Author: Ron Outland

In this passage, we see that Abram (later known as Abraham) builds two altars in the land we know now as Israel. I’m glad he did this, even though he didn’t believe God until some time later (Genesis 15:6, also Galatians 3:6, Romans 4, and James 2:23). I imagine that the two altars were built in worship to God in those days nearly 4,000 years ago, though. Also, this passage can be found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 8 of my NASB Bible, page 13 of my VOICE copy, and page 14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I must be honest, though, I don’t think I’m doing so hot on focusing on Jesus, for I’ve been very afraid of being done in by debts even though I can still get more hours at my Fry’s store. But I can’t do it with the courtesy clerk position I’ve had for the last year and a half because there’s so many of us, for there aren’t enough hours for the management/company to give for me to go full-time. I can get a different position I might be interested in, though, or I can go to another store to go full-time there. One job I think would be pretty legit is a position in the Starbucks coffee shop. But it’s not always the best one, for people have heard questionable things at best about the Starbucks logo. Still, I don’t think Christ would be opposed to any of His followers working there, for coffee in and of itself is good, just as Paul said in Romans 14:14. I think coffee has existed for many centuries. Also, I talked with my friend, Pete, about why I didn’t meet up with him last Sunday like we should have… it was because the A.I. in the computer that does everyone’s schedules in the Fry’s stores put me in for a shift during that time, and I only found out the day before. Now he believes I shouldn’t seek the delivery job in which I’d drive stuff across Arizona for Petsmart until much later, seeing that he figures I’m not good at time management and communicating with so many people, likewise with getting up earlier… those things are probably true, actually. I don’t know how I’m going to get better at ANYTHING when we have such a hateful culture using all sorts of things to create prejudice, as well as almost every church in and out of the U.S. being so antithetical to Christ’s love and forgiveness, even if a number of them believe in the gifts of the Spirit and practice any of them, just as I do. I wish the Church hadn’t been so wise in their own estimation over the years; just look at Proverbs 3:7 and Isaiah 5:21! Proverbs 26:12 even says, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (NASB). Instead, I want to glorify Christ in everything, and to make Him known to places where He’s never been named before. At least Jesus can be worshiped in any season, but I think Satan may have put the shift in the Fry’s system in the first place, for the schedule is not done by a human. One of my front end managers wisely put it as a stupid mechanic.

I pray I find a good job in the Fry’s division of the chain of stores it works with, and one in which I don’t have to travel far, though if I went full-time, I sorta wouldn’t mind going on a bus, but at times, I wouldn’t be able to make it home, so I’m not really thinking about going too far away from my house. I also want to practice kindness in everything, for I didn’t ask for a Sunday shift. Maybe I should’ve switched with a friend who wanted me to work this Thursday in the first place. (I just now thought of it.) But now it’s too late, for I might not be able to make it out of debt, now. But I guess I wouldn’t have been highly considered for the delivery job anyway, since I didn’t think of meeting Pete much… I don’t know. It just sucks that I can’t think of a lot of things fast enough. At least Fry’s is part of a union, though, so I’ll have job security 😊 but it’s too bad that I can’t pay off my debts very fast 😫😒😓 still, I’m happy to go to some waterparks pretty soon 🤩🤩🤩 (I have season passes to two of them). But I don’t want to settle for less. I don’t deserve to be stuck in debt because I couldn’t finish my degree in college 😭😭😭 — divisive stuff had happened since before I even started. I can tell you later, though, I won’t do it in this post.

Pray that things get better for me so I can continue working on these posts. Sorry it’s been so long, by the way 😅 see you in the next one!

P.S. I don’t want to be focused primarily on anything but Jesus.

Hello, friends! I’m back with a Genesis 12:1-6 note on here, found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 8 of my NASB Bible, page 13 of my VOICE copy (with a note sandwiched between verses 3 and 4) and page 14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition). Tonight, I’d love to share how Israel has been a blessing to me, especially in the context of Christ Himself, the greatest Jew ever. First, though, let me say this: How have most of them been so cold-hearted and hateful towards Christ and everyone else? And when you try to preach the word of Jesus to them or someone else who may or may now have been what one might consider a Christian nation, how can you expect to have any success when most of the time, Christ’s Name is used to destroy the good in each of them? (Comment your opinion below!)

