"Who Really Is My Neighbor?" (brought to you by the Number Seven)

[Pudgy]

Sure, now I can retarget those North Korean missiles.

[Pudgy]

8 minutes ago, AudreyAnnaNana said:

 

Jesus said even if a person comes back seven times a day and say "I repent" to forgive him. Jesus didn't say "hold a judicial committee, then wait a week to make an announcement, then give the person a year not talking to them..." Nope. Those things are all man-made doctrines. Jesus was clear and simple with his instruction. The Pharisees liked to make everything complicated.

That’s what I like … short … to the point, and easy to read, and bold in presentation.

…… it also is a big plus to be true.

[John 12.24to28]

Jesus' way is so much easier than the complicated way with all the added on phony-baloney...The truth is refreshing!

 

(Sometimes sleep is refreshing - I should try to get some about now...)

 

I used to sing this song as a lullaby for my kiddos when they were little (they would laugh at me if I tried to sing them a lullaby now, lol...)

 

 

 

Hope you have a good night!

[Pudgy]

One day, many years ago, I was in the mmoood for a light hearted movie .. something about animals and butterflies, perhaps something like “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” … so I went to see “Silence of the Lambs”.

Yikes!

[John 12.24to28]

8 minutes ago, Pudgy said:

One day, many years ago, I was in the mmoood for a light hearted movie .. something about animals and butterflies...

 

It sounds like you better stick to non-fiction movies about lambs from now on maybe!

 

 

 

[John 12.24to28]

8 minutes ago, boyle said:

Job 14:5.

 

"You have set a limit for him that he may not go beyond."

 

I've gone beyond my limit for sleepiness...I've got to go to bed - goodnight @boyle@Pudgy

😌

[John 12.24to28]

20 hours ago, boyle said:

After showing repentance. The bible is there to correct. You can't just wish the sin away. You need to prove you have genuine repentance

 

19 hours ago, boyle said:

How many times did God see the sins of the wicked before the flood? Did God say, as long as you repent, we're good?

 

If they had repented, they would have gotten on the ark. There was enough room for them. 

[John 12.24to28]

 

The Fourth Seal of Revelation

 

"When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: “Come!”  And I saw, and look! a pale horse, and the one seated on it had the name Death. And the Grave was closely following him. And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth."

 

(Revelation 6:7-8)

 

"Wild beasts" means the governments. (Governments in Revelation are depicted as wild beasts.)

 

"Death and the Grave" is referring to being "killed" as to their former way of false worship. (See Revelation 9:20)

 

"Deadly plague" doesn't refer to a literal pandemic. The "plague" is symbolic of God's adverse judgment, which "kills" as to that form of false worship being removed.

 

The plagues in ancient Egypt were because of God's judgment on Egypt's false religion. The people worshipped idols. Jehovah showed the idols were useless. 

 

After the Israelites came out of Egypt, at times they were plagued again because in their hearts they turned back to worship idols again. (Like the golden calf, the Baal of Peor, etc.)

 

The scriptures at Jeremiah 15:1-6, Ezekiel 14:21,22, and Psalm 91:5,6 give clues about what the "pestilence" of Revelation is.

 

Jeremiah recorded...

 

"Then Jehovah said to me: 

“Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, 

I would show no favor toward this people. 

Drive them out from before me. Let them go. 

And if they say to you, 

‘Where should we go?’ you must say to them, 

‘This is what Jehovah says: 

“Whoever is for deadly plague, to deadly plague! 

Whoever is for the sword, to the sword! 

Whoever is for the famine, to the famine! 

And whoever is for the captivity, to the captivity!”’ 

“‘And I will appoint over them four calamities,’ declares Jehovah, ‘the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.  

And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Ma·nasʹseh the son of Hez·e·kiʹah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. 

Who will show compassion to you, O Jerusalem, 

Who will sympathize with you, 

And who will stop to ask about your welfare?’  

‘You have deserted me,’ declares Jehovah. 

‘You keep turning your back on me. 

So I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you. 

I am tired of feeling pity for you."

 

The "four calamities" (similar to the four horsemen) represented Jehovah's judgment against His Name People because of their unfaithfulness.

 

Ezekiel recorded...

 

"“For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘So it will be when I send my four punishments—sword, famine, vicious wild animal, and pestilence—against Jerusalem to cut off man and animal from it.  However, some left in it will escape and be brought out, both sons and daughters. They are coming to you, and when you see their ways and their deeds, you will certainly be comforted over the calamity that I brought on Jerusalem, over everything that I did to it.’”

 

The psalmist said those who take refuge in Jehovah in truth don't need to be afraid of "the pestilence that stalks in the gloom."

