Scripture of the Day:

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 644B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MALACHI, [2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [644B]

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Matthew 26:14 – 16, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Here Judas Iscariot had once been a faithful follower of Jesus (Yeshua), but had let his heart become hardened as revealed by Hebrews 3:13 – 15, [AV] “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” We should all follow the admonition given at 3 John 11, [AV] “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.”

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO MALACHI, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/malachi-introduction/


[2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

INTRODUCTION:

Today Biblically prohibited sexual relations are viewed by many as tactilely okay. Should this come as a surprise? NO! The Apostle Paul writing to the disciple Timothy from Rome wrote, “I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. 3 For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears: 4 And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. 5 But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. Be sober. 6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. 2 Timothy 4:1-6 [Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: DRCB]

What the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy is now taking place, but should this come as a surprise? Let’s investigate reality.

REALITY

Many are fooling themselves, it is not what either the Bible or the Bible knockoff the Qur'an actually say, but how religious leaders be they priest, and/or ministers, and/or imams or muftis or what ever teach the people is in most cases their distortion of what is written either in the Bible or the bible knockoff the Qur'an which governs how people of their flock believe and/or act. It matters not what the Bible and/or the Bible knockoff really say. People go by what they are taught by their religious leaders and their associates. Take the genocide committed by the Roman Catholic Church at the direction of their supreme religious leader, the pope, what mattered was not that the Bible clearly said at Exodus 20:13, " Thou shalt not kill." (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: DRCB), but what their religious leaders and associates told them. Therefore, it is the religion at fault, regardless of what their particular holy book, be it the Bible or the Bible knockoff the Qur'an may say. Neither in so called Christianity or in Islam are most individuals actions really governed in any way by what their particular holy book really says, but they are governed by the distortions of their religious leaders and associates. Thus, knowing this reality, one would be either just plain stupid and/or dumb to even bother looking at a particular religion's holy book and expect the members would conform to it. Take the Rig Vede and find me for example a Hindu actually conforming to it instead of the interpretation given to it by his religious leaders, like looking for a needle in the haystack per K.S. Lal, India's greatest historian.

Both the Bible and the Bible knockoff, the Quran, strictly condemn sexual relations between members of the SAME GENDER and with animals, but many so called Christians and members of Islam either openly and/or tacitly approve of it and call it just another life style. Yes, of course it is another life style the same as being a pedophile is, but both are evil deviant life styles following depraved form of sex that the Devil has successfully lured them into, and they have failed to resist.

In fact, “The Pope’s new Spanish Cardinal has called homosexuality a physical “defect” that can be cured, it has been reported.

Equating homosexuality to his own high blood pressure, Fernando Sebastián told the Spanish newspaper Diario Sur on Monday that: “Homosexuality is a defective manner of expressing sexuality, because [sex] has a structure and a purpose, which is procreation.” [source - retrieved from www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-new-spanish-cardinal-brands-homosexuality-a-defect-that-can-be-cured-9072390.html on 2/12/2014]

Many so called mainline religions such as many Protestant and Orthodox and Islam have given either tacit and/or full approval of such wicked conduct that the Devil has been tempting mankind with.

For example, In the February 9, 2014 issue of the Palm Beach Post appeared an article, “Methodists in crisis over gay marriage.” Some members of their clergy defy church law on the subject, but more important they are defying the clear word of Almighty God (YHWH). For one thing, the article said, “The dispute among United Methodist over recognition of same-sex couples has lapsed into a doctrinal donnybrook, pitting clergy who are presiding at gay weddings in defiance of church law against proponents of traditional marriage who are trying to stop them.” Interestingly, no where does the article mention this activity is completely contrary to Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) law. In other words concern over church doctrine is getting in the way of complying with God’s Law.

And Islam while openly claiming it is against such wicked actions tacitly gives its approval by failure to take action against its members running one of the largest homosexual sites on the Internet, www.gayegypt.com, (NOW CLOSED) which is the ‘mouth piece’ for many correspondent groups including one purported to be selling a pictorial calendar of the month featuring rear ends.

Here is an example of one statement on www.gayegypt.com, “Can you believe it ?  Egypt will have a National Kissing Day on Friday 30th August.  Cairo and Alexandria each have several hundred confirmed as attending as does the small Delta town of Zagazig !” … “But if you are a gay man why not hang around and if you see there is a sufficiently large crowd of young guys you might end up “forced” to kiss some Romeo. And it will be a day to go down in history. The more passionate part of me (political and romantic) is asking “Can anyone afford to miss it ?”

TACIT AND OPEN APPROVAL OF WICKED ACTIONS

As can be seen, many so called Christian religions, actually counterfeit followers of Christ, and many is Islam tacitly or openly approve of these wicked actions; to wit, same gender sex and/or sex with animals. Why? Because they have NOT resisted Satan the Devil’s temptations. In fact, some of these counterfeit so called Christian groups have even openly made bishops out of ones giving into evil temptations instead of resisting them as they should.

The news shows, “Sexual orientation is no longer a barrier to ordination in the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU), the German ancestor of the UCC's Evangelical tradition. Its territory includes the capital city of the Protestant Reformation—Luther's Wittenberg. Homosexuals also can be ordained in the Reformed churches of Germany and Switzerland, the forebears of the UCC's Reformed tradition. The city once known as the "Reformed Rome"—John Calvin's Geneva—is no longer hostile territory for lesbians and gays called to Christian ministry.

Most of the historic Lutheran and Reformed churches in Germany and northern Europe now welcome homosexuals into ordained ministry.

Europe heads the list with 19 churches where homosexuals can be legally ordained. But several denominations in Africa, North America and the Pacific are also joining the trend, including the Anglican church in South Africa formerly led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the United Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Uniting Church in Australia.” [source - retrieved from www.ucc.org/ucnews/june2002/global-trend-worlds-oldest.html on 2/12/2014]

THE REAL REALITY – THE CONCLUSION

Clearly the evil action by many religions of either tacitly and/or openly approving of these wicked actions is due to the Devil induced misleading of most including religious leaders of believing they can pick and choose what to accept in Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) word, the Bible and/or the Bible knockoff, the Quran just as they might select what they might want to make out of a recipe book. However, the Bible is NOT a recipe book, but Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) book of guidance into how we should live our lives. His genuine true followers instead of selecting only parts of it seek to live by it, and NOT put on a false façade of piety.

APPENDIX:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Galatians 5:19

This scripture clearly shows, many life styles are NOT approved by Almighty God (YHWH), and this REALITY is further highlighted at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (Authorized King James Bible; (Authorized King James Bible; AV).

And this is made even more clear at Romans 1:19-29, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,” [AV]

And for men to want other men for forbidden sexual pleasures has always been wrong as shown By Leviticus 18:22-24, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:” [AV]

And by Jude 7-8, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (none existence) Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” [AV]

And by Leviticus 20:13, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” [AV] (this shows a principle as we are no longer under the ancient Old Law Covenant made with the ancient nation of Israel.)

Now this in no way gives anyone the right to judge or harass others as shown by Leviticus 19:17-18, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” [AV]

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 645B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MATTHEW, [2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [645B]

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Ruth 1:16 – 17, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi, and followed her directions. Her life took a turn for the better when a rich man, a distant relative of Naomi saw her as a good person and made arrangements to be her repurchaser per Ruth 4:4 - 10, [AV] “And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. 6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. 7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. 9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.” And she became one of the ancestors of Jesus (Yeshua).

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/matthew-introduction/

[2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

Be Reasonable and Accept Reality And Truth

Let's look at a few equations and their explanation and learn some Truths and Reality:

NO PROPHET == NO PROPHECY

You can NOT have prophecy without a prophet; a prophet is someone for whom infallibility is claimed under some circumstance such as ex Cathedra or direct communications/revelations from/with a deity, like an oracle, a pope, or a prophet. Now the JWs have none of these, thus no prophecy can come from their group; its just that simple, no need to consider cases of failed prophecy as without a prophet failed prophecy is IMPOSSIBLE.

NO THREE OF A CLASS == NO TRINITY OF ANY KIND

Many claim and use eloquent reasoning's such as predicate nouns, and very involved argumentation, etc. and go on for yak, yak pages with their hermeneutic twisting and distortion, but without there being three of a class at John 1:1, a Trinity of any kind is just plain IMPOSSIBLE.

NO IDOL OF ANY KIND == NO IDOLATRY

You must create/have an idol of some kind to have idolatry as shown at Isaiah 44:14-20, " He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain hath nourished. 15 And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. 16 Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God. 18 They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart. 19 They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree? 20 Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand. 21 Remember these things, O Jacob," (Douay Rheims Catholic Bible; DRCB).
Now, what is the point of all of this? Simple, one should DO NOT worry about the IMPOSSIBLE. No matter how eloquent the argument and proofs for it, it is still IMPOSSIBLE and just a myth of the imagination that thinking individuals should give no heed to.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 646B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MARK, [2] FROM LIFE TO DEATH TO LIFE!

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] FROM LIFE TO DEATH TO LIFE!

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [646B]

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:19 – 20, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

This scripture deals with a difficult time for Almighty God’s (YHWH’s)people in that they were given a choice of winning His favor or going after and following the many false gods of the people around them as they were about to cross the Jordan into the promise land. And Deuteronomy 32:47, [AV] “For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” Brings out the important choice they must make. They could choose to serve the True God or the false puppet gods of Satan the Devil of the nations per Joshua 24:15, [AV] “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” As the Prophet Jeremiah so succinctly put it, they could per Jeremiah 32:39, [AV] “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:” Yes, as shown at Deuteronomy 4:4, [AV] “But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.” It was important to be totally with the True God, and what they had to do to do this is given at Deuteronomy 4:40, [AV] “Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.” And the True God did per Genesis 17:7, [AV] “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO MARK, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/mark-introduction/

[2] FROM LIFE TO DEATH TO LIFE!

To fully understand what happens to mankind at death, we must understand first how man got here in the first place, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:27-31, Authorized King James Bible: (AV) shows that God created mankind and every living thing on the earth. Man was originally intended by God to live for ever so what happened? "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17, AV) However, Adam, the first man, disobeyed God and all of mankind inherited Death as a result, "And the serpent (Satan the Devil) said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5, AV), and " And the LORD God said unto the serpent (Satan the Devil), Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:" (Genesis 3:14, AV). Therefore, eventuality of Death came upon all of mankind that descended from Adam, all of us; it was NOT God's original purpose for mankind, " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12, AV). But God loved mankind and provided a means for obedient mankind to eventually have this sentence lifted from him/her, " For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)" (Romans 5:17, AV) and " For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Romans 5:19, AV). Now that we have seen how Death came to be on mankind, we need to look at the condition of the dead to understand what happens when one dies, " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalms 146:4. AV), " For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten" (Ecclesiastes 9:5, AV), " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:10, AV), and "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20, AV). There is no 'soul' that goes somewhere at death since we are living souls, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV), " And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus) was made a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:45, AV), " And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:45, AV). The Bible clearly shows that, " Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4, AV), and " And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:23, AV). Therefore, when we die we cease to exist, but God holds out to all obedient mankind a hope for a resurrection onto a perfect earth under his kingdom, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10, AV). Clearly there is hope for life again in a righteous kingdom under Jesus on earth as he taught us to prey for, but how will we get into this kingdom when it is established if we are already dead, i.e., non-existent in any form? It will be by means of a resurrection or recreating of us by God, " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." (Isaiah 26:19, AV) and " O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:13, AV). "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (Matthew 22:31-32, AV), " But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." (Daniel 12:13, AV) This concept of a resurrection may be difficult for some to accept, but temporary resurrections have already occurred, "And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee," (1 Kings 17:22-24, AV), " These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13, AV). However what Jesus Christ taught all of his followers to pray for "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10, AV) was a permanent resurrection into a righteous kingdom under him as its king, and this will be "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:39-40, AV), "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" (John 11:23-24, AV), " And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15 AV), and "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of d**nation. 30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:26-29, AV). Therefore, it is clear that at present all of mankind will die, be non-existent until the end of this system when Jesus Christ will set up his kingdom on earth, and then, if we have won God's favor be resurrected to life in a righteous kingdom under Jesus Christ as its king.

APPENDIX: Genesis 3:1-24:

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 ¶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 ¶ And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 ¶ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 ¶ And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 ¶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 ¶ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20 ¶ And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 ¶ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 ¶ And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Authorized King James Bible; AV).

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 647B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUKE, [2] THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla.

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla. With the Scripture of the Day first.

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [647B]

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

And the Apostle Luke noted a vision he saw as follows at Acts 7:55, [AV] “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” Yes, the Bible speaks of Almighty God (YHWH) as the Ancient of Days, and Daniel said, Daniel 7:9, [AV] “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” And the Apostle John noted at

1 John 1:5, [AV] “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” And all should gain understanding per Revelation 2:11, [AV] “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO LUKE, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/books-of-bible-intros/book-of-luke/


[2] Here is a Commentary on Bountiful Trees and Vegetables God (YHWH) has provided for mankind, specifically gin or orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla.

Scientific classification


Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Rutaceae
Subfamily:
Aurantioideae
Tribe:
Clauseneae
Genus:
Glycosmis
Species:
G. pentaphylla
Binomial name
Glycosmis pentaphylla
(Retz.)

