Ron And His Stories

When the chapter begins, we see that Eliezer of Damascus (mentioned in verse 2 of the Amplified Bible version(s)) is involved again, this time to find Abraham’s son, Isaac, a wife. Her name is Rebekah, if you remember the end of Genesis 22 after Isaac was almost sacrificed (thank God that Abraham didn’t plan on killing him!) — she later gave birth to two of Abraham’s grandchildren, Esau and Jacob, and her in-laws had some children of their own, and so did Ishmael, in fact! But more of that later, for this long chapter is found in pages 12-14 of my NKJV Bible, pages 16-17 of my NASB Bible, pages 28-31 of my VOICE copy, and pages 27-30 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Funny enough, I have little to say concerning this chapter, only that footnote z of the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) version says this is highly illustrative of God sending Jesus to ransom His Bride, but He died for everyone, as the Scriptures proclaim without room for misinterpretation. Doesn’t it say in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 in the Greek for both chapters that reprobate people have been bought back, too? 2 Peter 2:1 says the same thing. I really don’t think I need to say this again, for anyone who knows me would know me as the guy who hates unloving “truths” that the Bible has been twisted and dangerously warped into. Remember what it says in Matthew 5:13 about Jesus saying that useless salt is trampled underfoot because it’s beyond recovery? So many have been salty about the truth because it sets people free (John 8:32). I don’t think their “truth” is even remotely liberating, and if Gandhi, a Hindu who died without Jesus could see by the Holy Spirit that the Church had become extremely heretical about things like this by his time, how much more should we believe that the Church is being separated into oblivion? Let me introduce you to a term I heard in college: The Great Disconnect. It’s when hypocrisy divides people in Christian communities, and before long, both parties are unyielding. When that happens, the godly have no choice but to leave it behind, and never come back. It’s why I was so frustrated with churches across the country and in much of the world when I was reading more of my Bible each day. It’s why I came to hate the church I grew up in. A part of Satan’s purpose lives inside them. What shall we do, you might ask? Well, get connected with your friends and have your hearts knit together in the love of Christ (Colossians 2:2), for by doing this you’ll win plenty of people over to Him, if they don’t get deceived by the hypocrisy in the bad ones, first. Thank God it’s still kind of low in my generation and in our children’s age groups, but I’m starting to be afraid because there’s not many 90s kids in college left…

Rebekah was a perfect fit for Isaac because the Holy Spirit had told the servant to bring her to Canaan. But it seems like people decide hypocritical things for others all the time, even when they use accounts like this! Remember the words of 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. Anyone proclaiming Jesus as God could be a hypocrite, even with a large amount of today’s young adults in the Church, authentic as so many are. This culture needs to hear us, but most of the people in our region don’t deserve them. And I’m in the U.S., so that’s really saying something, for both the east and west coasts are the shores of Babylon. I don’t know about Alaska and Hawaii, or the territories the U.S. has, but I pray for people to get saved in those areas, too. I know I say things like this a lot, but I don’t think I can ever stop being frustrated with my own people, for if I have no homeland and the nations take vengeance on the good and bad people alike, will Jesus ever be glorified again? I can’t give a positive answer for this, unfortunately… I legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen to the global Church because of them. I don’t know if there will even be a godly movement in the future. I guess that’s why the Rapture is necessary, before the 7-year Tribulation described in Revelation starts. For it seems like Christianity as we understand it might come to an end soon. Please pray that the hypocrisy is gone forever, for I don’t know what to say on Isaac marrying Rebekah to find comfort for his mom’s death, either.

I’ll schedule this for 7 p.m. tonight, maybe 7:30 (you’ll see it when you see it), yet because I’m paralyzed with fear about if the Church deserves to have a future, I can only ask that you pray concerning the fact if Jesus can even be trusted, for He deserves our worship, having never done anything wrong or told any lies, always being kind to others, as the Gospels illustrate. And we’ve had some decisive works of the Spirit before, but if He’s put to death all over again, we can’t live. But Jesus cannot die again (Romans 6:9), so hopefully retribution doesn’t have the final word.

