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Are we living in a society that presumes all things are inclusive for one another? All inclusive meaning, "if you are not educated about the facts, some imbecile is going to try and provoke you, then steal your position as they are very likely coveting you. They can only break in and steal the house with someone uneducated by the law. The commandments of the "sermon on the mount?" Can our society continue to divorce each other and not commit trespasses while remarrying? Test the Spirits, these are the laws of the prophets. 1 Corinthians 14:32. Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

Greetings! This is my first post here. I'm looking for a verse citation. Google searching gives me false positives and I'm hoping those who study Old Testament Bible prophecy on this forum can help. I discovered the passage this Summer during covid, but cant recall where in the Bible, save that I think it is in Isaiah or Jeremiah, but it could be in the lesser prophets as well. The verse conveyed this meaning: "If I, as a prophet, fail to deliver God's messages to his people that can save them from their sin and call them to repentance, then they will die but I will be held responsible" This isnt a passage I've ever heard in church. Any help is appreciated.

The Grim Reaper, the figure with in a black robe with a scythe, has allegorical understandings to him that pertain to the Bible. The allegory of farming and mankind being wheat or chaff has been used. The symbolism of "Death" with a scythe has been significant. Why is the Grim Reaper Grim? Dealing with Prophecy, The Prophets of the Bible may have given some hard prophecy. Various people dealt with understanding in different ways. The author of Ecclesiastes seemed cynical. He seemed to have come into understanding of how God has worked in history, and nothing new happens under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) The Truth hurts. Knowledge brings sorrow. Ignorance is bliss? The author of Ecclesiastes seemed to have issues dealing with hard understanding of Truth. Prophet Jeremiah was known as The Weeping Prophet. He loves his country and his people. He gave some hard prophecy such as instructing the soldiers in Jerusalem not to fight. Different people have dealt with understanding in different ways. A Judge like a Judge in a Courtroom needs to be honorable and impartial. He may be Judging someone to long periods of incarceration or death. It is a serious matter. Someone who become aware of God's Judgment or potential Judgments, and someone who God may have been working through may have had to be grim. He has The Love of God in his heart. He has a circumcision of the heart. He finds no joy in the Judgment. He is dutiful. Elisha and The Bears Elisha is a servant of God. As a servant of God, it may be important how people perceive Elisha. People understand that he has been a Prophet. How people perceive Elisha as God's servant may reflect on how people perceive God. Elisha may have been tied to God's Honor. Elisha is going about business God had set him on one day. He walks by some Occupy Protesting youths. They mock Elisha. Elisha blesses them with trials. (James 1:2-4) Later, two bears come kill 42 of their number. Why two bears? I don't 100% know, but God's style of leader may have been more "If Job can do it, so can you." King David fought bears and lions with his hands and club. (1 Samuel 17:34) What kind of man was Elisha? Elisha went through a trial with Elijah that may have been pretty intense. The Bible doesn't talk much about the Prophets before they were Prophets most times. In an understanding of God, we may be able to do some Spiritual Algebra and come close to a right answer. Elisha may have been quite the man, and also had some encounters with some bears. Two bears killed 42 of their number. Elisha, in his heart, could not enjoy it. He had to be grim. His heart needed to be level. Death and Christianity God is God of the living. Arch Angel Michael is said to take the righteous to God. Someone passing away may not be a bad thing. I found some songs about Death from a more Christian perspective. What is The Form of Death? I arranged said songs to tell a story and help give a better visual. When I Go Away Living in sin is like digging a hole. One day a man starts digging and doesn't know why. He digs down deep, and doesn't stop.A man passing through sees the hole, and looks down. He yells "Hey Crazy, what are you doing!?!"Man in the hole stops and looks around and sees how far he dug. What does he do? Does he lay down and die? Does he climb out? Does he just keep on digging? Let the Godly be Godly. Let the Righteous be Righteous. Let the filthy be filthy. Lone Wayfaring Stranger. To truly be born again, a man needs to die. He needs to die to the World. Die to the self. It is sort of like the pill in The Matrix. Which one do you choose? Cyanide. Death Came a Knocking. The Shakedown God's Judgement and Prophecy is serious and should be taken seriously. Someone may have to be Grim, with their heart level to be giving said prophecy.

