elizabeth kerr

I think most of us give up when we face difficulties, not just insurmountable odds, because we are self-oriented and committed to ourselves before God. We make plans we think will benefit us but when we encounter difficulties, we decide that the difficulties destroy the benefits and we quit. A Christian who perseveres in faithful service to God in the face of difficulties is a person who --- believes God knows everything, is present everywhere always, and is all-powerful, --- believes God is sovereign and controls everything, and as our Creator, has the right to do whatever He wants with us, --- seeks direction and wisdom from God for all his endeavors: studying and meditating on Scripture to see what it teaches and how that applies to this particular situation, --- prays a lot about everything, and ---has picked up his cross and is following Jesus willingly to his death because overcoming these difficulties may, no ... will, result in great loss, disability, and even human death. (Matthew 10:38-39, 16:24-26; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 9:23-26, 14:27)

I disagree with Mr. Wilson that the vision Daniel saw in Chapter 8 does not have much application for us today; so, it does not require much interaction (= study? meditation about?) by us. Since it concerns the distant future (8:19 and 26) from Daniel's time, its fulfillment is coming closer. Today's MedoPersian Empire, Iran, has a huge army, an airforce, and a navy, with a large arsenal of weapons including rockets. It has enemies in the west (the Sunni Muslims in Syria and Iraq, and the Kurds), in the north (the Sunni Muslims in Turkey), and in the south (the Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and those ruling Bahrain and other Gulf states). Is it not possible that Iran will attack these enemies some day? Before the Roman Empire existed, Greeks colonized much of Asia Minor, today's Turkey, and ruled it when Cyrus conquered it and also later, when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire and took it back. Is it not possible that Turkey, formerly the site of many Greek colonies, is the goat that will eventually defeat the ram, Iran? We need to wait and watch. Right now, Iran and Turkey seem to be adversaries in a worsening conflict. Daniel was encouraged and impelled to pray for God to forgive Israel and Judah for their sins (for which He had punished them by sending Assyria [to Israel -- 2 Kings 17:6 and various prophets] and Babylon [to Judah -- 2 Kings 20:12-18, 25:1-30; 2 Chronicles 32:24-26, 36:1-21 and various prophets] to conquer them and take many of the people into exile as slaves) and to restore the people exiled from Judah to the land of Israel since the restoration of the people after 70 years of enslavement in Babylon was prophesied by God through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 2 Chronciles 36:21), BY HIS READING and probably by his meditation on JEREMIAH's PROPHECY. Daniel did what was natural or habitual for him: He read the Scriptures and meditated on them (Daniel 9:2) and he prayed even when he was forbidden to pray to God (Daniel 6).

I think that God's assurance to Daniel that "the saints of the Most High" would in the end receive the Kingdom of God and possess it forever has been, is, and will be most precious to God's people when those who know the Scriptures and are trusting God to do as He says are persecuted by nonbelievers. ***Since those who trust God must also know the Scriptures in order to know about God's promises and receive comfort and encouragement from them, this passage and the others like it should impel us to study the Bible intensively and extensively and to meditate much on its teachings. I think this promise, whether to the angels who are faithful to God or to the people who truly believe in Him, will be fulfilled after Jesus comes again and defeats God's and Israel's enemies and establishes the millennial kingdom for Israel. I mostly agree with Mr. Wilson's understanding of the four beasts in Daniel's vision. Since the original Roman Empire no longer exists, it must be revived and occupy all its original territories again. A look at a map of the former Roman Empire shows that most of its territories are now countries that have Muslim-majority populations and governmnets founded on Islamic law. With the past and current influxes of refugees and migrants from Muslim countries into Europe and the much higher birth rate of the Muslims in the European countries, the rest of the countries in the former Roman Empire have rapidly growing Muslim populations that may (will?) outnumber and overwhelm the nonMuslims sufficiently to force changes in their governments from secular to Muslim. So, even if the fourth beast is the Revived Roman Empire, it will be Muslim, not secular, Christian, or Catholic, even if its capital is in Rome. Another reason I think the Revived Roman Empire will be Muslim is that the fourth beast in the vision "crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left" (Daniel 7:7). The original Roman Empire did not crush and destroy its enemies unless they repeatedly rebelled like Israel did. If the conquered population obeyed Roman laws and didn't rebel, the original Roman Empire governments let them live pretty much as they wished. But as the Muslims expanded their control from Arabia in Mohammad's lifetime to include the entire Middle East, large parts of Central and South Asia, the northern half of Africa, and southern Europe, they completely destroyed the cultures and social structures of the peoples they conquered and imposed Islam and the Arabic language and Arab culture on the survivors. They were just like the Islamic State, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and their partners today. Today's Muslim "conquerors" crush and devour those they conquer and trample underfoot those who survive; they kill them or enslave them. I thank the God of Israel, the one and only true God, that He will judge everyone and punish those who reject Him to do evil. They will suffer eternal torment while those who believe in Jesus are in God's kingdom in heaven and rejoice to see God triumph over those who persecute us.

