Tag: faith

OOPS OF THE DAY ~ December 27

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

John the Baptist just announced one day that he was a prophet and, since he was a pretty good preacher, everyone believed him.

Matthew 3:1-6  –  Malachi 4:5-6  –  II Kings 1:8

Fact of the Day

No!  It was much more than that.  First, he dressed in the common dress of prophets at that time – fur and leather.  Second, that kind of dress originated with Elijah, and Malachi (around 400 BC) had predicted “Elijah” would introduce the Messiah to the world.

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.  Do word searches. 

Download your own copy here:

99c. But in heaven, God rises from his throne, raises his holy hand, and shouts, “Yes!”

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

99 CENTS. For last-minute gifts that will arrive before and even on Christmas day, get the ebook of STAR SONG for just 99 CENTS here: https://bit.ly/4pL5bn2

Jesus has been born. Moments ago. Joseph, the other father, squats on the scattered hay next to mother and baby. All is now quiet.

But in heaven, Jehovah God rises from his throne, raises his holy hand in triumph, and shouts, “Yes!” A yes that resounds through the universe and beyond. The angels pat each other on the back and burst out in a shout of triumph that shoots through the heavens and slides down to the countryside outside of the little town of Bethlehem.

An insignificant couple. A dirty stable. Smelly. Dingy. Cobwebs. Silence. Divine silence. Wonder. Awe. Overwhelming astonishment. Overpowering love.

OOPS OF THE DAY ~ December 22

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Oops of the Day

Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Nazareth because it had been predicted he would be a Nazarite.

Matthew 2:23  –  

Numbers 6  –  Jeremiah 23:5  –  Isaiah 4:2  –  Isaiah 1:1-5  –   Jeremiah 33:15-16  –  Zechariah 3:8  –  Zechariah 6:12-13


Christmas Fact of the Day

No!  It had been prophesied that he would be a Nazarene, not a Nazarite.  Nazarites could not drink wine, cut their hair, or go near a dead body. Sometimes, someone was a Nazarite for just a week or sometimes an entire lifetime.   Jesus did at least 2 of those things forbidden to Nazarites.  He turned water into wine for his first miracle.  Later miracles involved raising someone back to life after they died.  We do not know what his hair looked like.

On the other hand, 

The name Nazarene just means someone who lives in Nazareth. It IS significant that Jesus was raised in Nazareth because the root meaning of that village’s name is Nezar, meaning branch.  Jesus was to be a HOLY BRANCH from the family tree of King David.

And by the way, Nazareth still exists today.  I have friends who live there. 

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.

OOPS OF THE DAY ~ December 21

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Oops of the Day

Mary said yes to her divine pregnancy the moment angel Gabriel told her.

Luke 1:26-38  and  56

Christmas Fact of the Day

No!  She was troubled  (“pondered”) why he greeted her in the way he did – “favored one”. Then she became afraid. Then she questioned the logic of what he told her because she was unmarried. 

Oddly, she did not respond to the baby being the Son of the Most High, so he repeated himself, saying he will be the Son of God. 

She must have been troubled (“pondered”) again, so the angel added some reassurance:  Her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, was pregnant too, and that should be proof to her that God can do the impossible. After accepting the “holy challenge,” Mary rushed to see Elizabeth.  If Elizabeth really was pregnant, then Mary knew she was too. 

Whew!  The angel sure had a challenge with Mary.  

And, by the way, she stayed with Elizabeth for three months, long enough to hold Elizabeth’s miracle baby in her arms.  Then she was ready to return home and face Joseph.

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.

OOPS OF THE DAY ~ December 20

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Oops of the Day

When Anna got old, she moved to the temple so they could take care of her in her old age and she could pray for them.

Luke 2:36-37

Christmas Fact of the Day

No!  When baby Jesus was presented at the temple by his parents,  Prophetess Anna was AGE 84 or more and had already lived at the temple all but about 7 of her adult years.  In fact, she lived through and survived these attacks on the temple and Jerusalem:

BC 63 – Pompey besieged Jerusalem and entered the temple.
BC 54 – Crassus looted the temple of all its gold.
BC 40 – When Herod was made King, Jerusalem closed its gates, so he had to attack and force his way in.

I think Anna needs to be preached about more.  She was an example of holding on to her faith, even if it meant no answer decade after decade.  Kind of reminds you of Sarah who waited until she was 89 before finally becoming pregnant.  

Sometimes, amazing things happen in people’s old age. Don’t they?

 

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.

OOPS OF THE DAY ~ December 19

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Oops of the Day

The  shepherds who the angels appeared to on the night Jesus was born were respectable men.

Luke 2:8-20  – I Samuel 17:34-36 – John 10:11 –  Genesis 46:33-34 

Christmas Fact of the Day

True, beloved King David had been a shepherd and Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd.  

