Did SNAKES at one time have feet?

Main Scripture: Genesis 3 (Part 1)

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock  and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:13-14 ESV)

Regarding the serpent:


- He was the craftiest among the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made;


- He was able to speak to humans;


- He cast doubt on what God had said;


- He bold facedly contradicted what God had said;


- He accused God of short-changing humans;


- Was blamed of deception;


- Was cursed by God more than any livestock and above all beasts.


- Was condemned to crawl on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life;


- Enmity was put between it and the woman, between it and the woman's offspring;


- The woman's offspring would bruise its head at a future time;


- It in turn would bruise the woman's offspring's heel.

From Revelation we know that the serpent that deceived Eve is the devil, Satan (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) See also 2 Corinthians 11:3. Has he changed over the years in his basic modus operandus? Not one iota. He has other, more modern tools at his disposal, but he will always contradict God, cast doubt on what God has said; accuse God of withholding stuff from us, etc.

While my main focus should always be on submitting to the Truth, it behooves me also to be alert and aware of the wiles and snares of my number 1 enemy.

Submitting to God, resisting the devil will always cause him to FLEE from me. (James 4:7)

 That's a promise from God's Word

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See how he is seeking a QUARREL with me :D

Main Scripture: 2 Kings 5

While the times that God LOLed in the Bible can be counted on one hand, and the nature of His LOLing is quite different from ours, the Bible DOES talk about “a time for laughter” in addition to “a time of weeping”, a time of mourning and a time of dancing (Ecclesiastes 3:4) for us as human beings.

Laughter is mentioned among the beatitudes found in Luke, chapter 6. Verse 21 says, 

"Blessed (Happy) are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh".

Personally, I have LOLed many, many times while reading the Bible. Following is an incident from the Book of 2 Kings 5 that makes me laugh out loud every time I read it.

Naaman, while being an important man in the ministry of defense of the Syrian army, was a leper. His servant, a Jewish girl, suggested that he could receive healing if he would only go to the prophet of God in Samaria. So he got a letter from the king of Syria to take to the king of Israel. Here is the hilarious account:

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” (2 Kings 5:6-7 ESV)

Graciously, God DID heal Naaman of his leprosy through his prophet Elisha! The latter is also quite a character, whose peculiar ATTITUDE made me laugh a lot.

Maybe it’s because I can see humor in almost every situation and most definitely can laugh at myself, but I find that story hilarious as I picture it happening, in my mind. The Bible is full of such LOL evoking stories.

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Does God "LOL"?????

Main Scripture: Psalm 2

The few times in the Bible where mention is made of God LOL, it is not in mirth, glee, amusement or joy. Take a look:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,  against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.  (Psalm 2:1-4; Psalm 37:13-14; Psalm 59:8 ESV)

Yikes! Not exactly the object of laughter we would want to be, right?

The comparison may be a tad faulty, but it kind of brings to mind the ridiculous picture of an ant rebelling against a man, flailing a couple of its sticky feet at him in anger and defiantly challenging him, when all the human has to do is smash it with a mere touch of his finger. Ridiculous, right? Now magnify that picture a million times to begin to see above verses in the right perspective. Hm...

Is it only laughable when nations rebel against God's authority? What about when we do this as individuals? We may not defiantly shake our fist in God's face (Although some have gone as far as to do even that!), but when we consciously leave Him out of our lives and do things our way, rather than His way, aren't we passively defying Him?

How many times have I passively defied You God by running my life as I saw fit? It's laughable indeed! Thank You for Your forgiveness of this rebellion and pride.

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Here's my "WOMB"

Main Scripture: Luke 1

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” ²⁹ But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” ³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.” ³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

In this passage God miraculously intervenes in the lives of two women, one young and the other, way past her prime of childbearing years. Mary got the life-changing message directly from the angel of God; Elisabeth got it through her husband, who was the one to receive it from the heavenly Messenger. What an exciting, wonder-filled and even upsetting time this must have been for both ladies.

Exciting: They were going to play an integral role in a historic, long-awaited moment in time.

Wonder-filled: For the first time both felt the stirrings of life deep within their bodies. God at work, if you please, forming none other than the Messiah Himself and His forerunner, John the Baptist. Can you blame them for wondering throughout the process? I am sure the "What will this child be like" question popped up in their minds quite often.

