Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 676. Bible Study: Amos 1 & 2 (A shepard's prophecy regarding: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon [area ofJordan], Moab, Judah, Israel)

Transcript

676. Bible Study: Amos 1 & 2 (A shepard's prophecy regarding: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon [area ofJordan], Moab, Judah, Israel) · Faith by annm2705

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We are continuing in the books of the prophets and even, I
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guess, just to list the prophets that have been covered before.
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Now they don't have separate books, but they were the
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earliest of prophets. That was Elijah and then Elijah,
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and then after that, Jonah. We just read the book of Jonah.
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Now we're going to read the book of Amos, and Amos was a prophet
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during the times of Jeroboam the Second, who was the king of
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Israel, and Azaria are Uzziah. They have two different names
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for the king of Judah at the time.
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So that's when he was prophesying.
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So that helps us. This is around the 770 to 750 BC
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time frame. And I mean, that's looking at a
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chart. There's probably be a little bit
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more specifics when I read what the study Bible has for the the
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book of Amos, but it kind of gives us, it helps us to get an
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idea of what was happening at the time.
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So the Judah and Israel were separate from one another.
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This is after King Solomon and there was disagreement and who
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was going to be the king after Solomon died.
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And that's why the to well the why there was a split between 2.
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The northern Kingdom was Israel and it consisted of 10 tribes
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and the southern Kingdom was called Judah and it consisted of
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2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin. So I will get into what the
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study Bible says about the book of Amos.
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This book gives OK, why read this book?
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This book gives us God's perspective on some volatile
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social issues, takes a hard look at injustice, and sends out a
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call to righteousness. Amos tells how God feels when
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the wealthy and the powerful exploit the poor and
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defenseless. Regardless of your current
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financial situation, you'll find these challenging words hitting
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close to home. Who wrote this book and when was
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it written? Amos wrote the book between 760
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and 750 BC, a time of economic growth and prosperity for both
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Israel and Judah. He was a shepherd from Judah,
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from the tribe of Judah, with no known ministry credentials
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except a word from God for the people.
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So that's really interesting. Like he was, he was just a
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regular shepherd, but God chose him to communicate through him
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to the people of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel primarily.
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What was happening at this time? The leadership and military
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conquest of Jeroboam the Second had enabled Israel to flourish.
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But while everything appeared fine on the surface, the moral
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fiber of the nation was disintegrating.
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To whom was it written and why? Though Amos was from the
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southern Kingdom of Judah, his message was primarily for the
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people of the northern Kingdom of Israel.
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Amos challenged their materialism and deficient
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morality, which they had learned from their Pagan neighbors.
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Many were also exploiting the poor, Amos wrote, to remind them
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that God takes a special interest in the disadvantaged.
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His prophecy was God's last appeal to Israel warning them to
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repent before it was too late. So again, look at God gives
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warnings. He's telling.
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It was like he's using the shepherd man to say, hey, repent
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before there's judgment that comes on you.
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So what to look for in Amos? With strong poetic imagery, the
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book of Amos speaks passionately about God's concern for the
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poor. It urges a return to
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righteousness and justice by returning to the Lord.
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Watch for parallels between Amos's time and ours.
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When the poor are mentioned, think of the homeless, racial
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minorities, single parents, the elderly and others who are often
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exploited. OK, so I will say a quick
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prayer. Dear God, please be with us.
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Let the Holy Spirit give us wisdom and insight and
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revelation as we read these words in scripture.
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We ask for this in Jesus name, Amen.
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The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tokoa.
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The vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the
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earthquake when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of
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Joash was king of Israel. So Uzziah was considered a good
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king. Jeroboam was considered an evil
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king. As we've mentioned before in
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podcast, we Israel was the first, that was the 10 tribes in
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the north. They were the first to be
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conquered. This happened to Judah later,
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but this prophet is warning them, the 10 tribes that they
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need to make some changes or judgment is going to come upon
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them. So let's see that I was
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wondering about the earthquake, I said two years before the
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earthquake. So I was wondering what
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earthquake? But the Study Bible has
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something about that. So I'm going to read some of
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what the study Bible says. So what credentials did Amos
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have? Amos, a shepherd by profession,
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had only a vision from God. Still, he was confident that God
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had give him given him a mission to warn Israel of coming
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judgement. When did this earthquake occur?
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Recent geological studies have detected a mammoth seismic event
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in the area dating to around 750 BC, which was during the time of
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Amos's ministry. It must have been severe enough
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to become a historical reference marker.
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Zechariah 14, verse 5 also mentions an earthquake during
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Uzziah's reign. That's really interesting.
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It's kind of nice that there's another example of where like a
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real world history lines up with what it says in the Bible.