Anyway, I think Israel’s pretty rad, even though their leadership system usually convinces their citizens to harden themselves against the Lord Jesus and also the marginalized around the world. And if you’ve read an earlier post I wrote back in February, you’d be able to get a clue what I’m saying. This is not what Abraham had intended. Indeed, Jesus said that Abraham didn’t kill anyone in John 8:40. Still, I loved that they made the biggest Harlem Shake video in early 2013, 70,000 people were in it! But don’t look at the comments; most of them are divisive, favoring either them or their neighbors, promoting hostility as if God had set it up. This is not what He did when He took Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt almost 600 years later. They say that Jesus has bones in this world still, but that’s incredibly infuriating to me because He lives today, and none of His bones were ever broken (John 19:36, also Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, and Psalm 34:20, according to the footnote of the VOICE copy I have in page 1,321). Even so, my county that I live in has a Jewish sheriff ✡ and I’m praying he becomes Christian so that there’d be a huge homecoming for him (Romans 11:12; the NASB renders the last several words there as “how much more will their fulfillment be!”) — I’d love to have revival last in my metropolitan area.

The footnote v of page 14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy on verse 3 here is worth mentioning. It says that to look disfavorably on the Jews is inviting God’s displeasure, but you don’t need to worry about displeasure from God if you’re already right with Him, because if that’s the case, you have a life of faith, and He’s thoroughly pleased with you because of this; see Hebrews 11:6. Too bad the Jews have been opposed too many times since Abraham left his hometown, though, yet in most cases, it’s because of their generation’s disobedience to God, so that He would oppose them due to His Name being tarnished because of them (Romans 2:24, also Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:20-22). It can be difficult sometimes to not look down on them if you’re a Gentile (non-Israelite) like me, even if you’re aware they have land again. It was restored to them in 1948, and that was because God had said they should all come back in one day in Isaiah 66:8. And thank God that happened; it’s been almost 71 years since then.

Jesus also wants you to be a blessing to others, too. We should all be the light of the world as Jesus said in Matthew 5:14. It’s not worth it to have darkness snuff out anything. But thank God that John 1:5 says it cannot overcome light 😌 I’m reminded of this in one of Hillsong United’s earlier records, in the first track, Point Of Difference. There’s videos of the song and/or its lyrics on YouTube, and I’m using that song (and also what Jesus said a few verses later about not trivializing Him, as the Message puts it) to pray into the Holy Spirit and become more rooted in Him. I’m doing this with several of their records, actually, including the new People record that came out last Friday. And on an unrelated subject, Avengers: Endgame came out Thursday evening, too, so go watch it if you haven’t already. I’ve seen it, and love it a LOT! But I won’t spoil it for you. By the way, Jesus is descended from Abraham, so Israel was to be a blessing to the world as God had commanded Abraham to do, but most of them never were thankful to Him for that, but they were conceited like crazy — well, you’ll have to read in later books to find out; I won’t post a lot of information yet. But if anyone is in Christ, they’re of Abraham’s family (Galatians 3:7), so they’re able to bless others well (Galatians 3:8-9).

Another thing I forgot to mention is that people of all nations have cursed Israel before, so God wasn’t happy about that. But I don’t think that has to be a generational thing, yet I really wish neither had pretended to honour Him by making right-wing political stuff happen (or make any politics happen, actually) — I want to eliminate the nationalism that is more or less aligned with Jesus’ knowledge of the Jews accepting the antichrist in the future (John 5:43), and Jesus doesn’t approve of him, as I’m sure you know. But the Church has become the very thing the first century-Christians had sworn to oppose persistently, and as a result, Christ is calling His people out of all of them to make many house churches. Even the good churches, like the one I’m going to (at least it’s been addressing the hateful correction and fake maturity problems I’ve been facing lately, for I want neither of that in my life) — those ones will need to become house churches sooner or later, too. And due to this, I’m not expecting the Holy Spirit to actually be glorified in any of them. Also, I found something in my Operation World prayer book where, in the list of issues in the U.S., many bad things happen. One issue I found is that evangelical stuff is often what’s passed up as Christianity by everyone. What I find interesting is that unlike most of the other parts of the prayer book, these people passing off deception as truth in this manner (remember that they are very unwelcoming to the immigrants and refugees and are willing to persecute all who wish to do what is right) are not mentioned as ones who deserve our prayers. Because these people are so antagonistic to Christ, they will face God’s wrath in the future, just as 1 Thessalonians 2:16 had said the anti-Christian Jews were under. Abraham took his wife and their nephew, Lot, out of his hometown… I kind of want to do the same with me, my brother, and our families and friends, so that none of us would be defeated by our disobedience to God’s command in Revelation 18:4, and I want to honour Him in everything. I don’t want anyone to be hunted down by political jerks or under God’s holy ban, including those I know! But for now, I must say that we shouldn’t let politics get the best of us.

