"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
Where god is there love is also
If you love me you will keep my commandments
"i said you are gods you are all sons of the most high"
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart
My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commands within you.
Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.
Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart
My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding
All those who hate me love death
But whoever fails to find me harms himself all who hate me love death
The truth - Written in your hearts by the Spirit of God, shall make you free - From guilt, sin, misery, Satan.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.


"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him or her it is sin."
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."""Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world."
"Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God —I say this to your shame."
"Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame."
"that wages of sin is death,"
".....fleshly sins, the result is spiritual death. What we do in this body today will impact our spiritual body."
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
He or she who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. "man of sin"
"though he is the tempter we are the sinners....."
"....liar and murderer from the beginning....."
"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,...."
"For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. "
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus "death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
"And all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain."
This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

"Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my

life and receive you as my savior and lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be."

We then confess our sins. We must be specific. Sometimes people say, “I broke the sixth commandment,” which covers everything from a lustful thought to rape and adultery. We do not need to provide the full-blown story, just the basics to enable the priest to help. We need to give some quantification — missing Mass once is different from several times which is different from all the time. When we are finished confessing our sins, we state, “I am sorry for these and all of my sins.” With this information, the priest may counsel us. He also assigns a penance for the healing of the hurt caused by sin and the strengthening of our soul against future temptation. He then asks us to say an act of contrition, which is generally the traditional prayer: “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. I detest all of my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who are all good and deserving of all of my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.”

"Right now if you ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, ask for the forgiveness of your sins, admit you are a sinner in need of saving, and place your faith and trust in Him, He promises to never, ever forsake you.  He will keep you in His own hand and never caste you away, even if you die (John 6:37, 10:28-29)."

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One."

"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One."

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."0:28-29)."

"......God is love."
Where god is there love is also
If you love me you will keep my commandments


"I want you to be free from anxieties.(Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.) The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord."To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am."

"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

"All of these verses clearly show us that God is 100 percent against pre-marital sex and that He commands us to not take part in pre-marital sex. It doesn't matter what all of your friends are doing or what you see in movies or videos or even what unmarried people who live in your own house are doing. God's Word has not changed. God is today and has always been against His children participating in pre-marital sex! God wants us to have sexual relations with our husband or wife only. 1 Corinthians 7:2 reads "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity (The state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something), strife (Angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict), jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless  , the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”Revelation 20:15

for the fear of the lord is the beginning of all knowledge"

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. "What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so."Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise."Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ...""If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin."

Love is patient love is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

And so faith, hope and love abide in these three; but the greatest of these is love."

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Where god is there love is also

7 And saw among the simple,

I perceived among the youths,

A young man devoid of understanding,

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

"Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;"

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Lucifer is God's enemy and his own creation God has no love for lucifer and he has many names and one is "wicked one" and he is responsible for pride and 7 deadly sins that are wrath(anger), lust, envy, pride, gluttony, sloth and greed in people.

"Racism is....." hatred (discrimination and stereotypes live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character).....will not inherit the kingdom of God.

"May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you."
"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either."
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
Jesus Christ (God planned the death of his own son "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.")
Martin Luther King Jr (Civil rights movement god planned the death of Martin luther king jr)
Moses free gods people
Gandhi

"And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”Atrocities

God has sent titans

Living peaceably with your fellow man

"i said you are gods you are all sons of the most high"


“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.


Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.

We all come from Adam and eve

Red Color  Red

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a color found in many national flags.

Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent color to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect color for 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here' buttons on Internet banners and websites. In advertising, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red-light districts, 'Lady in Red', etc). Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). This color is also commonly associated with energy, so you can use it when promoting energy drinks, games, cars, items related to sports and high physical activity.

Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Dr. King's extraordinary speech is quoted in full below:

"I Have A Dream"

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.


One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every America was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.

Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.


We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right

down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

The Passion of Christ is one of the most controversial movies of all times. The movie makes evident, in gruesome details, the horrific flagellation and crucifixion endured by Jesus Christ before His death.

Many Christians applaud Gibson’s efforts and see the movie as a very useful tool in enlightening the masses about what Jesus Christ has done to save the world. On the other hand, Jews, understandably, fear that the movie might ignite more anti-Semitism and persecution.

  Recently, a major network reviewed the events that led to Jesus Christ’s death, with the help of four Biblical scholars. At the end of the documentary, the four scholars were asked who they believed had killed  Jesus Christ. The unanimous answer was: “Pilate and the Romans.”

   Who really killed Jesus Christ? Different people hold differing views. Some are firm on the idea that the Jews were primarily responsible. Others insist that the real culprit was Pontius Pilate. Some may argue that Satan was the force that inspired the whole scenario. Many Christians would, instead, yell out: “We did it! Our sins killed Jesus Christ!”

           Though all the above points of view have merit, there is another critical and enlightening dimension that must be included to fully comprehend who really killed Jesus Christ. But first let’s analyze the extent to which the main participants contributed to  Jesus Christ’s death.

 
DID THE JEWS KILL JESUS CHRIST?


Through the centuries, the Jews have been blamed as being the ones who were responsible for Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Did the Jews really kill  Jesus Christ? No doubt the accusers of Jesus Christ were Jews, but it would be absurd to point to all the Jews in Judea as being accusers of Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget that “ multitudes,”  had followed and had seen Jesus Christ’s miracles over his 3 ½ years of preaching (Matthew 15:29-31). A great many had been healed from incurable diseases. Some had been brought back from the dead. A lot of Jews, consequently, felt nothing but gratitude toward this young miraculous preacher. Many religious leaders, on the other hand, were filled with envy and bitterness, because of Jesus Christ’s accusations and condemnations and, according to the Gospels, wished to get rid of Him in any way they could (Matthew 12:14).

 Jesus Christ, on several occasions,  called the Pharisees “hypocrites,” “serpents,” and “brood of vipers,” and He described them as untrustworthy leaders in front of huge crowds (Matthew 23). Their status within the nation had been undermined publicly by someone the crowds looked up to and believed in. This was a great and unacceptable humiliation. Therefore, the Pharisees were always on the lookout for opportunities that would allow them to accuse and kill Jesus Christ.

Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the sellers of doves (Matthew 21:12).  Both groups, most certainly, would have thirsted for revenge as well. No doubt, when the opportunity came to get even, they were ready to make Jesus Christ pay for the affront.

  The top religious leaders refused to share the limelight with the young man from Nazareth and feared that He would have become the acclaimed leader of the people. They, most of all, plotted to find fault in Him, so as to get Him killed: “Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the High Priest, who was called Caiphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him" (Matthew 26:4).

It is interesting to note that they were conscious of the fact that the majority of the people liked Jesus Jesus and, therefore, decided not to kill Him “…during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people” (Matthew 26: 1-5). They knew that the masses had to be handled carefully, to keep them from turning against them. Thus, their plan had to be skillfully conceived so as to convince the people that Jesus Christ was a blasphemer and that He deserved death.

Furthermore, the Gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus Christ was brought to the Sanhedrin, “The Chief Priest, the elders, and the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death” (26: 59-61), and found several. Finally, Jesus Christ’s own words were found sufficient to condemn Him to death. Thus, in the morning, “...all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death” (27:1). Later, when Pilate tried to release Jesus Christ, they vehemently insisted that He had to be killed, and the angry crowd that was present, as well as the priests, finally prevailed (Luke 23: 23).

Who was, therefore, present when Pilate asked the crowd if they wanted Jesus freed or killed? We can safely assume that the aforementioned groups were there. Others present were probably locals who may have known little about Jesus Christ and who blindly followed the religious leaders and took their accusations as trustworthy.

Were all the Jews, therefore, guilty of Jesus Christ’s death? Absolutely not. Were most of the religious leaders guilty? According to the Gospel story, they were. They plotted to capture Jesus Christ, they found false witnesses to inculpate Him, and they refused to believe His word, though His mighty works supported His claims. The religious leaders wanted Him dead and did not cease until their aim to have him killed was accomplished.

 
DID PONTIUS PILATE KILL JESUS CHRIST?


Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. He was Caesar’s representative and, as such, was the greatest authority in the land. He had power over life and death. Thus, in the morning, Jesus Christ was brought to him for the final verdict. Pilate interviewed Christ and made his power clear to Him: "Do you not know that I have power to crucify You and power to release You" (John 19:10). Afterwards, he shared his obvious conclusion with the chief priests: “I find no fault in him.” (Luke 23:4).

Though he was convinced of Jesus Christ’s innocence, and though he tried to dissuade the priests and the crowd from their aim to have Christ killed, he finally relented to the blood-thirsty religious leaders: "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it" (Matthew 27:24). The reason why he surrendered to the will of the angry crowd is given to us in the Gospel of John: "The Jews insisted, we have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid..."(John 19:7-8).

Clearly Pilate’s decision was motivated by the fear of a potential revolt.  Therefore, to keep the leaders happy, and to prevent a dangerous rebellion, he relented to their request. Thus, though Pilate had the power to prevent  Jesus Christ’s death, he chose to sacrifice an innocent man to keep the peace. Pilate, therefore, was a willing participant and contributed to Christ’s death.

 
DID SATAN KILL JESUS CHRIST?


Satan was no doubt the major force behind the whole gruesome scenario. He had attempted to neutralize and destroy Jesus Christ from the start, by tempting Him and by trying to bring about His spiritual destruction. He continued tempting Jesus all the way to the end.

No doubt, Satan nurtured the spirit of envy and bitterness in the religious leaders; no doubt he influenced Pilate’s decision to have Him scourged mercilessly. Without any doubt, Satan moved the unrelenting crowds to request the death penalty by a gruesome crucifixion. He wanted  Jesus Christ to be traumatized beyond endurance, hoping that He would finally give up and surrender.

Though it may be difficult to know the exact extent of Satan's contribution, he was there and he was heavily involved.

 
DID THE THE SINS OF THE WORLD KILL JESUS CHRIST?


       Many theologians would claim that the real culprit for Jesus Christ’s death were the sins of humanity and man’s need for redemption. Humans sinned from the beginning and have needed redemption ever since. During the time of ancient of Israel, God instituted a sacrificial system meant to emphasize the seriousness of sin and its demand for payment. Capital sins, related to the transgression of most of the Ten Commandments, could not be paid for by any sacrifice; the penalty was death. In fact, the Bible is quite dogmatic about the fact that the penalty of sin is death with or without the Law (Romans 6:23).