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The Bible is true. It's a matter of whether or not
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we actually find documents that are going to support what the
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Bible says. But when we do find those
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things, it's it's it's nice for people who are doubting what if
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the Bible is true and if the Bible really says what God wants
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it to say. But there's, there's so much
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evidence that the Bible is true, especially like with these
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prophecies that get fulfilled when they're, you know, they're,
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they're written down, they're dated a certain time and then
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these things come to fruition. So let's see.
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It says, OK, actually, I think I'm just going to go back to
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Scripture and read it through. And then I'll go through the
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questions and answers because I'm I'll get sidetracked about
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which verses go with which parts of the Scripture that I'm
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reading. So OK, so we'll go back to we
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are only on verse 2. So he said, this is Amos said
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the Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem.
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The pastures of the shepherds dry up and the top of Carmel
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Withers. This is what the Lord says for
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three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent because
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she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth.
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I will send fire on the House of Hazel that will consume the
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fortress of Ben Hadid. I will break down the gate of
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Damascus. I will destroy the king who is
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in the valley of Avon and the one who holds the sceptre in
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Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into
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exile to cur, says the Lord. This is what the Lord says for
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three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not relent because
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she took captive whole communities.
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Now when I read that, I thought wow, this was repeated on
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October 7th, 2023. The hostages that were taken
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because she took captive whole communities.
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Now this is different though, it says and sold them to Edom, and
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Edom is the area that's in present day Jordan.
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I will send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her
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fortresses. I will destroy the king of
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Ashdod and the one who holds the sceptre in Ashkelon.
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I will turn my hand against Ekron till the last of the
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Philistines are dead, says the sovereign Lord.
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This is what the Lord says for three sins of Tyre.
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Even for four I will not relent because she sold whole
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communities of captives to Edom. There it's listed again about
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communities being sold to Edom. Disregarding a Treaty of
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brotherhood. I will send fire on the walls of
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Tyre that will consume her fortress.
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This is what the Lord says for three sins of Edom, which is
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present day Jordan. Even for four, I will not relent
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because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the
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women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his
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fury flamed unchecked. I will send fire on Teemon that
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will consume the fortresses of Basra.
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This is what the Lord says for three sins of Amen, which is
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also in Jordan. Even for four, I will not relent
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because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in
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order to extend extend his borders.
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Now this is another thing where just history repeats itself.
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This also happened on October 7th of 2023.
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Because these things like this repeat and repeat against
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Israel. It just seems to me this is
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something way bigger than what it appears in our eyes, that
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this is something spiritual that hasn't gone away, something
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demonic that remains against Israel.
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And maybe it remains in that land because that land surrounds
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Israel. All these communities that we're
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talking about are actually the part of the area that gods gave
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to the Israelites, which like Gaza, I mean, that was part of
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the territory that God gave to the Israelites.
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And there's still, it's, it's separate.
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Like right now it's separate right now.
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They're it, you know, they're in war with that, and history
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repeats itself. This is 750 BC.
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So this is almost 3000 years ago, about 2700 years ago that
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this was happening, and it's still happening today.
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It's completely unresolved. But it's just like history keeps
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repeating itself and Israel keeps doing the same things that
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they keep getting in trouble for getting judgment from God, and
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other nations keep doing things that get judgment from God.
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It's like nobody learns because nobody's reading the Bible.
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Just like when Solomon became king, if he would have read
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Deuteronomy, it says that the King's supposed to reflect on
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the on the Scripture every day. He's supposed to read it.
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And Solomon didn't do that and the books were lost.
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And I forgot who it was. That was it Joshua or Josh?
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I can't, I'll have the wrong name, I'm sure.
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But somebody found the the book of law in the temple and it had
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not been done. And after they read it, they
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realized all the things they were doing wrong and they went
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into repentance. But then that only lasts for so
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long, then they forget about it. So I think the problem with the
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repeated problem is that people, including us today.
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So I asked God for insight. So I'm just getting this right
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now, thinking this applies to us too.
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If we're not reading the Bible daily, we'll forget about it.
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We'll forget about what makes got upset, what makes them
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happy. I mean, maybe won't forget all
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of it, but we'll be easily going along in our own ways and forget
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about how we act, how we are to one another.
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If we're not in Scripture, if we're not reading Scripture,
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it's so easy to just get focused on worldly things, on what comes
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next. Not having God is the central
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focus of everything. Before we start our day, it
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should start with God and then we can go on to the worldly
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things that we have. OK.
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I will set fires to the walls of Rabba that will consume her
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fortresses amid war cries, on the day of battle, amid violent
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winds on a stormy day, her king will go into exile.
