Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: prophets

“O altar, altar! place of slaughter, place of worship
And behold, a man of God .. cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord:

1 Kings 13:1-2 excerpt NKJV

Are you going to listen?

So SEVERE the message! And who is this anonymous Prophet? (I’ve never heard of him — and we’re in a church gathering after all..) Who is this man approaching the King?

WE worship a King and Priest with his own hill and altar of worship and praise of the People.

Will we hear God’s Voice through the true Prophet of the Almighty?

An Altar of Stone on the Stage of Worship

Surround it with towering Common Era walls of glass — or even a city built for worship of every ancient saint and yet another elevated arch–episkopos —

Stand over it and hold up so many sacrifices of the people,, stained with the Blood of unseen sins.. proclaiming the Altar on your stage for ‘Him‘ as Priest of Aaron and King over all your people..

And so.. you people gathered for a week’s sprinkling of grace.. a people of amplified praise of prepositional paraphrased worship.. have you who praise him as king who thank him as priest.. DO YOU hear the Prophet who rejects the Blood of your every sacrifice?

Prophet, Priest and King
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It's an ancient and little-noticed scenario of the present .. that of the specific roles of mortal men (yes, men) anointed as intercessors on behalf of those they lead in worship and in an ever-so-brief life in the flesh and blood of the created. 
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Have you heard this Scripture in your worship?

NOTE the roles of those involved:

1 Kings 13:

‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

1 Kings 13:2b NKJV
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IF you know this Scripture you will realize that I have intentionally omitted some of this introduction in order to focus on its participants. 

You most likely know that Josiah became a young King of Judah, right? 
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A Hebrew view of Scripture

Although you may recall a more famous Prophet from the book of First Kings, like me you may have wondered why the Christian Bible includes 1 & 2 Kings as O.T. History and not with the Prophets (who lived during these same historic times).

Old Testament [source]

Take a quick Jewish look back at a fallen and broken Kingdom of David.

Without noting Scriptures pointing to named authors of God’s written word in the Hebrew list of Nevi’im (Prophets) the Tanakh includes Joshua (the General of Moses), Judges, Samuel (a Priest of the God) and Kings with the former Prophets BEFORE the Exile and other books (i.e. Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet) as Post-exilic Scriptures.

Lamentations of our past in a Lenten path forward

The LEADERSHIP ROLES of GOD’s Chosen peoples have changed over time — both Before Christ and in these last days of Christ’s Chosen Church.

Has man (anthrōpos) misrepresented the WRITTEN instruction of the LORD?

Here in 1 Kings we read one (of many) Scriptural examples and warnings to worshipers of God.

(Have you heard them?)

Kings in charge (or so they thought)
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Let's examine this Scripture (or Hebrew book of the Prophets) in terms of leadership roles and relationships. 
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And behold, [in] Bethel .. Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then [the man] cried out against the altar..

1 Kings 13:1-2 excerpt

To set the scene:
- Bethel בֵּית־אֵל
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Bethel was a royal city of the Canaanites (Joshua 12:16). It appears to have been captured by Joshua (8:7), and it was allotted to Benjamin (Joshua 18:22). 

To counteract the influence of Jerusalem as the national religious center Jeroboam embarked on the policy which won for him the unenviable reputation of having "made Israel to sin." Here he erected a temple, set up an image, the golden calf, and established an imposing ritual. It became the royal sanctuary and the religious center of his kingdom.
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source
- Jeroboam יָרָבְעָם
The LORD brought Israel to ruin before Judah. The decline began from the first kings of each divided nation AND the LORD sent prophets to them again and again.

Israel’s Rebellion
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READ more (from 1 Kings 12) for the context of the LORD's curse against the altar of Jeroboam. 

And do not presume, O divided Nation of this Common Era, that WE are so free from the judgement of the Lord our God.
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So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
12:19 וַיִּפְשְׁעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּבֵית דָּוִד עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ ס
- Shemaiah
But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God..

