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Before the first coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, there was a voice
which cried out in the wilderness
giving people then and for us now, a
commission each as individual must
fulfill, if we are to have a part in God's
kingdom. This commission is spoken
of in the first four books of the New
Testament- Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. It was first spoken by the
prophet Isaiah. "The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, Prepare you
the way of the LORD, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be made
low: and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the LORD shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together: for the mouth of the LORD
hath spoken it" (Isaiah 40:3-5).
In the New Testament Luke
quoted the verse in Chapter 3. "As it
is written in the book of words of
Esaisa the prophet, saying, Prepare
you the way of the Lord, make His
paths straight. Every valley shall be
filled and every mountain and hill
shall be brought low; and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough
ways shall be made smooth" (Luke
3:4-6). This is a commission that we
have all been given, "To prepare the
way of the Lord, make His paths
straight."
As quoted earlier the prophet
Isaiah wrote about this before it
happened. In the New Testament the
voice that was crying out in the
wilderness was that of John the
Baptist. He is the one that brought the
commission from God to all of us.
The definition of
"wilderness"in the Strong's
Concordance gives the translation
as: that of a desert, desolate, and
solitary in numbers 4057 and
2048. The Oxford Dictionary gives it
as: being a desert, an uncultivated and
uninhabited region. The wilderness is
a place that man can not really survive
all that well. So why is John going
about crying in the wilderness when
there may not be anyone there to hear
what he is saying.' In many of the
circumstances the Bible uses
symbolism and it take a little deeper
research to be able to find the meaning
behind the word "wilderness."
Looking farther down in the
Oxford Dictionary it gives the Biblical
meaning of "wilderness," which is an
unheeded advocate of reform. With
this definition we might be able to
come to a conclusion as being a
civilization disregarding the change
that is coming about. We see this
happening in our time today. We can
see this in the way that some of the
Churches of God are postponing
God's Holy Days, and not keeping
them in their appointed time, as He
has commanded us to do. They are
being an unheeding advocate to
reform. Having this information, helps
us to see that we need to take heed of
the changes that are required.
This brings us up to what the
commission is that God has given us
to do as individuals. And that is to
"Prepare you the way of the Lord,
make His paths straight." The word
prepare means to make ready. We
must first make ready so that the Lord
can use us as He will. He will not
force anyone that is unheeding or
unwilling to make changes in their
ways of life. He wants a willing
advocate to reform as the cry goes out
to us in the wilderness of this world.
By taking heed to God's calling and
repenting of our sin we are then
making ready for the way of our Lord,
so that He can live in us. This will
make us one with Him as He is one
with God our Father and as God is one
with Christ, so will we be one with the
Father. In the gospel of John this is
made clear "That they all may be one;
as You, Father, are in Me, and I in
You, that they also may be one in Us:
that the world may believe that You
have sent Me" (John 17:21). God's
called out ones, should know that
there is only one way to God and that
is through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me" (John
14:6).
How can we make His paths
straight? By making His paths become
our paths in life. By this way we can
see the way to eternal life through the
life of Jesus Christ in us.
By repentance we can make the
paths smooth as we read in Luke.
"And he came into all the country
about Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins;
As it is written in the book of the
words of Esaias the prophet, saying,
The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make His paths straight. Every
valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought
low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough ways shall be
made smooth" (Luke 3:3-5).
These things are symbolic to
the things that are happening in our
lives if we put our trust and faith in
the Lord, then we too will over come
the rough places as He has had to do.
In the book of Hebrew we are told
Christ was tempted by all points as we
are. "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" (Heb. 4:15). So by
obeying the things the Lord has put
before us, we too can over come them
as Christ has. In doing so we are
preparing the way of the Lord and
making His paths straight in our lives.
What a wonderful Father we
have, one who is all loving, forgiving
and merciful. He has provided us with
everything that is needed to be in His
kingdom. Lets us now prepare for the
second coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and know without any doubt
that God's Will, will be done on earth
as it is in Heaven.
John E. Post
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LAUGHTER
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Laughter really is the best
medicine. Laughter lowers the blood
pressure and increases the vascular
blood flow and oxygen to the blood.
It also reduces our level of stress
hormones.
Laughter exercises the
diphragm and the abdominal,
respiratory, facial, leg and back
muscles. Laughing 100 times is
equivalent to a 10 minute workout.
A good chuckle also defuses
the damage done by negative
emotions, such as anger, fear and
sadness, which can cause harmful
biochemical changes. So laugh it up.
Drew Carey, made some
interesting statements at the White
House corespondents dinner in 2003.
In the audience was the
President and his wife, the Vice
President and his wife and other very
important people from both the
Democrat and the Republican parties
and other important people.
Drew Carey made several
funny remarks and then made these
statements:
"I can't watch the news lately,
it gets too depressing. What I do is
turn the news off, get out my bible and
turn to the book of Revelation. I start
just checking things off...., got it, got
it, need it,...Red Dragon, seven horns,
ten crowns, got it.
Yeah, I read the Bible a lot,
you know -- it's just crazy -- we
celebrate holidays in the United
States. I found out just recently there
are so many religious holidays we
celebrate here in this country that
have nothing to do with the Bible at
all. Real famous holidays, like
Christmas. Christmas had nothing to
do with the Bible.
The birth of Jesus is in the
Bible, but not Christmas. The tree's
not in the Bible, you know, gifts -
that's not in it either. There's no
place it says, 'celebrate my birthday,
says Jesus.' It's a pagan holiday that
the Romans invented that we just do!
But everywhere you go, I'm telling
you, I've seen this so many times, you
see a big nativity scene and there's
baby Jesus, the manger, sheep,
shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and Santa
Claus right in the middle. Who's he?
Mary's lamaze coach? Santa Claus
has nothing to do with anything.
Neither does the Easter bunny
- Easter is another pagan holiday
that's not in the Bible. Every Easter
you don't hear anything about Jesus
on the cross. All you hear about is the
Easter bunny. The Easter bunny this
and the Easter bunny that. Why is the
Christian religion the only one that
needs a mascot to sell their stuff? You
don't see Jewish people out
celebrating with a Passover
kangaroo! There's no Ramadan
rooster!
Halloween's another big
holiday- Satanic holiday - nobody's
bothered by that for some reason.
You know fun for the kiddies!!
When I was going to church
they always told me Satan was the
most evil one - he's the one you must
watch out for.
Now, once per year the whole
country says "hey, let's party with this
guy!" It's ridiculous!!
There's a Catholic Church
down my street that used to have
Halloween parties every year for the
kiddies....now with all the scandal and
commotion that may change."