To prevent such dramatic end for all of humanity, there was a need for a sacrifice that would suffice as payment for all our sins. Only a Divine Being could be such a sacrifice, as Paul explains in chapter ten of the Book of Hebrews.

 1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin."


5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

      “ Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
      But a body You have prepared for Me.
       6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
      You had no pleasure.
       7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
      In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
      To do Your will, O God.’”

 8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them ” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.


  The Son of God was the only sufficient payment for the sins of the world. Therefore, it is justified to say that our sins killed Jesus Christ.

 
THE ULTIMATE CAUSE


            So far we have seen that there are several contributors to the death of Jesus Christ. Pilate, the religious leaders, Satan, the sins of the world. All can be listed as valid contributors to the final verdict. But is this all there is to the story?

             Let’s look closely at some aspects that have not yet been considered.

            God the Father and Jesus Christ did not have to go through the gruesome experience of the flagellation and crucifixion of Christ. They could have simply allowed humanity to reap the fruits of its doing and could have moved on without humanity. God did not have to send Jesus to die for the sins of Mankind. He did not have to watch His “beloved Son" go through an agonizing flagellation and a horrific death on the cross.

             Jesus Christ did not have to offer Himself for anyone. He had it all. Yet, He divested Himself of power and glory, came to live as a man and went through the agony of abuse and humiliation. He also suffered excruciating pain through the flagellation and agonized for six hours hanging from a cross.

             AND HE DID NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH ANY OF IT!

             Yet, these two perplexing beings chose the path of anguish so as to manifest their love for all of us.  They chose to deliver us from the death penalty and eternal extinction, though it would have meant anguish they had never experienced before.

             Who ultimately killed Jesus Christ then? Was it Pilate, or the Jewish leaders, Satan, or our sins?

            IT WAS GOD'S AND CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HUMANITY THAT ULTIMATELY KILLED JESUS CHRIST.

            “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whomsoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

            God the Father loves us humans so much that He was willing to go through unfathomable anguish for us, by offering His only Son to be scourged and then to be nailed to a cross. It was His love that prevented our merited extinction. It was His love that brought us unmerited forgiveness and opened the possibility of eternal life for all humans.

          Jesus Christ agreed to do God's will, fully conscious of the horrific ramifications that His decision would have had for Him. Yet, He was greatly encouraged by the fact that his future suffering would have brought about salvation for all of humanity: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6: 51).

This is love -- unfathomable love.

            Who, therefore, killed Jesus Christ? The answer should be clear by now: The Jewish leaders wished it; Pilate could have, but did not prevent it; Satan incited it; our sins demanded it. Most of all, though, it was God the Father who willed it, and it was Jesus Christ who willingly offered himself to be sacrificed -- for the Jewish leaders who wanted Him killed, for Pilate who washed his hands, for the Roman soldiers who scourged and crucified Him, for you and for me, and for all of humanity that He and the Father love so deeply.

             Therefore, as you watch Mel Gibson’s movie, please remember that God the Father willed and allowed the gruesome sufferings of Jesus Christ. Remember also that Jesus Christ willingly became a part of the horrendous ordeal. Most of all, consider how much God and Christ love you, that they would be willing to go through so much for your sake so that you and I, and the whole world, would not experience eternal destruction.

             What an honor and blessing it is to have a Father and a Brother who love us this much.

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Location Memphis, Tennessee
Date April 4, 1968
6:01 p.m. (Central Time)
Target Martin Luther King, Jr.
Weapon(s) Remington 760 Gamemaster
Perpetrators James Earl Ray according to a criminal case; Loyd Jowers & "unknown co-conspirators" according to a later civil case
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who became known for his advancement of civil rights by using civil disobedience. He was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05PM that evening. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested in London at Heathrow Airport, extradited to the United States, and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, Ray entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee state penitentiary.[1] Ray later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and be tried by a jury, but was unsuccessful; he died in prison on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70.[2]


[edit]King on death
King received death threats constantly due to his prominence in the civil rights movement. As a consequence of these threats, he confronted death constantly, making it a central part of his philosophy. He believed, and taught, that murder could not stop the struggle for equal rights. After the 1963 JFK assassination, he told his wife Coretta: "This is what is going to happen to me also. I keep telling you, this is a sick society."[3][4]
[edit]Memphis
King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in support of striking African American sanitation workers. The workers had staged a walkout on February 11, 1968, to protest unequal wages and working conditions. At the time, Memphis paid black workers significantly lower wages than whites. In addition, unlike their white counterparts, blacks received no pay if they stayed home during bad weather; consequently, most blacks were compelled to work even in driving rain and snow storms.[5][6][7]
On April 3, King returned to Memphis to address a gathering at the Mason Temple (World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ). His airline flight to Memphis was delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.[8][9] With a thunderstorm raging outside, King delivered the last speech of his life, now known as the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" address. As he neared the close, he made reference to the bomb threat:
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats... or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. [applause] And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! [applause] And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord![10]
[edit]Assassination

King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, owned by businessman Walter Bailey (and named after his wife). King's close friend and colleague Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, who was King's roommate in the motel room the day of the assassination, told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy Suite."[11]
According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's last words were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was going to attend: "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."[12]


The Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was assassinated, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. The wreath marks the approximate place Dr. King was standing at the time.
At 6:01 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, 1968, while he was standing on the motel's second floor balcony, King was struck by a single .30 bullet fired from a Remington 760 Gamemaster.[13] The bullet entered through his right cheek, breaking his jaw, neck and several vertebrae as it travelled down his spinal cord, severing the jugular vein and major arteries in the process before lodging in his shoulder. By the force of the blast, King's necktie was ripped completely off his shirt. He fell violently backwards onto the balcony unconscious. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw James Earl Ray fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel where he was renting a room. A package was dumped close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars with Ray's fingerprints on them. The rifle had been purchased by Ray under an alias six days before. A worldwide manhunt was triggered that culminated in the arrest of Ray at London Heathrow Airport two months later.[14]
Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. King was bleeding profusely from the wound in his cheek.[13][15]King had no pulse and Young believed he was dead. Abernathy managed to stop the bleeding and King's pulse was heard again.
The unconscious King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where doctors opened his chest and performed manual heart massage. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. According to Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60 year old man.[16]
[edit]Responses

[edit]Within the movement
For some, King's assassination meant the end of a strategy of non-violence.[17]
Others simply reaffirmed the need to carry on his work. Leaders within the SCLC confirmed that they would carry on this Poor People's Campaign in his absence.[18] Some black leaders argued the need to continue King's tradition of nonviolence.[17]
[edit]Robert F. Kennedy speech


Kennedy giving his speech.
Main article: Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
A speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was given on April 4, 1968, by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy (who was assassinated two months later). Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination and had spoken at the University of Notre Dame and Ball State University earlier that day.[19] Before boarding a plane to fly to Indianapolis for one last campaign speech in a predominantly black neighborhood of the city he learned that Martin Luther King had been shot, leading Kennedy press secretary Frank Mankiewicz to suggest that he ask the audience to pray for the King family and ask them to follow King's deeply-held belief in non-violence.[20] They did not learn that King was dead until they landed in Indianapolis.
Both Mankiewicz and speechwriter Adam Walinsky drafted notes immediately before the rally for Kennedy's use, but Kennedy refused Walinsky's notes, instead using some that he had likely written on the ride over; Mankiewicz arrived after Kennedy had already begun to speak.[21] Prior to arriving at the rally, the Chief of Police in Indianapolis told Kennedy that he could not provide protection and that giving the remarks would be too dangerous,[22] but Kennedy decided to go ahead regardless. Standing on a podium mounted on a flatbed truck, Kennedy spoke for just four minutes and fifty-seven seconds.[23]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy was the first to inform the audience of the death of Martin Luther King, causing some in the audience to scream and wail. Several of Kennedy's aides were even worried that the delivery of this information would result in a riot.[24] Once the audience quieted down, Kennedy acknowledged that many in the audience would be filled with anger. But then Kennedy went on: "For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man." These remarks surprised Kennedy aides, who had never heard him speak publicly of John F. Kennedy's death.[25] Kennedy continued, saying that the country had to make an effort to "go beyond these rather difficult times," and then quoted a poem by the Greek playwright Aeschylus, on the theme of the wisdom that comes, against one's will, from pain. To conclude, Kennedy said that the country needed and wanted unity between blacks and whites, asked the audience members to pray for the King family and the country, and once more quoted the ancient Greeks.
The speech was credited in part with preventing post-assassination rioting in Indianapolis where it was given, though there were riots in many other parts of the country.[26] It is widely considered one of the most important speeches in American history.[27]
[edit]President Johnson
President Lyndon Johnson was in the Oval Office, planning a consultation in Hawaii with Vietnam War military commanders. After press secretary George Christian informed him of the assassination at 8:20PM, he canceled the trip to Hawaii and turned his attention homeward. He assigned Attorney General Ramsey Clark to investigate the assassination in Memphis. He also made a personal call to Dr. King's wife, Coretta Scott King.[28]
[edit]White America
In the wake of King's death, journalists reported callous or hostile reactions from many parts of white America, particularly in the south. Journalist David Halberstam, who reported on King's funeral, recounted a comment at an affluent white dinner party: "One of the wives—station wagon, three children, forty-five-thousand-dollar house—leaned over and said, 'I wish you had spit in his face for me.' It was a stunning moment; I wondered for a long time afterwards what King could possibly have done to her, in what conceivable way he could have threatened her, why this passionate hate."[29]
On the other hand, a survey sent to a group of college trustees revealed that their opinions of King had increased after his assassination.[3]
An editorial in the New York Times praised King, called his murder a "national disaster" and his cause "just."[30][31]
Public figures generally praised King. Even George Wallace, a notorious segregationist, described the assassination as a "senseless, regrettable act."[17]
[edit]Riots
Main article: King assassination riots
Colleagues of Dr. King in the civil rights movement called for a non-violent response to the assassination, to honor his most deeply-held beliefs. James Farmer, Jr. said:
"Dr. King would be greatly distressed to find that his blood had triggered off bloodshed and disorder... I think instead the nation should be quiet; black and white, and we should be in a prayerful mood, which would be in keeping with his life. We should make that kind of dedication and commitment to the goals which his life served to solving the domestic problems. That's the memorial, that's the kind of memorial we should build for him. It's just not appropriate for there to be violent retaliations, and that kind of demonstration in the wake of the murder of this pacifist and man of peace."[32]
The more militant Stokely Carmichael, however, called for more forceful action, saying:
"White America killed Dr. King last night. She made a whole lot easier for a whole lot of black people today. There no longer needs to be intellectual discussions, black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry that she killed Dr. King last night. It would have been better if she had killed Rap Brown and/or Stokley Carmichael, but when she killed Dr. King, she lost."[32]
Despite the urging of many leaders, the assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities.[33] After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on favorable terms to the sanitation workers.[34][35]
[edit]FBI Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation took responsibility for investigating King's death. J. Edgar Hoover, who had previously made efforts to undermine King's reputation, told Johnson that his agency would attempt to find the culprit(s).[28]
Many documents pertaining to this investigation remain classified, and are slated to remain secret until 2027. A proposed Records Collection Act, similar to a 1992 law concerning the Kennedy assassination, would require their immediate release.[36]
[edit]Funeral

