activated october 2004

8/14/2019 Activated October 2004

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THE LIGHT

BREAKS INFrom deathbed to new lifeHEAVEN ISFULL OF SINNERSA lesson from the Masteron love and mercy

FLESH OR SPIRIT?Does do-it-yourselfreligion work?

ctivatedCHANGE YOUR LIFE. CHANGE YOUR WORLD.


2/162 a ctivated VOL 5, I

For a wide range of books and audioand video productions to feed yoursoul, lift your spirit, strengthen yourfamily, and provide fun learning timesfor your children, please contact oneof our distributors below, or visit ourWeb site at www.activated.org

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Unless otherwise indicated, allScripture quotations in Activated arefrom the New King James Version of the Bible 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

When other versions are quoted,some typographical changes havebeen made for the sake of clarity anduniformity.

Vol 5 Issue 10October 2004

EDITORKeith Phillips

DESIGNGiselle LeFavre

ILLUSTRATIONSDoug Calder,Etienne Morel

PRODUCTIONFrancisco Lopez

a ctivated CHANGE YOUR LIFE.CHANGE YOUR WORLD.

PERSONALLY SPEAKING

A story is told of Pope Leo XII and a visit hmade to the jail of the Papal States in 1825, wgoes like this: The pope insisted on questionineach of the prisoners as to how he had come tobe there. Every man protested his innocencebut one, that is, who humbly admitted that hewas a forger and a thief. Turning to the jailer, tpope said sternly, Release this scoundrel at obefore his presence corrupts all these noble ge

men here!We chuckle, but theres a lesson here for allus: Gods forgiveness goes to those who knowthey need it, dont deserve it, and cant earn itthose who depend solely on the mercy and graof God. Its like what Jesus told the self-rightehypocritical religionists of His day, If you weblind, you would have no sin; but now you sasee. Therefore your sin remains (John 9:39

That goes for salvation, but it also goes foreveryday living. How often are we like the othmen in the story, bound up in pious little prisoour own making because we arent willing to our mistakes and shortcomings? Its silly, realto try to keep up the pretense of being so perfeor righteous when the Lord and we and othersall know were anything but. All the while, Jeis trying to tell us, Lighten up! Stop trying toperfect, because you never will be. Just do theyou can and trust Me for the rest!

Lets not be self-righteous, but get down to

really countsbeing ourselves, loving the Loand sharing the good news with others: If themakes you free, you shall be free indeed! (Jo8:36).

Keith Phillips

For the Activated family


3/16a ctivated VOL 5, ISSUE 10

But Sergio stubbornly held on to his decision.He continued in his futile attempt to restore to his

father-in-law what he had borrowed from him,but not for long. Soon Sergio became insolventand lost his company and almost everything elsehe hadall because of pride!

Of course, we should pay our debts and doall we can to remain solvent. That is part of ourtestimony as Christians. However, Sergios refusalto accept his father-in-laws pardon was foolish,since he was soon to become co-heir of all the oldman had, including the meager amounts Sergio was repaying toward his debt.

Sergio was like many people who refuse thepardon God so generously offers humankind, who insist on trying to make restitution them-selves. They try, through their good works, sac-rice, and self-denial to repay the unrepayable, when they could so easily turn a page and start writing a new story for their lives by receiving Jesus as their Savior and accepting His paymentfor their sins and shortcomings.

Jesus offers a pardon to every man, woman,

and child on the face of the earth. All we haveto do is say, Yes, Jesus, I need Your forgiveness.There is no way I can make up for all my selshand unloving deeds. The only way I can be freefrom this debt is by accepting Your sacrice onthe cross for my sins. Thank You for dying forme! MRIO SANTANA IS A FULL-TIME VOLWITH THE FAMILY INTERNATIONAL IN

DEBTfree

BE

BY MRIO SANTANA

AFEW YEARS AGO Sergio was going through asevere nancial crisis. He had gotten himself sodeeply in debt that even if he could have soldeverything he had twice , he still would not be ableto repay all he owed. He had taken out a largeloan in a foreign currency and, due to a suddenand extreme change in the exchange rate, his debt was now far greater than the original sum he hadborrowedand that was only a fraction of Sergiosoverall debt. Sergios main creditor was his father-in-law, who was a very wealthy old man.

