Bible Study Christianity's Heaven

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†. Mrk 4:37-41 . . A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him: Master, don't you care if we drown?

. . . He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves: Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples: Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other: Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!

What exactly did Christ mean by: Do you still have no faith? Well; in another place he instructed them :

†. Luke 17:6 . . If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree "Be uprooted and planted in the sea" and it will obey you.

And in another :

†. Mtt 17:20 . . I tell you the truth: if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

What that's telling me is: had the disciples faith as a grain of mustard seed they could have calmed the storm themselves instead of waking an exhausted Jesus from much-needed sleep to do it for them.

That is an astounding revelation. It tells me that certain people in the kingdom of God will have a measure of control over killer hurricanes like Irene and Katrina; whereas now, man is totally at the mercy of nature's fury.

Cliff
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†. Ex 22:25 . . If you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.

One of the most outrageous rip-offs afoot in our day is a financial service industry called payday loans. It is just incredibly profitable. Across America there are twice as many payday storefronts as Starbucks. Together; they lend out a total of 40 Billion dollars a year at APR's as high as 460% for a short term, two week loan. At last count, payday loans were illegal for military personnel and outlawed in fifteen states and the District of Colombia (my data is somewhat out of date).

The problem is; the practice traps people least able to pay on an endless treadmill like a dog chasing his tail paying off one loan only to take out another to make ends meet till the next payday; the meanwhile covering those humungous APR's.

Oh, and did I mention check account/debit card overdraft protection fees? No; I didn't because covering your overdraft isn't legally a loan just so long as the banks label it a "courtesy". Of course you pay a flat rate for the courtesy; but that's a horse of a different color.

Say you try to pay for a tall, skinny, vanilla latte with your debit card and the system detects your checking account has insufficient funds to cover it. WHAM! Without your knowing it; that latte cost you $37 instead of the $2 your receipt says you paid. And every time you use your card thereafter, regardless of the transaction amount— whether just a few bucks or a hundred —the bank hits you with yet another $35 overdraft protection fee. In a day's time, a busy shopper can accumulate a whopping overdraft protection debt in no time at all.

You see, banks aren't required by law to inform you of either your account balance or their billing activity at the point of purchase because overdraft protection falls outside the jurisdiction of truth in lending laws. And you thought Tony Soprano was a shylock? Haw! He should be so prosperous.

Anyway, suffice it to say the above kinds of slick fleecing won't be tolerated in the kingdom of God.

Cliff
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I read in the newspaper back in the beginning of September that the agribusiness giant Monsanto Company is seeking USDA approval of its new genetically modified soybean.

Never heard of Monsanto? It's mostly infamous for causing wide-spread human suffering by its manufacture and sale of Agent Orange during the Viet Nam war, and just about everybody's heard of another of its herbicides that goes by the brand ame of Roundup; and I have no doubts whatsoever that at one time or another every soul in America has unwittingly ingested a pretty fair amount of Monsanto's genetically modified crops via grain-fed meats and common vegetable oils.

Monsanto's crimes against humanity are many but one that particularly interests me is its practice of slapping innocent farmers with lawsuits for patent infringement when Monsanto's genetically modified seeds and/or pollens blow in from God knows where taking root and contaminating a farmer's field with neither his consent nor his knowledge; the meanwhile Monsanto is so well connected in Washington and the Department of Agriculture that it's virtually impervious to product liability.

But the real jewel in its crown is Monsanto's so-called Terminator seeds; which are viable for only one crop. In other words; though the progeny that a Terminator crop produces is edible; the progeny itself is infertile and useless for replanting; with the result that farmers are forced to buy new seeds instead of their usual practice of saving some for replanting. This inconvenience can be circumvented by American farmers (for now) but imposes a cruel hardship upon those in impoverished countries whose only source of seeds are those their government imports from the USA. And to make matters only worse; Terminator crops are little by little cross-pollinating with indigenous varieties and diminishing their nutritional value for future generations.

It's a vicious circle with Monsanto reaping millions in profits from the sale of their T-seeds all around the globe; and guess what? Our very own United States Government is half-owner of the patent.

Why even mention Monsanto? Because :

†. Mtt 5:3 . . Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The CEO's of an agri-business Frankenstein like Monsanto are definitely not poor in spirit; no, not when they're suing innocent farmers, and aggressively pursuing a path to the lion's share of control over the world's food supply.

FAQ : Why is the US Government half owner of the T-seeds patent?

Answer : Duh. When you control a country's money supply, and/or its food supply, and/or its trade; then you have a very large amount of influence in that country's foreign policy. You know all those multiplied billions of dollars that the US owes China? You guessed it. America's relations with China are being influenced by that debt even as we speak.

Cliff
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A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) can be roughly defined as a tort tactic employed by unscrupulous corporations intended to do just one thing— censor, intimidate and/or silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

The typical SLAPP plaintiff normally doesn't expect to win the lawsuit; nor do they even expect to end up in court. The plaintiff's goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs and/or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. A SLAPP is usually pretty effective for stopping people from speaking out in town hall meetings and/or publishing denigrating op-eds and/or negative blogs.

