The Only Begotten Son Came; Are You Sleeping?

The Only Begotten Son Came; Are you Sleeping

Dear Brother or Sister in the LORD:

Our son called early yesterday morning on his way to work. “Mom, go to your computer and Google the Casting Crown’s song, While You Were Sleeping.” The essence of what Michael said was that the lyrics have a strong, deep message. However, when I watched the YouTube video, many thoughts flashed in and out of my mind about the differences between our son and the Only Begotten Son, Jesus. (The lyrics and a YouTube link for this song are given at the end of this article.)

Consider the differences between our earthly children and Jesus. 

The immediate difference that came to mind was that my only son called to share a message written by man about the Only Begotten Son. Michael was born of earthly parents; Jesus, however, was God Himself manifest in the flesh. Our son was conceived through the love between two earthly parents; the Only Begotten Son was conceived by the Holy Ghost through a body created by Himself.

And the angel answered and said unto her [Mary], The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:3 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith … a body hast thou prepared me.
Hebrews 10:5

Our son was born of a woman (me), who was once a virgin, but not when Michael was born because Doug and I had enjoyed the privilege of marital sexual intimacy prior to his birth. (We “knew” each other.) The Only Begotten Son was born of a woman who was still a virgin when her son was born. According to the Scripture, her husband Joseph “… knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called His name JESUS.” The seed of Jesus was not from Mary’s earthly husband (Joseph) but of the Holy Ghost. It was “… not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” I Peter 1:23

My son is a son who shares the Word with his mother; the Only Begotten Son is the Word.

Michael is a son who loves His mother; the Only Begotten Son gave His life to provide eternal life for His mother (as well as for you and me) in the greatest act of humility and love ever known to man.

My son was born of parents who held the desire to raise and nurture their own children; the Only Begotten Son was conceived because God had a plan for all families and people of the world—that He would “… save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

My son was of this earth. He is our only son, but he is not the Only Begotten Son: Jesus was the only Son begotten (sent) from above.

… as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee [sent forth]. Acts 13:33  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16-17

The contrasts and comparisons could go on. However, let’s end here so you can ponder and search the Scriptures more for yourself after you consider the message and spiritual insight that came to me after Michael’s phone call and after I watched the YouTube video which gave rise to this writing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rqhG2yT-58:

“While You Were Sleeping”

by Mark Hall ©Club Zoo Music

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night

A Strong Alarm For Each Of Us

Indeed, these words should sound a strong alarm for America and for each of us. They should encourage us to stop our busy activities—our shopping, eating, and even fellowshipping—and pull our Bibles from the shelf to read from them. Why? The Scriptures are alive. They are God’s way of speaking to us. They are “the reason for the season.” It is the Words preserved in our Bible that … “liveth and abideth for ever.” I Peter 1:23 It’s what gives us that eternal spiritual life: “… the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us …” John 1:4,14

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain,

In Christ’s Service,

Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President

RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or (4) would like a seminar by responding to: marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or to our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.org/ Blogs: http://www.rfiblog.wordpress.com/ http://www.blog.familiesRusKJ.org

 

RFI is a 501©(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.  P.O. Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342

Beware Of The Subtle Serpent

 

 

 

 

BEWARE OF THE SUBTLE SERPENT

 

Dear Brother or Sister in the LORD:

“But they were tricked,” is the conclusion many make when they read the tragic decision made by Joshua and the Israelites. “And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them and let them live.” This was in total disobedience to what God had written: “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites … and the Hivites … and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2 

 

WHY WERE THEY DECEIVED?

Why did this successful military leader and man of God fall prey to dishonoring God’s Word? Have you ever done the same by choosing to do something God says He hates? (Does He not hate all sin?) The Scripture tells us the underlying reason Joshua fell prey to sin (just as we do today) is that he didn’t seek the counsel of God; that is, he chose his wisdom over the words of God. “… And the men [Israelites] asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.” Joshua 9:14 If we have doubt about a decision in our life, it should be our first and last response to, contextually, thoroughly study the written Word to make certain that our decision lines up with the Word of God and then to also bathe that study with prayer. A pastor, friend, or counselor may give input, but we are accountable to God for what is written the Bible, no matter their counsel.
 
Joshua’s falling prey to deception by the enemy has two major vital teachings for us. The first deals with the fact that the same kind of subtlety (trickery, deceitfulness) which influenced his decisions, also influences ours. They may be “dressed” in different garb, but they are still a threat to us and more so for those who don’t seriously and regularly study from the Bible. The second deals with a major misunderstanding of the Biblical application of the Gibeonite league to covenant principles; that is, there is a difference between God-made and man-made covenants and/or agreements.

 

THE SUBTLE SERPENT: HE COMES NOT IN A RED SUIT WITH A PITCHFORK! 

There was no small stir about the miraculous military feats that had been celebrated at the hand of the Israelites by their total destruction of Jericho and Ai. (See Joshua, Chapter 8.) Shortly thereafter, there arose a carefully crafted planned attack by the Gibeonites to infiltrate the Israelites. They were Hivites, one of the named nations the Israelites were to totally destroy and with whom they were not to make a covenant. Here’s how their attack played out: 

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.  And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us. Joshua 9:3-6  

Everything they did was deceitful and a lie—trickery as most categorize this coup.
They weren’t poor, they weren’t tired, they hadn’t traveled long enough to have their bread become moldy nor their shoes to wear out; they normally traveled on horses, not asses; they weren’t from a far country. What was Joshua’s response to these deceitful pleas? “And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live …” (Joshua 9:15), even though God had clearly commanded that the Israelites were to totally destroy her enemies: “… thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2 

 

These subtle extreme acts of deception were by a group of people from one of the most important cities of southern Canaan located only 10-20 miles away: “Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.” Joshua 9:3

 

GOD’S GRACE DOESN’T JUSTIFY SIN; IT TEACHES US TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY. (Consider Titus 2:11.)

There was nothing scripturally that justified Joshua’s decision to ignore God’s explicit command: “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.” Exodus 34:12 Yet, many feel Joshua was justified in his rebellion against God’s Word because he was tricked. Some even think is was God’s grace at work. After all, we often hear, “Nobody is perfect.” Conversely, however, is this not man’s flesh trying to justify sin instead of obeying God?

 

Rather than get entangled in the justification or condemnation of the actions of the Israelites and their disobedience to God, it’s important to see here some important spiritual applications to our lives. Joshua and the Israelites lost the battle with the “subtle serpent” as did Adam and Eve and many of us. It’s because of a choice to adapt our lives to our way rather than to what the Word of God says. For example, no matter how many times God warns us not to even look at sin, our lust of the flesh, our lust of the eyes, and our pride of life, deceives us as the wilily works of the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the other Israelites.

 

We get into trouble with God when we violate something written in the Bible. We do so because it doesn’t seem harmful. We take a bite from the forbidden “tree of the knowledge of good and evil;” we make a covenant that God says to avoid; we watch a TV program or movie in which the actors take the LORD’s name in vain, or who kiss someone not their one-flesh spouse.  (Consider Psalm 101:2-3.)

