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Jipsah · 2025-12-01T21:20:49-0600

essentialsaltes said:
I rolled boxcars, the Flat Earthers are destroyed.

View attachment 373879

Cthulhu fhtagn!

Job 33:6 · 2025-12-01T21:20:10-0600

2PhiloVoid said:
Actually, language has at least a little to do with the contexts that affect how something is written, being that language is always used in tandem with the background culture and traditions of the peoples or peoples who developed the specific language used for a particular rhetorical moment or a piece of writing............even one that comes by way of a not completely known process of communication from God in ancient times.

Yea this is exactly right.

It's like in America how we have phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs". A non-american might be confused by a statement like that. But language and culture are quite entwined in many ways that I think most people are so accustomed to, that they don't even notice.

Man that job was a piece of cake!

Hey don't spill the beans, it's a secret!

Hey, stop pulling my leg!

Wow, he really hit the nail on the head.

Well, that only happens once in a blue moon.

And on and on. And every language and culture is entwined. But of course in the Bible we miss all of this because we simply have English translations.

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It's not as though God has a long nose and instructed Moses to call him "long of nose" in the Bible. It's just part of the Hebrew culture.

Adam, the Hebrew word for "humanity". Before it was even a name, it was simply a Hebrew word. Hebrew, a language invented by people that didn't even exist when Adam would have lived.

linux.poet · 2025-12-01T20:59:07-0600

MOD HAT ON

This thread is permanently closed for flaming and goading.

Starting a thread to goad and flame those who believe differently than you is not allowed. Nor is responding to flaming and goading with more flaming and goading.

If you are flamed, do not respond in-kind. Alert staff to the situation by utilizing the report button.

Next thread over this disagreement needs to be more fair to the people on both sides of the debate instead of stating that differences of opinion on the subject are the protect of spiritual or experiential or intellectual deficiencies.

MOD HAT OFF

bbbbbbb · 2025-12-01T20:56:16-0600

Today we returned to the dark, gloomy weather with a fine, misty snow which gradually accumulated on the 10+ inches on the ground.

another_lost_guy · 2025-12-01T20:56:06-0600

I know we're not supposed to talk about fasting but I hope we can discuss it here without bragging. Have any of you attempted a 40 day fast? Did Jesus drink water during His 40 day fast or no? What happens when you complete the 40 day fast?

A Devil's Advocate · 2025-12-01T20:54:05-0600

Guojing said:
When you are using the phrase "age to come", you must have taken it from Paul.

If that is the case, then he actually specify three ages to understand scripture

Time past-Before Paul was saved
But now -Present age
Age to come-future

The present age is the age we are in now, before Christ's return. The age to come is after Christ's return when the heavens and earth are renewed and God's kingdom is now on earth. There is no longer any death.

timothyu · 2025-12-01T20:53:54-0600

Mark Quayle said:
What you just said is theology.

We made an institution out of it, not God

rockytopva · 2025-12-01T20:48:08-0600

The Charlotte, NC Iryna Zarutska killing. I hate to keep bringing it up but nobody cared to help. The Bible tells of the story of the Good Samaritan… “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

1. A Levite – Ignored him
2. The Priest – Ignored him
3. The Good Samaritan – Bound up his wounds, brought him to the Inn, and took great care of him

Two greatest commandments…. Love God… Love the neighbor…. In which Christ compares the Samaritan to the one who was the neighbor of he who was among thieves. It is a good thing to have compassion for those in trouble.

Iryna Zarutska’s boyfriend slams judge who let Chicago train burning suspect free despite 72 arrests

Stanislav Nikulytsia drew direct parallels between the horrific murder of his girlfriend, Iryna Zarutska, 23, in Charlotte, NC, in August, and the sickening attack on Bethany MaGee on the L train o…

nypost.com

All Becomes New · 2025-12-01T20:44:07-0600

jonojim1337 said:
View attachment 373831

Yeah it would be very shameful for a citizen of Rome to behave in this manner.