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He and his officials together says the Lord.
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Now that's the end of chapter 1. So this I read through actually
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all nine chapters in preparation prior to this podcast Bible
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study, but I did not read the the study guide on it.
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So I will go into that. But it's a did Damascus have
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only three or four sins? This is a literary device used
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to express the concept of many. This formula describing the sins
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of Damascus is repeated for each of the other nations indicated
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by Amos, including Judah and culminating with Israel, to whom
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the bulk of Amos's prophecies are directed.
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What were the sledges having iron teeth?
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This is a picture of extreme violence.
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Farmers threshed their grain by pulling wooden sledges over it.
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The sharp teeth on the bottom separated the kernels from the
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stalk. Sledges were also used to cut
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furrows in the ground. In battle, they were sometimes
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dragged behind Chariots. Although this may be a figure of
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speech to describe war atrocities, some think Amos was
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denouncing A literal method of torture, dragging sledges over
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prisoners of war who were staked to the ground.
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Well, that's awful. What happened to these nations?
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Down through the centuries, each of these nations met its end.
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Some, such as the Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, were
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annihilated by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Great Babylonian
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Empire, from six O 5 to 562 BC. Ancient inscriptions say he
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exterminated them because he found them troublesome.
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None of these nations survived the conquest of the region by
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Alexander the Great in the early three hundreds BC.
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How could this fire come? Captured cities were often
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torched, especially those that had resisted surrender.
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If a city did surrender, however, it was often spared
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though, or through its nobility, intelligentsia and Craftsman
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were usually whisked away into captivity.
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Where was tieman? Tieman is generally thought to
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have been the northern region of Edom, where Edom's capital of
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Basra was located. Not much is known about the
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specifics of Tieman's locations or its history.
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The person Tieman was the first born of Ilophas from Genesis 36,
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who was the son of Esau. The Edomites therefore,
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therefore, were descendants of Esau and proved to be a
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difficult neighbor for the Israelites.
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Now, Esau was the brother of Jacob, the twin brother of
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Jacob, and he gave up his birthright.
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He actually came out of the womb first.
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He was birthed first, but, and so he would have been the first
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born and inherited special privileges, but instead he gave
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it up because he was hungry and there was Stew that was cooking.
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That's what the account tells us.
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And he said, you know, he basically betrayed that so he
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could eat. And that's, that's also, I mean
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a literal event, but also symbolic to show us that we
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shouldn't be giving up something of great importance for a
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momentary pleasure. So why did Amon RIP open
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pregnant women? Killing a pregnant woman was
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seen as a way to destroy 2 enemies with one thrust of the
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sword. This was not a strategic method
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for winning a war. It was a product of bloodthirsty
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madness, an insane hatred for those of of a different ethnic
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group. And like I said, we saw this on
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October 7th, 2023. It's terrible that this still
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happens today. You would think our world should
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be civilized by now, but it isn't.
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OK, Chapter 2, we have time. So we'll read chapter 2 and then
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we'll go through the questions and answers.
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This is what the Lord said for three sins of Moab.
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Even for four, I will not relent because he burned to ashes the
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bones of Edom's king. OK, I have to stop there because
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I I was like, well, you know what's?
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Let's read about that. What was so terrible about
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burning bones? Burning the bones of the king
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showed how much the Moabites hated the people of Edom.
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They believed they were preventing the dead king from
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resting in peace, perhaps even denying him eternal life.
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And by desecrating A burial ground, they probably thought
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they were desecrating a sacred place.
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So you can see here that God punishes for intent.
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Like maybe they didn't. They weren't successful in that
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feat. Even though they burned his
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ashes, they didn't affect his eternal whereabouts.
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Only he affected his eternal whereabouts.
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I guess that's something that we should all remember is that we
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are in control by our choices as a result of our choices of where
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we end up. It's not how much good we do or
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how much bad we do, but at the moment it's, it's, I mean, we
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certainly have to repent of the bad things that we've done and
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agree, come into agreement with God that we want to change that,
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that we want to get that out of our life and then ask God for
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the Holy Spirit to help us live that out.
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So that's what we have to do. But Jesus took care of the
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biggest thing for us in, in his death on the cross and
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resurrection thereafter, he enabled us to be in the Kingdom
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of God. So that work is already done and
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we all should be so thankful because Jesus is the only way
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that we would have ever been able to be in the Kingdom of
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God. Without Jesus, we cannot be in
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the Kingdom of God. But Jesus didn't say, oh, I took
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care of it all. You guys don't have to do
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anything at all. He told people, you must be born
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again, born of the Spirit. So that's what I was talking
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about when we received the Holy Spirit.
