Ron And His Stories

After the chaos of harsh travel conditions in the desert 🏜 and the fiery 🔥 serpents 🐍 the Israelites travel further and sing the Song of the Well (funny how in Hebrew, it’s written “beer” in its phonetics, translated to the English language — verses 17-18 mention this). After this, they encounter some hostile people and succeed against them, defeating the Amorites and Og, king of Bashan (see Deuteronomy 3:11 for how big his bed was, and also Psalm 136:20 for a reference of God’s love and benevolence in stopping him). This passage is found in page 92 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 117-118 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 186-187 of my VOICE copy, and pages 190-191 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I’m glad the Israelites were able to succeed in their continued journey to Canaan, but it’s not good the Amorites and Og wanted to stop them from getting there. However, God didn’t want judgment for them, Israelites and Gentiles alike — it’s a shame everything was so that God’s wrath was the final word for most of the people Israel encountered in those days. And sadly, too many Israeli soldiers and a lot of others are thinking God wants them to kill His enemies today 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ I don’t think He would’ve had Israel decimate them at first, since He hadn’t forgotten to demonstrate His power to them — God doesn’t make enemies out of others. I hate seeing people do that at work, church, a friend’s house, etc. It shows they hate Jesus and want to take His place as ruler of the universe. We’re on a mission to preach the Gospel to all creation, just as He had said in Mark 16:15.

But I don’t need to explain anything further right now… except, why is Elon Musk a trillionaire? And how is he doing this in a state with too many people exalting themselves as if they were the best place on Earth? For Texas is more unsafe than just about everywhere else in the country and likely the world. I discovered a few days ago that the U.S. is now one of the top 30 most dangerous nations to live in (out of 163 counted in the rankings), and somehow, Eritrea is safer, though only by about five spots. And they allow only four religions and harshly persecute everything else, not to mention freedom of like anything is non-existent. So we can be sure we’re in trouble, even though the World Cup ⚽️🏟 just started here in the U.S. last night, and many people are watching the games in the stadiums 🏟 throughout the whole thing, both from here and abroad (there’s also some stadiums 🏟 in Mexico 🇲🇽 and Canada 🇨🇦 — in total, there’s 1️⃣6️⃣ here in North America). But though Musk has a trillion bucks right now, he won’t succeed in challenging the truth of Solomon’s wealth portfolio being chief amongst all others (see 1 Kings 3:13). For the word of God is unable to be erased, just as Jesus had said in Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, and Luke 21:33. And you may be thinking, “What does this have to do with the Numbers 21 passage?” Well, God was the one to authorise His defeat of those who stood in Israel’s way back in Moses’ time, and if anyone were to get as rich as Solomon back then, God would’ve defeated them, too. So we can see that James 5:1-6 is the perfect prophecy for this situation. Indeed, the Israelites didn’t ignore their wealth, and they knew they needed it to sustain themselves once they were to enter Canaan. But sadly, it’s easy to get an inflato-head when it comes to this — shouldn’t we be generous with our assets according to the kingdom of God and what He wants? But it’s not as though we can do this all the time — one of these days, we can be more broke and destitute than I was when I was sick with pneumonia again and stuck in homelessness during the fight to get better. This was ten years ago last November — I may get it a third time this fall, and I remember I was sick as a dog like that once when I was 15, taking chemistry ⚗️🧪🧫 in school 🏫 and struggling to keep up with all the others. I still need to keep everything in my savings to become debt-free in the future. However, I may never get there — the student loan guys and the education system are evil enough to troll me in punishing ways worse than a Mario Maker level like this.