Main article: Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader. A crowd of 300,000 attended his funeral two days later, on April 9.[28] Vice President Hubert Humphrey attended on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was at a meeting on the Vietnam War at Camp David. (There were fears that Johnson might be hit with protests and abuses over the war if he attended). At his widow's request, King eulogized himself: His last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, a recording of his famous 'Drum Major' sermon, given on February 4, 1968, was played at the funeral. In that sermon he makes a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry," "clothe the naked," "be right on the [Vietnam] war question," and "love and serve humanity." Per King's request, his good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at his funeral. Rebecca Burns wrote about the funeral in Burial for a King.
[edit]James Earl Ray

[edit]Capture and guilty plea
Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom for Angola, Rhodesia or South Africa[37] on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd.[38] Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder, confessing to the assassination on March 10, 1969 (although he recanted this confession three days later).
On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.[39]
Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher") claiming that a man he met in Montreal, Canada with the alias "Raul" was involved, as was his brother Johnny, but not himself, further asserting through his attorney Jack Kershaw that although he did not "personally shoot King," he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy.[40] He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. In 1997, Martin Luther King's son Dexter King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial.[41]
Dr. William Pepper remained James Earl Ray's attorney until Ray's death and then carried on, on behalf of the King family. The King family does not believe Ray had anything to do with the murder of Martin Luther King.[42]
[edit]Escape
Ray and seven other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, on June 10, 1977. They were recaptured on June 13, three days later, and returned to prison.[43] One more year was added to his previous sentence to total 100 years. Shortly after, Ray testified that he did not shoot King to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
[edit]Death
Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70 from complications related to kidney disease, caused by hepatitis C (probably contracted as a result of a blood transfusion given after a stabbing while at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary). It was also confirmed in the autopsy that he died of liver failure.
[edit]Allegations of conspiracy

The King family and others believe that the assassination was carried out by a conspiracy involving the US government, and that James Earl Ray was a scapegoat. This conclusion was affirmed by a jury in a 1999 civil trial.[44]
In 2004, Jesse Jackson, who was with King at the time of his death, noted:
The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. [And] within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.[45]
According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's friend and colleague James Bevel put it more bluntly: "[T]here is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."[46]
The impending occupation of Washington D.C. by the Poor People's Campaign is suggested as a primary motivate for a federal assassination.[44] Reverend James Lawson also noted during the civil trial that King alienated President Johnson and other powerful government actors when he repudiated the Vietnam War on April 4, 1967—exactly one year before the assassination.[47]
[edit]Ray as scapegoat
Some claim that Ray's confession was given under pressure, and that he had been threatened with the death penalty if he did not confess.[48][49]
Many suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon.[50][51] Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of the shooting say the shot was fired from a different location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house, and not from the rooming house window.[52]


The tomb of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, located on the grounds of the King Center in Atlanta
[edit]Civil case for conspiracy
In 1999, the King family conducted a civil case to consider the existence of an assassination conspiracy. The suit (for wrongful death) mentioned only Loyd Jowers, but also described a government conspiracy.[44]
The jury–six blacks and six whites—found that King had been the victim of assassination by a conspiracy involving the Memphis police as well as federal agencies. This verdict affirmed Ray's innocence, which the King family has always maintained.[53][47]William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial.[54][55][56] The family requested a mere $100 in restitution to show that they were not pursuing the case for financial gain.
[edit]Denials of conspiracy
King biographer David Garrow disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King. He is supported by author Gerald Posner.[57]
In 2000, the Department of Justice completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support the allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommends no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.[58]
[edit]Henry Clay Wilson theory
A church minister, Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson, assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr., not James Earl Ray.[59] He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way." But Wilson had reportedly admitted previously that his father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.[60]

Moses

In the Hebrew Bible, the narratives of Moses are in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was a son of Amram, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel descended from Jacob, and his wife, Jochebed.[13] Jochebed (also Yocheved) was kin to Amram's father Kehath (Exodus 6:20). Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, Miriam, and one older (by three years) brother, Aaron.[13] According to Genesis 46:11, Amram's father Kehath immigrated to Egypt with 70 of Jacob's household, making Moses part of the second generation of Israelites born during their time in Egypt.[14]

In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses occurred at a time when an unnamed Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile. Jochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son and kept him concealed for three months.[13][15][16] When she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile River in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch.[15] Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat until it reached a place where Pharaoh's daughter (Bithiah,[13] Thermuthis [17]) was bathing with her handmaidens. It is said that she spotted the baby in the basket and had her handmaiden fetch it for her. Miriam came forward and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby.[13] Thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse. He grew up and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and became her son and a younger brother to the future Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses would not be able to become Pharaoh because he was not the 'blood' son of Bithiah, and he was the youngest.[18][better source needed]

Shepherd in Midian

After Moses had reached adulthood, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Moses killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.[15] Moses soon discovered that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he then fled from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula.[15] In Midian he stopped at a well where he protected seven shepherdesses from a band of rude shepherds. The shepherdesses' father Hobab adopted him as his son. Hobab gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage, and made him the superintendent of his herds.[15][19][20] Moses lived in Midian for forty years as a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born.[15][21] One day, Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb (Exodus 3), usually identified with Mount Sinai — a mountain that was thought in the Middle Ages to be located on the Sinai Peninsula. There he saw a bush that burned, but was not consumed. When Moses came to look more closely, God spoke to him from the bush, revealing his name to Moses.[15]

Egypt: the Plagues and the Exodus


Moses before the Pharaoh, a 6th century miniature from the Syriac Bible of Paris.

Moses strikes water from the stone, by Francesco Bacchiacca

Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659)

A unique portrayal of Moses with a New Testament summary of the Old Testament law inscribed on the tablets. A stained glass window at St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC

Moses holding up his arms during the battle, assisted by Aaron and Hur. Painting by John Everett Millais
God commanded Moses to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from bondage.[22] On the way Moses was nearly killed by God because his son was not circumcised. He was met on the way by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed kindred after they returned to Egypt, who believed Moses and Aaron after they saw the signs that were performed in the midst of the Israelite assembly.[23] Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord God of Israel wanted Pharaoh to permit the Israelites to celebrate a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh replied that he did not know their God and would not permit them to go. They gained a second hearing with Pharaoh and changed Moses' rod into a serpent, but Pharaoh's magicians did the same with their rods. Moses and Aaron met Pharaoh at the Nile riverbank, and Moses had Aaron turn the river to blood, but Pharaoh's magicians could do the same. Moses obtained a fourth meeting, and had Aaron bring frogs from the Nile to overrun Egypt, but Pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing. Pharaoh asked Moses to remove the frogs and promised to let the Israelites go observe their feast in the wilderness in return. Pharaoh decided against letting the Israelites leave to observe the feast.[24] Eventually Pharaoh let the Hebrews depart after Moses' God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians. The third and fourth were the plague of gnats and flies. The fifth was diseases on the Egyptians' cattle, oxen, goats, sheep, camels, and horses. The sixth was boils on the skins of Egyptians. Seventh, fiery hail and thunder. The eighth plague was locusts. The ninth plague was total darkness. The tenth plague was the slaying of the Egyptian male first-born children, whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave. The events are commemorated as Passover, referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites while smiting the Egyptians.[25]

The crossing of the Red Sea

Main article: The Exodus
Moses then led his people eastward, beginning the long journey to Canaan. The procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but Exodus records that God divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. There is some contention about this passage, since an earlier incorrect translation of Yam Suph to Red Sea was later found to have meant Reed Sea.[26] When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them.

The people then continued to Marsa marching for three days along the wilderness of the Shur [27] without finding water. Then they came to Elim where twelve water springs and 70 Palm trees greeted them.[28] From Elim they set out again and after 45 days they reached the wilderness of Sin between Elim and Sinai.

From there they reached the plain of Rephidim, completing the crossing of the Red Sea.

Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments

Main article: Ten Commandments
According to the Bible, after crossing the Red Sea and leading the Israelites towards the desert, Moses was summoned by God to Mount Sinai, also referred to as Mount Horeb, the same place where Moses had first talked to the Burning Bush, tended the flocks of Jethro his father-in-law, and later produced water by striking the rock with his staff and directed the battle with the Amalekites.

Moses stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights, a period in which he received the Ten Commandments directly from God. Moses then descended from the mountain with intent to deliver the commandments to the people, but upon his arrival he saw that the people were involved in the sin of the Golden Calf. In terrible anger, Moses broke the commandment tablets[29] and ordered his own tribe (the Levites) to go through the camp and kill everyone, including family and friends,[30] upon which the Levites killed about 3,000 people, some of whom were children.[31] God later commanded Moses to inscribe two other tablets, to replace the ones Moses smashed,[32] so Moses went to the mountain again, for another period of 40 days and nights, and when he returned, the commandments were finally given.

