Daily Devotional, Year 3 – October 17 (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 17: “Crucifying The Messenger!”)
By admin On February 17th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – October 17
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The Devil Made Me Do It!
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Part 17:
“Crucifying The Messenger!”
To read the first part of this topic, go here…October 13th (The Devil Made Me Do It!)
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Perhaps, one of the oldest tricks up the sleeve of that notorious fallen angel, Lucifer, is that of “crucifying the messenger”.
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Yes, Lucifer has had lots of practice over the past millennia, at this very effective verbal assault weapon!
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Even when back in Heaven, Lucifer successfully used his venomous sophistry to instill distrust in the hearts of his fellow angels, against God!
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And then as he brought his rebellion down to planet Earth, he further “demonized” God once again, bringing all of mankind into his rebellion against Heaven!
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Gustave Dore – Paradise Lost illustration – Lucifer becomes Satan – Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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KILLING THE MESSENGER
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Well, the world has its sayings! And one of them is the following…“If you can’t kill the message, then kill the messenger!”
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And of course, in his role as Satan, Lucifer even “demonized” the Lord Jesus, so much so, that this deceived world finally hung the “Lord of Glory”, “The Prince of Life” upon the cruel Cross of Calvary! (1st Corinthians 2:8 & Acts 3:15
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CRUCIFYING THE MESSENGER TODAY
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Needless to say, Satan is the master of “crucifying the messenger”!
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And even in today’s political and social realms, it is not uncommon to see this same tactic being successfully used to destroy one’s enemies. And daily as we witness the venomous hatred continually growing between this political group and that social group, demonizing one’s enemies seems to have now become one of society’s favorite sports!
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Every day we hear that this or that person or this or that group are “Nazis”, or “Fascists”, or “Hitlerian”, or “communists”, or “bigots”, or “racists”, or some other derogatory tag. And the ironic thing is that, quite often, the ones who engage in the name-calling more aptly fit that derogatory description than those they are slanderously defaming!
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Protest – Anti-Christian rally in Chicago – cropped image – Wikimedia
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‘CRUCIFYING THE MESSENGER’ IN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
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Well, if this sad practice were just confined to the secular world, one might only shrug the shoulders and confess, “Well, the unsaved world is merely behaving as one might expect the unsaved world to behave!”
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But this ungodly practice of “killing the messenger” is also occurring within today’s Christian community!
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Yes, even the Christian world is now engaging in the very same unholy practice of demonizing the supposed enemies of the so-called “orthodoxy”.
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Beware of dogma – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY”: A SCARLET LETTER
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For instance, the mainstream Christian leaders have concocted such derogatory terms as “Replacement Theology”, as a sort of “Scarlet Letter” to hang around the necks of all those who dare to teach that the true Israel of the New Testament is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles who have begun to trust in Christ as their Savior.
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And because this man-contrived term has been hammered into unsanctified consciences on a 24/7/265 basis via both Christian TV and Christian radio, all that these “prophets of the air-ways” have to do, is merely mention the term, “Replacement Theology” concerning this or that adherent to “Israel being a spiritual entity”, and every one listening instantly knows what the Bible teacher is saying.
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These leaders of the people know they can’t biblically destroy the message, and so, they merely destroy the messenger!
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They did it to Christ, and they’ll do it to His people as well!
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Announcer with microphone – svg – Wikimedia – Public-Domain
Paul persecuted by Pharisees & Sadducees – www.thebiblerevival.com – US Public Domain
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PAUL, THE ORIGINAL “REPLACEMENT THEOLOGIAN”
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Of course, there was no greater advocate of “spiritual Israel” than the Apostle, Paul. But his many various references to “the Commonwealth of Israel” and other such similar terms are all but ignored by most of today’s pastors and parishioners alike!
(for greater insight, please read the little 3-part series, “Paul the Ultimate Replacement Theologian!”)
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And they take this demonization even one step further by saying that these so-called “Replacement Theologians” by their preference of spiritual Israel over literal Israel are doing so out of hatred for literal Israel over there in the Middle East! But nothing could be further from the truth!