That's not true. In the Greek language, it is almost impossible to say "male virgin" because it was just assumed that if you were male, you would be having sex. This included prostitution and the ability to have sex with anyone who was below you in the social hierarchy.

hldude · 2025-12-01T20:41:19-0600

YouTube Channel Video Devo
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“The Time Will Eventually Come”
Proverbs 4:20-22 NIV
My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

At my job, we often have computer updates pop up with a message that a restart is needed for updates to take effect. There is usually an option to either restart immediately or to select a later time in the day instead. The times that these notices pop up are usually when I’m in the middle of my day and I have multiple programs open, so it’s not very convenient timing for me to close out of everything, restart and then have to open everything back up after the restart. So, every time the pop up comes up, I keep selecting the longest time I can wait to put off the restart.

The options I’m given are usually 4 hours, then 1 hour, then 10 minute segments until finally I am given the notice that I cannot wait any longer and the pop up will NOT go away until I restart. In the past I’ve tried to work around that pop up and it’s very annoying. Basically, there comes a point where I can’t put it off any longer and I have to restart my computer. I’m actually just putting off the inevitable. I’m trying to wait for a more “convenient” time for me to restart so that it’s not a time that disrupts my agenda.

This reminds me so much of our walk with God. There are changes that God wants to make in our lives and He wants to improve how we go about our daily lives. However, so often, we are content with what we are doing and we just want to put things off until we feel like changing. Or, we keep saying, “just a little longer and I’ll do it”. Yeah, how’s that working for us???

We are all so guilty of putting off the inevitable. We procrastinate, make excuses and keep going until we absolutely are forced to make a change. Man, we are stubborn, aren’t we?? We sure are! Friends, we need to understand that the time will eventually come to make changes in our lives that God needs to make. These changes are vital for us to live better lives. We get convicted by a message at church or a song we hear on the radio or by something someone else says to us and we know we need to make the change. However, so often we just keep going and say we’ll do it later.

Often, later never comes. And, just like the computer pop up, eventually something will come up in our lives to remind us that we cannot avoid the inevitable. It would really be better if I just closed out of all the programs, restarted my computer, and went with the changes to avoid future program issues. Just like life, we need to heed when God says we need a different route or we need to make changes. Putting it off usually won’t help us at all and can even hurt our relationship with Him and others in our lives.

The time will eventually come, so why not just stop putting it off and make the change?

ViaCrucis · 2025-12-01T20:40:17-0600

Aryeh Jay said:
Pro "American life".

"American*

*as defined by us"

BCP1928 · 2025-12-01T20:37:46-0600

ThatRobGuy said:
Right, but as I noted, any school changing their ideological mission would likely suffer the same fate.

If BYU decided tomorrow "we're going to stop being a strict fundamentalist Mormon school, and be a liberal school like Berkeley", they'd have the same issues.

If a bunch of students went to BYU specifically because of the strong moron influence, and a focus on engineering, and they up and replaced everyone with liberal Berkeley professors and concentrated more money on the arts and humanities, the student attrition would be high, the GPAs would drop, etc...

That wouldn't necessarily be immediately chalked up to a failure of the new liberal professors, would it?

That's okay, their strategy will soon turn on them. Like many MAGA educators, they have got hold of the "Western Classical Canon" and think they can spin it as the foundation of Christian Nationalism. I went to a liberal arts college with the Western Classical Canon and it made me a liberal, They seem entirely oblivious to the fact that in reality It was the foundation of the Enlightenment.

Delvianna · 2025-12-01T20:37:05-0600

There's this verse about the consequences of apostles ministry:

1 Corinthians 4:11 - To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

But you also had Elijah who essentially lived on the road, in the wilderness, in caves and stayed with others.

But the people I've talked to that are homeless all seem to draw closer to God and I can understand why. Because when you're in that much of a need, you tend to reach out for the only one that can watch out for you. If God makes sure even the birds are fed, how more precious are we than birds?

Matthew 6:26 - “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Landon Caeli · 2025-12-01T20:30:44-0600

The Secretary of Homeland Security responds:

Screenshot_20251201_182751_Samsung Internet.jpg

Christsfreeservant · 2025-12-01T20:28:55-0600

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (John 1:6-7,19-25 NASB1995)

John the Baptist was called of God, even before he was formed in the womb of his mother, to be “a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” But he was no one of any prominence or notoriety. He was just called of God, and he believed God, and he answered that call, and he did what the Lord called him to do.

