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Bible Speaks

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Posts posted by Bible Speaks

  1.  Hold on to Jehovah's Promises and never let go. 

    25 "But he said to them: “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those having authority over them are called Benefactors.

    26 You, though, are not to be that way. But let the one who is the greatest among you become as the youngest and the one taking the lead as the one ministering."
    (Luke 22:25,26)

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  2.  9 "But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders."
    (2 Thess.2:9)

    Who were the Magi that visited the young child Jesus?

    Astrologers (Gr., maʹgoi; “Magi,” AS ftn, CC, We; “Magians,” ED) brought gifts to the young child Jesus. (Mt 2:1-16) 

    Commenting on who these maʹgoi were, The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (Vol. II, p. 139) says: “According to Herodotus the magi were a tribe of the Medes [I, 101], who professed to interpret dreams, and had the official charge of sacred rites . . . they were, in short, the learned and priestly class, and having, as was supposed, the skill of deriving from books and the observation of the stars a supernatural insight into coming events . . . Later investigations tend rather to make Babylon than Media and Persia the centre of full-blown magianism. ‘

    Originally, the Median priests were not called magi . . . From the Chaldeans, however, they received the name of magi for their priestly caste, and it is thus we are to explain what Herodotus says of the magi being a Median tribe’ . . . (J. C. Müller in Herzog’s Encl.).”—Edited by P. Fairbairn, London, 1874.

    Rightly, then, Justin Martyr, Origen, and Tertullian, when reading Matthew 2:1, thought of maʹgoi as astrologers. Wrote Tertullian (“On Idolatry,” IX): “We know the mutual alliance of magic and astrology. The interpreters of the stars, then, were the first . . . to present Him [Jesus] ‘gifts.’” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1957, Vol. III, p. 65) The name Magi became current “as a generic term for astrologers in the East.”—The New Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, 1952, Vol. 22, p. 8076.

    So the circumstantial evidence is strong that the maʹgoi who visited the infant Jesus were astrologers. Thus The New Testament translated by C. B. Williams reads “star-gazers,” with a footnote in explanation: “This is, students of stars in relation to events on earth.” Fittingly, then, modern English translations read “astrologers” at Matthew 2:1.—AT, NE, NW, Ph.

    How many of these astrologers “from eastern parts” brought “gold and frankincense and myrrh” to the child Jesus is not disclosed; there is no factual basis for the traditional notion that there were three. (Mt 2:1, 11) 

    As astrologers, they were servants of false gods and were, wittingly or unwittingly, led by what appeared to them as a moving “star.” They alerted Herod to the fact that the “king of the Jews” had been born, and Herod, in turn, sought to have Jesus killed. The plot, however, failed. Jehovah intervened and proved superior to the demon gods of the astrologers, so instead of returning to Herod, the astrologers headed home another way after being given “divine warning in a dream.”—Mt 2:2, 12.
    http://m.wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000448#h=9:0-10:218

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  3. 4 "The king then said to me: “What is it that you are seeking?” At once I prayed to the God of the heavens."
    (Nehemiah 2:4)

    Nehemiah, governor of the Jews in the fifth century B.C.E., did his best to please God. He spearheaded the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls despite enemy opposition. 

    He enforced God’s Law, cared for the oppressed, and sought to build up the faith of his fellow Israelites. 

    Did God notice the good that this faithful man had done? Did Nehemiah have Jehovah’s approval? We can discern the answers in the closing words of the book that bears his name.
    Nehemiah prays: “Do remember me, O my God, for good.”

    Is Nehemiah afraid that his good deeds have gone unnoticed by God or that God will forget about him? No. Nehemiah is no doubt aware of what earlier Bible writers have said about Jehovah’s keen interest in his faithful worshippers and their good deeds. (Exodus 32:32, 33; Psalm 56:8) 

    What, then, is he asking God to do? One reference work notes that the Hebrew term translated “remember” implies “the affection of the mind and the action which accompanies recollection.” With full faith in the power of prayer, Nehemiah is asking God to remember him with affection and to bless him.—Nehemiah 2:4.

    Will Jehovah answer Nehemiah’s prayer for remembrance? In one respect, he already has. The very fact that Jehovah saw fit to have a permanent record made of Nehemiah’s prayer, making it part of the inspired Scriptures, assures us that he remembers Nehemiah with affection. But the “Hearer of prayer” will do more to answer Nehemiah’s heartfelt request.—Psalm 65:2.

     

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  4. 20 "But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals on his head.”

     21 "Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good."
    (Romans 12:20,21)

    16 "Maintain a good conscience, so that in whatever way you are spoken against, those who speak against you may be put to shame because of your good conduct as followers of Christ."
    (1 Peter 3:16)

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  5. "I have shown you in all things that by working hard in this way, you must assist those who are weak and must keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, when he himself said: ‘There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.’”
    (Acts 20:35)

    2 “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says concerning you, Barʹuch, 

    3 ‘You have said: “Woe to me, for Jehovah has added grief to my pain! I am weary from my groaning, and I have found no resting-place.”’

    4 “You should say to him, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “Look! What I have built up I am tearing down, and what I have planted I am uprooting—the entire land.

     5 "But you are seeking great things for yourself. Stop seeking such things.”’
    “‘For I am about to bring a calamity on all flesh,’ declares Jehovah, ‘and wherever you may go, I will grant you your life
    as a spoil.’”
    (Jeremiah 45:2-5)

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  6. What It Really Takes to Be Happy

    JEHOVAH, “the happy God,” and Jesus Christ, “the happy and only Potentate,” know best of all what it takes to be happy. (1 Timothy 1:11; 6:15) Thus, it comes as no surprise that the key to happiness is found in God’s Word, the Bible.—Revelation 1:3; 22:7.

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