In Jewish tradition, Moses is referred to as "The Lawgiver" for this singular achievement of delivering the Ten Commandments.

The years in the wilderness


A statue of Moses smiting the rock stands in Washington Park, Albany, New York.
When the people arrived at Marah, the water was bitter, causing the people to murmur against Moses. Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet.[33][34] Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation.[35][36] When the people camped in Rephidim, there was no water, so the people complained again and said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came forth.[37][38]

Amalekites arrived and attacked the Israelites. In response, Moses bade Joshua lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favor of the Amalekites. Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites.[39][40]

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to see Moses and brought Moses' wife and two sons with him. After Moses had told Jethro how the Israelites had escaped Egypt, Jethro went to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then ate bread with the elders. The next day Jethro observed how Moses sat from morning to night giving judgement for the people. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint judges for lesser matters, a suggestion Moses heeded.[41]

When the Israelites came to Sinai, they pitched camp near the mountain. Moses commanded the people not to touch the mountain. Moses received the Ten Commandments orally (but not yet in tablet form) and other moral laws. He then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders to see the god of Israel. Before Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets, he told the elders to direct any questions that arose to Aaron or Hur. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry.

After Moses had persuaded the Lord not to destroy the people of Israel, he went down from the mountain and was met by Joshua. Moses destroyed the calf and rebuked Aaron for the sin he had brought upon the people. Seeing that the people were uncontrollable, Moses went to the entry of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." All the sons of Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go from gate to gate slaying the idolators.[42][43]

Following this, according to the last chapters of Exodus, the Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. Moses was given eight prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice.[44]

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian, Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the Antiquities of the Jews[45][better source needed] and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke. Miriam was punished with leprosy for seven days.[46]

The people left Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran.[47] (Paran is a vaguely defined region in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, just south of Canaan) Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After forty days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only two of the twelve spies (Joshua and Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and are nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion. The people began weeping and wanted to return to Egypt. Moses turned down the opportunity to have the Israelites completely destroyed and a great nation made from his own offspring, and instead he told the people that they would wander the wilderness for forty years until all those twenty years or older who had refused to enter Canaan had died, and that their children would then enter and possess Canaan. Early the next morning, the Israelites said they had sinned and now wanted to take possession of Canaan. Moses told them not to attempt it, but the Israelites chose to disobey Moses and invade Canaan, but were repulsed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.[48]

The Tribe of Reuben, led by Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 Israelite princes accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man. Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents. After Moses spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again. Fire consumed the 250 men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites. The people were struck with a plague that killed 14,700 persons, and was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people.[49] To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had each of the chief princes of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them lay them in the sanctuary. He also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds.[50]

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed forth. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites.[51] This was the second occasion Moses struck a rock to bring forth water; however, it appears that both sites were named Meribah after these two incidents.


Moses lifts up the brass serpent, curing the Israelites from poisonous snake bites in a painting by BenjaminWest.
Now ready to enter Canaan, the Israelites abandoned the idea of attacking the Canaanites head-on in Hebron, a city in the southern part of Canaan. Having been informed by spies that they were too strong, it was decided that they would flank Hebron by going further East, around the Dead Sea. This required that they pass through Edom, Moab, and Ammon. These three tribes were considered Hebrews by the Israelites as descendants of Lot, and therefore could not be attacked. However they were also rivals, and did not therefore give permission to allow the Israelites to pass openly through their territory. So Moses lead his people carefully along the eastern border of Edom, the southernmost of these territories. While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the manna. After many of the people had been bitten by serpents and died, Moses made the brass serpent and mounted it on a pole, and if those who were bitten looked at it, they did not die.[52] According to the Biblical Book of Kings this brass serpent remained in existence until the days of King Hezekiah, who destroyed it after persons began treating it as an idol.[53] When they reached Moab, it was revealed that Moab had been attacked and defeated by the Amorites led by a king named Sihon. The Amorites were a non-Hebrew Canaanic people who once held power in the Fertile Crescent. When Moses asked the Amorites for passage and it was refused, Moses attacked the Amorites (as non-Hebrews, the Israelites had no reservations in attacking them), presumably weakened by conflict with the Moabites, and defeated them.[54] The Israelites, now holding the territory of the Amorites just north of Moab, desired to expand their holdings by acquiring Bashan, a fertile territory north of Ammon famous for its oak trees and cattle. It was led by a king named Og. Later rabbinical legends made Og a survivor of the flood, suggesting the he had sat on the Ark and was fed by Noah. The Israelites fought with Og's forces at Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites were victorious and slew every man, woman, and child of his cities and took spoil for their bounty.[54]

Balak, king of Moab, having heard of the Israelites' conquests, feared that his territory might be next. Therefore he sent elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam (apparently a powerful and respected prophet), son of Beor (Bible), to induce him to come and curse the Israelites. Balaam's location is unclear. Balaam sent back word that he could only do what God commands, and God has, via a dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sent higher ranking priests and offers Balaam honours, and so God tells Balaam to go with them. Balaam thus set out with two servants to go to Balak, but an Angel tried to prevent him. At first the Angel is seen only by the ass Balaam is riding. After Balaam started to punish the ass for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam, and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam was allowed to see the angel, who informed him that the ass is the only reason the Angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repented, but is told to go on.[55]


Russian Orthodox icon of the prophet Moses, gesturing towards the burning bush. 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration Church, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia).
Balak met with Balaam at Kirjath-huzoth, and they went to the high places of Baal, and offered sacrifices at seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which Balaam relates to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrated, but Balaam reminded him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak taook him to another high place at Pisgah, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provided another prophecy blessing Israel. Balaam was finally taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decided not to seek enchantments but instead looked on the Israelites from the peak. The spirit of God came upon Balaam and he delivered a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rose to the point where he threatened Balaam, but Balaam merely offered a prediction of fate. Balaam then looked on the Kenites, and Amalekites and offered two more predictions of fate. Balak and Balaam then go to their respective homes. Later, Balaam informed Balak and the Midianites that, if they wished to overcome the Israelites for a short interval, they needed to seduce the Israelites to engage in idolatry.[56][better source needed] The Midianites sent beautiful women to the Israelite camp to seduce the young men to partake in idolatry, and the attempt proved successful.[57]

God then commanded Moses to kill and hang the heads of everyone who had engaged in idolatry, and Moses ordered the judges to carry out the mass execution. At the same time, one of the Israelites brought home a Midianitish woman in the sight of the congregation. Upon seeing this, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, took a javelin in his hand and thrust through both the Israelite and the Midianitish woman, which turned away the wrath of God. By that time, however, the plague inflicted on the Israelites had already killed about twenty-four thousand persons. Moses was then told that because Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites, Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood.[58] After Moses had taken a census of the people, he sent an army to avenge the perceived evil brought on the Israelites by the Midianites. Numbers 31 says Moses instructed the Israelite soldiers to kill every Midianite woman, boy, and non-virgin girl, although virgin girls were shared amongst the soldiers.[59] The Israelites killed Balaam, and the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba.[60]

Moses appointed Joshua, son of Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites.[61] Moses then died at the age of 120.[62]

Death


Bust of Moses at Earl Hall at Columbia University in New York City
Moses was warned that he would not be permitted to lead the Israelites across the Jordan river, because of his trespass at the waters of Meribah (Deut. 32:51) but would die on its eastern shores (Num. 20:12).[63] He therefore assembled the tribes, and delivered to them a parting address, which is taken to form the Book of Deuteronomy.[63]

When Moses finished, he sang a song and pronounced a blessing on the people. He then went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, looked over the promised land of Israel spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty, according to Talmudic legend on 7 Adar, his 120th birthday exactly.[64] God Himself buried him in an unknown grave in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor (Deut. 34:6).[16][63]

Moses was thus the human instrument in the creation of the nation of Israel by communicating to it the Torah.[63] More humble than any other man (Num. 12:3), he enjoyed unique privileges, for "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom YHWH knew face to face" (Deut. 34:10).[63] See also Jude 1:9 and Zechariah 3.

Jude 1
New King James Version (NKJV)
Greeting to the Called

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are called, sanctified[a] by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God[b] and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about[c] by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;[d] 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,[e] hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you[f] from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,[g]
Who alone is wise,[h]
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,[i]
Both now and forever.
Amen.

"May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you."
"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either."
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
Jesus Christ (God planned the death of his own son "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.")
Martin Luther King Jr (Civil rights movement god planned the death of Martin luther king jr)
Moses free gods people
Gandhi

Lucifer (white) "wicked one" is responsible for pride (pride in possessions) in mortals.  hatred.....will not inherit the kingdom of God.

"And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”Atrocities

God has sent titans

Living peaceably with your fellow man

"i said you are gods you are all sons of the most high"

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.

We all come from Adam and eve

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

“He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being
’For we are also His offspring.

There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

God Alpha and Omega First and Last Beginning and End
Adam & Eve (white)
Lucifer (his first likeness as a serpent)
(before there were people to record the words of Jesus Christ)
Mary
Christ our Savior (different ethnicity)
Before the 12

This is the history[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

BAPTISM IN GOD'S PLAN FOR THE BELIEVER
          God's plan for the believer is to join a local assembly of believers and there fellowship, worship, show his thankfulness to the Lord in giving tithes and offering, and work with other believers in carrying on the Lord's work in that area. Baptism is the symbol of our common bond and shows our commitment to the Lord first and to each other.



SHOULD A TRUE BIBLE BELIEVING BAPTIST CHURCH
ACCEPT THE BAPTISM OF A CHURCH IN DOCTRINAL ERROR?
          Through baptism a new convert joins and become a member of a church. By baptism the he further identifies himself with the beliefs of the assembly he is joins. If the beliefs of the assembly that baptizes the new convert are in error, then the person being baptized is identified with that error and his baptism does not picture biblical truth. The baptism of a false or doctrinally unsound church is improper and not biblical believer's baptism.