I’m going to end this with a hilarious meme I saw years ago, for in just 75 minutes…

Sorry that I didn’t get all parts of the text in this one 😅 see you later!

Here is an overview of Abraham’s life from the day God called him out of his homeland until his death. This time period was about a hundred years. By the way, this part of Genesis is found in pages 6-14 of my NKJV Bible, pages 8-18 of my NASB Bible, pages 13-31 of my VOICE copy, and pages 14-31 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I find it very cool that Abraham did the things he did here so that he could be a pillar that all who follow Jesus would count on. And spoiler alert: Jesus Himself said in John 8:56 that Abraham rejoiced that he would see His day. I also found that Abraham’s model of believing on Christ (based on Genesis 15:5-6) Paul referenced much later in Romans 4, but it’s not just in a promise; it’s a relationship God wants to begin with each person. Yes, I mean you. I saw a skit on YouTube with Lifehouse’s Everything song not long ago (first time in a few years), and let me tell you, I was floored, for I wanted to be close with Jesus as I imagine Abraham was, for it says he didn’t know where he was going when God called him out of his land in Hebrews 11:8. I’ve been getting to my roots of my Christian journey quite a bit, actually, for it says in Revelation 2:5 to do the deeds I did at first so I don’t lose my footing. I don’t believe we need to do only those deeds, though. But more of that later… much, much later. And yes, I’m very well aware that he had multiple children from three different women. I think it was weird that he had a child with Hagar while still being married to his half-sister, Sarah, though. But again, sex with family members is not necessary. Maybe God allowed it in those days because there weren’t a lot of people back then, but it’s certainly not the case, now. Incest is pretty warped anyway.

I’ll get into more into this over the coming months ahead. See ya!

Man, I really wish he hadn’t died like this, and the same with Haran, one of his sons (but he fathered Lot, by whom I do not know). I wish neither had died, period. Too bad that’s what was introduced when Adam and Eve sinned in chapter 3, so we all experience it in one form or another, just as it is written in James 1:13-15. We need to remember this dynamic for when life seems like a cake walk, and even when life gets tough.

I don’t have much to say on this passage, but I will go to church tomorrow morning, for the first time in weeks. I want to pay attention to any godly messages that are still in that church. I want to move with the Spirit in what He’s doing. I want to get connected to my friends who go to the Awaken ministry with me. You can message me on Facebook why I hadn’t gone much in recent months, but for the most part, I think I can trust the church again. I just wish we could take Jesus’ Name beyond the doors and into the outside world without stopping. Oh, by the way, this passage is found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 8 of my NASB Bible, page 13 of my VOICE copy, and pages 13-14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I don’t know what I’ll hear tomorrow morning during the service, but I’m thinking it’ll be good. I don’t think God’s Name was popular in Abraham’s family before he left his relatives behind (he took Sarah, his wife with him), but read the following chapters and books of what goes down after this. He must’ve really hated idolatry a lot because Hebrews 11:8 says he knew nothing of where he was going. Legend has it that he destroyed the idols in his father’s (Terah’s) idol shop in Ur when he was young. But thank God that He’s more powerful! It must’ve been a very brave thing Abraham did that day; I don’t know how his family reacted. But I want to get connected with other people in my church more often because this blog can only do so much. I’m still reluctant to put it on my Instagram bio, but I don’t want to get counsel too infrequently about this. I’d like to discuss it with others, first.

So Abraham is found on his way to Canaan in verse 31. A few readers may know about him arriving there, but I’ll explain it as I go through these books. This marks the cusp of Israel about to start… but for the record, God doesn’t plan for Israel or any nation to be conservative in politics, but He loves each nation, Israelites and non-Israelites alike. But He wanted Abraham to be a blessing to everyone, and also his descendants. But I won’t get into this anytime soon, for I want to be sane. I think I can learn a lot from many of the people in Two Rivers. I wasn’t drawing from it indefinitely, you know, and I don’t plan on doing this from any Christian.

