How to Live a Better Life - Free eBook
This eBook contains 12 "How to" chapters pointing you to live a better and fulfilled life. It includes links to other helpful articles and a bonus chapter.
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Did You Know That Jesus Specifically Prayed For You?

The entire chapter of John 17 is a prayer by Jesus. Along with praying for his disciples, Jesus specifically prayed for you as well. Click below to check out this post.

https://ramckinley.com/who/

Crusade Coloring eBook

We’re Celebrating 39 years with these guys by giving away a free printable coloring eBook

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See if you can guess who said the following:

“In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible – this grandiose, stirring history of the gradual revelation and unfolding of the moral law – remains in every way an up-to-date book.
Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil.
The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God. It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God’s side.”

A few years later, he wrote:

“One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all…The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based…
To be forced to believe only one conclusion – that everything in the universe happened by chance – would violate the very objectivity itself…What random process could produce the brains of a man or the system of the human eye?…
They (evolutionists) challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?…They say they cannot visualize a Designer. Well, can a physicist visual an electron?…What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him?…
It is scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.”

You probably think these were made by a preacher or a theologian. If you think this, you’d be wrong. The above 2 quotes were made by the “Father of the American Space Program”, the director of NASA and the U.S. guided missile program, Dr. Werner von Braun (1912-1977), one of the top space scientists in the world.

What do you think of his statement that we should present other scientific theories on the origin of the universe in our classrooms?

For his Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com

One of the stories of the Bible that I find most intriguing, is the story of Deborah (D’vorah). Deborah was a judge and prophetess, one of only three prophetesses listed in the Old Testament, along with Miryam, the sister of Moses, and Huldah who lived during the time of King Josiah. Deborah lived between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Efrayim and would sit under a tree called “D’vorah’s Palm”, and the people would come to her for judgement. She was a woman surrounded by lightning. Her husband’s name was Lapidot, which torch, and by extension lightning-flashes. She would send for another man whose name would mean lightning, a warrior by the name of Barak.

Deborah said to Barak that God was ordering him to march to Mount Tavor with 10,000 men from the tribes of Naftali and Z’vulun, and that He would cause Sisra the commander of King Yavin’s army to encounter Barak with his chariots and troops, but that God would hand Sisra over to him.  Barak’s answer was one that would cost him personal glory. He told Deborah that if she went with him that he would go. She agreed to go but told him that Sisra would be handed over to a woman.

There was a man by the name of Hever, a descendant of Moses’ father-in-law, who informed Sisra that Barak had gone to Mount Tavor, so Sisra gathered 900 iron chariots and all the troops he had with him.

Debora said to Barak, “Get going! This is the day when Adonai will hand Sisra over to you! Adonai has gone out ahead of you!” I want to pause for a moment in the story to point out that Adonai is still in the business of saying “Get going! I have gone out ahead of you!” Whatever battle you are facing, always remember, the battle belongs to the Lord. (Psalm 121) Unbeknownst to Barak, Adonai prepared a torrential storm to hit at the time of this battle. It was unexpected because it was an unseasonable thunderstorm that caused the valley soil to soften, causing Sisra’s chariots to become stuck, causing fear and panic within his army. One by one they fell to Barak and his 10,000. Sisra however, fled on foot and escaped. Or so he thought.

Sisra ran to the tent of Ya’el (Jael) the wife of Hever, the very one who informed to Sisra about Barak, and she offered him shelter inside her tent. He no doubt thought he would be safe there as her husband was an ally. This is something that in normal circumstances he would have never done. She was a woman, and a married one at that. For a man to enter to tent of a woman in this culture was a death sentence. It was forbidden, yet he took her up on the offer because of this very reason. Who would think to look for him in the tent of a woman? He asked her for a drink of water, instead she gave him a goatskin of milk to drink from. One commentary says that the milk was sour milk, meaning it was fermented. As he lay on the floor of her tent, he told her to stand at the entrance and if someone should ask if anyone were there, she was to reply “no”. When she saw that he was deeply asleep, she took a tent peg and a hammer and crept into where he was sleeping and drove the tent peg into his temple, fastening him to the ground. He died without ever waking up. This fulfilled the prophecy which Deborah had spoken to Barak that Sisra would be handed over to a woman. When Barak, in pursuit of Sisra, came upon the tent of Jael, she stepped out to meet him and told him, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” There he found Sisra, lying dead with a tent peg through his temple. The final two verses of Judges chapter 4 reads, [23] Thus God on that day defeated Yavin the king of Kena’an in the presence of the people of Israel. [24] The hand of the people of Isra’el came down more and more heavily against Yavin the king of Kena’an, until they had completely destroyed Yavin the king of Kena’an.