 

THE “LEAGUE” WITH THE GIBEONITES: GOD INCLUDED THE TELLING OF THIS EVENT IN THE THE BIBLE FOR OUR ADMONITION; IT WAS A WARNING TO BEWARE.
One of the tragic issues with the man-made Gibeonite league is that principles from it are being misapplied to covenants created by God, such as those of marriage and salvation, but more specifically in this article, to marriage. Many are taking this agreement, made between Joshua and the Gibeonites against the Word of God, and wrongfully applying it to justify man-made marriages, those not in accord with God’s law of marriage.  

  

An agreement made against God’s Word	A wrongful blanket statement by man
“And Joshua made peace with them [the Gibeonites], and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.” Joshua 9:15	“A covenant is a covenant, is a covenant, and I am a ‘Covenant honouring God,’ even a covenant that may have been born in deception, or through flippancy.”

The “wrongful blanket statement” above is created by man, not God. It becomes, for some, another prototype of trickery working wilily in the lives of those who do not understand God-made covenants, especially that of marriage. We must not intermingle the disobedient act of Joshua and the Israelites in their making of the league with the Gibeonites with the covenant of marriage. Even though the LORD worked some good from their wrongful choices, Be NOT deceived, the Gibeonite fiasco was not  “morphed” by the LORD into a God-approved principle to be applied to a marriage covenant—for marriage is something that only God creates, and He does so only within his law of marriage. 

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law [of marriage] to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Romans 7:2-3 

GOD HAS NOT GIVEN MAN THE POWER TO CREATE MARRIAGE.
There are many types of agreements and vows. Some are God created; many are man created. Those of salvation and marriage are different from man–made covenants. The league made with the Gibeonites was man–made. A God–created covenant of marriage, for example, is not the same as when someone enters into a man-made bilateral agreement between man and man, or, as was the agreement between the Israelites and the Gibeonites. Wrong reasoning tries to mix apples and oranges by incorrectly assuming that since they both are fruits, they are the same. We know that not to be so, and neither is the agreement between the Israelites and Gibeonites and a one–flesh covenant of marriage the same. God has not given man the power or authority to create a marriage covenant. The one–flesh marriage covnant, like the born–again experience, is of the Spirit of God. It’s not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
 
Marriage and being born again are both unilateral and bilateral. God unilaterally creates both miraculous joinings. They become bilateral when man chooses to become a part of God’s “design.” With marriage, God’s unilateral covenant concurrently takes on an additional bilateral relationship—that between a man and a woman when they, of their own free will, agree to be permanently joined to one another in this life by God. They become, “What therefore GOD Hath JOINED together …” Mark 10:9

 

In so doing, a man and a woman enter into a covenant to abide by God’s terms for marriage and are thereafter so bound. God’s terms of marriage are exactly the same for every person who chooses to be joined in a one-flesh marriage wherein two people, a man and a woman, neither of whom has a living one-flesh spouse, are supernaturally, invisibly, permanently joined by God until death removes one of the spouses from this earth. God clearly and repetitively teaches this in His Word. Even though many do not study the Bible and may not understand God’s terms for His covenant of marriage, the two so joined by Him become “bonded” to one another and to God’s law of marriage.

 

This, in principle, affects us in the same ways as the principles of gravity that God has put in place. Man may not understand how gravity works, but if he defies its principles by jumping off a roof, he will fall to the ground and probably die. That’s because, by implication, he is forever held (bound) to the “standards” of gravity while he lives on this earth. He assuredly, mid-stream in his leap to death, cannot, by his will and choice, change the laws of gravity on his way down!
 
GOD IS A COVENANT–HONORING GOD WITH THE COVENANTS HE CREATES.
A statement which says God is a covenant honoring God is true, but only in the context of righteousness and the standards for covenants which He makes. Covenants made by God are not the same as those designed by men, such as when someone enters into a man-made legal or financial contract. The latter may have been an unwise legal or financial decision; however, a person who enters into such is “bound” to keep that vow and pay the amount due, even though he may not have understood the “small print;” or, perhaps he finds out years later that the consequences of that contract work negative results on his well-being.

 

Whether man made or God made, any vow we take must be carefully considered: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 Anything written in the Bible is subject to the entire Word of God and thus must always be applied within the context of God’s standards (His Word).
 
GOD DOESN’T CREATE PSEUDO MARRIAGE COVENANTS SUCH AS THOSE THAT VIOLATE HIS LAW OF MARRIAGE.
Sadly, people enter into many ungodly man-made agreements, including pseudo marriage covenants, which Jesus calls adultery. (Review Luke 16:18 and Mark 10:11-12.) Agreements that specifically violate God’s laws are man-made counterfeits, and as a general rule, should NOT be honored; that is, IF and when they are evil or against God’s law. For example, Herod made a vow to give his adulterous wife’s daughter anything she desired. When she asked for the head of John the Baptist, the above wrongful application of the Gibeonite league would say that God would expect him to keep that vow. However, Herod should not have honored such an insidious agreement, even though he vowed in front of the many guests at his party to do so. If a person makes a vow to murder someone, that vow is not of God and should not be kept. Additionally, such a vow or league is not the same as God’s marriage covenant.

 

Likewise, the “vow,” or man–made pseudo–marriage (adulterous) covenant that Herod created with Herodias, was sworn in violation of God’s law of marriage. It was what man may have considered a covenant, but it was not a covenant made or recognized by God. It was God’s law of marriage that John the Baptist so bravely told Herod he was violating when Herod, under guise of civil law, “married” Herodias. That’s the same error that millions continue to make today, even though God additionally had recorded this vivid tragic murderous example to help us understand that marriage is solely God’s domain: “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” 1 Corinthians 10:6 John was murdered for telling these unbelievers, Herod and Herodias, that even they (as well as those who are saved) were subject—not to their wrongfully man–made covenant—but to God’s law of marriage. John told them that their man-made “marriage covenant”was not spiritually lawful under God because Herodias, under God’s law of marriage, was YET the wife of Philip. Philip, Herodias’ one–flesh husband, was still living. (Review Malachi 2:14.) 

For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’sake, his brother Philip’s wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. Matthew 14:3-4 

BE NOT DECEIVED: STUDY THE SCRIPTURES.
So to sum this up, when we hear a statement such as, “A covenant is a covenant, is a covenant, and I am a ‘Covenant honoring God,’ even a covenant that may have been born in deception, or through flippancy,” we must be very careful to define our terms biblically, and to know that God is a righteous God. He never teaches us to honor sinful “marriage covenants” or man–made agreements which are in opposition to His written Word, such as to murder someone, or for someone to marry multiple living spouses! Ask, “Where is that written? Is it being used in the context in which it is recorded in the Bible?” God warns; Beware; Study the Scriptures: Matthew 7:15; Matthew 10:16; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4; 2 Peter 3:17.

 

In Christ’s Service,

Judith Brumbaugh, President/Founder
RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

 

This teaching is posted as a part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, or (3) would like other materials.

 

Contact us at marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com;

or our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.com

Our mailing address is PO Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342;

Blog: http://blog.familiesRUsKJ.org

 

RFI is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

 

A MASTERFUL COMPOSITION; WHY, THEN, IS THERE DISCORD?