 

"You will not fear the terrors of the night, 

Nor the arrow that flies by day, 

Nor the pestilence that stalks in the gloom, 

Nor the destruction that ravages at midday."

 

Jehovah's Name People today claim to be in a covenant relationship with Jehovah, to be "a people for special possession." They're going to be figuratively "plagued" when the UN attacks false religion. The GB has become an idol and God will remove it. Faithful individuals will be okay, it's just the hypocritical ones that will be "plagued" and their manner of false worship will be "killed".

 

That a "remnant" survives the attack on the organization bearing God's Name is seen in Isaiah 10:22,23, Ezekiel 6:8-10, Micah 7:18, and Romans 11:2-5. (Jehovah hasn't changed.)

 

"For though your people, O Israel, Are as the grains of sand of the sea, Only a remnant of them will return.  An extermination has been decided on, And justice will engulf them.  Yes, the extermination decided on by the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, Will be carried out in the entire land."

 

"But I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword among the nations when you are scattered throughout the lands.  And those who escape will remember me among the nations where they are taken captive. They will realize that I was brokenhearted over their unfaithful heart that turned away from me and at their eyes that are lusting after their disgusting idols. They will be ashamed of and loathe all the evil and detestable things they have done.  They will have to know that I am Jehovah and that my threats to bring this calamity on them were not empty.”

 

"Who is a God like you, Pardoning error and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  He will not hold onto his anger forever, For he delights in loyal love."

 

"Do you not know what the scripture says in connection with E·liʹjah, as he pleads with God against Israel?  “Jehovah, they have killed your prophets, they have dug up your altars, and I alone am left, and now they are trying to take my life.”  Yet, what does the divine pronouncement say to him? “I have left for myself 7,000 men who have not bent the knee to Baʹal.”  So in the same way, at the present time also, there is a remnant according to a choosing through undeserved kindness."

 

[John 12.24to28]

 

The Fourth Trumpet of Revelation

 

"The fourth angel blew his trumpet. And a third of the sun was struck and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, in order that a third of them might be darkened and the day might not have light for a third of it, and the night likewise."

 

(Revelation 8:12)

 

This is not talking about the literal sun moon and stars.

 

Joseph's dream is a clue: "After that he had still another dream, and he related it to his brothers: “I have had another dream. This time the sun and the moon and stars were bowing down to me.”  Then he related it to his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him: “What is the meaning of this dream of yours? Am I as well as your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the earth to you?”"

 

(Genesis 37:9,10)

 

The sun moon and stars are people of importance in the human family, leaders and "lights" of this world. Their "light" will figuratively "go out".

 

Isaiah 13:9-11 "Look! The day of Jehovah is coming, Cruel both with fury and with burning anger, To make the land an object of horror, And to annihilate the land’s sinners from it.  For the stars of the heavens and their constellations Will not give off their light; The sun will be dark when it rises, And the moon will not shed its light.  I will call the inhabited earth to account for its badness, And the wicked for their error.  I will put an end to the pride of the presumptuous, And I will humble the haughtiness of tyrants."

 

Ephesians 4:18 "They are in darkness mentally and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensitivity of their hearts."

 

Isaiah 60:2 "For look! darkness will cover the earth And thick gloom the nations; But on you Jehovah will shine, And on you his glory will be seen."

 

John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will by no means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life."

 

Acts 2:20 "The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and illustrious day of Jehovah comes."

 

The "lights" or religious/political leaders of the Jewish system "went out" in ancient times when Rome attacked Jerusalem. The "lights" of the religious leaders will go out when the UN attacks false religion.

 

Isaiah 5:20,21 "Woe to those who say that good is bad and bad is good, Those who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, Those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those wise in their own eyes And discreet in their own sight."

 

The "Faithful and Discreet Slave" will be removed.

 

Matthew 8:11,12 "But I tell you that many from east and west will come and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the heavens;  whereas the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.”

 

Many who are outside the organization will be brought back and many who are in the organization will be cast out. (It will be refined.)

 

Psalm 82:5-7 "They do not know, nor do they understand; They are walking about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are being shaken. “I have said, ‘You are gods, All of you are sons of the Most High. But you will die just as men do; And like any other prince you will fall!’"

 

Those who are figuratively "killed" by the lights "going out" are said to be "weeping and gnashing their teeth" outside the former arrangement, thus they are still depicted as being literally alive. It is the false worship that is killed. The men may survive. It's just there will not be a GB idol anymore. All such false worship of religious leaders will be removed.