          Ephesians 4:5 says there is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Through Paul God commanded the Corinthian church saying, "Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you." (1 Corinthians 11:2) An assembly (church) of believers is not at liberty to change or alter the clear commands of God's word. Jesus Christ is the head of the believer and the local assembly. (Eph. 5:23) Pastors and churches are to be stewards of the Lord teaching and practices without compromise or error His inerrant word. All the true assembly of Jesus Christ does it to be as He has left it to us.

          Often Christians coming from other assemblies present themselves for membership in a Bible believing Baptist church. The question first must be answered is are they truly saved and have biblically believed and received Jesus Christ as their Savior? If the person presenting themselves for membership has as clear testimony that they have believed and are trusting in Jesus Christ and His shed blood alone for their salvation, then the next question is to determine if they received a true scriptural baptism.

           The validity of their baptism rests on the validity of the assembly that baptized them. If the church that baptized them is in doctrine error in teaching or practice then their baptism was not scriptural. Some people are saved when they hear the Gospel and join church that are in error in their teaching and practice. Their baptism then identified them with the teaching of that assembly. They then should submit to baptism in the Bible believing New Testament church to identify themselves with God's truth this new church is upholding.

          For something this presents a problem because they do not understand the importance of baptism nor in the need to identify with God's uncompromised truth. Being baptized in the new church is a testimony of their agreement with the teachings of that church. It furthers shows one's desire to always stand for truth. Paul said "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (Colossians 3:17)

          In Jude the Lord instructs the child of God stating, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3)

           No true child of God should be offended at an assembly who wishes to uphold God's truth to the lost and dying world. This is the kind of church a Christian should want to be a part of and should willing honor the Lord in submitting to being baptized into the membership and fellowship with these fellow believers.(For an article on Alien Baptist go tohttp://bible-truth.org/AlienBaptism.html )

HOW DOES A PERSON RECEIVE SALVATION?
1. First recognize ourselves as the sinners we are. Rom. 3:10, 23; Isa. 64:6
2. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Rom. 6:23.
3. Ephesians 2:8-9, tell us that the grace of God that saves, because we believe.
4. Romans 10:9-10, Tell us confession of your faith is made with our mouths that we believe Christ's death burial and resurrection. It is with the heart that we believe. If we are ashamed of the Lord He will be ashamed of us.
5. John 3:16. "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".
6. Romans 5:8, "For God commenth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
7. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
8. Revelation 22:17 "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Steal Kill And Destroy

Jesus warns us about Satan.... "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:10-11)

Satan (the thief) works in a very specific way. He has a set plan--and he works it very effectively. If we look thoughtfully, I believe we will see his wicked plans at work all around us.

His first tactic is to steal. What would he like to steal? Anything and everything that will lead you to Jesus--to Gods love. Satan steals love from people. If we will open our eyes we will see it everywhere around us. Broken families, abuse, hatred, cruelty, murder. The Enemy would like us to think that there is no love in the world. He would like to steal from us even the ability to love and be loved. There are so many hurting people in the world. So many who don't understand how to give or receive love. The devil will make you feel worthless as a human being--undeserving of love--incapable of receiving love. Why? For one reason--to separate us from God--after all, "God is love..."

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." (1John 4:8) "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."(1John 4:16)

If the devil can incapacitate someone's love--they won't be able to know God...."He that loveth not knoweth not God;"

We can't know God unless we know and believe love--so if Satan can steal our love--or our ability to feel love, we won't be able to receive God, since God is love. The devil sets up abuse in our lives--he sets up pain, loneliness, rejection, abandonment. He has a multitude of ways that he will abuse us--but all with one goal in mind--to separate us from our ability to love and receive love--and therefore receive God. Every one of us has a broken heart. But there is someone who came to heal the broken hearted! To show us a greater love.....

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1John 4:9-10)

Jesus is the manifestation of God's love. He is the way to be healed. Jesus can heal our heart--restore our love. Jesus can give us back everything the devil has stolen. Listen. The biggest lie that the devil will tell you is that you suffered alone. This is not true! No matter where you were, no matter what happened to you. No matter how difficult things were. No matter how painful or lonely it was. No matter how great the abuse, the abandonment, the fear, or the violence was. No matter...... YOU WERE NOT ALONE! Jesus was with you! He stood with you, He suffered with you! He was touched with the feeling of your difficulties..the feeling--He knows what you went through because He felt it Himself--for you and with you....

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

He was in all points tempted like as we are...The Greek word in this instance is one of the few times in scripture where the word all literally means to all people individually--that means everyone! Jesus is touched with the feelings of all the difficulties of all people--individually!! This means you! He was there specifically for you and with you at every place where you were hurt. He saw it--He felt it--He cried for His creation--But He took it to the cross for one reason--to heal it! Allow Jesus to restore your love--to restore your joy--to restore to you everything that the thief has stolen from you.

Jesus loves you.

Your First Name of: Deborah
Why Names Matter. Watch:




Below is a brief analysis of the first name only. For an analysis of your full name and destiny, see our full free Name and Birth Date Report service for further details.

Your first name of Deborah has given you the vision and foresight to be able to organize others and to hold positions of responsibility with poise and self-confidence.

This name creates an optimistic outlook on life and favourable conditions in your personal affairs.

You have the ability to express your thoughts and ideas, and you are friendly, likeable, and generous.
The name Deborah creates the urge to be self-expressive and responsible, but it can cause an argumentative, impulsive, and extravagant nature if it is not combined with a balanced last name.

This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the liver, bloodstream, and reproductive organs.

Seven deadly sins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Seven Deadly Sins (disambiguation).


Hieronymus Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things


"Avarice" (2012), by Jesus Solana
The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices (part of Christian ethics) that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin. The currently recognized version of the sins are usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
The Catholic Church divides sin into two categories: venial sins, in which guilt is relatively minor, and the more severe mortal sins. Theologically, a mortal or deadly sin is believed to destroy the life of grace and charity within a person and thus creates the threat of eternal damnation. "Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity - necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished [for Catholics] within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation."[1]
To Catholics the seven deadly sins do not belong to an additional category of sin. Rather, they are the sins that are seen as the origin ("capital" comes from the Latin caput, head) of the other sins. A "deadly sin" can be either venial or mortal, depending on the situation; but "they are called 'capital' because they engender other sins, other vices."[2]
Beginning in the early 14th century, the popularity of the seven deadly sins as a theme among European artists of the time eventually helped to ingrain them in many areas of Catholic culture and Catholic consciousness in general throughout the world. One means of such ingraining was the creation of the mnemonic "SALIGIA" based on the first letters in Latin of the seven deadly sins: superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira, acedia.[3]
Contents  [hide]
1 Biblical lists
2 Development of the traditional Seven Sins
3 Historical and modern definitions of the seven deadly sins
3.1 Lust
3.2 Gluttony
3.3 Greed
3.4 Sloth
3.5 Wrath
3.6 Envy
3.7 Pride
4 Historical sins
4.1 Acedia
4.2 Vainglory
5 Catholic Seven Virtues
6 Associations with demons
7 Patterns
8 Cultural references
8.1 Menninger on the Deadly Sins
8.2 Culbertson on the Deadly Sins
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
[edit]Biblical lists

In the Book of Proverbs (Mishlai), King Solomon stated that the Lord specifically regards "six things the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth." namely:[4]
A proud look.
A lying tongue.
Hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plots.
Feet that are swift to run into mischief.
A deceitful witness that uttereth lies.
Him that soweth discord among brethren.
While there are seven of them, this list is considerably different from the traditional one, with only pride clearly being in both lists.
Another list, given this time by the Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 5:19-21), includes more of the traditional seven sins, although the list is substantially longer: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, "and such like".[5] Since Saint Paul goes on to say that the persons who commit these sins "shall not inherit the Kingdom of God", they are usually listed as (possible) mortal sins rather than Capital Vices.
[edit]Development of the traditional Seven Sins



An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = avarice; snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth; pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock = pride).
The modern concept of the Seven Deadly Sins is linked to the works of the 4th century monk Evagrius Ponticus, who listed eight evil thoughts in Greek as follows:[6]
Gast??µa???a (gastrimargia) gluttony.
????e?a (porneia) prostitution, fornication.
F??a?????a (philargyria) avarice.
?pe??fa??a (hyperephania) hubris - in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as self-esteem.
??p? (lype) sadness - in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as envy, sadness at another's good fortune.
???? (orge) wrath.
?e??d???a (kenodoxia) boasting.
???d?a (akedia) acedia - in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as dejection.
They were translated into the Latin of Western Christianity (largely due to the writings of John Cassian[7]), thus becoming part of the Western tradition's spiritual pietas (or Catholic devotions), as follows:[8]
Gula (gluttony)
Fornicatio (fornication, lust)
Avaritia (avarice/greed)
Superbia (hubris, pride)
Tristitia (sorrow/despair/despondency)
Ira (wrath)
Vanagloria (vainglory)
Acedia (acedia/shay/sloth)
These "evil thoughts" can be collected into three groups:[8]
lustful appetite (Gluttony, Fornication, and Avarice)
irascibility (Wrath)
intellect (Vainglory, sorrow, Pride, and Discouragement)
In AD 590, a little over two centuries after Evagrius wrote his list, Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins, by folding (sorrow/despair/despondency) into acedia, vainglory into pride, and adding envy.[9] In the order used by both Pope Gregory and by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows:
luxuria (lechery/lust)[10][11][12]
gula (gluttony)
avaritia (avarice/greed)
acedia (acedia/discouragement/sloth)
ira (wrath)
invidia (envy)
superbia (pride)
The identification and definition of the seven deadly sins over their history has been a fluid process and the idea of what each of the seven actually encompasses has evolved over time. Additionally, as a result of semantic change:
socordia sloth was substituted for acedia
It is this revised list that Dante uses. The process of semantic change has been aided by the fact that the personality traits are not collectively referred to, in either a cohesive or codified manner, by the Bible itself; other literary and ecclesiastical works were instead consulted, as sources from which definitions might be drawn.[citation needed] Part II of Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, has almost certainly been the best known source since the Renaissance.[citation needed]
The modern Roman Catholic Catechism lists the sins in Latin as "superbia, avaritia, invidia, ira, luxuria, gula, pigritia seu acedia", with an English translation of "pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth/acedia".[13] Each of the seven deadly sins now also has an opposite among corresponding seven holy virtues (sometimes also referred to as the contrary virtues). In parallel order to the sins they oppose, the seven holy virtues are humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, temperance, and diligence.
[edit]Historical and modern definitions of the seven deadly sins

[edit]Lust


Lust
Sankt Bartholomäus church (Reichenthal), pulpit (1894)
Main article: Lust
Lust or lechery (carnal "luxuria") is an intense desire. It is usually thought of as excessive sexual wants, however the word was originally a general term for desire. Therefore lust could involve the intense desire of money, fame, or power as well.
In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful/sexual thoughts and feelings. In Dante's Inferno, unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack of self control to their lustful passions in earthly life.
[edit]Gluttony
Main article: Gluttony


Excess
(Albert Anker, 1896)
Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony (Latin, gula) is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.
In Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food, and its withholding from the needy.[14]
Because of these scripts, gluttony can be interpreted as selfishness; essentially placing concern with one's own interests above the well-being or interests of others.
Medieval church leaders (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony,[14] arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods.[15] Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:
Praepropere - eating too soon.
Laute - eating too expensively.
Nimis - eating too much.
Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
Forente - eating wildly (boringly).