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Many Consciences Are Now “seared as with a hot iron”
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And so, the advocates of “spiritual Israel” have become successfully “demonized” in the minds of the majority of church-attendees, to the point that it is nearly impossible to reach out to those hardened hearts whose consciences have been “seared as with a hot iron”, by their leaders. (see 1st Timothy 4:2)
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Branded – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
ABOVE PICTURE: Mark of the beast – pub. dom. – Wikipedia
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“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
2nd Timothy 3:13
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Well, this is merely one example of the demonization now occurring within Christian community. And as the Day of the Lord begins to further escalate, one can only expect this unholy practice of “killing the messenger” to increase both in frequency, and also in intensity!
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Protest – Atheists in Pride Parade – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Anti-Christian rally in Chicago – cropped image – Wikimedia
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“GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY”
Proverbs 25:25
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But amidst all this unhappy news, there is some very Good News for God’s people! Yes, as sin abounds in the world, the “grace did much more abound!” (see Romans 5:20)
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And as Satan and his fallen angels turn their “guns” on God’s tried and true little flock, the grace of God will abound in their hearts, as they victoriously deflect Satan’s fiery darts with their highly polished “shield of faith!” (see Ephesians 6:14-18)
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Yes, Satan will increasingly work through unsanctified minds to demonize God’s people by any means possible!
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And yet, as the last trumpet sounds, the enemies of God will ultimately drop their weapons in speechless and terrified awe, as they witness the true remnant Church of God successfully resist this massive attack by Satan’s vast armies, as God’s true little flock finally lifts up the Cross of Christ for all the onlooking world to behold!
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And that uplifted Cross will ultimately vanquish and destroy the armies of Satan, bringing this long night of Hell’s rebellion against Heaven to its final climactic end!
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Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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TO READ PART 18, CLICK HERE…
December 17 (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 18: “Satan’s War Against Sincere Christians”)
Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be wise as a serpent regarding this very deceptive world. Let me not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, nor of his power over this world…
Prayer for USA – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… October 13th (The Devil Made Me Do It!), or you can also read this shorter article…March 14th (Paul the Ultimate Replacement Theologian!)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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THE 7 STARS IMITATE THE CROSS OF ORION
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“Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.” Psalm 67:5-7
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Jesus came to this Earth to give His life a ransom for many. But He also came to take up His Cross as the example of how we should also love one another. He was (and is) the living breathing Word of God, for all the heavens and earth to behold! And when His ministry was finished, He returned to Heaven. But He left instructions for the human family.
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And He says to us all… “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” John 13:15.
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This concept is written in the heavens. God has placed the stars in such a way that tells this marvelous concept of lifting up the Cross of Christ: self-sacrificing love for Mankind.
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First, Orion, representing Christ, lifts up the Cross. Then, just a little later, the 7 Stars Constellation, representing God’s Church finally lifts up the Cross, seemingly in response to Orion’s prior example.
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These two constellations are the two brightest and most prominent constellations in the winter-night sky. And they represent the two greatest concepts of life: Christ and His Church. No, not a particular denomination. But God’s True Worshippers, wherever they may be interspersed among the inhabitants of the world.
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(The sketch to the above left is ‘Orion’ as it is seen, beginning in October in the pre-dawn hours, in mid-sky. The sketch to the right is of the ‘7 Stars’ Constellation as it is seen through the first half of winter, as it imitates Orion. These above two sketches are both rough drafts of those two constellations, Orion as well as the 7 Stars. And while they are not completely accurate, they are close enough to the actual constellations, for website guests to hopefully be able to locate them in the night sky. )
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ABOVE PICTURE: The Cross of Orion – www.theheavensdeclare.net
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…“‘7 Stars’ Imitate ‘The Cross of Orion’“
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TOMORROW…
October 18 (Almost All Is Vanity, Part 7 – “It’s a Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad World!”)
Munch – Det Syke Barn – 1896 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #288 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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