Hey, friends, I’m Ron here with another intermittent post! I’m not doing Genesis 24 yet; this might take a while because it’s the longest chapter of the Bible so far. Granted, most chapters in Luke’s Gospel average in such a length of over 60 verses each, but I believe love can happen anyway 😊😊😊 I pray I behave better, too, actually, for there are times in which I feel great about stuff but soon believe I can get through anything and then get scared to even leave the house. I think I swing in between those two extremes often, and I wish I didn’t do this. I don’t have any confidence I can get through my first student loan bill or even the next $90 payment to the debt collection company needing my tuition money from spring 2014 without any help. I’m grateful for the extra time I could put in to my job at Fry’s last week, but I want more 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I don’t think I can save money very good without craving EVERYTHING, either. You can treat these as some of my late-night confessions, although some I have in mind I should save for church/Awaken leadership, for there are some things I really don’t want to put online no matter what platform I use. I’m terrified to find how my friends and family might react if I mentioned anything, though I haven’t done anything sexual or reprehensible, except that my brother and I fought a lot when we were younger (I won’t put the details on here; I might have to save my strangest confessions for Acts 8 in the part about Simon trying to buy Peter’s ministry, for who hasn’t done weird things when they’re first born again?), but we didn’t kill each other; we were children, and I should’ve known better even as I was going into college. I wish I could’ve done better growing up, and I wish I could’ve found Jesus soon enough to save me from the danger I now experience by having too many debts to pay back with such a low income. I feel I’ve failed as a human being sometimes, actually… I don’t even think my family name has any honor left, though if my niece isn’t harshly persecuted for any reason like I was, even if she becomes Christian in the future, it might not be defamed into oblivion. But I don’t know… I pray she becomes Christian tonight.

Any prayers you want to submit to me? (They can be confessions, too; I won’t judge.) Leave them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read them, write them down (if they’re good) and tape them to my bedroom walls! I’ll remember that we all make mistakes, too. I’ll see you in the next one when we go into chapter 24!

I’ll refer you to the note on the VOICE version of this chapter; just go here on the biblegateway.com website. All I have to say is that we shouldn’t just take everything, right? I gladly accept savings at any grocery store, but I don’t think we need to be cheapskates 🤣🤣🤣 and by the way, this chapter is found in page 12 of my NKJV Bible, pages 15-16 of my NASB Bible, pages 27-28 of my VOICE copy, and pages 26-27 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Let me expand on the whole “no taking anything without others’ consent” sort of concept: I think it’s simply not going after handouts, and sometimes, we can forget that. For Jude 12 says, as The Message version of the Bible puts it, “These people are warts on your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They’re giving you a black eye — carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down” (emphasis mine). (I honestly thought it said “grabbing the biggest piece of the pie, but that reminds me, as I’m typing this down, on how plenty of people treated the Lord’s Supper in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 11:17-22) — the division was terrible.) I’ve gotta be honest, it’s a pretty weird wordage on that verse in the New Testament, but those people described there do cause nothing but problems, for they have all rejected Christ. It’s especially troubling when someone says that because they brought you into this world, they can take you out. That’s utter rubbish! I’m sure you can agree. Jesus is against those beliefs. You don’t deserve that!

Any prayer requests? I know I just wrote down a note a few minutes ago, but write to me on my email (ron.outland4727@gmail.com) and I’ll get back to you! When I read those prayers, I’ll write them down and tape them to my bedroom walls (if they’re any good), even if the prayer seemingly makes no sense; that’d be hilarious! I’ll get to bed soon, but I might have one or two more notes here on my heart; I’ll read Genesis 24 in the VOICE, first. See ya!

This wont be long because I can say so much on here, but I can start with the fact that Abraham’s promise starts to reach adulthood here, based on the reality and truth that God didn’t pwn Isaac because Abraham knew He wouldn’t kill him. I think things like that can happen anywhere, though I don’t think you need to take anything that can be used as a weapon; I don’t believe in killing anyone anyway; this is NOT something a believer in Christ would do. You’d have to be absolutely nuts to do that! But enough of this, for this passage is found in page 12 of my NKJV Bible, page 15 of my NASB Bible, pages 26-27 of my VOICE copy, and page 26 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I’m also pretty intrigued that Abraham’s brother’s son had Rebekah, a woman you’ll see for several more chapters throughout this first book of the Bible — spoiler alert, though I don’t believe you should marry family members (this happened long before there were enough people in the world so that marrying a family member wasn’t necessary, in the 20th century B.C., in fact), Rebekah becomes Isaac’s wife (read Genesis 24). I can go on a tangent about that for a while, but that’s another subject for another time… unless I get to it tonight 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 (it’s after 1 a.m.), yet I have work at 4 p.m., after the sun rises about six hours from now, so I should get to bed pretty soon. I just don’t feel right in my heart if I don’t post anything about this passage and perhaps the whole of the next chapter., for the Holy Spirit may be telling me to write notes on these without delay. But I think it’s pretty cool how Abraham has other nieces/nephews by his brother, Nahor. I wonder why he didn’t visit them… but as far as I know, the only non-immediate family member he visited was Rebekah long after this happened.