  

 

As I was listening to Christmas music recently, my focus suddenly changed from hearing the music to thinking about the incredible skills required for someone to write the musical score for the song that was being aired. In past years, I have played in many different orchestras and bands and sung in choirs. However, in all those hundreds of hours of practicing and performing, I hadn’t thought about the skills involved for one person to be able to write the music for so many different instruments and to have all the musicians playing their parts in harmony with each other. There is such a difference, for example, in what notes would be written for the percussion section compared to those that would be played with the trumpets or violins. Beyond that, the composer embarks upon the massive job of precisely coordinating every note for every instrument to blend perfectly and to function rhythmically as one unit. Each measure of the music must have exactly the same value—never any more, never any less.

From the other side, those who play the instruments have the responsibility to respond to the conductor’s baton. They must practice the notes as they are written and play with precision according to the value that must be given to each note and the placement of each note on the musical staff. Should the note be held for one beat or several? How loudly should it be played? Should it be played staccato or slurred? Each musician must practice his given part until he learns to play the notes exactly as the composer has recorded them. He must carefully observe sharps and flats and any changes in tempo. If the musician plays a different tune or doesn’t correctly count the number of beats in a measure, he may be asked to leave the orchestra or to go home and practice until he can play the musical notes exactly as they have been written.

 God’s Musical Composition
As I continued to think about the skills, knowledge, and dedication necessary to produce a piece of music for an orchestra and the necessity for those who are members of the orchestra to play the notes exactly as they have been recorded by the composer, the thought came to me that there are some incredible parallels with our Bible. God has created a (musical) composition that is designed to be played harmoniously by all of creation; including man, animals, vegetation, and all aspects of the environment. It’s a perfect masterpiece, aesthetically pleasing, and with no errors.

He put the recording of this masterpiece into the hands of holy men who were inspired by Him to record it exactly as He knew would be necessary to create 66 books that have no discord and which are one unit, the Bible. He used these men to record the “notes” that every part of creation would play, even down to the smallest ant. God somehow did this over a 1500-year span, using 40 authors from every walk of life who lived in different places and different times on three continents with no means of communication, one with the other. Every word was precisely chosen and placed. This includes preordained repeated “stanzas”; when each “instrument” would enter and leave the composition; when there would be rests for some while others continue to play.

Not, perhaps, so evident is that there is an invisible thread that runs throughout God’s masterpiece connecting and interlinking every word. This continuous thread cannot be broken, else it’s not a part of God’s composition: “… the scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35 The LORD cannot lie. He promised to preserve His Words (“notes”) for ever: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” Psalm 12:6-7

Why is there discord in the playing of God’s “Composition”?
That being said, why then, does the resulting musical composition (life upon the earth) have so much discord? Why are there wars, divorce, and murders and all kinds of evil? The dilemma is not with the musical score. It doesn’t need to be corrected or rewritten. The problem lies with those who are playing the instruments, you and me. We, the musicians, instead of playing the part assigned to us, refuse to learn to play the notes in the score. Instead of practicing the notes for the piece of life we are to live, many practice those written by other authors and for other musicians. Some even try to rewrite the notes (the Scriptures) to satisfy their desire to play an instrument they were not designed to play. They lay aside their violin and pick up someone’s drumsticks, even though they have no training to play percussion instruments. In so doing they create discord and a song that is totally different from what God had intended.

The Purpose of God’s “Composition”
It’s not that our Creator, The Masterful Conductor, cannot help us learn to play the instrument we have been given in life. He has placed within each born-again believer His Spirit, which enables him to play God’s composition of life perfectly. The discord comes about because musicians refuse to submit to God’s leadership; to trust Him for what is best for them: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

There is an eternal purpose behind God’s composition, the written Word of God. This purpose is what was manifest in the flesh of the person Jesus Christ when God humbled Himself to come to live on this earth in the form of a man 2000 years ago. He expressed His purpose, His “immutable” love, in innumerable ways, but which many misunderstand. His message is He “must needs” save the lost. This was the message He brought to the unsaved woman who came to the well in John 4 and that which He brings to each of us.

 Two, perhaps unusual, words (“notes”), were placed together in John 4:4 (must needs) to show the urgency with which Jesus had to “go” to reach the lost:  “And he must needs go through Samaria.” “Must needs” expresses an extreme need. Jesus came to save the lost. His works must needs be done.

 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh,
when no man can work. John 9:4
And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars,
be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be … Mark 13:7
… I must be about my Father’s business. Luke 2:49
…  Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead … Acts 17:3
Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled … Acts 1:16
 

Are you playing in harmony with God’s “Composition”?
Is there discord in your life; with your family, with your peers? Do you “must needs” go to a friend, relative, or even that stranger who suddenly comes into your life with whom you should share the gospel? Have you been deceived by learning to play in an orchestra for which God’s music has not been written? Have you perhaps become so deceived that you cannot recognize that you are trying to play your violin from the music written for a percussion instrument? Let us not try to rewrite God’s Word, but let His vital “notes” play through us as they have been preserved unto all generations. Truthfully examine your life in light of the Scriptures. If you’re playing the wrong instrument or have joined the wrong orchestra, run, flee; go back where you belong:

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. 2 Corinthians 13:5
Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD
your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
Jeremiah 26:13

That’s the message and reason for the season we now proclaim to celebrate. Click on the link below to review the reading of Luke 2:8-14 by Peanuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA

Merry Christmas from us here at Restoration of the Family. We are deeply grateful for your prayers, helping hands, and financial gifts. Let us all continue to work the works of our faith even more fervently as we quickly move into 2012. As we each parcel our time between the LORD and the outside pressures to worship Him during this busy time of the year, consider the message in the song below about the commercialization of Christmas. Click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWrrvQ_3-40&feature=colike

A New Bible Study Starts January 7: Saturday evenings 7 p.m—8:30 p.m.
This study will focus on the book of John. The goal is to teach how to study God’s Word contextually. For example, can you prove contextually what the meaning of begotten is in John 3:16? Are you equipped to teach others to determine the difference between the writings of John and the three other gospels? Why did Jesus travel between Galilee and Judea? Are there Scriptural keys to what Jesus may have written in the ground in John 8:6 and 8:8? Why is the word yet so important in John 7:8? If you live in the Orlando area and are interested in studying with us, send an email with your contact information and phone number to marriage@RestorationOFTheFamily.com.

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain,
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President
RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or (4) would like a seminar by responding to: marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or to our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.org/ Blog: http://www.blog.familiesRusKJ.org

Reminder: Any donations for the year 2011 must be received by December 31, 2011 if you want credit for the 2011 tax year.

RFI is a 501©(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code. 

How To Find 90 Missing Ghosts

Many who read the title to this teaching may immediately think of what has become a national celebration called Halloween. It’s a day when children and adults go trick or treating, attend costume parties, carve jack-o’-lanterns, visit haunted attractions, play pranks, tell scary stories, and watch horror films with visions of scary ghosts floating in and out of space. 

 The question is often asked whether or not Christians should participate in such activities. Many churches host “alternative” fall festivals and related activities they feel are acceptable substitutes for the trick-or-treat begging for candy in local neighborhoods and the donning of scary costumes. They do this by hosting activities permitting, instead, Bible character costumes and others such as Casper the acceptable, friendly ghost rather than a scary ghost.

