THE ANTS
https://youtu.be/gWGzmzGMSnw [Nick on Guitar]
Tribute video for Scott Weiland- he died
last week- wrote songs for Stone Temple Pilots and Nick mentioned him on this
old video- enjoy.
ON VIDEO-
.Another cigarette?
.Henry the 8th- and his wives
.Is God fair?
.Isabella and Ferdinand
.Oxford
.Cambridge
.Extravagant grace
NEW STUFF- On the video I mentioned King Henry the 8th
and his first 3 wives- Catherine of Aragon, Ann Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
He had a total of 6- the other 3 were Kathryn Howard- Anne
of Cleves and Katherine Parr.
In 16th century England the realm broke away from
Rome, the primary reason was the Pope would not grant an annulment for King
Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
The king took the matter to the Christian scholars of the universities-
and had them decide on it- of course they would agree with Henry.
Often we read that Henry simply fell in love with Anne- and
that’s why he broke from Rome [Catholic Church].
On the video I get into some of the behind the scenes
reasons- lots of political reasons why the Pope did not want to grant the
annulment.
Catherine was the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand- king
and queen of Spain.
Eventually Charles v- the nephew of Catherine- would become
the prince [king] of Spain- he also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
So- it would not be good for the Catholic Church to rile up
Spain- at a time when England [And other European countries- Germany- etc.]
were on the verge of a break with Rome already.
Spain was a strong Catholic nation at a time when others
were not.
But yes- Henry did love Anne- and eventually got what he wanted.
He dumped Catherine of Aragon- and married Anne.
But she did not provide him a son as heir to the throne-
which he wanted.
She had a daughter instead- Elizabeth [who would later
become Queen Elizabeth].
He later married Jane Seymour- who gave him the son he
wanted- Edward.
Prince Edward did take the throne at one point [King Edward
the 6th].
But died young [he was called the boy king].
Henrys 1st wife did have a daughter- Mary.
Mary became Queen for a time- and got the title ‘Bloody
Mary’ [she became infamous for the executions of Protestants under her reign- thus
the title].
Elizabeth also ruled as Queen- and under her rule the
English church took on a sort of halfway compromise between Roman Catholicism
and Protestantism.
At first when England broke away from the Roman church- it remained
highly Catholic- the only real difference was they rejected Papal authority.
Later on it made more changes [under Elizabeth]- yet some
Protestants- the Puritans- felt the changes Elizabeth made did not go far
enough [thus the name- Puritans- they wanted a ‘more pure’ church- meaning less
Catholic influence in the church of England].
So we see there were both political- and religious reasons-
why some nations broke away from Rome.
And politics played a role- on both sides [catholic and Protestant].
PAST POSTS [verses below]-
. (1427) THE LORD GAVE THE WORD; GREAT WAS THE COMPANY OF
THOSE THAT PUBLISHED IT- Psalms 68:11 In
the 14th century you had the Oxford scholar, John Wycliffe,
challenge the church and publish an English bible that would be understood by
the common man. His view of the true church was that all those who believed in
Christ comprised the mystical Body of Christ thru out the ages; he held to the
same view that many believers would later embrace. His works would eventually
influence John Huss, the great Bohemian priest, and Huss too would preach a
doctrine of the universal church which transcended institutional boundaries. In
the 16th century William Tyndale would take up the charge to get the
bible into the hands of the common man; he longed for the day that the simple
plowman would know the scriptures as well as the trained clergy; Tyndale would
die for the faith [as Huss] but would pray/prophesy that God would touch the
heart of the king of England and make his word known. Henry the 8th
would eventually place an English bible into every church building thru out his
realm. The history of God getting his word into the hands of the common man is
great, many divine interventions [or inventions!] came along just at the right
time to aid in the efforts. Guttenberg would invent the printing press in the
15th century and Luther’s reformation would take off as his books
and tracts would get published by the boat loads [as well as many other great
teachers’ stuff- like Erasmus Greek New Testament bible]. The institutional church