” Therefore they obeyed the word of the LORD, and turned back, according to the word of the LORD.
- Jeroboam
12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there…

31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam ordained a feast .. like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.

So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made.

And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made…

So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel .. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

1 Kings 12:33 NKJV excerpt

a Prophet from Judah
- a man of God
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Returning to 1 Kings 13 and the cursed altar where we began don't miss that an unnamed Prophet delivers this key message from the LORD.
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13:1 וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים בָּא מִיהוּדָה בִּדְבַר יְהוָה אֶל־בֵּית־אֵל וְיָרָבְעָם עֹמֵד עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ לְהַקְטִיר׃

And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord:

‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!”

Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself.

The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

1 Kings 13:5 NKJV – more

6Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
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Who with ears to hear does not tremble at this outcome spoken by the 'man of God' - an unnamed Prophet hearing the KING order his arrest; and yet a son of man healing the outstretched arm of Israel's King and self-appointed Priest? 

But have you even heard of such a thing in YOUR contemporary evangelical house of worship? 
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Before Christ in Gethsemane

אֱלֹהִים

And behold, a man of God…

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:17 NKJV –
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Jesus preached from 'the Law and the Prophets,' which includes both books of Kings. 
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He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Matthew 12:9a,10a, 13 NKJV
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So could a man of God have healed Jeroboam's withered arm? Do you believe that JESUS could have instantly healed this man in the Synagogue? 
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Garden of Gethsemane

And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear… In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes,

“Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.

excerpt from Matthew 26 NKJV

“But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
Gospel of Matthew 26:56 NKJV

a Common Era Contrition for Lent – Ash and dust

Lent 2025 C.E. – a time for contrition
March 20, 2025
Members in Christ’s body the Church
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 12:11 KJV – Paul quoting the Lord Jesus

Paul now draws a picture of the human body in order that members of the body of believers might see our own part in the larger Church in Corinth and all places where the saints gather in Christ’s Name.

Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

Previously, when we departed from here in the Apostle’s instructions to the Corinthians, Paul instructs:

And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:5 KJV

One Body, many Members, different spiritual Gifts

Now to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, for the common profiting.

1 Corinthians 12:7 BLB

The first implication of this: EACH member of the body of your church and mine will show (manifest) some fruit of the Spirit.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1 Corinthians 12:11 LSB

Who belongs as members?
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IF someone in your church does not yet manifest any fruit of the Spirit, is it possible that the Lord has not given them the Spirit OR made these a part of His Body - a member of His Church? 

Are even the best spiritualities of faithful jews and religious adherents of Islam connected to the body of our Lord Christ Jesus? 

Do the best of Hindus Buddhists and other pagan worshipers not oppose Christ? 

Yet some are drawn by the Spirit. 
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The Body of Christ

For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.

1 Corinthia n s 12:12 Berean Standard Bible

Jews and Gentiles
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What is the overriding context of this epistle Paul writes to a church on the Achaian peninsula of Greece ? 

The Apostle to the Gentiles (Hellenists or Greek or Roman) -- seeks to heal long-standing differences in this large Roman city of Corinth situated in the philosophic and cultural center of ancient Europe. 
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- To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom – v.8 (quite Hellenist)
- to another faith.. to another gifts of healing v.9 (the One God of the Jews and ignored signs of the Messiah)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 NKJV

Invisible fruit pictured in the body

For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 BSB

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body?

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
- If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
  - (Now think of the body of Christ, the church.)
- If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
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Laughable! Hyperbole, yet logical.
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But now hath God set the members

(And the Spirit of God has distributed your spiritual gifts.)

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

How strange a body would be if it had only one part!

1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV and 12:19 NLT
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Do you get both the seriousness and Paul's practical ridicule of members di-vi-ded by spiritualities God granted to others? 
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The Apostle to the gentiles continues his illustration: 
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- The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”
- Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Here is Paul’s appeal to draw near to your members divided by opinions concerning spiritual gifts and an order of regulating the body (so to speak).