I do not think that Jesus called Himself "Son of Man" to be vague and avoid accusations of blasphemy and being killed before He had completed His ministry on earth. Any Jew who had studied the prophecies of Daniel would have recognized the title and realized that Jesus was calling Himself God. The use of this title did not help Jesus avoid the accusations of blasphemy: He was explicitly accused of blasphemy for telling the paralytic that his sins had been forgiven (Luke 5:17-26) and it can be inferred at other times that the Jewish leaders thought Jesus was blaspheming even though the Bible doesnot' explicitly say so. The Jewish leaders who did not believe in Jesus and the Roman officials could not have killed Jesus before the right time set by God in eternity. Jesus knew that He would be executed and taught His disciples about it beforehand (Matthew 16:21-28, 20:17-19; Luke 18:31-34) and when the time God had determined, the right time, came for Jesus to be executed, Jesus headed for Jerusalem (John 2:4, 7:6, 7:8, 7:39, 8:20, 12:23, 13:1, 17:1) and did not try to escape. But no man has the authority or the power to move ahead or to delay or to thwart the fulfillment of God's plan for God alone is sovereign over all.

I am one of those women who dress modestly, but I strongly object to being held responsible for making sure that a man or boy does not think or feel sexual **** when he looks at me. It is each male's job to discipline himself so that he does not **** after a female he sees. A woman's manner of dressing is not sufficient to keep a man from ******* after her. She can be modestly dressed and his imagination can still run wild about what is under the clothes. Even a woman in the Middle East who wears the burqa and hijab, which are required of her because "men cannot control their **** when they see any part of any woman," is not free from unwanted looks and touching and verbal comments or sadly, even rape, from some of the men who see her. A woman may offend God by her choice of clothing, but it is not because some man may **** after her when he sees her. That man is responsible for working with the Spirit to change his heart and mind and put to death his ******* after women who are not his wife. The woman he lusts after is not responsible for his ****; she is responsible for her choice of clothing and the motivation for that choice.

King Nebuchadnezzar could definitely have been merciful to those oppressed by him, his officials, and others in his kingdom, or at least he could have tried. If in doing so, he offended too many of his underlings, they might have revolted and overthrown him, replacing him with one who would have let them continue oppressing their fellow coutnrymen for their advantage. Sadly, oppressors often think like Ayn Rand the novelist that only they, the most powerful and wealthiest people in the community, are valuable, and everyone else exists to be exploited, chewed up, used up, spit out, and replaced, for the benefit of the oppressors. So, Nebuchadnezzar could have been merciful to the oppressed but it would have required a total change in his mindset and beliefs as well as in those of his officials who would have had to carry out his new commands. He would have needed a lot of help from God! And that was what God wanted from him: a complete change in his beliefs that led to a change in his commands and actions AND a corresponding change in his officials for the sake of the oppressed. It would have been a wonderful thing for all of Babylon. God's decrees, both promises and threats, are often conditional: If you disobey and sin, God will punish you, but if you sin and repent and cease sinning, God will not punish you or at least not so severely. Examples: 1) Jonah: God sent the prophet Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh, Assyria, that their empire would be destroyed. When the people and the king repented of their sins, God "relented" (changed his mind, some say) and did not destroy them. I don't think God changed His mind; I think the complete message to Nineveh was " If you do not repent of your sins and change your ways, I will destroy you, but if you do repent of your sins and change your ways, I will not destroy you" because that is exactly what happened. God does not lie and God does not change His plans. 2) 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 In response to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, God promised that if the people sinned and He sent drought or a locust swarm or a plague to afflict their farmland and if they then repented of their sins, humbled themselves, stopped sinning, and turned to Him, He would forgive their sins and heal their farmland. It can be inferred that if they did not repent of their sins, God would not heal their farmland and they would continue to suffer hunger. So, warnings and promises from God come with two possible outcomes: obey God and ... or disobey God and .... I think that is because God allows us to choose or at least think we are choosing our response to His command and uses these either-or situations to demonstrate His character attributes of agape-love, compassion, mercy, and kindness on one hand and righteousness, goodness, purity, just-ness, and hatred of sin and evil on the other hand. Nebuchadnezzar found out the hard way that God always means what He says. May we take God seriously and respond as He wants; it will be a blessing for us.