[edit]Greed
Main article: Greed


1909 painting The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn De Morgan.
Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason,[citation needed] especially for personal gain, for example through bribery. Scavenging[citation needed] and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include simony, where one attempts to purchase or sell sacraments, including Holy Orders and, therefore, positions of authority in the Church hierarchy.
As defined outside of Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth.[16]
[edit]Sloth
Main article: Sloth (deadly sin)


Sloth
Parable of the Wheat and the Tares by Abraham Bloemaert, Walters Art Museum
Sloth (Latin, Socordia) can entail different vices. While sloth is sometimes defined as physical laziness, spiritual laziness is emphasized. Failing to develop spiritually is key to becoming guilty of sloth. In Christian faith, sloth rejects grace and God.
Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do. By this definition, evil exists when good men fail to act.
Over time, the "acedia" in Pope Gregory's order has come to be closer in meaning to sloth. The focus came to be on the consequences of acedia rather than the cause, and so, by the 17th century, the exact deadly sin referred to was believed to be the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts.[citation needed] Even in Dante's time there were signs of this change; in his Purgatorio he had portrayed the penance for acedia as running continuously at top speed.

[edit]Wrath
Main article: Wrath


Wrath,
by Jacob Matham
Wrath (Latin, ira), also known as "rage", may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Wrath, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. Wrath may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and vigilantism.
Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self-interest, although one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy, (closely related to the sin of envy). Dante described vengeance as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite". In its original form, the sin of anger also encompassed anger pointed internally rather than externally. Thus suicide was deemed as the ultimate, albeit tragic, expression of hatred directed inwardly, a final rejection of God's gifts.[citation needed]
[edit]Envy
Main article: Envy


Envy
Arch in the naive with a gothic fresco from 1511 of a man with a dog-head, which symbolizes envy (Dalbyneder Church, Denmark)
Like greed and lust, Envy (Latin, invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someones traits, status, abilities, or rewards. The difference is the envious also desire that entity and covet it.
Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically "Neither shall you desire... anything that belongs to your neighbour". Dante defined this as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs." In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they have gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. Aquinas described envy as "sorrow for another's good".[17]
[edit]Pride
Main article: Pride


Building the Tower of Babel was, for Dante, an example of pride. Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
In almost every list, pride (Latin, superbia), or hubris (Greek), is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the others. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour." In Jacob Bidermann's medieval miracle play, Cenodoxus, pride is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the damnation of the titulary famed Parisian doctor. In perhaps the best-known example, the story of Lucifer, pride (his desire to compete with God) was what caused his fall from Heaven, and his resultant transformation into Satan. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the penitents were forced to walk with stone slabs bearing down on their backs to induce feelings of humility.
[edit]Historical sins

[edit]Acedia
Main article: Acedia


Acedia
mosaic, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Acedia (Latin, acedia) (from Greek a??d?a) is the neglect to take care of something that one should do. It is translated to apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. It is related to melancholy: acedia describes the behaviour and melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God and the world God created; by contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in time of need.
When Thomas Aquinas described acedia in his interpretation of the list, he described it as an uneasiness of the mind, being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability. Dante refined this definition further, describing acedia as the failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul; to him it was the middle sin, the only one characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love. Some scholars[who?] have said that the ultimate form of acedia was despair which leads to suicide.
[edit]Vainglory
Main article: Vanity
Vainglory (Latin, vanagloria) is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he folded vainglory into pride for his listing of sins.[citation needed]
The Latin term gloria roughly means boasting, although its English cognate - glory - has come to have an exclusively positive meaning; historically, vain roughly meant futile, but by the 14th century had come to have the strong narcissistic undertones, of irrelevant accuracy, that it retains today.[18] As a result of these semantic changes, vainglory has become a rarely used word in itself, and is now commonly interpreted as referring to vanity (in its modern narcissistic sense).
[edit]Catholic Seven Virtues

The Roman Catholic Church also recognizes seven virtues, which correspond inversely to each of the seven deadly sins.
Vice Latin Virtue Latin
Lust Luxuria Chastity Castitas
Gluttony Gula Temperance Temperantia
Greed Avaritia Charity Caritas
Sloth Acedia Diligence Industria
Wrath Ira Patience Patientia
Envy Invidia Kindness Humanitas
Pride Superbia Humility Humilitas
[edit]Associations with demons

In 1589, Peter Binsfeld paired each of the deadly sins with a demon, who tempted people by means of the associated sin. According to Binsfeld's classification of demons, the pairings are as follows:
Lucifer: Pride (superbia)
Mammon: Greed (avaritia)
Asmodeus: Lust (luxuria)
Leviathan: Envy (invidia)
Beelzebub: Gluttony (gula or gullia)
Satan: Wrath (ira)
Belphegor: Sloth (acedia)
This contrasts slightly with an earlier series of pairings found in the fifteenth century English Lollard tract Lanterne of Light, which differs in pairing Beelzebub with Envy, Abadon with Sloth, Belphegor with Gluttony and matching Lucifer with Pride, Satan with Wrath, Asmodeus with Lust and Mammon with Avarice.[19]
In Doctor Faustus, there is a "parade" of the seven deadly sins that is conducted by Mephistopheles, Satan, and Beelzebub suggesting that the demons do not match with each deadly sin, but the demons are in command of the seven deadly sins.
[edit]Patterns

According to a 2009 study by a Jesuit scholar, the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust, and for women, pride.[20] It was unclear whether these differences were due to different rates of commission, or different views on what "counts" or should be confessed.[21]
[edit]Cultural references

The seven deadly sins have long been a source of inspiration for writers and artists, from morality tales of the Middle Ages to modern manga series and video games.
[edit]Menninger on the Deadly Sins
In his 1973 book, Whatever Became of Sin?, Karl Menninger argued that the traditional list of the seven deadly sins was incomplete; that most modern ethicists would include cruelty and dishonesty and probably would rate these as more serious than some of the more traditional sins such as gluttony or sloth.
[edit]Culbertson on the Deadly Sins
In his 1908 book, How one is not to be, Andrew Culbertson argues that two further vices should be added to the deadly sins: fear and superstition. Fear, in Culbertson's description, amounts to the modern psychiatric condition called Delusional disorder, while superstition is, "Belief in things that one does not understand, to the point of giving money to frauds and spiritual confidence men."

Lucifer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the biblical figure. For other uses, see Lucifer (disambiguation).


William Blake's illustration of Lucifer as presented in John Milton's Paradise Lost
Lucifer ( /'lu?s?f?r/ or /lju?s?f?r/) is the King James Version rendering of the Hebrew word ?????? in Isaiah 14:12. This word, transliterated hêlel or heylel, occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible and according to Strong's Concordance means "shining one, morning star, Lucifer". [1] The word Lucifer is taken from the Latin Vulgate,[2] which translates ?????? as lucifer,[3][4] meaning "the morning star, the planet Venus" (or, as an adjective, "light-bringing"),[5] The Septuagint renders ?????? in Greek as ??sf????[6][7] (heosphoros)[8][9][10] meaning "morning star".[11] Kaufmann Kohler says that the Greek Septuagint translation is "Phosphoros".[2]
Before the rise of Christianity, the pseudepigrapha of Enochic Judaism, which enjoyed much popularity during the Second Temple period,[12] gave Satan an expanded role. They interpreted Isaiah 14:12-15 as applicable to Satan, and presented him as a fallen angel cast out of Heaven.[13] Christian tradition, influenced by this presentation,[13] came to use the Latin word for "morning star", lucifer, as a proper name ("Lucifer") for Satan as he was before his fall. As a result, "Lucifer has become a by-word for Satan in the Church and in popular literature",[2] as in Dante Alighieri's Inferno and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Contents  [hide]
1 Lucifer or morning star
2 Mythology
3 Belief systems
3.1 Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.3 Islam
3.4 Occultism
4 Taxil's hoax
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
[edit]Lucifer or morning star

Translation of ?????? as "Lucifer", as in the King James Version, has been abandoned in modern English translations of Isaiah 14:12. Present-day translations have "morning star" (New International Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Holman Christian Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), "daystar" (New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, The Message), "shining one" (New Life Version) or "shining star" (New Living Translation).
This development has been decried not only by adherents of the King James Only movement, but also by others, who hold that the King James Version is correct and that Isaiah 14:12 refers to Satan under the name of "Lucifer",[14][15] or who hold that the reference to Satan is preeminent.[16]
The term appears in the context of an oracle against a dead king of Babylon,[17] who is addressed as ???? ?? ??? (hêlêl ben ša?ar),[18][19][20][need quotation to verify] [21][need quotation to verify] rendered by the King James Version as "Lucifer, son of the dawn" and by others as "morning star, son of the dawn".
In a modern translation from the original Hebrew, the passage in which the phrase "Lucifer" or "morning star" occurs begins with the statement: "On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labour forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!"[22] After describing the death of the king, the taunt continues: "How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: 'Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?'"[23]
J. Carl Laney has pointed out that in the final verses here quoted, the king of Babylon is described not as a god or an angel but as a man.[24][25]
For the unnamed[26] "king of Babylon" a wide range of identifications have been proposed.[27]They include a Babylonian ruler of the prophet Isaiah's own time[27] the later Nebuchadnezzar II, under whom the Babylonian captivity of the Jews began, or Nabonidus,[27][28] and the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II and Sennacherib,[24][27][29] Herbert Wolf held that the "king of Babylon" was not a specific ruler but a generic representation of the whole line of rulers.[30]
[edit]Mythology