DC.
Orangeberry (Glycosmis pentaphylla), sometimes referred to as gin berry, is a species of plant that ranges through Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. It is in the Rutaceae, the same plant family as citrus plants. It is cultivated for its edible pink fruits. In temperate zones, it can be cultivated indoors as a houseplant. [source - retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeberry on 5/23/2013]

 Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla
Cloudforest Expert
 
Posts: 1800
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: San Joaquin Valley, CA
Climate Zone: Sunset Zone 14, USDA zone 9b
Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla

www.tradewindsfruit.com/orangeberry.htmI made mention of this plant on the end of anther thread recently, but figured maybe I should start a thread on it too. One person responded they where pleased to get some local results on the plant.

I got my seed from Tradewinds Fruit some years ago, and the plants are still in 5 gallon pots, just transfer a slow developer into a 5 gallon pot a year ago and it is growing well, think it got a lot less sun in different location and is not catching up in size. The other two are almost like 5 feet tall including the pot. They year they bloomed, this year they are blooming like crazy and setting fruit sparingly. I wanted to see what the fruit was like, to see if I even wanted to put them in the ground, plus want more size to handle the cold. They take very minor damage most winters, with only a frost cloth over the top, but with the sides not covered., at least down to the mid 20s.When smaller in 2007 when it dropped to 21F preceded by 14 hours below 32F, they were smaller and under the open air patio roof or plant shade house.

Now that I have tried the fruit, and they are 80% seed and the rest split between juice and a less then thin, not so chew able skin, I want to plant them now. I figure the fruit berry size should go up, and even be sweeter and better tasting in the ground. Not a lot of juice, but the taste is different, very sweet and good. Not something to fill up on, but a very nice pleasant treat as you walk out i the garden.

My berries are not quite 1/2 wide and not quite 1/4 inch thick, but they are only in a 5 gallon pot, and the plants are only less then 5 feet actual height and a couple feet wide. I find that if a plant sets good fruit in a pot, it is always much better in the ground. It has a nick name of Gin Berry, so that must mean something, either they use it for the taste or the sugar.

I was surprised to find a number of hits on a google search, when I got them years ago, there was none other then TWF were I got the seeds. Was surprised, even found a University of CA Riverside hit. www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/glycosmis.html

They seem a bit more cold sensitive then a regular Citrus, but otherwise seems to have about the same requirements. You can chew the skin and swallow it, but I choose so far to spit it out while eating them in my yard; saving the seeds so far of course. Two good qualifies other then good tasting, sets fruit while and in a pot. that only means they get better in the ground. Oh I guess 3, grows decently fast too. [source - by DavidLJ48 » Fri Jul 29, 2011as retrieved from www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/orangeberry-glycosmis-pentaphylla-t1452.html on 5/23/2013]

In Genesis 1:11-13, "And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (American Standard Version, ASV)[for more details, go to http://www.jw.org].

To see pictures of the fruit and plant and more information on it, go to, www.google.com/search?client=avast-a-2&q=Orangeberry+(Glycosmis+pentaphylla)&oq=Orangeberry+(Glycosmis+pentaphylla)&aqs=avast..69i57.131541j0j4&ie=UTF-8

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 646B –  COMBINATION OF [1]  THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUKE,  [2]   HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#e ... 80_2_VIDEO



COMBINATION OF [1]  THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2]    HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL?

[1]       SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [648B]

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:  21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.   Romans 1:20 – 21, [AV]

Clearly many fail to appreciate Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) power and that He created all there is, but the wise do as the Apostle Paul showed in his letter to Timothy as testified to at 1 Timothy 1:17, [AV] “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  And the Prophet Isaiah revealed the same reality at Isaiah 40:21, [AV] “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?”  Yes, He created all things once more testified to at Isaiah 40:26, [AV] “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.”  And this is also noted at 2 Peter 1:3, [AV] “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
Therefore, He is per Revelation 4:11, [AV] “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”  It is imperative that we per Psalms 50:23, [AV] “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCION LUKE, CLICK OR POST THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR BROWSER:  
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/bo ... k-of-luke/

[2]        HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE BIBLICAL HELL?

For different people this question, What Really Is The Biblical Hell? Brings different things or images to mind. Hell is generally thought of as a place of punishment for sin. Concerning sin and its effect, the Bible shows, " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21, AV).
In addition, the Bible also state: " For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23, AV). As the punishment for sin is death, the fundamental question in determining the true nature of hell is: What happens to us when we die ?
Does life of some kind, in some form, continue after death? What is hell, and what type of people go there ? What is the hope for those in hell? The Bible answers all of these questions.

Is there life after death? Does something inside us, a soul or a spirit, survive the death of the body? Think on how the first man, Adam, came to have life, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV); therefore, though breathing sustained his life, putting "the breath of life" into his nostrils involved much more than simply blowing air into his lungs. It meant that God put into Adam's lifeless body the spark of life-"the force of life," which is active in all earthly creatures, " And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." (Genesis 6:17, AV), and " All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." (Genesis 7:22, AV). This animating force was referred to in the Bible as the 'spirit,' " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26, AV). This 'spirit' can be likened to an electric current that activates a light bulb or an appliance and enables it to perform its intended function. Since current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates, this life-force likewise does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no reasoning ability.

However where does this 'spirit' go when a person dies? The Bible shows, " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalms 146:4, AV). Thus, when a person dies, his life-activating force or 'spirit' does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature, " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7, AV). This means that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato held that a soul inside a person survives death and never dies, and so do many fundamentalist, Catholics, and Orthodox. However what does the Bible teach about this soul? In, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV), it clearly shows that man did not receive a 'soul' but became a living 'soul' or person. The Bible speak of a soul's doing work, craving food, being kidnapped, experiencing sleeplessness, and so forth, " And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people." (Leviticus 23:30, AV), " When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after." (Deuteronomy 12:20, AV), " My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word." (Psalms 119:28, AV). Therefore, the Bible shows a person himself/herself is a 'soul.' Thus, when a person dies, the 'soul' dies also since they are one and the same, " Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4, AV).

Now the question is, what is the condition of the dead? When pronouncing sentence Upon Adam, Jehovah stated: " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:19, AV). Where was Adam before God formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him life? Nowhere, he simply did not exist! When he died, Adam returned to that state of complete absence of life. The condition of the dead is made clear in the Bible, " For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, AV) and " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:10, AV). According to the Bible, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts!

What is the common end for all of mankind? Unending torment or the common grave?
Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. Therefore, what is hell? Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question. The Bible writer Luke recounts: " He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:31, AV). Where was this hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, AV). This clearly shows that Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected. Consider also the case of the righteous man Job, who suffered much for his integrity to God. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: " O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:13, AV)(Note, In the King James Bible, AV, the Greek word Hades is rendered 'hell' in each of its ten occurrences in the New Testament. For more information see a reliable interlinear lexicon such as "The Diaglott-interlinear," "The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures," or "The Emphatic Diaglott). How unreasonable to think that Job desired to go to a fieryhot place for protection! To Job, "hell" was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people (even Jesus went there for parts of 3 days)as well as bad ones go.

What is hellfire? Could it be that the fire of hell is symbolic of all-consuming, or thorough, destruction? Separating fire from Hades, or hell, the Scriptures say: " And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (Revelation 20:14, AV). "The lake" mentioned here is symbolic, since death and hell (Hades) that are thrown into it cannot literally be burned.

The lake of fire has a meaning similar to that of the fiery Gehenna (hell fire in KJV, AV) that Jesus spoke of at, " But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22, AV), "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48, AV). Gehenna the ancient Greek word often translated as 'hell fire' occurs 12 times in the original ancient Greek manuscripts, and it refers to the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem. When Jesus was on earth, this valley was used as a garbage dump, "where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast." (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible). These fires were kept burning by adding sulfur to burn up the refuse. Jesus used that valley as a proper symbol of everlasting destruction. As does Gehenna, the lake of fire symbolizes eternal destruction.

Death and Hades are "hurled into" it in that they will be done away when mankind is freed from sin and the condemnation of death. Willful, unrepentant sinners will also have their 'portion' in that lake, " But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sleepermongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8, AV). They also will be annihilated forever. On the other hand, those in God's memory who are in hell, the common grave of mankind, shall have a marvelous future.

The common grave of mankind, hell will be emptied, as shown, " And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Revelation 20:13, AV). Clearly the Bible shows hell will be emptied, As Jesus promised, " And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43 AV) and " And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15, AV).

In the new world of God's making, resurrected humans who comply with his righteous laws will never need to die again, as shown at " He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8, AV). Jehovah (Yahweh), " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4 AV), What a blessing is to be provided for those in hell, " And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3, AV)

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT   WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 649B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JOHN, [2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:
BIBLICAL HELL

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO



COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [649B]

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6:6 – 8, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Man can learn a lot from the beasts and insects of the field as testified to at Job 12:7, [AV] “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:” Many of them are not sluggish while many individuals are. This is not the way man should be in the work of Almighty God (YHWH) as shown at Proverbs 10:26, [AV] “As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.” Mankind should take lessons from the ants per Proverbs 30:25 - 26, [AV] “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; 26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JOHN. CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/john-gospel-intro/


[2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:

True Christianity is all about love, 1 st. love for the Creator, Jehovah God, and second love for one's fellow man. You can not love God whom you can not see if you do not at first love your fellow man whom you can see. When Jesus Christ was asked what is the greatest commandment, he answered, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 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." (Matthew 22:36-40 AV). The Holy Bible plainly shows we should not judge our neighbors, but love them. This does not mean loving their sin. Matthew 7:1-2, states, "Stop judging that you may not be judged; for with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged," and Romans 14:4, 10-13, "Who are you to judge the house servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God can make him stand. But why do you judge your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God... Therefore let us not be judging one another any longer," this plainly shows no true Christian should be executing judgment on anyone with respect sin. In fact this would be a usurping of God's exclusive right, i.e., blaspheme, Matthew 25:31-32 states, "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." Second, we should be loving our neighbors and attempting to get them to turn away from sin, not judging, hurting, or killing them in violation of God's law. Luke 10:27 states, "....You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 5:21-22 clearly states this devine principle, "....'You must not murder; but whoever commits a murder will be accountable to the court of justice.' However, I say to you that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother (neighbor) will be accountable to the court of justice; but whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the Supreme Court (God's court, not the Supreme Court of the US); whereas whoever says, 'You despicable fool! will be liable to the fiery Gehenna. (often mistranslated as hell)." Third, We should be helping our neighbor not harming him/her in one way or another. Now a question, why do many individuals seek to run others down or harm them when they are not endangering them? Please do a little Biblical research and see if you can uncover the root cause.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 644B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MALACHI, [2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [644B]

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Matthew 26:14 – 16, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Here Judas Iscariot had once been a faithful follower of Jesus (Yeshua), but had let his heart become hardened as revealed by Hebrews 3:13 – 15, [AV] “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” We should all follow the admonition given at 3 John 11, [AV] “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.”

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO MALACHI, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/malachi-introduction/


[2] THE CULMINATION OF THE END TIMES IS NEAR AT END WHEN MANY BACK SEXUAL WRONGS

INTRODUCTION:

Today Biblically prohibited sexual relations are viewed by many as tactilely okay. Should this come as a surprise? NO! The Apostle Paul writing to the disciple Timothy from Rome wrote, “I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. 3 For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears: 4 And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. 5 But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. Be sober. 6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. 2 Timothy 4:1-6 [Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: DRCB]

What the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy is now taking place, but should this come as a surprise? Let’s investigate reality.

REALITY

Many are fooling themselves, it is not what either the Bible or the Bible knockoff the Qur'an actually say, but how religious leaders be they priest, and/or ministers, and/or imams or muftis or what ever teach the people is in most cases their distortion of what is written either in the Bible or the bible knockoff the Qur'an which governs how people of their flock believe and/or act. It matters not what the Bible and/or the Bible knockoff really say. People go by what they are taught by their religious leaders and their associates. Take the genocide committed by the Roman Catholic Church at the direction of their supreme religious leader, the pope, what mattered was not that the Bible clearly said at Exodus 20:13, " Thou shalt not kill." (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: DRCB), but what their religious leaders and associates told them. Therefore, it is the religion at fault, regardless of what their particular holy book, be it the Bible or the Bible knockoff the Qur'an may say. Neither in so called Christianity or in Islam are most individuals actions really governed in any way by what their particular holy book really says, but they are governed by the distortions of their religious leaders and associates. Thus, knowing this reality, one would be either just plain stupid and/or dumb to even bother looking at a particular religion's holy book and expect the members would conform to it. Take the Rig Vede and find me for example a Hindu actually conforming to it instead of the interpretation given to it by his religious leaders, like looking for a needle in the haystack per K.S. Lal, India's greatest historian.

Both the Bible and the Bible knockoff, the Quran, strictly condemn sexual relations between members of the SAME GENDER and with animals, but many so called Christians and members of Islam either openly and/or tacitly approve of it and call it just another life style. Yes, of course it is another life style the same as being a pedophile is, but both are evil deviant life styles following depraved form of sex that the Devil has successfully lured them into, and they have failed to resist.