Abraham had already gotten his faith confirmed by God after his obedience to Him (don’t worry, it’s not some stupid duty, but don’t be afraid to look foolish for Jesus, yet within His reason so as to not give anyone a reason to insult Him), signaling the climax of his story, so I feel no need to comment any further than to give you the video for NEEDTOBREATHE’s “Let Us Love” to stand firm in a world that’s burning to the ground, as they put it. I’ll write later on that song, so let me know if you have any prayer requests by writing some in my e-mail (if you’ve seen my posts before, you know the drill: ron.outland4727@gmail.com)! Or not… I don’t expect anyone to have read anything on here 😅😅😅 but that’d be much appreciated! I’ll read each request (if I remember to do that), write them down, and tape them to my bedroom walls! I’ll see you on the next one!

(Edit: I didn’t read deep into this enough, so I got some facts wrong, but don’t worry, I fixed them! Sorry, guys, I’ll do better next time.)

So it’s really cool to see what happens here… Abraham puts Isaac on an altar and, thank God, doesn’t try to kill him, contrary to popular opinion. I’ve heard it from friends before, but I never really believed it would make sense to kill your own son, especially if you had been found righteous before God beforehand (compare with Genesis 15:6). And that’ll last forever, so no one born again will commit murder 😌😌😌😌😌 anyway, I’m going to watch a movie (Jonathan had asked about seeing one here at home as I began writing this)…

An hour’s passed because Jonathan didn’t want to finish the movie at this point — he wanted to go to sleep. But that’s ok 😊 also, I found this image online to make a hilarious translation, for I don’t own the SpongeBob imagery or media.

This six-verse passage can be found in page 12 of my NKJV Bible, page 15 of my NASB Bible, and page 26 of both my VOICE and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copies.

Upon reading this, and hearing the explanation of John 10:9 on my state’s K-LOVE station (I normally tune to Air1 when I have it on, and Jonathan was driving me so I could deposit something in my bank, and when the speaker mentioned how we can get our needs met in Christ Jesus, because this verse and explanation exists, I’m honestly relieved to a pretty good extent. But I don’t think most of the African people are hypocrites at all; I know it’s got many places of poverty, so I’m thinking Satan ravaged the continent really bad, but I pray many blessings for them 😎😎😎 and also a sidenote: the VOICE translation rendered verse 10 at the part of the knife, “It would’ve killed Isaac.” This isn’t an exact rendering, but it doesn’t seem to indicate anything in terms of killing anyone preemptively or something. In fact, when we look at 1 John 3:15 and the other several verses like it in that letter (most notably in chapter 4), we see that Abraham loved God, and didn’t hate anyone as a result — it truly is difficult to find any answers that fix the problem of apparent contradictions in the Scriptures, even though there is no double-mindedness in it (John 10:35).

But provision is helpful, if not necessary, for we need a lot of things from God, don’t we? But the hypocritical churches have made it so that we can’t get anything we need unless we rely on it and the government. It’s extortion, that’s what it is! Yet they would call it God’s method… I can argue that His provision can come through even them, but I don’t think we should seek help from them because they bully others. If it was bad several years ago during the rise of evangelicalism (and though I didn’t know it could be coined in such a term), and I was very angry at the church that tried to mislead me from Jesus by preaching Pharisaical doctrine, imagine how bad it is now, seeing that the worship of what Jesus warned against in Mark 8:15 is actually trending on social media sites like Twitter sometimes (though I did check just now and #NationalCoffeeDay is trending at this moment). But thank God that freedom of concept is still legal, though it might as well be outlawed, since people like you and me can be hated in such an extremely vile manner by our own parents, even to the point in which such an evil system is actually sovereign so that no one follows Jesus, and that even some of the most prolific warriors of God (obviously not in a violent way) tend to stay put and keep all comments to themselves, just as Amos 5:13 says, “Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time” (NASB).

