Naomi the Mentor

  We all need a mentor. We all need someone who can take us under their wing, so to speak, and show us how it is done.
   In the Bible we have a woman like that. Her story is found in the book of Ruth. Only four chapters. This womans' name is Naomi.
   She was a Jew. She was also a mother. She had two sons. Their mames were Mahlon and Chilion. Not much is said about them. They no doubt wouldn't be mentioned if it wasn't for the fact of them being the husbands of two Moabite women.  The womens' name were Orpah and Ruth.

   It starts out a sad story. There was a famine in the land where Naomi and her husband, Elimelech along with her two osns lived. They were hungray so Elimelech decides to take his family into Moab where there was food. While there Elimelich dies. The two sons marry the Moabite women. They die. Naomi is left with these two Moabite women. Ten years have poassed. Ruth and Orphah have observed during these years how Naoiomi lived after the death of her husband. And how she cared for them even thoughh they were not of the Jewsih faith. The Moanbites were the offfspring of Lot, so they were related by blood but were not in the promised line that God had set up. They were not Jews.
  As ther story goesd on there is the reprot of better times back in the land of the Jews. Naomi had no reaon to stay in Moab. She wants to get back to her home land. But since she had no sons anymore nor a husband to take care of her she was without hope.Her only chance was back ion the land. Maybe she could find .. what?? The only way she could live on is to have a husband or sons to care for her. She had none of these. She was too old to get married and have sons.
   Sbe only had these two women and they were young enough to find husbands if they returned to the land of Maob. They were aliens.
   Naomi tells them to go back home and find a husband. They were young enough and no dount pretty enough to find a husband among the people of Moab.
    Orpah went back. But Ruth had seen something in Naomi that made her choose to follow Naomi.
     So Ruth went home with Naomi.
    The rest of the story is that God blessed Ruth by directing her to the field of a kinsman Redeemer. Naomi was too old to work but Ruth took on the responsibility of the care of her mother-in-law. Rutn no doubt saw something in the example of Naomi that made her want to do this.
   

It is Just An Error Of the Mind

  "Only God or principle exists and everything else is an illusion."
  "There is no matter; material things such as a person's body are not real"

   Recently I read a book that explains what it is like to grow up a child in a house where your mother and father have embraced the religious system known as Christian Science. It is not Christian and it is not Science.
    The book review is found in my book blog http://drsbookplace.blogspot.com/ and it is a book called motherfathergod. It was posted around Sept 26.
    Don't get sick. They don't have medical doctors. Just a Science Practitioner (sic) who will come and pray over you. Healing, for them, is found in right thoughts.
    The belief system is easy to list.

•    God is all in all
•    God is good. Good is mind.
•    God, Spirit, being all.nothing is matter
•     Life, God,omnipotent good, deny death, evil sin, disease. Disease, sin, death, deny good, omnipotent God, Life.

   That is taken from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the founder Mary Baker Eddy.
   There is also a claim made that the Bible is the only authority. But it is not. You need her book, mentioned above, as the textbook because she believed that God was also the author of her book. You will need her book because the Bible is in error in places, so she teaches and followers of this cult believe. Her book being inspired and far superior to the Bible.
    Let us hear more.
     "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. ...man  is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness...Man is spiritual and perfect...He is..the reflection of God."
      Enough already. 
      She and her group don't see man as sinful since his birth, since to them, birth and death are but illusions. God can not be sick and neither can be man. It doesn't exist.
      In their system Jesus was not a real man, but only a spirit.Or at best, a teacher.
     So what about God? To them He is an impersonal Principle not a Person.
   Am I helping you with my postings? Comment and keep a conversation going. Also become a follower of this blog. And hang on. This blog is going places.

Look at Basics

   As I was thinking about it I came to realize that in my posts I may be confusing most people. Therefore I decided to back up and take another look at the basics before continuing with the deviations and outright false belief systems.
   First let me say that it is not so important that you be educated beyond your intelligence. Anyone of average intelligence and education can understand the basics. But if a person is going to be placed in the Church in a position of authority, it is imperative that he be educated and trained. When a person is called to ministry in a church he is called to train.- to get prepared. And then it is up to each church group to decide where to place the person during preparation.

   I am aware of one church group that was so hungry for a young adult outreach that the vision committee went out and got a high school grad. The high school grad went and got his college degree on-line. I have nothing against Internet education. In fact, for some who need to work  to support themself, the Internet education is a fine way to go.
   This church then took this person, who has great leadership skills, and gave him the young adult group to build up. They gave him a teaching position in the evening service and renamed him the pastor. All this while he was still seeking a college education.
     Presently this person has a position in the church. A large following. He is the main preacher. And he is signed up to attend seminary in 2012.
     So I am not against education. And it doesn't need to be education in the area of ministy. It can be education in any field.
      Now to get back to the basics.
      There are a few areas in which the Bible is foundational. when it comes to our knowledge of God. The Scriptures are to be regarded as the authoritative word of truth on all matters of basic doctrine. These areas are:

1. Who God is. We must believe because the scriptures say so.We should believe there is only one lawgiver and judge. We must believe that there is no other God besides God; a righteous God and savior. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever" Isaiah 40:8
2. Creation.: "In the beginnng God created the heavens and the earth"-Genesis 1:1
3. Salvation:. "Turn to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:22
4. Morals: "Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, pasion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." Colossians 3:5
5. Worship:"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23

    Thanks for staying with this series. It is important to have the awareness you are finding, I hope, through these postings. Please comment and let me know what I can do for you.
    

