Riches Are Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 5:8-18 (NIV)
BibleGateWay.com

"(8) If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.

(9) The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

(10) Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

(11) As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?

(12) The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

(13) I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,

(14) or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.

(15) Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.

(16) This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind?

(17) All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

(18) This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.

(19) Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.

(20) They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart."

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Permission Based Invasion

Now who in their right mind would give someone else permission to invade their territory? When you give someone permission to invade your space, you are opening up a can of worms. For example, "how long will they stay?", "what will they be doing?", "will they overstep the bounds of your permission?"  Of course there has to be a better explanation for this though.  Again, who really gives some other entity permission to invade their space?  After all, to invade something means, "[t]o enter by force in order to conquer or pillage" (from TheFreeDictionary Online, "Invade").  Well, let's put a spiritual twist on this topic.

Satan would love nothing more than to invade your territory.  He would love to conquer and plunder you, but you must first give him the permission. For a good example, I would like to go to the book of Job and look at the following verses:

Job 1:9-12: "(9) So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? (10) Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. (11) But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”  (12) And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord." (NKJV)

Here, we see a conversation between Yahweh and Satan. We know it is about Job, but I want to focus on verse 12.  In this verse, we see that the Lord gives Satan permission to test Job's faith. Yahweh gave him specific instructions on what he could and could not do to Job. If you read the previous verses, you will find the that the angels went to the Lord and Satan joined them (see Job 1:6). The conversation sounded like a parent talking to a child: "Boy where have you been", said the Lord. "Just walking around earth, checking things out", said Satan. "Have you checked out my man Job? He's a pretty faithful. I bet you can't break him!". That was pretty much how things got started, but because we know that Lord is the Alpha & the Omega and the King of Kings everything has to answer to Him.

If someone has been invaded and held captive by Satan and/or his minions, they still have to bow down to the triune God. Let's look at just one occasion where Jesus (Yeshua) healed a possessed man where in Mark 5, we see evil spirits beg to not be destroyed.

Mark 5:1-13: "(1) Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.(2) And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, (3) who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, (4) because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. (5) And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.  (6) When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. (7) And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”  (8) For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” (9) Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (10) Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.  (11) Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. (12) So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” (13) And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea." (NKJV)

Yeshua came to earth and gave his life so we should have everlasting life.  He did not come so that we can be slapped around by the enemy and every false doctrine of the world.  If this is the case then, why do we allow the devil to invade us? It is only with our permission that he can do this. The enemy is cunning which means that you have to remain vigilant in your walk.  As a believer, Satan will not just walk up to you and ask for an invitation. Oh no no no. He will use other subtle ways like through your TV(just look what is acceptable now-a-days); through people; when your have a lot of times on your hands or what we call an idle mind. Believe it or not, the enemy can be at work right in your church through the twisting of scripture and directly from the pulpit.

The devil works over time. It's hard to punch the clock the same number of hours he does, but Yahweh keeps those who believe in Him. Isaiah 26:3, says, "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You" (NKJV).  When we lose focus on the One who can keep us,  then we start to open the door for the enemy. Stay on guard at all times and keep the triune God at the forefront of your life. This not a guarantee that the devil will not attempt continue to trip you up in your walk with Christ. In fact, he will try harder!  After all, this is Satan's nature.  He walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, so do not make yourself easy prey.

I will leave you with this.  You can take a lion cub, bring it into your home and raise it as though it was a domesticated dog, however, it is still becomes a 400+ pounds adult lion.  It may seem domesticated, but by its nature, it will jump at the opportunity to be a lion.  Stay alert folks!

Antoine E. Hall
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Love Is The Basis (Replay)

Good morning and I hope all is well with you.  Today, I am sharing a writing that I did back in May of 2008.  Yes, I know it was nearly six years ago, but it is just as relevant now as it was back then.  With Valentines day fast approaching, I figured it would be just as good of time as any to share.  Without further adieu, here we go.

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May 13, 2008

I hope that all is well with everyone this fine Tuesday morning! You know yesterday, my wife and I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary and needless to say I am still alive and my wife has not taken me out yet :-). No but seriously, it is truly a blessing to be married and the both of you share the same affection, open lines of communication and at the core, pure love for each other.

We didn't do anything different than a normal day at all. Money is tight so we cooked at home like normal. At first it was quite disappointing and frustrating because in your brain, you wanted to go all out on your anniversary. You want to roll the kids out to a relatives house, and go have a good time with your husband or wife. That's what is always assumed you do, but sometimes life doesn't always lend itself to what you want to do when you want to do it. So while for a bit I was frustrated yesterday, I had to remember the reason why we got married in the first placed. It was love for each other. It wasn't to pawn off kids and have a good time. It was to form a union in the presence of God according to His season.

