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Do Two Wrongs Make a Right? Rizpah’s Story

Commentary on lesson 9, for discussion on Sabbath November 27, 2010.

By Jean Sheldon

Jean Sheldon, Ph.D., is Professor of Old Testament at Pacific Union College, Angwin, California.

George Becker, “Rizpah protecting the bodies of her sons” (1900) from Clara Erskine Clement, “Heroines of the Bible in Art” (this image from Wikimedia Commons).

At the heart of a story about keeping and breaking covenants, revenge, and ritual execution is the poignant action of a heartbroken, noble mother. That Rizpah and her two sons are named (whereas the five grandsons also slaughtered are not) suggests that who she is and what she does is of utmost importance to the story as a whole.

The story line is this: a famine rages throughout Israel for three years. So David inquires of Yahweh, who responds that bloodguilt rests upon Saul and his house because he put the Gibeonites to death. David then asks the Gibeonites how they might be avenged. After some discussion, they ask for seven of Saul’s sons so that they can put them to death before the Lord. Seeking to spare Jonathan’s house in honor of his their covenant, David takes the two sons of Rizpah and five sons of Merob and hands them over to the Gibeonites who put them to a gruesome death. This is where Rizpah actively enters the story. Taking sackcloth, she stretches it out for herself in some way involving a rock. She does not allow either birds by day or wild animals by night to descend on the bodies of her sons and the sons of Saul’s daughter. Starting this action at the beginning of the barley harvest, she keeps her relentless vigil until the rains descend that announce the end of the famine. Word reaches David of her behavior, and David responds by gathering the bones of Saul and Jonathan and then the bones of those recently put to death and by burying them in the ancestral tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The narrator ends the story with the words: “After that, God heeded supplications for the land” (2 Sam. 21:16c, NRSV).

The text of 2 Samuel 21 that contains her story is difficult in every way.

Textually problematical, it requires some picking and choosing to make sense of it. For example, was Rizpah Saul’s legal second wife or was she Saul’s concubine? [1] Who was the mother of the five grandsons—Michal, David’s first wife and youngest daughter of Saul, or Merob, Saul’s oldest daughter? [2]

Translating the text even where textually sound is also difficult. How were the sons of Saul put to death? Were they impaled, thrust down, or crucified? [3] Whatever the action implied by the verb used, the method of execution was gruesome.

But in a vastly more significant way, the story is difficult theologically. According to Deuteronomy 24:16, a son was not to be punished for the sins of his father, an injunction turned into a theological truth about God by Ezekiel (18:20). Yet the most obvious reading of 2 Samuel 21 is that the death of Saul’s sons (or grandsons) for Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites was at least expiatory; some would suggest it pacified God in some way. What are we to make of the ritual execution of Saul’s descendants? If, as David suggests to the Gibeonites, they are an act of kpr (atonement), then are they actually a human sacrifice? And what are the implications for God sending a famine for something done about thirty years or more prior when the culprit is already dead by his own hand? [4]

In some ways, the story centers around covenants or treaties, one made between Israel and the Gibeonites in Joshua 9, another between Jonathan and David in 1 Sam. 20, and still another between Saul and David in 1 Samuel 24. David’s choice of victims reflects at least the covenant between him and Jonathan, if not also the one between him and Saul. Perhaps Rizpah would have understood the treaty with the Gibeonites, in which the latter duped the Israelites into thinking that they were from a faraway land. She would have known that violation of such a covenant was punishable by God. Throughout the ancient Near East, broken treaties were punished by death and exposure. [5] Yet she only would have discerned this at some distance, since treaties were typically made by men.

So Rizpah would likely accept the fact that her husband violated a treaty with the Gibeonites for which her sons were to be punished by death. Accept, but unable to deal personally to the results. Her sons’ deaths were to mark the end of the drought—but how did she understand this?

Punishment in the Bible was sometimes understood to “turn away” Yahweh’s wrath. [6] It thus was considered “expiatory.” This is the sense that David gives to it, when he asks the Gibeonites: “What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” (2 Sam. 21:3, NRSV). To David the goal is to alleviate the land of Israel from the famine. But instead of asking Yahweh how He wants that done, he asks the Gibeonites what they want.