Upsetting?: You bet! One was a virgin, engaged to be married to a kind, loving man. The latter, however, knew for a fact that this child was not his. Thankfully, Mary's mind was put at ease when she found out that Joseph had also been "let in on the secret" by an angel, convincingly so. But what would the neighbors think? Certainly there would be hush-hush whisperings behind open palms of the hand. ............... Why, Elisabeth, on her part, hid herself for the six first months of her pregnancy!! Makes you wonder why, right? .... Shhhh .... the neighbours, remember? ..........

Thankfully, both women, in spite of the upsetting circumstances surrounding their pregnancies, were willing to do the will of God for them at that particular time in their lives. What is God's will for me at this point in time? It may not be as "earth-shattering or historic" as a "virgin or an elderly woman being with child", but it definitely will be to advance His Kingdom in some specific, God-designed way for me.

With Mary, I say: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  

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Jerahmeel “BEGAT” who??!!

Main Scripture: 1 Chronicles 1 and 2

The sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram, his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. Jerahmeel also had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. .......... and on and on (1 Chronicles 2:25-28 ESV)

Not exactly exciting reading material, right?

Biblical genealogies, though boring to most, hold a fascination for me.

They tend to show the good, the bad and the ugly, sprinkled liberally with the grace of God. They show me God's marvelous grace and forgiveness, in stark contrast to human legalism, lack of forgiveness and pettiness. I've come to the conclusion that as humans we tend to be "stricter" than God, especially when it comes to doling out judgment to others.

In the genealogy in Chapter 2, I see God bypassing the legitimate children of Judah and allowing the lineage of His Son to come through the fruit of the illegitimate union of Judah and Tamar. Said fruit would have no doubt been written off by us as unworthy. Bathsheba and Solomon would have incurred the same judgmental pronouncement.

BUT NOT FROM GOD!!! He's merciful, forgiving, gracious to the truly repentant. He is the God of second, third, fourth ..... chances.

Biblical genealogies definitely give me hope.

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“MADE” in heaven

Main Scripture: Genesis 2

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,    (Hebrews 1:3 ESV)

Jesus upholds/sustains the universe He created by the WORD of His POWER! …… (and He IS SITING as He does it!!!)

A simple 13 word sentence, yet I cannot begin to comprehend that power. My mind is too finite for that. If just one loud thunderclap or one magnificent sunset, infused with different hues of color, leaves me in such awe of God, then trying to grasp or appreciate the whole scope of His creation would be impossible, just impossible.

I've heard people say that heaven will be boring with all that singing and praising all the time. I disagree. Just to have the Creator Himself give me a personal tour of the universe, will take a long, long, long time.

Boring? Nah, I don't think so :)

I'd just burst out in singing "How Great Thou Art" for the umpteenth time! (I guess there WILL be a lot of singing after all :P) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0iyTukDkQ

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Steve Jobs VERSUS God

Main Scripture: Genesis 1

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.(Romans 1:18-20 ESV)

The magnificent, intricate i-pod, i-phone, i-pad all evolved after an unexpected BANG in the USA, years ago. No thought, no long hours of study, no testing whatsoever went into the “creation” of these fast becoming “indispensables”.

Silly, foolish thoughts, huh?  Utterly foolish! Yet a growing number of people around the world (Among whom, many so-called intellectuals) have those same thoughts regarding the super organized solar system, the precise laws of nature, the incredible, well-functioning human body (Ask any ophthalmologist what he thinks of the complexity of the human eye), not to mention DNA genetics, the computer-like brain and nervous-system: a vast, complicated communication network, working at lightning speed, the extensive capillary system, etc. The animal kingdom is also replete with mind-boggling wonders, from the delicate and intricate design of a spider’s web, to the impenetrable hide of a hippopotamus.

And to think all our OMNIPOTENT God had to do was to “speak” them into being. His only creation that had His loving, personal “touch”, was the human being, as He formed the man from the dust of the ground and the woman from a rib taken from the man. Yet it is His crowning creation that denies Him, despite conclusive evidence all around. 

Yes, some may argue, we have SEEN, INTERACTED with Steve Jobs. We cannot SEE God. How many people have actually seen Thomas Edison? Yet we readily and implicitly accept that he existed because history tells us that he did and we can “SEE” better because of one of his inventions. Same with God! History has recorded that He became a man and lived among us as Jesus Christ and all we have to do is to look in the mirror or look around us to see the magnificent works of His hands. What’s more, study of the Bible will open our eyes to the TRUTH.

Now tell me if God is not right when He says in Psalm 14:1:

“The fool has said in his heart ‘there is no God’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNIv1MIXlj8

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