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Click credit links below each pic, for licensing names/details/tags/etc.. Most pics cropped/reduced in size

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Today’s Devotional – September 17th

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Dawn of the Dead! Part 2: “Tattoos”

To read Part 1, click here…Today’s Devotional – September 16th (Dawn of the Dead! Part 1: Music)

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Are you old enough to remember that startling movie, “Dawn of the Dead”? Being one of the first of its kind, it had a stunning effect on movie-goers. That is, to see dead people slowly sleep-walking through a giant shopping mall, surrealistically going through the motions of shopping, while silky violin strains of “elevator music” echoed through the mall, was a giant shock to movie audiences back in those days!

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Now the premise of that movie was that some global holocaust had killed off the bulk of Mankind, leaving no more room in Hell. And this is loosely based on Jeremiah’s prophecy… “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.” Jeremiah 7:32

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Thus the world was now mostly populated by these half-dead zombies, who continually sought to cannibalize the few surviving humans remaining on earth! And that infamous shopping mall became the macabre backdrop for this apocalyptic scenario!

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Dawn of the Dead – Wikipedia – Copyrighted – Fair-Use Rationale

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THE LIVING DEAD TRULY EXIST!

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Now this devotional is not promoting the idea that Christians should be watching movies. No, but rather, the intent is merely to provide an earthly analogy for biblical ideas! After all, Paul quoted a line from a secular poet’s poem, when trying to make sense with a group of potential converts. (see Acts 17:28)

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And of course the Bible declares our pre-Salvation condition in the following manner… “And you hath He quickened, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” Ephesians 2:11, 12

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Yes, the Bible repeatedly pronounces our condition as being walking-dead souls, prior to Salvation! That is, without the life-giving Holy Spirit indwelling our hearts, we are merely enjoying the selfish pleasures of this sin-infested world: Satan’s Dark Kingdom of the Living-Dead!

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Zombies Night of the Living Dead-Wikipedia-Public-Dom.

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CUTTINGS FOR THE DEAD

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And yesterday’s devotional was concerning music. But today’s devotional concerns tattoos.

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Listen… “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD” Leviticus 19:28

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Now most Bible teachers deny that this verse has anything to do with tattoos. And so they cite some extra-biblical history about rituals for the dead, back in ancient times. And this is understandable that they deny any relevance to today’s tattoo craze.

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Manson – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-Alike License

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GOD LOOKS UPON THE HEART!

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But wait a minute! Perhaps this above passage does relate to tattoos!

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When Jesus walked through Israel, during His very short earthly ministry, He was always being confronted by those who were concerned about outward behavior. And so, Jesus was constantly directing His audience away from the outward manifestations, and to the inward qualities of their hearts!

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And so it is with tattoos! A tattoo, in itself, may or may not be innately sinful. But the big question is, what is the motivation of the heart which causes a person to even desire to have a tattoo?

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And so, while we humans are concerned about the outward things we see with our eyes, and yet, “the Lord looketh upon the heart” 1st Samuel 16:7.

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But if you think about it, people generally get tattoos to impress others. And since the Bible says that Mankind is “dead in trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:2, then you can easily conclude that tattoos are indeed, “cuttings in your flesh for the (spiritually) dead”. Leviticus 19:28. That is, they are inscribed into the flesh in the desire and hope of impressing the spiritually dead people of this world.

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So Leviticus 19:28 may also be condemning the practice of tattooing one’s body.

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But actually, today’s devotional is not really concerned with this question.

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Healing of the Blind Man by Jesus Christ -Wikimedia – Public Domain

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“THE WORLD IS WISER IN THEIR GENERATION,

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THAN ARE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT!”

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You see, even though we humans, in our natural condition, are spiritually dead, nevertheless, the Bible states that, “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8

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Yes, the people of this world really know how to put beautiful tattoos all over their bodies (some not so beautiful)!

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And the children of light can learn a great lesson from this practice. We just need to take note of what they do in the physical realm, and translate that into spiritual terms!

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The Grateful Dead – Wikimedia – Share-Alike License

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WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART?

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Oh no, this article is not so concerned about what the world does. What they do is between them and God. But this article is only concerned with the motives of the hearts of Christians.

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And so, just as the world’s inhabitants are making etchings upon their bodies, so too, the Heaven-bound Christian is to make etchings upon their heart! That’s right! You could say that Christians should be getting tattoos upon our hearts!