But for now, at least I can motivate people to seek the Lord, though not in obvious ways, to some of the customers and even the staff at Fry’s right now. For instance, when I was having a conversation with a cashier yesterday (she was one of the friendlier ones), as I was mentioning my thoughts about what the Brazilian president is trying to do to the Amazon rainforest (it had to do with the book of Revelation), she was like, “Second Coming stuff, right?” But I wasn’t surprised at such a reply, I wasn’t even mad, actually 😂😂😂 so I mentioned that we don’t need to spook people with these truths. It actually kind of ties to both the climate strike the kids took and what Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old girl from Sweden, have said and done lately. You’ve probably heard of this before, but I don’t want to mention anything else about this right now because it’s usually used for politics instead of trying to fix what we’ve broken over the centuries, forests and all. But I actually wouldn’t mind if, when I’m dead, my remains grow into trees.

Anyway, it was really cool how God gave Abraham a goat to offer up to Him instead of his own son! I’ve mentioned the Isaac thing at the beginning of this note (though I don’t really think we need to eat goats today), but the goat had been caught in a thicket, whatever that is. I’d rather keep the goats alive than sacrifice them or anything, but that’s another subject for another time. Instead, I’ll mention that this passage is too often used by prosperity preachers to deceive whomever hears them. I’m going to warn you again (if I haven’t done so already), you’re going to hear a lot of heretical statements by numerous speakers if you don’t discern in the Spirit who to listen to. The extreme that’s still pretty popular is the “health and wealth” thing. But the other extreme is that poverty is God’s will — and that can never be true. With the two existing, the people who preach either can find common ground (and sometimes even work together) to derail each of us as if Jesus could be killed all over again. They know He has risen again, but by their religious babble and shocking deeds they deny Him, and you might as well stay away from all the churches in certain states and/or nations if you want to seek God.

Any prayer requests? Leave them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read each one, write them down, and then tape what I wrote to my bedroom walls! I’ll see you in the final ten verses of this chapter! Sayonara!

I feel the need to title my post as such above because this chapter is often used to pull people away from the things they love to follow God… without any preservation or anything like that. If God were to take things away as Job believed He did (Job 1:21) — this short passage is found in page 11 of my NKJV Bible, page 15 of my NASB Bible, page 26 of my VOICE copy, and pages 25-26 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy — He wouldn’t be worth following, would He? For it is written in 1 Timothy 6:8 that if we have food and clothing, we’ll be content with that. We also need places to live in, as a verse of Acts 17 (VOICE version) says… and a job… and friends… and so on. I thank God that He’s restored me to a pretty good extent, especially since lately, while I’m hanging out with my niece every so often, I can start a bike cleaning side gig! I won’t turn it into a business unless the Lord Jesus wills, for I need a permit from the town I live in to do that.

Anyway, it frustrates me (and the Holy Spirit) to no end when people say that God tests people — that’s NEVER been His heart, despite the translations that people have tried to deceive others with by removing the context of other Scriptures, such as James 1:13. I can only suppose that a fake movement called Calvinism has tricked pretty much everyone who’s ever been to church into their lies, for they are intentionally inflammatory, provocative in speech, divisive, have hearts that cherish anger more than anything, just to name a few. For centuries, people have been using all sorts of passages to ruin others’ lives with this theology (with points such as the heresies of limited atonement, double predestination, sovereign grace, and much more), and Jesus is calling more people out of them like He had done with me, for I never believed their crap. Instead, I read the Bible to get my opinions and beliefs from it. Too bad it’s very popular in this nation and in many parts of the world. There’s a reason why many people in my age group and younger have left the church before, sometimes more than once. I’ve done it a few times before, even if just temporarily. They put God’s love and justice (especially in terms of restoration despite much suffering) on the backburner… to the point where I’m afraid to find that Jesus might have to leave not just the U.S., but also other nations… permanently. Thank God He’ll return one day at least seven years from now, though (Revelation 19:11-16, also Daniel 9:24-27).