In fact, “The Pope’s new Spanish Cardinal has called homosexuality a physical “defect” that can be cured, it has been reported.

Equating homosexuality to his own high blood pressure, Fernando Sebastián told the Spanish newspaper Diario Sur on Monday that: “Homosexuality is a defective manner of expressing sexuality, because [sex] has a structure and a purpose, which is procreation.” [source - retrieved from www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-new-spanish-cardinal-brands-homosexuality-a-defect-that-can-be-cured-9072390.html on 2/12/2014]

Many so called mainline religions such as many Protestant and Orthodox and Islam have given either tacit and/or full approval of such wicked conduct that the Devil has been tempting mankind with.

For example, In the February 9, 2014 issue of the Palm Beach Post appeared an article, “Methodists in crisis over gay marriage.” Some members of their clergy defy church law on the subject, but more important they are defying the clear word of Almighty God (YHWH). For one thing, the article said, “The dispute among United Methodist over recognition of same-sex couples has lapsed into a doctrinal donnybrook, pitting clergy who are presiding at gay weddings in defiance of church law against proponents of traditional marriage who are trying to stop them.” Interestingly, no where does the article mention this activity is completely contrary to Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) law. In other words concern over church doctrine is getting in the way of complying with God’s Law.

And Islam while openly claiming it is against such wicked actions tacitly gives its approval by failure to take action against its members running one of the largest homosexual sites on the Internet, www.gayegypt.com, (NOW CLOSED) which is the ‘mouth piece’ for many correspondent groups including one purported to be selling a pictorial calendar of the month featuring rear ends.

Here is an example of one statement on www.gayegypt.com, “Can you believe it ?  Egypt will have a National Kissing Day on Friday 30th August.  Cairo and Alexandria each have several hundred confirmed as attending as does the small Delta town of Zagazig !” … “But if you are a gay man why not hang around and if you see there is a sufficiently large crowd of young guys you might end up “forced” to kiss some Romeo. And it will be a day to go down in history. The more passionate part of me (political and romantic) is asking “Can anyone afford to miss it ?”

TACIT AND OPEN APPROVAL OF WICKED ACTIONS

As can be seen, many so called Christian religions, actually counterfeit followers of Christ, and many is Islam tacitly or openly approve of these wicked actions; to wit, same gender sex and/or sex with animals. Why? Because they have NOT resisted Satan the Devil’s temptations. In fact, some of these counterfeit so called Christian groups have even openly made bishops out of ones giving into evil temptations instead of resisting them as they should.

The news shows, “Sexual orientation is no longer a barrier to ordination in the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU), the German ancestor of the UCC's Evangelical tradition. Its territory includes the capital city of the Protestant Reformation—Luther's Wittenberg. Homosexuals also can be ordained in the Reformed churches of Germany and Switzerland, the forebears of the UCC's Reformed tradition. The city once known as the "Reformed Rome"—John Calvin's Geneva—is no longer hostile territory for lesbians and gays called to Christian ministry.

Most of the historic Lutheran and Reformed churches in Germany and northern Europe now welcome homosexuals into ordained ministry.

Europe heads the list with 19 churches where homosexuals can be legally ordained. But several denominations in Africa, North America and the Pacific are also joining the trend, including the Anglican church in South Africa formerly led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the United Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Uniting Church in Australia.” [source - retrieved from www.ucc.org/ucnews/june2002/global-trend-worlds-oldest.html on 2/12/2014]

THE REAL REALITY – THE CONCLUSION

Clearly the evil action by many religions of either tacitly and/or openly approving of these wicked actions is due to the Devil induced misleading of most including religious leaders of believing they can pick and choose what to accept in Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) word, the Bible and/or the Bible knockoff, the Quran just as they might select what they might want to make out of a recipe book. However, the Bible is NOT a recipe book, but Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) book of guidance into how we should live our lives. His genuine true followers instead of selecting only parts of it seek to live by it, and NOT put on a false façade of piety.

APPENDIX:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Galatians 5:19

This scripture clearly shows, many life styles are NOT approved by Almighty God (YHWH), and this REALITY is further highlighted at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (Authorized King James Bible; (Authorized King James Bible; AV).

And this is made even more clear at Romans 1:19-29, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,” [AV]

And for men to want other men for forbidden sexual pleasures has always been wrong as shown By Leviticus 18:22-24, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:” [AV]

And by Jude 7-8, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (none existence) Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” [AV]

And by Leviticus 20:13, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” [AV] (this shows a principle as we are no longer under the ancient Old Law Covenant made with the ancient nation of Israel.)

Now this in no way gives anyone the right to judge or harass others as shown by Leviticus 19:17-18, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” [AV]

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 645B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MATTHEW, [2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [645B]

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Ruth 1:16 – 17, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi, and followed her directions. Her life took a turn for the better when a rich man, a distant relative of Naomi saw her as a good person and made arrangements to be her repurchaser per Ruth 4:4 - 10, [AV] “And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. 6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. 7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. 9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.” And she became one of the ancestors of Jesus (Yeshua).

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/matthew-introduction/

[2] THE TRINITY OF REALITY:

Be Reasonable and Accept Reality And Truth

Let's look at a few equations and their explanation and learn some Truths and Reality:

NO PROPHET == NO PROPHECY

You can NOT have prophecy without a prophet; a prophet is someone for whom infallibility is claimed under some circumstance such as ex Cathedra or direct communications/revelations from/with a deity, like an oracle, a pope, or a prophet. Now the JWs have none of these, thus no prophecy can come from their group; its just that simple, no need to consider cases of failed prophecy as without a prophet failed prophecy is IMPOSSIBLE.

NO THREE OF A CLASS == NO TRINITY OF ANY KIND

Many claim and use eloquent reasoning's such as predicate nouns, and very involved argumentation, etc. and go on for yak, yak pages with their hermeneutic twisting and distortion, but without there being three of a class at John 1:1, a Trinity of any kind is just plain IMPOSSIBLE.

NO IDOL OF ANY KIND == NO IDOLATRY

You must create/have an idol of some kind to have idolatry as shown at Isaiah 44:14-20, " He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain hath nourished. 15 And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. 16 Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God. 18 They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart. 19 They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree? 20 Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand. 21 Remember these things, O Jacob," (Douay Rheims Catholic Bible; DRCB).
Now, what is the point of all of this? Simple, one should DO NOT worry about the IMPOSSIBLE. No matter how eloquent the argument and proofs for it, it is still IMPOSSIBLE and just a myth of the imagination that thinking individuals should give no heed to.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 647B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUKE, [2] THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla.

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla. With the Scripture of the Day first.

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [647B]

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

And the Apostle Luke noted a vision he saw as follows at Acts 7:55, [AV] “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” Yes, the Bible speaks of Almighty God (YHWH) as the Ancient of Days, and Daniel said, Daniel 7:9, [AV] “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” And the Apostle John noted at

1 John 1:5, [AV] “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” And all should gain understanding per Revelation 2:11, [AV] “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

TO VIEW INTRODUCTION TO LUKE, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/books-of-bible-intros/book-of-luke/


[2] Here is a Commentary on Bountiful Trees and Vegetables God (YHWH) has provided for mankind, specifically gin or orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla.

Scientific classification


Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Rutaceae
Subfamily:
Aurantioideae
Tribe:
Clauseneae
Genus:
Glycosmis
Species:
G. pentaphylla
Binomial name
Glycosmis pentaphylla
(Retz.)

DC.
Orangeberry (Glycosmis pentaphylla), sometimes referred to as gin berry, is a species of plant that ranges through Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. It is in the Rutaceae, the same plant family as citrus plants. It is cultivated for its edible pink fruits. In temperate zones, it can be cultivated indoors as a houseplant. [source - retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeberry on 5/23/2013]

 Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla
Cloudforest Expert
 
Posts: 1800
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: San Joaquin Valley, CA
Climate Zone: Sunset Zone 14, USDA zone 9b
Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla

www.tradewindsfruit.com/orangeberry.htmI made mention of this plant on the end of anther thread recently, but figured maybe I should start a thread on it too. One person responded they where pleased to get some local results on the plant.

I got my seed from Tradewinds Fruit some years ago, and the plants are still in 5 gallon pots, just transfer a slow developer into a 5 gallon pot a year ago and it is growing well, think it got a lot less sun in different location and is not catching up in size. The other two are almost like 5 feet tall including the pot. They year they bloomed, this year they are blooming like crazy and setting fruit sparingly. I wanted to see what the fruit was like, to see if I even wanted to put them in the ground, plus want more size to handle the cold. They take very minor damage most winters, with only a frost cloth over the top, but with the sides not covered., at least down to the mid 20s.When smaller in 2007 when it dropped to 21F preceded by 14 hours below 32F, they were smaller and under the open air patio roof or plant shade house.

Now that I have tried the fruit, and they are 80% seed and the rest split between juice and a less then thin, not so chew able skin, I want to plant them now. I figure the fruit berry size should go up, and even be sweeter and better tasting in the ground. Not a lot of juice, but the taste is different, very sweet and good. Not something to fill up on, but a very nice pleasant treat as you walk out i the garden.

My berries are not quite 1/2 wide and not quite 1/4 inch thick, but they are only in a 5 gallon pot, and the plants are only less then 5 feet actual height and a couple feet wide. I find that if a plant sets good fruit in a pot, it is always much better in the ground. It has a nick name of Gin Berry, so that must mean something, either they use it for the taste or the sugar.

I was surprised to find a number of hits on a google search, when I got them years ago, there was none other then TWF were I got the seeds. Was surprised, even found a University of CA Riverside hit. www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/glycosmis.html

They seem a bit more cold sensitive then a regular Citrus, but otherwise seems to have about the same requirements. You can chew the skin and swallow it, but I choose so far to spit it out while eating them in my yard; saving the seeds so far of course. Two good qualifies other then good tasting, sets fruit while and in a pot. that only means they get better in the ground. Oh I guess 3, grows decently fast too. [source - by DavidLJ48 » Fri Jul 29, 2011as retrieved from www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/orangeberry-glycosmis-pentaphylla-t1452.html on 5/23/2013]

In Genesis 1:11-13, "And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (American Standard Version, ASV)[for more details, go to http://www.jw.org].

To see pictures of the fruit and plant and more information on it, go to, www.google.com/search?client=avast-a-2&q=Orangeberry+(Glycosmis+pentaphylla)&oq=Orangeberry+(Glycosmis+pentaphylla)&aqs=avast..69i57.131541j0j4&ie=UTF-8

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10219794026035670&set=a.10213830940482258



HERE IS VOL 646B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUKE, [2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO



COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL?

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [648B]

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:20 – 21, [AV]

Clearly many fail to appreciate Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) power and that He created all there is, but the wise do as the Apostle Paul showed in his letter to Timothy as testified to at 1 Timothy 1:17, [AV] “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And the Prophet Isaiah revealed the same reality at Isaiah 40:21, [AV] “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Yes, He created all things once more testified to at Isaiah 40:26, [AV] “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” And this is also noted at 2 Peter 1:3, [AV] “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
Therefore, He is per Revelation 4:11, [AV] “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” It is imperative that we per Psalms 50:23, [AV] “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCION LUKE, CLICK OR POST THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/books-of-bible-intros/book-of-luke/

[2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE BIBLICAL HELL?

For different people this question, What Really Is The Biblical Hell? Brings different things or images to mind. Hell is generally thought of as a place of punishment for sin. Concerning sin and its effect, the Bible shows, " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21, AV).
In addition, the Bible also state: " For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23, AV). As the punishment for sin is death, the fundamental question in determining the true nature of hell is: What happens to us when we die ?
Does life of some kind, in some form, continue after death? What is hell, and what type of people go there ? What is the hope for those in hell? The Bible answers all of these questions.

Is there life after death? Does something inside us, a soul or a spirit, survive the death of the body? Think on how the first man, Adam, came to have life, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV); therefore, though breathing sustained his life, putting "the breath of life" into his nostrils involved much more than simply blowing air into his lungs. It meant that God put into Adam's lifeless body the spark of life-"the force of life," which is active in all earthly creatures, " And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." (Genesis 6:17, AV), and " All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." (Genesis 7:22, AV). This animating force was referred to in the Bible as the 'spirit,' " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26, AV). This 'spirit' can be likened to an electric current that activates a light bulb or an appliance and enables it to perform its intended function. Since current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates, this life-force likewise does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no reasoning ability.

However where does this 'spirit' go when a person dies? The Bible shows, " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalms 146:4, AV). Thus, when a person dies, his life-activating force or 'spirit' does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature, " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7, AV). This means that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato held that a soul inside a person survives death and never dies, and so do many fundamentalist, Catholics, and Orthodox. However what does the Bible teach about this soul? In, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV), it clearly shows that man did not receive a 'soul' but became a living 'soul' or person. The Bible speak of a soul's doing work, craving food, being kidnapped, experiencing sleeplessness, and so forth, " And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people." (Leviticus 23:30, AV), " When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after." (Deuteronomy 12:20, AV), " My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word." (Psalms 119:28, AV). Therefore, the Bible shows a person himself/herself is a 'soul.' Thus, when a person dies, the 'soul' dies also since they are one and the same, " Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4, AV).

