Bible Study Seattle

Basil of Caesarea was a bishop of Caesarea who lived about 330-379 AD. He may have been one of the first to begin confession at church. Of course confession is essential to repentance, but the bible calls us to repent directly to the injured party. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

The Israelites were commanded to confess. “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.  As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.” Leviticus 5:5-6

“The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.  But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.” Numbers 5:5-8

God wants us to be restored in our relationships. In the dark and medieval ages the church turned the confessional into a spy mechanism. People not only confessed but were interrogated by the priests! Confession of sins is a wonderful thing, but if used for political purposes, not so much.

Is modern Israel a fulfillment of scripture? We think so.

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

Here we take ‘two days’ to mean 2,000 years as Psalm 90 declares, “A day in your sight is as a thousand years gone by.” Israel needed to be reinstated in order to have Satan attack. This is both a work of God and of Satan. After Israel has been built up and most Jews settled there, Satan will attack to attempt to destroy God’s faithful. But it will fail. Jesus will intervene to save the faithful as described in Zechariah 14.

Remphan: the six-pointed ‘star of David’ is in fact not of David but probably of Solomon and the occult: https://hmisrael.com/2022/12/29/star-of-remphan/

What is the state of the world? After 3.5 years of Covid what do we see? Many people realize that corruption is worse than they thought, but other people still trust their doctors, the news, etc. Why? We have received a spiritual glimpse into people that would have not been possible without the pandemic. Some people will follow the crowd no matter how ridiculous. Other people really do seek to put Truth first in their life. Those that have learned seemingly nothing these three and a half years remind us of Pharaoh. “Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.” Exodus 7:13

After the Covid vaccines have killed tens of thousands, people still blindly go to their doctors to receive mysterious injections. They are only focused on the ‘deadly’ disease and can see nothing else. Why can’t they see that the ‘deadly’ disease isn’t so deadly?

“Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” Exodus 8:8

Here is the classic narcissistic ‘I don’t want any consequences from my actions, but I have no real intention of changing. Here’s the proof:

“But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.” Exodus 8:15

The story continues with ever increasing punishments, but Pharaoh will not change! Ultimately God delivers the Israelites through the Red Sea and Pharaoh tries to re-enslave them militarily. But God delivers the Israelites by drowning the Egyptians in the sea. Pharaoh effectively choose death.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19

““See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil.  If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.  But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live,  loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

How many of our friends and family are choosing to follow our modern Pharaohs? They are choosing death, but hopefully their hearts will turn some day and choose life.

Why do cathedrals have gargoyles? Some will argue that they’re just a decorative downspout – a fanciful way to convey rain away from masonry to protect the structure. But couldn’t they also have decorated these pieces as flowers or some other uplifting art? Could it be that these are representations of demons? That the Papacy is in fact a demonically infiltrated perversion of Christianity?

Going through the famous art galleries of Europe one notices a curiosity: many sculptures and paintings with female breasts and male privates but none of female privates. The occult idol Baphomet comes to mind – a human figure with a goat head, horns, and a pentagram and female breasts and male privates. Someone could argue that artists considered it unseemly to detail female genitalia, but wouldn’t this also be true of male genitalia? Is this art a nod to occult religion? Also, why are all the babies male? There are plenty of paintings of female figures with male babies, but none with female babies. Why?

The Tabernacle and Temple faced East.

“Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east.” Ezekiel 47:1

“Then He brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord while their faces were toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.” Ezekiel 8:16

“Then He brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord while their faces were toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.” Exodus 26:22

Yet all the Cathedrals of the world face west. Isn’t that interesting? Are they worshiping a different God?

Will Satan come disguised as Jesus? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate con? Then he could build up Israel and invite all Jews and God fearing people to Israel. Then, at just the right time when they least expect . . . he turns on them! Kind of like a whodunit where the nicest guy you’d never suspect is the killer. Then while his armies are slaughtering the faithful the REAL Messiah comes down from the clouds to avenge his people.

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

“And in the latter period of their dominion,
When the wrongdoers have run their course,
A king will arise,
Insolent and skilled in intrigue.
And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power,
And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree
And be successful and do as he pleases;
He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
And through his shrewdness
He will make deceit a success by his influence;
And he will make himself great in his own mind,
And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
He will even oppose the Prince of princes,
But he will be broken without human agency.
And the vision of the evenings and mornings
Which has been told is true;
But as for you, keep the vision secret,
Because it pertains to many days in the future.” Daniel 8:23-26

“Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” 1 John 2:22

Martin Luther, John Huss, John Wycliffe, and other reformers saw the papacy as the antichrist. Thus it was a system that opposed Christ down through the years. This makes sense because Satan is the greatest antichrist of them all. No single pope or man could do as much damage as an entire system. But there obviously will come a time around Armageddon when there will be a leader of the evil people who desire to kill the faithful.

“For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city.  Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.” Zechariah 14:2-3

Will a pope lead the nations against Israel? Will that person be possessed by Satan? Will Satan have a miraculous human incarnation? Will he do miracles?

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.  Behold, I have told you in advance.” Matthew 24:24-25

“Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved.  For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11

“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.” Luke 3:1-2

Some seek to cloud Luke’s dating by claiming he was dating from the coregency of Tiberius and his father Augustus late in Augustus’ reign. But by the easiest and plainest understanding Luke counts from Tiberius’ full reign starting at Augustus’ death September 17th 14 AD. His fifteenth year is thus September 18th 28 AD to September 17th 29 AD. John the Baptist started his public ministry in the Spring of 29 AD and Jesus started his six months later in the Fall of 29 AD. Since Jesus started his ministry at 30 years of age, his birth was in the Fall of 2 BC, or 1.25 years before the zero point. The Fall of 29 AD is roughly 28.75 years after the zero point. (There is no zero year, merely a point). Jesus’ crucifixion was 3.5 years after the Fall of 29 AD or Spring of 33 AD. This was 32.25 years after the zero point.

Since Jesus was sinless, would he have lived forever if he didn’t die on the cross? The short answer is … no. Although he was sinless, he was in a sinful world and didn’t have access to the trees of life. This of course didn’t matter because God’s will was for him to die on a cross. Adam & Eve likewise would have died without the trees of life even in their sinless, pre-fall state.

“Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9

“And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12