For example: back in 1996 Oprah Winfrey spoke out against the practice of feeding growing calves a rather cannibalistic diet containing the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which was proven the culprit in causing the spread of the infectious agent of Mad Cow Disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

WHAM! Ms.Winfrey was hit with a SLAPP by the beef industry. Well; Oprah is very wealthy and could easily afford to go the distance with the beef bosses. Consequently they failed in their insidious attempt to suppress her First Amendment rights.

In the last decade, Michigan Citizens For Water Conservation (MCWC) went to war with Switzerland-based Nestlé Corporation over mining water in the Great Lakes region. (Nestlé markets its bottled water under the brand names Arrowhead, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, Poland Spring, Deer Park, and Zephyrhills). In an attempt to discourage MCWC and get them to back off a lawsuit against Nestlé intended to stop them from pumping, Nestlé threatened SLAPPs against selected members of MCWC. Long story short; MCWC held its ground against the evil empire and subsequently won their suit. But not every SLAPP has those kinds of happy endings. On average, SLAPPs are very cost-effective. If they weren't, you can bet corporations wouldn't spend their money on pursuing them.

Some States have outlawed SLAPP suits; so if a plaintiff in those states cannot prove that what's being said about them in town halls, blogs, and/or op-eds is untrue, then their suit is automatically and summarily thrown out of court as spurious and unsustainable.

†. Luke 12:57-59 . .Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

The Lord began his teaching in Luke with the words "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" In other words: SLAPP tactics run totally against God's grain. Coming down on justifiable criticism with a SLAPP in order to silence public scrutiny of genuinely unscrupulous business practices is just plain chicken. According to the Lord, it’s unrighteous for a corporation to tie up the courts when it knows its own self to be the one who's in the wrong.

Well, if corporations try SLAPPs in the kingdom of God; guess what? they'll be shut down and out of business pronto; and their dishonest CEOs will not be allowed to walk away unscathed; flush with ridiculous bonuses, tax breaks, golden parachutes, and stock options like they do now.

Cliff
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†. Ex 23:8 . .Thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

†. Deut 16:18-20 . .You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just.

†. Prv 17:23 . . A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.

†. Ecc 7:7 . . A bribe corrupts the heart.

Webster's defines a "bribe" as: money, or favor, given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust.

Bribery comes in some sophisticated forms, and one of those is lobbyism; which Webster's defines as: (1) to conduct activities aimed at influencing public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation, (2) to promote (as a project) or secure the passage of (as legislation) by influencing public officials, and (3) to attempt to influence or sway (as a public official) toward a desired action.

Lobbyism isn't cheap. Telephone giant AT&T has been angling to acquire T-Mobile USA. In doing so, AT&T boosted its lobbying expenditures 30% in the first six months of 2011 in comparison to the same period in 2010; for a total of 11.7 million dollars. Not all of those dollars went into fighting for T-Mobile; just maybe 2.7 million; with 805,500 of those dollars going to Federal candidates. AT&T's lobbying strategy produced letters to Federal regulators from more than 70 members of congress. ATT&T's goal was to slide their insidious 39 Billion dollar deal with T-Mobile past the anti-trust watchdogs at the Department of Justice.

A lobbyist needn't offer the mark out-of-pocket money, that's sleazy. A golfing junket is better; especially when there's women and alcohol in the package. But a really well-connected lobbyist can benefit his quarry with votes and/or campaign contributions from the people that the lobbyist represents.

Influence is sometimes a far more powerful bargaining chip than money. In point of fact "influence peddling" is really big business. Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff accumulated an astounding amount of wealth selling influence to the garment industry and to Native American casinos.

Another very effective category of bribery is in the form of grants. Grants to universities virtually guarantee that professors will make no critical remarks to students in regards to the grantor's products and/or services. Grants also work to insure that scientific studies tone down the negative aspects of certain chemicals; for example: Prozac and Ritalin.

Well anyway, as anyone can plainly see from Ex 23:8, Deut 16:18-20, and Prv 17:23; lobbying, influence peddling, and grants meant to alter the facts and/or to suppress the truth are certified evils so they won't be permitted in the kingdom of God.

Cliff
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†. Rev 22:2 . . On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year— once each month —the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.

The original tree of life was in Eden. (Gen 2:9, Gen 3:22)

Apparently Eden's tree wasn't a solo specimen but rather; a number of trees comprising an orchard. but it isn't till Rev 22:2 that the Bible reveals the tree's leaves are good for anything but foliage. Oddly, the tree's fruit is not said to be medicinal; only its leaves.

