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me…”

You too have seen many signs and miracles. Those in addition to Jesus’ compassion and love for the lost who have sinned.

A few repent seeking return to the safety of the Shepherd.

38 “… But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

Jesus and God the Father are One! Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God are One!

What was it Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:21 NASB

Jesus IS Spirit; Jesus IS Flesh!

But those who will not bow down to the LORD God accuse the Son of Man of blasphemy. (Let the casual 21st c. reader understand the significance of blasphemy – a sin against God requiring death of the offender.)

39 Then they were trying again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp.

A return to the wilderness

40 He went back across the Jordan River and stayed in the place where John first baptized people.

41 Many people went to Yeshua. They said, “John didn’t perform any miracles, but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 Many people there believed in Yeshua.

Truth

The Apostle John has already revealed the Good News of the Messiah proven by many signs in many places.
- And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
- “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
- “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
- “You have sent to John [the baptist], and he has testified to the truth.
- “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
The One Truth & nothing but The Truth

“I and the Father are One!”
John 10:30 – Strong’s: b) metaphorically, “union” and “concord,” e.g., Jhn 10:30; 11:52; 17:11, 21, 22; Rom 12:4, 5; Phl 1:27

The Apostle John concludes his Gospel as follows:

21:24 Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μαθητὴς ὁ μαρτυρῶν περὶ τούτων καὶ γράψας ταῦτα καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθὴς ἐστίν ἡ μαρτυρία αὐτοῦ

This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

What other sign do you need to open your eyes to what Jesus plainly has said?

I and the Father are One!
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NEXT: The Resurrection of Lazarus ... God-willing...
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March 25, 2020
Amos – Not immune from judgment
We interrupt the Good News of John for an urgent warning from the Prophet Amos.

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth
Amos 9:8a NASB

We are NOT IMMUNE to the #pandemic of sin!

A familiar forgotten history

Even though festival seasons of Passover and Easter approach, our casual celebrations may possibly be banned this year and diminished by the rulers of this world.

We know little of the first century church in this year of our Lord 2020, and struggles of the saints when Jerusalem fell not so many years after the Sacrifice and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.

Yet during this time of Jesus and the Apostles, scripture from Amos and other Prophets of the LORD would have been familiar to some.

Briefly, the historical background of the time of Amos reads something like more recent times before our most recent struggles of these last days.

Prosperity before the fall
- Uzziah is King of Judah (792-740 BC)
- Jeroboam II is King of Israel (793-753 BC)
- Both kingdoms were blessed by tremendous wealth
- Both kingdoms had powerful military which had defeated their enemies.
- Both kingdoms had an aristocratic class who gained great wealth, enough to loan money to their poor neighbors.
- Both Israel and Judah believed their kingdom to be permanently blessed by the LORD as a chosen people.
- Israel and Judah believed themselves immune to judgment by the LORD.
Sound familiar?

It will to many of the suppressed working poor of first world nations.

Yet the LORD sent a poor shepherd of Tekoa, a hillside suburb of Jerusalem, to tell the nations why a judgment of the LORD would fall upon them.

It was a warning rejected, as we would have rejected such bad news just a short time ago when billionaires bragged of how good we have done under their affluent watch.

Amos speaks for the LORD

Perhaps you would like to sit still in dust and ashes, reading everything the Prophet Amos warns from the LORD – every call to repentance to a nation which has strayed far from righteousness. Here I can only list a few which may apply.

Jesus, the Messiah, and John the Baptist will both echo these same indictments to broods of religious vipers.

Peter, Paul, John and the Apostles of the first century church all encourage the saints, yet reprove the unrepentant who stray from teachings of the Lord.

The church witnessed judgment on Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, when the Lord struck them dead for lying to the church!

The Revelation of Christ to John warns the church. To one local church at Sardis, Christ warns though John:

I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent.
If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
Revelation 3:1a-3 CSB

Is your church in the the year of our Lord, 2020, like that? Not alert, though your reputation of this life multiplies the flock?

If so, the warnings of the Prophet Amos and other prophets of the Old Testament may help you to return to the will of the Lord our God.

Amos 1 :

Various Indictments & Punishments
- Because they deported an entire population
- And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
- because he pursued his brother with the sword.
- He stifled his compassion,
- his anger tore at him continually,
- and he harbored his rage incessantly.
- Because they ripped open the pregnant women… in order to enlarge their borders.
  - (Was this a barbaric abortion to choose only the boys of their own culture?)
15 “Their king will go into exile,
He and his princes together,” says the Lord.

Judgment on Judah and Israel

4 Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment…
- Because they rejected the law of the Lord
- And have not kept His commandments.
- Their lies lead them astray,
  - Lies which their fathers followed.
Is your religious tradition more important than obedience to the Lord your God? A better perception of your own righteousness than the Perfect righteousness of the Messiah sacrificed for your redemption?

6 Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four
I will not revoke its punishment…
- Because they sell the righteous for money
- and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
- They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
- and obstruct the path of the needy.
How sad the compassionless ambition of the rich who do not see the sufferings of the poor.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

… And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place
as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
14 Escape will fail the swift,
the strong one will not maintain his strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.

וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתֹֽו׃
“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Deuteronomy 8:6 – Masoretic Text, NASB

I’m not even certain that christians blinded by science fear the Lord our God, let alone those chosen of Jesus’ and Amos’ times who turned away from scripture.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
“I and the Father are one.”
John 8:58, 10:30 NASB

Authority of the Prophet’s Message

Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:

⁷Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his counsel
to his servants the prophets.
⁸A lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who will not prophesy?

11 Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemy will surround the land;
he will destroy your strongholds
and plunder your citadels.

13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—
this is the declaration of the Lord God,
the God of Armies.
14 I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.

Social and Spiritual Corruption
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Perhaps some in this day will yet hear the indictment of our land, a warning to shepherds who lead the flock astray.
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- [You rich women] Who oppress the poor,
- Who crush the needy,
- Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”
Are these not the leadings of rich women who lead their husbands by day and discard them by the darkness of divorce?

Yet we have not listened to the Lord who places the man over his wife; also father and mother over their children and youth, raised in God’s Law. Raised as rebellious children ourselves, we do not believe God’s warnings to return to fear of His judgment.

⁶I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

8 Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water
but were not satisfied,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
- I struck you with blight and mildew… yet you did not return to me.
- I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
- I killed your young men with the sword,
¹¹I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,
yet you did not return to me—
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Therefore thus will I do to you…

Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God…

¹³For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the wind,
Who declares to man what his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
Who treads the high places of the earth—
The Lord God of hosts is His name.

4:13 כִּי הִנֵּה יֹוצֵר הָרִים וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ וּמַגִּיד לְאָדָם מַה־שֵּׂחֹו עֹשֵׂה שַׁחַר עֵיפָה וְדֹרֵךְ עַל־בָּמֳתֵי אָרֶץ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־צְבָאֹות שְׁמֹֽו׃ ס

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” – quoting Amos 6:24

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying,
“Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,
and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
Revelation 17:1-2 NASB
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To be continued... Lord willing...
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March 17, 2020