I don't think Daniel was afraid to tell the king the interpretation of the dream with its dreadful warning about the king's own future. He had the same faith in the same God that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had: The God of Israel was able to deliver them from any trouble, and so, even if He didn't deliver them from the current troubles, they would still trust Him and worship Him and serve Him only. Daniel was not wanting to tell the king the interpretation of this dream God had sent him because he had forgiven the king for his sins against Israel and Judah and so, was not looking for revenge, as Stanley T wrote in post 27. I find it difficult to say hard things like warnings and rebukes to other believers and even nonbelieving friends and family members because I don't want them to turn against me and then to influence others to also reject me, ostracize me, and drive me away since I am not trying to destroy our relationships. I am concerned that they won't even think about what I am saying to figure out if there is any truth to it and instead will just end our relationship with hostility. I think that the risk of losing the relationship is the real reason that I rarely speak up about the difficult things. This means I care more about our relationship here on earth, which will be temporary, than I do for his/her relationship with God, which will be eternal, and that I care more about myself than I care about him/her. I must change my thinking and my values and firmly determine that the other's relationship with God is much more important than our earthly relationship. And I must put my obedience to God and His glory above my earthly relationships with other people. I cannot do this on my own; so, I must plead with God to enable me and empower me to do so.

I think that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were neither resigned nor defiant as they faced the possibility of death by burning. They did not just give up and accept that they would die. They knew that their God was more powerful than Nebuchadnezzar and they trusted Him to do as He willed in their situation, believing that it would be the best. Neither was their attitude defiant: they were not combative, or contemptuous toward the king, they did not have the attitude that he could not tell them what to do. They simply boldly and firmly told the king that their God could deliver them from the furnace if that was part of His plan for them and that if He didn't, they would still trust Him to do the best. According to Randy Alcorn, God doesn't just make the best of bad situations. Rather, He intends all along to use the evil for ultimate good according to His plan. He also quoted Corrie ten Boom as saying "Every experience God gives us ... is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see." http://www.epm.org/blog/2015/May/11/no-pointless-suffering The Bible does not tell us what God's future plans for the young Jewish men were, but I suspect He used them mightily and gloriously.

God does not tell us everything we would like to know in the Bible, but He tells us everything we need to know in order to know Him as God, to trust and worship Him as our God, and to live in the ways that honor and glorify Him. The things He doesn't tell us, we don't need to know. The things He doesn't tell us, we can only speculate about. God does not tell us why the astrologers were watching the officials to see who would and who wouldn't bow down to the statue or if their seeing that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't bow down and worship it was just an accidental observation. He also does not tell us why they reported this observation to the king. Maybe they were jealous of the Jewish men because they held the top positions in the province, positions the astrologers desired for themselves. Maybe they believed that only Chaldeans should hold these top positions with power and authority over other Chaldeans. Maybe they hated the Jews just because they were Jews. Maybe they thought that all residents of the empire, or at least all government officials, should show their loyalty to the king by some test or oath, and would have reported anyone they observed not bowing down to the statue. Maybe they thought everyone should obey every command of the king without question or hesitation. These reasons are not uncommon throughout history and in some places, even today. In parts of the Muslim-dominant world, it is unacceptable, even criminal, for a non-Muslim to hold any position that gives him power and authority over a Muslim, even in a private company. Loyalty oaths are also not so rare today as well as in the past. In the 2nd century AD, some Roman emperors demanded that all residents of the empire take a loyalty oath that "Caesar is Lord," and ostracized and persecuted those who refused. God also does not tell us why Nebuchadnezzar was irate that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had not worshipped his statue, just that he was and tried to convince them to do so. Maybe it was his pride that objected to his being defied. Maybe he was embarassed that some of his highlevel officials whom he trusted had publicly defied him. Maybe he was concerned that since they did not obey him, they were planning to lead a revolt against him. Maybe he was worried that if all his officials did not obey his command and he let them get away with it, others would follow their lead and disobey others of the king's more important commands; such was the case when Queen Vashti refused to obey King Xerxes' command to appear before him and his guests when they were drunk - - the wise men of his court told him that he had to severely punish Vashti for her defiance or else all the other wives in the empire would despise and defy their husbands (Esther 1:10-22). I don't think it is wrong to think through these possibilities for things God does not tell us and to consider one more likely than the others; but I think we must not build our understanding of the passage on our speculation of what it was that God did not tell us.

The Revived Roman Empire will include all nations the original Roman Empire conquered and annexed; so, it will include much of central and southern Europe, the Middle East - including Turkey, Armenia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Syria/Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, the western part of Jordan, Egypt, and the entire North African coast. That is a lot more than we think of when we think of ancient Rome. {http://wordexplain.com/Nebuchadnezzar's_Statue_Dream.html ; by James T. Bartsch}} Mr. Bartsch also points out that most of this area is occupied by Muslims now and that even the European countries are becoming more and more dominated by Muslims due to their higher birthrate and the increasing immigrant and refugee population so that those countries will probably become Muslim-dominant in the future. So, we should not be surprised to see a Muslim, not Christian, Revived Roman Empire and a Muslim AntiChrist ruling the world before Jesus comes again. God does work in mysterious ways beyond my comprehension.

