An individual Christian Interpretation of personal life experiences, as well as a few other things.
The greatest gift...
Just how good is God?
1Jo 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Psalm 63:2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
Ex 33:19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Musings on demon possession...
1Sa 16:15 Saul’s attendants said to him, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.
1Sa 16:16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better."
1Sa 16:23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
1Sa 18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand
1Sa 18:11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I’ll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
Mt 12:43 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
Mt 12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
Mt 12:45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
Luke 8:29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
Luke 9:39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
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I’ve been trying to understand the whole demon possession routine. From the above scriptures, it would appear that at least some of the time, they come and go. They don’t necessarily take up permanent residence.
In the natural world, the strong survive, and the weak are the ones that are preyed upon. I’m considering that it might work similarly in the spiritual realm. Possibly, evil spirits target and possess (even temporarily), the weak. Those that can’t reason well, have let bitterness have it’s way, or have other limitations or temptations that make them more susceptible and/or receptive.
I’ve pondered that these evil spirits possess individuals quite possibly for a number of reasons.
- It could be that they like to torment the individual…that they enjoy causing grief or even destroying the one they inhabit.
- It could be that they possess an individual so that they can attack others through the one possessed (whether physically or verbally). It could be that they (the spirits) target certain individuals in an effort to deter them in their prayers and/or efforts….to attempt to weaken their resolve or faith.
- For other forms of pleasure.
- All of the above.
Sheer speculation...
Lu 21:20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.”
Now I realize that most biblical scholars associate this scripture with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. I do, too. I have found, though, that it may also point to another event. Depending on your exegesis of all the scriptures that relate, it would appear that other major events, including the second coming of Jesus would/could follow shortly thereafter. Those other events didn’t happen in 70 AD or soon after. Therefore, I’ve had to consider other scenarios.
After 9/11, the USA was bombing Afghanistan and going after the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. At some point, it looked as if Israel might follow the USA’s lead and start doing its own bombing of its enemies. I don’t think the USA was too thrilled by that proposition. At that point, a thought came to mind. What if Israel offended the USA by its actions, and lost its support? An extreme example might be that Israel used a nuclear bomb. That might effectively polarize the nations is such a way that indeed, all nations would be against Israel. Pretty scarey stuff.
I have a healthy fear of God. I don’t plan on being part of the ‘against’ Israel group. I can see living in a nation that takes a stand against Israel…but not me personally. Am I in favor of the use of nuclear weapons? Not at all. Could I condone such an action? It wouldn’t be easy. Could you?
Chronic homelessness...
Opportunities...
Gas prices...
I remember the ‘energy crisis’ some years back. Lots of people cut back on electricity. Lots of people bought energy efficient lighting, heating, refrigeration, increased their insulation, etc. What happened? The cost of energy went up. Your bill went up even though you conserved. Same thing will apply with oil. For the consumer, it’s a lose/lose.
There is a balancing act, though. The oil industry has to find out just what the market will bear and still stay healthy. They wouldn’t want the bottom to fall out of the economy. If they get too greedy, that could come back to bite them. If they are smart, they also wouldn’t want to upset the powers that be. That could also come back to bite them. An economy is like a circulatory system. If that circulation is impaired, the life [style] that economy provides is impacted. Some countries might get aggressive to preserve a ‘way of life’. I can think of a few ways that countries could get aggressive. They could impose new regulations, the government could take control (like Chavez is doing in Venezuela), they could wage war against a country that is controlling oil pricing, or they could attempt to assassinate the key players.
A shunt in the circuitry pt2...
Okay…I believe we have established that there is a definite shunt in the collective circuitry when it comes to intercommunication (understanding one another). I have speculated that that shunt may have gone deeper than just intercommunication and affected our very thought processes and abilities to understand generally. But there is another shunt. The individual shunt. We all have limitations of one sort or another. These can be viewed as shunts in the circuitry as well. On a scientific level you might say that the DNA is the circuitry and it’s not all optimized the same for everyone. This is again…what I do best…stating the obvious. Some people are born prodigies and other people have a hard time learning how to tell time or tie their shoes. Not their fault. It’s in the circuitry. Do you ever wonder why?
A shunt in the circuitry...
This brings up my main topic…the shunt in the circuitry. I keep looking at this scripture:
Genesis 11:7…Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
Could this be where it all began? Now don’t take this the wrong way, I’d never insult God purposefully. But, did God dumb us down so that we couldn’t understand? He surely did when it came to intercommunication. Could this scripture go deeper than just intercommunication, though? Did this confusing the language affect our internal language as well so that we would have difficulty with understanding and conceptualizing?
Submit yourselves…
1 Peter 2:13…¶ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
Romans 13:1…¶ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Who is our ‘authority’? Obviously, from the above scriptures…kings, governors, and governing authorities that are 'instituted' for sure. But what about your pastor, or your boss? Are we to submit to them for the Lord’s sake? And what exactly does that mean…to submit to them? What if your pastor tells you to do something that you don’t agree with? Do you have to submit to them to be a good
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