Let's go to the 1st Book of the Bible and Old Testament. In Genesis 2:24-25, it says 

(24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 

In the beginning, it was God who set the rules. A man shall marry a woman and they shall be as one. Now verse 25 is the "nugget". It said, "..they were both naked....and were not ashamed". So here Adam and Eve are and all they have is their nakedness and each other. It didn't say, they were ashamed of what they didn't have. It didn't say they wished they be without the kids one night (I know there were no kids at this point, but work with me here) or wished to head out to the best and fanciest restaurant. It didn't say, they wished to sail down the Nile River on a yacht. It said, they had each other and was not ashamed. 

In the words of my daughter, Zion, "what does that mean?" Glad you asked. Let's flip to the 1st Book of the New Testament, Matthew. In chapter 22, verses 37-40, it says:

(37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

We are to first place God at the head of our marriage and household. We are to love Him with every inch of our very existence. Second we are to love thy neighbour as thyself. Before your spouse was your spouse, they were your neighbour. If you couldn't love them from that standpoint then you were getting off on the wrong track any way.

You can have all the money in the world. You can have the largest house, nicest & fastest car, and all the richest friends in the world, but take them all away and what do you have left? You have God and each other. If the very existence and core of your marriage was not right from day one, then your marriage was predicated on the wrong things. At the end of the day, it's about the love you share for one another and how no one or nothing but God takes precedence over that.

Be blessed gang and have a good Tuesday!

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Antoine E. Hall

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What is the Tetragrammaton?

Modern Hebrew for YHWH

The word Tetragrammaton is a pretty big word.  If one would look at it, it looks like it would represent some geometric shape.  It also, seems as though it could be a place within the cartoon, Transformers, but it is neither of these.  Tetragrammaton is "...the Hebrew name for God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 3), consisting of the four consonants Y H V H (or Y H W H) and regarded by Jews as too sacred to be pronounced" (from TheFreeDictionaryOnline.com). The excerpt below goes into more detail on the issue.

"Keep in mind that the Hebrew alphabet did not contain vowels. Ancient Hebrew was a consonantal alphabet. This has led to some debate about the proper pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, with opinions including Jehovah, Yahweh, Yahveh, Yahuweh, and many other variants...the name Yahweh was recorded more than 160 times in the Scriptures preceding Exodus 3:14-15. The name Yahweh should be one of the most frequently occurring words in our English Bibles today. Yet, without exception, all of the most popular Bible versions have removed the memorial name of God from the Scriptures and have replaced it with a titular substitute. In most cases, Yahweh has been replaced with “God,” “Lord,” or “Lord God.” The words Lord and God are NOT names. They are nouns denoting one who is a ruler, and a deity. They are like the word “father.” I am a father, and at times my children may call me “father,” or “dad.” However, neither of these words are my name. They describe my position in the family, but my name is Joseph." (from Joseph Herrin's Parablesblog, "Yahweh's Book - Errors in the Bible").

I've learned this recently and I wanted to share with you too!  Proverbs 27:17 says, "Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend." (CJB)

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Why Worry?

http://bible.com/114/MAT6.31-34.NKJV

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Bible.com/app

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In the Beginning, There Was Living Water

Image courtesy of WikiMedia.org

1 Peter 1:20 - He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (NKJV)

Over the past couple of days, I have had the chance to re-read Genesis 1.  As a matter of fact about a couple of months ago, I re-read Genesis 1 and I kept getting stuck on the first few verses.  I did not realize it at the time, but the Holy Spirit was trying to show me something and while I was in the right area, I was not discerning the right message.  However in talking with my wife last night, she made a comment and a light bulb went off immediately!  So, today I would like to share this with you.

As such, I would like to share the first few verses of Genesis 1.

Genesis 1:1-2  (1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (NKJV)

In reading, it is easy to miss things, but I am a believer in the fact that the Word of God can show you something different even when you read the same verses.  So, right now I have highlighted the water.  In the beginning and before God even formed the earth, water existed.  Before anything was ever formed, there was water.  Wait, how is that possible right?  How can water exist without a surface for it to flow through?  Well, I will get to that in a minute.

We see that on the first day, God separated the light from the dark (see Genesis 1:3-5). However, on the second day something interesting happens.  Let's have a closer look:

Genesis 1:6-8 - (6) Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” (7) Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. (8) And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. (NKJV)

Yes, God created Heaven, but where did it come from?  It came from the water!  Out of all my readings of scripture, I have never picked up on this before!  It was pretty cool to see, but then the Word of God goes on with the creation of Earth. 

