Word Welder

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 3.2

Part 2 Rehoboam Outline: A Legacy of Sin Rehoboam’s Counsel Rehoboam’s Losses Book Tie-in 1. A Legacy of Sin (Continued): As human beings made in God’s image, our will is our single most defining trait. In a world of scientific forces, and complex creatures governed by carefully designed programming, human beings are unique because we alone possess will. It is a concept that we take for…

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 3.1

Part 1 Rehoboam Outline: A Legacy of Sin Rehoboam’s Counsel Rehoboam’s Losses Book Tie-in 1. A Legacy of Sin: And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah…

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 2.3

Part 4 4. Jeroboam’s Son At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.– I Kings 14:1 The conclusion of Jeroboam’s story comes in chapter 14. I title this section Jeroboam’s Son, because there’s something very special in this passage that I think most people miss. The story opens with Jeroboam’s son, named Abijah, falling sick. Right away I noticed something interesting. Jeroboam has been…

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 2

Part 2 3. Jeroboam’s Sin (Continued) Jeroboam’s placement of the idols was also no accident. One sin leads to another, which leads to another. This is why when Christians sin it’s called backsliding, because we don’t tend to just go down one step, we slide. Jeroboam places one of the calves in Bethel. Just as Shechem was important as a political and military place of council, Bethel is a…

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 2

Part 1 Jeroboam Outline The Man Jeroboam’s Rise Jeroboam’s Sin Jeroboam’s Son Book Tie-in 1. The Man And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.I Kings 11:26 Jeroboam was the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which we can just call “Israel” to simplify,…

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Kings of Israel - Lesson 1

Introduction This study is based off of the Sunday School curriculum Truths from the Throne, copyright North Valley Publications, which was provided to me for this class. However, I am not a big proponent of adult Sunday School curriculum myself and prefer a less structured and more organic atmosphere in adult Sunday School. Adult Sunday School is not, in my view, to just be another sermon,…

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God calls Christians to repentance, and then to sanctification. But sanctification is a hard process. Sometimes it involves upgrading our faith, and moving on to a higher level.

Upgrade Your Faith

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Let's Resurrect Easter, Christians

In terms of holidays observed by Americans, Easter doesn’t really measure up. It’s generally considered (at least by my reconning), to be inferior to Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, and Forth of July, but in an ill-defined way better than Valentines Day or Saint Patrick’s day. It might rate similar on many people’s scales to Memorial Day, as a holiday that is mostly eating related, with some…

Let's Resurrect Easter, Christians

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The Point of No Belief

The picture above is just a meme I saw. It will pop up from time to time on social media or as an “inspirational message ” on decor. The message is pretty straightforward: don’t be too proud to leave a path you’re on just because you’ve been on it for a while. But what I have realized lately is that this can be much, much harder to do than it seems at first. Indeed, there are people, I believe,…

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Great Occasion

Part 2 of a study in II Samuel 12. Today we look at the results of David's sin, and why God punished David so severely because of it.

Eli Fell, both literally and figuratively. [This is part two of a study on II Samuel 12, that began last week with my article, Thou Art the Man.] Earlier we took a look at David’s failure with Bathsheba. We explored how he was forced to come to terms with his sin and how Nathan accomplished that. As we rejoin David and Nathan at the throne room, David has fallen into the prophet’s trap and his…

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Thou Art the Man

[This is a two-part study on II Samuel 12, but as I was composing the part 1, it became clear that it was too long, so I will have to publish part 2 next week.] Today I just want to take a break from social issues and do a little Bible study, a little dive into II Samuel 12, and take two separate and yet connected thoughts out of this passage. This passage has of course received a lot of…

Thou Art the Man

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The Problems of Child Pageantry

Likely my most controversial post, but it needs to be said. Our culture has been normalizing the sexualization of these functions, and it is wrong.

 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.Luke 17:2 Everyone knows that pedophilia is evil, including the people participating and fighting for it to be legal. That is because everyone knows, regardless of how left-wing or progressive, or simply anarchistic they are, that children are not…

The Problems of Child Pageantry

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Cancelled by the Culture

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.Exodus 23:2 Sometimes when I write an article, I wonder if I am falling into the blogger routine of producing written content about whatever is going on in order to get views, since that is currently what is getting traction online. But frankly, I don’t do it to get views. I know my audience is small and my views are typically unpopular. I also…

Cancelled by the Culture

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Update to Worthy

This past week I performed some maintenance on my book, Worthy, which is the first of two books that form the preamble to my main series in the Legends of Àea. I was very pleased with both the paperback and the hardback book versions, but noticed much later that the QR codes provided in the front and back were broken, due to my getting my own domain at WordPress. Thus, I felt the need to do an…

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The God of the Dead

Recently, I saw a video from Ken Ham, the famed Christian apologist and creationist (I personally think the two should be synonymous, but not so). In it, he addresses an argument that many Christians make, who want to reconcile God with evolution. Now, to me, knowing what I do about God and evolution, the two are unreconcilable. Christians have been trying to make it work for decades, since the…

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Man's Problem with Christ's Atonement

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.Galatians 3:11-12 As next week is Resurrection Sunday, that we also call Easter, I think we should go address an uncomfortable issue that is fundamental to why so many turn to other religions and away from the…

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A Lesson in the Lesser of Two Evils from Stalin

My latest article delves into politics, but only because of how Trump relates to Christians. They fawn over him, when clearly he is and has always been the lesser of two evils.

Amicus meus, inimicus inimici mei The above is the original Latin phrase translated into what we know today as the ancient proverb: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This can a useful concept in war, and it goes hand-in-hand with the another martial/political philosophy: the lesser of two evils. As Aristotle wrote: “…for the lesser evil is reckoned a good in comparison with the greater…

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