That, however, is not the focus of this article. Such concerns, if seriously pondered by a Christian (whether he should partake in the above activities), can be summarized by the admonition that Paul gives in Romans 1:18-19: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” Another question to ponder is, “Do these activities glorify God? Do Halloween images and activities historically commemorate and glorify God or the works of evil? A verse to ponder might be: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22

A Gift For You
To supplement this topic and others designed to strengthen families, we’re offering, through the end of 2011, the booklet pictured in the above graphic, “Getting you & your Family into Heaven.” See the end of this teaching for directions telling you how you can receive your complimentary copy. This succinct question-and-answer Scripture mini-workbook can provide hours of thought-provoking Bible topics for individual or group study. It is a self-teaching guide with the following topics: 

How To Score A Winning Touchdown For Your Family; Trials Into Triumph; Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf!; What’s In The Toy Box? (This includes three pages with Scriptures and terms dealing with the occult.); Dwelling Together In Unity; Marriage From God’s Perspective.

The NAME Holy Ghost is totally missing from most Bibles.
Many may not realize that not only did the translators of the King James Bible retain the NAME Holy Ghost in the New Testament, but many who went before them had the same discernment. The Holy Ghost is found in Wycliff’s translation 1395, Tyndale’s New Testament 1525, Coverdale 1535, Bishops’ Bible 1568, The Geneva Bible 1599, Mace N.T. 1729, Wesley’s N.T. 1755, and the King James Bible.  

 So when did Holy Ghost disappear from most Bibles, except for the King James? It was when the first major English revision was made to the King James Bible in 1888. This was when what is called the Revised Version (of 1888) was created. It was not the “avowed” revision (of the King James Bible) with minor changes but a new version, including a NEW corrupted Greek text (Westcott and Hort’s new Greek text). This underlying text was not used by the King James translators nor by those who translated the above-mentioned Bibles. Additionally, as attested by much documented evidence,* it was under the influence of a Unitarian, Dr./Pastor Vance Smith, who did not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ and the Godhead, that these names (Holy Ghost and Godhead) were removed. He was on the translation committee and led the efforts to change Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit and remove the name Godhead. He rejected the Godhead and His existence as One, Who was and is manifest as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost through the person of Jesus Christ: “For in him [Jesus] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9  

 (*Which Bible Can We Trust? by Les Garrett; Which Bible? by David Otis Fuller, D.D.; True or False by David Otis Fuller, D.D.; Final Authority by William P. Grady; The Case for the King James Bible by Pastor, Dr. D. A. Waite; If the Foundations be destroyed: What does the New International Version of the Bible have against Jesus? by Chick Salliby; Which Version is The Bible? by Floyd Nolen Jones; An Understandable History of the Bible by Rev. Samuel C. Gipp Th.D. et al.)

Copyright requires significant changes to newly created versions of God’s Word.
The Church today has two different sets of Scripture: King James Bible and the newer versions. That’s because most new versions created after the Revised Version of 1888 used different underlying texts from which to translate the Scripture and have used a different method of translating. They, likewise, have modeled the practice of removing the NAMES Holy Ghost and Godhead. Additionally, any authors of new versions written after the passage of the first copyright law (1794) and amendments to it must legally state that their English version SIGNIFICALLY DIFFERS from what is already in print. That means they are avowing that they have changed what amounts to thousands of words from those written in previous Bibles. Copyright says that you are the author and as such hold rights to the reproduction of your works. The King James Bible is not copyrighted. It was finalized before the copyright law went into effect and thus is not copyrighted: “… the word of God is not bound.” 2 Timothy 2:9  

The Holy Ghost is only named in the New Testament.
Before doing some research, I wasn’t aware that the name Holy Ghost is used ONLY in the New Testament and exactly ninety times. Why 90? I’m not sure. There are many theories. Notwithstanding, there is no doubt that the LORD has an underlying, invisible, internal structure that runs throughout the entire Bible which cannot be broken by adding to or subtracting from the Word as it has been preserved: “… the scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35 Perhaps that’s why the LORD warns so many times for us not to add to or subtract from the Words written in the Bible. (Consider Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6, Matthew 5:18, and Revelation 22:18-19.) Like a puzzle, if you change the shape of some of the pieces, the image can never be correctly put together.

It seems that the some 50 translators of the King James Bible and those who went before them saw a fine-lined difference between Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit (used four times in the New Testament), and spirit/Spirit (used 261 times). The NAME Godhead, like the NAME Holy Ghost, is also used only in the New Testament. Godhead is a proper noun based on an underlying Greek form of Theos (God). This name of God is not an attribute of God but His name encompassing the fullness of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. May we never think that the Godhead can be replaced by a man-made substitute, a mathematical symbol, or number such as trinity or triangle: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” Acts 17:29

 We must understand the importance of interpreting words according to their context.
Even though the same underlying Greek word is used for both Ghost and the various forms of spirit, there is a thin line of difference between HOW (Holy) Ghost and Spirit are generally used. (Holy is a different Greek word than that used for Ghost and Spirit/spirit.) Discerning the difference between the Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit or Spirit/spirit is called context. Contextual interpretation is not something confined only to these two words (Ghost and Spirit), but there are many other words in the Bible that have the same underlying Hebrew or Greek word but are translated differently because of the way they are used in the sentence (context). 

It was the Person of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, Who came upon Mary: “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35  

It is the Person of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, whose works, when blasphemed, put the offender in danger of eternal damnation: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” Mark 3:29

 The Holy Ghost is one of the three in whom we baptize believers: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19  

The Holy Ghost represents the Person (of the) Godhead.
The Spirit is He Who works within us to sanctify
and purify the dross in our hearts
enabling us to live holy and pure before the LORD.

The Holy Ghost bears record in Heaven; the spirit in earth.
One of the most powerful pictures of the “fullness” of the Godhead that imparts unto us another distinguishing, yet perhaps “mystery,” between the Person of the Holy Ghost and works of the spirit, is given in 1 John 5:7-8: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” May we not take lightly changing the name Godhead, Holy Ghost, or any jot or tittle in God’s Holy Word: “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18  

 For a deeper study on this issue, go to our website to send for two booklets on Bible versions: The Destruction of Families who reject God’s Word and Family Feud and Your Part in The Book of Life.

Request your gift.
To receive a complimentary copy of “Getting you & your Family into Heaven,” email marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com (one per email address as supply allows). Those from other countries should include $3 in U.S. Currency for shipping and handling. This booklet is an audience outline that accompanied a workshop for families. Let us know if you are interested in such a workshop. 

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain,
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President
RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or (4) would like a seminar by responding to: marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or to our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.org/ Blogs: http://www.rfiblog.wordpress.com/ http://www.blog.familiesRusKJ.org  

RFI is a 501©(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

The First Game of Hide & Seek: Where Art Thou?

“What is this all about?” you might say. But read on for an exciting find in the forest. This takes us back to the beginning of recorded time to a garden located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This was the most beautiful, perfect garden ever known. It’s name—the Garden of Eden. 

This is where God chose to provide a permanent home for humankind and performed the first wedding after which all such marriages are to be patterned—such as that which was created between Adam and Eve. See Genesis 2:21-24. However, they, like most of us, were not satisfied with God’s plan for their lives. They felt they knew better than God what was best for them; thus, they chose to eat from the only off-limits tree. And for this they received, in exchange for their rebellion, separation from God and a life of hardship and toil.