See you in the next section of this book!

Hey, friends, I’m glad to be writing on here today. If you missed the last few posts, I’ve written on Babel (Babylon) in contrast to other empires throughout the ages (especially the most recent one), but don’t worry about it, for Jesus was certainly up to something with Abraham as he was growing. It’s called: he hated the evil Chaldean system as a child. I’ll write some more about that on my next post later this week, and also what example we should follow, but today, I’m thinking this was recorded so that the Israelites would know which son of Noah they came from (see verse 10, the VOICE edition). By the way, this passage is located in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, pages 7-8 of my NASB Bible, pages 12-13 of my VOICE copy, and page 13 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Have you been curious of your own ancestry before? I have. For a long time I thought my dad had genetics from Germany and Holland, also Ireland, all from centuries ago, but as it turns out, he had Scandinavian genetics. That means my last name is from that area, specifically Sweden, for what I don’t know. It’s pretty cool how that probably explains why I’ve loved northern Europe for a long time. Too bad I’ve never actually been there, but if you’re reading this from Europe, I’m praying that you get to have Internet freedom forever. I just found out earlier this week about Article 13 passing, and let me tell you, I hate it. I really wish I could pwn any kind of hateful attacks against freedom (as opposed to the whole license to sin thing) from this corner of the world no matter how far away it is, but I think that’s really up to Christ, and I believe people need to rely on Him to preserve and introduce liberty to any people group. And let me tell you, it’s quite disgusting how often it’s hated in this world. Sometimes people attack you in the name of freedom, which I’m not willing to pull off. And don’t worry about me not knowing a lot about any foreign language (including even Spanish, for I was born in Phoenix), you can translate this into any language you are fluent in. If you don’t know anyone nearby who speaks English in any format, don’t worry, you can find friends who might know someone to translate it for you.

Ok, I’m done attempting to explain how this can be translated because you guys aren’t even listening anyway, so I’ll finish this for now and I’ll see you in the next post 😎

This passage is found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 7 of my NASB Bible, page 12 of my VOICE copy, and pages 12-13 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy. From it, I can only guess why so many people were interested in building a tower reaching to the heavens. But it doesn’t matter because they wouldn’t have been able to breathe when they got to a certain altitude, 25,000 feet above sea level, as a matter of fact. Keep in mind this was before the invention of oxygen tanks and airplanes.

Anyway, you can read my previous note I made on here two weeks ago concerning my thoughts on this. In the meantime, though, do you think the same is happening today? I can’t imagine if it is or not, but I do know that our world is falling apart, and because people don’t trust Jesus, they’re relying on politicians instead, especially in the horrid religion of Trumpism… and what many other prominent people in power have done in the past. The U.S. is the new Babylon indeed. While I pray for revival here in this nation and across the world, I don’t think I can prevent the civilization from going up in arms, and even if Bernie Sanders gets elected next year, it will be too late, seeing that the antichrist spirit will have already taken the church so that more people would reject Christ — I’m reminded of Revelation 18:4. I wrote about that last fall in my notebook; it’s saying the same thing I’m writing on now. But I didn’t know that house churches would spring up like crazy, yet I’m glad they have been. I’ve wanted to go to a house church in northeast Phoenix called Relentless Love Church, and I had gone periodically over the last three years — though it shut down last year, it’s now back in operation. But it looks like it’ll be even more important, because the traditional church format is on its way out. I can go there after I age out of the Two Rivers Awaken ministry in a few years (the 30-somethings don’t normally go there). They meet on Thursdays, but I might be able to make it out there once a month or so.