Genesis 40:8-41:32 Joseph also gave God the credit for interpreting the dreams when he interpreted dreams for the cupbearer and the baker (40:8) and the Pharoah (41:15-16, 25,28,32). And Pharoah made Joseph the second in command in Egypt; only Pharoah himself had more power and authority (41:33-57). Joseph humbled himself before Pharoah, and God used Pharoah to exalt Joseph in man's sight. Exalting myself is an effect of my pride deep inside. Pride always drives me away from God to worship myself and deep into trouble because I am no god but an unholy, ungodly, imperfect, limited, flawed and weak person on my own. Throughout the OT, God warned people not to be proud and arrogant, and judged and punished those who disobeyed Him out of pride (Leviticus 26:19; 2 Chronicles 26:16; Proverbs 11:2, 13:10, 16:18, 29:23; Isaiah 10:12, 13:11; Ezekiel 7:24; Daniel 4:37). God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13). 2 Chronicles 32:24-25; 2 Kings 20:1-19 After worshipping and obeying God for years and after God had miraculously healed him of a fatal illness, King Hezekiah of Judah became proud and showed off his treasures to the messengers from Babylon. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that God would punish Judah for Hezekiah's sin by sending Babylon to capture Judah and Jerusalem and take some of the people to Babylon as captives and slaves (2 Kings 20:14-18). Because Hezekiah repented of this sin, God didn't punish Judah in his lifetime (2 Chronicles 32:26; @ Kings 20:19), but He did punish Judah later .... Judah was just as proud and arrogant as Hezekiah! Likewise, when I exalt myself, if I do not quickly repent and humble myself, God will humble me. I should expect that my life will be worse than it ever was before I exalted myself.

I think that although Daniel and his friends's depended on God giving Daniel the content and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, they knew that Babylon's conquering Judah and their being taken captive and transported to Babylon as slaves to the king was God's punishment for Judah's sins ... and their deaths might be a part of that punishment; so, they knew that God might not grant their request. However, they knew that God could tell Daniel what the king had dreamed and what it meant, even if He chose not to, and so, they prayed to Him with their request. They worshipped Him as the one true God whether or not He did as they asked. They knew that their fervency in prayer, their righteousness, their faithfulness, their persistence, and their number did not guarantee that God would grant their prayed-for deliverance from execution; we cannot manipulate God to make Him answer our prayers our way. He answers the way He wants, and His answer is always the best for us. So, if God had not told Daniel the king's dream and its interpretation, it would have been because the best thing for Daniel and his friends was for them not to know and because God either had another plan for delivering them from execution or knew that their dying at that time was the best for them. Jesus prayed for His disciples in John 17 and other passages in the Bible either command believers to pray for others or give examples of them doing so. So, we should be praying for others, both for believers and for nonbelievers. Prayer is effective not because God does what we ask (many times He says NO!!!) but because it is one of the means God uses to transform us to make our thoughts, emotions, attitudes, desires, words, and actions conform to His, to make us more and more like Jesus Christ. Thus, He enables us to endure the hard times, remaining faithful to Jesus through the end. Today, many Christians are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus; we and they may pray for the persecution to come to an end, but God is saying NO. However, I have heard story after story of persecuted Christians proclaiming their faithin Jesus as they were tortured and even being executed. Their prayers were effective; God delivered them from persecution by taking them from this life to a better life in paradise. God always answers our prayers His way, which is the best way, in His time, which is the right time.

I think God totally determined the outcome of Daniel's request because Daniel's obedience to God, his trust in God, and his personal sanctification were vital, required for Daniel to fulfill his role in God's plan for Judah in Babylon and in Persia.