The Gibeonites seem restrained in their responses, as if reluctant to encourage retribution against Saul’s house. David presses the issue until they ask for the lives of seven of Saul’s sons. [7] To David, these deaths would assuage their wrath and thus expiate the sin of Saul. As the Bible mentions, the Gibeonites were Amorites, a term often in the Bible without specificity in regard to ethnicity. [8] Their request—to execute the sons of Saul “before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (v. 6, NRSV)—suggests that, in polytheistic fashion, they had added Yahweh to their pantheon of gods and believed that the famine did indeed stem from the violated treaty with them. The cruel death of Saul’s offspring would not only compare favorably to the kind of punishment expected of treaty violations, but would serve as ritual executions of expiate the sin of Saul and win Yahweh’s favor. [9] The Gibeonites expect it to end the famine; David expects this also—despite injunctions against child sacrifice and the punishment of sons for their fathers’ sins. [10]

Does Rizpah expect that these deaths will end the famine? Perhaps she does or perhaps she does not care. What she knows is that the bodies of her precious sons will lie in the blazing sun, with animals eating their remains and vultures picking up the tiny bits of flesh the animals leave behind. To suffer exposure (that is, lie unburied) was the worst of punishments; it was to be forever cursed and never to “go home” again. [11] Rizpah is ready to act as soon as her sons’ bodies fall together with their nephews on the mountain. Without explanation, this woman—without a voice, [12] without the ability to protest the decision of David and the Gibeonites—brings her own offering to Yahweh. Armed with sackcloth, the Israelite symbol of mourning and repentance, she stretches the cloth out “to the Rock.”

Most translators, knowing that the two Hebrew prepositions “to” and “on” are sometimes used interchangeably, translate these words, as the NRSV does, “spread it on a rock.” But taken literally, the Hebrew reads literally, “stretched it to the rock.” [13] The Masoretes made note of this in a hermeneutical device that ties this verse to two others in the Hebrew Bible: Isaiah 30:29 and 51:1. In both these texts the “Rock” is clearly a reference to Yahweh. Stanley D. Walters has done an analysis of these two passages and has found several “resonances with the story of Rizpah”. [14] Their main thrusts have to do with judgment and restoration, elements found in the story of 2 Samuel 21.

While we cannot be sure that Rizpah stretches her sackcloth “to the Rock” (i.e., Yahweh), the parallels with the Isaiah passages allow for the possibility for a double meaning, since “the Rock” as an epithet of Yahweh is fairly old. [15] If she is reaching out to Yahweh, her gesture symbolizes both her grief and possibly repentance. The rains have not yet come, and she watches over the bodies of the executed Saulites day and night to protect them against predators. Since her vigil starts at the beginning of the barley harvest and extends to the first rains that fall, we must conclude that Rizpah carries out her vigil for some time, even if the rain that comes is unexpectedly early. [16]

The question that the story raises is obvious: if the death of Saul’s sons and grandsons was required for expiation of his guilt and Yahweh was awaiting their death to end the draught, why did the rains not come immediately? Why did Rizpah not have to stretch out her sackcloth in the pouring rain?

Did David himself wonder this? When he hears of Rizpah’s action, he immediately goes to Jabesh-Gilead to get the remains of Saul and Jonathan, and then, collecting the bodies of the recently slain men, he has them all buried properly in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father. Rizpah’s vigil has clearly ended with that act—yet the story suggests that it ended with the termination of the drought—“until rain fell on them from the heavens” (v. 10b, NRSV). Are we to think that the rain began to fall as soon as David came to move their bodies?

The narrator must have these questions in mind, for he concludes the story—just after David properly buries the bodies—with these words: “After that, God heeded supplications for the land” (v. 14c, NRSV). In a sense, by burying the bodies, David symbolically undoes, in a limited way, their execution, because leaving the bodies exposed was part of the punishment for breaking a treaty.

Like a number of other stories in the Hebrew Bible, this story contains point and counterpoint. The point made seems to be that of ritual execution bordering on human sacrifice to repair a broken covenant made before God. But why offer the sacrifice? Do two wrongs make a right? Does this ritual slaughter of sons who are forced to suffer for their father’s sin make things right? And so Rizpah carries out symbolically the response that should be made. Whether or not she realizes what she is doing, her actions (as the narrator conveys them) speak of a counterpoint—repentance, not sacrifice. It hauntingly reflects something David himself says, for he prays it in his famous repentance prayer: “For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:16, 17, NRSV).