One day the old man called Sergio and said,I know youre going through rough times, and I want to help you. You dont have to continue themonthly payments on the money you borrowedfrom me. Actually, Id like to forgive the debt alto-gether.

That would have given Sergio enough nancialleeway to renegotiate his debt with the bank andkeep his company aoat, but Sergio refused the

offer. I cant let you do that, sir. Its a matter of principle. I must pay back all I owe you.The old man tried to reason with Sergio. What

youve been paying monthly doesnt even coverthe interest on the money I loaned you. Besides, you happen to be married to my only daughter. When I dieand it wont be longall I have willbe hers and yours. This is not a matter of prin-ciple, but stupid pride.



H e a v e n is full ofSINNERS

THE PARA BL E

{

OF

TH E

PHARISEEAND

THE

PUBLIC A N

}JESUS OFTEN TAUGHT IN PARABLOne of the shortest yet most profouwas the parable of the Pharisee andpublican. The Bible tells us that Je

spoke this parable to some who truin themselves that they were righteand despised others (Luke 18:9).

The Pharisees were the most intial of all the Jewish religious sectsJesus day. The word Pharisee mthe separated ones, which sums uthe basic nature of their beliefs. Thwere strict legalists who pledged toobserve and obey every one of thecountless restrictive rules, traditionand ceremonial laws of Orthodox Jism. They considered themselves tbe the only true followers of Godsand therefore felt that they were mbetter and holier than anyone else.Thus they separated themselves no

only from the non-Jewswhom thabsolutely despised and considereddogsbut even other Jews.

The publicans were tax collectorfor the foreign occupier and ruler oPalestine, Imperial Rome. The Romwould instruct the publicans how mto collect from the people, and thenpublicans could chargeextra for theown income. So publicans were usextortioners and were therefore conered traitors and absolutely despiseby other Jews.

So when Jesus told this parable,comparing a Pharisee and a publicHe had chosen the two most opposgures in the Jewish community. Tone was considered the best, mostrighteous, most religious, most godof men, whereas the other was conered the worst scoundrel imaginab



The parable:Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax

collector [publican].The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You that I am

not like other menextortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to

heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner!I tell you, this man went down to his house justied rather than the other; foreveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself willbe exalted (Luke 18:1014).

Which of these two men did Jesus saywas justied before God?The Phariseewho appeared to be so righteous andholy, and who no doubt felt that he wasa very righteous and good man?Orthe tax collector, the sinner, who wasdespised by others and who apparentlyeven despised himself?The tax collec-tor who knew he had no goodness of hisown and needed Gods mercy.

So often, Gods way of lookingat things is very different from ours.He says, My thoughts are not yourthoughts, nor are your ways My ways.For as the heavens are higher than

the earth, so are My ways higher thanyour ways, and My thoughts than yourthoughts (Isaiah 55:89).

Although that publicans sins wereundoubtedly many, because of hishonest and humble confession that hewas a sinner who needed Gods help,Jesus said this publican was the onewho left the Temple justied that day.

In Gods sight, self-righteous pride likethis Pharisee manifested is the greatestsin of allthat hypocritical holier-than-thou attitude that causes people to lookdown on others who they think arent asgood as they are. When people get thisway, others usually nd them to be thehardest people to be aroundnarrow-minded, intolerant, critical, and judgmen-tal.

The Gospels also tell us that when thePharisees saw Jesus sitting down and

eating with publicans and sinners, theywere enraged and accused Jesus to Hisdisciples. When Jesus heard that, Hesaid to the Pharisees, Those who arewell have no need of a physician, butthose who are sick. Go and learn whatthis means: I desire mercy and notsacrice. For I did not come to call therighteous, but sinners, to repentance(Matthew 9:1013). In other words, Iwould rather see you have love andmercy, and not just your dutiful keepingof the Law. Id rather youd give love toothers than to be so self-righteous andcondemning!

None of us have any goodness of ourown. Anything good about us is only theLord, andHis goodness. His Word says,

All have sinned and fall short of the gloryof God (Romans 3:23). Even the apostlePaul said that there was nothing good inhimself (Romans 7:18).

