Archive for January, 2021

There Shall Be Seven Weeks: Confession of Sin

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels with tags , , , , , , on January 31, 2021 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:25b …there shall be seven weeks…

The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile.

The people of Israel have returned to God and celebrated the Fall Feasts for the first time as a nation in their Promised Land and in Jerusalem. The Fall Feasts concluded on Tishri 22nd. Two days later…

Nehemiah 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

Israel under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra, they wasted no time. The date is two days after the solemn assembly on the 24th of Tishri. We know the occasion is of serious tone. Note the description of the scene: fasting, sackcloth, and dust on their heads. Humility is the idea.

Nehemiah 9:2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

The nation Israel “separated” or badal in the Hebrew. They set themselves apart from other peoples. Badal is the same word used in the creation week. God divided the day from night. He separated the light from darkness.

The same is true for us today as followers of Jesus Christ. Believers are not to be a part of this world. We are called to be holy and different.

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

1 Peter 1:15-16 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

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and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

This is a corporate and historical confession. The people of the nation of Israel are admitting they are sinners both currently and in the past. Israel is expressing their guilt. They know they are worthy of punishment. But, the people continued to worship God.

Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.

Still Seeking the Master… Joshua of Ghana

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Joshua Ghana with tags , , , , , , on January 30, 2021 by paulthepoke

TEXT: JOHN 20:1-10

Key verse: John 20:1 “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.”

“Faith, like light, should always be simple and unbending,” says Martin Luther King Jr. Mary Magdalene was a true symbol of that faith and who was committed and unwavering as a disciple should be.

@beholy404

The Lord Jesus had been crucified and was buried prior to the compulsory Sabbath day that forced rest on all. His sepulcher was heavily guarded by security men sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to make sure “His disciples (did not) come by night, and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead…” Matthew 27:62-66. As it began to dawn on the first day of the week when it was yet dark, Mary Magdalene came to anoint His body only to discover the huge stone that covered the tomb had been rolled away. Unable to understand what had transpired, she went to report to Apostles Peter and John who also came, saw it and went back home. But Mary, who was determined to see her Savior, stayed back.

The extraordinary courage and steadfastness of this blessed soul in defying all odds in her quest to find her crucified Master is reflective of a heart full of grace and gratitude towards a Savior who had earlier delivered her from demonic possession (Luke 8:2) and saved her soul. God is never unmindful nor is He unrighteous to forget our work and labor of love (Hebrews 6:10). Christ is still calling His disciples to a wholehearted devotion and commitment to Him and His cause.

The all-consuming passion that Mary exhibited in seeking the Lord until she found Him must be the driving force that propels every believer to keep on following Christ at this present time so as to be with Him eventually in heaven (John 17:24).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: When you truly seek, you will find.

The Bible IN ONE YEAR: ROMANS 1 – 3

Locust Update: Winter 2021

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Prophecy, Trend Update with tags , , , , , on January 28, 2021 by paulthepoke

Joel 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

Granted, the context of Joel 1 is the land of Israel. The prophet is giving us a preview into the future of the Promised Land.

United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, January 2021: As if COVID-19 was not enough. The spawn and spread of locust swarms are growing again. Kenyan officials indicate this is the worst outbreak in 70 years. Increased rainfall is being blamed as part of the reason for the outbreak.

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is on location with updates.

“We saw very intense rainfall in areas of northeastern (Kenya), where normally it’s very dry. Normally there would be nothing there for locusts to feed on. They wouldn’t be able to survive there for long. But that wasn’t the case last year. And you got so much fodder which the locusts were able to feed on, and they were able to breed.” -Hamisi Williams, FAO Deputy, Kenya 

Experts state locusts can multiply x20 over the course of 3 months.

The following quotes are from Keith Cressman, FAO Sr. Locust Forecasting Officer.

“The other thing is that they have this great capacity to migrate. So they don’t get stuck in areas when conditions dry out. They just simply pick up and move to greener pastures. They fly with the wind and can travel more than 100 miles in a day.”

“They can easily cross the Red Sea so they can go from Sudan to Saudi Arabia in a day, for example. They can easily cross from northern Somalia directly across the Indian Ocean to India and Pakistan.”

