Monthly Archives: April 2014

The Three – Sealed With A Name

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Inspiration, Spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

The mark of the beast is the beast’s name and it’s in contrast to the seal of God, which is God’s name. In both cases, we end up with one or the other name written on our foreheads. Having the Father’s name means belonging and acceptance.

But if we look deeper, we see that the word name in the Bible refers to character. One of the most beautiful examples in scripture is in Exodus 33 and 34.  Chap 33:19 God says to Moses, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the NAME of the Lord before you. Then he tells him he has to hide moses in the cleft of the rock as a full revelation of God would be overwhelming. A few verses later in chapter 34, God appears:

“Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the NAME of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

What happens when we worship something? We become who we worship. If we choose to worship the beast, we will become like the beast, we will manifest his character; we will receive his mark.

Those that have the Father’s name written on their forehead are those that belong to God and because they belong to God they manifest or reflect his character. The father’s name – his sealing – is not something you can get or do or earn – it’s what happens when you find your being in Jesus Christ and allow God to love you into all you were created to be.

Don’t let this happen to you

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in Observations

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Did you hear about the guy that met a woman at the post office?  He was at the post office to pick up his case of free M&Ms that were sent to him because he forwarded an e-mail to five other people to celebrate the fact that the year 2000 was “MM” in Roman numerals.  Anyway, while he was there he met this woman and they hit it off so they decided to go out to lunch together.

Next thing the guy knows he wakes up in a bathtub full of ice.  He was sore all over and when he tried to get out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEY HAD BEEN STOLEN!  That’s when he saw a note on his mirror that said “Call 911!” He was about to dial the phone when it rang and a voice on other end told him to press #90.  He had heard that doing this would allow a criminal to have full access to his telephone so he quickly hung up.  He decided to try and get to the pay phone across the street.

Well he made it to the pay phone and he called for an ambulance.  As he stood by the phone he thought he might as well check the coin return but when he pushed his finger into the slot he was jabbed by a dirty needle!

Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital – that’s the one where that little boy who is dying of cancer is staying and the Cancer Society is going to pay 5 cents for each e-mail he receives from complete strangers.  (Personally I sent him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of x’s and o’s in the shape of an angel because the message said that I would have bad luck if I didn’t send that one to at least 10 people.)

Anyway, the guy got to the hospital and he is expected to make a full recovery though the hospital bills are growing every day.  He was worried about going broke when he received an e-mail from Bill Gates himself!  It turns out that Bill Gates is offering people a free Disney World vacation and $5,000 and all he had to do was forward some e-mail to his friends. Unfortunately, as he was about to forward the e-mail for Bill Gates to all his friends he opened a new message called “A Card for You” or maybe it was “A Virtual Card for You” (I can’t remember but details aren’t important anyway)!  Little did he know that he was about to be struck by a virus so horrible that even CNN is warning people about it!

I wouldn’t think anybody could suffer such misfortune but the police department has confirmed the entire story.

(This is my homage to stupid emails of yesteryear and the people who believe/forward them.)

The Three – What’s In A Name?

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Inspiration, Spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

In my last post, I wanted to show that the mark of the beast is the beast’s name and it’s in contrast to the seal of God, which is God’s name. In both cases, we end up with one or the other name written on our foreheads. This runs to the very core of who we are and what direction our life is taking.

Okay so what does it mean to have the Father’s name?

In one sense, it’s about belonging.  As the song goes, I am my beloveds and he is mine.  When I was little, my dad was out of the picture but when I was 7, my mom was married to a man I now call dad.  After they were married, he adopted me as his son and I have his name.

Have you been adopted by your dad in heaven?

Phone Life

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Observations

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Mobile devices have become ubiquitous. It seems to me that fairly soon, the words we associate with them will become part of life – kind of how Kleenex is the word for all facial tissue. Here’s some examples of how this will likely play out.

Blackberried – When you show up late for something, when you drop the ball or miss out. Example: The party started at 7 but I blackberried it and missed all the food.

Android – When your life is really scattered and you’re inconsistent across the things you do. Example: He seemed like a good hire but he would start something and then only do it half way. What an android.

Windows/Surfaced – The sad and lonely feeling you get when nobody wants you around. Example: I’m so windows today. Or: Hey are you going to the dance? No, I just end up sitting by the wall and surfacing.

iPhone – Those times when you get things just right or when you’re proven yourself really reliable. Example: Have you noticed that Kyle has really improved everything we do? Yes, he really iPhones it.

The Three – Marked

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Inspiration, Spirituality

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I apologize in advance for this being a longer than normal post.

In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

I would like to draw your attention to verses 9-11: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Do you see the repetition concerning worship of the beast and receiving the mark of the beast?  This is parallelism – saying the same thing twice for emphasis. These statements are like bookends and in the middle, we see the consequences for that way of life. So then, what is the mark of the beast?

Back in Revelation 13:15-17 we see the first mention of the mark and it says the same thing: those who worship the beast will receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that mark is the name of the beast.

The beast’s mark is the beast’s name. What’s the significance of that?

If we were to keep reading past the end of chapter 13 and into chapter 14, we see the a group standing in stark contrast to those who worship the beast. Check out Revelation 14:1. We don’t have time to go into it today but the 144000 is John’s symbolic way of talking about the redeemed; the rescued, those that know God and are known by God.

What do the redeemed have written on their foreheads?  God’s name. Repeatedly, John sees that those who love God with God’s name – his seal – on their foreheads.

In other words, those that are tight with God will have his name and those that are tight with the Beast will have his name.

This runs to the very core of who we are and what direction our life is taking.