Genesis 1:9-10 - (9) Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. (10) And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (NKJV)

The waters under heaven was then "gathered together in one place" (or organized) and THEN, the dry land appeared in the midst of the water.  Then of course God creates the sea life, plant life, wild life, and then humans.

There is no argument that today, that one of the most important elements today is water.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey, "[a]bout 70 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water" (from "How much water is there on, in, and above the Earth?").   Entire cities were built next to sources of water in order to thrive.  We eat food from the water.  We drink water.  Factories need water as a vital part of their operations.  We need it for so many daily things in our lives that we do not realize its significance.  "The amount of water in the human body ranges from 50-75%" (from "How Much of Your Body Is Water?").  Our body tissue contains lots of water and as such we much constantly replenish our ourselves with it.  Human bodies can only go for about "8 to 10 days without water", where by comparison "[y]ou can make it 3 weeks without food" (from "How Long Can a Person Survive Without Water?")!  Lastly, I cannot go without mentioning that Christians use water for Baptisms as well!

I found this to be really interesting and I have been enjoying this revelation.  However, I told you that I would get back to existence of water before even the earth's existence.  If we go to the book of John we see Jesus in a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well.  Jesus was exhausted from his travels, so He asked the woman to draw him some water to drink.  Being a Samaritan, the woman was a little confused because Jews did not associate with them.  So let's pick up at John 4:7.

John 4:7-14  - (7) A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” (8) For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  (9) Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  (10) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  (11) The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? (12) Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”  (13) Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”  (NKVJ)

And that folks is how you get there.  Jesus, was there at the foundation of the world.  He is the one who is the provider of living water and I find it amazing that all the life we see sprung out of water in the beginning. Out of Him, we get us.  I opened this blog entry with 1 Peter, but I also find it fitting and proper to close with it as well.  

1 Peter 1:20 - He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (NKJV)

Be Blessed and have a good one folks!

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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1 John 2:23 -25

"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."

1 John 2:23 -25

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When The Arrow Is Beyond You

"There is something in all of us, that we want to be able to figure everything out - we want to be able to see.  We want a virtual road map that tells us 5 years from now you'll be here, 7 years you'll be here, 10 years you'll be here. We want it all outlined. We really don't like God just throwing an arrow over our heads in the field and saying, 'It is far beyond you. Just get up and follow - follow where the arrow is leading.  Don't question. Don't ask. Just do what God is telling you.'"   --Carter Conlon

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Jonathan McReynolds - No Gray (UNPLUGGED)

My wife, +Deidra Hall shared this song with me.  Thanks hun!  This is awesome!

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One Shepherd, Many Sheep

Image Courtesy of Commons.Wikimedia.org

For today, I want to direct your attention to shepherds and sheep. A shepherd is "[o]ne who herds, guards, and tends sheep” or “[o]ne who cares for and guides a group of people, as a minister or teacher”. The word herd is "[a] group of cattle or other domestic animals of a single kind kept together for a specific purpose" or “[a] large number of people; a crowd”.  As you can see from the definitions, a sheep is to follow the directions of his shepherd and the shepherd is to take care of the sheep making sure that they all stay safely together.

In today's time, many pastor's (or ministers) are called shepherds because they have their "flock" (who is the congregation), but the problem with this is that a lot of the times, we start to follow the man instead of gospel that the man preaches. There is but one shepherd of man and that is God. Psalm 23 starts with "(1) The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. (2) He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters..." (NKJV).  So who is our shepherd? The Lord! On his best day, a pastor is but a sheep himself following an awesome God. He just happens to be someone trying to get you to recognize that we are suppose to be following His Word.

When you have sheep following other sheep, then there is a problem. Unless that sheep is following the directions of The Shepherd, he could lead you down a path where the enemy can overtake you.  The Shepherd cares for all of the sheep. "(12) What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? (13) And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. (14)In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." (Matthew 18:10-15).   No one man can do this no matter how charismatic he is.

I am not saying that a pastor is useless.  If they are not poisoning the congregation with their own agenda and they are preaching what the Bible says, then they are a great asset for the God's Kingdom.  The question is do you take more queues from another sheep rather than from the Good Shepherd? If your pastor acts in a manner contrary from the Word of God, are you bold enough to call them on it or do you continue to blindly follow the person behind the pulpit?  Who are you really following today?

Be blessed and have a good one!

Antoine E. Hall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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