This is a troublesome topic for most people. What we have been taught up to this point in our life maybe in serious jeopardy(definition: in danger of loss, harm or failure). I defined the word jeopardy because, it is appropriate for the following reasons:
Danger of Loss: the loss of friends, associates and society.
Danger of Harm: because of those losses, you are more easily harmed by others.
Danger of Failure: of giving in to pressure from the other two, thereby losing everything for fear of losing the others and then your soul.
Why your soul? The purpose of life is keep your soul alive by learning to do good and not evil. This requires that you know what is True and Right, then to act Righteously.
Let us consider that most of the people of this world do not have enough wit to seek The CREATOR, our Father. In fact, each person, being so caught up in what “I want”, that to understand that they have personal responsibility for their every action, is literally unthinkable.
When more than five pieces of hard evidence are placed before anyone, who then declares “I don’t accept that as evidence”, that person has a serious problem.
Understand that there was no discussion about what is wrong with the evidence, except that it does not fit in the world view of that person.
There are many examples in the world today. In many different areas of: science, politics and personal relationships, but these maybe too close for an objective view.
Miracles done before Pharaoh of Egypt: 1) Stick to Snake, 2) Snake eats the other snakes, 3)Moses grabs the snake by the tail and it is again his staff. 4) Moses’s staff is held over the Nile and all water is turned into blood for seven days, 5) After the blood, Pharaoh is warned by The LORD, that if he does not let the people go Frogs, 6) Frogs!; 7) Pharaoh calls Moses and says “’Entreat the LORD, that He take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice unto the LORD.’”; 8) by way of reply “Moses said unto Pharaoh: ‘Have thou this glory over me; against what time shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses, and remain in the river only?’” –Pharaoh is to choose when the LORD should remove the frogs and which are not to be destroyed.; 9) “And he(Pharaoh) said: ‘Against to-morrow.’ And he(Moses) said: ‘Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.’” Notice that the instructions are stated twice. Two witnesses.
So far, the circumstances presented are these, The LORD telling Moses, then Moses tells [Exodus 4:15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in God’s stead. . . . . 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.] Aaron what to do; together they do it; Pharaoh gets the sign; his wise men do something apparently similar so Pharaoh returns to his own ways. And Yet, with the frogs Pharaoh calls Moses, and Pharaoh must decide when and how much is changed, and his word the LORD Performs. Pharaoh does not see it. From this point on Pharaoh’s magicians cannot make the event before Pharaoh, neither to create nor to remove what was created(which they never could remove.), and then do give credit to the Finger of GOD. Well, not Pharaoh.
I do not want to go through the whole Exodus to make this point: Pharaoh is acting self-destructively towards himself and all that he owns, no matter what he is shown, he can not accept that Moses’s GOD is GOD and that Pharaoh is not god. This cost him almost everything he deems important, this causes his own harm.
The point is; that it is not easy to decide that you must change your view, no matter how times the evidence shown hurts you personally. Usually without consideration of those around you, like family; friends; neighbors; . . . .
The plagues in Egypt were not enough evidence for Pharaoh. Yet!, Some portion of this process “eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear and hearts that cannot understand” has been going on for a really long time.
I know people at all levels, including degreed individuals, even a great number of Master Degrees and Doctors(PhD) which seem to act like: Pavlov’s dog –a certain set of stimulus creates a set of action which not only hurt the person and everything they touch.(Money, Career, Family, Business, . . . .) What has happened to their intellect? They were intelligent and perceptive, but not anymore. Why? Is there fulfillment of prophecy in this?
With Pharaoh, the LORD said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart. With us, I believe that HE just stops saving us from ourselves, because of how each of us has behaved. We are, our own worst enemy, because we refuse to learn, to consider, to change. How much time do you have to change(Return), before you finish on the wrong side of the blessings and receive the curses?
Let us take a look at Pharaoh of the Exodus. Here is some more of the actual text:
“לשפוך אותועל היבשה”
Exodus 7:
14 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go.
15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand.
16 And thou shalt say unto him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying: Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened;
17 thus saith the LORD: In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD–behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
18 And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.’
19 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
21 And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
The evidence has been very troubling to me for most of my life. Knowing that we are at the end of time and that most will not make it. When something contradicts the general views of people, even the well educated people. The contradictions seems too demanding to think about and so they return to what they feel is comfortable.
This is not a new thing, which is why the LORD sent all of those prophets to inform us of what HE says is wrong, the danger we are in and what we must do to change. But we refuse to consider our actions and deeds.
Ezekiel 18:26 When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therefore; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
What evidence will you accept?
I can show you the way, if you want to know.
IT is to our benefit to HEARKEN until the LIVING GOD OF ISRAEL, and to our pain and shame to do otherwise.
My prayer is that The LORD grant you eyes that see, ears that hear and an understanding heart, then you return unto HIM soon!(Isaiah 6: 9 And He said: ‘Go, and tell this people: hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart, return, and be healed.’)
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Shalom,
Yaakov