Please read to the end… this passage is found in page 91 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, page 116 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 184-185 of my VOICE copy, and page 188 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
We see here that Miriam passed away before the Israelites’ stay at Kadesh was over, and she was several years older than Moses and Aaron, who were more than a century old by this time. Their stay at Kadesh, where everyone had to wait out the promise land entry for 40 years because of their dishonourable response to God in chapter 14, was coming to an end. The people complain to Moses and Aaron once again, and when we see the words of the Lord’s glory appearing (verse 6), we think judgment is coming, so we’re like, “This can’t be good.” However, God doesn’t speak anything adverse this time, since the need for water, explained in verses 2-5, is real. He tells Moses and Aaron to get a staff (shepherds used one to safeguard their sheep 🐑 and keep them from wandering off — this would explain the staffs in chapter 17 if you missed it) and speak to the rock nearby them. But as soon as they do, Moses gets angry at all the people he’s leading, and as he speaks, he strikes the rock twice and water gushes out for everyone to drink, and he didn’t revere the Lord God, so He was unwilling to have Moses and Aaron enter the promised land, too. Not even the type of Christ (see Hebrews 3:1-6 for an explanation of how Moses was faithful in all of God’s house but that he was looking to Jesus) could enter Canaan. So we see that God was thorough in all the generations of those 20 and older (according to the first census (chapter 1)) in blocking them all from the promise land, except for Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:24, Deuteronomy 31:23). Those who were under 20 years old were allowed to enter the promise land, which had many destructive people who had already inhabited the land, and God had wanted them to follow Him but they had fought against Him for His goodness, and so He judged them. This can be a “perfect” excuse for atheism to be worshiped and for truth to be redefined, but thankfully, like I said yesterday in one of the several notes 📝 📋 I had written, God’s heart is always about restoration and forgiveness.
And I wonder if victory was ever guaranteed because of episodes like this, and all that Moses says in Deuteronomy… to be honest, it feels like a demogague-style book when I read anything from it in some versions, like the VOICE translation, for example… yeah, I wish I had picked up a better version to use for this blog. However, I need to keep going in it, for I had mentioned I was going to go through it with three other versions on here at the same time. Yet there is a footnote from the first Amplified Bible translation in verse 11, which says, “‘And the Rock was Christ,’ as 1 Cor. 10:4 explains. Once smitten at Rephidim (Exodus 17:6ff). He did not need to be smitten, crucified, again. To smite the rock twice was to imply that Christ’s death on the cross was not effectual or sufficient for time and eternity.” But that translation was from the 80s, and I don’t think there were a lot of lovers of what is good then, and while this surged in the 2000s and 2010s, mostly, those guys in power have managed to destroy God’s presence in the nation and likely the whole world again, and this time, God’s departure from the U.S. will be permanent. I don’t know if you read any of my posts from yesterday I put on here, but if you did, you’ll recognise that I had discovered last month that Trump managed to permanently weaken the U.S. by having the nation return to its roots so that there’d be NOTHING left to do, seeing they had made it so that it’s as dead as Sardis had been in Revelation 3:1. Indeed, there’s not many faithful people in the Church left, since God had declared in a subliminal message in Revelation 3:7-22 that the Great Apostasy (read Jude 3-19) would be perfected, and that even with corruption going down anywhere, the ways of peace would never really take off again (there will sadly be a global false peace that lasts three and a half years after the Rapture happens; see Revelation 6:1-2 and Daniel 9:27 — after that, all Hell will break loose, and during that time, the mark of the beast will be turned on and billions will take it, thus condemning themselves; see Revelation 14:9-11). I’m sorry it’s too unsafe to be fruitful and multiply… but if God calls you to have a family, you should do it. However, I can never pull that off due to what I experienced in most of my days between 2009 and 2023. There could be another virus and a botched vaccine with or without a mandate, for all we know! But I want to give my family safety, and sadly, most churchgoers have no interest in that. And I’d rather not live in a country where safety is neither accepted nor practised with forgiveness.
Another footnote in the first Amplified translation, occurring in verse 12, says, “Possibly Moses was not aware of the significance of what he had been ordered to do, but nevertheless God held him responsible for not obeying Him exactly. Obedience to His will is vitally important, whether we understand His purpose or not. The motto ‘God’s will: nothing more; nothing less; nothing else; at any cost’ would have been priceless to Moses and Aaron that day, if they had only followed it.” This may sound like an authoritative word from a writer from a long time ago, but as we’ve been waiting for Jesus to return, truth is harder and harder to remember, and even with many Scriptures coming out throughout the 1st century A.D., after Jesus had been born and lived His life, along with His death and resurrection and His ascension back to Heaven, Satan gains more of an advantage as the centuries go by. Eventually, he started to cement his kingdom on the earth, and by now, truth has become widely regarded as if it were weak and worthless, and so is God’s love, grace, kindness, even His judgments, with or without retribution. (See previous paragraph for my brief explanation of what I believe about the 80s, before I was born.) I do love that Sweden 🇸🇪 was the first to criminalise all physical punishment in 1979, but it’s not fair that even they are reversing good things there, and the Church there loves it like this! I think I’ll encounter extremism no matter where I go in this life, and will always be regarded as a loser by both the world and the “Christian” churches in every country, seeing that I couldn’t stop my mom from succeeding in her endeavours to eliminate my housing needs for college so that I’d get a degree to work in a high-paying job, pay off all my debts, and maybe even prevent Trumpism and Clintonism from triumphing. Indeed, it took a whole five years after July 2009 for me to discover my mom had broken good laws to get what she wanted and that she deceived the hospital staff where I found this out about Arizona’s free healthcare for those in poverty concerning their housing programme. I wouldn’t remember that until I went to the mental health clinic one day in mid-2016 to rediscover it, and when I explained that to my mom, she claimed she didn’t know about it. So I knew she had stolen me into a very bad living situation… AGAIN. I don’t want to deal with people like this… they’ve made me homeless more than once! So, yeah, there’s my two cents on how life has been unfair for me in those days for today.