Now the question is, what is the condition of the dead? When pronouncing sentence Upon Adam, Jehovah stated: " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:19, AV). Where was Adam before God formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him life? Nowhere, he simply did not exist! When he died, Adam returned to that state of complete absence of life. The condition of the dead is made clear in the Bible, " For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, AV) and " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:10, AV). According to the Bible, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts!

What is the common end for all of mankind? Unending torment or the common grave?
Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. Therefore, what is hell? Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question. The Bible writer Luke recounts: " He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:31, AV). Where was this hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, AV). This clearly shows that Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected. Consider also the case of the righteous man Job, who suffered much for his integrity to God. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: " O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:13, AV)(Note, In the King James Bible, AV, the Greek word Hades is rendered 'hell' in each of its ten occurrences in the New Testament. For more information see a reliable interlinear lexicon such as "The Diaglott-interlinear," "The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures," or "The Emphatic Diaglott). How unreasonable to think that Job desired to go to a fieryhot place for protection! To Job, "hell" was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people (even Jesus went there for parts of 3 days)as well as bad ones go.

What is hellfire? Could it be that the fire of hell is symbolic of all-consuming, or thorough, destruction? Separating fire from Hades, or hell, the Scriptures say: " And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (Revelation 20:14, AV). "The lake" mentioned here is symbolic, since death and hell (Hades) that are thrown into it cannot literally be burned.

The lake of fire has a meaning similar to that of the fiery Gehenna (hell fire in KJV, AV) that Jesus spoke of at, " But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22, AV), "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48, AV). Gehenna the ancient Greek word often translated as 'hell fire' occurs 12 times in the original ancient Greek manuscripts, and it refers to the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem. When Jesus was on earth, this valley was used as a garbage dump, "where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast." (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible). These fires were kept burning by adding sulfur to burn up the refuse. Jesus used that valley as a proper symbol of everlasting destruction. As does Gehenna, the lake of fire symbolizes eternal destruction.

Death and Hades are "hurled into" it in that they will be done away when mankind is freed from sin and the condemnation of death. Willful, unrepentant sinners will also have their 'portion' in that lake, " But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sleepermongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8, AV). They also will be annihilated forever. On the other hand, those in God's memory who are in hell, the common grave of mankind, shall have a marvelous future.

The common grave of mankind, hell will be emptied, as shown, " And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Revelation 20:13, AV). Clearly the Bible shows hell will be emptied, As Jesus promised, " And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43 AV) and " And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15, AV).

In the new world of God's making, resurrected humans who comply with his righteous laws will never need to die again, as shown at " He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8, AV). Jehovah (Yahweh), " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4 AV), What a blessing is to be provided for those in hell, " And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3, AV)

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HERE IS VOL 646B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUKE, [2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO



COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE
BIBLICAL HELL?

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [648B]

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:20 – 21, [AV]

Clearly many fail to appreciate Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) power and that He created all there is, but the wise do as the Apostle Paul showed in his letter to Timothy as testified to at 1 Timothy 1:17, [AV] “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And the Prophet Isaiah revealed the same reality at Isaiah 40:21, [AV] “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Yes, He created all things once more testified to at Isaiah 40:26, [AV] “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” And this is also noted at 2 Peter 1:3, [AV] “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
Therefore, He is per Revelation 4:11, [AV] “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” It is imperative that we per Psalms 50:23, [AV] “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCION LUKE, CLICK OR POST THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/books-of-bible-intros/book-of-luke/

[2] HELL? WHAT REALLY IS THE BIBLICAL HELL?

For different people this question, What Really Is The Biblical Hell? Brings different things or images to mind. Hell is generally thought of as a place of punishment for sin. Concerning sin and its effect, the Bible shows, " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21, AV).
In addition, the Bible also state: " For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23, AV). As the punishment for sin is death, the fundamental question in determining the true nature of hell is: What happens to us when we die ?
Does life of some kind, in some form, continue after death? What is hell, and what type of people go there ? What is the hope for those in hell? The Bible answers all of these questions.

Is there life after death? Does something inside us, a soul or a spirit, survive the death of the body? Think on how the first man, Adam, came to have life, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV); therefore, though breathing sustained his life, putting "the breath of life" into his nostrils involved much more than simply blowing air into his lungs. It meant that God put into Adam's lifeless body the spark of life-"the force of life," which is active in all earthly creatures, " And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." (Genesis 6:17, AV), and " All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." (Genesis 7:22, AV). This animating force was referred to in the Bible as the 'spirit,' " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26, AV). This 'spirit' can be likened to an electric current that activates a light bulb or an appliance and enables it to perform its intended function. Since current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates, this life-force likewise does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no reasoning ability.

However where does this 'spirit' go when a person dies? The Bible shows, " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalms 146:4, AV). Thus, when a person dies, his life-activating force or 'spirit' does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature, " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7, AV). This means that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato held that a soul inside a person survives death and never dies, and so do many fundamentalist, Catholics, and Orthodox. However what does the Bible teach about this soul? In, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, AV), it clearly shows that man did not receive a 'soul' but became a living 'soul' or person. The Bible speak of a soul's doing work, craving food, being kidnapped, experiencing sleeplessness, and so forth, " And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people." (Leviticus 23:30, AV), " When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after." (Deuteronomy 12:20, AV), " My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word." (Psalms 119:28, AV). Therefore, the Bible shows a person himself/herself is a 'soul.' Thus, when a person dies, the 'soul' dies also since they are one and the same, " Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4, AV).

Now the question is, what is the condition of the dead? When pronouncing sentence Upon Adam, Jehovah stated: " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:19, AV). Where was Adam before God formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him life? Nowhere, he simply did not exist! When he died, Adam returned to that state of complete absence of life. The condition of the dead is made clear in the Bible, " For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, AV) and " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:10, AV). According to the Bible, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts!

What is the common end for all of mankind? Unending torment or the common grave?
Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. Therefore, what is hell? Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question. The Bible writer Luke recounts: " He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:31, AV). Where was this hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, AV). This clearly shows that Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected. Consider also the case of the righteous man Job, who suffered much for his integrity to God. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: " O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:13, AV)(Note, In the King James Bible, AV, the Greek word Hades is rendered 'hell' in each of its ten occurrences in the New Testament. For more information see a reliable interlinear lexicon such as "The Diaglott-interlinear," "The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures," or "The Emphatic Diaglott). How unreasonable to think that Job desired to go to a fieryhot place for protection! To Job, "hell" was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people (even Jesus went there for parts of 3 days)as well as bad ones go.

What is hellfire? Could it be that the fire of hell is symbolic of all-consuming, or thorough, destruction? Separating fire from Hades, or hell, the Scriptures say: " And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (Revelation 20:14, AV). "The lake" mentioned here is symbolic, since death and hell (Hades) that are thrown into it cannot literally be burned.

The lake of fire has a meaning similar to that of the fiery Gehenna (hell fire in KJV, AV) that Jesus spoke of at, " But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22, AV), "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48, AV). Gehenna the ancient Greek word often translated as 'hell fire' occurs 12 times in the original ancient Greek manuscripts, and it refers to the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem. When Jesus was on earth, this valley was used as a garbage dump, "where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast." (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible). These fires were kept burning by adding sulfur to burn up the refuse. Jesus used that valley as a proper symbol of everlasting destruction. As does Gehenna, the lake of fire symbolizes eternal destruction.

Death and Hades are "hurled into" it in that they will be done away when mankind is freed from sin and the condemnation of death. Willful, unrepentant sinners will also have their 'portion' in that lake, " But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sleepermongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8, AV). They also will be annihilated forever. On the other hand, those in God's memory who are in hell, the common grave of mankind, shall have a marvelous future.

The common grave of mankind, hell will be emptied, as shown, " And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Revelation 20:13, AV). Clearly the Bible shows hell will be emptied, As Jesus promised, " And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43 AV) and " And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15, AV).

In the new world of God's making, resurrected humans who comply with his righteous laws will never need to die again, as shown at " He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8, AV). Jehovah (Yahweh), " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4 AV), What a blessing is to be provided for those in hell, " And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3, AV)

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG










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HERE IS VOL 649B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JOHN, [2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:


ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO



COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [649B]

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6:6 – 8, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Man can learn a lot from the beasts and insects of the field as testified to at Job 12:7, [AV] “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:” Many of them are not sluggish while many individuals are. This is not the way man should be in the work of Almighty God (YHWH) as shown at Proverbs 10:26, [AV] “As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.” Mankind should take lessons from the ants per Proverbs 30:25 - 26, [AV] “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; 26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JOHN. CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/john-gospel-intro/


[2] LOVE - WHAT TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT:

True Christianity is all about love, 1 st. love for the Creator, Jehovah God, and second love for one's fellow man. You can not love God whom you can not see if you do not at first love your fellow man whom you can see. When Jesus Christ was asked what is the greatest commandment, he answered, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 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." (Matthew 22:36-40 AV). The Holy Bible plainly shows we should not judge our neighbors, but love them. This does not mean loving their sin. Matthew 7:1-2, states, "Stop judging that you may not be judged; for with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged," and Romans 14:4, 10-13, "Who are you to judge the house servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God can make him stand. But why do you judge your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God... Therefore let us not be judging one another any longer," this plainly shows no true Christian should be executing judgment on anyone with respect sin. In fact this would be a usurping of God's exclusive right, i.e., blaspheme, Matthew 25:31-32 states, "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." Second, we should be loving our neighbors and attempting to get them to turn away from sin, not judging, hurting, or killing them in violation of God's law. Luke 10:27 states, "....You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 5:21-22 clearly states this devine principle, "....'You must not murder; but whoever commits a murder will be accountable to the court of justice.' However, I say to you that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother (neighbor) will be accountable to the court of justice; but whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the Supreme Court (God's court, not the Supreme Court of the US); whereas whoever says, 'You despicable fool! will be liable to the fiery Gehenna. (often mistranslated as hell)." Third, We should be helping our neighbor not harming him/her in one way or another. Now a question, why do many individuals seek to run others down or harm them when they are not endangering them? Please do a little Biblical research and see if you can uncover the root cause.

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[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 53BB – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ACTS, [2] THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla

ALSO, VIDEO KENNETH COOK, JR.: “THE KING OF THE NORTH” IN THE TIME OF THE END
E, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/StudioTalks/pub-jwb-080_2_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF (1) THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND (2) THE RARE FRUIT TREES AND VEGETABLES - Glycosmis pentaphylla With the Scripture of the Day first.

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [653B]

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Deuteronomy 32:4, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Almighty God (YHWH) is indeed a rock and a fortress as testified to at Psalms 18:2, [AV] “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” And the great ruler, Nebuchadnezzar was forced to recognize this reality after his seven years of acting like a beast of the field as shown at Daniel 4:37, [AV] “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” But, He showed his love for Israel before their rejection of His son, Jesus (Yeshua) at Psalms 98:3, [AV] “He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Yes, He is righteous as shown at Romans 3:5, [AV] “But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)”

TO VIEW THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/acts-introduction/


[2] Here is a Commentary on Bountiful Trees and Vegetables God (YHWH) has provided for mankind, specifically gin or orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla.

Scientific classification


Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Rutaceae
Subfamily:
Aurantioideae
Tribe:
Clauseneae
Genus:
Glycosmis
Species:
G. pentaphylla
Binomial name
Glycosmis pentaphylla
(Retz.)

DC.
Orangeberry (Glycosmis pentaphylla), sometimes referred to as gin berry, is a species of plant that ranges through Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. It is in the Rutaceae, the same plant family as citrus plants. It is cultivated for its edible pink fruits. In temperate zones, it can be cultivated indoors as a houseplant. [source - retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeberry on 5/23/2013]

 Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla
Cloudforest Expert
 
Posts: 1800
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: San Joaquin Valley, CA
Climate Zone: Sunset Zone 14, USDA zone 9b
Orangeberry, Glycosmis pentaphylla

www.tradewindsfruit.com/orangeberry.htmI made mention of this plant on the end of anther thread recently, but figured maybe I should start a thread on it too. One person responded they where pleased to get some local results on the plant.

I got my seed from Tradewinds Fruit some years ago, and the plants are still in 5 gallon pots, just transfer a slow developer into a 5 gallon pot a year ago and it is growing well, think it got a lot less sun in different location and is not catching up in size. The other two are almost like 5 feet tall including the pot. They year they bloomed, this year they are blooming like crazy and setting fruit sparingly. I wanted to see what the fruit was like, to see if I even wanted to put them in the ground, plus want more size to handle the cold. They take very minor damage most winters, with only a frost cloth over the top, but with the sides not covered., at least down to the mid 20s.When smaller in 2007 when it dropped to 21F preceded by 14 hours below 32F, they were smaller and under the open air patio roof or plant shade house.

Now that I have tried the fruit, and they are 80% seed and the rest split between juice and a less then thin, not so chew able skin, I want to plant them now. I figure the fruit berry size should go up, and even be sweeter and better tasting in the ground. Not a lot of juice, but the taste is different, very sweet and good. Not something to fill up on, but a very nice pleasant treat as you walk out in the garden.