It is Rizpah, not David, who does what God requires. Her mother’s heart is broken; her spirit is crushed. She stretches her sackcloth to the Rock. She intends to guard the bodies of her sons until …

The rains still do not fall. Rizpah continues to wait and watch over the bodies. Finally, her sons reach their ancestral home. And the rains fall. Not sacrifice, not ritual execution, not expiation, but a mother’s sorrow, her silent vigil, and an undoing of the execution, lead to a healing of the land.

END NOTES

(1) In the MT, her status is that of a pilegesh (see v. 11); a few manuscripts including the LXXM have the words “Saul’s concubine” added to verse 8. P. Kyle McCarter, Jr. (II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, 1984], 439) rightfully sees this as a gloss. J. Cheryl Exum (“Rizpah,” Word & World 17 [1997]: 261) points out that a pilegesh “refers to a legal wife of secondary rank,” though it has often been translated as “concubine.” (2) The MT reads mykl whereas MTMSS with LXXLN have mrb. McCarter, II Samuel, 439 (3) NRSV reads “impaled.” McCarter (II Samuel, 436, 442) favors crucifixion. For a list of interpretations suggested by others, see Exum, “Rizpah,” 263. (4) This and other questions of ambiguity are raised by Bruce C. Birch, “1 and 2 Samuel,” in The New Interpreters Bible in Twelve Volumes, ed. Bruce C. Birch, et al (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 1358. (5) F. C. Fensham, “The Treaty between Israel and the Gibeonites,” Biblical Archaeologist 27 (1964): 96-100. Cited in McCarter, II Samuel, 442. (6) See, for example, the “impaling” of the chiefs “in the sun before the Lord” in Num. 25:1-5, NRSV. (7) As Birch, “1 and 2 Samuel,” 1358, notes: “The Gibeonites are pictured as reticent in this entire matter. They do not call for vengeance, but are approached by David.” (8) See George E. Mendenhall, “Amorites,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. I, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1992), 201. (9) The concept of “ritual execution” has been proposed by Birch, “1 and 2 Samuel,” 1358. (10) See Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 18:10; 24:16. (11) See Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, “Burials,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. I, 785. (12) Exum, “Rizpah,” 264. (13) The verb nth is used in the sense of pitching a tent. See Stanley D. Walters, “‘To the Rock’ [2 Samuel 21:10],” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 70 [2008]: 461. (14) “To the Rock,” 455. (15) See Deut. 32:4, 15, 30, 37. (16) Rains usually did not fall after the beginning of the barley harvest until November. The descendants of Saul were put to death in the month of Ziv [April-May]. So some scholars, such as McCarter, believe the rains to be likely “an unseasonable, late spring or summer rain” (II Samuel, 442).Read more at www.spectrummagazine.org

 

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ISLAM IN THE BIBLE

URL:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/43405472/ISLAM-IN-THE-BIBLE

Is Mohammed truly the last Prophet -- the fulfilment of Moses' prediction of a

coming great "Prophet...like unto me" (Deuteronomy 18:15)? Or is Mohammed

perhaps the greatest of a long line of false-prophets predicted in Deuteronomy 13:1-5

-- so that his testimony should be rejected? What is Islam? How does Church

History view it? And above all, what does the Bible say?

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Fear-Based Messaging May Influence Skepticism of Global Warming

Amplify’d from www.scientificamerican.com

Fear-Based Messaging May Influence Skepticism of Global Warming

A study proposes that fear-based messaging about an issue like global warming may encourage the audience to dismiss it. Christie Nicholson reports

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Earlier this year a Gallup poll found that 48 percent of Americans believe that global warming concerns are exaggerated. Back in 1997 31 percent of Americans thought the concerns were overrated. Why the increase?

Well it might have to do with the framing of the issue. Researchers surveyed students, measuring their skepticism about global warming and their belief in the justness of the world. Participants were asked how much they agree with the following statements: “I believe that…people get what they deserve,” and “I am confident that justice always prevails...”

Then half the participants read news articles that ended with dire warnings about the consequences of global warming; the other half read more positive pieces focused on possible solutions to the problem.