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So that's necessary to be in the Kingdom of God, because Jesus
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himself said. You must be born.
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Anyone who is not born of the Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom
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of God. So that's really critical.
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A lot of people are not, I don't know.
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It drives me crazy when I find pastors of churches not being
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very clear about this, like how much we need the Holy Spirit or
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we won't be in God's Kingdom. So that's one of the reasons why
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I talk about it a lot on this podcast because it's not getting
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messaged in churches, in several churches.
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So OK, let's go back to Scripture again.
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So, but knowing that what God said, the Lord said that for
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three sins of Moab even before, I will not relent because he
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burned to ashes the bones of Edom's king.
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So if the reason they did that, there was an intent behind it,
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and that was, you know, God was punishing that.
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I will send fire on Moab that will consume the fortresses of
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Karaoth. Moab will go down in great
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tumult amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet.
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I will destroy her ruler and kill all her officials with him.
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Now, I want to pause right now because this just came to mind.
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We were saying all along that Amos was a shepherd and he was
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from the tribe of Judah and he was prophesying against Israel
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about what their future would be before their fall.
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But this is really interesting because this is not just about
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Israel. I mean, it talks about Judah, It
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talks about, it's talking about the Middle East here, many
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nations of the Middle East. So this is this didn't all
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happen unless it was the I guess it was, let's see, I have to
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look back because it was it was a Syria, which was a grouping of
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a lot of different. It's not just it's like Turkey
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and other countries today that Assyria was the one who captured
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Israel and then Babylon, which is where modern day Iraq.
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That's it always helps me to put places with things.
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Modern day Iraq was where the people lived that actually
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conquered Judah later. But first Israel got conquered
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by Assyria, which was Turkey and maybe like some, I think
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northwestern Iran, maybe Syria in that area.
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But those, those that was the, the land area, the of the people
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that actually conquered the northern portion of Israel, the
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10 tribes. And so this to me, I mean,
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there's way more this is talking about.
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I mean, if we go back to Chapter 1, it's talking about Damascus,
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Gaza, Tyre, Jordan. So tyres in Lebanon.
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So it's talking about Damascus is in Lebanon.
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So we are Syria. So it's it's, yeah, it's talking
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about like Syria, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan.
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And then it goes on to Moab, which is South of I guess it's
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the Moabites and the Ammonites that are below.
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Those were actually the descendants of Lot because it
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was Lot's daughters. I think they were named Moab and
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and I don't, I'm going to get the other one wrong.
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I don't know if it was the, the might be the Edomites that I
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have. I'd have to look that up.
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So anyway, Lot's two daughters had children with Lot and those
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settled in the lands. They became Moabites and another
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one of those that was close by, which I can't remember.
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I wonder if this, maybe this map will show me Edom Edomites.
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So it was the Moabites and the Edomites or maybe it was the
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Ammonites because the Ammonites were another one.
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I'm I'm getting these confused and the Ammonites are different
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from the Amorites. So we'll talk about the Amorite
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soon too. And that's really interesting.
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I went on a deep dive on that today.
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OK, so it's like I said, it's talking about so many different
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areas. This isn't just a prophecy for
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the 10 tribes. So he gets, he's talking to Moab
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now about Moab and about what's going to happen with them.
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And it then it says, this is what the Lord says for three
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sins of Judah. So he's from the tribe of Judah
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and the Judah is really Judah and Benjamin because Benjamin,
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the tribe of Benjamin was inside.
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It was surrounded by the tribe of Judah in the ancient maps.
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So even for four, I will not relent.
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Then he says why? And there were three reasons for
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Judah. They rejected the law of the
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Lord. They didn't keep his decrees and
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they were LED astray by false gods.
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So it says for three sins of Judah, even for I will not
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relent because they have rejected the law of the Lord,
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have not kept his decrees, because they have been LED
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astray by false gods the the gods their ancestors followed.
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I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of
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Jerusalem, and then there's judgement on Israel.
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This is what the Lord says for three sins of Israel, even for
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four, I will not relent. Then He gives reasons why, and
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there are 7 different reasons why.
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So they even did more than what Judah did.
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They sell the innocent for silver and the needy for a pair
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of sandals #2 They trample on the heads of the poor as on the
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dust of the ground #3 They deny justice to the oppressed Father
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and #4 Father and son use the same girl #5 And so profane my
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holy name. So they're profaning God's name
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because they are the the chosen ones and they are making, it's
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just like, you know what we can do?
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We can profane God's holy name when we call ourselves a
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Christian, but we don't live like a Christian.
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We are profaning God's if we are not living by God's law, if we
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are not obeying God's law and we say, yeah, we're a Christian,
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but then we're doing all these sinful things.