 Adam and his wife were banished from this perfect garden paradise. However, before they were exiled, they tried to hide from God—silly they were, as are most humans—thinking they could hide from God and cover up wrongful acts, thoughts, and attitudes from Him. Their chosen mode of camouflaging their sin was in the sewing of fig leaves together to cover their nakedness (sin). Here’s how God recorded their clandestine game of hide and seek which followed their “costumed” masquerade: 

8And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [God, of course, knew where they were.] 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Genesis 3:8-10  

Even the smallest stroke of a letter
could meanthe difference between life and death!

I don’t know about you, but when I picture in my mind verse eight, I see Adam and Eve couching behind A tree (among the many trees in the garden). This was because I had misread the Scripture. However, there’s a very subtle embedded bit of important contextual information recorded within the word amongst which isn’t conveyed with the word among.  Most of us probably think there’s no difference between the two words. However, God is a God of minute details. We’re told that every word of God is pure and that He requires every jot and tittle (even the smallest curvature of a letter) to be precisely preserved. See Matthew 5:18 and Revelation 22:18-19. 

The Oxford English Dictionary gives a helping hand to enable us to see the fine line between amongst and among. Amongst indicates a shifting in position—something that isn’t stationary. Thus Adam and his wife moved throughout the trees (amongst) in multiple hiding places. 

So instead of picturing Adam and Eve hiding behind A tree in a typical hide and seek fashion, I should have “seen” them moving from tree to tree. Perhaps they thought in so doing, they were moving away from the “footsteps” of God. Thus God asked Adam, “Where art thou?” even though He knew exactly where Adam and Eve were.  

There are no excuses that disguise sin from God.

 This teaching is twofold: (1) to remind us that all our excuses to hide or excuse our sins from God are, from His point of view, childish and repulsive; (2) to bring awareness to the importance for each of us to study the Bible and interpret it exactly as it is written: not to add to or subtract from the text. When we feel the Word, God, (“In the beginning was the Word … and the Word was God.” John 1:1) needs correction, let us remember what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve decided that it was no big deal to buy into someone’s “editing” of God’s Word; after all, it was only changing one word! 

What God wrote	Satan’s editing of God’s Word
“… for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:17	And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4
Satan changed only one word. He added to the Word of God the adverb not and in so doing (1) called God a liar, (2) implied that God’s Word was flawed and (3) made himself the standard of belief for Adam and Eve.

Blessings unto you and your loves ones as we remain,
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President
RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

 This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or (4) would like a seminar by responding to marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or to our website: RestorationOfTheFamily.org blog:http://blog.familiesRusKJ.org

RFI is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

Experience A Miracle!

Experience A Miracle

Dear Brother or Sister in the LORD:

Many partake of it, but few understand. Even fewer have the reverential fear to honour it as they should—marriage. Yes, that seemingly simple but often very expensive ceremony that accompanies God’s creation of a one-flesh being, from two, would seem, mathematically, a wrong answer. How does two equal one? Yet, that is what God says He does: “And they twain [two] shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.” Mark 10:8

The LORD, in His efforts to help us understand what He teaches, depicts thousands of images through the words He methodically and intentionally chooses. He does this through detailed descriptions and likenesses by using metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech. However, there are none like those picturing marriage, especially the Genesis account of His “hand” supernaturally drawing woman out of man. Yet, man misunderstands, twists, maligns, and tries to restructure this miraculuous creation.

Marriage is the finished work of God.

Here’s what the LORD does. He takes us into the body of Adam—to his rib cage—to help us to understand the depth of what takes place in a marriage through a replay of the creation of the first marriage. The unique physical meshing of Adam’s rib from which the woman is drawn symbolizes the spiritual joining of husband and wife. Yet, it’s not their spirits that are joined but the bone and marrow of their flesh. Additionally, we are told in Malachi 2:14 that this supernatural, invisible, and permanent joining of two into one is a covenant. This covenant, however, is much different from a man-made covenant or a contract.

Study some of the teachings on our website to learn more about the differences between man-made and God-created covenants:
•Covenant Marriage Movement (CMM) Beware?
•What Happens At the Ceremony?
•What Is a Marriage Covenant?

The first visual of marriage is given in that wonderful book of beginnings, Genesis. Carefully savor and study every word of God for “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Genesis 2:21-23

Yes, woman was PHYSICALLY taken out of man; yet bound, by the spirit of God, to man, to create this miraculous one-flesh joining.

Don’t “touch” God’s Holy Creation”

WHAT God does when He creates marriage is not fully understood by those of us who have become a part of this miracle nor by those who witness the ceremony through which it takes place. Marriage is part of “the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) It’s so real, so holy, so beautiful that God warns us not to “touch” it: not to try to alter it, not to substitute man-made counterfeits, not to compromise in any way the life that God has breathed into it.

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder [apart]. Mark 10:9

The essence of God’s warnings is not just that God is saying that we shouldn’t, but the fact that no person can put apart WHAT it is that He, God (not man, not the person officiating over the ceremony), has so joined. The LORD’s loving words of warning to “touch not” are clearly stated (“let not man”) because those who do so and try to create marriage apart from what God has set in place put themselves in danger of eternal separation from Him.

Experience a scriptural making of a marriage.
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW
A FLASH PRESENTATION.

Please invest one minute to view an animation of God’s miraculous picture of how He creates/sees marriage by clicking on this link or pasting it in your browser. Be sure your sound is turned on: http://blog.familiesruskj.org/?page_id=45

If you know of anyone who has chosen not to love his one-flesh spouse and/or may be wrongly thinking there is someone else that God has or may put in his life, try to help this person to understand that another “joining,” while either part of the one-flesh lives, is impossible.

Consider these questions:

• Why did Adam say, “This is NOW bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”?
• What did Adam understand that few reading those words comprehend?
• WHAT is it that God joins together (“speaks” into existence) so that it is impossible for man to “put asunder”: to separate, to put apart, to divide, or to dissolve?

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Adam understood — understood that there was no part of woman that he could put apart (and vice versa). God supernaturally joined them, and He would never again see them as two—in the realm of marriage. God, unilaterally, totally completes His part in making the two one (flesh) before they leave the altar. The husband and wife bilaterally covenant each other to uphold God’s conditions of marriage and in so doinig are choosing to be bound (one flesh) until death parts them. And thus the “marriage ceremony” between Adam and Eve was concluded with the words: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be [NOT They shall become—through any acts of man] one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

God is saying what He does is done. It is finished. It is complete. No act of man, no sin, no matter how heinous, can undue or dissolve this new creation—so long as they both shall physically live. Thus many ceremonies are concluded: “… may you so live together in this life that in the world to come you may have life everlasting.” Those so joined [one man and one woman, neither having a living one-flesh spouse] agree to “keep thee only unto her/him, so long as ye both shall live.”

A Gift for our Readers:
We are once again making available to our readers in the United States (one per household) the booklet “With This Ring, I Thee Wed” through the month of October or as our supply allows. Those living outside United States, we ask that you send, in U.S. dollars, shipping and handling ($4.80) to cover the mailing. Email us at marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com. We also highly recommend that you consider ordering (under separate cover from our website) the two companion booklets on the home page of our website: What is a wife? and Marriage, Divorce, & “Remarriage.”

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain,
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President
RESTORATION OF THE FAMILY, INC.