Those who received more positive messaging trusted the science. On the other hand those subjects who read the “doomsday” messaging were skeptical of global warming, and for those who think the world is generally a fair place had even stronger doubts about global warming after reading the negative messaging. The study is published in the January issue of Psychological Science.

So the authors note that while many tend to use fear-based messaging, in the case of global warming our reaction to a negative consequence may indeed overpower any logic.

—Christie Nicholson Read more at www.scientificamerican.com

 

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Angels Applying the Seal

By John Thiel

This study is a point of detail in the sealing work.

Revelation 7:1-3 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. The angels are saying hurt not the earth till WE have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This angel is saying to the other angels, holding the 4 winds, don’t let them go till we have sealed. The angels are doing the sealing. What can angels do to seal us? First, what are the angels? Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? God makes them flames of fire. They are ministers of God, ministering spirits. The work of the angels is ministering to us. Everything that God communicates to us is at the hand of angels. Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Whatever God communicates is signified and sent by angels. Angels have an integrated part in everything God does for us. Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all [of] gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which [are] upon the top thereof: 4:3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof. 4:4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What [are] these, my lord? Zechariah 4:11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick and upon the left [side] thereof? 4:12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? 4:13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be]? And I said, No, my lord. 4:14 Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. What was described? What did he see? What were they pouring? The Holy Spirit. The oil is running down the pipes to make the candle stick glow. The two angels receive of the Holy Spirit and pass it on to the pipes into the candlestick. Ministering angels pouring out the Holy Spirit from themselves into the candle stick. What is the candlestick? Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. The Church Revelation was written by John who received at the hand of the angel. The Holy Spirit came through the angel into John and passed through John into the candlesticks. This is how the church glows, by the Holy Spirit passing on from one to the other. The angels are the ministering spirits that bring the Holy Spirit to us. The pipes are channels. The seven stars are the seven angels which are the ministers in the churches. Ministering angels and beings are all channels. It’s a wonderful revelation of how the Holy Spirit works. He doesn’t work of his own accord, he works through channels. We are vessels as well. The story of the ten Virgins signifies this. The prophets and apostles who receive the word are channels. The people are the church. As they pour out the Holy Spirit from themselves to the church, what do the angels and the holy spirit have to do with the sealing work? The Holy Spirit is what the angels are ministering from. Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. What is the Holy Spirit for? We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. He is not the only one that exercises himself, there is more than one angel. These are the reapers that are doing their work. As they seal, they are exercising the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the avenue of the sealing work. What does the Holy Spirit seal among us? Isaiah 8:16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Seal the law! The law is to be sealed among his disciples. It’s a continuing chain of bible communication. Hold back the winds of strife. 2 Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. The angels are ministering to us Jesus Christ writing the law in our hearts. The candle stick is the church and the stars are the ministering spirits. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. An experience with Jesus is what the angels are ministering. We are epistles of Christ written in the heart, this is referred to in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Jesus will illuminate our heart. Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. The law is going to be placed into your mouth as well as in your heart. Proverbs 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 22:18 For [it is] a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge, the knowledge of Jesus in our heart. What is put into the heart is put into the lips. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. The sealing of Gods law in our hearts is powerfully expressed. Its not far away, its going to be placed very close to us. Romans 10:6-9 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above 7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The word will be in our hearts through the gospel. It will be proclaimed to us through the ministry. People who claim to believe in Jesus and don’t believe in the Ten Commandments need to be sealed. The angels have to seal these people in their foreheads, but it also talks about lips, Isaiah 6:5-8 5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. The person with unclean lips had to be cleansed and it was the coal from off the altar. Its burning, it’s alive. It touches the lips and purifies the person. The law and the lips. It’s through the work of the angel taking the coal. God is in the temple, he is sending out the man (angel) to slaughter those that aren’t sealed. But what else is this man to do? Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. This is the angel with the writers ink horn by his side. He is to put the seal in their forehead. Ezekiel 10:1-2 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. He takes coals from the altar. Those coals of fire are the Holy Spirits energy. What is he to do with these coals? Ezekiel 10:6-7 6And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. What is the angels work? To scatter the coals over the city. Seal those that are sighing and crying for the abominations, at the same time, he’s to touch their lips with coal. The coal is the Holy Spirit, the oil is the Holy Spirit and so are the flames. The altar of incense represents the prayers of people going up to God. It has to come through the angel, through the ministry, to me. The work of fitting in the lips and heart takes place when he is calling the people out of Babylon. Ezekiel 11:13-20 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? 14Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 15Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession. 16Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. 17Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. 19And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. All these chapters are telling of the sealing, and gathering the people out of the nations. Ezekiel 34:11-13 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. Everything that we have been studying is the exact picture we see in Revelation 14:12. If anyone who will partake of the beast and his image he will be destroyed by the plagues. Revelation 18:1-4 it says come out of her people, in Ezekiel it says gather the people. I will be there and then the end will come. The angels are holding back the winds of strife, the angel with the writers inkhorn is saying hold off. The Holy Spirit will seal them. They will be rooted in the heart… The whole full and final display will be the people sealed with Jesus in their hearts. What is the seal of the living that is placed in the foreheads of his people? It is the mark that angels, not man can see. The intelligent mind has seen the sign of the cross of Calvary in the Lords adopted sons and daughters. They have on the wedding garment and are obedient and faithful to all the commandments of God. BC Vol 7 page 963. It is not any seal or mark that can been seen, but a settling into the truth both intellectually and spiritually so that they cannot be moved. BC Vol 4 page1161. That is the sealing. Amen. Read more at sabbathsermons.com

