Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11.
Satan
is continually seeking to influence human minds by his subtle arts. His
is a master mind, given of God, but prostituted with all its noble
capabilities to oppose and to make of no effect the counsels of the Most
High....
We
can overcome only by believing in every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God. We must know what is written in order that we may not be
defeated by the sophistry and enchantments of Satan.... If we have been
ensnared by his enchanting power, let us in the name of Jesus rebuke his
power, and break with Satan without delay....
Those
who cry unto God for deliverance from the terrible spell that Satan
would weave about them, will set a high estimate upon the Scriptures.
Our only safety is in receiving the whole Bible, not taking merely
detached portions, but believing the whole truth. Your feet are upon
sliding sand if you depreciate one word that is written. The Bible is a
divine communication, and is as verily a message to the soul as though a
voice from heaven were heard speaking to us. With what awe and
reverence and humiliation should we come to the searching of the
Scriptures, that we may learn of eternal realities.... Let everyone
study the Bible, knowing that the Word of God is as enduring as the
eternal throne. If you come to the study of the Scriptures in humility,
with earnest prayer for guidance, angels of God will open to you its
living realities; and if you cherish the precepts of truth, they will be
to you as a wall of fire against the temptations, delusions, and
enchantments of Satan....
The
Word of God is able to save your souls, to make you wise unto
salvation. The psalmist says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee.” Then let us hide the Word of God in our
hearts, that we may “be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 ~Our High Calling, by E.G. White
It's been quite awhile since I participated in round of Blogging Through the Alphabet. And I've never co-hosted before. So here's to a new adventure, on my fairly-new blog.
One round of Blogging Through the Alphabet on my old blog, my theme/topic was flowers. I plan to do a nature theme this round, focusing on birds and bird watching. I hope you'll come along on our nature walk!
We hope you will link up your ABC Blogging posts, too. Look for Letter A next Friday.
The Rules:
* Each post must be family friendly. If it is not, we have the
right to remove it.
* When linking up to this post, you give us permission to share
your post and/or a photo from your post in future posts and
social media shares.
* Place the Blog Button from the site onto the post you are
linking up.
* Use the hashtag #abcblogging when promoting your post. This
will help us find you and help us promote you as well.
* If you have time,check out a few of the other posts and share
the love.
* The most important rule is to make sure you are having fun!
This is not something we want you to be stressed out over. We
want to see all the fun ideas that everyone comes up with for
the letters!
A new year has begun on the Homeschool Review Crew. Frankly, there is no better way to start off the year than with one of our all-time favorite vendors: Heirloom Audio!
Because we are currently learning about the history of the early Christian church in my 16-year-old son's Bible class, we were excited for the opportunity to receive and review Heirloom Audio's latest audio drama release: For the Temple, on CD. We also received a PDF study guide to go with it.
"For the Temple" takes place around AD 67-70, during the days of Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Agrippa, and Josephus; during the Roman rule over Israel, and the rebellion of the Zealots.
The story is seen through the eyes of John, the son of a vintner in Galilee. SJ was impressed with the fact that John was the same age as he is. He decides to join Josephus in the quest to protect the temple.
One of the scenes reminds us of Gideon and his small band and how they overthrew the Midianites. John and his small band of men harass the Roman army, by blowing horns during the night, while remaining hidden. One night, he goes into the midst of the Roman camp, and sets fires, and slips out of the camp without being captured. These actions greatly annoy the Romans, and play to their superstitions, causing them to think the gods are taunting them.
Of course, in the end, the Romans attack Jerusalem, and destroy the temple.
This study guide is 51 pages. For each "chapter" of the story, there are comprehension questions (Listening Well), vocabulary words (Defining Words), and Thinking Further provides opportunities for further research, such as looking into background information in this period of history, or questions to make one think (such as: Why do you suppose Titus doesn’t make the connection between this John and the John who has been harassing his troops?, when John spent some time in the Roman camp after an injury).
Other suggestions made: look various locations up on a map; make a family tree of the Herodians; or figure the distances between locations, such as Jotapata and the Sea of Galilee or Caesarea and Gadara.
We'll go through the study guide much more thoroughly when we reach this time period in our Bible class, later this year.
As a seventh-day Sabbath keeper, I was especially interested to read the information defining the Sabbath and Shabbat:
"The Sabbath is Judaism’s day of rest and seventh day of the
week, on which religious Jews, Samaritans and certain Christians
remember the Biblical creation of the heavens and the earth in six
days... Shabbat observance entails refraining from work
activities and engaging in restful activities to honor the day.
Judaism’s traditional position is that unbroken seventh-day Shabbat
originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred
institution, though some suggest other origins.
"Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday
evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday
night… Established within Judaism through the law of Moses,
Christians inherited a Sabbath practice that reflected two great
precepts: the commandment to “remember the sabbath day, to keep it
holy” and God’s blessing of the seventh day (Saturday) as a day
of God’s rest in creation [Genesis 2:1-3] and declared as made for man by Jesus [Mark 2:27].
"Shabbat is a festive day when Jews exercise their freedom from the
regular labors of everyday life. It offers an opportunity to
contemplate the spiritual aspects of life and to spend time with
family."
As you can imagine, we thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audio drama as much as we've enjoyed all the others we've heard. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, too; maybe soon you'll be as excited to receive this in your mailbox as we were!
Heirloom Audio has produced several of Henty's books into audio dramas, some of which we have previously reviewed (over on my old blog):
I
am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.... For my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John 6:51-55.
The
words, “Give us this day our daily bread,” refer not only to temporal
food but to the spiritual food which brings everlasting life to the
receiver. When we believe and receive Christ’s word, we eat His flesh
and drink His blood....
As
by eating temporal food the physical system becomes strong, so by
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, the spiritual
nature is strengthened. God’s Word is spirit and life to all who
appropriate it. He who partakes of Christ’s flesh and blood is a
partaker of the divine nature.... A vital, life-giving current flows
from his Saviour to him.
No
one can eat this flesh and drink this blood for another. Each must come
to Christ with his own soul hunger, each must have his own convictions,
feel his own soul’s need, and learn of Christ for himself.
Filled
with the Bread of Life, we cannot hunger for earthly attractions,
worldly excitements, and earthly grandeur. Our religious experience will
be of the same order as the food upon which we feed.
The
food we eat at one meal does not satisfy us forever. We must daily
partake of food. So we must daily eat the Word of God that the life of
the soul may be renewed. In those who feed constantly upon the Word,
Christ is formed, the hope of glory. A neglect to read and study the
Bible brings spiritual starvation....
Christ
is our life. The soul in whom He abides will meet the requirements of
His principles, in thorough devotion and consecration to God. Christ’s
personal contact with the soul builds it up, supplying its
ever-recurring wants. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. He is our sufficiency....
He is the lifeblood of the soul. If He abides with us, we may say, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Galatians 2:20 ~Our High Calling, by E.G. White