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, whereas our presentable parts have no such need.

But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:22-26 BSB

Has the Great Physician not set the parts of the body into their proper place?

Appointment of the Greater Gifts
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The Apostle sent out to the Corinthians, Achaeans, Greeks, Romans and displaced Jews suggests an order of importance in the A.D. first century church. Yet Paul has just instructed the saints that it is the Spirit which places us in our place in the Church -- and that spiritual GIFTS are not ours to choose. 
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27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed
1. first of all apostles,
2. second prophets,
3. third teachers,
4. then workers of miracles,
5. and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
A local (Corinthian) understanding of roles and spiritual gifts

Acts of the Apostles 1-28
1. ἀπόστολος – apostolos
2. προφήτης – prophētēs
3. διδάσκαλος – didaskalos
4. δύναμις – dynamis
5. χάρισμα – charisma
Apostles, Prophets and Teachers

ἀπόστολοι (apostoloi)
Noun – Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong’s 652: From apostello; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ.

Am I not an apostle?^G652 am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle^G652 unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:1-2

1 Corinthians 12:28 – And God has set…

You’ve just studied the list.

So what does the Apostle Paul (#1 on the authoritative list) ask as he further questions the Corinthian saints of differing opinions about their own roles in the local church?

1 Corinthians 12:29-30
- Are all apostles? (#1)
- Are all prophets? (#2)
- Are all teachers? (#3)
- Do all work miracles? (#4)
- Do all have gifts of healing?
- Do all speak in tongues?
- Do all interpret?
  - (these 3 grouped in #5)
SO WHERE DO I FIT IN?

and Who is in charge of who, here in our local gathering of saints in Corinth?

Perhaps in the hearing of Paul’s first letter being read to the Corinthian Church these saints might have wondered what the APOSTLE would prescribe next as a solution to OUR divisions.
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READ the literal Greek text below.
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12:31 ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ κρείττονα Καὶ ἔτι καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι

But covet earnestly the best gifts: – 31a KJV

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. – 31a NIV

But earnestly desire the higher gifts.- 31a RSV

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

1 Corinthians 12:31 b – NLT

NEXT – Paul’s connection of GIFTS

Beloved fellow saint, you may know where the Apostle proceeds in his much-quoted list from 1 Corinthians 14.

Perhaps with love in mind you may have a COMMENT here on what the Apostle Paul has instructed us so far.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
February 26, 2025
take up a song of mourning: the coastlands shake
Prophets – Warnings for 21st century ‘christians’

Take up a song of mourning for what God is about to do to you;

For a nation led by the ungodly was never great

And a nation will never build again an altar to Molech or a goddess of the virgin Earth.
The earth quakes and Empires crumble
Rejoice that I am no prophet
SHAKEN! – a 4-part continued warning
A song of mourning through Ezekiel
Shall WE speak more woe to those who are perishing?
Could there be a Prophecy Against US?
Revelation
Could a song of mourning be for US?
The earth quakes and Empires crumble

NOTE 21st c. Gaziantep, Turkiye beyond the path of Paul’s 2nd missionary land journey from Antioch to Derbe with Silas.

TODAY, we interrupt the earthquakes and witness of Paul’s second missionary journey in Philippi from ACTS of the Apostles to re-post a 4-part series from two years ago.

Rejoice that I am no prophet
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(For the only prophesy I ever imagined may have been from God has not yet happened.)
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My song of mourning echoes God’s indictment spoken to falling nations of the Old Testament and the New Testament warning of Hebrews. For my own heart mourns ahead for what is to become of this land of so much promise.

And allow me to add an unpalatable and unspeakable truth: Muhammed was no prophet of God, Joseph Smith was no prophet of Jesus Christ and no political leader I know even comes close to speaking the hallowed word of God.