 

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Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 717-671-7541.

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State police: Man driving on I-83 near Harrisburg shot another driver

Daily Record/Sunday News

York, PA - State police are looking for a man who they say was driving on I-83 and shot another driver. Police said the man and three people had an altercation in a Harrisburg parking garage, then left, with both cars heading toward the interstate. On the south bridge of I-83, the man pulled alongside the other car and fired several rounds into the other car, police said. He kept driving west on Route 581, police said. The driver of the other car drove himself to Holy Spirit Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound. Police said the alleged shooter was 5-feet-5 with buzz-cut short black hair and a thin beard, was wearing a long-sleeved sweater with red and white horizontal stripes and was driving a purple Hyundai Elantra sedan. Police did not identify the alleged victim. Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 671-7541. Read more at www.ydr.com

 

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Police: Tracking device leads them to computer thief

A tracking device embedded in a laptop led authorities to the man who stole the computer from a Dover Township home in 2009, according to police. Northern York County Regional Police said a 19-year-old from Dover Township was charged Friday in juvenile court because the crime occurred when he was under the age of 18. On Sept. 19, 2009, police said, a laptop computer was reported stolen from a home in the 1600 block of Blue Jay Drive during a burglary. Three months later, a Canada-based business that monitors tracking devices placed in electronics contacted police. After the stolen laptop had been turned on, police said, it began sending signals to the security firm. "While the thief enjoyed use of the internet including sending messages . . . (that included) pictures and detailed descriptions of illicit drug use and other criminal activity, he was unaware the lap top was sending mirrored messages to the security firm," Northern Regional Police said in a news release. Police said they collected the messages as evidence, including information about time the suspected thief spent in Rhode Island and elsewhere before coming back to York, where he planned to sell the laptop at a pawn shop. The computer has since been recovered, police said. The 19-year-old, who police did not identify, is charged with the following crimes: unlawful use of a computer, computer theft, criminal trespass, theft and receiving stolen property. The man remains free pending his juvenile court case. Read more at www.ydr.com

 

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President Obama Promises Missile Defense Shield For All NATO Members

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President Obama Promises Missile Defense Shield For All NATO Members

Venit enim Filius hominis quaerere et salvum facere, quod perierat. (Luke 19:10) BBC News reports US President Barack Obama has said a missile defense system covering all NATO countries has been agreed at the alliance's summit in Lisbon. The shield will cover all NATO members in Europe and North America. Hopefully it will include Israel. NATO will ask Russia to co-operate on missile defense and join the system, and that sounds great. Leaders are meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today, who is attending the summit. The Book of Zechariah, chapter 12 in the Old Testament, verses 7, 8, and 9, makes it clear that God will ultimately save Jerusalem and its people. But to the surrounding nations, which will attempt to conquest Jerusalem, God will cause great trouble. So yes, the missile defense system is a good idea which makes a lot of sense. Furthermore, Christ explains in the Gospel of John that the supporters of another religion ultimately will try to kill both Christians and Jews, thinking they by doing that will serve God, see John 16:2. "Vigilate itaque omni tempore orantes, ut digni habeamini fugere ista omnia, quae futura sunt, et stare ante Filium hominis", Luke 21:36. Read more at ohlundonline.blogspot.com