This teaching is posted as a part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or (4) would like a seminar by responding to: marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or to our website: http://RestorationOfTheFamily.org

RFI is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

WHY GOD HAD TO SPEAK THROUGH A BEAST OF BURDEN

 

God can use anyone or any thing to spread the Gospel. However just as He wishes that all would be saved but aren’t, He wishes that those who are saved would be the ones to share not only the gospel Truths about what is “warm and fuzzy,” but also the “hard sayings.” John 6:60. We (you and I) are all charged to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3

 

Is it more difficult for you to share Biblical “hard sayings” with friends and relatives than it is to do the same on the mission field or in a foreign land? I don’t know about you, but that is surely true with me. Yet, sharing Truth “out of season” (when it isn’t popular) is the biggest act of love that can be extended to those we love.

 

Why God had to resort to speaking through an ass

Please don’t be offended by the word ass used in its proper context. God uses it 154 times in the Bible. It’s not that God created it vile; it is the sin of man who has so misused this word that even those chosen to preach the Word are timid to speak it as God has preserved it in the Bible. The same thing has happened with words such as hell and even God. None of these three are archaic or hard to understand. They are used blasphemously untold numbers of times every day; yet, they are removed hundreds of times in many Bibles.

 

God had to resort to having an ass speak to his owner, a prophet chosen of God, who had become blinded to a death threat on his life. He was blinded by his own lust when he compromised after being asked by an enemy nation to curse the children of Israel. Prophets are often given tasks to speak what the people do not want to hear and thus they have been stoned, torn apart, rejected, persecuted, punished, and excommunicated. Balaam’s situation, however, was different. He sold out his commission for the “wages of unrighteousness.”

 

For an undetermined number of years, Balaam had talked and walked with the LORD—perhaps just as had Adam and Eve. He, like them, got caught up in covetousness and the lust of his flesh, letting the love of fame and money corrupt his mind and soul. He sold out by subtily* (subtly) compromising God’s Word. (*See Genesis 3:1.) Sadly, this happens even today when Christians and their leaders refuse to speak the Truth (or they sugar coat it) to friends and relatives and to those of the flock of the LORD regarding sin, especially when it is a sin that many are practicing, such as fornication and adultery.

 

Balaam did not want to tell an enemy nation of the Israelites that he would have nothing to do with their conspiracy to destroy them. By so doing a two-fold, self-inflicted punitive judgment came upon Balaam:

 

(1) God “allowed” Balaam to continue in the sin that was in his heart, and

(2) spiritual blindness came into his life (expressed by a physical manifestation of death which he was unable to see). Balaam could not see the danger of death that God had placed before him; yet, Balaam’s faithful ass not only saw it, but tried to protect his master. Being so blinded, Balaam beat his ass three times when the animal refused to move forward into the impeding sword of death.

 

What do we do when we read
a clear prohibition in God’s Word
that goes against our lifestyle
or something we deeply want to do?

Balaam was asked by the Moabites to bring a curse upon the Israelites. At first he said no, but his heart and mouth were not in sync. He got caught in a horrific tragic compromise. As a cover-up, he asked God’s advice, even though he had already asked the same before. God spoke His Word—that he should not commingle with nor assist the enemies of the Israelites. Initially, Balaam didn’t compromise what God had told him, but the “… princes of Moab … sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable … And they came to Balaam … For I will promote thee unto very great honour … curse me this people.” (Numbers 22:14-17) Instead of running in the opposite direction and having nothing to do with the enemies of the Israelites, Balaam played with the metaphorical “snake.” He asked God the same question again, already knowing what God had previously told him and that God’s Word never changes. Balaam said to the servants of Balak, “… I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.” Numbers 22:19.

 

Woe unto us when we will not receive God’s Word.

How many of us have done the very same thing? We have read a very clearly written command or precept in the Bible; yet, we pray and ask God for a way around it or seek to see if some pastor or other Biblical scholar has a different interpretation that will please our flesh. We fast; we ask other Christians to have God show us what to do. Likewise, this was what was happening in the divided heart of Balaam.

 

What comes next in this passage
is something very important
but what many may miss.

God seemingly changed His mind, encouraged Balaam to sin, and then afterward punished him: “And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them … And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.” Numbers 22:20, 21

 

You must study this incredible series of events
(and consider the importance of reading and receiving
the whole counsel of God).

To properly interpret Scripture we must often look beyond the immediate verses. “Search the scriptures …” is the instruction of God. John 5:39 Many saints come up with false doctrine because they don’t search all of the Scripture on a given topic.

 

Almost immediately, it seems, that God was unfair to Balaam: “God’s anger was kindled because he [Balaam] went …” Numbers 22:22 God sent an “adversary” against Balaam. This adversary was an angel of death—sent because Balaam had let sin blind him to discernment of danger. Sadly, he could not recognize that death was at his doorstep. Ironically, Balaam’s faithful ass saw and tried to protect his master—not once, but three times to stop, even as Balaam beat him for not continuing into the impeding danger to which Balaam had blinded himself: “And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.” Numbers 22:27

 

It was a miraculous thing that happened. The ass spoke with man’s words: “… the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.” 2 Peter 2:16 “And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

 

Many “smite” the messengers of God.

And the angel of the LORD said unto him [Balaam], Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.” Numbers 22:28-34

 

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man …” Genesis 6:3 God changes His Word for no man; it is man who often changes God’s words to justify sinful lifestyles and acts. God has recorded for all mankind, for all ages exactly what He means and changes it not—for the lost or the saved. “Jesus [the Word] is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8 There will come a time when the transgressor will not be able to turn from the sin he has chosen—likely because he has lived in the transgression and rationalized it so long that his conscience has become seared so that evil becomes good in his mind. “So they did eat, and were well filled: for he [God] gave them their own desire … but while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and [He] slew … and smote … the chosen men of Israel.” Psalm 78:29-31

 

Do you know anyone who might unknowingly be
under God’s punitive favor?

This is what happened to Balaam. God clearly gave the Word, but Balaam’s flesh wanted the pleasures of this world; so when he played the game of trickery with God, the LORD gave him over to his own lust and told him to go ahead and do what He knew was in Balaam’s heart. Study Romans 1:28-32 and 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. Sin is “allowed” because of man’s hardened heart but it is never sanctioned by God. Study Matthew 19:8-9. It’s one of many such examples in the Scripture: “He [Jesus] saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered [allowed] you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” What follows is God’s punitive judgment for man’s refusal to obey Him: “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife … and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” Jesus clearly defines the sin of dishonouring His covenant of marriage then gives the punitive judgment on those whom He “allows” to live therein—because of what He says is “hardness of hearts.” 

 

This is the judgment (God’s punitive favor) that many in this life do not comprehend. God never approves of sin and will judge every sin from which transgressors refuse to turn. God allows or  “suffers” people to divorce, lie, cheat, steal, murder—even to enter into and live in adulterous relationships for many years because they choose to reject His Word and harden their hearts against Him. This was the case with Balaam. Study more about God’s punitive favor in The Miracle of Marriage.

 

The message for us when we consider
compromise against God’s Word …

This is the warning we should see and apply to our lives when we read the account of Balaam’s ass who spoke to give his master (Balaam) warning of impending danger. It should have been such a frightening warning that Balaam would have turned away from any allegiances with evil, but he didn’t.