My berries are not quite 1/2 wide and not quite 1/4 inch thick, but they are only in a 5 gallon pot, and the plants are only less then 5 feet actual height and a couple feet wide. I find that if a plant sets good fruit in a pot, it is always much better in the ground. It has a nick name of Gin Berry, so that must mean something, either they use it for the taste or the sugar.

I was surprised to find a number of hits on a google search, when I got them years ago, there was none other then TWF were I got the seeds. Was surprised, even found a University of CA Riverside hit. www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/glycosmis.html

They seem a bit more cold sensitive then a regular Citrus, but otherwise seems to have about the same requirements. You can chew the skin and swallow it, but I choose so far to spit it out while eating them in my yard; saving the seeds so far of course. Two good qualifies other then good tasting, sets fruit while and in a pot. that only means they get better in the ground. Oh I guess 3, grows decently fast too. [source - by DavidLJ48 » Fri Jul 29, 2011as retrieved from www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/orangeberry-glycosmis-pentaphylla-t1452.html on 5/23/2013]

In Genesis 1:11-13, "And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (American Standard Version, ASV)[for more details, go to http://www.jw.org].

To see pictures of the fruit and plant and more information on it, go to, growerjim.blogspot.com/2010/01/glycosmis-little-grown-citrus-relative.html

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HERE IS VOL 654B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ROMANS, [2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 1 OF 2

TO VIEW A VIDEO, DAVID TRUSTED IN ALMIGHTY GOD, YHWH, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
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COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 1 [654B]

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [654B]

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. Ezekiel 34:26 – 27, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Yes, Almighty God (YHWH) plans to bring the earth to a paradise again in accordance with His original plan for mankind per Isaiah 56:7, [AV] “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” And also echoed at Psalms 68:9, [AV] “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”
And as noted at Malachi 3:10, [AV] “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ROMANS, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/romans-introduction/


[2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 1

INTRODUCTION:

Many use the term "Abrahamic Religion" when referring to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and sometimes with regard The Druze, the Bahá'í Faith, etc. But in brief, the term means coming through and/or originating with the descendants of Abraham in its simpliest form.

To Abraham, the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Noah, etc., the creator of all there is, he promised that his descendants would forever inhabit the land. Abraham's first son, Ishmael, the ancestor of all original Muslims, was not by his wife, but by her servant, Hagar; whereas, his second son whom the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Noah, etc., the creator of all there is, said the promised seed would come was by his legal wife Sarah, and per Genesis 17:19, "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." (Authorized King James Bible; AV).

Thus, the Islamic religion came through Abraham since a descendant of his son, Ishmael, Muhammad (pbuh), started it about 2,000 years after Abraham's death. His son, Ishmael, like all of his household, was a worshipper of the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Issac, Ishmael, Noah, Moses, etc., the creator of all there is, but many centuries later, many of the descendants of Ishmael went to following false god(s) such as Allah and Baal which some believe to be one and the same.

Both the Jewish and Christian religions came through Abraham's son Isaac, the one to whom the everlasting covenant was established with. Both of these religions originally worshipped exclusively the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Issac, Ishmael, Noah, Moses, etc., the creator of all there is, but later some in the so called Christian branch that came out of Judaism went following pagan god(s). All the founders or genuine (true) followers of Christianity, the apostles of Jesus (Yeshua) were born Jews, the descendants of Abraham's son Isaac. However, later the "path" or way to be genuine followers of Jesus (Yeshua) was opened to none descendants of Abraham's son Isaac.

THE ISLAMIC ABRAHAMIC RELIGION:

PART A - GENERAL ON ISLAM:

First let's look at what an encyclopedia says about Islam.

<<<"Islam, is a monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. It is the second-largest religion in the world today, with an estimated 1.4 billion adherents, spread across the globe, known as Muslims.[1] The word "Islam" means "submission", referring to the total surrender of one's self to God Allah, and the word Muslim means "one who submits (to God)".[2]

Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad and that Muhammad is God's final prophet. The Qur'an and the traditions of Muhammad in the Sunnah are regarded as the fundamental sources of Islam.[3][4] Muslims do not regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham, Jesus, Moses, Noah, and other prophets. They hold that part of the messages of these prophets became distorted over time either in interpretation, in text, or both.[5][6][7] Like Judaism, and Christianity, Islam is an Abrahamic religion.[8]

Today Islam is the predominant religion in North Africa, West Africa the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of the Indian subcontinent. Large communities can also be found in China, the Balkan Peninsula and Russia. Only about 20 percent of Muslims originate from Arab countries.[9] Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity in many European countries, such as France, which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe and the United Kingdom.[10][11]"

Etymology and meaning: The word islam is "the infinitive of the fourth form of the Arabic triconsonantal root s-l-m meaning 'to submit,' 'to surrender'";[12] therefore Islam effectively means "submission to God". Followers of Islam are expected to submit to God by worshiping him, following his commands, and avoiding polytheism.[2] The word islam is also based upon the Arabic word for peace (salam) and could be applicible to the religion of Islam if it is taken to mean that "true peace resides in submission to God".[13]

The word islam takes on a number of different meanings in the Qur'an. In some verses (ayat), the quality of Islam as an internal conviction is stressed, for example: "Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam."[14] Other verses establish the connection between islam and din (usually translated as "religion"), and assert that only the surrender of one's self to God can render unto him the worship which is his due: "Today, I have perfected your religion (din) for you; I have completed My blessing upon you; I have approved Islam for your religion."[15] The final category of verses describe Islam as an action (of returning to God), more than simply a verbal affirmation.[16][2]
Beliefs

Muslims believe that God revealed his final message to humanity through the Islamic prophet Muhammad via the angel Gabriel.[17] They consider Muhammad to have been God's final prophet, the "Seal of the Prophets", and the Qur'an to be the revelations he received in his 23 years of preaching.[18] Muslims hold that all of God's messengers since Adam preached the message of Islam - submission to the will of the one God. To Muslims, Islam is the eternal religion, described in the Qur'an as "the primordial nature upon which God created mankind".[19][20][clarify] Furthermore, the Qur'an states that the proper name Muslim was given by Abraham.[21][20]

As a historical phenomenon, however, Islam was originated in Arabia in early 7th century.[20] Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians "People of the Book", and distinguishes them from polytheists. However, Muslims believe that parts of the previously revealed scriptures, the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospels), had become distorted as indicated in the Qur'an - either in interpretation, in text, or both.[22]

Islamic belief has six main components - belief in God; his revelations; his angels; his messengers; the "Day of Judgement"; and the divine decree.[23][24]
God

Allah, God, Islamic concept of God, and Tawhid [no Trinity]. The fundamental concept in Islam is the oneness of God (tawhid): monotheism which is simple and uncompounded, not composed or made up of parts.[25][clarify] The oneness of God is the first of Islam's five pillars, expressed by the Shahadah (testification). By declaring the Shahadah, a Muslim attests to the belief that there are no gods but God, and that Muhammad is God's messenger.[26]

In Arabic, God is called Allah. Etymologically, this name is thought to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic words al- (the) and ilah (deity, masculine form) - al-ilah meaning "the God".[27]

The first sura in a Qur'anic manuscript by Hattat Aziz Efendi.
The Qur'an is considered by Muslims to be the literal word of God, and is the central religious text of Islam. It has also been called, in English, the Koran and, archaically, the Alcoran. The word Qur'an means "recitation".[32] Although the Qur'an is often referred to as a "book", when Muslims speak in the abstract about "the Qur'an", they usually mean the scripture as recited in Arabic rather than the printed work or any translation of it.[33] Muslims believe that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed to Muhammad by God through the Angel Gabriel on numerous occasions between the years 610 and his death on July 6, 632.

References:
1. ^ Teece (2003), p.10
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Islam", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
3. ^ Ghamidi (2001): Sources of Islam
4. ^ Esposito (1996), p.41
5. ^ "If...they [Christians] mean that the Qur'an confirms the textual veracity of the scriptural books which they now possess-that is, the Torah and the Gospels-this is something which some Muslims will grant them and which many Muslims will dispute. However, most Muslims will grant them most of that." Ibn Taymiyya cited in Accad (2003)
6. ^ Esposito (1998), p.12; Esposito (2002b), pp.4-5; F. E. Peters (2003), p.9
7. ^ a b c "Muhammad", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
8. ^ Gregorian (2003), p.ix
9. ^ Esposito (2002b), p.21
10. ^ Muslims in Europe: Country guide. BBC News (2005-12-23). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
11. ^ Religion In Britain. Office for National Statistics (2003-02-13). Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
12. ^ "Islam", Encyclopedia of the Qur'an (2005)
13. ^ Sells (2003), p.30
14. ^ Qur'an 6:125, Qur'an 61:7, Qur'an 39:22
15. ^ Qur'an 5:3, Qur'an 3:19, Qur'an 3:83
16. ^ Qur'an 9:74, Qur'an 49:14
17. ^ Watton (1993), "Introduction"
18. ^ "Qur'an", Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001)
19. ^ Qur'an 30:30
20. ^ a b c "Islam", Encyclopedia of Religion
21. ^ Qur'an 22:78
22. ^ "Tahrif", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
23. ^ Sahih Muslim 1:1
24. ^ "Iman", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
25. ^ "Tawhid", Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
26. ^ Griffith (2006), p.248
27. ^ "Allah", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
32. ^ a b c Teece (2003), pp.12,13
33. ^ C. Turner (2006), p.42
[source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]>>>.

PART B - ON THE QURAN:


Muslims believe that Muhammad (pbuh) received the Quran from an angel, but reality is very different. It is a distorted copy of the inspired word of the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Issac, Ishmael, Noah, Moses, etc., the creator of all there is, the Bible, although most of Islam denies this reality. Details can be found in a recent book review as follows:

<<<" A book review of Christoph Luxenberg, a world renown linguistic scholar, clearly reveals that the Quran is nothing but a distorted knockoff of the inspired word of the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, creator of all there is, the Bible.

This book review is contained in, "HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES," book review of Christoph Luxenberg (ps.) Die syro-aramaeische Lesart des Koran; Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Qur'ansprache. Berlin, Germany: Das Arabische Buch, First Edition, 2000. Pp. ix + 306, Vol. 6, No. 1, January 2003.
[http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol6No1/HV6N1PRPhenixHorn.html ]

THE evidence:

Let's look at the evidence contained in the book review of Christoph Luxenberg's latest book in German, "Die syro-aramaeische Lesart des Koran; Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Qur'ansprache." He clearly shows that the Quran draws on personal names of Biblical origins, that the name "Quran' even indicates its origin, that it was NEVER intended to replace the written source - the Bible, that it was distorted from the writings of Muhammad early on, as follows:

<<<"The rest of the section draws on personal names of Biblical origin in the Qur'an to demonstrate that the so-called Arabic matres lectionis, 'alif, waw, and ya, must also be polyvalent. Luxenberg points out that Islamic tradition admits a reading of the mater for long /a/ in certain instances as /e/ because this pronunciation was a peculiarity of the Arabic of Mecca. Luxenberg shows that the term harf, "sign" must also carry a meaning synonymous to qira'at, "(way of) reading" and that this is not only supplying the vowels in an unvocalized text, but also supplying the diacritical points that distinguish consonants. It is only gradually that these diacritical points became fixed so that consonants came to have just one reading. This process of determining the value of each letter of the Qur'an unfolded over some three hundred years. This is known from the oldest manuscripts of the Qur'an which do not have the diacritical points distinguishing readings of a single consonant. By the time these became commonly used, Arabian commentators were no longer aware that many words were either straight Aramaic or were calques peculiar to Meccan Arabic. From this resulted the difficulties that the Qur'an posed to even the earliest Arabian commentators...

The section concludes by demonstrating that the technical meaning of "lectionary" is preserved in the word qur'an. Most striking is the conclusion that the term umm kitab, an aramaism, must be a written source and that the Qur'an was never intended to replace this written source. One might complain that the details of the argument for the reading of suras 12:1-2 and 3:7 are squeezed into footnotes, but nevertheless the argument is clear. Luxenberg proves that the term qur'an itself is the key to unlocking the passages that have given commentators in and outside of the tradition frustration. If quryan means "lectionary," and if the text itself claims to be a clarification of an earlier text, then that earlier text must be written in another language. The only candidate is the Old and New Testament in Syriac, the Penutsta. Hence the influence of Aramaic on the Arabic of Muhammad has an identifiable, textual origin. At the very end of the work, Luxenberg makes a compelling argument that sura 108 is a close allusion to the Penutsta of 1 Peter 5:8-9. Indeed this sura, which is only three lines long, is one of the most difficult passages for the Arabian as well as the Western commentators. Luxenberg shows why: it is composed of transcriptions into Arabic writing of the Syriac New Testament text, i.e., there is almost no "Arabic" in the sura. These are "revealed" texts, and insofar as the Qur'an contains quotations or paraphrases of them, the Qur'an is also "revealed." ...