Over the years, this chapter has been used to teach too many lies, some of which I’ve mentioned above. I think it’s an idol, the “teachings” people have made from this part of Genesis. I’ve actually noticed many evil deviations of the Scriptures (that, thank God, are refuted by Scripture itself)… and sadly, I can’t stop even one of them. I also believe people worship order, and that only fuels the punishment mentality. For since when would it work to get people to do good? Instead, the grace of Jesus leads all to Him. Too bad that it’s often counted as useless, though. I think the spirit of religion owns too many people, especially in the churches we go to. I wish we could lead a more peaceful life because of Jesus inside you! But instead, in many scenarios, persecution is sovereign in those churches and in our culture… to the point where you might as well count loving the good illegal in a number of cases. Also, Scriptures like 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 are too often used to promote discipline over the love of Jesus. But we were born to want to do good in our world. Too bad people often tell you that you must do something in order to impress Jesus, which’ll never happen apart from faith (Hebrews 11:6, contrast James 2:14-26). Another thing they’ll tell you is that you shouldn’t give your hopes up, not mentioning their corrupt belief that Jesus doesn’t help those who either can’t or don’t help themselves. My family has believed this for too long, and I’m thoroughly disgusted with this, for I’m probably the first in my family line to ever become Christian since the peoples first came to what is now northern Europe. (I get most of my ancestry from them.) Indeed, what about the homeless people who are stuck because of injustice in the world? For if the Church did what was right, NO ONE throughout the entire planet would be sleeping on the streets. The U.S. has over two million homeless people in it, most of whom have been attacked by Satan himself so that they’d despair of life. There’s about 320 million people in it, sure, but in other developed countries, the homeless population per capita is much lower. Too bad lots of people give them the middle finger, though. I’ve been in the streets twice, but I thank God He can pull out anyone from that, and if they have committed any sins, they will be forgiven.

I could go on about how much I hate the mentality that you must earn whatever is promised no matter what, even if you’re in poverty to some degree. For God is willing to make anyone struck by injustice secure, even in a violent community. But much of the time, whatever’s promised isn’t much, or it’s even less than it actually is. It is true that prosperity doesn’t always happen to everyone, for Jesus Himself was homeless before (though He is alive and thriving in Heaven today). However, if anyone deprives any worker or needy person any provisions they deserve to have, they will cry out to God, and He will destroy those greedy and stingy people (Proverbs 24:11-12; see also Deuteronomy 15:7-11). For this is how Sodom started going down the slippery slope of reprobate conduct (Ezekiel 16:49). (Reprobation is when someone rejects Christ and they are thus without hope perpetually.) If you can’t afford anything to give because you have too little yourself, there’s really nothing you can do about it. But there are others who are willing to give… but the number of generous people has never been very high. Even so, God can give them live-saving provisions anyway! That’s kind of why I only put the first eight verses on the post title, for I want to make this chapter a little unpredictable. Too bad prosperity is often worshiped, though. It started in the 1940s here in the U.S., and hasn’t really diminished over the last 70-some years. So when you meet such a Calvinistic person, it’s pretty much an automatic game over. I also can’t promise anything good will happen because of them, for there are still too many prosperity preachers like Benny Hinn around.

Any prayer requests you want to make? Leave them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read each one, then write them down and tape them to my bedroom walls, however many (or few) there are! Have a blessed Monday night, everyone!

I don’t notice this enough, but Abimelech and Abraham made a treaty and they decided to be friendly to one another. Earlier, some of Abimelech’s servants violently seized a well Abraham’s men had dug (Genesis 21:25 (VOICE/AMPC)), so there was forgiveness for that 😇😇😇😇😇 I often think forgiveness is hard to come by among people, but this shows that even in a time where many tribes fought each other like crazy (this always happened between many in each people group for a long, long time, and colonization still happens every so often), unity between two people in which one has sinned against the other for whatever reason is actually possible, seeing that Jesus was the inspiration for Abraham’s friendship with Abimelech, along with their people! Then, Beersheba was founded by them, for both people swore an oath to show kindness to each other. It would become a prominent place for Israel several hundred years later. I think we should be a LOT more forgiving to others, because doggone it, if someone is owed forgiveness but doesn’t get any, they’ll probably go into despair, maybe forever. Still, Jesus paid the price for everyone, and He will NEVER be unforgiving! Too bad people can reject Him in many ways, though. By the way, this passage is found in page 11 of my NKJV Bible, pages 14-15 of my NASB Bible, pages 25-26 of my VOICE copy, and page 25 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I feel no need to say anything else but this: do you have any prayer requests? Leave them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! As for me, my niece’s grandmother — her father isn’t doing so hot in the Philippines; he has some heart problems. I pray he’s healed by Jesus! Any prayer like this, I don’t mind. But I’ll read each request, write them down on paper, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I’ll see you in chapter 22… this is going to be interesting.