Jesus got so infuriated by the hypocriti-cal, self-righteous hypocrisy of the Phari-sees that He told them that they wereworse than the drunks and prostitutes,publicans and sinners they despised,and that there was more chance for suchsinners to make it to Heaven than therewas for them (Matthew 21:31). He eventold His own disciples, Unless yourrighteousness exceeds the righteousnessof the scribes and Pharisees, you will byno means enter the kingdom of Heaven(Matthew 5:20). And the only way tobe better than the Pharisees is to have

So often,Gods wa

of lookinat things is very different from our



Jesus righteousnesssalvation, throughaccepting His pardon for your sinsbecause the Pharisees were as good asanyone could possibly be in the natural.

Jesus so hated the hypocriticalpretense of the Pharisees that Hedenounced them publicly. Woe to you,scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For

you cleanse the outside of the cup anddish, but inside they are full of extortionand self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, rstcleanse the inside of the cup and dish,that the outside of them may be cleanalso. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,hypocrites! For you are like whitewashedtombs which indeed appear beautifuloutwardly, but inside are full of deadmens bones and all uncleanness.Even so you also outwardly appearrighteous to men, but inside you are fullof hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew23:2528).

The thing that made the Pharisees soself-righteous and hypocritical was theirpride. They were too proud to confessthat they were sinners like everyone else.In fact, they not only couldnt confesstheir sins, they couldnt even see theirsins. Therefore they became blind lead-

ers of the blind (Matthew 15:14).Its a big relief to honestly admit thatwe cant be good or righteous in our-selves. After all, God has said in HisWord that nobody is good: There isnone righteous, no, not one (Romans3:10). By grace you have been savedthrough faith, and that not of yourselves;it is the gift of God, not of works, lestanyone should boast (Ephesians 2:89).

The worst kind of people in the sight ofGod are those who pretend to be goodand look down on everybody else. We

just need to be honest and confess, no good. Im a sinner. Of course I mmistakes! Anything good about me only Jesus!

Gods idea of righteousness is notthe supposedly sinless perfectionist,the pitiful, hopeless, humble sinner knows he needs God. Those are the

ones He came to save.Gods idea of goodness is godlinessa sinner who knows he needs God adepends on Him for salvationnot self-made, self-righteous, hypocriticPharisees who think they can save thselves by their own goodness.

Gods idea of saintliness is a sinnsaved by grace, a sinner who has noperfection, no righteousness of his oat all, but is totally dependent on thegrace and the love and the mercy ofGod. Believe it or not, that is theonly kind of saints there are!

You cannot save yourself by yourworks, your own goodness, your owattempts to keep Gods laws and to lHim, or even your own endeavors toand follow His truth. You cannot savyourself no matter how good you trybe. Theres nothing you can do to ge

except receive it by faiththats allhave to humble yourself and acknowedge that you dont deserve it, thatyoure just a lost sinner, and that theno way you can be saved except by grace of God.

The worst sinners in the world canto Heaven through faith and Gods fgiveness, and the seemingly best peocan go to Hell because of unbelief aunwillingness to confess their need God. Heaven is full of sinners, savegrace through faith.

The worst kind of

people in the sight

of God are those who pretend to

be good and look down on

everybody else.

PRAYER FOR TH E DAY Jesus, self-righteousness is pride and pride is the opposite of love and

humility, so please give me love and humility today. Help me not to criticizeor condemn others, but to love and forgive and encourage. You said, I willhave mercy and not sacrice. Help me to have that kind of love for others,to be quick to forgive others sins and shortcomings, as You have forgivenme. Help me to be as merciful to others as You are to me. Amen.



ONE EVENING AS I LAY ALONE on my sickbed, there suddenly came into my heart an intense longing; I felt com-pelled to cry aloud to some unseenpower for help. I could not raise my voice above a whisper, so in an ear-nest whisper I pled, If it could bepossible that there is a God out there

somewhere, reveal Yourself to me. Iseemed driven by some power beyondmyself to call and call, so over and overI repeated, If You are there, please, ohplease, for mercys sake, reveal Yourself to me.