 

Read more of this prophet (in Numbers 22-31). He was called of God but fell away because he got caught up in sin. There are also several other Scriptural commentaries on Balaam’s defection in both Testaments: Numbers 31:16; Deuteronomy 23:4, 2 Peter 2:14-16; Jude 11, and Revelation 2:14.

 

Is God tying to use you to speak to others who are living, perhaps unknowingly, blinded under God’s punitive favor? Or perhaps are you doing so, even knowing that God warns against it and may even say in the Bible that He hates what you are doing in one or more areas of your life?

 

Let us not go the way of Balaam.

 

Blessings unto you and your loves ones as we remain

In Christ’s Service,

Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President

Restoration Of The Family, Inc.

 

This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you  (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, or (3) would like other materials by responding to marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or go to our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.org/Our mailing address is PO Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342.

 

RFI is a 501 © (3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

A DISEASE WORSE THAN MRSA!

It was a phone call I dreaded to receive:

 

 “Your mother is not doing well. You had better come home.”
“What has happened? I was just there, and she seemed to be doing well.”
“She has MRSA,” was the reply, “and she is failing fast.”

 

Immediate plans were made for me to catch a flight the next morning to be with her. Not knowing what MRSA was, I searched on the Internet for information. I found that it is a highly contagious disease that is resistant to antibiotics, and it frequently occurs in hospitals and nursing homes. Unchecked, it eats away the flesh, creating horrific pain, and ultimately causing death.

 

I felt “encased” in a strange environment.

As I painfully watched this disease take its toll in my mother’s body over a three-week period of time, I was also surrounded by and becoming additionally grieved at the gross TV programs being loudly broadcast daily (morning, noon, and night) in the adjoining space—just a few feet away.

 

The programs were filled with lust, sexual sin, swearing, murder, and drunkenness. Some were game shows with women seductively dressed, parading before cheering audiences with loud obtrusive music—certainly not comforting to my mother. I was also meeting many new people, some of whom knew Jesus as their LORD and Saviour, while others seemed not to know Him. Most were coming and going, seemingly oblivious to the offensive language and “music” filling the room and the ungodly scenes transmitted through the TV. Conversely, however, there were several who showed caution about the potential contagious nature of the MRSA.

 

What if sin were feared
and efforts made to avoid it
as if it were MRSA?

Scriptures began to play in my mind against this Sodom and Gomorrah background and the sad reality that there are millions who are daily filling their minds, perhaps unaware, and with no fear, with what God says He abhors, and that which He tells us—for our protection—not to set before our eyes and ears—this seedbed for sinful thoughts and acts. (See Psalm 101:3 and Job 31:1, and read the article Has the “stranger” entered your home?) It’s as if the masses have taken painkillers that have deadened their minds making them immune to and unable to receive the hundreds of warnings from The Great Physician—God. This is He Who knows the potential death sentence of unrepentant sin. He knows that sin can be spawned and fed by what we see and hear as well as by those with whom we associate.

 

Sin is a “disease” that everyone reading this message is capable of “catching” and “transmitting,” spiritually speaking. However, unlike MRSA, every person has control over whether s/he will “contract” sin. Yet, no one is immune to it. If it were not so, there would be no need for the thousands of words written in the Bible addressed specifically to the saved—yes, to Christians—with many warnings for us not to even look at sinful behaviour because of its dangerous, contagious, consuming, and anesthetizing nature.

 

The Word of God tells us that sin is subtle; it deadens our minds to Truth; it deceives both the saved and unsaved. It especially preys on idle, depressed, angry, and despondent minds. It surely should not be a platform for entertainment. Because it is sin, the LORD judges those who choose to live therein—practicing it as a daily lifestyle. “… God is no respecter of persons.” Acts 10:34 Neither is sin!

 

How our mind is anesthetized to sin

How is the mind anesthetized to sin? It’s not by a drug such as the morphine used for the pain from MRSA, but by something subtler. Sin is like a room that is dimly lit. When we first enter, we can barely see; but as we remain, our eyes adjust, and we are able to better discern objects—the darkness is no longer the focal point it was upon entry. Likewise, when we surround ourselves with sin and/or those who are practicing what God deems are sinful lifestyles, we can become anesthetized to what God says are abhorrent manifestations of sin. He tells us to flee from these things.

 

Acceptance of sin becomes exacerbated when wrongful behaviours are practiced by those we love or respect or when it is something we personally deeply desire. Our mind adjusts to the darkness of the wrongdoing. It accepts what God tells us we should reject because our human emotions act as morphine deadening the intangible nature of God’s law.

 

“The light of the body is the eye … when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.” Luke 11:34 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:15-16 “And fear not them [or perhaps that] which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

 

The LORD tells us that sin is so subtle that even men in the pulpit can look and sound like God’s chosen ministers of righteousness. Such “false prophets” bring counterfeit messages of hope, prosperity, and righteousness that delude their many devoted supporters and followers. Sadly, they dismiss sin, wrongfully telling their audience what they want to hear—that their sin will be excused by God because they are Christians. What a coup of Satan as these many “christians” are lost but no one prays for their lost souls because a leader tells them God excuses their sin!

 

They often speak with high levels of polished charisma and with words sprinkled with humour and positive emotion. They take captive their audience as they “play” to their audience’s “itching ears”: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4

 

“Therefore it is no great thing if his [Satan’s] ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness …” 2 Corinthians 11:15 Please read again that Scripture. It’s a very real warning. “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-14

 

An antidote that cures the deadly “disease” sin

Sin can be cured. The antidote—repentance. Those caught in the net of a sinful lifestyle only need to turn totally from practicing the sin and to following the LORD: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:17-18

 

Additional Study Suggestion

The LORD uses many figures of speech to help us understand the dual nature of the Scriptures: they are often both physical and spiritual. Some of the many figures of speech include metaphors, similes, and personifications. Such is the case with the study of Biblical leprosy. It is a study of sin and a physical disease. Review also Jeremiah 30:12-17. Here, the LORD uses medical language to convey the idea that sin is terminal; yet, He can cure the incurable disease of sin. The transgressor, however, must be willing to repent and turn to the LORD for the “cure.”  

 

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain,

In Christ’s Service,

Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President

Restoration Of The Family, Inc. 

 

This teaching is posted as a part of the mission of Restoration of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, or (3) would like other materials by responding to:  marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com; or to our website:

http://www.restorationofthefamily.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342. 

  

RFI is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code

What 2-3 Billion People May Have Missed!

 

 Estimates vary widely on numbers of people worldwide who have or will view the Royal Wedding of 2011. Many wanted nothing to do with what they deemed a royal spectacle and waste of billions of dollars. Yet, others wanted to see …

 What drew them? For many, it was the “kiss” for which they waited; for some it was the pageantry with the wildly varying hats and couture garments; others waited anxiously to see the wedding gown unveiled with its eight-foot satin, lace-appliquéd, flowing train. For a smaller number it was the spiritual nature of the marriage ceremony. The latter is what this teaching is about.

 Man has tried to reshape
the “clay” of marriage.