Foundation

    Before I go on in this study on Cults I feel I should let you in on a secret. Get close now. Christianity didn't spring up without a foundation.
    Christianity never could have come if it wasn't for a man called Abraham. He was called out of his Ancestral home in Basra  ( southern Iraq). He heard God's voice telling him to go to a land that He would show him. He went and lived the life of a nomad. He was quite old. He and his wife, Sarah had a child named Isaac. Abraham was a hundred at the time and Sarah was ninty.
     As the story goes Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Jacob and Esau. It was through Jacob that God worked. He had twelve sons. Through the line of Judah God worked and brought about a King named David. From David's line came Jesus. The Jew  is also called a Hebrew.  The name comes from "Eber",  their traditional ancestor
    Jewishness is not a religion. It is a nationality.They are looking for a Messiah. What they won't admit is that the Messiah has already come. According to the scriptures which thay had guarded and preserved , Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah they were looking for.
    Let me place here a look at what  Christian say and what the Orthodox Jew says.
    When  it comes to God- the Christian  says our God is revealed as  a trinity; Father, Son, And Holy Spirit., Not three Gods but one God - One essence.
    The orthodox Jew would say "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God,The Lord is one." That comes from the Shema.
    As for Sin the Christian says that in Adam man fall and is now born in sin.
    The Jew would say, no. Man is born neither good nor bad. Man is born free with the capacity to choose between good and evil. Therefore each man is accountable for himself
    As for Jesus, most Jews see Him as a good teacher of ethics. Since Jesus did not bring lasting peace nor did He deliver Israel from the oppression of Rome, He was not and could not be the Messiah.
..   But did you know the first people called Christian were a small group of Jews? Yes. Jews. We can call them completed Jews. The term "Christians" was a term used by people to try to mock the followers of The Way.."They were first called Christians at Antioch " That is recorded in the Book of Acts. Look it up
    Until next time.
    Please feel free to comment. I will read and respond.    

Salvation God's Way-Part Two

So we are still concerned with salvation. To do so I must insist we take only what can be found in the Bible as the authority. In Romans 4:3 we are told something about this man Abraham. Abraham was the man God called out of Ur of the Caldees to go to a land He would show him. And Abraham was given the promise that he would become a great nation. At the moment this was said to him he was childless and old.

   And in Romans we are told "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."

   Abraham's good works made him righteous, but these did not save him. Paul, the writer of Romans, says we can all be saved the same way. Yet the Roman Catholic Church adds to what the Bible says.

    The Catholic Church adds to the doctrine of Sanctifying Grace a road block. Adam and Eve lost it in the garden. A Catholic holds that a person gains this sanctifying grace only through their form of baptism. Then, they say, a program of good works must be followed to gain enough merit to go to heaven. Sorry, guys, but that is not what my Bible says.

    My Bible says that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God's mercy, we are saved.

    Yes, faith is basic to salvation. Good works are not. Faith for the Roman Catholic seems to be in the truth revealed in the Bible, and the traditions of the Church, and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. This is important as the postings on the cults continues. Not that I am calling the Roman Catholic Church a cult. I will leave that up to you

    The Roman Catholic sees salvation based on faith plus works. They have a seven rung ladder set up.The Seven Sacraments of the church are the steps..

   The Bible puts no qualifications on God's grace nor can it be lost by the believer. God gives eternal life when the believer has faith in Jesus Christ as his savior. And we can be assured of salvation through Christ's work (Not ours) and God's promises.

   Please feel free to comment. Am I helping you? Am I causing you to think? Talk to me and I will talk to you.

   

Christian beliefs

As it is possible to misunderstand basic doctrines. When we approach what we believe, we must be sure we understand true and orthodox truth. When we go far afield and make up our own system of belief, that is when we tend to find ourselves falling into shades of a cult. That may be some of the reasons for so many strange religions . That is one reason I am doing this blog. I wish to help you stay orthodox. Please feel free to comment on these postings.
Keep watching these postings.

Analytical Method Bible Study

You are now approaching the Bible section to make a claim.

1.  In this approach you will be surveying the historical period and background of the book. With each Bible study method you will be going deeper. Ask of or by whom? At what time. Where? Use the Bible notes to research. You can also use your Bible dictionary
2. Now you survey the contents of the book itself starting the structure of an analytical chart. The chart will help you as a first step in outlining the passage. Title the paragraphs. Find the main divisions of the book. Look for the theme.
3.  You will be making a detailed study of the section paragraph by paragraph or chapter by chapter. To do this you will need to take notes of the text and making an outline, summery, paraphrase, charts and topical studies. This is why I say use a pad and a pen or pencil. Start a seperate page for each paragraph
4.  Now you are ready to formulate conclusions drawn from your anaylsis. Try to make statements about the book as a whole.

    Use your commentaries carefully. Just becasue it is written doesn't make it true FInd out about the author of the commentary. What is his method of Bible Study? What are his personal beliefs.
  Go to your Bible frist Make your detailed outline from your study. Then go to the commentaries. They are there for specilaized help not for final authority..

New Day

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us thank God for it. Earlier I blogged a post about prayers and I expect I will blog more.The day begins and ends with God in control.

  I wonder if President Obama realizes that. Also that God elevates countries and brings down countries. I only hope that the USA is not being put down by God.

 Obama as well as other rulers are in God's hand, even those who are not His by virtue of the new birth.

  Let us continue to pray for him. He needs wisdom and good advisors. He can't do it by himself. He must also learn how to use both the Republicans and Democrats to get his agenda done. He shouldn"t try to push through his own agenda and stand alone. It doesn't seem to be to be a sign of wisdom. He must not try to be a cowboy.