As though in response to my plea, adeep conviction of sin came over my heart. I felt as though I were the vilestof sinners. This was unusual for thesimple reason that I had always beenrather self-righteous. I had lived avery moral life and was quite proud of itvery self-satised. It was as thoughmy eyes had suddenly been openedand I saw myself in my true conditionfor the rst time in my lifemy pastgood works appeared as nothing. Theburden of sin and self increased until itseemed greater than I could bear, andat length I began to weep.

I was not alone any longer, for I feltHis presence in that room as real asif some member of my family werestanding by my sickbed, and I wastalking to Him as naturally as a littlechild talks to a parent. I told Him allabout it, and I knew He heard andunderstood, for a sweet, indescrib-

able peace and a cool restfulnesscame over my troubled spirit. I hadseen no vision, heard no voice, norotherwise evidenced anything withthe natural senses, but had made suchreal, personal contact with Him that Icould truly say, I know whom I havebelieved and am persuaded that He isable to keep what I have committed toHim (2 Timothy 1:12). All my unbelief had ed. God was real indeed, and I was a new creature in Christ Jesus(2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV). The light hadbroken in!

(THE ABOVE IS AN EDITED

EXCERPT FROM THE HEM OF HIS

GARMENT , THE LIFE STORY OF

VIRGINIA BRANDT BERG. THE HEM

OF HIS GARMENT IS AVAILABLE AT:

WWW.ACTIVATED.ORG.)

T h e l i g h t b r e a

k s i n

l i g h t B Y V I R G I N I A B R A N D T B E R G

(At the time of this experience, Virginia Brandt Berg [18861968] was a helpless, hopeless invalid. Paralyzed from the waist down in an accident, she had been conned to bed for most of the previous ve years. She also had life-threatening heart and lung problems, and suffered various other side effects from numerous unsuccessful operations to try to restore the use of her legs. Her condition had steadily deteriorated until she weighed only 78 pounds [35 kg].)



FLESH OR

SPIRIT?

>BY DAVIDBRANDTBERG(D.B.B.)

THE MOST RAGING RELIGIOUS CON-TROVERSY the world has ever knownhas been between the do-it-yourself religions and the God-alone-can-save- you kind. Man has always been trying to save himself, to work his way toHeaven, with just a little help from Godthrown in. That way he can give himself most of the credit and go his own way.

The rst murder was committed by a religionist of the do-it-yourself kind,Cain, the oldest son of the rst couple,

Adam and Eve. Cain decided he wouldsacrice to God whatever he wanted,instead of the lamb that God had asked.He would set his own standards, andthat would be his religion. But Cainssacricefruits and vegetables fromhis garden, the fruit of his own labors,his own righteousnessdispleasedGod and was rejected. Meanwhile

F L E S H O R

S P I R I T ?



his brother Abel simply and humbly sacriced a lambexactly what Godhad asked. When Abels sacrice wasaccepted and his own rejected, Cainbecame so enraged that he killed

Abel (Genesis chapter 4). This was thebeginning of the persecution of thetrue Church by the false Church. Cain was religiousvery religious. He triedvery hard to save himself in his own way, even sacricing to God and claim-ing to worship God. He did his best toearn his own salvation, but his best wasnt good enough, because his way was not Gods way but rather the way of all false religions.

Those who follow false religions alldepend on self-righteousness and theirown way. Most of them claim to be worshiping God and seek a little helpfrom Him to make it. But because they work so hard at trying to earn it, they gure they deserve it, with or withoutHis help, and are quite offended if Hedoesnt seem to appreciate their good-ness. They say, Why, look at all wevedone for You, God! You ought to give usa medal! We really deserve to be saved!If Youre ever going to save anybody,

You should save us! If anybodys going to make it to Heaven, we should cer-tainly make it!

On the other hand, Abel just did what God told him to doand heoffered to God a more excellent sac-rice than Cain (Hebrews 11:4): thesacrice of pure faith as demonstrated

in doing what God had told him todo. By sacricing a lamb, which was aforeshadowing of Jesus dying on thecross for the sins of the world (John1:29), Abel showed that he was trusting God alone to save him. He knew he hadonly Gods righteousness and none of his own, and that salvation was purely a gift from God (Ephesians 2:89).