When I was in my mid-20s, I moved to southern Iran, near Susa. The first month was eerily unreal, and dream-like. The weather, the plants, the animals, and the physical characteristics of the land were much the same as my home in southern California, USA. I recognized the architectural style as being like that of old Mexico: the rooms were along the back and sometimes the sides of an inner courtyard. They were surrounded by a high wall with one gate along the road. The roofs were flat and there was a staircase going up top. If the family had livestock, the animals slept in the patio. But the culture was different, and I had to learn new rules so that I wouldn't offend the Iranians or get myself in trouble. The differences were great, especially for a single woman. Even under the Pahlavi Shah, there were things I couldn't do and places I couldn't go, just because I was a woman. I lived and worked there for 3 years and then I returned to the US because I knew I wouldn't ever marry a Muslim man and I couldn't live there forever as a single woman. Little did I know that six months after I left, the Shah would go into exile and all my coworkers would be evacuated with only one hour to gather their families and get to the airport which was about an hour's drive from our job site. I was a Christian when I went to Iran, but my faith had never been tested like it was when I was there. I knew only a couple Christians, also foreign women; they were married to Muslim men and weren't allowed to have Bibles or openly practice their beliefs. There were churches in town: one was a Chaldean church and another was Armenian, and I didn't speak Chaldean or Armenian. Alone, my faith faded into the background. So, I understand why missionaries were and are sent out as couples and teams. And I highly esteem the persecuted church, especially those prisoners who are alone in prison without a Bible. Their faith is tested and it remains strong and true even though torture and execution. The test I underwent was not as severe or horrific as what the persecuted believers go through, and still, my faith failed.

I think we humans try to oppress any and all who are "weaker" than we are, that is, those who are poor or needy or diffierent from us, because 1) we see ourselves as superior to them and think that therefore, we should have power and authority over them 2) we do not agape-love them because they are not us 3) we consider them to be evil 4) we consider them to be uncivilized and incapable of becoming civilized 5) we consider them to be stupid and incapable of learning 6) like Ayn Rand, we think that because they are not wealthy and socially- and politically-powerful, they have no value and exist solely for us to exploit for our benefit and then they are to be destroyed and spit out and replaced with another valueless person 7) we think that we are too superior to do certain demaning jobs; so, we want to restrict certain other people to those jobs so that we can always find someone to do what we think we shouldn't do 9) AND ABOVE ALL, we are afraid that if we do not control them and keep them in their place, they will rise up and usurp our place either through education and effort or through violent revolts. I am sorry to say that I think there is only one thing Christians can do to prevent the unjust exploitation and oppression of the needy, the poor, and the different in our communities and countries, and it can be done only one person at a time. There is no whole-community or whole-country solution. The one thing we can do is to pray intently,share the gospel with individual nonbelievers, and then diligently and lovingly disciple those who become Christians through intensive and extensive Bible study, teaching them to observe what God actually says in the Bible, to think seriously about it trying to understand it, and then to apply their understanding of the passage to their lives. Only a true change of heart and mind accompanied by knowledge and understanding of what God teaches us in the Bible will result in the necessary true change in attitude and conduct that will cause each new Christian to stop oppressing others. Since not all residents of a community or country will become true Christians, since not all who say they are Christians truly are, and since not all true Christians have studied and come to understand God's truth revealed in the Bible and applied it to their lives, the poor, the needy, and the different will continue to be abused, exploited, and oppressed by some in our community and our nation. Christians seeking political office will not be able to end the oppression and injustice written into law since candidates must adapt their beliefs and stands on issues to get sufficient campaign contributions and votes to get elected. So, they act just like the nonChristian politicians. There are things a Chrisitian can do to make sure he is not treating others unjustly or taking advance of them. If the Christian is a business owner, he can treat all his employees, suppliers, and customers justly and honestly and with agape-love, always doing and seeking good for each one. If the Christian is an employee, he can 1) treat all his fellow employees honestly, justly, courteously, and with agape-love, whatever their position in the company hierarchy compared to his, 2) not close his eyes to injustice, abuse, or exploitation done by other employees - - - he can speak to the one acting unjustly; he can encourage and support the victim; he can report the inappropriate behavior to his supervisor or employer - - - even though he will be risking his own job security by doing so. MOST IMPORTANTLY, a Christian must always treat another person with agape-love, recognizing that he is valuable since he was created in the image of God and God agape-loves him, even if he is not a Chrisitian.

The parts of the text that indicate that this child would be the Messiah are in verse 7: 1) "Of the increase of his government there will be no end; and 2) He will reign on David's throne ... from that time on and forever. Only the Messiah, God incarnate, can reign forever without an end to His kingdom. Human kings eventually lose their place as ruler either because they are removed from office by someone politically or militarily defeating them, or because they die. The pairs of words (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince Of Peace) either describe 1) the god the child's parents worshipped {If was common in that part of the world in ancient times for parents, especially kings, to give their sons names that described the god they worshipped. In Hebrew, in addition to the names given here, these names would include names ending in -el such as Daniel and Ezekiel and -iah such as Isaiah and Jeremiah.}, or 2) the child himself, in which case the child would be the Messiah. I cannot say that right now I need just one of these characteristics attributed to the Messiah to be more prominent in Jesus' acting on me than the others; I need all of Him. I always need His wisdom and guidance, His power and authority, His shepherding, and His peace in reconciling me with God the Father by the forgiveness of my sins which He bought with His shed blood.