Thank God that He keeps His promises! I needed this reminder today, for I found out yesterday that the produce and deli positions had been filled at my Fry’s store already, and that really put a damper on me. I found out today that I can make some good money if I sign up to be a mailman, but if they expect you to be loyal to the U.S. government, as if Jesus were less important or something, I think it would actually be dishonouring to them if I denied Him. For I remembered that God would get me a job that would pay off my student loans a little easier, and I’m thinking, “I don’t have to work at a post office to do it! Thank God!” I must say, though, it would be pretty cool to work in one, but since the political houses around the world dishonour God too often by rejecting any asylum seekers among many other things, I think I’ll need to work somewhere else. I might try Fedex or UPS, but I’m not sure which one will work. Maybe I’ll try both… but I pray for something to pay my student loan debt before it’s too late. This passage is found in page 11 of my NKJV Bible, pages 14-15 of my NASB Bible, and pages 24-25 of both my VOICE and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copies.

Anyway, as the chapter starts, we see that Isaac is finally born to Abraham and Sarah, fulfilling a prophecy later mentioned in Romans 9:7 (this was so that Israel could bless the world; it has NOTHING to do with Jesus’ sacrifice, I don’t think; I believe His death for everyone — this truth is often contradicted by most people who use any part of Romans 9 for whatever reason). But when Isaac was weaned, a strange thing occurs: Ishmael persecutes him because of Jesus coming from him. Paul later explains this in Galatians 4:21-31. Also, don’t you think this occurs too often? I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed over the years (I’m not expecting you to have heard this for the first time), the Church is fighting its people from within, and if I mention anything about my decision to work for some other delivery company, I’m thinking I’ll be persecuted by some church members once again, among other occasions in which I’ve fought off fake disciples of Christ by word of mouth. In the past, I’ve let some friends know about a fake gospel trying to send them to Hell, but many of them dissed me as if I were preaching nonsense! I’ve encountered similar issues as a different church later on, in terms of practicing the gifts of the Spirit liberally (freely) — a leader actually rebuked me for praising God for healing me of something! To this day, I don’t think going to the area where these churches were (and/or still are) is really even worth it, at least, now I don’t think it’s worth the wrangling. Who said someone’s theology was more important than Jesus? Certainly not God!

But we see that God took good care of Hagar and Ishmael once this episode happened. He grew to be a mighty nation indeed (see chapter 25). Too bad that most of his descendants now practice Islam, though. There’s also the issue of why most in Israel haven’t embraced Jesus yet. I think Satan made the two religions so that he’d get them fighting against each other. Some Islamic people might have realized that the Jewish practices of today don’t work in terms of trying to be with God, and maybe a few of the Israelites doing the same with Islamic stuff, but I don’t think it’s worth it to pick a side. It’s not Israel vs. Palestine, it’s Jesus vs. the devil. Indeed, it seems like I hear nothing but division sometimes. It’s not worth it. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if unity becomes illegal for any reason… here in the U.S. or anywhere in the world. For we don’t need division for any reason, don’t we? But the churches are too often divided about everything… yet I pray that more people in the Middle East become Christian. Indeed, I pray that Jesus would appear to more people in dreams there like He has been doing for a while, now. As it is, I feel there’s hurdles in every corner that I can’t jump. Would Jesus be stayed by offence so much that He never moves in people’s lives again? There are believers of God in every generation, sure (Isaiah 51:8), but there has to be more than just conversion; the fruit of people’s salvation needs to last! We need more people thriving in Him! Otherwise, I might be convinced that whatever good happens never lasts for very long. Indeed, it already seems like whatever move I make next, I lose. Where is God in all this? Is He nowhere to be found? Can’t we enjoy Him even once in our lives? Or has the devil thought ahead? I seriously don’t know what could be going on between Jesus and any spiritual darkness there is… I’m hoping to get the promise fulfilled concerning a better job like God said it would happen. But if it will happen, when will that be? I hope it’s not too late… I’m too young to be consumed by debts!

If you want to make any prayer requests, I’d love to hear them… you can leave one in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com 😊😊😊 also, pray that I don’t get turned down so that the corrupt economy succeeds in destroying me this time. See you later!