In ancient Canaanite mythology, the morning star is pictured as a god, Attar, who attempted to occupy the throne of Ba'al and, finding he was unable to do so, descended and ruled the underworld.[31][32] The original myth may have been about a lesser god Helel trying to dethrone the Canaanite high god El who lived on a mountain to the north.[33][34] Similarities have been noted also with the story of Ishtar's or Inanna's descent into the underworld,[34] Ishtar and Inanna being associated with the planet Venus.[35] The Babylonian myth of Etana has also been seen as connected.[36]
The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible points out that no evidence has been found of any Canaanite myth of a god being thrown from heaven, as in Isaiah 14:12. It concludes that the closest parallels with Isaiah's description of the king of Babylon as a fallen morning star cast down from heaven are to be found not in any lost Canaanite and other myths but in traditional ideas of the Jewish people themselves, echoed in the Biblical account of the fall of Adam and Eve, cast out of God's presence for wishing to be as God, and the picture in Psalm 82 of the "gods" and "sons of the Most High" destined to die and fall.[37] This Jewish tradition has echoes also in Jewish pseudepigrapha such as 2 Enoch and the Life of Adam and Eve.[36][37][38]
[edit]Belief systems

[edit]Judaism
See also: Satan#Judaism
The Hebrew term ?????? (heylel)[1] in Isaiah 14:12, became a dominant conception of a fallen angel motif[39] in Enochic Judaism, when Jewish pseudepigrapha flourished during the Second Temple period,[12] particularly with the apocalypses.[13] Later Rabbis, in Medieval Judaism, rejected these Enochic literary works from the Biblical canon, making every attempt to root them out.[12] Traditionalist Rabbis often rejected any belief in rebel or fallen angels, having a view that evil is abstract.[40] However, in the 11th century, the Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer, drawing on ancient legends of the fallen angel or angels, brought back to the mainstream of rabbinic thought the personification of evil and the corresponding myth.[41] Jewish exegesis of Isaiah 14:12–15 took a more humanistic approach by identifying the king of Babylon as Nebuchadnezzar II.[42]
[edit]Christianity
Main article: Devil in Christianity
Early Christians were influenced by the association of Isaiah 14:12-15 with the Devil, which had developed in the period between the writing of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament[43], also called the Intertestamental Period when the Deuterocanonical Books were written. Even in the New Testament itself, Sigve K Tonstad argues, the War in Heaven theme of Revelation 12:7-9, in which the dragon "who is called the devil and Satan … was thrown down to the earth", derives from the passage in Isaiah 14.[44] Origen (184/185 – 253/254) interpreted such Old Testament passages as being about manifestations of the Devil; but of course, writing in Greek, not Latin, he did not identify the Devil with the name "Lucifer".[45] Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), who wrote in Latin, also understood Isaiah 14:14 ("I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High") as spoken by the Devil,[46] but "Lucifer" is not among the numerous names and phrases he used to describe the Devil.[47] Even at the time of the Latin writer Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), "Lucifer" had not yet become a common name for the Devil.[45] But some time later, the metaphor of the morning star that Isaiah 14:12 applied to a king of Babylon gave rise to the general use of the Latin word for "morning star", capitalized, as the original name of the Devil before his fall from grace, linking Isaiah 14:12 with Luke 10:18 ("I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven") and interpreting the passage in Isaiah as an allegory of Satan's fall from heaven.[48][49]
However, Christians have continued to understand the mention of the morning star in Isaiah 14:12 as a metaphor referring to a king of Babylon. Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393 – c. 457) wrote that Isaiah calls the king "morning star", not as being the star, but as having had the illusion of being it.[50] The same understanding is shown in Christian translations of the passage, which in English generally use "morning star" rather than treating the word as a proper name, "Lucifer". So too in other languages, such as French,[51] German,[52] Portuguese,[53] and Spanish.[54] Even the Vulgate text in Latin is printed with lower-case lucifer (morning star), not upper-case Lucifer (proper name).[55]
[edit]Islam
In the Quran[56] Najmu thaqibu (Ar. "blazing star") may correspond to the morning star (He. heylel) of Isaiah 14:12.[57]
In Islam, the account of Iblis follows the Lucifer motif. Iblis is banished from heaven and becomes Satan by refusing to prostrate before Adam. Thus, he sins after the creation of man. Satan then swears an oath of revenge by tempting human beings and turning them away from God.[58]
[edit]Occultism


The Sigil of Lucifer ("Seal of Satan") a magical sigil[59] used occasionally as an emblem by Satanists
Luciferianism is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition, influenced by Gnosticism, usually reveres Lucifer not as the Devil, but as a liberator or guiding spirit[60] or even the true god as opposed to Jehovah.[61]
In Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible, Lucifer is acknowledged as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell, particularly that of the East. Lord of the Air, Lucifer has been named "Bringer of Light, the Morning Star, Intellectualism, Enlightenment."[citation needed]
In the modern occultism of Madeline Montalban,[62] Lucifer's identification as the Morning Star (Venus) equates him with Lumiel, whom she regarded as the Archangel of Light, and among Satanists he is seen as the "Torch of Baphomet" and Azazel.
Author Michael W. Ford has written on Lucifer as a "mask" of the Adversary, a motivator and illuminating force of the mind and subconscious.[63]
[edit]Taxil's hoax

Léo Taxil (1854–1907) claimed that Freemasonry is associated with worshipping Lucifer. In what is known as the Taxil hoax, he claimed that supposedly leading Freemason Albert Pike had addressed "The 23 Supreme Confederated Councils of the world" (an invention of Taxil), instructing them that Lucifer was God, and was in opposition to the evil god Adonai. Apologists of Freemasonry contend that, when Albert Pike and other Masonic scholars spoke about the "Luciferian path," or the "energies of Lucifer," they were referring to the Morning Star, the light bearer,[64] the search for light; the very antithesis of dark, satanic evil. Taxil promoted a book by Diana Vaughan (actually written by himself, as he later confessed publicly)[65] that purported to reveal a highly secret ruling body called the Palladium, which controlled the organization and had a satanic agenda. As described by Freemasonry Disclosed in 1897:
With frightening cynicism, the miserable person we shall not name here [Taxil] declared before an assembly especially convened for him that for twelve years he had prepared and carried out to the end the most sacrilegious of hoaxes. We have always been careful to publish special articles concerning Palladism and Diana Vaughan. We are now giving in this issue a complete list of these articles, which can now be considered as not having existed.[66]
Taxil's work and Pike's address continue to be quoted by anti-masonic groups.[67]
In Devil-Worship in France, Arthur Edward Waite compared Taxil's work to what today we would call a tabloid story, replete with logical and factual inconsistencies.

Satan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the concept of Satan. For the concept of "devil", see Devil. For other uses, see Satan (disambiguation).
"Satanas" redirects here. For the Colombian film, see Satanás (film).



Gustave Doré, Depiction of Satan, the antagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost c.1866.
Satan (Hebrew: ????????? ha-Satan, "the opposer",[1]) is the supreme evil spirit and adversary to God and humanity, particularly in Abrahamic religions.[2] It is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible.[3] In Christianity, the title became a personal name, and "Satan" changed from an accuser appointed by God to test men's faith to the chief of the rebellious fallen angels ("the devil" in Christianity, "Shaitan" in Arabic, the term used by Arab Christians and Muslims).[4] In Islam, a shay?an is any evil creature, whether human, animal or spirit. With the definite article, the Shay?an is Iblis, the Devil.
Contents  [hide]
1 Hebrew Bible
1.1 Book of Job
2 Apocrypha
2.1 Mythology
3 Religious beliefs
3.1 Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.3 Islam
3.4 Yazidism
3.5 Bahá'í Faith
3.6 Satanism
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Hebrew Bible

The original Hebrew term, satan, is a noun from a verb meaning primarily to, “obstruct, oppose,” as it is found in Numbers 22:22, 1 Samuel 29:4, Psalms 109:6.[5] Ha-Satan is traditionally translated as “the accuser,” or “the adversary.” The definite article “ha-”, English “the”, is used to show that this is a title bestowed on a being, versus the name of a being. Thus this being would be referred to as “the satan”.[6]
Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible:
Job ch.1–2 (10x),[7]
Zechariah 3:1–2 (3x).[8]
Satan without the definite article is used in 10 instances, of which two are translated diabolos in the Septuagint and "Satan" in the King James Version:
1 Chronicles 21:1, "Satan stood up against Israel" (KJV) or "And there standeth up an adversary against Israel" (Young's Literal Translation)[9]
Psalm 109:6b "and let Satan stand at his right hand" (KJV)[10] or "let an accuser stand at his right hand." (ESV, etc.)
The other eight instances of satan without the definite article are traditionally translated (in Greek, Latin and English) as "an adversary", etc., and taken to be humans or obedient angels:
Numbers 22:22,32 "and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him."
32 "behold, I went out to withstand thee,"
1 Samuel 29:4 The Philistines say: "lest he [David] be an adversary against us"
2 Samuel 19:22 David says: "[you sons of Zeruaiah] should this day be adversaries (plural) unto me?"
1 Kings 5:4 Solomon writes to Hiram: "there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.
1 Kings 11:14 "And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite"[11]
1 Kings 11:23 "And God stirred him up an adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah"
25 "And he [Rezon] was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon"
Book of Job
In the Book of Job, ha-Satan is a member of the Divine Council, "the sons of God" who are subservient to God. Ha-Satan, in this capacity, is many times translated as "the prosecutor", and is charged by God to tempt humans and to report back to God all who go against His decrees. At the beginning of the book, Job is a good person "who feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1), and has therefore been rewarded by God. When the Divine Council meets, God informs ha-Satan about Job's blameless, morally upright character. Between Job 1:9–10 and 2:4–5, ha-Satan merely points out that God has given Job everything that a man could want, so of course Job would be loyal to God; if all Job has been given, even his health, were to be taken away from him, however, his faith would collapse. God therefore grants ha-Satan the chance to test Job.[12] Due to this, it has been interpreted that ha-Satan is under God's control and cannot act without God's permission. This is further shown in the epilogue of Job in which God is speaking to Job, ha-Satan is absent from these dialogues. "For Job, for [Job's] friends, and for the narrator, it is ultimately Yahweh himself who is responsible for Job's suffering; as Yahweh says to the 'satan', 'You have incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.'" (Job 2:3) [8]
In the Septuagint the Hebrew ha-Satan in Job and Zechariah is translated by the Greek word diabolos (slanderer), the same word in the Greek New Testament from which the English word devil is derived. Where satan is used of human enemies in the Hebrew Bible, such as Hadad the Edomite and Rezon the Syrian, the word is left untranslated but transliterated in the Greek as satan, a neologism in Greek.[13] In Zechariah 3 this changes the vision of the conflict over Joshua the High Priest in the Septuagint into a conflict between "Jesus and the devil", identical with the Greek text of Matthew.
Apocrypha