I have nothing else to say on this passage, so I’ll be back soon with another post on this chapter 😁

I have several things to say on this chapter, and I think you’ll benefit from them — starting with the tower of Babel thing. But first, let me say that this chapter I can read on page 6 of my NKJV Bible (remember that it had been given to me by someone who thought it would help me on my walk with Christ — DM me on Facebook or e-mail me on ron.outland4727@gmail.com for any questions regarding this), pages 7-8 of my NASB Bible, pages 12-13 of my VOICE copy, and pages 12-14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Anyway, we read of a tower, another genealogy, and a brief account of Terah and his sons. (Terah is a man descended from Noah’s firstborn son, Shem; see the post about people groups from a Biblical perspective for more interesting information about his family tree — I know, I’ve posted it before; see an earlier post for where I first mentioned it; I think it’s Genesis 6-9; I have no idea.) The tower is what the people wanted to do because they wanted to make a name for itself. You might ask why (I find nothing wrong with that), but I don’t have a concise answer to this, yet I’ll ask a question of my own: why would anyone use this passage or other parts of the Bible to give this view of God as if He were constantly displeased that people exist? Well, let me be frank: I think those people are trying too hard to be teachers of the Word (see 1 Timothy 1:7). For my part, though, I don’t offer a lot from any of the passages I’ve written on so far. Yet I know the truth set people free (John 8:32) and just as I want it badly for myself in everything, so I desire the same for any person, whether they read this or not. I’m not even trying to become famous from this, though; in fact, fewer than 20 people know I do this, unless you count those who have read any of my posts but haven’t followed me on here. But those people are trying to become teachers of the Word of Christ because they know they can manipulate pretty much anyone who listens to them on something, and they believe that biblical literacy is diminishing rapidly. I don’t really think it’s the case, but I do wish the Bible was taught in churches more often, my reason for this being the fact that they follow man’s tradition from churches that had existed in the past instead of Christ’s words. It’s the problem of the Pharisees in Matthew 15 all over again. It’s not worth it to cross paths with someone like this, because it puts you at risk of disobeying the words of 1 Corinthians 5:11 when it says not to partner with a false believer. Too bad most people who do claim Christ as Lord and Saviour are willing to poison Him, though (see 2 Peter 2:2).

But on the tower, Jesus decided to give people many languages so that they’d rely on Him according to their mother tongue, but He knew that not everyone would listen to Him, and it wasn’t yet the right time for Him to come down to the Earth to bring salvation to everyone. Still, He thought it’d be impressive that people could learn more than one language and be fluent in each of them (though He never expects anyone to learn all of them). Unfortunately, though, the tower is probably where Babylon was built later on, so that they could destroy Judah and all Jerusalem in 586 B.C., for even though the people who lived in Israel in those days didn’t deserve God, it was incredibly unfortunate that someone could get them to assume He was defeated. (Spoiler alert: you’ll see me comment on that a lot.) At least we can learn languages much easier with mobile phone apps (I have two, one for learning Filipino and one for learning Japanese, though I think I should get a textbook for both). It’s been nearly five thousand years in the making, but we can now edify each other in multiple languages, going across some dynamically different cultures. Paul even said we can speak in tongues to eliminate confusion in this manner (read 1 Corinthians 14). I can do it quite well, but I don’t often think to because my head is not very high in the game on language barrier elimination. But I’ve often spoken in angelic languages by Christ’s Spirit, as a friend of mine had said to someone in the LoveASU tent in late 2013 once. I haven’t seen him in a few years, but I pray he’s doing well — he speaks in tongues a lot, or at least he did at the time; I don’t know if he’d still do this… you can message me (see above) about my history of using spiritual gifts in any setting and ask if anyone found it weird — here’s a hint: they’re not taught in the churches in this world often enough, especially not in the U.S. for some reason.

The languages were created as Eber had his son Peleg (for in his time, the earth had just been divided into many languages, according to the VOICE translation of the Bible; the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) says a similar thing; see Genesis 10:25 in both versions), but that didn’t stop him from marrying into another family, and eventually Abraham (who was then known as Abram) and his two brothers were born (Terah had fathered them). Lot was his nephew. I want to have a good relationship with my niece as Abraham did with Lot. Too bad Lot was pretty whacked out from the Sodom thing (Genesis 19; 2 Peter 2:7-8 — read on to discover some weird stuff). But before that happened, the people’s lives were gradually getting shorter and shorter with each generation, and it was primarily because the water in the Earth’s atmosphere was gone (the UV rays were getting the best of them, I think; see some posts I made on Genesis 6-9). But from the account of Shem and his family, he was 98 years old when the flood happened; see verse 10. Adding the years to each retrospective age between Shem’s age during the flood and Terah’s birth (2+35+30+34+30+32+30+29=192), Noah was still alive (see Genesis 9:28-29), and so were each of the men who would eventually be Abraham’s ancestors between them. But I don’t think Noah was interested in the building of the tower of Babel here. Also, I’m not sure if Nahor (Terah’s son) is his firstborn or if he thought it was clever to name him this after his grandfather, but maybe I can find an answer later in this first book of the Bible, I don’t know. Please don’t judge me, friends, for I think the problem is that when you read so many Bible verses in different translations, you can’t remember them very easily, even if you have Christ’s Spirit in you. Most of them I’ve read in English, but I did read four different English translations front to back over the years, the latest of which being the NRSV (August 2012 – October 2018). But on the three translations I haven’t finished yet, I’ve finished the book of Romans in the NASB (message me on Facebook for what I believe on it), I’m up to Amos 6 in the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition), but I’ve only read up to Genesis 11 in the VOICE. I’ve read many passages in that translation, but as explained in my second post, I haven’t read through any of the four I’m using for this round of Bible notes except one. I do hope some things in the NKJV refresh my memory, though.