Shalom to you brother/sister in the name of our Lord Yahushua (Jesus Christ), We often think a prophet as someone who only predicts future events, but a Prophet of Yahweh is much more than that. The Hebrew word for Prophet is Navi. The word means “to bubble forth” like a fountain. This should hopefully remind you of the Lord Yahushua’s words in the New Testament (Book of John) where He says how the Holy Spirit will be like a fountain of life within you. Consider the eternal nature of the word fountain for a moment. Where you would say a fountain of water actually IS? Is it in what is springing forth? Or is it in what has sprung forth already? Well, it's neither AND both. That is to say, it is what is springing (present tense) forth - that is the essence of a fountain. In the same way, the concept of eternal life can be seen as a fountain - it's a present thing you have, not had or will have, but rather “have now and ongoing”. So then, the Navi (Prophet) would be someone filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). The Spirit bubbles forth in the person and always brings Gifts! The Gifts brought to the Navi are often plentiful. They are given great miraculous power, unbelievable moments of invincibility, the power to control time and many other wondrous signs. But, whatever their calling, they all seem to share the same Gift of being able to hear the very words of Yahweh. Hearing the words of Yahweh is quite a glib phrase, when you truly consider what an incredible thing it must be! Hearing the very words of The Creator of the Universe speaking to you, personally, with a mission... absolutely incredible. It would surely have a tremendous psychological impact. So let’s take a moment to empathise with these chosen people. The Calling The Prophets would often describe how when Yahweh called them, He would speak to them very personally. In summary: “I know you Jeremiah. I knew you before you were born. I formed you in the womb with a special purpose in mind. To be my Navi to my people.” As you can imagine, this had mixed responses from the Prophets! However, they would all feel utter reverence to The Creator and instantly understand their uncleanliness, unworthiness, and feel very, very “earthy”. The Purpose The Prophets would go on to describe how Yahweh would then explain His purposes. An example might be “Isaiah, have you seen how my people are? They commit injustices, they oppress the poor, they abuse the widows, they worship idols on the mountains and then come to my Temple to offer a sacrifice, expecting me to accept it! These people worship me with their lips, but their heart is far from me! Therefore, go and tell my people this....” The Prophets would feel the hurt the Father felt, His deep sadness, His anguish, His disgust, His terrifying anger, His shock, His pain, His hope, His overwhelming love, His promises, His happiness, His laughter, His joy and even His singing. Yes, He sings over those He loves! The Road Ahead The Prophets would often describe how they were promised a tough ride. For instance, a Prophet may be told: “Moses, go and tell the pharaoh this..” or “Isaiah, speak my words to this people, even though they will not listen to you and despise you because of it” or “Jeremiah, keep speaking my words although you will be outcast from society and even your own family”. The Prophets were still only human and so found these times very tough. That said, they understood the heart message so much that it outweighed the hurdles of the tough times. Effectively, Yahweh prepared the Prophets for war and was being completely honest with them - but He would also promise that He would step in at times! It’s almost like He says “Look, it going to be tough out there for you boy. But I will be with you. I will strengthen you with my Spirit. I will give you the words to say. You will say this to that person and he will get furious, but I won’t let him harm you.”. That said, they did often get lynched by crowds or horribly killed. This is the way it must be sometimes - in Yahweh’s ultimate plan. Therefore, the selfless commitment of the Navi was to stand for truth, regardless of the cost. Their death was not only a sign for their integrity to the truth for the witnesses, but also a charge added against that wicked generation. At other times, the tough ride would involve acting out a theatrical prophecy with their lives. These would be very tough missions! We’ll look at each one of these as we go through the books individually. But these theatrical prophecies/analogies would help reach the uneducated, the curious, the ignorant and even empower the Prophet’s words (once they have a personal relation to the Father’s heart, through doing the act). Indeed, being a Navi was a tough life. Serving Yahweh’s people, who are living contrary to His ways, is never going to be easy. So then, did some Prophets ever disobey Yahweh? Yes, some did. After all, a Prophet is still just a man. Sometimes they would do things THEIR way or even stubbornly outright refuse! Consider this matter objectively. If you heard or even saw (as some did) The Creator of All, speaking to little ol’ you, directly and personally, giving you a personal audience, would it be wise to refuse Him and run? Yet, one DID run away, and some tried the whole “you got the wrong guy” routine! But what’s so wrong about this though? Well, such actions actually imply “I know better than YOU do God, I know more about this situation than YOU, therefore MY judgement overrules YOURS”. This, of course, is not well received by Yahweh, the Great King. Yahweh would then either remind them who they were talking with or reveal why He is to be feared more than anyone they may face! Ultimate Obedience Required We can understand someone outrightly refusing Yahweh to be in trouble, but their are many layers of disobedience which can be much more subtle to detect. For example, let's look at Moses, who was also a Prophet). Yahweh once asked Moses to strike a rock to provide water for Israel in the wilderness. Moses did so - and all went well. However, years later, Yahweh asked something similar of Moses but this time said “SPEAK to the rock and it will give water for Israel”. But this time Moses went out and said “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”, then he struck the rock, twice! Yahweh provided the water, for the sake of His people, but then put Moses on time out - "you shall not lead my people into the promised land". Why though? Wasn't it just a mistake? Well yes. But, In a way, you could say Moses' “disobedience” was in treating the word of Yahweh lightly, or common. Let me explain… Moses had a personal relationship with Yahweh, which was very beautiful, personal, frank and real. The Father spoke to Moses like a close friend and spoke openly with Him about everything. Moses, who at first refused to accept Yahweh’s mission (at the Burning Bush), would now talk confidently to Yahweh. Moses had asked Yahweh to change His mind and plans before, and even argued with Him cheekily before - but he always respected Him. With the second rock-water incident, Moses may have let that friendship side eclipse the important business-relationship they had. Moses was to be as God to the people, speaking His very words. Did Moses perhaps hear Yahweh reply about this second rock and go “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it already, let me sort this”, without really listening? Let’s see what happened again: Moses goes out and calls Israel “rebels”. Wait! when did Yahweh say that? Was Yahweh angry? “Must we bring water from this rock?” Moses goes on. Wait, who do you mean by we? Moses then goes on to strike the rock twice. But what’s the big deal? Speak or strike, so what? Well, this was to be a theatrical prophecy Yahweh was showing (that’s for another article) but now, the "theatre", and therefore analogy, was ruined - because of Moses not following the order correctly. Is it no wonder then that Yahweh called Moses aside? Treating Yahweh’s commands as common is one thing. Doing so as the leader of the nation, is simply not acceptable. It cannot be one rule for one and another for another. No, the leader must lead by example. A Prophet must always accurately reflect the message of Yahweh - a haphazard or misrepresented message is not acceptable. I'm not aiming to critique Moses unfairly here, as he is to be admired for the great service he carried out for Yahweh.! But hopefully the above illustrates to you the very subtle way that disobedience can creep in to even our lives - IF we don't revere every word of Yahweh as Holy, and start to get overly familiar. Yes, He is our Abba, who knows us intimately. But He is also the Creator of all things - He says what He means and means what He says. Conclusion So we have seen how a Navi is much more than a man or woman who simply has a prediction about the future. They are Yahweh’s chosen warrior on earth, equipped with words of power and supernatural Gifts. They hear the words of The Creator Himself and understand His heart and His feelings. Sure, they doubted and feared, but they were also amazed, fired up and ready for war! The word which they spoke and recorded would go on to help countless billions across time and throughout the world - and tragically they never knew it at the time. They often thought they failed their mission and yet it was there job to plant the seed, not watch it grow. One day, they will be so richly rewarded for the brave deeds these heroes carried out for Him. They will be like pillars in the world to come, who will greatly respected and honoured, instead of despised and beaten - like they were for their short years on Earth. The books of the Prophets are collectively called Navi’im - which is the plural of Navi. You will hear Jews refer to the the Old Testament as "the Tanak". This is actually an acronym TaNaK, standing for: Torah (Guidance) Navi’im (Prophets) Ketuvi’im (Writings) In our next study of Understanding the Prophets, we shall look into how to understand the prophecies, which will naturally lead us as to why the Jews refuse to accept that the Lord Yahushua is their Messiah. Love & Shalom