I think Yahweh (and His Messiah Jesus) was a "stumbling stone" and "a trap and a snare" for the Israelites in that they did not believe in Him and so, were not attentive to His commands and warnings about disobeadience. The OT prophets (and Jesus and the NT apostles) interrupted people's lives, their course of action, and their plans most unexpectedly. God's message in these instances was always 'contrary' to the people's thoughts, warning them of their sins, and commanding them to obey God. When the people refused to obey God, they stumbled over Him. When God's wrath for their sins was full, He would punish them and they would fall and be broken - - - defeated by their enemies, occupied and oppressed and enslaved, or exiled from the land, or utterly destroyed/exterminated (as was the case with the Canaanites, Genesis 15:12-16). I think that people stumble over God even though He is almighty and righteous and as our Creator, is sovereign over us and has the absolute right to command us to do what He says and demand our obedience, because they do not believe that He is the one true God above all gods, or that He is powerful enough to do what He says He will do, or that He has the right and the authority to tell us what to do, since they deny that He created us or anything else.

I think the gist of Isaiah's prophetic instruction to Ahaz was that he should trust God to deliver Judah from the king of Israel and the king of Aram/Syria(Damascus). Even though God had told Ahaz through Isaiah that the threatened attack by Israel and Aram would not happen, Ahaz did not trust God, and so, he sent envoys to Assyria with tribute to plead with the king of Assyria for protection from the attack. I think Ahaz didn't trust God because he didn't believe the God of Israel was the most powerful god and able to defeat Judah's enemies who worshipped different gods. Because Ahaz didn't obey God, Judah became a vassal of Assyria, and many years later, Assyria conquered all the fortified cities of Judah and besieged Jerusalem but didn't conquer it. I think it is hard for me to obey God because I want to be in control of me and my world and I naively and blindly think I can. Also, I think I know better than God, as if I am smarter than He is because (1) I think more highly of myself than I ought to -- and even when I know this, I don't want to admit it, (2) I don't know myself as well as I think I do, and (3) BUT THE MOST SIGNIFICANT REASON is that I don't know God as well as I think I do, and I never can know Him fully since His thoughts and His ways are much higher than mine.

Since God does not want anyone to reject Him, to refuse to believe, to harden his heart, to be lost, to die unrepentant and unsaved, and to be condemned to hell forever (2 Peter 3:9), I think God was just telling it the way it was and is. The Jews were not and are not any more stiff-necked and hard-hearted than the rest of us. Isaiah's task was impossible if he expected everyone to repent of their sins and turn back to God when they heard the messages God gave him to deliver to them. If he had observed how people had responded to other prophets (like Moses) in the past and had noticed that some repented and turned to God when they heard the message from God but many, even most, did not, he would not have expected different responses this time. But he would have been frustrated and saddened by the negative response because he loved his people and didn't want them to be condemned. This prophecy probably made Isaiah's task worse, or rather more difficult, for him because he was reminded that many or most of the people he loved would reject God's message and therefore, be condemned. Jesus quoted this prophecy of Isaiah's in Matthew 13:10-15 when His disciples asked him why He spoke to the people in parables. He had just taught the parable of the sower (v 1-9) and after this comment, He explained it to His disciples (v18-21). I am sure the farmer sowing the seed (Jesus/the preacher/the believer telling others about Jesus) will always experience some frustration, some tension, and some sadness. This is because so many who hear the message will either not believe at all or will believe but not be fruitful, just like too many (in the farmer's opinion) of the seeds he sowed did not germinate and grow into healthy plants that produced more seeds, the fruit being just the packaging to protect the seeds until they are harvested. Only God knows if a particular person will ever believe in Jesus, but we whom God uses to tell people here on earth about Jesus must persevere in hope because any of the people we tell about Jesus could be one of those who come to believe.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ living in Pakistan and Nigeria and Syria In these difficult days, may this prophesy from the Lord encourage you and comfort you as you endure this time of testing and persecution unto death. There is hope in Christ! Some day when God says the time is right, all war and fighting for any reason will end and peace will reign under Jesus as King. For now we must endure faithful to Jesus, remembering and reminding one another that He is coming again as King and all will be good then. Until then, may God strengthen your faith in Jesus, may God give you the power and trust in Him that you need to endure whatever horrors you face, and may you remember that God loves you and is sovereign over all. I love you and I pray for you. This prophesy is very encouraging to me. In today's world, we know that people will not all agree that the God of Israel is the one true God or that they should worship and obey Him because His ways are the righteous ones, but God says it will happen ... some day. Then, all people, Jews and Gentiles from all nations, no matter what god they believe in today, will believe in the God of Israel, the Triune God in One: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, and will worship Him and revere Him and obey Him. Then, we will agape-love one another and each will give up his rights and desires for himself to look out for the interests of the others. We will no longer be enemies and we will seek to resolve any disputes Jesus' way - with repentance and forgiveness, not vengeance or war. Praise the Lord. I eagerly look forward to that day.