 

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False Shepherds

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False Shepherds

Image (Courtesy) http://www.flickr.com/photos/heart_windows_art/1764344541/

I have been shown that the false shepherds were drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. The truth of God is sealed up to them; they cannot read it. When they are interrogated as to what the seventh-day Sabbath is, whether or not it is the true Sabbath of the Bible, they lead the mind to fables. I saw that these prophets were like the foxes of the desert. They have not gone up into the gaps, they have not made up the hedge that the people of God may stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. When the minds of any get stirred up, and they begin to inquire of these false shepherds about the truth, they take the easiest and best manner to effect their object and quiet the minds of the inquiring ones, even changing their own position to do it. Light has shone on many of these shepherds, but they would not acknowledge it and have changed their position a number of times to evade the truth and get away from the conclusions that they must come to if they continued in their former position. The power of truth tore up their foundation, but instead of yielding to it they would get up another platform that they were not satisfied with themselves. I saw that many of these shepherds had denied the past teachings of God; they had denied and rejected the glorious truths which they once zealously advocated and had covered themselves with mesmerism and all kinds of delusions. I saw that they were drunken with error and were leading on their flock to death. Many of the opposers of God's truth devise mischief in their heads upon their beds, and in the day they carry out their wicked devices to put down the truth and to get something new to interest the people and divert their minds from the precious, all-important truth. I saw that the priests who are leading on their flock to death are soon to be arrested in their dreadful career. The plagues of God are coming, but it will not be sufficient for the false shepherds to be tormented with one or two of these plagues. God's hand at that time will be stretched out still in wrath and justice and will not be brought to Himself again until His purposes are fully accomplished, and the hireling priests are led to worship at the feet of the saints, and to acknowledge that God has loved them because they held fast the truth and kept God's commandments, and until all the unrighteous ones are destroyed from the earth. The different parties of professed Advent believers have each a little truth, but God has given all these truths to His children who are being prepared for the day of God. He has also given them truths that none of these parties know, neither will they understand. Things which are sealed up to them, the Lord has opened to those who will see and are ready to understand. If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error. I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors. I saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines the commandments of men. The influence of such gatherings is not good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness. I saw that we have no time to throw away in listening to fables. Our minds should not be thus diverted, but should be occupied with the present truth, and seeking wisdom that we may obtain a more thorough knowledge of our position, that with meekness we may be able to give a reason of our hope from the Scriptures. While false doctrines and dangerous errors are pressed upon the mind, it cannot be dwelling upon the truth which is to fit and prepare the house of Israel to stand in the day of the Lord. Early Writings, pp. 123-125. Read more at endrtimes.blogspot.com

 

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Family television? Better think again