[John 12.24to28]

 

The Fourth Bowl of Revelation

 

"The fourth one poured out his bowl on the sun, and to the sun it was granted to scorch the people with fire. And the people were scorched by the great heat, but they blasphemed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues, and they did not repent and give glory to him."

 

(Revelation 16:8)

 

Again, this is not talking about the literal sun, but rather the "lights" meaning the rulers of this world who are treated as if they are worshipped.

 

Deuteronomy 4:19 "And when you raise your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars—all the army of the heavens—do not get seduced and bow down to them and serve them. Jehovah your God has given them to all the peoples under the whole heavens."

 

Deuteronomy 17:2,3 "Suppose a man or a woman is found among you, in any of your cities that Jehovah your God is giving you, who is practicing what is bad in the eyes of Jehovah your God and violating his covenant,  and he goes astray and worships other gods and he bows down to them or to the sun or the moon or all the army of the heavens, a thing that I have not commanded."

 

The UN will figuratively "scorch" the people when it is their appointed time to rule. The UN will have so much power when it obliterates the false religious institutions. This "great heat" wielded by a beastly government does not lead to positive upbuilding growth, but rather much oppression and cruelty.

 

Many people will keep blaspheming God by choosing to support the UN rather than the Kingdom. It is as if they are "worshipping" the figurative "sun" of the UN instead of worshipping Jehovah.

[John 12.24to28]

 

Jehovah will judge the organization bearing His Name. 

 

The seven bowls of Jehovah's anger, the seven trumpets heralding God's judgments, and the seven opened seals will be thunderously "loud" when they take place. It will be undeniable that Jehovah's judgments are coming true. The signs in Revelation are repeated because it is a sure thing. These are Jehovah's Words recorded in Revelation. The reason we can understand them now is because the time for their fulfillment is soon, it is hurrying up. Praise Jehovah. It is speeding to come true. As soon as Jesus takes the throne in heaven, he will take action. Everyone will know. "Thunder" is loud. The judgment of Jehovah against the hypocritical ones in the organization is sure to come true. It is the Word of Jehovah. Every word He has spoken will come true. 

 

Jehovah's Name will be Sanctified when Jehovah executes His judgment against the organization bearing His name by means of the UN's attack on false religion. A faithful remnant from the organization will be saved to unhypocritically welcome a great crowd of those unbelievers from the nations (non-"Jehovah's Witnesses") who will hear about Jehovah's saving power during the 3 1/2 years of the tribulation, those who say "we will go with you people, for we have heard God is with you people." We must show them true neighborly love and help them, without prejudice. Great is Jehovah's mercy and undeserved kindness. Praise Jehovah for His righteous judgments.

 

"the things that must shortly take place"

 

"Happy is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who observe the things written in it, for the appointed time is near."

 

"These words are faithful and true; yes, Jehovah, the God who inspired the prophets, has sent his angel to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.  Look! I am coming quickly. Happy is anyone observing the words of the prophecy of this scroll."

 

“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the appointed time is near."

 

"Look! I am coming quickly"

 

"Look! I am coming quickly"

 

"Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.”  

 

"May the undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus be with the holy ones."

 

(Zechariah 8:23; Exodus 12:38; Revelation 7:9; Luke 10:29,36; Revelation 1:1,3; Revelation 22:6,10,12,20)

[John 12.24to28]

22 minutes ago, boyle said:

The devil's influence

 

The "Devil's influence" in the congregation is recorded in Revelation 3:8-11:

 

"‘I know your deeds—look! I have set before you an opened door, which no one can shut. And I know that you have a little power, and you kept my word and did not prove false to my name.  Look! I will make those from the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews yet are not, but are lying—look! I will make them come and bow before your feet and make them know that I have loved you.  Because you kept the word about my endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of test, which is to come upon the entire inhabited earth, to put to the test those dwelling on the earth.  I am coming quickly. Keep holding fast to what you have, so that no one may take your crown."

 

My kids and I got to see that "influence" when we tried to attend the KH this morning for "field service group" but we got kicked out. (I wrote about it just now in the "response" section of the "Status Update" I posted last night.)

 

There are "elders" in many congregations who act like Diotrephes and kick out Jehovah's faithful servants. 3 John 9,10:

 

"I wrote something to the congregation, but Di·otʹre·phes, who likes to have the first place among them, does not accept anything from us with respect.  That is why if I come, I will call attention to the works he is doing in spreading malicious talk about us. Not being content with this, he refuses to welcome the brothers with respect; and those who want to welcome them, he tries to hinder and to throw out of the congregation."

 

Jehovah will take care of all it at the appointed time. Praise Jehovah.🥰