But, no!  Shepherds were far from respected.  Shepherds were despised in many places.  The Jewish Talmud forbade shepherds from being witnesses.   Further, no aid was to be given to heathens or shepherds.  Shepherds were not even allowed in the temple proper. 

This was true even 1200 years before Jesus was born. In Egypt,  Joseph warned his father when he was introduced to Pharaoh, “Do not tell him you are a shepherd.  Every Egyptian despises shepherds.”

 

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.

99 CENTS. The magi are puzzled when they enter Palestine. No excitement, no parades, no…

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

     The magi, having traveled all the way from Parthia in the east, are puzzled when they finally  cross the border. Life as usual in Palestine.  No excitement. No parades.  No banners.  The Jews stare at the long caravan of regal magi on plumed camels with silk saddles, wondering why these rich and stately foreigners are in their country….

     The magi arrive at Bethlehem about midnight. They have found it.  “Well, this is it, gentlemen,” Yasib says under his breath. “The King of all kings. The Priest of all priests. The one predicted centuries ago by Magi Daniel.”

              Hey, you magi, or whatever you unbelievers call yourselves. You’re not wanted here. This is our religion. Don’t go changing everything. You’ve got it all wrong.

(Excerpt from STAR SONG)

For 99 cents, you can get STAR SONG for last-minute gifts – even ON Christmas day. Just go here: https://bit.ly/45hKneF

SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ Oh, and one more thing about the wise men I meant to tell you.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

I ended up writing a biblical historical novel about the wisemen.  I made Michel a descendant of Daniel (who knows?).  Michel wants to buy and restore the Garden of Eden, where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet, where God walked with Adam and Eve.  He has hopes that God will return and walk the earth with people in his day.  Of course, the other wisemen laugh at him.

Most of the book is him and 9 other wise men traveling the then-known world trying to find the meaning of the star.  They run into barriers, handicaps, and dangers in their travels.  Further, they won’t give Michel’s God a hearing because he is invisible.  But eventually, they run out of religions and give his God a chance.  

If you want to read the first chapter, some reviews, and see some direct buy inks, just click ‘HOME” above.  It’s in the third row of books with the  INTREPID MEN OF GOD series.

Mum Katheryn

SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ December 17

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Surprise of the Day

So, if the wise men (magi) did not follow the star all the way from the East (today’s Iran Iraq, N. India) as the Christmas carol says, how did they figure out where to find Jesus?    

I’m glad you asked.

Matthew 2:2  –  Daniel 9:1; 24ff  –  Daniel chap. 10  –  Daniel chap.  11  –  Daniel 12:3


Christmas Fact of the Day

Yesterday I promised to tell you the answer to “HOW”?  Here it is:,

Pagans at that time believed a new star meant a new god had been born.  I think it took them so long to arrive (nearly 2 years, based on the age of babies Herod ordered killed)  because they investigated all the major religions of that time to find the meaning of that star. 

Each religion had its writings and government  archives in its main temple  (kings were “gods” at  that time).  That means  they traveled to all of them – N. India, Alexandria, Rome, ancient Turkey, and finally back to Ecbatana in today’s SW Iran, where their archives were kept.   (And, by the way, that’s where our Queen Esther was a hundred years after Daniel.)

We know from Daniel that the book of Jeremiah was stored in Babylon, which later was absorbed by Persia, and still later, Parthia. The wise men would have had access to Jeremiah’s book in the archives.   So, surely Daniel left his own writings behind along with Jeremiah’s.  In Daniel, they would have read (1) the prophecies and the timeline of the Messiah coming 490 years later, (2) the prophecies of world conquerors – Persia, Greece, Rome, and (3) a reference to righteous stars. With the writings of Daniel available to them, they would have been able to trace his origins back to being a prince in Jerusalem.  So, what better place to go in search of the newborn deity than Jerusalem?

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.

SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ December 16

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #education, attitude, Bible, Daily, faith, judging, knowledge, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Christmas Surprise of the Day

The wise men followed the star as it moved all the way from “the East” to Bethlehem.

Matthew 2:1-2  –  Matthew 2: 7  –  Matthew 2: 9-10

Christmas Fact of the Day

Hate to be a scrouge again about our Christmas carols.  But “We three kings from Orient are…following yonder star”  is not 100% accurate.  When they arrived in Palestine, they went directly to Jerusalem and probably wondered why there weren’t any celebrations.  Then they found out from King Herod (who was half  Jew and half  Arab and had to find out from the priests) that the prophesied newborn King had been born in Bethlehem, six miles away.

And then, they headed out toward Bethlehem.  

And then…  And then…  And then, they saw it!  Again!  The star had returned.  And they rejoiced! 

Why would they rejoice when they saw the star if they had been following it all the way from the East? 

P.S.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you how they figured out to go to Palestine in the first place.

You’re smart.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Find out for yourself.