A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

Coming back from Canada yesterday, I listened to Ecclesiastes on my audio Bible app.   Written by the richest man, in all likelihood the world has ever known.  From a Google search "Wealth of Solomon in today's dollars: King Solomon's total net worth is estimated by economic historians to be between $2 trillion and $3 trillion in today's U.S. dollars. I don't know that we've yet had our first official trillionaire?  In a melancholy mood he writes this book of perspective on his life, of the fruitlessness of all his life's work and efforts. I think to my own life, mirrored in the engineers who trained me. . . Jim Tweedy, Frank Whitmyer, Charlie Carlton. . . giants of their day, but with my passing no one will have any memory of their names, and their huge contributions to the workholding field. . . Now only digitized signatures of long gone paper drawings. . . rarely viewed. . . all vanity as the preacher said so eloquently.  Their earthly works, all fading ...

It's been on my mind for a couple of days, to do a study on Bible names.  Very often in the Bible names are so significant.  It's not a task that I will ever finish. It would take years to study every name in the Bible, but my mind needs the focus of this task right now. The first name of a person in the Bible, is 'Adam'.  Found in this passage: Genesis 2:19 (KJV) And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. But in the Hebrew the same word is used for 'Adam', and for 'man'.  Strong's Hebrew dictionary assigns two different numbers to the two meanings: H120 = man - 541 occurrences H121 = Adam - 21 occurrences The first occurence of H120 is here: Genesis 1:26 (KJV) And God said, Let us make MAN in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish o...

I've used the following several times  in my teaching in church on the awesomeness, and incomprehensibility of God and God's creation: Many years ago now they pointed the Hubble telescope at the darkest emptiest patch of sky that they knew of.  In that area of 'nothing there' sky, the Hubble telescope found 50,000 galaxies in an area about the size of the full moon.  Each galaxy containing billions of stars.  Multiply that by the 129,600 full moons it would take to cover the entire sky. . . beyond amazing. . .  Yesterday I read where they had performed the same exercise with the Webb telescope. . . .pointed it at the darkest patch of sky they could find. . . The Webb telescope saw 25,000 galaxies in an area the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length. . . How many grains of sand at arm's length does it take to cover the sky. . . beyond my puny mind's ability to calculate. . . AND. . . these are merely the galaxies that we can see with our infantile tech...

Working on my notes for our Wednesday morning Bible study, Matthew chapter 15. I was struck by this passage: Matthew 15:15 (NKJV) Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? There is a natural process of intake, digestion, and elimination for physical food.  That which is nutritious is retained.  That which is indigestible is passed through and eliminated. Matthew 15:18 (NKJV) But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Things taken in by our ears, and eyes have no similar process of elimination.  They are retained, and becom...

This week we studied Matthew chapter 13 in our Wednesday Bible study class.  We read this verse: Matthew 13:8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. I wondered. . . 100:1, 60:1, and 30:1 return on the planted seed investment. Googling various crops average yield: Corn = 500-1000:1 Wheat = 20-50:1 Soy beans = 75-300:1 Barley = 90-220:1 Lentils = 30-50:1 Today's agricultural methods undoubtedly yield larger returns than in Jesus time.  I don't know that corn or soy beans were grown in that region in that time. So Jesus may have had in mind: 100:1 - barley 60:1 - lentils 30:1 - wheat Jesus goes on to explain: Matthew 13:23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." We who have received the seed on the good ground. . . we've heard the Word and understand it. . .where it has taken root, prod...

 I was reading the Bible, and ran across a familiar passage: Luke 1:5 (NKJV) There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division o f Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. I love looking at the original languages, especially names.  Names in the Bible often have significant meanings.   The name Zacharias, being in the New Testament is a Greek word, Strong's g2197, which is derived from a Hebrew word Strong's H2148, which means: From H2142 and H3050; Jah has remembered; Zecarjah, the name of twenty nine Israelites: - Zachariah, Zechariah. Jehovah has remembered.  What a lovely thought. . . God has remembered.  This brings back memories of some favorite passages: Hannah was barren, and deeply sorrowful.  She desperately wanted a child.  She went to the house of God and prayed.  The priest heard her prayer, and also prayed for God to answer her prayer. 1 Samuel...