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Today’s Devotional – August 10th

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TV & The Beast’s Mark!

Part 2

To read Part 1, click here…August 9th (TV & The Beast’s Mark!)

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TALKING IMAGE PROPHESIED OF…

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“And he had power to give life

unto the image of the beast,

that the image of the beast

should both speak,

and cause that as many as

would not worship the

image of the beast

should be killed.”

Revelation 13:15

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WORLD-WIDE POWER OF TELEVISION

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In yesterday’s devotional, a case was presented, that TV is an integral part of what the Image and Mark of the Beast is all about. And in order to properly understand all that was presented, the Reader would have to read yesterday’s short article (about 10 minutes of reading, click here) 

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Well, yesterday’s devotional laid the basic foundation of what the Mark of the Beast and his Image is about.

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But today’s devotional is concerned with the heart, and just why and how it must be purified.

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Family watching television, c. 1958 wikipedia public domain

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“(UNBELIEVERS SHALL BE)…THORNS IN YOUR SIDE”

Numbers: 33:55. 

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Perhaps, the best place to begin today’s devotional, is with God’s purpose for all the killing in the Old Testament. And let’s face it! With all the many thousands of lives that were forfeited in the Old Testament, you could say that God was really putting an exclamation mark on what He was trying to convey to us!

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And so, this is perhaps one of the most important concepts in Scripture… “Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places…for I have given you the land to possess it.” Numbers 33:52, 53 (condensed for brevity)  

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The driving out of all the non-worshippers of Jehovah was one of the great themes of the Old Testament! It is the subject of many of the Old Testament stories.

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But just what was the purpose of all that killing? Is God some sort of tyrant? Does God have so little regard for human life?

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– Gideon & The 300 – www.thebiblerevival.com – Public Domain

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“COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM!”

2nd Corinthians 6:17

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When Jesus came to the earth, He put to rest much of the notion that God is a vengeful God. Yes, Jesus was totally a man of peace, never once retaliating against one of His many foes!

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So then, in light of Jesus’ peaceful ways, just what was the reason for all those bloody battles in the Old Testament?

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Well, it must be understood that all those OT stories about the children of Israel rooting out the enemies were actually metaphorical pictures of what Christians must do in our own hearts and minds.

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That’s right, we must purify our hearts! We need to root out all those sinful traits which have long ruled over our minds. Those sinful traits which are common among the unbelievers of the world, but have no place in the hearts and minds of God’s people!

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Just listen… “And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1st John 3:3. 

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Notice this verse says “EVERY MAN that has this hope in Him (Jesus), purifies himself…”. So this commandment to purify our hearts, is not just for some, but for every Christian!

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– Gideon & The 300 – www.thebiblerevival.com – Public Domain

Sign of the Son of Man Constellation – made of the various constellations on this website

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EVIL COMMUNICATIONS CORRUPT!

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And so, our great commission to purify our hearts and minds, was God’s purpose in giving us those many stories of bloody battles!

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But why is it important to separate from sin and sinners? Why are we to “come out from among them, and be ye separate” from unbelievers? (2nd Corinthians 6:17)

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Well, the Bible makes it very clear that “Be not deceived! Evil communications corrupt good manners (behavior)” 1st Corinthians 15:33. And so, separating from ungodly influences is an integral part of the purification process!

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE & FALSE

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So here we see the difference between a true child of God, and a false brother. The false brethren love this world and have no desire to be fully purified into Christ’s image.

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Oh yes. they are very happy to put Jesus on a pedestal and to venerate Him. And they don’t mind being somewhat moral. But never to become like Him within!

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To be truly Christ-like requires death-to-self. And death-to-self would be much too great of a sacrifice for any worldly-minded “Christian”. After all, to die-to-self, and become totally Christ-like, would then require the Christian to forsake this world with all its selfish pleasures and ambitious pursuits. And to give all this up would be totally unacceptable to the worldly-minded.   

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. wikimedia public domain

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THE MARK = IDEALS OF THE HEART

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If you or I have the attributes of Satan’s evil World-System guiding our lives, then, in essence, we have the Mark of the Beast.