Many dialects of Arabic existed at the time of Muhammad. In the ten places where the Qur'an claims to have been written in Arabic, Luxenberg shows first that these passages have grammatical forms which are difficult for the commentators and have varying interpretations among the translators. He notes that in sura 41:44, the Arabic fassala means "to divide," but the context here requires "make distinct" or better "interpret." Nowhere else does the Arabic word have this meaning, and the Syriac-Arabic lexica do not give the one as a translation for the other; tarjama (a direct borrowing from Syriac) is the usual Arabic word for "interpret." However, the Syriac praš / parreš can mean both "divide" as well as "interpret" (like Hebrew hibdil; also this is an example of a "semantic calque" mentioned above). Tabari too understands fassala to be a synonym for bayyana (sura 44:3), which also has the meaning "interpret." Sura 41:44 also clearly attests to a source for the Qur'an that is written in a foreign language. Luxenberg, following Tabari, notes a corruption in the text of this verse that clearly shows that part of the Qur'an has a non-Arabic source. His argument here is somewhat weak if not for the further evidence deduced from eleven other locations in the Qur'an where Luxenberg consistently applies these and similar arguments to difficulties all of which center on the terms related to the revelation and language of the Qur'an. These arguments leave little doubt, that Luxenberg has uncovered a key misunderstanding of these terms throughout the Qur'an....

In section twelve Luxenberg demonstrates that not only the origin and language of the Qur'an are different from what the commentators who wrote two hundred years after its inception claim it to be, but that several key passages contain words or idioms that were borrowed from Syriac into Arabic. From his analysis of sura 19:24 (in the so-called "Marian Sura"): "Then he called to her from beneath her: 'Grieve not; thy Lord hath placed beneath thee a streamlet,'" he concludes that it should be read "He called to her immediately after her laying-down (to give birth 'Grieve not; thy Lord has made your laying-down legitimate.'" Luxenberg's lengthy discussion of the complexities of this passage resolve grammatical difficulties in the Arabic in a way that fits the context: Jesus gives Mary the courage to face her relatives even with a child born out of wedlock. The section then presents lengthy arguments dealing with various lexical, morphological, syntactic and versification problems in sura 11:116-117...

In that same section, one also finds a study of how Syriac roots were misread and altered by later commentators. In one case, the word jaw (sura 16:79) misread "air, atmosphere" is from Syriac gaw, which means both "insides, inner part" and can also be used as a preposition meaning "inside." In sura 16:79 Luxenberg demonstrates that the prepositional use makes more sense than the solution posed by the commentators. Classical Arabic grammar, which was created three hundred years after the Qur'an, does not recall the prepositional meaning of the word. However, dialects of Arabic preserve the original Syriac prepositional use. So where sura 16:79 reads fi jaw as-sama' "in(side) heaven" referring to birds held aloft and kept from falling down by God, the dialects agree: fi jawwat al-bet "inside the house" is perfectly good Arabic. The misreading of Qur'anic Arabic jaw as "air" has become part of the technical vocabulary of modern standard Arabic: "air mail," "air force," "airline," and "weather report" all use jaw. The imaginary meaning of the grammarians lives on. ...

Section sixteen follows this investigation as it points to a similar misreading of paradise's grapes as youths, Arabic wildun. Sura 76:19 "Round amongst them go boys of perpetual youth, whom when one see, he thinks them pearls unstrung" (sura 16.1, citing Bell's translation). Wildun is a genuinely Arabic word, but it is used in a sense which is borrowed from Syriac yalda. Youths like pearls is somewhat suspicious, especially given that "pearls" are a metaphor for the grapes of paradise from the previous section. Luxenberg uncovered that Syriac has the expression yalda dagpetta, "child of the vine," appearing in the Penutsta: Matthew 26:29, Mark 14:25, and Luke 22:18, in which Christ foreshadows his death and resurrection: "I will not drink of this child of the vine (yalda dagpetta) until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of my Father." Here it is the juice of the grape that is the "child." Entries in the Arabic-Syriac lexica for each of yalda and gpetta give in addition to "child" and "vine" "fruit" and "wine," respectively. Luxenberg gives further evidence from suras 37:45, 43:71, and 76:15 that Ephraem the Syrian's depiction of the grapes of paradise is behind the original Qur'anic text.

A central question that this investigation raises is the motivation of cUthman in preparing his redaction of the Qur'an. Luxenberg presents the two hadith traditions recounting how cUthman came to possess the first manuscript. If Luxenberg's analysis is even in broad outline correct, the content of the Qur'an was substantially different at the time of Muhammad and Uthman's redaction played a part in the misreading of key passages. Were these misreadings intentional or not? The misreadings in general alter the Qur'an from a book that is more or less harmonious with the New Testament and Syriac Christian liturgy and literature to one that is distinct, of independent origin. " [source - book review is contained in, "HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES," book review of Christoph Luxenberg (ps.) Die syro-aramaeische Lesart des Koran; Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Qur'ansprache. Berlin, Germany: Das Arabische Buch, First Edition, 2000. Pp. ix + 306, Vol. 6, No. 1, January 2003.]>>>.

THE Reality:

Muhammad (pbuh) had Christians in his family from whom he learned about the Bible from and scribes to read it to him as he was illiterate. After learning much about the Bible, he started dictating to his scribes what he wanted written down, and as all know a process like this can only product a distorted product as compared to the original, the inspired word of the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, creator of all there is, the Bible.

Now most in Islam will not agree with this reality, the truth, per John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Authorized King James Bible; AV), but the facts sustain it. Let's look at his connection to Christianity through his relatives as reported in an Islamic source.

Many Muslims have argued that Muhammad only met Jews or Christians only on very few occasions, by far too short to be sufficient to gain any real knowledge of the earlier scriptures. In particular, they were not translated into Arabic at this time. The content of the Qur'an therefore does not come from human sources but can only be through direct revelation from God.

I agree that the scriptures probably did not exist in Arabic at that time, at least not completely or widely known, but with the other statements I am not in agreement. And even the non-existence of scriptures in Arabic is irrelevant as we will see in the following.

The Muslim sources tell us about a certain Waraqa bin Nawfal and in what way Muhammad was related to him.
<<<"Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1, Number 3: Narrated 'Aisha:

(the mother of the faithful believers) The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright day light, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read.

The Prophet added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists) has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones."

Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the PreIslamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while. ...

Some essential statements above:
1. "his desire to see his family."
2. "You keep good relations with your Kith and kin"

This shows that Muhammad was a "family man", and given that the middle eastern culture is well known for its family orientedness (something I very much appreciate in Muslims) and that in this setting Muhammad was seemingly even a very good example (otherwise this would not have been mentioned as special virtue) we can deduce that he probably spend much time with his relatives keeping a good relationship, and that means regular visiting.

Furthermore, nobody will deny that Muhammad was already religious before he had this first encounter in the cave on Mt. Hira. After all, he went there to meditate and pray. As the hadith says, it was a habit of his: "He USED to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days..."

The big question now is:
What will such a religious man talk about when he visits his relatives? Would it be too much to guess that religion will be a major part of these conversations?
And what do we see happening here when Muhammad is disturbed and frightened by a "religious experience"? After calming down a bit at home with his wife, who is the person they visit first?

Waraqa bin Nawfal. Seemingly, he is seen by Khadija and Muhammad as an authority in spiritual matters. And he is the cousin of his wife. And he is a Christian familiar with the scriptures since, after all, he is making copies of the scriptures, whether for personal study or for a fellowship/church of Christians.
So, these are the facts:">>>.

So Islam's argument that he, Muhammad (pbuh) had little contact with either Jews or Christians is an outright lie as is the other claims made for the Quran. Most of the other claims are quite similar to those of Joseph Smith for the Book of Mormon; to wit, the book was received from an angel.

PART C - THE MYTHICAL GOD, THE OLD MIDDLE EASTERN CELESTIAL MOON GOD, "ALLAH," WHO ONLY EXIST IN THE IMAGINATIONS OF DECEIVED MEN, BUT HAS NO PHYSICAL EXISTANCE,

Many in Islam claim their god is the same as the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, creator of all there is, but this is not true as will be shown:

Origins of the word "Allah," let's look at the facts from renown historical sources:

The well-known Middle East scholar H.A.R. Gibb has pointed out that the reason that Muhammad never had to explain who Allah was in the Quran is that his listeners had already heard about Allah long before Muhammad was ever born [source - (Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey, New York: Mentor Books, 1955, p.38)].

Dr. Arthur Jeffery, one of the foremost Western Islamic scholars in modern times and professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Columbia University, notes:

"The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa" [source - Islam: Muhammad, and His Religion, New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958, p. 85].

The word "Allah" comes from the compound Arabic word, al-ilah. Al is the definite article "the" and ilah is an Arabic word for "god." It is not a foreign word. It is not even the Syriac word for God. It is pure Arabic. [source - There is an interesting discussion of the origins of Allah, in "Arabic Lexicographical Miscellanies" by J. Blau in the Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XVII, #2, 1972, pp. 173-190].

Neither is Allah a Hebrew or Greek word for God as found in the Bible. Allah is a purely Arabic term used in reference to an Arabian deity. [source - Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics I:326, T & T Clark], states:

SEE PART 2 IN VOL 655B.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG

[iris89]

HERE IS VOL 655B – COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND A VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE 1 CORINTHIANS, [2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 2 OF 2

TO VIEW A VIDEO, DAVID TRUSTED IN ALMIGHTY GOD, YHWH, CLICK OR PUT POST IN BROWSER:
www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/ChildrenMovies/pub-ivdd_x_VIDEO


COMBINATION OF [1] THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY AND [2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 2 [655B]

[1] SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY [655B]

He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Jeremiah 10:12, [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Yes, as stated at Genesis 1:1, [AV] “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” He, as shown by Psalms 24:2, [AV] “For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” And reveals that the earth is a sphere and not a flat plane in space as many ancients believed up to the time Christopher Columbus proved otherwise and that the Bible was correct as shown at Isaiah 40:22, [AV] “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”

TO VIEW AN INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS, CLICK OR POST IN BROWSER, THE FOLLOWING:
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[2] ABRAHAMIC RELIGION - WHAT IS IT? IN TWO PARTS – PART 2 [655B]

'"Allah" is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs'] peculiar God. '

According to the Encyclopedia of Religion:

'"Allah" is a pre-Islamic name . . . corresponding to the Babylonian Bel' [source - Encyclopedia of Religion, I:117 Washington DC, Corpus Pub., 1979].

For those who find it hard to believe that Allah was a pagan name for a peculiar pagan Arabian deity in pre-Islamic times, the following quotations may be helpful:

"Allah is found . . . in Arabic inscriptions prior to Islam" [source - Encyclopedia Britannica, I:643].

"The Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah" [Encyclopedia off Islam, I:302, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1913, Houtsma].

"Allah was known to the pre-Islamic . . . Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities" [Encyclopedia off Islam, I:406, ed. Gibb).

"Ilah . . . appears in pre-Islamic poetry . . . By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to Allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry" (Encyclopedia off Islam, III:1093, 1971].

"The name Allah goes back before Muhammad" [source - Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:41, Anthony Mercatante, New York, The Facts on File, 1983].

"The origin of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning "God" (or a "god"), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity" [source - Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I:326, Hastings].

To the testimony of the above standard reference works, we add those of such scholars as Henry Preserved Smith of Harvard University who has stated:

"Allah was already known by name to the Arabs" [source - The Bible and Islam: or, The Influence of the Old and New Testament on the Religion of Mohammed, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897, p. 102]

"Ilah is the Arabic for "deity". It is cognate to Northwest Semitic ' and Akkadian ilu. The word is from a Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral meaning "god" (possibly with a wider meaning of "strong"), which was extended to a regular triliteral by the addition of a h (as in Hebrew Eloah). ...[omitted as not English characters] with an optional diacritic alif to mark ...; (as is the case with Allah), or (more rarely) with a full alif...; .The feminine is;hah "goddess", with the article, al...[omitted as not English characters]; according to Lane's 1893 Lexicon referring to the great serpent in particular, "because it was a special object of the worship of some of the ancient Arabs", or the new moon (see also Allat).In Islamic context, an ilah is the concept of a deity, lord or god and does not necessarily refer to Allah. The term is used throughout the Qur'an in passages detailing the existence of Allah as the only Ilah, and of the beliefs of non-Muslims in other Ilah(s)."[source - Wikipedia free Encyclopedia]

[source - The Archeology of the Middle East]"[additional references - "South Arabia's stellar religion has always been dominated by the Moon-god in various variations" (Berta Segall, The Iconography of Cosmic Kingship, the Art Bulletin, vol.xxxviii, 1956, p.77).; Isaac Rabinowitz, Aramaic Inscriptions of the Fifth Century, JNES, XV, 1956, pp.1-9; Edward Linski, The Goddess Atirat in Ancient Arabia, in Babylon and in Ugarit: Her Relation to the Moon-god and the Sun-goddess, Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica, 3:101-9; H.J.Drivers, Iconography and Character of the Arab Goddess Allat, found in Études Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans L'Empire Roman, ed. Maarten J. Verseren, Leiden, Brill, 1978, pp.331-51); Richard Le Baron Bower Jr. and Frank P. Albright, Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1958, p.78ff; Ray Cleveland, An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1965; Nelson Gleuck, Deities and Dolphins, New York, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1965).; Another Aramaic Record of the North Arabian goddess Han'Llat, JNES, XVIII, 1959, pp.154-55.]