The Book of Enoch contains references to Satariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satan'el (etymology dating back to Babylonian origins). The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to the fall from Heaven.
The Second Book of Enoch, also called the Slavonic Book of Enoch, contains references to a Watcher (Grigori) called Satanael.[14] It is a pseudepigraphic text of an uncertain date and unknown authorship. The text describes Satanael as being the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven[15] and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and "sinful".[16] A similar story is found in the book of 1 Enoch; however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ.
In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the being who brought death into the world.[17]
In the Ascension of Isaiah and the Life of Adam and Eve, Satan rules over a host of angels.[18]
Mastema, in the Book of Jubilees, induces God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac. He is identical to Satan in both name and nature.[19]
Mythology
Satan as a "deceiver" parallels to the evil spirit in Zoroastrianism, known as the Lie, who directs forces of darkness.[20]
Religious beliefs

Judaism
In Judaism, Satan is a term used since its earliest biblical contexts, to refer to a human opponent.[21] Occasionally, the term has been used to suggest evil influence opposing human beings, as in the Jewish exegesis of 1 Kings 22:22. Thus, Satan is personified as a character in three different places of the Tenakh, serving as an accuser (Zechariah 3:1-2), a seducer (1 Chronicles 21:1), or as a heavenly persecutor who is "among the sons of God" (Job 2:1). In any case, Satan is always subordinate to the power of God, having a role in the divine plan. Satan is rarely mentioned in Tannaitic literature.[22]
In Enochic Judaism, the concept of Satan being an opponent of God and a chief evil figure in among demons, seems to have taken root in Jewish pseudepigrapha during the Second Temple period,[23] particularly in the apocalypses.[22] In Medieval Judaism, the Rabbis rejected these Enochic literary works into the Biblical canon, making every attempt to root them out.[23] Traditionalists and philosophers in medieval Judaism, adhered to rational theology, rejecting any belief in rebel or fallen angels, and viewing evil as abstract.[24]
In Hasidic Judaism, the Kabbalah presents Satan as an agent of God whose function is to tempt one into sin, then turn around and accuse the sinner on high.
The Chasidic Jews of the 18th century, associated ha-Satan with Baal Davar.[25]
Christianity


The coat of arms of Arkhangelsk (Russia) depicts archangel Michael fighting against Satan.
Main article: Christian teaching about the Devil
See also: War in Heaven
In Christianity, terms that are synonymous with "Satan" include:
The most common English synonym for "Satan" is "Devil", which descends from Middle English devel, from Old English deofol, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus (also the source of "diabolical"). This in turn was borrowed from Greek diabolos "slanderer", from diaballein "to slander": dia- "across, through" + ballein "to hurl".[26] In the New Testament, "Satan" occurs more than 30 times in passages alongside Diabolos (Greek for "the devil"), referring to the same person or thing as Satan.[27]
Beelzebub, meaning "Lord of Flies", is the contemptuous name given in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament to a Philistine god whose original name has been reconstructed as most probably "Ba'al Zabul", meaning "Baal the Prince".[28]
Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent.
The Book of Revelation twice refers to "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan," (12:9, 20:2). The Book of Revelation also refers to "the deceiver," from which is derived the common epithet "the great deceiver."[29]
Other terms identified with Satan include "the prince of this world" in the Book of John 12:31, 14:30; "the prince of the power of the air" also called Meririm, and "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" in the Book of Ephesians 2:2; and "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4.[30]
From the fourth Century Lucifer is sometimes used in Christian theology to refer to Satan, as a result of identifying the fallen "son of the dawn" of Isaiah 14:12 with the "accuser" of other passages in the Old Testament.


Satan as depicted in the Ninth Circle of Hell in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, illustrated by Gustave Doré.
In traditional Christian understanding of the holy Hebrew scriptures, the Torah, Satan is a synonym for the Devil. For most Christians, he is believed to be an angel who rebelled against God—and also the one who spoke through the serpent and seduced Eve into disobeying God's command. His ultimate goal is to lead people away from the love of God—to lead them to fallacies which God opposes. Satan is also identified as the accuser of Job, the tempter in the Gospels, the secret power of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, and the dragon in the Book of Revelation. Before his insurrection, Satan was among the highest of all angels and the "brightest in the sky". His pride is considered a reason why he would not bow to God as all other angels did, but sought to rule heaven himself. The popularly held beliefs that Satan was once a prideful angel who eventually rebels against God, however, are not portrayed explicitly in the Bible and are mostly based on inference (e.g., Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14:12–17). In mainstream Christianity he is called "the ruler of the demons" (Matt. 12:24), "the ruler of the world" and "the god of this world". (2 Cor. 4:4). The Book of Revelation describes how Satan will be cast out of Heaven, down to the earth, having "great anger" and waging war against "those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus". Ultimately, Satan is thrown into the "Lake of fire", not as ruler, but as one among many, being tormented day and night forever and ever.[31]
In other Christian beliefs (e.g. the beliefs of the Christadelphians) the word "satan" in the Bible is not regarded as referring to a supernatural, personal being but to any "adversary" and figuratively refers to human sin and temptation.[32]
Islam
Main article: Devil (Islam)
Shaitan (?????) is the equivalent of Satan in Islam. While Shaitan (?????, from the root š?n ????) is an adjective (meaning "astray" or "distant", sometimes translated as "devil") that can be applied to both man ("al-ins", ?????) and Jinn, Iblis (Arabic pronunciation: ['ibli?s]) is the personal name of the Devil who is mentioned in the Qur'anic account of Genesis.[33] According to the Qur'an, Iblis (the Arabic name used) disobeyed an order from Allah to bow to Adam and as a result was forced out of heaven and given respite until the day of judgment from further punishment.
When Allah commanded all of the angels to bow down before Adam (the first Human), Iblis, full of hubris and jealousy, refused to obey God's command (he could do so because he had free will), seeing Adam as being inferior in creation due to his being created from clay as compared to him (created of fire).[34]
It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis (Lucifer); He refused to be of those who prostrate."
(Allah) said: "What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?" He said: "I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.
Qur'an 7:11–12
It was after this that the title of "Shaitan" was given, which can be roughly translated as "Enemy," "Rebel," "Evil" or "Devil". Shaitan then claims that if the punishment for his act of disobedience is to be delayed until the Day of Judgment, that he will divert many of Adam's own descendants from the straight path during his period of respite.[35] God accepts the claims of Iblis and guarantees recompense to Iblis and his followers in the form of Hellfire. In order to test mankind and jinn alike, Allah allowed Iblis to roam the earth to attempt to convert others away from his path.[36] He was sent to earth along with Adam and Eve, after eventually luring them into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree.[37]
Yazidism
An alternate name for the main deity in the tentatively Indo-European pantheon of the Yazidi, Malek Taus, is Shaitan.[38] Rather than Satanic, however, Yazidism is better understood as a remnant of a pre-Islamic Middle Eastern Indo-European religion, and/or a ghulat Sufi movement founded by Shaykh Adi. The connection with Satan, originally made by Muslim outsiders, attracted the interest of 19th century European travelers and esoteric writers.
Bahá'í Faith
In the Bahá'í Faith, Satan is not regarded as an independent evil power as he is in some faiths, but signifies the lower nature of humans. `Abdu'l-Bahá explains: "This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan — the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside."[39][40] All other evil spirits described in various faith traditions such as fallen angels, demons and jinns are also metaphors for the base character traits a human being may acquire and manifest when he turns away from God.[41]
Satanism
Main article: Satanism
Satanic groups have various opinions about Satan, ranging from the conviction that he exists and ought to be worshipped (theistic Satanism), to Anton Szandor LaVey's symbolic interpretation, which emphasizes individual will and pleasure-seeking.
Much "Satanic" lore does not originate from actual Satanists, but from Christians. Best-known is the medieval folklore and theology surrounding demons and witches. A more recent example is the so-called Satanic ritual abuse scare of the 1980s — beginning with the memoir Michelle Remembers — which depicts Satanism as a vast (and unproven) conspiracy of elites with a predilection for child abuse and human sacrifice. This genre regularly describes Satan as actually appearing in person in order to receive worship.

3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. 5 If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. 6 Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. 7 Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, 8 adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. 9 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! 10 And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. 11 You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing. 12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. 13 Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way.

(in Christian theology) A state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death.


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell
http://listverse.com/2007/07/03/top-10-worst-living-dictators/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation_of_Christ
http://listverse.com/2007/07/15/top-10-incredible-recordings/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party
http://bible.cc/genesis/1-27.htm
http://bible.cc/genesis/1-1.htm
http://listverse.com/2009/10/09/top-10-eerie-recordings/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200007/is-there-sixth-sense
http://listverse.com/2012/06/29/yet-another-10-bizarre-medical-tales/
http://www.squidoo.com/jesus-is-the-light-of-the-world

Lady Diana "....an insane society"