“Imagine a swarm the size of Manhattan in New York, which is not a very big swarm. That single swarm in one day will eat the same amount of food as everybody in New York and California.” -Keith Cressman, FAO Sr. Locust Forecasting Officer

FAO Deputy Director-General Laurent Thomas stated, “The last time Africa saw an upsurge of locusts approaching this scale, in the Sahel, it took two years and more than $500 million to bring under control. This (current) upsurge was even bigger, but East Africa is poised to end it, provided governments can keep those aircraft flying.”

By the way, they need $40 million more…

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/19/958543535/locust-swarms-threaten-parts-of-east-africa

The swarms are moving closer to Israel. Locust plagues in Israel are a sign of the end of days per the prophet Joel. Just another sign of the times…

Proverbs 30:27 …the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank…

Gossip… Paul Beverly

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Paul Beverly with tags , on January 26, 2021 by paulthepoke

Rather we mean to or not, most of us fail when it comes to gossip & rumors. But some thrive on it sadly. They think they can’t be happy unless they are trying to hurt others. The truth is they are miserable & want others miserable too. If they are gossiping to you about others, most likely they are gossiping about you to others as well. Avoid gossip & those that love to gossip. Untruth can destroy people. Misery loves company.

Proverbs 16:28 A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

Proverbs 20:19 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.

Have a gossip free week my friends!!!

There Shall Be Seven Weeks: Re-establishing the Law

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2021 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

The angel Gabriel indicated to Daniel the time frame before the coming of the Messiah or the “anointed one” shall be a total of 69 weeks. The time period is separated.

seven weeks or (7 X 7) + sixty-two weeks or (62 X 7) = 483 years.

483 years X 360 days = 173,880 days.

The focus is the initial seven weeks or 49 years.

The initial 49 years of the time period are the events described in the book of Nehemiah after the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem.

With the construction of Jerusalem and the wall completed, Nehemiah focused on the re-establishment of God’s Law.

Nehemiah 8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.

Notice the time point.

…on the first day of the seventh month. This would be the beginning of the Fall Feasts. The day is Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets. Today, we also know it as Rosh Hashanah.

For more information on the Feast of Trumpets, see the links below.

According to Mosaic Law, Yom Teruah is a call for the people to assemble. Ezra read the Law to the assembled people in Jerusalem.

While reading the Law to the people of Jerusalem, Israel learned of Sukkot, Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. This is the third and last holiday of the Fall Feasts. This festival is a week-long festival from Tishri 15 to 21 on a Hebrew calendar.

Israel would follow the instructions for “The Feast” as directed by the Mosaic Law. Jews communicated throughout the Promised Land about the occasion. They gathered the required materials and built their booths. The people responded with participation and celebration.

This would mark the first time in Israel’s history, the Jewish people would celebrate Sukkot as God had communicated to Moses in the Law in the land of Israel.

Nehemiah 8:17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing

Israel renewed their commitment to God. They gathered as a nation in Jerusalem. The people listened to the Law as read by Ezra. And they kept the Fall Feasts.

Nehemiah 8:18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

God waited patiently on His chosen people. 1,000 years after Moses delivered God’s Law, Israel repented. They returned to God.

Divine Intervention… Christine McDonald

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Christine "Clarity" McDonald with tags , , , on January 22, 2021 by paulthepoke

Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands. —bell hooks

Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape Nazi Germany before being captured herself, once wrote, “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” In her book The Hiding Place, she tells stories of flea−ridden work rooms in the concentration camp that were so grossly infested that the Nazi guards wouldn’t enter. Because of this, she was able to tell others of God’s love without being interrupted.

There is no darkness that can hide us from His gaze, and no earthly journey that can truly carry us away from
His heart. He watches, provides, pursues, and waits for each of us. Then, as we look back over the course of our lives and give the light a chance to shine on areas we had previously written off to the dark, we discover He was with us all along.

Esther 4:14 says, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Once we make the discovery that our life has purpose, regardless of how we’ve lived up to that point, we can begin to walk out on a whole new journey with a fresh passion. We are all granted a choice. We can keep doing as we have always done, or we can choose the path intended for us and designed for us all along. Who knows if perhaps you were made for such a time as this?