Allah - the Moon God The Archeology of The Middle EastThe religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of "Allah." The Muslims claim that Allah in pre-Islamic times was the biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. The issue is thus one of continuity. Was "Allah" the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during pre-Islamic times? The Muslim's claim of continuity is essential to their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if "Allah" is part of the flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in biblical religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if Allah was a pre-Islamic pagan deity, then its core claim is refuted. Religious claims often fall before the results of hard sciences such as archeology. We can endlessly speculate about the past or go and dig it up and see what the evidence reveals. This is the only way to find out the truth concerning the origins of Allah. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters. [source - Yeshua Communications Network]


"Hubal and Allah the Moon God?Islam: Truth or Myth? start page Introduction to basic facts of history:Moon worship has been practiced in Arabia since 2000 BC. The crescent moon is the most common symbol of this pagan moon worship as far back as 2000 BC. In Mecca, there was a god named Hubal who was Lord of the Kabah. This Hubal was a moon god. One Muslim apologist confessed that the idol of moon god Hubal was placed upon the roof of the Kaba about 400 years before Muhammad. This may in fact be the origin of why the crescent moon is on top of every minaret at the Kaba today and the central symbol of Islam atop of every mosque throughout the world: About four hundred years before the birth of Muhammad one Amr bin Lahyo ... a descendant of Qahtan and king of Hijaz, had put an idol called Hubal on the roof of the Kaba. This was one of the chief deities of the Quraish before Islam. (Muhammad The Holy Prophet, Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar (Pakistan), p 18-19, Muslim)The moon god was also referred to as "al-ilah". This is not a proper name of a single specific god, but a generic reference meaning "the god". Each local pagan Arab tribe would refer to their own local tribal pagan god as "al-ilah". "al-ilah" was later shortened to Allah before Muhammad began promoting his new religion in 610 AD. There is evidence that Hubal was referred to as "Allah". When Muhammad came along, he dropped all references to the name "Hubal" but retained the generic "Allah". Muhammad retained almost all the pagan rituals of the Arabs at the Kaba and redefined them in monotheistic terms. Regardless of the specifics of the facts, it is clear that Islam is derived from paganism that once worshiped a moon-god. Although Islam is today a monotheist religion, its roots are in paganism."[source - Brother Andrew]

Was Allah The Moon God of Ancient Arab Pagan? By Syed Kamran Mirza Historical evidences, impartial logic, well versed references and all available circumstantial judgments can very well prove that-(a) Allah name of deity was pre-existed much before the arrival of Islam, ( Pre-Islamic Pagan peoples worshipped Allah as their supreme deity (moon-god). Allah's name existed in pre-Islamic Arab. In ancient Arab the Allah was considered to be the supreme God/deity (as Moon-God) and Arab Pagans worshipped Allah before Islam arrived. Let us examine below some valid questions and answers :Did the Pagan Arabs in pre-Islamic times worship 360 gods? YesDid the pagans Arabs worship the sun, moon and the stars? YesDid the Arabs built temples to the Moon-god? YesDid different Arab tribes give the Moon-god different names/titles? YesWhat were some of the names/titles? Sin, Hubul, Ilumquh, Al-ilah. Was the title "al-ilah" (the god) used as the Moon-god? YesWas the word "Allah" derived from "al-ilah?" YesWas the pagan "Allah" a high god in a pantheon of deities? Yes.Was he worshipped at the Kabah? Yes.Was Allah only one of many Meccan gods? YesDid they place a statue of Hubul on top of the Kabah? Yes.At that time was Hubul considered the Moon-god? Yes.Was the Kabah thus the "house of the Moon-god"? Yes.Did the name "Allah" eventually replace that of Hubul as the name of the Moon god? Yes.Did they call the Kabah the "house of Allah"? Yes.Were al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat called "the daughters of Allah"? Yes.Yusuf Ali explains in fn. 5096, pg. 1445, that Lat, Uzza and Manat were known as "the daughters of God [Allah]"Did the Qur'an at one point tell Muslims to worship al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat? Yes. In Surah 53:19-20.Have those verses been "abrogated" out of the present Qur'an? Yes.What were they called? "The Satanic Verses."[source - Was Allah The Moon God of Ancient Arab Pagan? By Syed Kamran Mirza ]

"ALLAH - The Moon GodThe religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of "Allah." The Muslims claim that Allah in pre-Islamic times was the biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. The issue is thus one of continuity. Was "Allah" the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during pre-Islamic times? The Muslim's claim of continuity is essential to their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if "Allah" is part of the flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in biblical religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if Allah was a pre-Islamic pagan deity, then its core claim is refuted. Religious claims often fall before the results of hard sciences such as archeology. We can endlessly speculate about the past or go and dig it up and see what the evidence reveals. This is the only way to find out the truth concerning the origins of Allah. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters."[source - www.abrahamic-faith.com/moon-god.html ]

"In fact the common symbol used in much of Islam, the Crescent Moon, like in the Green Crescent the Arab equivalent of the Red Cross, as used by the Ottomans, on most Mosques, etc. But here is what history and archaeology shows:

The symbol of the worship of the moon god in Arabian culture and elsewhere throughout the Middle East was the crescent moon.

Archaeologists have dug up numerous statues and hieroglyphic inscriptions in which a crescent moon was seated on top of the head of the deity to symbolize the worship of the moon god. In the same fashion as the sun is pictured above the Egyptian deity.

Now there are strong indicators that the heathen god, Baal, was the god of very early antiquity that actually evolved into the present day Moon god "Allah," by way of an intermediary figure, the god "Hubal al'iah." In fact in his name you can actually see how the name for the pagan Moon god became.

While the moon was generally worshiped as a female deity in the Ancient Near East, the Arabs viewed it as a male deity."[source - The Islamic Invasion by Dr. Robert Morey; Harvest Home Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-89081-983-1]

"ALLAH...The term is a contraction of the Arabic al-ilah, "the God." Both the idea and the word existed in pre-Islamic Arabian tradition, in which some evidence of a primitive monotheism can also be found. Although they recognized other, lesser gods, the pre-Islamic Arabs recognized Allah as the supreme God."[source - Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) Online Encyclopedia 2000]

"Allah was also known as Hubel, ""Among the gods worshiped by the Quraysh, the greatest was Hubal
...
Some additional details on this cleromantic deity, the most powerful of the pagan idols of Mecca, is supplied by the Meccan historian Azraqi ...
Amr ibn Luhayy brought with him (to Mecca) an idol called Hubal from the land of Hit in Mesopotamia. Hubal was one of the Quraysh's greatest idols so he set it up at the well inside the Kab'a and ordered the people to worship it. Thus a man coming back from a journey would visit it and circumambulate the House before going to his family, and would shave his hair before it ... "[Peters, Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places [Princeton University Press, NJ, 1994], pp. 24-25]

""Khuza 'ah thus shared the guilt of Jurhum. They were also to blame in other respects: a chieftain of theirs, on his way back from a journey to SYRIA, had asked the MOABITES to give him ONE OF THEIR IDOLS. They gave him HUBAL, which he brought back to the Sanctuary, setting it up within the Ka'bah itself; and it became THE CHIEF IDOL OF MECCA." [Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, Inner Traditions International, LTD. One Park Street, Rochestor Vermont 05767, 1983, p. 5].

And this Hubel or Allah the Moon god is indicated to be known by others as the Biblically condemned god, 'Baal.' Commenting on 'Abd al-Muttalib's rediscovery of the well of Zamzam and its treasures, Lings writes:
"... So 'Abd al-Muttalib continued to dig without any actual move being made to stop him; and some of the people were already leaving the sanctuary when suddenly he struck the well's stone covering and uttered a cry of thanksgiving to God. The crowd reassembled and increased; and when he began to dig out the treasure which Jurhum had buried there, everyone claimed the right to share in it. 'Abd al-Muttalib agreed that lots should be cast for each object, as to whether it should be kept in the sanctuary or go to him personally or be divided amongst the tribe. This had become the recognised way of deciding an issue of doubt, and it was done by means of divining arrows inside the Ka'bah, in front of THE MOABITE IDOL HUBAL ..." (Lings, p. 11; bold and capital emphasis ours)
'Amr then asked them to give him an idol he could take to Arab lands where it could be worshipped, and they gave him one named Hubal. This he brought to Mecca and set on a pedestal and ordered the people to worship and venerate it. (The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya), Volume I, translated by professor Trevor Le Gassick, reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Fareed" [Garnet Publishing Limited, 8 Southern Court, south Street Reading RG1 4QS, UK; The Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, 1998], p. 42]

In the Collier's CD-ROM Encyclopedia, we find the following information on Baal:
"Referred to as Aliyan (I Prevail), Baal triumphed over the champions he encountered in battle. He came to be distinguished by the name of the locality in which he was adored and by the special character or function attributed to him. Every major aspect of religious life could, moreover, develop the cult of its own Baal. In general, he was credited with being the male author of fertility in soil and flock, and offerings in kind were presented to him at proper festivals." [source - Collier's CD-ROM Encyclopedia]

This Baal was considered in earliest times to be the supreme god of the people we now know as Arabs, and cultures usually always maintain there supreme god even though he/she may change his form or even name. Therefore, this is a very strong indicator that in all probability he evolved into Hubal al'iah who later evolved into Allah, but always remaining the supreme god of the people of the area.

"Archaeological, linguistic, and non-Arabic data support the view that there were among the Arabs, long before the emergence of Islam, worshipers of a supreme god known as Allah...leaves little doubt that the Meccans, despite their idolatry, recognized that Allah was Creator and Supreme Provider...Allah was recognized as a High God to whom the inhabitants of the desert and the townsfolk turned in all great difficulties. Two pagan bards, Nabighah and Labid, used the name "Allâh" in connection with the Supreme Deity, while the so-called Hanifs, in their search for an acceptable religion, rejected polytheism and sought freedom from sin by appeal to the will of Allah." [source - Collier's CD-ROM Encyclopedia].

Notes: As can be readily seen from the foregoing, it is very likely that Baal evolved into Allah in progressive steps which are indicated to be as follows,

Baal evolved into Hubal al'iah and Hubal al'iah into Allah the middle eastern Moon god.

How so, the Meccans at the time were pagan heathens and worshipped this heathen god from time im-memorable in his various evolutionary forms. Of course this is the way heathen beliefs usually progress, but let's look once more at Allah as the modern Moon god.

Dr. W. Montgomery Watt, who was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Edinburgh University and Visiting Professor of Islamic studies at College de France, Georgetown University, and the University of Toronto, has done extensive work on the pre-Islamic concept of Allah. He concludes:

"In recent years I have become increasingly convinced that for an adequate understanding of the career of Muhammad and the origins of Islam great importance must be attached to the existence in Mecca of belief in Allah as a "high god." In a sense this is a form of paganism, but it is so different from paganism as commonly understood that it deserves separate treatment" [William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad's Mecca, p. vii. Also see his article, "Belief in a High God in Pre-Islamic Mecca", Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 16, 1971, pp. 35-40].

Caesar Farah in his book on Islam concludes his discussion of the pre-Islamic meaning of Allah by saying:

"There is no reason, therefore, to accept the idea that Allah passed to the Muslims from the Christians and Jews" [Islam: Beliefs and Observations, New York, Barrons, 1987, p. 28].

According to Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, whose translation of the Quran is still used today, in pre-Islamic times Allah-worship, as well as the worship of Ba-al, were both astral religions in that they involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars .

But one part time Bible scholar pointed out in simple terms that there is no way that "Allah," could be the same as the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, creator of all there is, as follows:

1) If Allah is a proper name, then he could not be the same god (obviously)[as "YHWH" of the Bible], there is only one name declared as the universal name for all generations, and forever. (YHVH or YHWH)

2) If Allah is only a word for god in Arabic, then why did he never reveal that his name is YHWH [in the Quran]? There are many terms used in the Bible that refer to YHWH's attributes, but from the Scriptural standpoint, there is only one proper name, YHWH. Yet, in Muslim tradition, there are 99 Names for Allah. Thus, these two could not be the same.


THE JEWISH RELIGION:

"Judaism, Tanakh, The sacred scriptures of Judaism are comprised of the Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym that stands for Torah (Law or Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). These are complemented by and supplemented with various originally oral traditions: Midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and collected rabbinical writings. The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered holy, down to the last letter: transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error in a single letter, ornamentation or symbol of the over 300,000 stylized letters which make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a Torah scribe is a specialist skill and takes considerable time to write and check."[reference - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

"Judaism has seldom, if ever, been monolithic in practice (although it has always been monotheistic in theology), and differs from many religions in that its central authority is not vested in any person or group but rather in its writings and traditions. Despite this, Judaism in all its variations has remained tightly bound to a number of religious principles, the most important of which is the belief that there is a single, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, transcendent God, who created the universe and continues to be involved in its governance. According to traditional Jewish belief, the God who created the world established a covenant with the Jewish people, and revealed his laws and commandments to them in the form of the Torah. The practice of Judaism is devoted to the study and observance of these laws and commandments, as written in the Torah and expounded in the Talmud. As of 2006, adherents of Judaism numbered around 14 million followers,[1] making it the world's eleventh-largest organized religion." ."[source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

"The Tanakh is largely an account of the Israelites' relationship with God as reflected in their earliest history until the building of the Second Temple (c. 350 BCE). This relationship is often portrayed as contentious, as Hebrews struggle between their faith in God and their attraction for other gods, and as some Hebrews, such as Abraham (most notably and directly); Jacob, the father of all Israelites - later known as Israel; and Moses struggle with God.