I know I’ve said the same thing a lot, and you’re probably wondering, “Are you seeking out what’s good, dude?” Well, the good news is, I’ve discovered videos 📹 on YouTube that record lovely tropical lands like Bora Bora and Hawai’i on multiple channels, each one being either live or several hours long. But I’m mostly there for the clips and images I can screenshot into my phone 📱 📲 ☎️ 📞 📳 to gawk at God’s creation with. And I remember last week I had done the same thing with multiple parts of Sedona on Google Maps during my vacation. Also, I looked into my Google photo drive last night (didn’t think I could do that haha) and found all my images from my 2023 Awaken trip to Prescott are still there, including the 9-hole Frisbee 🥏 golf course I played with someone’s Frisbee there (haha I thought it was for everyone; sorry, Brody) — I did return it to him when I went back to the field, if you’re curious what I did with it when I was done. Want to see some photos? If so, here’s a few of them:

I hope you enjoy these photos! All these were taken from my smartphone I had received six months prior to this trip where I explored the lovely lands of Northern Arizona 😍😍😍😍😍 I really do think it’s worth it to travel. And yes, chapter 33 does well with the Israelites’ journeys, which I’ll cover later.

I keep forgetting to mention this, though: I find it very strange many people come to a bar to drink with a lot of them having the same idea of getting beer from a well, as though God meant for us to drink tons of alcoholic beverages like beer, margaritas, tequila, vodka, etc. Now to be fair, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing; indeed, some people can hold their liquor, but I don’t think it’s worth it for me to drink, and not just because of the cost of each beverage… alcoholic drinks can shorten our lives, make us do weird stuff, and destroy our liver (Proverbs 23:29-35). One translation of the end of that passage says that the alcoholic is saying, “When I’m sober enough to manage it, bring me another drink!” 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬 But the good news is, no one will be drunk in New Jerusalem, yea, those who accept Jesus now. We’ll eat succulent seafood and drink mai tais and tropical drinks to our hearts’ content there, and God wouldn’t have even killed anything, either! When Heaven and Earth become one, there will be endless places and depths of God to explore, and discontent will never be a thing again, ever! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼 I hope I honour Him the way He wants me to now, though… and I want to find out what that’s like. But I hope you enjoyed this post, so be blessed today!

In Christ,

Ron Outland

After Aaron died on Mount Hor, Moses and the rest of the Israelites set out past Edom and decimated another nation, even though it wasn’t what God had wanted in the first place. Then, they bitterly gripe at Moses and the Lord Jesus, so He sends out all sorts of snakes 🐍 but then they pray to God that He’d heal them, and Moses makes a bronze serpent per His instructions. This should be a boring premise, like how most of the Law of Moses had been written (I still stand by the belief there wasn’t much worth mentioning in Leviticus), but the fact Jesus referenced this in John 3:14 as a prelude to how He’d arrive in this life and die and rise again for all our sins is HUGE. This passage is found in pages 91-92 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, page 117 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), page 186 of my VOICE copy, and pages 189-190 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t often take into consideration the food I have, and indeed, the Israelites complained about Moses supposedly making them live on too little… but they had a lot of wealth, and they’ve needed to detox from Canaanite content that they had embraced in Egypt (for again, Canaan had a very strong influence over Egypt, and Canaan was extremely wicked, hence why God said what He had said in Genesis 15:16 about the iniquity of the Amorites being incomplete at Abraham’s time, several hundred years before Joshua’s leading the Israelites to take Canaan), and all of us can go that route if we’re foolish enough. I just got a dozen tacos 🌮 at Taco Bell again 😋 and I wish I could eat that many tacos every three days 😂😂😂😂😂 but my insides won’t like me very much if I eat Taco Bell two or three times a week, and neither will my bank account, not to mention my family and whoever would help me with rent due to inflation and unfair housing costs. At least, though, despite me having to use something in my fee-free overdraft allowance and several dozen bucks in my savings, I may be able to restore it all and pay my SRP bill in the next few days.