According to Isaiah 1:2-4, the people of Judah did not realize that they were God's children, that they belonged to Him. They acted like they were independent, owners of themselves (Deuteronomy 8). When I, a Christian, forget or reject the fact that I belong to God because He bought me for a price (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23) ---Christ's suffering as a human, His torture and crucifixion as a criminal at the hands of the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers, I too rebel against God and live my way, my sinful way, for my own benefit, gain, and enjoyment, my own good, or so I think. In Isaiah 1:15-17, God accused the people of Judah of: -shedding the blood of, of murdering (innocent?) people (v15); -acting unjustly (v17); -oppressing others (v17); -taking advantage of, abusing and exploiting defenseless, fatherless children and widows (for their financial gain?) (v17). Maybe they sinned this way against other Israelites, not "foreigners." Either way, these behaviors violate the Law Moses delivered to them from God: 1) do not murder (Exodus 20:13, 21:12; Deuteronomy 19:1-14); 2) act justly (Exodus 23:1-8; Deuteronomy 16:18-20, 19:15-21); 3) do not oppress others (Deuteronomy 15:1-18), not even aliens (Exodus 23:9); 4) do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan (Exodus 22:22); ALSO SEE: Leviticus 19:1-18; Deuteronomy 5. God declared that the people's continuing to rebel and practice sins was unreasonable (in Isaiah 1:18-20) because: -God's eternal power and divine nature are evident from all He created (Romans 1:20); -the Israelites had the Law of Moses and the prophets to teach them what God required of them. Moses taught them the Law and reminded them of the consequences of disobeying God (Leviticus 26:14-45; Deuteronomy 28:15-68), and so did Joshua (Joshua 8:30-35). God offered the sinful people of Judah forgiveness, cleansing, and blessings if only they would repent and obey Him instead of continuing to rebel against Him and disobey Him (Isaiah 1:18-19).

Believing that Jesus Christ will return to earth and that all will be judged at that time should make me desire and strive to live a life worthy of Christ: resisting temptations; choosing not to sin; acknowledging and repenting of those sins I do choose to commit; forgiving those who wrong me from my heart; demonstrating agape-love to all others; making the God of Israel, of the Bible, my only God; agape-loving and obeying God; making my sanctificaton and telling nonbelievers about Jesus the top priorities of my life. Then and only then will I be ready whenever He comes. Some Christians may believe Jesus will return but not let that belief affect their lives. Therefore, they do not feel any urgency to repent of their sins, to stop sinning, to become more like Jesus, or to tell nonbelievers about Jesus. More "Christians" seem to believe that Jesus will not come again. Instead of focussing on what God in the Bible tells us to do: tell others about Jesus; love other people, and above all, love God, they focus on "fixing" human society and the earth: putting an end to social injustice and poverty, caring for the abused environment and animals. In the end, they seem separated from God and attached to nonbelievers, a universalist god-in-all, and the earth. They close their eyes and as if blind, do not see God judging people for their sins. I have asked myself but I don't know the answer: Are these people who have taken their eyes off God and Jesus and made the earth and its human people and its animals their priority, truly Christian? They think they are the true Christians and those of us who do not follow their ways are not.

It is important for us to understand what Peter meant by "perish" in verses 6 and 9 because that will help us see how serious and sure the coming judgment of God on man for our sins really is. - - > Because of our sins, we will perish when God judges us unless we have a saving relationship with Jesus. Knowing that if a person does not have a saving relationship with Jesus at the time of his death or when God comes in judgment should make me --make my relationship with Jesus, my sanctification/my transformation into Christlikeness the top priority of my life --make telling others about Jesus my second priority; and here I sin because sharing about Jesus is not a priority for me and in fact, I have rarely said anything about Jesus to a nonbeliever --make edifying other Christians, exhorting them to obey God, and encouraging them in the faith my third priority, and this I do. I think that we Christians ignore or neglect the teaching that nonbelievers will perish and be condemned to hell for their sins at the time of God's judgment when Jesus comes again because we don't believe it is true. Too many of us deny that God will judge and condemn to hell those who reject Jesus because 1) we cannot accept that God Who is love (1 John 4:16) would treat people in such an unloving way, and 2) we do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6; Ephesians 3:12; Acts 4:12). We believe that everyone, no matter what they believe, is on the path to approach God the way He wants. As a result of not believing that nonChristians will be judged and condemned by God, we Christians do not think it is necessary to tell them about Jesus or to test our own faith and beliefs by God's teachings revealed in the Bible, and we think that it is acceptable and even approved by God to bring the ritual practices of non Christians into our worship and prayers - -practices such as yoga, labyrinths, and mantra/contemplative/centering prayer and visualization to seek a mystical encounter with "God". A correct Biblical understanding of God's judgment will be taught in our churches only when the pastors and elders believe it is the truth and are willing to risk their positions of leadership and their memberships in the local congregation they lead, to teach it. If the members of the congregation become more accepting of ecumenical and interfaith connections with those who believe differently, they will reject the truth of God's judgment more vehemently.