Look at all weve

done for You, God!If anybodys

going to make it

to Heavenwe should certainly make it!

Abels humble sacrice made such afool out of the hard-working Caintheself-made man and devout religionist,devoted to his own form of worshipand so totally exposed the futility and

hypocrisy of Cains hard work that Cain was furious. After all his labors of theesh, his legalistic reasoning and hisdemands for salvation in return forall he was doing, Cain was so humili-ated that he tried to wipe out the awfultruth that his religion had failed to savehimand he did so by killing the man

whose simple faith in Gods grace hadexposed him.

Thus began the battle royal between

pride and humility, between thedamned religionists and the saved sin-nersthe perpetual warfare that hasbeen waged ever since between eshand spirit, works and faith, law andgrace, self and God.

This conict has resulted in some of the greatest misunderstandings andmisinterpretations of the Scripturesthat have ever existed. Most peoplehave been trying to save themselvesever since, with as little thanks to Godas possible, and they have twisted theScriptures to try to prove they coulddo it! But God cant help them to savethemselves. He does not help those who think they can help themselves,but only those who know they cant.They cant save themselves, no matterhow much they try to get His help to doit their way.

As a young Christian, I too wasdeceived for a time by the delusive doc-trine of on and off, now its here, now its gone eternal insecurity taught by some churches and works religions.But then one day as a teenager, I wasthrilled to discover the simple truth of John 3:36. After years of discourage-ment and defeat and lack of assur-



religion was primarily a works religion. A New Testament Christian was one whose major emphasis was not onthings that are seen (buildings andpomp and circumstance), but rather

on the unseen things of the spirit andthe simplicity of everyday Christianliving, like that of Jesus and His dis-ciples. What a comparison, and how true!

In the Old Testament, God hada hard time getting the children of Israel away from the idolatry of Egypt.He used the Mosaic Law as theirschoolmaster to teach simple truthsthrough object lessons and rituals: theTabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant,and animal sacrices. These weretypes and shadows, analogies, merepictures of the spiritual realities andeternal truths He was trying to leadthem into, almost like you would do with little children. He had to take what they understoodthe forms andceremonies that they were familiar with in the religions of Egypt and otherheathen nations around themin afatherly attempt to audio-visualize forthem the genuine spiritual truths of thetrue mature worship of God Himself.

As the apostle Paul says, these were alltypes of the true (Romans 5:14), merevisual likenesses or illustrations of theunseen realities of the spirit world!

Paul says, When that which isperfect has come [when we join Jesusin Heaven], then that which is in part

will be done away. When I was a child,I spoke as a child, I understood as achild, I thought as a child; but whenI became a man, I put away childishthings. For now we see in a mirror,dimly, but then face to face. Now Iknow in part, but then I shall know

just as I also am known (1 Corinthians13:1012).

The

Devilsmessagehasalwaysbeen,

Save yourself!Youre yourown god, your

own savior.Why dependon another?But Godsmessage is,

Only I cansave you. Youcannot save

yourself! Goddoesnt savethose whothink theycan savethemselves,but onlythose

sinnerswhoknow theycant!

D.B.B.

ance of my own salvation, I found thatall I had to do was believe. That wasenough! Jesus said, He who believesin the Son has everlasting liferightnow! No ifs, ands, or buts about it! No

providing youre a good boy or girl andgo to church every Sunday, and noneof this sinless perfection business.

I just hadnt been able to make it onmy own, and I knew it. It seemed thatthe harder I tried to be good, the worseI got! As the apostle Paul lamented, O wretched man that I am! Who willdeliver me from the body of this death?I thank Godthrough Jesus Christ ourLord! (Romans 7:2425).

That was all there was to it. There was nothing else, no other way, norighteousness of my own, none of my own good works. None of these couldkeep me saved any more than they could save me in the rst place! Only Jesus could do it! Not only had He hadto save me, but He also had to do thegood works through me. It was all Jesus,and nothing of myself or my own good-ness or self-righteousnessjust Jesus. I was so relieved to learn that, as I knew I could never make it otherwise. It hadto be God. I just couldnt do it, so Hedid!