God created a mighty victory from which a song was birthed, much like the song that was sung at the time of the Exodus after Adonai defeated the Egyptians. Sung by Deborah and Barak, the first line of the song, in Judges 5:2 is, When leaders in Isra’el dedicate themselves, and the people volunteer, you should all bless Adonai. The KJV reads a bit differently, “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.” Praise or bless in the Hebrew is the word, barach. The literal translation of barach is to kneel or to bless God, adore with bended knees. This is the praise we offer on our knees in worship, in prayer, in communion with Adonai. When leaders dedicate themselves to Adonai, and when people volunteer under their leadership, mighty things happen in the kingdom of God.

I took three words from this verse in the CJSB translation. Barach, of course being one as it is our key word. The other two were leaders and volunteer. Leader(s) in Hebrew is para while it does mean leader, it also means “to let go, let loose”. We have all heard the saying, “let go and let God”, and I think that applies to the first part of this verse; When the leaders let go and dedicate themselves. Para is made up of the letters Pey (פ), Reysh (ר), and Ayin (ע). When looking at Chiam Bentorah’s descriptions of each of these letters we see that Pey means “A point where something significant is about to happen”, Reysh means “Leadership”, and Ayin means “perception and insight”. While these are just one of the possible meanings for each of these letters, it shows that the leaders used perception and insight (discernment) and was shown that something significant was going to happen, but they had to let God go before them into the battle. We see that He did just that, causing an out of season thunderstorm, securing the victory for Israel.

The second word, volunteer, is the word nadab and in this context of scripture means to volunteer for war or as a solider. I am the wife and mother of veterans. I could not be more proud of both my husband and my son for their service to our country. They were not forced to enlist, they volunteered, giving their hearts to the nation in which we live. Nadab is spelled Nun (נ), Dalet (ד), and Bet (ב). Again, using descriptions from Chiam Bentorah, Nun means faithfulness, Dalet means humility, and Bet means God’s presence. I could not help but think of my son during his time of service when I looked at this. He is faithful, he is humble, and he served with that type of heart, but he also walked with God and spent time with the Chaplain and would tell us of those moments when he would call home. He summed up the Hebrew word for volunteer without even knowing it.

This brings us back to barach. Bet (ב), Reysh (ר), Kaf (כ), and Vav (ו). Bet meaning love, Reysh meaning repentance, Kaf meaning an empty vessel, and Vav meaning a uniqueness in our experience with God. Love brings us to repentance. When we kneel and repent, we are forgiven and cleansed, we become an empty vessel open to a unique experience with God.

Psalm 95:6 says, Come, let’s bow down and worship; let’s kneel before Adonai who made us. We see this type of worship in Revelation where after the Cherubim say “Holy, holy, holy is Adonai, God of heaven’s armies, the One who was, who is and who is coming!”, the twenty-four elders “fall down before the One sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, and worship him. They throw their crowns in front of the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, Adonai Eloheinu, to have glory, honor and power, because you created all things – yes, because of your will they were created and came into being!’” One of my favorite praise and worship songs was inspired by this heavenly worship in the song, We Fall Down.  While I always loved this song, having a deeper understanding of barach makes it even more powerful.

When Solomon completed the temple, it says in 2 Chronicles 6:13-14 [13]  for Shlomo had made a bronze platform eight-and-three quarters feet long, eight-and-three quarters feet wide and five-and-a-quarter feet high and had set it up in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, then got down on his knees before the whole community, spread out his hands toward heaven, [14] and said, “Adonai, God of Isra’el, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep covenant with your servants and show them grace, provided they live in your presence with all their heart.” What a humble and beautiful way to start a prayer that by its conclusion, fire would come down from the heavens, consume the burnt offering and sacrifices, and the glory of Adonai filled the house where the priests could not even enter. Upon seeing this, all the people bowed down, with their faces to the ground, giving thanks to Adonai saying, “for he is good, for his grace continues forever.”