The final thing I want to say is that Abraham’s wife (also his half-sister for some strange reason — apparently this was encouraged by God in the past due to a lack of people in those days, I have no idea why, but I wouldn’t do it even with my future in-laws or their stepsisters or stepcousins, since I don’t think God really wanted that to happen) was also renamed as he was (see Genesis 17:15) — she was called Sarah, and I think that’s a pretty awesome name, for it means “princess” in Hebrew, just as Abraham means “father of [many] nations” in that same language; I think that’s what they were speaking. Yet apparently, Aramaic was spoken before that. A college professor that had taught on religions of the world said it came from Sanskrit (a language of India) but someone later told me that never happened. Maybe they were all created at the same time? I have no idea. But I want my friend, Sarah, to take heart in knowing she’s got an awesome and lovely name — this one’s for you 💝😊

I’ll write three more notes on this chapter, one on Babel, one on Shem to Abram and his brothers, and one on their families. Ciao!

A note in my VOICE copy tells me that according to this book, the world’s first known cultures are established. I don’t know what it was like in Noah’s time before the flood, but we’re a lot like his world is now. But more of that later. It’s interesting that Noah’s people scattered all over the world, but first, they made a tower in which everyone tried to go to the heavens — God split them apart because He knew they’d do anything to become Him, yet I do believe some people from each generation were saved in the meantime (see Isaiah 51:8). This chapter is found in pages 5-6 of my NKJV Bible, page 7 of my NASB Bible, pages 11-12 of my VOICE copy, and page 12 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

It’s pretty cool how there are so many languages existing in the world today (many more have been made since the time before more people groups went to Australia, New Zealand (it’s probable there were no humans before 1300 A.D.), North and South America), but it’s a shame all of them fell into idolatry in various forms soon after this. But thank God that His plan of redemption was still in operation. As a result, Jesus was born, and there were many things that happened that prepared the way for Him, especially John the Baptist (see Mark 1:2-3). We’ll get into them over time. I still find it funny that so many people are following demonic influence today. Many of them know about God, but they deny Him by their deeds of misfortune, and this only drives people further and further away from Christ until they reject Him just as their mentors did.

At least Abraham was the one to father several nations, though. We’ll see more of that in the next chapter, but first, I’ll comment on the tower of Babel. In the meantime, I’m bouncing out!

I’m reading the last 12 verses of Genesis 9 (which is found in page 5 of my NKJV Bible, page 6 of my NASB Bible, pages 10-11 of my VOICE copy, and page 11 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy, by the way) and I noticed some strange words Noah was speaking. I think it was a prophecy of the people that Noah made, all from each of his sons. But I think he desired freedom for all of them. I know I wouldn’t enslave anyone even if I did meet someone descended from Canaan. But dang, do I want to live in the South Pacific one day, though I’d rather stay here while paying off my debts, which I know can take many years. I still want to pay them off as fast as I can, though.

Anyway, Ham’s ridiculous deed of seeing Noah naked is why I think he uttered this curse upon the land of Canaan. But Noah was drunk that day because he had too much wine from his vineyard, so I think it was good his other two sons, Shem and Japheth, decided not to look at him while he was nude. I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk naked, you know? But if we’re honest, I think we’ve all done some shameful things in our lives. There’s no reason God wouldn’t forgive you, though. If He didn’t forgive others, who could stand before Him? (See Psalm 130:3.) Yet He doesn’t leave injustice unchecked. I don’t know why Ham looked at Noah naked, but I forgive him.