According to 1Cor 15:35-58, people in the kingdom of God will have brand spanking new bodies— immortal bodies. I used to think those immortal bodies could get by without food; but obviously not. It appears to me people will sustain their new body's immortality by means of the leaves on that tree. Just how often people will need to dine on the leaves isn't revealed, but since Christ promised that his sheep would never perish (John 6:58, John 10:28) I would imagine there will never be a time when they will be at risk of dying from malnourishment.

You know how nurses come around on a timely basis in hospitals to make sure patents take their medicine; even in the dead of night? Well, who's to say there won't be nurse angels in the kingdom that come around on a timely basis to remind the Lord's sheep it's time for a dose of leaves? It's an intriguing thought.

Cliff
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†. 1Cor 13:12 . . Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Mirrors were made of polished metal in Paul's day. Eventually mirrors became made of glass with a layer of silver deposited on the backside. Most today, including mirrors installed in the best telescopes, are made of glass with a layer of aluminum either on the backside (okay but not much improvement) or a layer of aluminum on the front side (much better). In any case, your reflection is not the real you though it resembles the real you.

In psychoanalytic theory; ego is one of the three divisions of the psyche that serve as the organized conscious mediator between the person and reality; especially by functioning both in the perception of, and the adaptation to, reality.

All that really means is that the mind sees ourselves, and sees our world, through tinted glasses— making all of us vulnerable to subconscious manipulations of truth and reality.

The Johari Window— titled after the first names of its inventors, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham — is a useful model for describing the process of human interaction. A four-paned glass window divides personal awareness into four areas represented by four quadrants: Open, Hidden, Blind, and Unknown

1. The open quadrant represents things that both of us know about myself.

2. The blind quadrant represents things that you know about me, but that I am unaware.

3. The hidden quadrant represents things that I know about myself that you don't know.

4. The unknown quadrant is opaque, and represents things that neither one of us knows about myself.

In the kingdom of God; items #2, #3, and #4 will no longer be barriers to open and honest social intercourse. So if you're not comfortable with a complete loss of mental privacy, you probably wouldn't be comfortable in the kingdom of God because you can't snow anybody there and get away with it simply because in that environment it's virtually impossible to leave people with the wrong impression about yourself.

Cliff
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†. Rev 1:5-6 . . Jesus Christ . . .washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father

†. Rev 5:10 . . And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

†. Rev 20:4 . . And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Those passages reveal that the Lord plans to set up a world-wide bureaucracy to assist him in his God-given task of governing the kingdom of God. The bureaucracy will of course consist of only righteous people who can be trusted with power instead of those who typically use and abuse power to their own ends. Everywhere in the world today— from school boards clear on up to national heads of state — unrighteous people are now, and always have been, in control and it really shows. Well, the day of man is winding down, and the day of the Lord is on its way to supplant it; and all I can say to that is: Bring it on!

†. 2Pet 3:13 . . Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look forward to a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

All my life I've lived in a world dominated by ambitious people. It will be quite a welcome change to live in a world where good people are at the helm.

†. Ps 37:10-11 . . For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

FAQ : The Lord needs help in running things?

It was the Creator's wishes from the very beginning that human managers regulate the earth's affairs.

†. Gen 1:27-28 . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

†. Ps 8:4-8 . .What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, And you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen— even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

That mandate hasn't changed.

†. Heb 2:5-9 . . For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

Bureaucrats are typically non-elected officials. So then, I would expect that in the kingdom of God, men like Mr. Barack Hussein Obama will not rise to power by means of the ballot system. No, voters are too irrational, too emotional, too subjective, and too fickle. Only Christ can be trusted to select men for office who will faithfully look out for the Lord's best interests as well as the best interests of the earth and their fellow men too. Leaders like Mr. Obama are career politicians who— regardless of their hope-you-can-believe-in rhetoric —have but three priorities: influence, campaign contributions, and re-election.

For example; the President recently vetoed tougher EPA regulations passed by both houses of Congress. Why would any supposedly "green" president in his right mind cave to lobbyists and veto tougher pollution controls? Duh.

I can just about guarantee that along with the major polluters; Cap And Trade markets also toasted and celebrated with gusto when Mr. Obama shot down the EPA. Yes indeedy dee, there are a lot of big-money toes to step on out there if one in office isn't careful.

__ That's All I Have For Now __

Cliff
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[Elijah674]

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Assuming you make it into the kingdom of God; what might you expect to see and/or not see in God's world?

Cliff
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First things First??

God mentions that a day is to God as an 1000 years? And before all the 'tears' are wiped away & over,(??) the first 1000 years find the wicked judged. It is seen that the New Jerusalem will occupy an recreated earth after this 'somber' work is finished.
The shortest verse in the Bible is that Christ wept. During this 1000 years it surely will be no different. Here are a couple verses to ponder as to our first days taking part of ones that we 'fellowship' with today. Either in heaven by record books or by our type of its 'required' jury duty.

1 Cor. 6
[2] Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
[3] Know ye not that we shall judge angels? ..'

Eccl. 12
[13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
[14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.


--Elijah