Amplify’d from endrtimes.blogspot.com

Family television? Better think again

MEDIA MATTERS Family television? Better think again

Obscenities in primetime skyrocket, 276 'f-words' found in only 2 weeks

Obscene language on primetime television, according to a new study, is on a meteoric rise in both frequency and intensity – with the 'f-word,' for example, being spoken or bleeped 25 times as often as it was only five years ago. The "Habitat for Profanity" study, conducted by the Parents Television Council, compared primetime programming from the nation's top broadcast networks in the first two weeks of the 2010 and 2005 fall seasons. The study found that not only has overall usage of obscene language increased by 69.3 percent since 2005, but also that harsh obscenities have increased most significantly in the first hour of prime time, the so-called "family hour" of 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time. During that hour alone, the use of a bleeped "f-word" rose from 10 instances in 2005, to 111 instances in 2010. "Our analysis of the first two weeks of this still-new fall television season shows a disturbing trend that shocked even us," said PTC President Tim Winter in a statement. "Profanity is far more frequent and the profanity itself is far harsher than just five years ago. Even worse, the most egregious language is being aired during the timeslots when children are most likely to be in the audience." He continued, "While broadcasters continue to claim that they can regulate themselves, this type of increase in profane words aired on scripted programming - not on live broadcasts that are the subject of ongoing judicial review – suggests otherwise. Are we to expect a 69 percent increase in TV profanity every five years?" Winter also criticized TV broadcasters in light of a decision made last summer by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the ongoing Fox v. FCC case. In July, the court's three-judge panel tossed out the Federal Communications Commission's indecency rules, which had put limits on language and content in broadcast television programming. The court called the regulations "unconstitutionally vague and chilling." How did America go from "Leave it to Beaver" to prime-time porn in just a few decades? Find out where America's plague of corruption and contagion really came from. "After the Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the FCC's congressionally-mandated authority to enforce the broadcast decency law," Winter said, "industry and media pundits predicted a sharp increase in the amount of profanity on television. Sadly, they were correct." He continued, speaking of the recent increase in obsene language: "Is this a coincidence? Is it an aberration? Or is this exactly the path that broadcasters and the 'creative community' in Hollywood set out when they began launching their legal attacks against the broadcast decency law?" In the study, the PTC analyzed use of obscenity on all entertainment programs aired from 8 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET on the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, UPN and the WB in 2005; and ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and the CW in 2010) during the first full two weeks of the fall television premiere season, for a total number of 124 programming hours in 2005 and 128 programming hours in 2010. Movies, news programs and sporting events were not included in the analysis. Among the most significant findings in the study were the following: Comparing the total number of words uttered or bleeped, obscene language on prime time programming increased 69.3 percent from 2005 to 2010. The largest increases were in use of the harshest obscenities, while the greatest increase in harsh obscenities occurred in the 8 p.m. ET time slot, where the bleeped or muted "f-word" jumped from 10 instances in 2005 to 111 instances in 2010. Across all networks in all primetime hours, use of the bleeped "f-word" increased from 11 instances total in 2005 to 276 instances in 2010 – a jump of 2,409 percent. Across all networks in all prime time hours, use of the bleeped "s-word" increased from 11 instances in 2005 to 95 instances in 2010 – not counting the title of the CBS show "$#*! My Dad Says" or NBC's scripted, unbleeped use of the word in an episode of "30 Rock" – an increase of 763 percent. Several other crude phrases and anatomical or sexual references increased as well, such as "balls," "boobs," "screw" and other lewd terms. The only tracked words to be used less often in 2010 than in 2005 were the words "damn" and "bastard." The Fox broadcast network showed the greatest per-hour increase in use of obscene language from 2005 to 2010, with an increase in all obscenities across all prime time hours of 269 percent. The study concludes, "Freed of regulation in the wake of the Second Circuit Court's castration of the FCC's powers of enforcement, Hollywood's 'creative' personnel and their TV network distribution outlets have deliberately unleashed literally unparalleled levels of profanity and graphic language upon the public – the most egregious of it in a timeslot in which children are most likely to be in the audience. "By so doing," the study states, "these 'creative' personnel – and the networks which employ them – exhibit continued defiance for the broadcast decency law, the American people whose airwaves they use, and the very concept of acting 'in the public interest.'" Source Read more at endrtimes.blogspot.com

 

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Calamities Blamed on God's People

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Calamities Blamed on God's People

Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol which he has set up. His agents point to Seventh-day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. "These people stand out in defiance of law," they say. "They desecrate Sunday. Were they compelled to obey the law for Sunday observance, there would be a cessation of these terrible judgments." Calamities will come--calamities most awful, most unexpected; and these destructions will follow one after another. If there will be a heeding of the warnings that God has given, and if churches will repent, returning to their allegiance, then other cities may be spared for a time. But if men who have been deceived continue in the same way in which they have been walking, disregarding the law of God and presenting falsehoods before the people, God allows them to suffer calamity, that their senses may be awakened. The judgments will be according to the wickedness of the people and the light of truth that they have had. If they have had the truth, according to that light will be the punishment. Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they [leading men] think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sunday-breaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God, these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance. They think that by exalting this false rest-day higher, and still higher, compelling obedience to the Sunday law, the spurious sabbath, they are doing God service. Those who honor God by observing the true Sabbath are looked upon as disloyal to God, when it is really those who thus regard them who are themselves disloyal, because they are trampling under foot the Sabbath originated in Eden. Maranatha, P. 177. Read more at endrtimes.blogspot.com

 

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