Few understand what happened in that marriage ceremony—and in all other such God-sanctioned weddings. That’s because they look at holy wedlock through natural eyesight—man-made binoculars. After all, that’s the way most of us are trained. Thus, here’s how marriage is understood by millions of people:

 A man and woman fall in love and decide to get married. They plan a wedding. Someone officiates over the ceremony. The husband and wife vow to live together in love until death parts them. However, what frequently happens is that after a period of time, one or both feel they are incompatible, often because their affections are diverted to other people. When this happens, they seek to obtain a legal “decree” of divorce; wrongly thinking this severs them from their spouse. Within another period of time, one or both of the one-flesh spouses go back to the marriage altar duplicating their former until-death-I-do-part vows, but with a second spouse. With some, this may happen many times. Sadly, this scenario is replicated by more than two million spouses every year. (No one knows the numbers as several states have opted out of reporting the statistics for divorce decrees.)

 

Man’s binoculars distort
God’s “law of marriage.”

What’s missing in the above pattern is an understanding of marriage—from God’s perspective. Looking at marriage in the natural (through physical binoculars) distorts what God does during a marriage ceremony and thus what transpires spiritually between the two coming to the altar to be joined—that which God says is “lawful”and is according to His “law of marriage.” “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14 “God is a spirit,” and what He does must be perceived spiritually. John 4:24 

Man is the clay—not the potter—
when it comes to marriage:
a new creation which few understand.

What takes place during a wedding ceremony to make two people one is a supernatural, invisible, permanent joining resulting in a new creation. It is as in a like manner that God creates something entirely new—a baby when the sperm and egg unite. Marriage is a spiritual act by God. HE brings into being, through His supernatural realm, a new creation. This is a joining of which man and woman can choose to become a part; yet, it is impossible for man to create such a union. God, not man, determines the properties of marriage (between one man and one woman) and the duration of what is created (until one of the spouses physically dies). It is a mystical union infused by the LORD when He uses an instrument He calls a covenant to manifest in the flesh what He does in the spirit: “… yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.” Malachi 2:14

The Scripture tells us that it is What therefore God hath joined together …” Matthew 19:6. It is the What that is the undefined and misunderstood by man in the natural. It is the creation resulting from a God-made covenant, confirmed by vows spoken by the man and woman who have asked God to make of them one flesh.

 This permanent JOINING is by God.

Marriage is the result of an act of God in which man vows (agrees) to become a participant. God’s resulting spiritual act of creation permanently joins a man and woman. This joining, however, has NOTHING to do with the sexual intimacy which is a privilege of marriage. Man and woman are made one flesh before they leave the altar. Sexual intimacy is a privilege of marriage, but it in no way makes the two permanently one flesh. Nor is it the person who officiates over the ceremony who joins the man and woman. It is God Who makes the two one flesh. “And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Mark 10:8-9 Whether the two are saved or not, God’s law of marriage applies.

Dissolution by man of God’s joining is impossible. Only when God, by death, removes the soul and spirit from one or both of the parties does the created union cease to exist. God clearly proclaims in His Holy Bible that there are no exceptions: “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth …” I Corinthians 7:39 This applies equally to the husband. (See also Romans 7:2,3.)

 Thus, every man and woman who enter into a one flesh union are charged (as was the “Royal” couple) to love and cherish one another until death removes them from the earth: “God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost bless, preserve, and keep you. The LORD mercifully with His favor look upon you and so fill you with all spiritual benediction [blessing] and grace [love] that ye may so live together in this life that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen”

 

Blessings unto you and your loved ones as we remain

In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, Founder/President
Restoration Of The Family, Inc

This teaching is posted as part of the mission of Restoration Of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, (3) would like other materials, or wish to sign up for our email teaching newsletter. Let us know by responding to marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com or go to our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.org/.

Our mailing address is PO Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342.

RFI is a 501 ©(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

HAS THE “STRANGER” ENTERED YOUR HOME?

 

Subtil* is how God puts it. That’s how He describes the wicked, deceitful, cunning, and “captive” works of Satan. These are works that most of us may totally underestimate. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made …”Genesis 3:1 *Many may recognize subtil with its more popular secular spelling “subtle.”

Why does God give this succinct warning—that Satan is more subtil than any beast He had created? It’s because even two people who walked so closely with God (Adam and Eve) got caught in the treachery of sin—deceitful lies. They did the exact thing that God had warned them not to do, perhaps because to them it seemed like such a small and inconsequential transgression. 

Here’s where and how it began.

Satan initiated an insidious practice. He changed the words of God and through that called God a liar. The LORD specifically told Adam, “thou shalt surely die” if he disobeyed. Satan told Adam and Eve the opposite: “Ye shalt not surely die.” Adam and Eve made the free-will choice to believe the words “penned” by Satan (the Serpent). They did what God told them not to do, BUT what God said would happen did happen as a consequence of their rejection of His Word— they died! 

These same kind of “subtil” nets or traps are seducing and taking man captive today. Why? Because man STILL believes that God’s words, which are filled with warnings for our protection and well-being, seem foolish and unnecessary. Man wrongly thinks it’s not absolutely necessary to follow God’s words exactly the way they are written; thus, he is taken “captive.” “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25-26

Consider the far-reaching potential effect upon the minds of each of us IF God’s words included in the passage below were followed—a passage we have probably all violated at one time or another:

 “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:
I hate the work of them that turn aside;
it shall not cleave to me.”
Psalm 101:2,3

Here’s a test to try.

Take a sheet of paper and make chart listing each of the sins listed within the TV graphic at the top of the article. If you have children you can turn this into a fun family activity by giving a copy of the chart to everyone who watches TV. Suggest that each member of the family place a check mark beside each of these sins every time they come into your home via the TV (or wherever you view it). Include TV programs and all advertisements. (Be sure to carefully scrutinize any advertised product or activity that could tempt someone to consume or utilize a product that could lead to drunkenness, sexual sin, or lust of the flesh.)

Under the category God’s name in vain include all instances of foul language—including any type of profanity. Continue this activity for one week. Count the number of times each of these sins shown or heard on TV have been placed within your mind. (If this is a group activity, a prize could be awarded for the person who finds the most “offenses.”) 

Here’s how to evaluate the test results!

Do you and the members of your household pass the test of honouring God’s protective words recorded in Psalm 101:2,3, especially “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes”? Does it concern you enough that you, too, could be taken “captive,” to totally remove the source of these “suggestive sins” from coming into your home?

Consider the “subtlety” in the writing someone forwarded to me called, Dad’s Stranger.

Years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mum taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger … he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future!  He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn’t seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mum would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. 

(I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.) 

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honour them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home – not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn’t permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing …

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked … And NEVER asked to leave.

I really fear what his grand-kids will be like.
He has a wife now…we call her “Computer.”
Their first child is “Cell Phone.”
Second child, “I Pad.”

In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh, President/Founder
Restoration Of The Family, Inc.

This teaching is posted as a part of the mission of Restoration of The Family to equip believers to live, teach, and contend for the faith. We teach from the King James Bible. Please let us know if you: (1) wish to submit questions, (2) would like prayer, or (3) would like other materials. Contact us at:marriage@RestorationOfTheFamily.com;
or our website: http://www.restorationofthefamily.com/

Our mailing address is PO Box 621342 Oviedo FL 32762-1342;

RFI is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations may be deducted as defined by the Internal Revenue Code