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What does that look like to everybody else?
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You don't, don't you think that God kind of gets aggravated with
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that because God is holy and he wants us to be holy.
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And so but he knows we're not perfect and he does have mercy
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and he does have compassion. But every time we're doing that,
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we are profaning his name by giving a really bad example of
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what Christianity should be about, what God tells us, what
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it is, what Jesus said, what it is.
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And if we are not following that, we are just turning people
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away from God because they're looking at us as
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representatives. And God's not thrilled about
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that. Just like he doesn't have
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favoritism. You can see right here, he's
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talking to all these different countries and saying, I'm not
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going to relent because of all these things that they did.
27:55
And so do you think he's going to not bring judgement on us too
28:00
if we don't repent, if we don't turn to him and realize like,
28:05
OK, well, I'm not living the way you want me to live, God.
28:07
So I want, please forgive me for that.
28:10
And then help me by the power of the Holy Spirit to change this
28:14
in my life so that we can be in a good relationship.
28:18
I mean, that's the kind of prayer that we need to say to
28:20
God just in our own words. But if it happens to all these
28:23
other people, it's going to happen to us too if we keep
28:27
thinking that we can keep on sinning.
28:30
And don't even get me started about saying, well, I've got
28:33
grace. Yeah, you're not going to
28:35
cheapen Jesus's death on the cross.
28:39
Repeated intentional sinning is not covered by grace.
28:46
They lie down beside every altar, so they're worshipping
28:50
other gods on garments taken and pledged in the House of their
28:54
God. They drink wine from wine taken
28:57
as finds, yet I destroyed the Amorites before them, though
29:04
they were as tall as the Cedars and strong as the oaks.
29:09
Now, when I read this, I had to stop and do some research on
29:14
this because because there's so many different entities of
29:18
people that are called something ites.
29:21
And, and so I like I said, the Ammonites versus the Amorites,
29:26
they're different groups of people.
29:29
And so I couldn't remember these Amorites who they were.
29:33
And there is speculation and I, I don't know, I didn't.
29:42
It's there's a lot that really seems like these could be some
29:45
of the the giants back in the day because they were considered
29:51
like it says here, though they were tall as the Cedars and
29:57
strong as the oaks. Of course, that is that could be
30:01
considered poetic language. But then you realize that Sihan
30:08
was the king of the Amorites and then Ogg was the king of Bashan.
30:14
And Ogg was the one that had a bed that was 13 feet from the IT
30:20
talks about it in cubits, but in translation, it's 13 feet from
30:24
the headboard to the footboard. And these people were, you know,
30:28
like when Joshua sent was when he went to take the people,
30:34
deliver the people into the promised land they had.
30:38
It was, I guess Caleb and Joshua that went along with the others.
30:42
And they were the only ones that gave back a, a, an accurate
30:48
report. The other ones were very fearful
30:50
because of these very tall people who were living in the
30:53
land. Now, you know, let's just be
30:57
logical about this. If it was just a taller person,
31:02
do you think they're going to be that fearful?
31:04
Like if somebody happens to be, you know, just like think about,
31:09
I mean, sure, if it's if it's a little bit taller, you know,
31:14
that's, that's one thing. But do you think that this seems
31:18
like it's something significantly taller?
31:22
Because I don't, I don't know, it just, it just doesn't seem
31:26
like there are reports of like in in like proven reports that,
31:36
you know, people were maybe like 12 feet tall.
31:38
Like that's really tall. It's not like somebody who is,
31:41
you know, a little bit over 6 foot or something.
31:43
That's not what we're talking about.
31:45
And just look it up. It it talks about these things
31:50
and Miss Amorites were supposedly the ones who founded
31:54
Babylon. Like, I just think there is this
31:57
like long time eternal spiritual force of these areas that keeps
32:03
coming out. And they have a feeling that the
32:07
book of Enoch is true and that these watchers who were fallen
32:13
angels who disobeyed God, you know, wanted to be worshipped.
32:18
And and I mean, this is in the Bible in Genesis chapter 6,
32:21
where they actually had sex with women and created these giant
32:26
offspring that were called Nephilim.
32:29
And so the Bible tells us that is true.
32:33
But then when you get into this, it's just it just you start
32:38
seeing it when you really dig into Scripture.
32:42
And anyway, I just the Amorites there was in Judges chapter one,
32:48
verse 34, it said the Amorites forced the children of Dan into
32:52
the mountain. So I just thought that was
32:55
interesting. I mean, there's you could get
32:57
into like a whole bunch of conspiracy theory stories about
33:00
this stuff, but it's just kind of fascinating.