When was the last time that we have seen such a presence of the Almighty? When was the last time that we have collectively felt that type of connection with our Creator? When was the last time we have each individually felt that unique experience with God? It comes when we barach, when we volunteer our lives in humility, when we fight on our knees, when we praise Him and seek His face, and we make this the new normal. This type of praise, coupled with humility is powerful. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Like Deborah and Barak, we have a battle that we are in, but in this battle, we aren’t fighting a general with iron chariots. However, just like Deborah and Barak, Adonai has gone before us. Instead of a torrential thunderstorm, the victory was won on the cross. Our best fighting comes when we are in our prayer closet on our knees. Kneeling is a position of vulnerability, and when we kneel, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice of praise.  

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Is There An Eternal Unquenchable Fire?

About the end times, we know that fire will be involved. If nothing else motives you to share the gospel with those you love, the eternal unquenchable fire should. Today's post is evangelistic in nature and is well worth reading.

https://ramckinley.com/the-fire/

As I read the verses that I’m going to use as the focus of this post, I have meditated on them, prayed about them, and then did a word breakdown into the Hebrew for multiple words in the verses. In sharing them, I am going to take a page from the Amplified Bible and in these verses put in brackets what I have found the rendering of the words to mean according to The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. The more I study both the Hebrew words and letters and discover the meanings of the of both in Hebrew, it opens my eyes to see the Word in a new light that speaks to my heart in ways just sitting and reading the Bible never has. As we learn and understand the language and cultural significance of where these individual words were birthed, it allows us to have deeper intellectual and spiritual insight.

20 You are to fear [stand in awe] of Adonai your God, serve [worship and obey] Him, cling [be joined to, keep close, and remain with Him] and swear [take the most sacred of oaths] by His name [reputation]. 21 He is your praise [praise song, thanksgiving], and He is your God who has done for you these great [in magnitude and extent] and awesome [wonderful and glorious] things, which you have seen [what you have encountered] with your own eyes [in the presence of, in full view]. Deuteronomy 10:20-21

With this form of praise, praise song, we come to the next word in Hebrew on our list of words; Tehilla. This is the praise in which we lift our voices in song and thanksgiving to Him. The Psalms is the go-to book for songs of praise, and we are commanded time and time again to sing a new song unto the Lord.

Then my head will be lifted up above my surrounding foes, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, sing praises to Adonai. Psalm 27:6

Sing praise to Adonai, you faithful of his; and give thanks on recalling his holiness. Psalm 30:4

You turned my mourning into dancing! You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my well-being can praise you and not be silent; Adonai my God, I will thank you forever! Psalm 30:11-12

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing Praises to our king, Sing praises! For God is king of all the earth; sing praises in a maskil (instructional poem). Psalm 47:6-7

Sing to God, sing praises to His name, extol him who rides on the clouds by his name, Yah; and be glad in His presence. Psalm 68:4

Sing to Adonai a new song! Sing to Adonai, all the earth! Sing to Adonai, bless his name! Proclaim his victory day after day! Psalm 96:1-2

All these psalms were birthed out of the commands within Deuteronomy 10:20-21. They were penned out of that reverential fear and awe of Adonai, out of serving, worshiping, and obeying him, by swearing by His name and reputation, and because He had done awesome, wonderful, and glorious things that the writers encountered with their own eyes. It was then He became their song of praise,