There’s so much good material on this second section of this chapter that I don’t know where to begin! I can start with this, though: Abraham was fearful that God was feared by no one (that is, reverenced in a holy manner, NOT BY BEING AFRAID OF HIM, contrary to what is probably still a popular opinion; see verse 11). Weird, huh? But let’s be honest, when haven’t we been afraid about something, or even the idea that people wouldn’t worship Jesus under any circumstance? Abraham’s statement has reverberated throughout time because we know that there are toxic people among us. This passage is found in pages 10-11 of my NKJV Bible, pages 13-14 of my NASB Bible, and pages 23-24 of both my VOICE and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copies. (I can probably write a thesis paper on this if I were in seminary or something…)

Like I’ve said before, this chapter is pretty underrated, so I’ll take my time to comment through this (it’ll be a long post) — Abraham thought Abimelech would kill him because of Sarah his wife and how attractive she was — they had done this with the Egyptian pharaoh earlier in their lives (see chapter 12). I often think the same thing, actually… ever since the series of events from 2014-2017 (I don’t want to list them here, you can ask me yourself), I’ve often thought that Jesus was seen as a threat to many people… and that even with freedom of religion, He’s still openly persecuted by billions in each country. I do pray that India would have a ton of people become Christian, though. I follow a news page about that country on Facebook. But anyway… I thought a bunch of crazy things following each bike ride I took a week ago, believing that if I mentioned Jesus for any reason, I would be put to death and His testimony would perish among the people of the U.S. and likely the world. For the U.S. still practices the death penalty, and the government loves to indict countless people for no apparent reason — the whistleblowers get ridiculous and thus unjust punishment for exposing a fraudulent deal. I even hesitate to put this online, but I’ll have it published as soon as I’m finished with this post. For who in Christ would want to do damage to anyone? Indeed, the unhypocritical people of God are the kindest in the world! I don’t deserve this nonsense! But thank God redemption can still happen… although I’m most concerned about if someone gets killed by another murderous lunatic because that person knows their victim loves God like Rachel Scott did in 1999. If that happened, even if it weren’t me, I’d go up in arms! But I’ll allow people to discover this post… I don’t want to share too much lest I give room for Christ’s enemies to blaspheme Him… it’s hard to keep a low profile sometimes.

At least Abraham got an amazing deal here, for Issac was born soon after his encounter with Abimelech transpired (Genesis 21:2). Hopefully I find that God will grant me another job and perhaps a better lease on life than what I’ve got now, working partly in the heat for barely anything. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just disturbing that I’ve never been full-time before, and I still haven’t been moved to the produce or deil department in my Fry’s store yet though I submitted the application nearly three months ago. I know my manager can be forgetful, but he remembered this time (he told me that last week) and I frankly shouldn’t be left waiting so long my student loan bills come up before I can pay them… that I have to pay more than what I’m actually making each month. It’s a unionized company, the Fry’s division, so there’s like, no excuse at this point. I hope my friends and other people read this, for I need more prayer than ever. But at least my niece is excited to see me in about 16 hours (it’s 1 a.m. right now), so I thank God for that 🥰🥰🥰😘💝💝💝💝💝💖💖💖💘💗💓 it’s not like I’d reveal everything to any one person in particular anyway; I think I might confuse at least a few people.

The note at the end of this chapter that the VOICE editor writes, about Abraham pulling off a deception, is not how I’d interpret that, by the way. Indeed, since lying lips conceal hatred (Proverbs 10:18), and those who hate are murderers and thus not Christian (1 John 3:15), I couldn’t — nor would I — assume that Abraham is a heretic or something. If that happened, God would be contradicting Himself. The note that the editor wrote is a direct assault on Abraham’s character and even against God Himself. I’m hoping I don’t find more notes like this… they’ve proven helpful to me in the past.

Any prayer requests you want to mention to me? Drop them in my e-mail: ron.outlan4727@gmail.com! I’ll read each one, write them down, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I could probably get a fancy paper arrangement for these if I wanted, but I can’t find any that aren’t a seasonal thing except for some post-it notes or something. But tape is more durable, so I’ll be using that. Thanks for reading, see you guys next time.