The trouble with many Christianstoday is that theyre still living in theOld Testament. Their Christianity is a works religion. Years ago I rememberhearing about some missionaries whohad gone overseas. Upon arrival they

were asked by the local people, Are you Old Testament or New TestamentChristians? At rst the missionariesdidnt understand what they meant,but they soon found out that OldTestament Christians referred to those who placed a great deal of importanceon church buildings, ceremonies, for-malism, and traditionthose whose



Paul was saying that even the gifts of the Holy Spirit of this New Testament era are almost liketoys, gifts from a loving Father to His simple littlechildren to help communicate understanding of Himself and His will. How much more, then, were

the material object lessons of the temple worshipof the Old Testament childish toys for even tinierchildren spiritually, to help them understand theirheavenly Fathers love? But God, who at varioustimes and in various ways spoke in time past tothe fathers by the prophets, has in these last daysspoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:12).

When Jesus came, He told the Samaritan womanat the well, The hour is coming, and now is, whenthe true worshipers will worship the Father in spiritand truth; for the Father is seeking such to worshipHim. God is spirit, and those who worship Himmust worship in spirit and truth (John 4:2324).This is the spiritual era in which we are now living.

But Paul goes even further than this in his predic-tion to the early Christians of Corinth when he saysthat the time is coming when we shall see Jesus faceto face and put away even these childlike gifts of communication in the spirit. For whether there areprophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues,they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it willvanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come,then that which is in part will be done away (1 Cor-inthians 13:810). Even what we have now is only asample of the glorious realities to come!

In the Old Testament were the illustrations, andin the present New Testament era are the spiritualtruths that we have now by faith alone (John 1:17).But when Jesus comes again, we shall see Him asHe is and literally be like Him and actually experi-ence the fullness of the realities of God and the

world to come!Beloved, now are we the children of God, andit has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be likeHim; for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

(THE ABOVE ARTICLE AND 11 OTHERS ARE AVAILABLE INMORE LIKE JESUS , FROM AURORAPRODUCTION.)

The most encouraging thingabout King Davids example,

believe it or not, was his humanfailures, sins, and shortcomings,

which gave God a chance toget all the glory and showtheres hope for you and me.I never got muchencouragement from the

perfectionism of people likeEnoch, who walked so

close to God that he

got completely out oftouch with humanity, soGod had to take him outof this world (Genesis 5:24;Hebrews 11:5). I take a lotmore heart from the patheticstories of the drunks and theharlots and the publicans

and the sinners who cameto Jesus for love and mercy,who He treated kindly andforgivingly. They didnt goto the harsh, rigid, self-righteous, unyielding,unforgiving, critical, andcondemning religious

leaders who told themto be perfect or go to

Hell, but they came to Jesusfor His love, mercy, forgiveness,encouragement, and patience.

D.B.B.



IN 552 BC, LONG BEFORE M ACEDONIA-LEDGREEK CITY -STATES BECAME THE DOMINANT POWER in the Western world,the Hebrew prophet Danielforetold of war between Greeceand Persia, and its outcome.Over 200 years later, in 333 BC,Daniels prophecy was fullledexactly as he predicted!

This remarkable prophecy isrecorded in the eighth chapterof the Bibles book of Daniel.(The vision is recounted in

ENDTIME INSIGHTSverses 1 through 14, and inter-pretation is given in verses 15through 27.) Then, in the samechapter, the prophet takes us farinto the future, to events of theEndtime, the time in which weare now living.

Vision:In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar[552 BC] a vision appeared to

me [Daniel]. There, stand-ing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and thetwo horns were high; but one

was higher than the other, andthe higher one came up last. Isaw the ram pushing westward,northward, and southward(Daniel 8:14).

Interpretation:Then ithappened, when I, Daniel, hadseen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one

having the appearance of aman. And I heard a mans voice[saying], Gabriel, make thisman understand the vision.



And he said The ram which you saw, having the two hornsthey are the kings of Media andPersia (Daniel 8:1516,1920).