While this instruction is found in Deuteronomy, it is seen in play well before then, back in the book of Exodus. At the end of chapter fourteen we see that Adonai had just saved Israel from the Egyptians, and verse 31 says,  When Isra’el saw the mighty deed that Adonai had performed against the Egyptians, the people feared Adonai, and they believed in Adonai and in his servant Moshe. Moses and the Children of Israel then had the first corporate praise and worship service singing, [1] I will sing to Adonai, for he is highly exalted: the horse and its rider he threw in the sea. [2] Yah is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God: I will glorify him; my father’s God: I will exalt him. [3] Adonai is a warrior; Adonai is his name. Exodus 15:1-3 As the chapter continues, they sing of all the mighty deeds of God as He brought them out of Egypt. Verse 8 describes the parting of the Red Sea like this, With a blast from your nostrils the waters piled up – the waters stood up like a wall, the depths of the sea became firm ground. The Exodus is one of the most captivating events in all of history and is probably the most talked about from the Old Testament. Centuries later, we are still caught up in the wonder of it to the point that researchers using modern technology are still searching for evidence of chariots in different locations believed to be where the crossing of the Red Sea happened.

As this song of praise is found in chapter 15, on a whim I decided to look up the numerical value of 15 just to see what I would find. And I found the word Halal, which is the root of each of the words for praise we have looked at so far.  To sound forth, sing; to make famous, to praise; to shine, to bloom; utterance, sound; renown or splendor. Another word with the value of 15 is a rare spelling of the letter Hey, spelled Hey ( ה) and Yud ( י) which means singing or lamentation. It does not matter if it is a song of joy, or one of heartbreak and sorrow, regardless of the situation, when we make Him our praise song, He will draw close to us, as we draw close to Him. Sometimes the greatest victory is birthed out of the praise of our hearts in our most broken moments. My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God you wont spurn a broken, chastened heart. Psalm 51:17

I continue to come back to Yeshua’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. But the time is coming – indeed, it’s here now – when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. John 4:23 We can sing as loud or soft as we choose, we can have a voice that would make Juilliard want to recruit you, or as the saying goes, not be able to carry a tune in a bucket. But unless our praise is coming from that place of spirit and truth, if our song isn’t carried in awe and wonder, clinging to Him, exalting Him with what we have seen Him do in our own lives, then it is empty words, empty melodies and offer nothing of value to Him. But when we step into that place as Moses, David, and Asaf did, we will reach His heart with our heart and He will become our Praise Song.

                                                                                                                    Like a lot of people, I have a small vegetable garden. I went out today to add banana peel tea to my tomatoes (look that up if you're into gardening), checked on my bell peppers and spinach, and found that it was time for my baby carrots to be harvested. I lovingly dug each of them from the dirt and gave them an initial rinse with the garden hose.

When I brought them in, I began the more detailed work of cleaning and getting them ready for use. I was standing at my sink, cool water running over my hands and I felt Adonai stir in my spirit, letting me know that I have gone through the same process as these lovely baby carrots. When I feel that kind of check in my spirit, I stop and pay attention. I try hard to not brush off anything that the Spirit is trying to teach me, no matter how mundane, because my heart's desire is to draw ever closer to Him. To walk and live as He wants me to, and if I ignore even the smallest of parables, I'm going to miss out on something great that He wants to teach me.

We are like these carrots. He is the gardener. He sees the seeds that have been sown into our lives, watches them as they are watered and when ready for harvest He digs us up out of the dirt as we cry out to our Savior. He cradles us gently even though we have dirt clinging to us, roots that still want to go back into the ground of our life before Him, and He smiles over us, dirt and all. He washes us in the blood of Yeshua and brings us into His light, out of darkness. It is then that He begins trimming the things that cling to us away. Like the tops of the carrots and the tips with those dangling roots. When the Holy Spirit starts trimming away things in our lives, a lot of times it isn't pleasant. Sometimes it downright hurts. But as He cuts away things that are not good for us so that we can walk closer with Him, it changes the way we look on the inside and out. He then continues to wash us in that cool water from the wells of Yeshua, the wells of living water and more of the dirt that was clinging to us washes away, transforming us even more. We look brighter, we walk different, we talk different, we live different. But even then, there are areas on those carrots that the dirt is deep in the wrinkles and crevasses and not amount of water alone can remove it. It is then we break out the vegetable scrub brush and tackle those hard to reach places. Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit take a scrub bush to the hidden areas of your heart? Have you ever gone through an intense scrubbing to get an old, sinful habit out of your life? I have, and I can tell you from experience, it isn't fun when you're going through it. I remember as a child getting downright filthy and my mother scrubbing me down. It felt like she was going to scrub my skin right off, but when she was done, I was clean and felt better for being so. The same is when we let the Holy Spirit take that scrub brush to us, we work out our own salvation and get rid of what is holding us back from walking in the fullness of our calling.