We sinners have stopped talking about sin - - stopped declaring that sin is evil, stopped calling for people to repent and turn from their sins to God, stopped admitting that we ourselves are sinners who still sin, stopped believing that we need a Savior because we cannot stop sinning on our own and we cannot deliver ourselves from slavery to sin - - because we have convinced ourselves that we are innately good, not born sinful and not having evil in our hearts; because we think that we are able and powerful enough to control ourselves and choose for ourselves to sin or not to sin whenever we are tempted; because we do not believe the devil and the demons really exist; and because we want to hide our misdeed and errors and sins from everyone else and pretend we have not done anything wrong. It is as if we think that if we don't talk about sin, it doesn't exist. So, I think the motive for our not talking about sin is more than wanting to keep the financial supporters of the congregation happy, more than wanting to have a large and growing congregation, more than political correctness, ......... It is false teaching, a denial of the truth of the Bible.

I think that flagrant, defiant sin enslaves the sinner the same way all other sins enslave the sinner: 1) Sin builds a barrier between God and us. 2) We hide behind that barrier, thinking we can hide our sin, but we can't. God sees it anyways and eventually so do other people. 3) Instead of repenting of our sins, we reject the judgment of our conscience and rationalize our sin as acceptable and good. Thus, we shut down our conscience. 4) The next time we are tempted to sin, our conscience does not warn us, and so, it is even easier to sin. Eventually, the sin becomes a habitual practice and we don't even recognize it as sin. Thus it has become our master; we are its slave. There is a way out of a sinful practice. It is an arduous, treacherous path, and we will encounter natural hazards along the way, but also human- and demonic-made ones: 1) more and varied temptations; 2) persecution from our sinning "friends" who joined us in practicing these sins and want us to continue with them; 3) a lack of practical support and encouragement in quitting from those who are not practicing the same sins [Just look at how little the rest of us help drug addicts and ex-cons who are striving diligently to overcome their sin, change, and build a socially-acceptable life!] ***We will fall, and we will need lots of strength and persistence as well as encouragement and support from others to get up and start over again. Above all, we need help from God, Who amazingly often? usually? uses other human beings to help us. Loving the sinner and hating the sin is difficult since we tend to merge the person and what he does into one and then to consider the action to be a permanent characteristic of the person that determines his worth or lack thereof. EXs: We highly value the work of a surgeon; so, we consider a surgeon to be a valuable member of our community. We sort-of value the work of a truck driver; so, we consider him to be a just-okay member of our community. However, we detest the use of illegal drugs; so, we consider a drug user to be a criminal and we do not want him in our community - - he has a negative value. As a result, we do not help him, we more often try to force him to leave; most communities protest the presence of a drug rehab facility in their area. Sad, ...how selfish we are. When the sinner is someone we knew and loved before he sinned, we can still love him and we will agonize over the sin that is enslaving him. But if the sinner is someone we didn't know before and our first encounter with him brings us face-to-face with the consequences of his sin for us, and maybe with its effects on him, it is hard, initially impossible, to separate the sinner, the person, from the sin he has committed and maybe is still committing. Too often we just want to get rid of him, to move him a way from us, so that we will not have to deal with him and we can have our peaceful enjoyable life back. {Look at how city governments, and even the state government in Hawaii now in the summer of 2013, is trying to make homeless people, some of whom are homeless due to their sins but some not, move away by paying for their transportation to someplace else. I first saw a sheriff do that in 1971 in a small New England town.} *****I do not know of any sure way to separate the sinner from his sin in our minds and hearts and to love him while we hate his sin. BUT I know that it will take a mighty work of God in us, and it will probably be painful and scary. In hopes of not being judgmental and condemning of those who sin, we must 1) remember that we are also sinners who have and are and will continue to commit multitudes of horrible sins in this life, even though we are true Christians; 2) remember that it took God's power to save us from the penalty for our sins and the power of sin to enslave us now; 3) remember that if we don't cling to God and obey Him, we may be tempted to commit the same sin we condemn someone else for and we may choose to commit that sin or one even "worse." Even as Christians, the evil sinful nature is still in us and battling our new Spirit-filled nature for control. For us Christians walking close with Christ, sinning or not sinning is always a choice, not an automatic one but one supported by prayer, dependence on God, and the commitment to obey Him.