Music Is An Antidepressant

Music Is An Antidepressant

1 Sam 16:14-23 NIV

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

15 Saul's attendants said to him, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better."

17 So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me."

18 One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him."

19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him."

23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

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"Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." - William Congreve

God Bless America - Dear God, We Sure Need It!

God Bless America - Dear God, We Sure Need It!

COVENANT BLESSINGS
Lev 26:1-13
Deut 4:32-40
Deut 28:1-14

Lev 26:1-13 NIV
1 "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.
2 "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
3 "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
6 "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
9 "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's
harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Deut 4:32-40 NIV
32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

Deut 28:1-14 NIV
1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock — the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity — in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground — in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

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COVENANT CURSES (I'm not going to print them; you may look them up if you care to. - Truth Seeker)
Lev 26:14-39
Deut 4:15-28
Deut 28:15-32:42

You Can Take It With a Grain of Salt

You Can Take It With a Grain of Salt


















Revelation 8:8-9 NIV

8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, (God used man's technology,an oil drilling rig, against him?)
all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. (burned and collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico?)
A third of the sea turned into blood, (a third of the Gulf became covered with spilled oil?)
9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, (birds, fish, and various sealife?)
and a third of the ships were destroyed. (not being able to fish, their usage was destroyed?)

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In his vision, St. John could only describe what he saw using things he was familiar with. Therefore, an oil rig might have resembled a mountain, oil might have resembled blood. It stands to reason that the sealife died because of the blood (oil). The ships could be taken to mean "the fishermen" who lost their livelihood... not necessarily the destruction of the ships themselves.

One problem I used to have with this book is that I'd ask myself "are all these events going to happen globally?" I've personally come to the conclusion that these plagues, or whatever, will be located in various parts of the world at different times (they won't be simultaneous). Therefore, an earthquake in Haiti, a volcano in Iceland... you get the picture.

St. John was shown these catastrophes while exiled in Patmos, an island in Greece. He was given a whirlwind tour of the End Times which spanned an unknown period of time. The visions themselves may have taken hours, days, weeks... I don't know.

Another confusing aspect of Revelation for me used to be: Will these cataclysmic events all come directly from the Hand of God? Today, it is quite clear to me that they won't... some of them will come from God thru the hand of man (witness the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill).

What's more, and don't laugh, some of these plagues will emanate from curses - - - some directly from God and some from other nations (which will remain nameless for the time being). That's why we need exorcists, deliverance ministries, and spiritual warriors to step up and unite in prayer and ask God for discernment.

Truth Seeker

Jesus Was Neither Mad Nor Possessed By the Devil

Jesus Was Neither Mad Nor Possessed By the Devil

Mt 9:34 NIV
34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."

Mt 12:24-28 NIV
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Mk 3:21-26 NIV
21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

Lk 11:15-20 NIV
15 But some of them said, "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

Jn 8:48-49 NIV
48 The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
49 "I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.

Jn 8:52-53 NIV
52 At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"

Jn 10:19-21 NIV
19 At these words the Jews were again divided. 20 Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"
21 But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"