After I got done cleaning the carrots, I looked at them thinking about how I was going to use them. I felt in my spirit, "Just like these carrots, when you are scrubbed clean and prepped, you are ready to feed others." Now, I am not saying that God only uses us if we are perfect, because if that were the case He wouldn't use any of us. What I am saying is that we should be striving every day to be more like Yeshua, to love as He loved, to teach as He taught, to seek our Abba Father in all things the way He did. When the Spirit of the Living God checks your spirit and says, "I need to take the scrub brush or pruning shears to this thing that is clinging to you, keeping you from the fullness of your calling", we need to pay attention and no matter how much it hurts, we need to go through that process.

Sometimes it is a refiner's fire, sometimes it is pruning shears, sometimes it is a scrub brush, but they are all for our good, because He is doing an ever continual work in us so that we can feed others, so that we can shine our light for others, and tell them the beauty and wonder of Yeshua and the price He paid for us. His name literally means salvation in Hebrew. He is mighty to save and continue His good work in you so that you can work in His garden, for the fields are ripe for harvest!

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7 Reasons to Celebrate our Life in Christ

Paul tells us, ALL praise to God who has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing. The 7 reasons to celebrate our life in Christ is a study of the first 14 verses of Ephesians. Click on the link below to read this life changing post.

https://www.ramckinley.com/7-reasons-to-celebrate-our-life-in-christ/

What did Jesus mean when He said to turn the other cheek if someone slaps you (Matthew 5:38,39)?  Or if someone should sue you and take you shirt, we’re to give him our cloak also (Matthew 5:40)? Or if anyone forces you to carry their stuff for one mile, to carry it an extra mile (Matthew 5:41)?  How are we to interpret these verses? If we interpret them literally, Christians would be the poorest, most abused people on the planet. So what the heck is Jesus talking about? Are we not to defend ourselves? How to these passages apply to our lives?

     A good interpreter will take into consideration the following;
-the type of literature the particular scripture is in…
-the immediate context of the verse…
-are there figures of speech or idioms being used?…
-how do other scriptures apply to these particular verses?…we know the bible doesn’t contradict itself so we have to interpret a particular scripture in light of other scriptures also.

So let’s look at several of these scriptures. We’ll start with the well-known verses in Exodus 21:22-25 and Leviticus 24:18-20.  These are the verses about taking “an eye for an eye”. These verses are known as the ‘Lex Talionis’ or the law of retaliation. They imply that if someone caused you to lose an eye, that their eye should be blinded as well. But remember, this is a legal code, meant to prevent people from retaliating. It’s a way of making sure the punishment fits the crime. It’s meant to prevent people from retaliating, to let the law punish the offender by making the punishment proportional to the offense. This law only applied to the government justice system. It prevented people from getting personal revenge.

     Leo Tolstoy, a 19^th century Russian novelist and social reformer, said this verse was meant to prohibit all violence, public or private, either by you, the police or the military. He went so far as to not resisting a thief of murderer. If this was the meaning of the verse (and it’s not), this would prevent us from disciplining our own children when they disobey.
The bible also tells us to ‘resist the devil’ in Ephesians 6:13 James 4:7 and 1^st Peter 5:8,9. Paul resisted Peter publicly in Galatians 2:11-21. Roman 13:1-7 clearly endorses the right and responsibility of human government to resist and punish evildoers.
If someone attacks your neighbor, we’re called to defend them in Romans 12:17-21 & 1^st Peter 2:21-23. What Jesus is forbidding is taking personal revenge when nothing is at stake except our pride, our reputation and our so-called rights.
Let’s be clear, Jesus is not advocating moral compromise or total pacifism. Remember, He has taught responsibility and morality. He even violently resisted the money-changers in the Temple in Matthew 21:12-17.