Source: Middle East Monitor:

Gaziantep, Turkiye on March 02, 2023 [Adsız Günebakan/Anadolu Agency]

SHAKEN! – a 4-part continued warning

SHAKEN ! PRAYER IN DIFFICULT TIMES – Psalm 60

SHAKEN! part 1 – Jan. 22, 2021 – “God, you have rejected us – Psalm 60

SHAKEN 2 “Think carefully about your ways

January 25, 2021 – ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? – Haggai 2:3

SHAKEN 3 a great cloud of witnesses over our head

January 27, 2021 – “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7b CSB

SHAKEN 4 – His voice shook the earth

January 29, 2021 – but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” – Hebrews 12:26b

A song of mourning through Ezekiel

Picture a Prophet, faithful to the Lord God, lamenting the downfall of nations including his own. Ezekiel speaks a song of mourning for nation after nation and leader after leader.

WHY have these listened to false prophets?

What consequence for those who have turned against the LORD.

The compelling scenes of Ezekiel’s encounters with the Lord God will seem familiar to those of you who have also discovered the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John.

Most of what God has to say should bring even a 21st century observer of these last days to mourn for the lost righteousness the LORD has intended. Once again the faithful must sing a song of mourning for so many cities and every nation.

Mar. 16, 597 B.C. – Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar beseiged Jerusalem a second time and took captive King Jehoiachin and a group of 10,000, including Ezekiel.

– Source (paraphrased) John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – Ezekiel

.. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Then He said to me,

“Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”

And as He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me,

“Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have revolted against Me to this very day.

Ezekiel 1:28b-2:3 NASB20

“But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me;

and behold, a scroll was in it.

When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back,

and written on it were songs of mourning, sighing, and woe.

Excerpts from Ezekiel 2

Shall WE speak more woe to those who are perishing?
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Ezekiel 19:
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“As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel..

‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard..

‘But it was uprooted in fury;
It was thrown down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit.
[fn]Its strong stem [fn]was torn out
So that it withered;
The fire consumed it..

‘And fire has gone out from its stem;
It has consumed its shoots and fruit,
So that there is no strong stem in it,
A scepter to rule.’”

This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.
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Ezekiel 25:
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- Prophesy Against Ammon
- Prophesy Against Moab
- Prophesy Against Edom
- Prophesy Against Philistia
“So I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful reproofs; and they will know that I am Yahweh when I lay My vengeance on them.”’”

Could there be a Prophecy Against US?

a song of mourning
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Prophesy Against Tyre
Ezekiel 26
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Thus says Lord Yahweh to Tyre,

“Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your downfall when the wounded groan, when the killing occurs in your midst?
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Lament over Tyre
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“O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
“Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
Your builders have perfected your beauty.

“Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise,
Your sailors and your pilots,
Your repairers of seams, your dealers in merchandise,
And all your men of war who are in you,
With all your assembly that is in your midst,
Will fall into the heart of the seas
On the day of your downfall.
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‘Who is like Tyre,

Like her who is silent in the midst of the sea?
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Ezekiel 28:
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“Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“Because your heart is lofty
And you have said, ‘I am a god;

I sit enthroned in the seat of gods
In the heart of the seas’;

Yet you are a man and not God,

Although you make your heart like the heart of God—

“You had the seal of perfection,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty…

“Your heart was lofty because of your beauty;

You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground;

I put you before kings,

That they may see you…

“All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;

You have become terrified,

And you will cease to be forever.”’”
Ezekiel 28:19 Legacy Standard Bible

Revelation

The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
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Look, he is coming with the clouds,

and every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him.

And all the tribes of the earth

will mourn over him.

So it is to be. Amen.
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Could a song of mourning be for US?

The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

Revelation 18:9

Rejoice over her, heaven,

and you saints, apostles, and prophets,

because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!

Revelation 18:20 CSB

For a nation led by the ungodly was never great

And a nation will never build again an altar to Molech or a goddess of the virgin Earth.

Woe, woe, the great city,

dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,

adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;

for in a single hour

such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
March 18, 2023