would resist the free flow of these writings, they feared that the people might
teach wrong doctrine, or that the masses might interpret the bible in a wrong
way. Were these fears groundless? Not really. Many did mess up in their reading
of the bible, and others would start their own sects based on faulty
interpretations. But for the most part God was in the business of getting his
word out to as many people as possible. I have found over the years that
believers have a sort of blind spot when it comes to the ‘sacred’ modes of
transmitting the bible. For instance many well meaning men believe that the
process of meeting in a building on Sunday, and the bible being preached to as
many as you can get to come to the meeting; many feel that this expression
[being only one of many] is the actual God ordained way of getting the bible
taught to the people. Many who hold to this singular idea, to the point where
they feel the doing of this is actually called ‘the local church’ will look
down upon other means of getting the word out. The explosion of the internet
has truly been the printing press of modern times. Many average believers now
have the ability to reach the world from their computers; are their dangers
with this process? Sure. Will some teach wrong stuff? As Sarah Palin would say
‘you betcha’. But all in all people should embrace the reality that we live in
a day where once again the average saint has the ability to get the word out to
the masses with little, or no cost. I don’t want people to get me wrong, going
to ‘church’ to hear the sermon is fine [most of the times!] but the bible does
not teach the concept that the meeting of believers in buildings on Sunday is
actually called ‘the local church’. For sure this is an expression of ‘local
church’ it is a way that many believers have come to practice their faith; but
it would be wrong to exalt this view of church to the point where we hinder
others who are getting the word out in many different ways. In the New
Testament, the ‘local churches’ referred to communities of believers who lived
in your city/region- the term does not refer exclusively to meeting in a
lecture hall environment to hear a lecture! Psalms says God gave the word and
great was the company of those that published it; lets rejoice in the fact that
we live in a time where a great company of people can ‘publish it’.
[parts]
One day I received a Friends Request- to my surprise- it was
from a young Catholic priest- I did not know him but he must have read a few
posts of mine and liked them. He often gave me Thumbs Up comments on the posts-
and at times would tell me he loved the posts.
Most were my Theology/Church history posts.
Often times Catholics and Protestants can agree and enjoy
these types of studies. I love studying and teaching on the Church Fathers and
early Christian history- and these sources all have a very strong Catholic
flavor to them- so I see my fellow Catholics as being a part of a long
tradition of Christian history.
Many famous converts to the Catholic Church [Bishop John
Newman- converted from the Anglican Church] convert because they read the
Church Fathers- and when you read them- it’s obvious to see the catholic nature
of the early church in these men’s writings.
So anyway I was very happy to have a Catholic priest as one
of my ‘on line students’ [and honored].
But one day- during one of my studies [covering one subject
for a month or so] to my surprise I saw he was gone [yes- the dreaded block]. I
thought- geez- wonder why?
I realized it was right in the middle of a study I did on
Islam- and while I was doing the posts- I was also going thru a study on Islam-
by the same guy who teaches it to the U.S. govt. - yes- it was a prof. [I think
named Espinoza?] who teaches Islam to our govt. employees [sort of like a tolerance
type thing].
Though the teacher was Catholic- yet he was VERY much pro
Islam- I mean to the point where I had to reject some of the stuff he was
saying- and finish the study from my own education on Islam.
At one point- he taught that the spread of Islam thru out
the world had a wonderful- liberating effect on all the women in the lands
where Islam spread. I mean it was so obvious that the man had no idea what he
was talking about [in this area] that I realized he was not a good source [this
happens every so often].
And it was more troubling that this was the guy Obama picked
to teach Islam to our govt. employees [don’t get me wrong here- he teaches our
govt. workers- not to convert them- but more of an informative type thing- just
like you would teach any other course about sexual harassment- or whatever].