33:03
I guess if you want to, I did a deeper dive on all this stuff
33:07
that led me into a lot of different things, but I won't go
33:11
there because we're really studying the Bible.
33:13
Not all these extra accounts, but I just found that
33:16
interesting. And it's something, if you want
33:18
to do something interesting, just, you know, go down that
33:21
rabbit hole and start looking up the Amorites and then reading
33:24
things that catch your attention on that.
33:27
So it says, yet I destroyed the Amorites before them though they
33:32
were. They were tall as the Cedars and
33:34
strong as the oaks. I destroyed their fruit above
33:38
and their roots below. I brought you up out of Egypt
33:42
and LED you 40 years in the wilderness to give you the land
33:46
of the Amorites. Now remember, that's where you
33:50
know the Canaanites were, and that's where Israel.
33:54
That's the promised land. And there were giants in that
33:58
land. So just look into that.
34:02
I also raised up profits from among your children and
34:07
Nazarites from among your youths.
34:10
Is this not true? People of Israel declares the
34:13
Lord, but you made the Nazarites drink wine.
34:18
So the Nazarites took a vow not to drink wine.
34:21
They were never to drink drink wine.
34:23
They were dedicated to the Lord. And so apparently that happened.
34:28
They did wrong when somebody had a Nazarite vow and commanded the
34:33
prophets not to prophecy. So the prophets didn't say,
34:38
didn't say just, you know, primarily the prophets did not
34:41
say, oh, you were going to. Sometimes they did say that they
34:44
would be blessed, but a lot of times the prophets were saying
34:48
repent and people and they, you know, like people did not want
34:52
to hear it. Just like I don't remember who
34:55
it was that we were reading about.
34:57
I don't know if it was Ahab who was the king of Israel at one
34:59
time or if it was another king, but he's like, I don't want to
35:03
listen to him because he never says anything good about me.
35:07
Like I won't go to him. I'm not going to get information
35:09
from him because he never says anything good.
35:11
So people all throughout his history, like God is trying to
35:15
warn people, but they're ignoring.
35:18
The ones that God is speaking to are being ignored, but the fate
35:25
still happens to them. So they ignore the messenger,
35:28
but then it's going to ultimately happen anyway.
35:31
So prophets often gave warnings about pending judgement, but
35:37
they encouraged people to repent because by repenting you could
35:43
lessen or escape the judgement depending on what God decides to
35:47
do. OK, now then I will crush you as
35:51
a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
35:55
So there's consequences to the actions.
35:58
The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their
36:02
strength, the warrior will not save his life, the Archer will
36:07
not stand his ground, the fleet footed soldier will not get
36:11
away, and the horseman will not save his life.
36:15
Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day, declares
36:21
the Lord. Now that's the end of chapter 2.
36:24
So there's no escaping God's judgement.
36:27
When God says something, people think they're going to be able
36:31
to hide from it. Like in the Book of Revelation,
36:33
it says when the Lord appears in the clouds at the second coming,
36:37
I guess it is or whatever, when at the gathering, whatever event
36:42
that is, when the Lord appears, the people will realize that
36:47
judgment is then coming next and they go to hide in caves.
36:52
That's what the Book of Revelation tells us.
36:54
So people think they can hide from God.
36:58
In fact, there's again, we do know that the people who are the
37:02
the wealthiest are not all of them, but some are making
37:07
underground bunkers to protect themselves.
37:11
Well, those underground bunkers are not going to protect when it
37:15
comes to God. They may protect them from
37:19
people, but they're not going to protect them ultimately from
37:23
God. And what if the bunker is in a
37:27
ground area that actually suffers an earthquake?
37:30
What's going to happen then? That's another question.
37:32
So I'm sure they thought of those things when they designed
37:37
and engineered them. But just just interesting people
37:41
think we all, you know, I maybe people just hope that they will
37:45
escape God or they will avoid God.
37:48
So they don't get, they don't get the consequences of their
37:51
actions. But the Bible tells us very
37:54
clearly that it may be delayed, and the only reason it is
37:58
delayed is because God is patient and he wants everyone to
38:03
come to repentance. But some people are stubborn and
38:07
they don't want to come to repentance.
38:09
And the longer people sin and keep doing it and keep getting
38:12
away with it, the less they're encouraged to repent because
38:16
they feel like they're getting away with it.
38:19
But ultimately, we're not going to get away with it.
38:22
God is saying that this judgement will happen.
38:25
So we're probably much more fortunate if we take the warning
38:30
and do something about it sooner because God could relent the
38:34
judgement. But if we wait till the end,
38:37
it's going to either be a severe judgement where we can still
38:40
turn to repent as long as we don't get killed by it, or we
38:45
will die and then we would be separated from God eternally and
38:50
tormented because of our decision.