I don’t find it good or even fair that there’s not enough of the presence of God among the people to keep me walking here, and I wish I could seek out the right people 24/7. Am I never going to be encouraged and feel safe in a community again? I think too many churchgoers are part of the worldly system to trample underfoot the Lord Jesus and His Spirit 😓😓😓😓😓😓😓 and I don’t know how to make my own church and have it last in the face of all adversities… the worst kind is when there’s enough people who pretend to be supportive, even if it doesn’t start out this way. I wish I could say this isn’t common, but I swear, every time I go to a church or perhaps even check out a message online, it seems God’s presence isn’t even able to lead others to seek repentance and forgiveness… and that’s why I sometimes wish I hadn’t been born, since I can’t see my nieces right now and will likely be unable to for the rest of my life (I can’t put the details on here, though). But it would be nice if I could live in a Pacific island 🏝🏖🏞 with a good economy 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇 I’d love to know where to go from here…
And when it comes to relocating to an actual safe country, if I can manage it, I think I can only lead myself out of there, since a couple of years back, I was at work one day and… I don’t really know what happened, but I must’ve felt like a brain-dead and thoughtless freak, since my mom had literally barked at a dog the night before… and for what I don’t know. I actually spoke heavy profanity loud enough for everyone to hear, and I think some of the children in the store cried because of it. To this day, I don’t think I get to lead anyone out of the country but myself, seeing I’ve been working at the Fry’s store since shortly before all my nieces were born, the first one being in February 2018. I don’t know if I get to do even the whole solo-trip-out-of-the-country thing… even with better laws, I think I forfeited all privileges to make a ministry overseas, for I’ve had a big responsibility for a courtesy clerk in the store, seeing I’m one of the only people who practise Jesus more frequently than the average American and have read from Moses’ irreverence here more than once — I don’t know what he was thinking, but he was head of all Israel, second only to Jesus Himself. And we look to leaders for everything, but it’s easy to go on a power trip and act on one’s own authority. And sadly, that’s common in this life, including in all the churches. Indeed, corruption always starts on the top and works its way down. Always. Those who say otherwise lie to God, and not only is lying un-Christian, but also, those who do this fall into the same punishment as Ananias and Sapphira, a hypocritical married couple, who lied to Jesus and His Holy Spirit and died from it in Acts 5:1-11. One time, I met an officer in the Fry’s store, and he claimed corruption didn’t start from the top but that it was from the bottom. Should God repay him on his terms because he had rejected His? I don’t think so! This… defiance against the Word of the Lord is unforgivable, and He won’t welcome him into Heaven… ever. For no one is born fighting against God, since it says in Ecclesiastes 7:29 the things it says for a reason. And anyone who disagrees with Jesus’ words I’m writing down here will never be forgiven. Indeed, He says their sins will forever stay with them, even after they’ve passed away, and there will be no end date for this… ever. For what has God done so that the Dobsonites would seize His kingdom — why do you think it says in Matthew 11:12 that the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force? This generation cannot be blamed for the corruption of this world. We’re here to learn from our elders, not be shut out of good things by them! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Verse 13 says the waters were called Meribah, for the people contended against the Lord there, including Moses and Aaron, which is bad news for Jesus. Regardless, when He was doing His thing, He, Peter, James, and John went up a mountain eight days after He had told them what Peter had confessed to Him in faith that He is God and Saviour of all mankind, and suddenly, Elijah and Moses appeared to Him, and these three had a conversation, probably about His departure and what He’d accomplish for others (read Matthew 16:16 and Mark 9:4). So we see God wasn’t done with Moses 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💝💝💝💝💝💝💝 and if you’re reading this and you want your heart to respond favourably to Him, this shows you haven’t rejected Him, either. I know I want to do that with Him in everything, respond favourably to God with what He says. But I don’t think I do that often… I don’t want my heart and soul to be unrepentant in anything… I’m still scared sometimes that I’ve deeply offended Him 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 and I don’t believe I’m as kind as I want to be… but I hope you could put up with my rambling here 😅😅 and I’ll see you in the later parts of chapter 20, whenever that may be; hopefully that’ll be soon, God-willing.
In Christ,
Ron Outland
Ron And His Stories 