Anyway- in one of my posts while teaching on my site- I did
refer to Mohamed as ‘the prophet’- now- I don’t receive Mohamed that way
myself- but because I was teaching some Muslims who did recently join the site-
well I used the title in this way.
I think that might have been the ‘last straw’ for my
student/priest- he ‘went on Pilgrimage’ right after that post.
Okay- today’s point is we all should try our best to be
‘tolerant’ that is- we should give people as much grace/mercy as possible- but
at the same time we also need to be honest about the Christian faith.
Yes- as Christians we believe salvation comes thru Christ-
he was not just ‘one religious leader among many’ no- we believe he is the Way-
the Truth- the Life/light- no man comes to the Father- but by him.
Sometimes we do our best not to offend- we might even go out
of our way to receive people- other religions and systems that are not
Christian- that’s okay- I have Muslim and Jewish and all types of friends- I’m
glad they are my friends!
But we also have to be honest about our beliefs- and every
now and then that might- just might- earn you a BLOCK.
[1746] CULT? Three 6’S? Not a Christian?
Okay- let’s talk a little about some of the ‘big’ stories.
Actually- these stories are small but the media wants to make them big.
At the debate the other night- Cain took some heat- you
know- he’s been hawking the 999 plan on taxes- and now that he’s rising in the
polls they have to bring him down a notch.
So they slammed the plan- Bachmann even exposed the secret
agenda behind the plan- yes- right there in front of the whole world- she said
‘you know what you get when you turn the 999 plan upside down’?
And yes- we now know the truth- you get 3 upside down 9’s.
[parts]
(949)
GREAT AWAKENING- In between studies I have been
reading the ‘shelf of books’ I bought a few months ago. I bought about 70
dollars worth of books at the half price book store, they are worth a few
hundred at least. The last three I just went thru were published by
universities; Oxford, Princeton, etc. I have learned over the years that your time
is well spent in the ‘higher education’ category. You can spend a lifetime
reading the popular Christian culture stuff and never really get educated. The
book I just started is called ‘Revival and Revivalism’ it was put out by
Princeton and covers the history of the first great awakenings. I want to give
you a long quote from Samuel Davies, the son in law of Jonathan Edwards. The
Lord used him in Hanover, Va. ‘In all the sermons I have preached in Virginia,
I have not wasted one minute in reasoning against the peculiarities of the
established church; nor so much as assigned my own reasons of non-conformity. I
have not exhausted my zeal in railing against the established clergy, in
exposing their imperfections, or in deprecating their characters. I have matters
of infinite importance to spend my time and strength upon, to preach repentance
towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ.’ ‘What an endless variety of
denominations, taken from some men of character, or from some little
peculiarities, has prevailed in the Christian world and crumbled it to
pieces…what party names have been adopted by the Protestant churches, whose
religion is substantially the same common Christianity, and who agree on much
more important truths than in those they differ. To be a Christian is not
enough now-a-days, but a man must be something more or better, that is he must
be a strenuous bigot to this or that particular church…but to glory in the
denomination of any particular church, as my highest character, to lay more
stress on my denomination than on my being a Christian…to make it my zeal to
win people to my peculiar denomination than to Christ, to overlook the faults
of those in my own party and to be blind to the good in others, or to diminish
them; these are the things that deserve condemnation from God and man. These
proceed from a spirit of bigotry and faction, directly opposite to the generous
catholic spirit of Christianity, and subversive of it. This spirit turns men
from the important matters of Christianity, to vain jangling and competitions
about circumstantials and trifles. Thus the Christian is swallowed up in the
partisan, and the fundamentals are lost in extra essentials’ [I paraphrased a
little] I find it interesting that Davies and the other leaders in the awakening
were anti sectarian, though most of them were Presbyterian/Reformed, yet they
saw their task above denominationalism. In Davies case the main denomination he
came up against was the Anglican church, many in Virginia contrasted the
traditional church with the ‘new light’ brothers. Many associated with the
revivals were seen this way. You can still find prejudicial comments made
against Catholics during this period, but I find it interesting that many of
the revival leaders were aware of the sectarian spirit and saw it as a danger
to the work of God. They warned against what many of their ‘offspring’ would
become. I find it hard to understand how many of the offshoots of the
awakenings can read and study their history and not see the error that their
own fore-fathers warned them about. But for the most part God was working in
their day and they were wise enough to rise above religious bigotry.
YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HELL! I was watching King of Queens
[TV show] the other day, and Arthur [Jerry Stiller] who is Doug’s [Kevin James]
father in law tells Doug ‘I don’t want to die’ as the plane their on gets
shaky. Doug tells Arthur ‘don’t worry, it’s not that bad’ and Arthur replies
‘you don’t understand, I don’t want to die, EVER!’ hey, we all gonna die! Then
Arthur asks Doug ‘do you think I will be going up or down when I die’ and Doug
reassures him that even though he’s been a real pain, he thinks he will go up.
Arthur says ‘Good, cause thru out my life I have had a number of people look me
straight in the face and tell me “Spooner, you’re going straight to hell
someday”. So much for comedy/theology. Solomon tells us there is a time/season
for everything; a time to cast away and a time to gather, a time to be born and
a time to die. God has ordained that certain things happen at certain seasons.
One of the pitfalls of modern ministry is we often seek God with ambition and
determination. We come up with goals and plans [often good] and then we get in
situations where we feel if people would just support us [with money] or
‘pastor so and so’ would just recognize my gift, then the plan would work! Most
times these types of plans are simply results of well intended ambitious
people. But God does things in seasons, when he ‘opens a door’ no man can shut
it. When he ‘closes a door’ no man can open it. I like Sarah Palin [former
republican vice presidential nominee] I don’t hold to many of her Christian
beliefs [basically Assembly of God, end times stuff] but she seems to be a good
lady who the media treated badly. I told one person who was all up in arms
about her daughter’s pregnancy, the person told me how the sex lives of her
kids were ‘fair game’. I asked the person if they knew about the sex lives of
Joe Biden's kids. If they think his boys ever ‘slept with someone out of
wedlock’. I asked if they even thought a question like this was relevant. They
then realized that they were using a measuring rod for one political party, but
would not use it on their preferred party. Nevertheless I heard Palin say ‘hey,
if God opens a door I will run thru it. Or even if I see a little crack in the
door, I will plunge right thru’. I sensed a kind of ambition in this statement
that many believers have. I think it’s better to be less ambitious, and more
sensitive to the seasons. Yes, seasons and ‘open doors’ are alike,
VERSES-
. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; Ez. 2:9
Proverbs 30:24 There be four things which are little upon the
earth, but they are exceeding wise:
Proverbs 30:25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare
their meat in the summer;
Proverbs 30:26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they
their houses in the rocks;
Proverbs 30:27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of
them by bands;
Proverbs 30:28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in
kings' palaces.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isaiah 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings;
with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
twain he did fly.
Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy,
is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah 6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isaiah 6:5 Then 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.
Isaiah 6:6 Then 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:
Isaiah 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath
touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Isaiah 6:8 Also 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.
9 And I
went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said
unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it
shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I
took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my
mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10
Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou
condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Romans
2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them
which commit such things.Romans 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us,
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Hebrews 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin.
Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Hebrews 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after
their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his
holiness.
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the
feeble knees;
Hebrews 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
20 For the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out
early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2 And when
he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his
vineyard.
3 And he
went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 And said
unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give
you. And they went their way.
5 Again he
went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6 And about
the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto
them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7 They say
unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the
vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8 So when
even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the
labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9 And when
they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a
penny.
10 But when
the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they
likewise received every man a penny.
11 And when
they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
12 Saying,
These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us,
which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13 But he
answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou
agree with me for a penny?
14 Take that
thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am
good?
16 So the
last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
facebook.com/john.chiarello.5
Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post
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