38:53
It says it's a place of torment. I don't believe that God is the
38:59
one tormenting. I just think it's all the evil
39:01
that goes there. Just evil loves to torment, so
39:04
they get to do their wishes so they can torment one another.
39:08
That's why there's eternal torment.
39:10
When you make a choice like that and you choose against God,
39:13
you're go against God or reject God.
39:15
You are choosing evil. Even if you reject God, if you
39:19
deny Jesus, you are rejecting God and your fate, your
39:25
consequence is going to be unless you repent, it's going to
39:29
be eternally separated from God with evil, other evil people who
39:34
like to torment. And that's what you're going to
39:36
get, what you want. You're going to get what you
39:38
chose. So wake up, open your eyes, and
39:42
quit being so flippant about seeking God because it's going
39:49
to have horrible consequences or absolutely wonderful
39:52
consequences because if you repent, you can enter into the
39:56
Kingdom of God. And God has so many beautiful
39:58
things in store for his children.
40:01
It's an inheritance. I mean, this is the God, the
40:03
creator of the universe. And such beautiful things that
40:08
we have here right now in this broken world will be even better
40:12
and unbroken in God's Kingdom. So let's go into the questions
40:20
and answers for chapter 2. What false gods LED Judah
40:23
astray? By Amos's time, almost every
40:27
town in Judah had a local shrine or temple.
40:32
At some shrines, people worshipped Bail, which I think
40:36
is Satan, and the Canaanite fertility deities Ashtereth and
40:41
Ashira. Many of these shrines even had
40:44
prostitutes who served as priestesses who engaged in
40:49
ritual sex as part of the worship.
40:54
Judah wanted to be like their Pagan neighbors.
40:57
In doing so, they rejected God's laws and guidelines for true
41:01
worship. Of course Satan is going to lure
41:07
in a way that all humans enjoy sex and and lust.
41:12
He will use that because it's appealing.
41:15
And so he lures people in like that and then people just go
41:19
with it. I recently, and I'm not going to
41:22
say the name of the person because I don't want to do that,
41:28
but I listened to a podcast today about a divorced woman who
41:33
had children and she started dating a guy and he had a child
41:41
also. And they were talking about how
41:44
they were blending their families together and how they
41:47
got over their divorces and that, you know, their
41:51
relationship and how they talked through things and how to have a
41:54
successful relationship. And they were going on about all
41:57
this, you know, kind of being an example.
42:00
Like they, they've been through it now they found the loves of
42:03
their life. They're happy.
42:05
They've been together for a couple years and, and they, you
42:09
know, everything is like really going perfect for them.
42:14
And they think it's the way that they treat one another.
42:17
And that's, that's what's good. And that one of the things that
42:20
works really well for them is their ability or their
42:26
opportunities or their frequency of being intimate and having sex
42:30
because that keeps the relationship together.
42:32
Well, yes, it does. Sex does keep a relationship
42:36
together within a marriage, but if you're not married, what I
42:43
mean, that person can leave. I mean, there's no promise,
42:46
there's no commitment, There's nothing that really is holding
42:52
somebody there. And not only that, but God is
42:56
very clear that he that should be within the confines of a
43:01
marriage, that that is where it says that people who are immoral
43:09
will not be in the Kingdom of God.
43:11
And if you dive into that really deep and study it, you because I
43:17
looked into it, I was trying to find loopholes for it.
43:20
And when you look into it, you get the truth that you look up
43:27
definitions of what things are and all those things.
43:29
And the truth is that if you continue in that and you're not
43:33
married, you're not willing to make a commitment, A lifelong
43:36
commitment to the person, but you just want the benefits.
43:40
In fact, this, this couple that was on this podcast was saying
43:44
about they were friends with benefits and, and I just, and
43:48
they called themselves Christians.
43:50
So that's exactly what I'm talking about is people who are
43:53
not living by what God says and they don't.
43:57
And then there's they're, they're very popular.
43:59
So they're steering people in that direction like, Oh, this is
44:03
good. Well, this is so like, if
44:06
you're, you're completely blind to true Christianity and what
44:09
the Bible says, there will be consequences.
44:13
I do hope the these people truly love one another, and I do hope
44:17
they get married. And if all that happens before
44:22
somebody dies or before Jesus returns, great, you know, then
44:26
they're probably safe. But if you know from what the
44:31
Bible says that if you in, if you, you know they're sexually
44:35
immoral, will not be in God's Kingdom.
44:38
And that's like a that's a shocker to a lot of people.
44:42
And our world does not support that.
44:45
Our world tells us it's OK. Or they're like, if you're in a
44:49
committed relationship, that's what everybody thinks.