What I cannot accept, though, is the idea that slavery is what someone deserves, as if the words from verses 25-27 here teach this. We do see the unholiness of creation spiraling out again from this passage, though. Maybe if Noah hadn’t gone stark naked, the idolatry wouldn’t have been so popular. But I suppose God waited another three thousand years until Jesus was born… for reasons I do not know. In my last post, I spoke mostly about how the people groups are supposed to get along, and also on how extreme poverty is going down over time. But today, I’m writing to say this: you must have a heart for blessing your sons/daughters, and other young relatives. For what I’ve been hearing for a long time is that many who rear children are also trying to deceive them into something resembling the Proverbs but in reality is a dangerous threat to justice everywhere… at least that’s what I can see when I read between the lines when the people quote the Scriptures. I don’t think the Bible is being used correctly. But I do know one thing: Noah was predicting Canaan’s downfall; he wasn’t trying to enslave anyone, and it’s not like he wanted slavery to happen anyway. Remember that he had been righteous for many years (Genesis 6:8).

But from this story, I think many who call themselves Christians say it’s good to curse an entire generation based off a single and/or common misconception. The 30-somethings and under who want to bless others and do good without hypocrisy have faced too much “divine” hate from these evil creatures, for too long. Some of them don’t even sound like humans. Jon Foreman was right in his song Blinding Light when he said of the U.S., “we’re the nation that eats our youth,” and again in Where I Belong when he sang twice (also of the U.S.), “until I die I’ll sing these songs on the shores of Babylon.” Both songs are found in the Vice Verses CD, Switchfoot’s eighth album released in 2011. Paul can even attest to this truth in 1 Timothy 4:12 when he says to his protége not to let other people look down on him because of his age (he was in his mid-20s at the time), and I don’t want to do that, either. God has planned something amazing for each person in this world, and Jesus can be the One for them to give credit to. I saw on a PewDiePie video (I was watching that at my brother’s house last Christmas) that a teenage girl was going crazy but she wanted to do good for the people around her — we all thought it was awesome! I then mentioned that everyone was born to do good works and that they want to do good in any scenario. My brother agreed with me, and I’m sure you would also if you saw a kid being publicly recognized on TV for his/her charitable deeds. The culture says to keep your children in line and made them do what you tell them to do. I say different! I think you should introduce them to Jesus and His love for them as early as you can manage, and not decline something good they want to do, like volunteering at an animal shelter, work in a kitchen to feed homeless people, or even something as simple as playing Legos with them. (Disclaimer: Legos have small parts, and it says on each box that no child under three years should play with Legos that small.) Whatever it is, instead of giving them shame, pour the greatest love you can have for them, especially telling them Jesus. Do this and you won’t need to see them walk out on you later, especially if you don’t punish them or train them hatefully (for punishment ruins everything, including connection). I do believe the punitive people don’t deserve their descendants, though.

Alcoholism isn’t helpful to the scenario, but some wine in moderation isn’t a bad thing if you’re above the legal drinking age in your area. But I stay away from it entirely because it’s not worth it to see someone think you can get wasted like Noah did. Again, I don’t know why he did it, but this is a good passage. This drunkenness may have been the forward motion for depravity to resume among mankind after Noah died, though.

On to chapter ten!

I won’t comment on the genealogies themselves too much — I have a link that shows some interesting details on the skin color on Noah’s sons and their descendants over time — but I do believe it’s pretty interesting in which the people from Japheth (many of whom in this day and age reside in Europe, North and South America, and Australia/New Zealand) get to share in Shem’s spiritual blessings. I pray revival in Ham’s family tree who are alive today, too. I don’t think it’s right that the people are enslaved due to some twisted beliefs that abuse this Scripture, though. That’s not what Genesis encourages, nor does anything else in the Bible.

This passage is located in pages 5-6 of my NKJV Bible, pages 6-8 of my NASB Bible, and pages 10-13 of my VOICE copy (including notes) and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

For the life of me, I can’t tell why anyone would judge someone based on their skin color, but I must say, it’s not good. The black people have been abused too many times in the U.S. and in many other places around the world. I don’t think prejudice is supposed to happen, and the color of your skin doesn’t make you superior or inferior to the next guy. It’s not right that anyone would practice this. Someone can argue that a Christian can behave like this, but I disagree completely, to the point in which I would even argue that such behaviour is a way to reject the Lord Jesus, whether they profess Christ as Lord and Saviour or not.