     In Matthew 5:39 notice He says when someone slaps you on the “right” cheek. When someone does this to you, they’re slapping you with the back of their hand. This is considered a degrading & insulting assault on your dignity and honor. This is where Jesus says to show them the other cheek. This is saying that you’re not offended by their action and that you’re not taking revenge on them. What would you do if someone attacked you? Defend yourself! Jesus is not calling you to be stupid when it comes to our physical welfare or that of others. He is only talking about an insult to your honor.

     In Matthew 5:40, Jesus says that “If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, you should let them have your cloak as well.” But remember, in the first century a tunic was like a shirt and a cloak was like a coat (it was also used as bedding at night). In Ezekiel 22:26,27, it says “If ever you take your neighbors cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the Sun goes down, for that is his covering, and it is his cloak for his body in what else shall he sleep.”

     If taken literally, what’s to prevent a person from demanding your shoes, socks, pants, your 401k and virtually anything else? You’d soon have a bunch of naked Christian paupers running around. The people in the first century understood this as meaning that even though the law protects you, it may occasionally be necessary to give up some of your possessions to a poor person. But this is a voluntary giving up on your part.

     What about Matthew 5:41 that says if anyone forces you to go one mile with him, go 2 miles. The Roman military could force you to carry their provisions for them for up to one mile. The Jews looked upon this as degrading. The point Jesus is making is to be willing to be exploited for the sake of the gospel. Go above and beyond what they are demanding of you even when it entails an unjust burden on you. But again, this is voluntary on your part.

     In Matthew 5:42 when Jesus calls us to “give to the one who begs and not to refuse the one who would borrow from us.” This doesn’t mean we’re to give money to anyone for anything. In 2^nd Thessalonians 3:10-12, Paul says “if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” It also says in Proverbs 11:15  17:18 & 22:26 not to give to lazy people who won’t work when they’re perfectly capable to. So again, discretion & good judgement is advised.

     The last of these controversial verses Is in Matthew 5:43-48 where Jesus tells us to love your enemies. God did this with us in Romans 5:8 that says “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We are told to love our enemies because God loves them (John 3:16) and we should to. This is why, for the most part, America has treated our prisoners-of-war humanely. Yes, they’re our enemy and yes, we will fight against them in a government sanctioned war, but no we will not mis-treat them as prisoners. And we will remember that they are people made in God’s image.

     To sum all this up, these commands are illustrative of what love often does rather than what love always does or is commanded to do. Remember, you shouldn’t take a verse out of its immediate context or how it fits in with the rest of scripture.

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://BSSSB-LLC.com

We’ve all sinned, but what do you do when you’re caught in the act of sin? How do you react? How do you expect others to react? In today’s story of The Adulteress, we meet a woman who waited when she could have escaped.

Backstory

We meet The Adulteress in John chapter 8, but in order for us to fully appreciate her story, we need to understand the time period in which it takes place. 

Tension was building up. Jesus was at the Feast of Tabernacles saying things people didn’t understand. None of it made sense. Many were rejecting Him. The rulers were seeking an opportunity to bring Him in for questioning, but they didn’t have just cause. It was a time of confusion and chaos. No one knew what to think. Frustrated, they waited for the opportunity to arise to get rid of Jesus so they could go back to their status quo. John chapter 7 closes with, “everyone went to his own house.”

Then chapter 8 opens with, “But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” 

Her Story

Jesus spent the night in prayer, then early in the morning He went back to the temple. People gathered about Him, so He sat down and taught them. While He was teaching, the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in the act of adultery. They led her front and center of the crowd and confronted Jesus.

“Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

Jesus said nothing. Instead, He stooped down and wrote on the ground, acting as if He hadn’t heard them.

They persisted, asking Him what should be done with her.

He stood up and addressed them. 

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Then he bent back down and wrote on the ground again. While He wrote, they all left, starting with the oldest. When He stood back up, the accusers were gone. Only the woman remained.

“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

As she exited the scene, Jesus turned to those who He had been teaching before the commotion and said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

The Rest of the Story

The religious leaders did not like Jesus... 

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This quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln is actually a word from Jesus:

"And if a kingdom be divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. 

And if a house be divided against itself,
that house cannot stand,"
Mark3:24-25, King James Version (KJV.)