According to Orthodox Judaism and most religious Jews, the Biblical patriarch Abraham was the first Hebrew. Rabbinic literature records that he was the first since the generation of Noah to publicly reject idolatry and preach monotheism. As a result, God promised him many children: "Look now toward heaven and count the stars/So shall be your progeny." (Genesis 15:5) Abraham's first child was Ishmael and his second son was Isaac, whom God said would continue Abraham's work and inherit the Land of Israel (then called Canaan), after having been exiled and redeemed. God sent the patriarch Jacob and his children to Egypt, where after many generations they became enslaved. God later commanded Moses to redeem the Israelites from slavery triggering the Exodus from Egypt, when God led the Israelites to Mount Sinai in 1313 BCE (Jewish Year 2448) and gave them the Torah, summarized in the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These books, together with Nevi'im and Ketuvim are known as Torah SheB'Ksav: literally the "Written Torah", in contradistinction to the Oral Torah. Eventually, God led them to the land of Israel.
God designated the descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother, to be a priestly class within the Israelite community. They first officiated in the tabernacle (a portable house of worship), and later their descendants were in charge of worship in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Once the Israelites had settled in the land of Israel, the tabernacle was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years during which time God provided great men, and occasionally women, to rally the nation against attacking enemies, some of which were sent by God as a punishment for the sins of the people. This is described in the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the tabernacle in Shiloh.

The people of Israel then told Samuel the prophet that they had reached the point where they needed to be governed by a permanent king, as were other nations, as described in the Books of Samuel. Samuel grudgingly acceded to this request and appointed Saul, a great but very humble man, to be their King. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint David in his stead.

Once King David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple, and as a reward for his actions, God promised David that he would allow his son to build the temple and the throne would never depart from his children (David himself was not allowed to build the temple because he had been involved in many wars, making it inappropriate for him to build a temple representing peace). As a result, it was David's son Solomon who built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem, as described in the Books of Kings.

The Western Wall in Jerusalem is a remnant of the Second Temple. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism.

After Solomon's death, his Kingdom was split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After several hundred years, because of rampant idolatry, God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel and exile its people. The southern Kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, home of the Temple, remained under the rule of the House of David, however, as in the north, idolatry increased to the point that God allowed Babylonia to conquer the Kingdom, destroy the Temple which had stood for 410 years, and exile its people to Babylonia, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy years. These events are recorded in the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Jeremiah.

After seventy years the Judahites were allowed back into Judaea under the leadership of Ezra, and the Temple was rebuilt, as recorded in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah. The Second Temple stood for 420 years, after which it was destroyed by the Roman general (later emperor) Titus. The Israelite temple is to remain in ruins until a descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

Rabbinic tradition holds that the details and interpretation of the law, which are called the Oral Torah or oral law, were originally an unwritten tradition based upon what God told Moses on Mount Sinai. However, as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, these oral laws were recorded by Rabbi Judah HaNasi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) in the Mishnah, redacted circa 200 CE. The Talmud was a compilation of both the Mishnah and the Gemara (Aramaic for the word Tradition), rabbinic commentaries redacted over the next three centuries. The process of "Gemara" took place in the two major centers of Jewish scholarship, Palestine and Babylonia. Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the Jerusalem Talmud. It was compiled sometime during the fourth century in Israel. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled from discussions in the houses of study by the scholars Ravina I, Ravina II, and Rav Ashi by 500 C.E., although it continued to be edited later.

Common editions of the Talmud today have the Mishnah followed by its associated Gemara commentary. Then, the next Mishnah, often only a few lines or short paragraph, followed by the commentary relevant to that Mishnah which may be pages long, and so on until that particular tractate of Mishnah is completed. There may be many chapters of Mishnah in any given tractate (Ma'sechta in Hebrew). [source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]


CHIRITIANITY:

The Christian religion came out of Judaism. When the promised Messiah arrived as recorded in the Book of Matthew, most of the Jews did not accept him. Therefore, since most of the Jews rejected the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, creator of all there is, only begotten Son, Jesus (Yeshua), he rejected them. Let's look at proof of his rejection from the inspired word of the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Issac, Ishmael, Noah, Moses, etc., the creator of all there is. Let's consider the following scriptural proof of this rejection:

Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? (Authorized King James Bible; AV)

Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (AV)

Mark 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: (AV)

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. (AV)

Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. (AV)

Luke 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. (AV)

Judaism and Christianity are two closely related Abrahamic religions that in some ways parallel each other and in other ways fundamentally diverge in theology and practice.

The sacred scriptures of most Christian sects are the Old Testament, which is largely the same as the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament, which comprises four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus (the Four Gospels, traditionally attributed to his apostles Matthew and John and to Mark the Evangelist and Luke the Evangelist) and several writings by the apostles and early Fathers such as Paul. They are considered to be divinely inspired and together comprise the Christian Bible. Thus Christians consider the fundamental teachings of the Old Testament, in particular the Ten Commandments, as valid, although most reject the Sabbath; however they believe that the coming of Jesus as the messiah and savior of mankind as predicted in the Old Testament, and the fact that Jesus was raised Jewish and became a teacher of Judaism, would shed light on the true relationship between God and mankind - by restoring the emphasis of universal love and compassion the other commandments, by de-emphasizing the more "legalistic" and material precepts of Mosaic Law (such as the dietary constraints and temple rites), since it, the Old Law Covenant has been fulfilled by Jesus (Yeshua), and replaced by the New Covenant of Jesus (Yeshua). Many Christians believe that the link between Old and New Testaments in the Bible means that Judaism has been superseded by Christianity as the "new Israel" - and some hold that Jesus' teachings described Israel not as a geographic place but as an association with God and promise of salvation in heaven.

CLASSIFICATION of Christian groups:

There are two basic classifications of Christians, the false (counterfeit) and the true. "Most religions of the world take a two part single path as they have some good and some bad. However, so called Christianity did NOT follow in the mold of other religions such as the Hindus, Islam, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, etc. Instead, so called Christianity took two different paths. These two paths are as follows:

[1] In 325 AD the greater part of the so called Christian faith went apostate to when the good favor of a pagan emperor, a worshipper of the Unconquered Sun. And this branch of apostate Christians went on to commit many atrocities such as the rape of Goa, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the burning of individuals at the stake for disagreeing with them including one Bruno for simply saying that the earth revolved around the sun; whereas, they said the sun revolved around the earth.

[2] A second and much smaller group of Christians that remained genuine Christians and did NOT go apostate, but followed in the footsteps of Christ their leader and savior. These did NOT commit any atrocities.

Thus, as can be readily seen, Christianity did not take the same path as most other religions that of having some good and some bad, but instead had a bad large group, and a much smaller good group. The colonial powers, however, brought the bad group to India, Pakistan, the New World [most of South America and North America], and many of the islands of the sea; and they went on committing atrocities in all of these places. This was because the apostate Christians were actually doing Satan the Devils' work per 2 Corinthians 4:4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (Authorized King James Bible; AV); and John 5:19, "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." (AV).

WRONG OPINION HELD BY MANY:

Due to the wrong actions, atrocities, committed by the first group, the apostate Christians, "[1] In 325 AD the greater part of the so called Christian faith went apostate to when the good favor of a pagan emperor, a worshipper of the Unconquered Sun. And this branch of apostate Christians went on to commit many atrocities such as the rape of Goa, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the burning of individuals at the stake for disagreeing with them including one Bruno for simply saying that the earth revolved around the sun; whereas, they said the sun revolved around the earth." Many hold wrong opinions of ALL Christians. Why? Because they have generalized the actions and wrongs of the first group and incorrectly applied them to genuine footstep followers of Christ also, the "[2] A second and much smaller group of Christians that remained genuine Christians and did NOT go apostate, but followed in the footsteps of Christ their leader and savior. These did NOT commit any atrocities."

Of course this generalization results in a wrong understanding of Christianity on the part of many. One writer who did NOT understand the crucial difference between these two groups said,

"You use one bunch of Christians to expose the bullsh**t propagated by another bunch of Christians. All of the Christians are more than 50% crap."

Clearly showing he had no comprehension of the two different paths taken by so called Christianity.

Another writer, in this case a Hindu, showed the same lack of comprehension with respect the two different paths taken by so called Christianity and said.

"You just using counterfeit christianity as a tool to dissaccociate yourself from the same christians that commited the most horrendous attrocities, live with it, you all have blood stained on your hands, I admit I am ashamed of what the brahmins, what's dont is done, we are doing what we can to uplift the dalits."

Obviously this individual also does not understand that so called Christianity took two different paths, and is NOT being rational either as he has shown that he can not bear to hear the truth, the facts? Well let's look at the counterfeit side of Christianity and the atrocities they have committed, and maybe individual like these two will start to realize the truth with respect the two different paths so called Christianity took." [source - Discourse on the Two Paths of So Called Christianity - The Genuine and the Counterfeit by Iris the Preacher 2003]

Of course some would take issue with this classification and point to the large groups that exist within Christendom and their fine buildings such as the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), the Lutheran Church, the Methodist, the Church of the East (Orthodox), etc. But they willfully overlook the fact that Jesus (Yeshua) Christ said is genuine (true) followers would be few in number. First let's consider both Luke 13:24 and Matthew 7:13-14 to see this reality, it is in both of these that the road followed by true believers would be narrow and cramped, Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." (Authorized King James Bible: AV); And Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, abroad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (AV); thereby, clearly showing few would be entering the narrow gate "which leadeth unto life." In reality, it will be difficult for even true Christians to enter as testified to at 1 Peter 4:18, "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear." (AV). In order to enter, we must have the right sort of guide, Luke 1:79, "To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (AV). Now, if one picks the wrong group, just because it is popular or the so called 'one to belong to in a community' and not because of Bible Truths, there is an important warning given at Matthew 15:14, "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (AV). In fact, being with the wrong group can mean you are NOT having fellowship with the Son of God, Jesus (Yeshua) as testified to at 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not [have] the truth." (AV). This danger is made abundantly clear at Luke 12:32 when Jesus (Yeshua) spoke of his true followers as a little flock and not a large one, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (AV). Simply stated, his true followers will be relatively few in number which should cause all sincere individuals to question whether mainstream religion with its vast membership is heading for the narrow gate! Therefore, groups with large numbers could not be the genuine (true) followers of Jesus (Yeshua) Christ or he would in effect become a liar, and he is not that.


NONE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS:

There are many none Abrahamic religions. Dharmic religions "are a family of religions that have originated from the Indian subcontinent. They encompass the Vedic religion (now Hinduism), Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Dharmic religions are one of the three major schools of religion in the world, the others being Abrahamic religions and Taoic religions. The theology and philosophy of Dharmic Religions center on the concept of Dharma, a Sanskrit term for "fixed decree, law, duty", especially in a spiritual sense of "natural law, reality". It is mostly influential across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia and South East Asia with influence felt throughout the world. These Dharmic religions are very closely interrelated." [references - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Taoic religion "is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao ("The Way"; pinyin Dao, Korean Do, Japanese To or Do, Vietnamese Ð?o). This forms a large group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Yiguandao, Chondogyo, Caodaism, Jeung San Do and Chen Tao . Taoic religion as a world religion group is comparable to Abrahamic religion and Dharmic religion. Taoic faiths claim at least 500 million members worldwide.
Ancient Chinese philosophies defined Tao and advocated cultivating De in that Tao. There are ancient schools that have merged into traditions under different names or are no longer active, such as Mohism and many others of the Hundred Schools of Thought, while some such as Taoism persist to the modern day. Taoic religion is usually polytheistic or nontheistic, but henotheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic and agnostic varieties exist, inside and outside of Asia. Taoic religion has Western adherents, though their interpretation may significantly differ from traditional East Asian thought and culture."

CONCLUSION:

All Abrahamic religions can trace their roots to the descendants of Abraham.
Islam, from the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael who sometime after the passing of Ishmael became worshippers of a celestial Moon god who was called by many names early on, but eventually became called "Allah."
Judism, from the descendants of Abraham's son Isaac with whom the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Noah, etc., the creator of all there is, made the "everlasting covenant."
Christianity, from the descendants of Abraham's son Isaac whom the true God (YHWH) of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Noah, etc., the creator of all there is, made the "everlasting covenant." Jesus (Yeshua) Christ was born into a Jewish family as testified to at Matthew 1:18-25, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." (Authorized King James Bible; AV). Also, all of his Apostles were natural born Jews.

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