It really sucks that diversity isn’t often celebrated, though, and knowing that the tribes have fought with one another for about as long as Noah’s grandchildren had been around (along with all of their descendants). It’s really weird that Ham went into Noah’s tent and saw him drunk and naked once, though. Thank God his brothers went inside and put a blanket on Noah without looking at him, while he was yet asleep. But Noah’s prophecy was about the lands, mostly, but many have been completely dumbfounded over his words. But they have power, as a note in my VOICE copy of Genesis 9 says. We have too often regarded this as meaningless, but words are either helpful or detrimental, just as it says in Proverbs 18:21: “Death and like are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NASB).

But seriously, though the United Kingdom (what we now know as Great Britain) put conquest as the forefront of their people several centuries ago, it’s at least helpful that colleges and universities exist in many places, now. Europe was once the intellectual capital of the world, but nowadays, many people are signing up for college, and that’s pretty awesome. Too bad most of us still have student loans to pay off. I’m working on mine, but at least I’m still able to only need to pay a small amount each month due to a rehabilitation program I’m in. But next June, my bill for that will climb much higher, for next May is my tenth and final month of the program. And sadly, I still don’t have a job that can help with that (though I love my position at Fry’s). But I might pay off at least one month of this if I still have some money from my tax returns. I don’t have it yet, but I pray wisdom in my financial decisions even now.

Many of us in the U.S. are descended from people originating in Europe, and God has brought together many people in great ways in differing cultures. It’s a shame that Puritans were the ones who have made such a false image of God since before the 1600s when colonizers first tried to kill the natives who had people living here thousands of years ago. But I think they originated from Shem, and so did other indigenous peoples across North and South America, and even Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. — much of that was in Christ’s Name, though. It’s very frightening that a lot of people would band together to poison Christ’s Name as if it were something exercising political force. Jesus didn’t come to judge the world but to save the world (John 12:47). If anyone tried to do that today, it’d be a lot easier for other people in different parts of the world to see it, and many would discourage it. But I don’t know who among us would still approve of it. I think it’s ridiculous that our teachers didn’t tell us that our ancestors tried to wipe out the natives and erase them from the history books. I have a friend who is completely Native American and works at the online shopping department at my store. My niece is half-Filipino, and I’m not interested to see her discriminated against; I pray this doesn’t happen. I honestly don’t think me and all my friends in Two Rivers can do enough against the discrimination, though. But if reconciliation between the two parties happens, that’d be awesome! Too bad this nation has already passed the point of no return, though.

I honestly wish I could get more people in Asia and in the Pacific nations saved, but I know I can’t go anywhere right now due to having such a low income, with or without any debts. I honestly think those who have tried to stop me from doing this in the past are like the white supremacist jerks. This may be the reason I still haven’t been on foreign soil, even after nearly ten years of being Christian. I honestly don’t know if I can seek mission trips like this in my church, and my church is pretty missions-minded compared to most of the others around the entire world. I think I need a miracle to both get to a nation like Indonesia or Papua New Guinea and back while still keeping my job. And my week-long vacation for late this May, if it’s approved — even that won’t be enough for me to go anywhere out of state, much less in somewhere other than the U.S., including Mexico, though I could get to Rocky Point if I wanted to. I’ll need a car, though, and I have no means to get one. If that doesn’t occur, and likewise any job that gets me out of debt before I’m dead or even in my mid-40s in about 15 years, I think I’ll be finished. I don’t know where to start in believing for one any stronger; I think I need Jesus’ help for that, and even then, I don’t expect one because prosperity is never guaranteed. Indeed, if you’re struck with poverty in some form, like, you’re screwed. I do believe it’s an injustice, though, especially extreme poverty. Glad to hear that the rate of extreme poverty is much lower now than it was 200 or even 75 years ago, though (see graph below).

I don’t mean to sound like such a downer about much of the world, U.S. or otherwise, but I know a lot of people would agree with me on this. I still pray that people are saved in this nation, though. But as for colonization, that’s not something Abraham would have wanted. I know I don’t want to do this to any people. I want to honor God with everything instead.

I’ll make more notes based on this long passage over time. See you then!