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On the other hand, if we have the virtues and attributes of Jesus guiding our lives, we then have God’s seal in our foreheads (“in our forehead” actually means, in our heart and mind—see Deuteronomy Ch. 6:6-8). To put it concisely, it’s all about “just who is ruling my heart?”.

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Listen… “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2nd Corinthians 10:4-6.

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This passage is commanding Christians that our hearts and minds must be totally purified, and filled with godly thoughts. Now as we can see, Paul put this above passage in military terms. And he did this for a very good reason! This is the battle we must fight! This is the hill we must conquer! And this is the war we must win!

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To overcome “self” is the great work before us.

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Mark of the beast – pub. dom. – Wikipedia

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BATTLEFIELD OF THE HEART

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“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.” Isaiah 26:3. 

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This above verse is a much more peaceful and pleasant way of saying the very same truth which Paul just spoke of. Yes, to keep our minds totally fixed upon Jesus and His Word, is a much more pleasant way of saying what Paul put in military terms! 

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But Paul said it in battle-ready terms… “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and…etc…”. 

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And the reason Paul put it in military terms, is because he knew this would be every bit as much a battle as was the overtaking of the Promised Land by the children of Israel! Oh no, we are not to use slaughter weapons as does the world, to win our war. But we are to root out the enemy…out of our heart. This is the Christian warfare. This is what overcoming is all about for the Christian!  

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ABOVE PICTURE: soldiers of the cross – armor up! – Orion & The Revelation 12 Dragon constellation (comprised of Hyades & Pleiades and other constellations) – www.signsofheaven.org

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ANTICHRIST SPIRIT 

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If God is ruling, then my heart will be filled with God’s attributes. And God wants no compromise. God does not accept a divided heart. “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” Matthew 6:25. If Lucifer is ruling, then my heart will be filled with the attributes of the world.

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Listen to what God has to say about Antichrists… “They (antichrists) are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.”  1st John 4:5.

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SIMPLE SOLUTION!

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Well, the very Good News is, that the solution to all this is very simple! God wants us to cease from hearing and seeing the evil instruction which we are bombarded with, every day! And instead, God wants us to fill our heart with His life-giving instruction which comes from His glorious Word, the Bible.

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The difficult part of all this is, that this is an entirely impossible mission, without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yes, only by God’s wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, can we even do the tiniest work of God upon our heart!

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But in these last days, God has given us a wonderful promise… “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.

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Yes, in these last hours of earth’s history, God is willing to pour out all Heaven’s resources, to ensure our complete victory!

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Marines at Prayer by Alex Raymond – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Give me the grace and strength and desire to purify my heart into the image of Christ! Help me to come out from among all the ungodly influences I possibly can…

The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read… ““Vanity Fair” & The False Prophet” or you can also read… “November 23 – (The Two Spirits In The World)

Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

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Chariot of Orion Constellation

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O LORD my God, Thou art very great;

Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment:

Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters:

Who maketh the clouds His chariot:

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind:”

Psalm 104:1-3 

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In the winter-night skies, this most amazing constellation can be seen. It is called “The Chariot of Orion Constellation”.

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Yes, this most remarkable constellation is spoken of in Psalm 104…“O LORD my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment: Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters: Who maketh the clouds His chariot: Who walketh upon the wings of the wind:” Psalm 104:1-3 

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As this star-chart reveals, Orion, along with the Beta-star from the Eridanus Constellation, depicts Orion riding on a chariot made of clouds, being pulled by sheep.

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WHY SHEEP?

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Now, the reason why sheep are illustrated in those clouds, is because, when viewing Eridanus in the night-sky, one can see that it appears like sheep (however, not so much when looking at a star-chart).

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And, one reason for clouds is because the chariot wheel is only partially represented by stars. In other words, this constellation is incomplete, as far as the wheel has been depicted by our Creator Who fashioned it in the day when He created this constellation.

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And so, because Eridanus has these sheep-like, cloud-like curves, and the partial wheel, the natural inclination was that God fashioned this constellation to depict Psalm 104’s description…“Who maketh the clouds His chariot”.

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Eridanus – IAU – Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

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READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read…Chariot of Orion Constellation

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TOMORROW:

“August 11th (Habakkuk Says “Run!”)”

Habakkuk by James Tissot – Wikimedia Commons – US Public Domain

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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.