The Medes ruled an empirethat included a tribe known asthe Persians. In 552 BC, Cyrus(later Cyrus the Great) wasruler of the Persian district of Anshan. Cyrus rebelled with thehelp of many disaffected Medes

and overthrew the MedianEmpire in 550 BC. Cyrus thenestablished the Persian Empire.Because Medes had helped

Cyrus rise to power,a Mede traditionally held the second mostimportant position in thekingdomtwo horns[but] one was higherthan the other.

Vision:And as I wasconsidering, suddenly amale goat came from the west, across the sur-face of the whole earth, without touching theground; and the goat hada notable horn betweenhis eyes. Then he cameto the ram that had twohorns, which I had seenstanding beside the river,and ran at him withfurious power. And I saw him confronting the ram;he was moved with rageagainst him, attackedthe ram, and broke histwo horns. There was no

is why the Lord pictured hiskingdom as a winged leopardin the vision of Daniel 7:6,and here as a goat that movedso fast it didnt touch theground. But at the height of his powerwhen he wasstrongAlexander died at theage of 33.

Vision:In place of it [the

large horn] four notable onescame up toward the four windsof heaven (Daniel 8:8b).

Interpretation:As for thebroken horn and the fourthat stood up in its place, fourkingdoms shall arise out of thatnation, but not with its power(Daniel 8:22).

When Alexander died, his

generals (called collectively the Diadochi) fought over hisempire, dividing it to thefour winds. These weakersuccessor kingdoms weredepicted as a four-headedleopard in Daniel 7:6.

Beginning with Daniel 8:9,the prophecy suddenly jumpsfar into the future, to eventsof the Endtime. Out of one of them [the four notable horns]came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward thesouth, toward the east, andtoward the Glorious Land[Israel].

TO BE CONTINUED.

DANIEL CHAPTER 8A VISION OF THE FUTURE!

BY JOSEPH CANDEL

power in the ram to withstandhim, but he cast him down tothe ground and trampled him;and there was no one that coulddeliver the ram from his hand.Therefore the male goat grew very great (Daniel 8:58a).

Interpretation:The malegoat is the kingdom of Greece.The large horn that is between

its eyes is the rst king (Daniel8:21).Here we have the male

goat, with its large horn[Alexander the Great] furiously attacking the ram [Persia]. Atthe battles of Issus in 333 BC (in which Alexander himself ledthe cavalry charge across thePinarus River) and Gaugamelain 331 BC, Alexander the Greats

forces soundly defeated thearmy of the Persian king, DariusIII, ushering in the rule of Alexander the Great over thePersian Empire.

Vision:The male goat grew very great; but when he becamestrong, the large horn wasbroken (Daniel 8:8a).

Interpretation:Alexanderbegan his military campaign when he was 20 years old andconquered all the known worldthat he considered importantfrom Greece to India andsouthern Russia to northern Africain only eight years.No doubt this swif t conquest


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FEEDING

READING

S E L F - R

I G H T E O U S N E S S

A N D T H E A N T I D O T E

Six reasons why it iswrong to think thatwe, in ourselves, arerighteous:

1. Because we are

not.Ecclesiastes 7:20Isaiah 64:6aJohn 8:7Romans 3:10,23Galatians 6:3

2. Only God is good.Matthew 19:17aJob 9:2bPsalm 71:16b

3. It displeases and separates us fromGod.Job 13:16bIsaiah 65:5Romans 10:3

4. It causes us to belifted up in pride.Proverbs 30:1213Luke 18:915

5. It makes us unableto see our own sins.Proverbs 30:12Luke 6:4142John 9:41

6. It causes us to beunmerciful to others.

Matthew 23:29Matthew 9:13

True righteousnessmeans trusting inGod, not self.Galatians 3:6Philippians 3:9Titus 3:5

If theres anythinggood about us, itsonly by Gods grace.1 Corinthians 4:71 Corinthians 15:102 Corinthians 3:5

Three reasons whywe should want tobe humble:

1. Because God loves and delights in the humble.Psalm 51:17Psalm 138:6a

1 Peter 3:41 Peter 5:5b

2. Humility brings honor and Gods blessing.Psalm 25:9Psalm 34:18Proverbs 22:4Proverbs 29:231 Peter 5:5b

3. Humility can spareus from trouble.1 Kings 21:17,25292 Chronicles 32:26

Follow Jesusexample of humility.Matthew 21:5

John 13:5,1215Luke 22:27Philippians 2:58

Be humble withothers.Romans 14:231 Corinthians 13:4Philippians 2:3

QI know that self-righ-teousness is wrong, thait displeases God andrubs others the wrongway. I try not to be likethat, but I also want tostand up for the right,to think and say and dothe right things in orderto please God and berespected by others, soits sometimes a bit of adilemma. Where doesrightness stop and self-righteousness begin?How can I tell when Imbeing self-righteous?