But the Pharisees, who were Jews and people of prominence in the Temple, who taught the Scriptures, but who were skilled in hypocrisy, and did not practice what they preached, sent priests and Levites to ask John who he was. And they didn’t like John’s answers. So they asked him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

And what this immediately brought to my recall is how so many people today get hung up on titles and diplomas and denominational positions, as though that is what qualifies someone to be a servant of the Lord in taking the message of the gospel to the people of the world and in ministering to the body of Christ what will encourage us all in our walks of faith in obedience to the Lord and to his commands. But it doesn’t qualify anyone.

And yet, people who have religious diplomas from religious institutions, and thus now have titles before their names, are often raised up to some superior status above all other Christians. So, if you have gone through religious training via a church denomination, and now you have received your ordination or consecration, and so you are now an “official worker” in any church denomination, people will usually regard you as now qualified.

But biblically speaking, that is not what qualifies any of us for service to our Lord and to one another. What qualifies us is that we are called of God according to his will and purpose for our lives, and that he is the one equipping us and training us in what he has called us to do, his way, in his timing, and for his purpose, and that we are walking in obedience to his commands, living holy lives, pleasing to him, and that we are willing to do what he has called us to do, even if it gets us hated and despised in return.

For some people with titles and diplomas and notoriety may not even believe in Jesus, and they may not even be listening to the Lord and following his calling, but they may just be following their training and going through the motions of religious practice. And they may not even be teaching the truth of the gospel, but they may be following business people and their marketing gimmicks for how to draw in large crowds of people into their gatherings. And so they could be those who are teaching lies, which are not of God.

So, just because someone is an official worker of a church denomination, it does not qualify them for the Lord’s service. Just because they are called “Reverend,” or “Pastor,” or “Missionary,” it doesn’t mean at all that they are called of God and that they are being led by the Lord in what to do, as John the Baptist was. He didn’t have to be “the Christ,” or “Elijah,” or “the Prophet” to do what God called him to do. He just had to be obedient to God’s call on his life, operating under the control of God empowering him.

So, just know that God does not require college or seminary degrees or titles or church denominations’ stamps of approval on you. All he requires is that you love God with your whole being, that you are obeying the Lord, in practice, and sin is no longer your practice. And that you are willing and available to be used of the Lord, as John the Baptist was, in doing whatever God calls you to do with your life. And then just follow the leading of the Lord in being and in doing what he has called you to be and to do, and leave the results to God, even if it means you don’t have approval by some others.

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

What the Lord Says

Based off Isaiah 43:1-44:5
An Original Work / February 24, 2014
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

This is what the Lord says to you:
Fear not, for I have chosen you.
I have summoned you by your name.
You are mine. I died, you to save.

When you go through your trials, so deep,
I will be with you; you will not sink.
You are so precious always to me.
Trust in your Lord, Savior and King.

This is what the Lord says to you:
He who gave salvation to you;
Who delivered you from your sin;
Takes your burdens now upon Him:

Forget the former things of your life.
Give of your heart not now up to strife.
See all the new things I have for you.
Walk in vict’ry. Trust in what’s true.

This is what the Lord says to you:
He who made you; who will help you:
Do not fear what humans may do.
Walk in freedom. Follow what’s true.

Drink of my Spirit given for you.
Trust in my mercy, for I love you.
I have a plan for all of your life.
Follow my ways. Do what is right.

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Qualifications for Christian Ministry
An Original Work / December 1, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Hentenza · 2025-12-01T20:09:47-0600

BobRyan said:
indeed, instead of that we see verses all speaking of eternal fire and we take them all as dealing with the subject we are studying.

Instead of merely ignoring whatever does not suit our preference.

This is the easy part.

Jude is also dealing with that same feature of the those who are not saved.

LOST/wicked PERSONS:
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

you really don't have much wiggle room there. The author makes the very connections that your preferences do not tolerate

Didn’t ask for wiggle room. I explained in my post that Matt 25 and Jude are about people and both are about eternal punishment. I don’t see what it is you are arguing. In fact you seem to be agreeing with me.

BobRyan said:
Looks like it is the same great day of judgment that Jude speaks of.

Impossible to miss.

Not in the language of 2 Peter.

