Daily Devotional, Year 2 – APRIL 17 (Come Out of Her, My People! Part 7: “Tortoises & The Shells of Our Resistance!”)

By admin On January 21st, 2021

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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – APRIL 17

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Come Out of Her, My People!

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Part 7:

“Tortoises & The Shells of Our Resistance!”

To read Part 1, click here… “May 12th (Come Out of Her, My People?)”

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“THE WORDS I SPEAK…ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE!”

John 6:63

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For those who have discovered the Bible to be a totally spiritual revelation of the Gospel…

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…they perceive that the City of Babylon actually represents the world and the worldly portion of the Church, the Mystery Harlot of Revelation 17.

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Whore – Babylon – Burgkmair – 1523 AD – Wikimedia – US Public Domain

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“Come out of her, My people!”

Revelation 18:2

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“Before you can take a man out of the slums, you must first take the slum out of the man!”

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This above statement shows that the people of the world have a certain wisdom.

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And God has been calling His people to “Come out of Her, My people”! Revelation 18:2

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**This is a call to come out of Babylon (the world & the worldly Church)!**

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**But to merely remove ourselves from the apostate organizations of Babylon, will only be, “an exercise in futility”, as the saying goes!**

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Family watching television, c. 1958 – Wikipedia – public domain

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OUR WORLDLY, WORLDLY WAYS!

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Because we are sinners, therefore we have inherent love for this Babylonish world!

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And just because we have gone down into the baptismal pool does not mean that our hearts have been purged from our past worldly ways!

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The ways of the world still remain firmly ensconced in our thinking!

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And so, God has given a great commission to each and every Believer…

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Listen…

“And every man that hath this hope in Him

purifies himself, even as He is pure.”

1st John 3:3

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As this above verse reveals, God expects us to purify ourselves, even as Jesus is pure!

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THE TORTOISE

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But let’s stop for a moment, and take a glance at a certain remarkable character from the animal kingdom: the Tortoise!

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Yes, the Tortoise is just another amazing creation of God.

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It is a delight for children and adults alike, to behold this benign creature with its strong armor!

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But beyond the sheer delight which this little armor-bearer brings to all who encounter it, the tortoise can teach a number of lessons about both good and evil!

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Yes, we can look at this shell from at least two vantage-points.

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It might speak of the armor of God, and the faith we must have in God!

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But this shell might also remind us of how we humans can so easily build up a shell of resistance around us!

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And this wall of resistance is what today’s devotional is all about…

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STIFF-NECKED & UNCIRCUMCISED!

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And one false idea that this False-Prophet-Antichrist-Spirit has ingrained into our thinking, is that we’re, “pretty smart people after all!”

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And so, as a result, most of us have been thoroughly trained to trust in our own knowledge and wisdom, to a great extent.

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This is perhaps the biggest reason why it’s so hard to convince us of our great need of a Savior!

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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike License

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OUR SHELL OF RESISTANCE

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And isn’t it true that most of us have such a narrow mind, that we pretty much refuse to hear anything which challenges our own current understanding.

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We know what we know!

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We trust our own church or denomination!

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We place our confidence in our very own favorite Bible teachers!

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And the chances of anyone else coming to us with a seemingly new Bible concept, and breaking through this little shell of trust which we have built up, is not very likely!

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Eastern Snake Necked Turtle – by Damien Naidoo – For Wikimedia – Share-alike License

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***GOOD NEWS!* *TIME TO CHANGE!***

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We must forget our foolish understanding and turn to God’s Word, as little children!

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Jesus taught this same concept… “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15

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And God has allowed a little time, for us to repent and turn back to Him!

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Tortoise

David’s sorrow – Wikigallery – Public Domain

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VERY, VERY GOOD NEWS!

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But the very Good News is that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the true Church (God’s Elect dispersed throughout the world!)

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No, God has determined that we are to finally come out of Babylon!

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Listen… “‘Come out of her (Babylon), My people,

that ye be not partakers of her sins,

and that ye receive not of her plagues.'”

Revelation 18:2, 4

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So, here is the call to God’s people, to come out of Babylon.

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And by God’s great mercy & grace, we are assured the victory, if we “faint not”!

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ABOVE PICTURE – winter Constellations – Woman of Revelation 12 (Ursa Major) flees to the mountains – Mark 13:14 – Dragon comprised of Hyades, Pleiades, etc…Valley of Decision mountain comprised of Cassiopeia, etc… (This is not a star-chart, but merely a concept picture since this mountain is not in this position, but is actually in the fall months)

Tortoise

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To read Part 8, click here…

APRIL 22nd (Come Out of Her, My People! Part 8: Congregating Together)

mega-church – Wikimedia

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to become fully engaged in the purification of my heart! Oh God, transform my worldly life into the holy image of Heaven…

Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

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DOUBLE ENTENDRE OF REVELATION 12 WOMAN

“For the husband is the head of the wife,

even as Christ is the head of the Church:

and He is the Savior of the body.”

Ephesians 5:23

This page concerns the constellation which is commonly known as “The Big Dipper” and the “Great Bear”.

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It actually appears in the summer months as a woman travailing in childbirth.

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God has purposely given her no head.

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But God did this to present a very important concept.

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Yes, this woman represents the Church, the, “Jerusalem above, which is free, and is the mother of us all” (see Galatians 4:26).

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You see, the single star she is giving birth to typifies the Christ child.

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Reading in Ephesians

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that Christ is the “head” of the Church, this single star is logically going to become her head.

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But how will that be accomplished?

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ABOVE STAR-CHART: Ursa Major – IAU.svg – Star-Chart – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License

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WOMAN FLIPS AROUND IN WINTER

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**Now, if this Woman-in-Travail were all that the Lord created in the heavens, it would be nothing short of amazing!**

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But God, in His infinite power and majesty, has made this a great sign in Heaven, just as Revelation 12 proclaims.

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Because as the summer passes, this constellation begins to slowly flip around, until the stars representing her arms now become her legs.

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And the stars that once represented her legs now become her arms.

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**And finally, it appears as the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12.**

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And at that point, this single little star in her womb-area, representing the Christ-child, now becomes her head!

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And of course, this reminds us of the passage… “And He (Christ) is the head of the body, the Church…” Colossians 1:18.

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