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Listen… “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21

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Here is a very telling statement! We are to, “receive with meekness, the engrafted Word”! 

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But where is that Word to be engrafted?

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In the Bible? Or in our hearts? The words of Christ are to be engrafted into our hearts, of course! And this conveys the idea that God’s Word is to be etched, or tattooed into our hearts!

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IMAGE OF JESUS

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And so, God is allowing the people of the world to teach us how we must live, as  Christians transpose their worldly behavior into a spiritual counterpart!

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Therefore, the Believer must be busy, tattooing the image of Jesus, as revealed in His Word, upon the fleshly tables of our heart!

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Listen to Paul… “Ye (Christians) are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” 2nd Corinthians 3:2, 3

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So here we see that each and every Christian is an open letter, visible and read by all Mankind! Thus, we see just how important it is to have only the pure words of Christ tattooed upon our hearts!

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Jesus – by J. Tissot – Brooklyn Museum – US Public Domain

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GRAFFITI UPON THE WALLS OF MY HEART!

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Now for those persons who have once had their physical bodies tattooed in the past, and now have decided to have them removed, this is no little matter! Actually, it is a very difficult and painfully time-consuming process to remove a tattoo, once it has been etched into the body!

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And here again, this reminds us of how difficult it is to remove all the worldly graffiti, once it has been etched upon the fleshly tables of our heart!

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And so, it is of high priority to not allow any unnecessary graffiti into our heart! And anything beyond our control, God will give us grace for that!

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Graffiti on walls – Bodeguita del Medio, Havana – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License

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A SWORD SHALL PIERCE YOUR HEART!

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Listen again… “(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,)” Luke 2:35

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Yes, we who comprise the family of God are to allow God’s Sword (His Word) to cut deeply into our fleshy hearts and souls!

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And the very Good News is this: the more verses of the Bible that we dote upon, the more that our heart will be filled with God’s Word; and the more conducive will it be to “walk even as He (Jesus) walked”!

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And then, as Christ begins to live out His loving and holy life through the Believer, that Believer will become a “living letter, known and read of all Mankind”! (paraphrase of 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 2)

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IMAGE OF JESUS ON OUR HEART

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And so, as we look at many of the things which people are doing in the world, we need not look down our long nose at them. But God is allowing all of these things for our good. They are used by God for our teaching moments! And many things, such as tattoos are allowed by God to remind us what we must be doing within our heart: that is, we must firmly tattoo the image of Christ upon our own heart!

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Listen… “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2nd Corinthians 3:18

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ABOVE STAR-CHART – Sign of the Son of Man – www.theheavensdeclare.net – Not for commercial uses

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TO READ PART 3, CLICK HERE…Today’s Devotional – September 18th (Dawn of the Dead! Part 3: The Flesh-Eating ‘Old Man’)

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

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“Dear Lord, I come to you asking that you will take all my mind-controlling instruments completely out of my life and begin to fill me with your precious words of life…

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READ MORE…

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To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Mercury & The Image Of The Beast” or you can also read… “January 3rd (Television & the Image That Speaks)”

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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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SATAN’S WAVE OF WATER CONSTELLATION

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“For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” Psalm 32:6

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The majestic waves of the sea. One of the most beautiful creations in nature! The sounds of the crashing surf! The moist wind and spray upon one’s face! Truly, standing upon the sand, and facing the ocean surf overwhelms all the human senses! It’s quite an exhilarating experience to say the least!

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But the ocean and the surf, and the sand were created by God, not merely for beauty’s sake; but also to teach. And the Bible has interwoven many aspects of nature into the Gospel story. And these various things in nature were created by God to instruct Mankind in Bible truths, both good and bad.

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Waves are used in Scripture to represent both good as well as bad things. And in the black sea of the heavens, is seen a constellation of a dragon. And this dragon is spewing a wave of water out of his mouth. And this article will explore just what all this means. And the Reader is invited to come and behold secrets in the Stars, which have been hidden since Creation; but now are being revealed by God, for such a time as this. So come along and behold these grand heavenly pictures which our great God has inscribed, in the heavenly scroll, and stretched, even from sky to sky.

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Mavericks Surf Contest 2010 – wikipedia – share-alike license

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READ MORE…

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To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Flood Waters of Satan-Introduction” or you can also read…“The Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation”

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TOMORROW:

“September 18th (Dawn of the Dead! Part 3: The Flesh-Eating ‘Old Man’)”

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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.