BobRyan said:
or the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah

Ezek 28 Satan destroyed and reduced to 'ashes on the Earth" as stated explicitly in Ezek 28.

But satan is not destroyed and turned to ashes instead is thrown into the same lake of fire as the beast, the false prophet, and the wicked to be tortured for ever (Rev. 20). So do you think that your interpretation of Ezekiel. 28 is correct given that you just put it in tension with Rev. 20? To put in tension is not a good thing.

BobRyan said:
The wicked destroyed as "ashes under your feet"

Mal 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.

You continue to interpret symbolic language literally. It seems that you just googled verses that contain the word “ashes” and are bundling them together to attempt to shore up your argument but all you are doing is mixing unrelated verses.

BobRyan said:
You seem to be digging the whole deeper for your own argument

Nah. I think you are getting more confused as you go.

another_lost_guy · 2025-12-01T20:04:14-0600

Why do we get mad at people for dressing up as Hitler or Nazis for Halloween but we don't get mad at people for dressing up as Satan or demons? People genuinely believe Hitler is worse than Satan today and it's ridiculous.

another_lost_guy · 2025-12-01T20:01:26-0600

I recently listened to a high quality upload of Late Registration on YouTube and it blew my mind. Diamonds from Sierra Leone is incredible. I listened to the album before but I'm not much of an audiophile so the quality never meant much to me until now. I posted this in the Christian Music board because I also like Ye's gospel tracks.

Valletta · 2025-12-01T20:00:43-0600

comana said:
I would love to hear Trump give a coherent summary of the history of any one of these conflicts, to include sociopolitical reasons for the conflicts, that he supposedly “brokered “. I would also love to buy the winning powerball ticket. And let’s be honest, the winning powerball ticket is the more likely of the two.

Studying the sociopolitical root causes, as Kamala did for the immigration issue, solves nothing. There is a lot of anti-Trump feeling which I feel gets in the way of people accepting or crediting Trump with success, but what Trump has done should be studied. We saw this negativity with the tariffs right after Trump suggested what he would do. Brokering peace deals is less straightforward, but the most important factor is dealing from a position of power. The Joe Biden statement indicating he would tolerate a minor incursion by Russia ended up causing more that a million casualties. The Biden people also freed up billions of dollars to Iran, the number one backer of terrorism in the Middle East. In contrast with that, Trump made a bold more, two-fold, allowing Israel to kill Iranian scientists and then having the U.S. bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. This gained the respect of the countries involved in the Middle East and in the rest of the world. Had a progressive been elected instead and tried to broker a deal that person probably would have gone through the United Nations. In fact Trump realized the United Nations was actually part of the problem.

St_Worm2 · 2025-12-01T19:54:30-0600

romansroad said:
“Do I still feel this anger and cynicism toward God”? I know all of that is foolish but I am desperate. I read passages like Hebrews 10:26-29 And I just know it’s talking about me.

Hello Romansroad, I've been meaning to jump into this thread since I first noticed it yesterday, so I'll do so now. My first question for you is this, why do you believe that Hebrews 10:26-29 is talking about you? Have you been continually and willfully rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

I ask, because that's the particular sin that is being referred to here (see v29), the sin that some of the 1st Century Jewish ALMOST Christians were guilty of committing, the sin that, if not repented of by them, would have left them without a sacrifice for their sins, since rejecting Him = rejecting the One and Only Sacrifice that could redeem them and save them from their sins, and from the Father's wrath in the age to come. There is no other Savior besides Him .. e.g. Isaiah 43:10-11.

So, the good news is, if you haven't fully/willfully/finally rejected the Lord Jesus as your Savior and Lord (like some of the 1st Century Jewish ~almost~ Christians were about to do), then you can rest assured that Hebrews 10:26-29 is NOT talking about you

romansroad said:
I am ashamed of all my willful sin.

GOOD

And here is pastor/theologian A. W. Pink to tell you why that's "good", and why it's so important (because loving God enough to be ashamed of our sins, and to turn from them after we commit them is one of the best ways that we have to prove, to ourselves and to others, that we really are the Christians that we claim to be).

Lost4words · 2025-12-01T19:47:21-0600

CoreyD said:
May I ask what changed your mind? Was it anything to do with this thread, or something else previously said?