44:51
Well, if you're in a committed relationship, just get married.
44:54
You know, it's why are you not getting married?
44:58
And if you give any other excuse, I mean, that's just
45:01
ridiculous. I mean, do you want to be like
45:04
Isa and give up, like he gave up being the first born and all the
45:09
inheritance for Stu because he was hungry?
45:14
And that's the same thing. People who are doing that when
45:16
God's when God, it says that if you're sexually immoral, there's
45:21
a lot of other things too. Not only that, but other things
45:25
too that say you will not be in the Kingdom of God.
45:27
I think you can read Revelation 21 and 22 where it says might be
45:32
chapter 22 where it says the the specific things and then Paul
45:35
talks about it too. It's not just one place.
45:39
That was actually Jesus saying that that those who do that will
45:44
not be in the Kingdom of God. So if you don't believe me, look
45:49
it up in the Bible because I'm 100% positive that it's there
45:53
because I looked and I tried to disprove it myself, but there's
45:58
no way. I mean, if you are, if you have
46:02
intelligence, you're going to see you can't disprove it.
46:06
Like you're going to come to that same real realization and
46:09
pray to God about it too. So it's kind of a warning, like
46:12
I'm warning other people. It's not to obey some church
46:15
rules or anything. This is about your future, your
46:19
eternity in God's Kingdom. Do you want to be in God's
46:22
Kingdom? And if you do, and you're doing
46:26
that or any of the other sins that are mentioned by Jesus that
46:32
said that you will not be in God's Kingdom if you do those
46:34
things, ask God for forgiveness and then just vow today to God
46:39
that you don't want to do it anymore and ask for the Holy
46:42
Spirit to help you to stay committed to that all the way
46:48
until you die or until Jesus returns.
46:53
And when it comes to sex until you get married, So if you have
46:58
somebody that you love, quit wasting time and get married.
47:03
And if you want to have this big party or you don't have enough
47:05
money for that, just legally get married and then have the party
47:09
later. I mean make, I mean all these
47:11
stupid excuses are not worth it when it comes to eternity.
47:18
You don't want to be foolish, be short sighted and not think at
47:21
the big picture, not think about the long range plan.
47:24
And I'm not saying anybody should rush into marriage just
47:27
because you want to have sex. That's foolish because you're
47:29
just. The Bible wants you to be with
47:31
that person forever. They should have God as their
47:35
priority and there's so many other things that you first you
47:39
should need to seek God and to fully understand.
47:44
Well, that would take a long time, but you need to really
47:48
know what the Bible says and look for a godly relationship.
47:53
Pray to God that he will put a godly relationship with it.
47:56
Make sure that the person, whoever you're going to commit
47:59
to in marriage shows evidence of the fruit of the spirit.
48:03
Read Galatians chapter 5. Use that for a checklist of your
48:07
partner. Does your partner exhibit those
48:10
traits? If your partner does not hold
48:12
off on getting married anyway, this wasn't meant to be a
48:17
discussion about marriage or sex or anything, but it's one of
48:21
those things where I do see that Satan lures people in because
48:25
it's enticing, because people like it, because it's, it's
48:29
something that people desire and it's leading you, it's taking
48:34
you on a highway to hell. And people don't realize that.
48:38
And so I'm, I'm warning people because it's God's word.
48:44
It says it in God's word. So getting back to this, how
48:49
would father and son use the same girl?
48:52
A father and son worshipping at a Pagan shrine could have sex
48:56
with the same Trump temple prostitute.
49:00
Prostitution was a sin, but this made it even more outrageous.
49:04
It amounted to a kind of secondary incest, a perversion
49:09
between the father and the son. According to Leviticus chapter
49:13
20 verse 12. What is significant about
49:17
destroying fruit and roots? Destroying the crop was one
49:21
thing, destroying the root system was something more
49:25
devastating. The point of this agricultural
49:28
metaphor is to show total destruction.
49:31
Ancient armies would sometimes ruin their victims fields by
49:35
covering them with salt so they could not grow crops for years
49:40
to come. Why force the Nazarites to drink
49:44
wine? Nazarites were Israelites who
49:47
made special vows to God that included extraordinary lifestyle
49:51
sacrifices, usually for a limited time.
49:55
According to Numbers chapter 6 verses one through 21, one such
50:00
sacrifice was to abstain from alcohol.
50:03
Forcing Nazarites to abandon their vows to God was an act of
50:07
defiance, an intentional destruction of something sacred.
50:12
So this has been a long podcast, and I think we'll stop at this
50:18
chapter 2. Next time when we pick up, we'll
50:21
do chapter 3.