"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out..I shall also grant peace in the land...But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror..." - (Lev. 28, NASB)     To be fair to the biblical context, there is no way to include the entire chapter in this post without turning the post into a book, but the above serves as a glimpse of Leviticus chapter 28. The chapter is split neatly into two parts as God speaks to His people. He is informing them of the consequences of their future actions. If they choose to obey, then blessing follows them. If they choose to disobey, then rough times lay ahead. It is a simple principle that the people of God would test time and again, and find it to be true. Later, Paul ech...

    "...And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered." (Ezekiel 34:1-5, ASV)     The painting here is entitled, "The Bad Shepherd," by Pieter Brueghel II in the 1600s. If you look closely you can see where it receives its name. The shepherd is running from a wolf who is devouring one of the sheep. If you look closely, there appears to be another in the distance doing the same. It is a pretty good visual illustration of the LORD's scathing words through the prophet Ezekiel. The LORD had not-so-kind words for His ministers, His shepherds, that were responsible for caring for His people, but shrugged off their responsibilities to the sheep for their own interests.    I fully expect to be taken to task over this post, but I cannot remain silent. Several days ago, I posted a blog on alcohol consumption, looking at the OT priests' responsibility, and making appli...

"Be on the alert..."  1 Cor. 16:13 (NASB)      A few days ago I saw a bumper sticker that caught my eye: "If you are not outraged then you are not paying attention." There was an obviously political point to this sticker, especially it you noticed the other stickers attached to the car, but reading it sent my mind to the Bible. Spiritual blindness is one of the greatest resources evil has at its disposal. Paul writes,  "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." - (2 Cor. 4:3-4, NASB)   Notice in this passage that Paul says it is the god of this world, Satan, who blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see.      In the verse for today, Paul begins simply with, "Be on the alert." With technology, and the speed of our ...

"My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word." - (Ps. 119:25, NASB)    Psalm 119 is one of the two most well-know in the collection, and retains the title of the longest. At 176 verses, it covers an entire five pages in the Bible I am looking at this moment. Besides the length of this Psalm, one of the most glaring facts that stand out is the focus on God's Word. When we use that terminology today, we are referring to the Bible, the entirety of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. In David's time, the NT was not written, neither were many of the writings among the prophetic collections, and some others. David uses various terms in referring to God's Words: law, ways, statutes, commandments, testimonies, and precepts, and others. However, each refers to the inspired directive that comes from God. So, even though David did not have access to the collection of books we have today, we can still refer to all of these as the Word of God. At its co...