Some research...

RabbiJames · 2025-12-01T19:46:26-0600

GENESIS 28:10-22

In this study, we see that Jacob is on his way to Haran to find himself a wife (or two). He is tired after a long day's journey. He stops to rest outside of a city called “Luz” (almond trees), and scripture says that he settles down for the night and takes “of the stones” (m'avenei) and puts “one” under his head for a pillow. I am sure that he chose a large, flat one, wrapped his tunic around it, and put his head down. Perhaps the stone was still warm from the heat of the day, and he went to sleep and dreamed.....

But before we get to the dream, I'd like to note that in all English translations, the number “one” appears which states that he took “one” stone, yet the Hebrew does not give a certain number, the word “m'avenei” is used meaning “of the stones” It could be that he took one “of the stones” or a few “of the stones”. All we know is that he went to sleep and dreamed a strange dream. We all know the story of “Jacob's Ladder”; we have read it in Bible storybooks and from the Torah itself. Yet I think that the title is misleading; it wasn't “Jacob's Ladder” at all, it was “God's ladder.” Jacob was just a witness to seeing it, and the activity that surrounded it.

The Word says that the ladder was grounded on the earth and the top reached Heaven, and angels went up and down the ladder. Then it says that YHVH stood at the top of the ladder and spoke, saying, “Ani YHVH. Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak” (I am the LORD, God of Abraham, God of Isaac). The same promise that was given to Abraham and Isaac is now being repeated to Ya'akov.

The word “ladder” in Hebrew is “SULAM” in gematria, which equals the sum of 136. The words “Tzom” (fasting) “Kol” (voice), and “Mammon” (money) also sum to “136”. So how do these words speak of Yeshua? Yeshua “Fasted” for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, he “voiced” his prayers to His Father in Heaven, and he taught about money, and “Tzedakah” (deeds of kindness) “it is more blessed to give than receive” he taught that we must put money in its proper perspective, since the “LOVE” of money is the root of all evil, he taught that one should be “content” with the wages received, (when speaking to the Roman soldier).

The land where he is currently located will be his possession and that of his descendants. The title and deed of the Land of Israel pertain to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. YHVH said it, case closed! The rest of the people who live there are “residents,” not owners! YHVH likens the descendants of Jacob to the “dust of the earth.” Why dust? Dust cannot be counted, ever try to count a “speck of dust?” dust will “last forever” also, lay something out in the desert for 1000 years, a car for example, in 1000 years, the car will be no more, probably not even a trace of it will be left, because the “dust” will have, in a way of speaking, “eaten it”. The dust is also “trodden upon.”

“Am Yisrael” (The people of Israel) will be forever, as our faith in our “Mashiach m'Yisrael” (Messiah from Israel) is an everlasting faith, which will endure forever. Israel has also been “trodden on,” stepped on, and mistreated, yet when all is gone and vanished, Israel will be forever. Scripture also says that Israel will be spread abroad to the North, South, East, and West. In other words, “All over the world,” and we have seen just that today.

We have Jewish people in all nations of the world, integrated among all the nations, taking the Torah with them, and the belief in ONE GOD (Echad). We have three major Jewish peoples: “Sephardim” from Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East. “Ashkenazim” from Germany and Eastern Europe, and “Falashim” from Ethiopia and other African countries. The Torah says, “In thy seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

Who is the Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Yeshua! He was of the seed of these patriarchs! And we are all blessed by HIM, whose one-time sacrifice for sin saved us all from eternal separation from YHVH. His name “YESHUAH” is “Salvation” from YAH.

When Jacob awoke from his dream, he stood the “stone” that he placed as a pillow, “upright” and anointed it with oil, calling that place “Beit-El” (House of God).

The word “stone” in Hebrew is “AVEN,” which is a combination of two words, AV (father) and BEN (Son), Father and Son as ONE (Echad). The anointing of the “Stone” reminds us of the anointing of YESHUA as Messiah, teacher of Torah, healer, and redeemer. He is the SOLID ROCK.

Something else we might notice is that the "stone" was laid flat as a pillow for Jacob's head. It must have absorbed the heat of the sun during the day, and at night, when the temperature drops, served as a "heated pillow." Once Jacob awoke, he put the stone upright. We might see some symbolism in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, placed "flat" in the tomb, lying down upon the stone floor, and then, being "raised up" from the dead, to life again. He is the "Aven", he is the "Solid Rock" of Salvation.