Daily Reading 58 If you prefer, you can look up the following verses in your own Bible, of by whatever means and in whichever version you choose. Matthew 7 Exodus 37:1-38:31 Proverbs 17 Audio 3:31 Audio 3:14 Audio 2:58 The above addresses are linked to Bible Gateway. That is an easy way to read (or listen to) the Bible verses, and choose your version. Personally, I prefer written, that way I can go at my own pace, on think about it, before moving on. Nothing wrong with doing either or both. The Bible says faith comes by hearing. See the picture below to get an idea of what to expect if you follow the above links. Note: The audio will not play the exact verses, it will play the whole chapters, in which the verses exist. Thank you Lord for making the your word so accessible for us in these times. Amen

Daily Reading 36 If you prefer, you can look up the following verses in your own Bible, of by whatever means and in whatever version you choose. Hebrews 1 Genesis 45:1-46:27 Psalm 36 Audio 2:15 Audio 4:10 Audio 1:29 The above addresses are linked to Bible Gateway. That is an easy way to read (or listen to) the Bible verses, and choose your version. Personally, I prefer written, that way I can go at my own pace, on think about it, before moving on. Nothing wrong with doing either or both. The Bible says faith comes by hearing. See the picture below to get an idea of what to expect if you follow the above links. Note: The audio will not play the exact verses, it will play the whole chapters, in which the verses exist. Thank you Lord for making the your word so accessible for us in these times. Amen