Good questionsand youre not alone in yourdilemma. Here are someexcerpts of a messagethat someone receivedfrom Jesus in prophecy when she asked Him,What are the symptomsof self-righteousness,and what can I do toovercome it? As always,no one can explainthings as clearly or wellas Jesus. This messagecan serve as a good self-diagnostic checklist forus all.

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Now ask yourself thesequestions:

Do I t y o be an amp e hee in he w y I hi k, ,

h ? Do I a e i o s at n

a d he h n r Do I tru y l st n o he iv i h ? Do I f i e h a d I wa h o f i e a d be Do I d he L d e,

at e o h ? Do I mi y m sta ? Do I mi a I ak a d

he L d a d h ? A I illi o a g ze o a e hu d?

A I qu k o f i e a d e o a e m sta

H m o I d n heh he ri n W d a d H

ph y? If you cant honestly answer yes to the ques-

tions on this last list, then these are also things you should pray for Me to help you with.

Turn to My written Wordread it, absorbit, believe it, and let it change you. Turn to My voice of prophecybring your questions to Meand hear My personal Words for you. Turn tootherslisten to them and be open to their pointof view. Turn to Medepend on My goodness,not your own. Those are the keys to overcoming self-righteousness.

Love, Jesus

A N S W E R S T O Y O U R Q U E S T I O N S

Self-righteousness

(Jesus:) Often when youre self-righteous, youdont even know it, because the things youredoing or thinking are good things, or seem likegood things. Its just that theyre not the best thing, or the things that I want, or are not being done in a spirit of love and mercy.

Many times I want to show you a better way,but I can only do this when you humble yourself and acknowledge Me and listen to Me. When you yield to a self-righteous spirit, youre actually yielding to your own spirit, which is sometimesunmerciful, impatient, quick to judge, critical,thinks that it knows best, and isnt willing to listento Me or others.

People make mistakes. People are sometimeslazy. People can be unloving. People have prob-lems. If you feel you are better than other peopleor that you are above their problemsthat youre

stronger, smarter, more capablethen youreprobably even worse off than them because youre self-righteous and dont even know it.

If youre concerned that you may be self-righteous, ask yourself these questions: Do I n hi k I b , a d o c a e i a h y, i s st n a i

hi y w y? Do I rit ze p e n h a e m sta ? Do I justi y y rit s a d k e? Do I hi k y l b an h ? Do I im at i h ? Do I e o o a b sui y n

ur ? These are all symptoms of self-righteousness.

If you nd that several of these shoes t, thenits time to lay down your pride and your own ways and ask Me to help you change.

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Humble people are My friends

Humility runs contrary to human nature. It is thenature of man to try toappear to be more than hereally is by boasting of hispersonal attributes, abili-ties, and achievements.He hopes to make himself feel better about himself and to win the respect of others, but it seldom turnsout that way. He may feelbetter about himself forthe moment, but pridedrives others away.

The humble person may not end up on the top of the heap, but he is morelikely to have a truly suc-cessful life because he ismore likely to succeed inthe things that matter most.He is a quiet force for good,and I always reward that.He also wins the love andrespect of others becausehis humble spirit conveyshis love and respect forthem. They see him putting their happiness before hisown, and that makes them want to do the same.

As a proverb states, Pridecomes before a fall. Theproud live in fear of fall-ing, of being exposed andhumiliated. But the humble

have nothing to fearbecause they have nowhereto fallthey are already lowly in their own eyes.The humble are always welcome with Me. They are My companions andfriends. And when they joinMe in Heaven, they will feelright at home and t rightin. Heaven was made forpeople like them!

FROM JESUS WITH LOVE

activated october 2004

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