The ladder itself is symbolic. The sages and rabbis of old liken the ladder to “Moshe climbing up to the top of Sinai to receive the Commandments carved in STONE, and later, went up again for 40 days and nights to receive the whole Torah, which he later wrote down. He went UP, and YHVH came DOWN. We liken this unto “Yeshua the Living WORD, the living TORAH”. Other rabbis imagine the ladder as having 22 steps, each step being a letter of the Alef-Bet, the Hebrew Alphabet. Since all letters form words, we look again at Yeshua, who is the “living WORD, the living TRUTH The ladder is the “WAY up, and the WAY down. Yeshua said, “I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, no one comes to the Father but by ME.”

We can also see the first coming of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus to Earth. He came DOWN to live among men and women, to teach the Torah, to heal the sick and raise the dead, and to die for our sins. He went UP from the grave, conquered the curse of sin and death, and returned UP to heaven from the Mt. of Olives

The word “ladder” in Hebrew is “SULAM” in gematria, which equals the sum of 136. The words “Tzom” (fasting) “Kol” (voice), and “Mammon” (money) also sum to “136”. So how do these words speak of Yeshua? Yeshua “Fasted” for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, he “voiced” his prayers to His Father in Heaven, and he taught about money, and “Tzedakah” (deeds of kindness) “it is more blessed to give than receive” he taught that we must put money in its proper perspective, since the “LOVE” of money is the root of all evil, he taught that one should be “content” with the wages received, (when speaking to the Roman soldier).

How do these words speak of our relationship with Yeshua? We first come to “Salvation” (Yeshuah) through “Prayer” (voice) of repentance (tefilah/ teshuva), and there are times when we must “fast” to get prayers answered, and we fast on Yom Kippur. We “give money” through tithes and offerings to our local church/synagogue to keep it going. But who or what is the ladder really? Is there a correct answer? It is in the Brit HaDashah (New Testament). JOHN 1:51: Then He said,

“I assure you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the 'Son of Man'.

What is this “ascending and descending” mean? Could this have a meaning? All things, activities, and actions have meaning. One way we might look at this is that all angels are at the disposition of our Messiah. They serve Him day and night; they are also in our service, which is why we each have “guardian angels”. The angels going up the ladder might be because they are receiving instructions from Yeshua, and the ones going down might be carrying out the instructions (just an idea). This also reminds us of John 14:6;

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me."

Who was at the top of the ladder? YHVH (God himself), and if the ladder is "Yeshua" himself, then John 14:6 makes complete sense. He is the "way" to the "Father". Have you chosen to climb that ladder? Not to worry, you won't fall off. Our relationship with the LORD is "one step, one rung at a time."

The Liturgist · 2025-12-01T19:45:02-0600

Mockingbird0 said:
But the decision was controversial, with some Christians refusing to abide by it.

Some Quartodecimians refused to abide by it, but like Arians, their disobedience of Nicaea caused them to become anathema as soon as the First Ecumenical Synod was accepted as ecumenical by the ancient churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Cyprus, and the newly reinstated church in Jerusalem.

Mockingbird0 said:
Fact: The Evangelist Matthew's community were Torah-keepers, but there is no evidence connecting them to the Roman Province of Asia.

False: St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist spread the Gospel to Parthia, Pontus, and Ethiopia, where he was martyred. Also, contrary to popular opinion, the version of the Gospel of Matthew we have was originally written in Greek, not Aramaic or Hebrew.

godisagardener · 2025-12-01T19:38:40-0600

mourningdove~ said:
Some months have passed since you posted the above. Have you finished reading the book? Did you find that you liked it?

(Thinking of you! Best wishes for a blessed holiday season. )

I'm working on the book slowly but surely. It's BIG! So far it's good. But I've been reading several others

that are hard to put down.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I've been somewhat absent from the forum, checking in but not posting. Some health issues (nothing serious), some church issues that have really had me questioning the state of today's churches

. One of our cats passed away.

Just life things I guess.

Hope you're doing well. I'll give an update on the book later this week.

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