Like I said last Thursday in my last note, Abraham is called a prophet here — he’s the first in ALL the Scriptures to be explicitly mentioned as one. I’ve also learned over time (it was as early as 2011) that prophets are called by God as such today even still, and so are apostles (I learned this about two years later). I know God’s called me to be like Abraham in this manner, but that’s only because He knew I wouldn’t call myself this; I instead wanted God to call me into something greater than what I had been living in at the time… 2019’s arguably better than much of what’s happened in my college days, actually 😇😇😇 but I feel no need for anyone — including myself — to say you’re a prophet and do all sorts of funny stuff, yet God can call anyone to this if He wants… but I prefer being sensible, for the most part. I was actually dragged into a mental hospital once partly because of this, and also (mostly) because they believed Christianity was stupid. Either way, one shouldn’t prosecute anyone lightly. I know I wouldn’t. But I’m not a self-appointed prophet, for Jesus called me to do this. Hopefully I can speak life to many people through this and hopefully going abroad. (This passage is found in page 10 of my NKJV Bible, page 13 of my NASB Bible, pages 23-24 of my VOICE copy, and page 23 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.) I think Abraham was called as a prophet to speak for God on a regular basis… I love doing this! It’s weird how anything spiritual is mocked by the culture and government at large, though. But we shouldn’t allow anything detrimental, right? Several friends have spoken the prophet thing over me before, once because I had heard God speak audibly. But I think Abraham was called this because he had heard Him speak before, even before he believed (compare Genesis 12 with chapter 15). Besides, I don’t want to speak for myself again… and as I was writing this, I told my other roommate, Dean, about my prophetic calling — thank God he didn’t rebuke me for knowing this was biblical to walk in! It’s why I never mention it to anyone; people mostly speak this over me, and I wouldn’t blame them!

Also, if you read footnote n in this chapter (found in the original Amplified Bible), you will find that Abraham’s and Moses’ locations are different versions of the same pieces of land. This happens all throughout this book, actually… any confusion might be cleared up with the commentary of that version and/or the book of Exodus… by the way, the footnotes go in alphabetical order until you get to “z,” and then it rests to “a” if there’s a 27th footnote, and of there’s a 53rd footnote, a 79th footnote… and so on. It happens in pretty much every book, if not all of them. I just got done reading Malachi in that version, and from there the footnotes (throughout the New Testament) are very frequent and they never give much information, so I won’t read most of them… unless God wants me to find something interesting, but some footnotes have citations from false sources, like John Calvin, for example, but we don’t need to talk about him 😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣 and I’m also in Colossians in the NASB Bible — I’ve progressed quite a bit since the last time I mentioned how far I’ve gone in both versions. The South country’s name in verse 1 is spelled differently between the NASB and Amplified classic, though. Also, I really don’t want to forget the Scriptures or treat them lightly, because when you read several versions of the Scriptures front to back in just ten years or so, you can start forgetting if you’re not careful.

I should mention that God came to Abimelech in a dream as Abraham and Sarah were visiting — they passed up the half-sister/half-brother thing without marriage once again; I still don’t think you need to do it today; they must’ve only done it because there weren’t many people in those days — but at least Abimelech didn’t do anything wrong here. But I’m thinking, how often we tell people some of the truth and not reveal the whole thing? I’ll write more on this in the next post, but at least Abraham and Sarah were a godly couple, prioritizing Jesus first, as always. That’s what we do as God’s children. It can happen in many ways, and most of them can be more or less very unusual. I took three bike rides last week and in the first one (it was the day we had gotten back from Prescott in), I found a Bahama Buck’s shaved ice parlour and bought a triple mix there, and also witnessed to an employee about the peace of Christ during my visit. I think the other two people heard it, so I think it was pretty cool, but I often am afraid there is no fear of God anywhere, due to the many hypocrites that believe the world is their oyster, and as a result, think they can do as many satanic and demonic things as they can, especially in terms of passing any of that as if it were godly. It’s really not cool — I was sure I’d meet an ugly end with any of them. It’s been five days since my last spontaneous bike ride, but I’m getting an ugly feeling that someone will persecute me for believing in Christ again… and this time, I won’t make it through the ordeal and live to tell the tale. Anyone who knows me will remember my horrific three-year period of almost constant suffering. I won’t mention it today, though.

Any prayer requests? Leave them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I know I have like none right now but I just haven’t publicized it much. In fact, the only link I have in any of my social media accounts that leads to this site is my Instagram bio. But I’ll see you in the next 24 hours or so as I wait for my brother and/or another family member to hopefully get back to me upon seeing Bee this week — everyone’s at work right now, and it sucks that I can’t get there today. But I’m ok with being here in Gilbert right now; I’d still live in the house I’m at until I get married — I want to relax in the pool today, actually 😌😌😌🏊🏼‍♂️🏖☀💧 see you guys tomorrow!