Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 27 March 2018

Happy Tuesday to all.  Supposed to be a pleasant day, by local standards at least.  Wife's got another cold or something.  She's on the recliner, with Mucinex and Alka-seltzer Cold (the Wally Mart versions of both) in her, under blankets, and with an orange cat on her lap for warmth and mutual comfort.
Getting some reading in the last day or so.  I've always been a "reader", ever since the day that I could.  So were my parents, my brothers and sister, and our kids.  Wife's vision is too bad for much of that now, but with the library and other access we have, she can immerse herself in audio books, and does, about all day.  Currently in one by Lois Tverberg, pretty much along the lines of Ray Vander Laan themes, seeing the Bible and the life and times of Jesus and the patriarchs in the way that they did, which is often somewhat different from how we see things.  For example, for us a gray and rainy day, like today, is a "down" type of thing.  But for them, living always half a step from famine at the edge of a desert, rain was a tremendous blessing.  We forget that, and much else.  We're accustomed to twisting a tap, and water, even hot water, gushes out.  We, Wife and I, were reminded of that this winter when we went 2-1/2 weeks without water due to piping problems here.  Now we know how great a blessing it is.  Good to give thanks for that.
So when I hear Janet Paschal, herself a cancer survivor, sing "It Won't Rain Always", I have to take the message in context.

I saw something earlier  on "social media" from someone I know, a pastor at a predominantly black church near Montgomery, Alabama.  Good guy, he's bi-vocational (meaning he also has a "regular job") and we used to talk at his "regular job".  But it reminded me that there are, in that area but also around here and elsewhere, church leaders who have decided to refer to themselves as "prophet" and "prophetess" and to promote their services as being "prophetic explosions" or the like.  I'm more than a bit nervous about that.  I won't get into the whole issue of the continuance of the spiritual gift of  prophecy.  There are good, strong arguments on both sides of that.  Like others, I've groaned when I hear someone claim, "yes, the Bible says thus and so.  But we've had new revelation!".  Sorry, no.  And, when I read the commands (not suggestions) from the Lord, as here, for dealing with false prophets, I'm even less confident of these claims.  I've seen more than a few proved wrong.
We sometimes tell a story of one.  Wife and I were married on September 10, 1988.  A long-time friend of hers had agreed to come to the ceremony (a VERY low budget thing) and sing somethings appropriate for the occasion.  But she was, and is, tied in with one of these "prophecy" bunch, and they'd been informed that THAT VERY DAY was, per a prophetic vision, to be the Day Of The Rapture.  So, rather than come, she literally stayed  home to pack!  Don't laugh, that's exactly how the Jehovah Witnesses began, look it up some time. 
I'm not calling for the JW's, or these various self proclaimed prophets to be stoned to death.  But I don't want to stand too close, in case lightning strikes.  Your mileage may vary.

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Deuteronomy 17

  
1  Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evil favouredness: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

2  If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3  And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

4  And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5  Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

6  At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

7  The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

8  If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose;

9  And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

10  And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11  According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

12  And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

13  And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

14  When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15  Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16  But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17  Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18  And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19  And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20  That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Deuteronomy 18

1  The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance.

2  Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

3  And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

4  The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

5  For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.

6  And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord shall choose;

7  Then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the Lord.

8  They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony

9  When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13  Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.perfect: or, upright, or, sincere

14  For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

15  The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16  According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17  And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

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again, and it really should be a motto, I Shall Not Be Moved

Psalm 62

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.

1  Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

2  He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

3  How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

4  They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

5  My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

6  He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

7  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

9  Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

10  Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

11  God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God

12  Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

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Luke 17

1  Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

4  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

6  And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

7  But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

8  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

9  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

11  And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

26  And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32  Remember Lot's wife.

33  Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34  I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36  Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.