Contact Information:
Christine C. McDonald
636-487-8986
Christine.CryPurple@gmail.com

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

Through The Eyes of Grace – Christine C McDonald 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEj5RbFpuzjx_CuksAqgyXA/featured

https://crypurplemovie.com/

“Christ Born of Mary”

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Culture with tags , , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2021 by paulthepoke

Luke 2:16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

January 20, 2021, Taibe, Israel: Archeologists have unearthed a Christian settlement near Nazareth. The church has been dated about 1,500 years ago. The church is described as a Byzantine era structure in the town of Taibe. An inscription was discovered on a wall of the church. It states, “Christ born of Mary”.

Churches from the era of the Crusades have been discovered in this region but nothing earlier until now.

“The importance of the inscription is that until now we didn’t know for certain that there were churches from this period in this area,” Israel Antiquities Authority Archaeologist Walid Atrash.

Tzachi Lang/Israel Antiquities Authority
https://www.timesofisrael.com/christ-born-of-mary-1st-proof-of-early-christianity-found-in-galilee-village/

For more details regarding this story, check out the link below from the Times of Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/christ-born-of-mary-1st-proof-of-early-christianity-found-in-galilee-village/

Archeological information continues to pour out of Israel. The message of the Bible and hard, physical evidence from the 21st century are consistent. Jesus has been called the Christ or the Messiah for last 2,000 plus years. The latest example is this find from the 5th century.

Love… Paul Beverly

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Paul Beverly with tags , , , on January 19, 2021 by paulthepoke

It saddens me when I see individuals or “hate groups” blame God for evil done in this world. God is love & I imagine all the evil saddens Him as well. There is no greater love than the love that God has for us. Such a great love that He gave His only Son to die for our sins. God wants us to overcome evil with love. Share love today.

red heart beads
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one & only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Have a loving & good week my friends!!!

How Do You See? -Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , on January 17, 2021 by paulthepoke

Believers in Christ have access to both the old and new natures. The old nature is blind and deaf. It sees darkly and its outpouring is negativity, sin, and death.

Pinterest

The new nature walks in the Spirit, in the light; it operates in glory. It sees light and its outpouring is everlasting life and words of reconciliation, which are words that restore people to the Father in Christ; they are words that restore us to glory.

1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

John 6:33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

The new nature is a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45) and the words it speaks are Spirit and life (John 6:33). It is optimistic, confident, and courageous. It can see the way past a problem to the other side where it overcomes, where the glory of the Father is released through our words and works that match the Holy Spirit’s, turning every negative condition into light. This happens through speaking the promises of God that we received revelation on. These words cut with precision in a spiritual “laser light surgery” that refuses the evil and chooses the good, separating the precious from the vile, and bringing glory to the Father through a manifested work by His Word that came to pass.

“But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Wake up O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:13-14)

“Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.” (Isaiah 7:15)

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

“Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out (separate) the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.” (Jeremiah 15:19)

Judas Iscariot… Joshua of Ghana

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Joshua Ghana with tags , , , , on January 15, 2021 by paulthepoke

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

JUDAS ISCARIOT

å An Apostle who became an Apostate

å An Ambassador who became an Antichrist

å A Believer who became a A Betrayer

å A Convert who became Covetous

å A Disciple who became Devilish

å An Externally Righteous follower

å Extremely Rotten on the inside

å A Friend who became a Foe

å A man that fell from Grace to Grass

√• He was Heaven’s Candidate, he became Hell’s Captive

å He Forsook Jesus to Face Judgement

å He was Instructed but was Incorrigible

√• He was the King’s Acquaintance who became a Kissing Adversary

å The Love of the master had gone away from him, he had the Love of Money

å He was a Leader who became Lost

å A Minister who replaced the love of his Master with the love of Mammon

å A Negotiator at the price of perdition

å An Opportunist who became Obstinate

å A Preacher who became a Pervert

å He was a Quiet Fellow but of a Questionable Character

å He was a Reaper who became Reprobate

å A Schemer who Sold his Soul to Satan

å A Teacher who became Treacherous

å He was Used to become of no Use

å He was a Vulture who Violated his own Vow

å A Watchman who became a Wolf

å He was exalted to great opportunity but was expelled from Paradise

å Yoked to Satan after Yielding to the Savior

å He was Zealous for Money, he was Zero in ministry.

John 6:68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…”