The “herem” of devoting entire populations to God so He’d defeat them occurs here in Numbers, and multiple times in Joshua some months after this victory, but God never wanted war with others, and He doesn’t delight in anyone’s death (Ezekiel 18:32), so neither should we. For His heart’s always been about restoration (2 Peter 3:9) and salvation (1 Timothy 2:4). While we can’t mention only this in the churches or anywhere else (for there’s a reason there’s so much content in the Bible), this is why God’s love should be celebrated for others. It’s too bad there’s not many who share in my affinity for justice and hope in this regard, though. Yet funnily enough, simultaneous worldwide conflict, most of it being related to each other, has occurred twice before, and often, many people across the earth think war is necessary, but I think Jesus allowed it to happen because someone believed it would be a good idea to revive an economy they believed to be going to the crapper by means of petty fighting and blaming minourities. I don’t need to explain how this is repeating itself here, though. And they claim their “dear leader” is against selfish combat? The dude tried to destroy Iran, believing them to have missiles and hostages, and this time, they didn’t make the first move against the U.S. I don’t agree with the Iranian system, though, which should be obvious to everyone with common sense, but I guess the Church would rather… attack a population because they hadn’t sent missionaries to these people! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 It’s a shame Jesus can’t seem to win…

The Hebrew for Numbers 21:6 about the snakes 🐍 reads “seraphim,” which literally means “fiery snakes” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 and since Moses had made a bronze serpent to have those who look at it be healed instantly, this was foreshadowing to Jesus’ sacrifice for all mankind, especially those who’d later receive Him (1 Timothy 4:10). That’s why I’d love to get to many different unreached peoples to present this to them, but if anyone in some other country has access to the Internet and can translate this to their language, they don’t need to leave their home to receive Jesus 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 I do pray they can be safe from all sorts of things that would derail them, though. Indeed, this is easily one of the best Scripture passages so far, and easily in my top 5-15 favourite Bible stories. Though I think the bronze Moses used to make the serpent had been from what they’d stored up from Abraham’s escapade with Lot in Genesis 13… the wealth had been passed down by several generations by this time. And I bet Eleazar was under 20 when the first census had been taken in chapter 1 here, since he didn’t die until after the events of Joshua unfolded (Joshua 24:33).

I have work in just two hours, and I’m not in my uniform right now, so I’ll get dressed before I leave my apartment to clock in there, and I’ll probably look longingly at a bunch of lovely photos from multiple places I had taken screenshots of in Google Maps 😅😅 because I want to vacation in French Polynesia 🇵🇫 one day 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩 indeed, I have the post-vacation blues, and it’s unfortunate I can’t travel even to a different part of Arizona often 😭😭😭😭😭 I do want to be debt-free, though. I’m not sure what that’ll look like, and I want more good news to happen, too, so I pray I can endure another shift full of bad moments I imagine would be proof I can’t really go anywhere even with a higher wage, and that I can secure a second job albeit a temporary one, probably. I need to keep things fresh for my job, since I’ve worked there for several years, now, and am starting to find everything frustrating so that I’d rather never go back. I want peace, but nothing in retail is safe… I do want to show some of my coworkers what I had screenshotted during last week’s vacation, though. Yet I don’t want to settle for less… it’s a shame avoiding that often requires you to sell your soul to the devil, though. But at least every follower of Jesus is safe from that 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😇😇😇😇😇😇😇 so I pray I can be safe today.

In Christ,

Ron Outland

I’ve gotta be honest, I wish Aaron could’ve had a better ending… Psalm 106:32-33 explains that he and Moses also had their hearts grow cold to the Israelites, so to speak — Moses spoke rashly with his lips, the psalm says. It’s a shame they couldn’t finish their journeys in the wilderness strong. I can’t really tell what Aaron was thinking, but maybe Moses didn’t know much of his significance on the whole country… regardless, leadership of any kind is a huge responsibility, and if we don’t have what it takes to pull that off, we’d best avoid signing up for it. Yet every Christian leads in something. However, we’re supposed to follow Jesus primarily above everything else. Otherwise, it’s idolatry. This passage is found in page 91 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 116-117 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament) pages 185-186 of my VOICE copy (with a short note after this chapter ends), and pages 188-189 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I suffered a loss of Internet connection as I was writing this down (this probably won’t be the last time this happens even if I had the fastest Wi-Fi 📶🛜 ever), but maybe an evil spirit had interfered with this — it came to my attention less than three hours ago that they’ve dropped many of the faiths that were legal here (they’re all minorities), and while Christianity, for the most part, is still legal, and likewise several other popular faiths in this world, I think they needed to avoid criminalising these things; why not give them the opportunity to repent and follow Jesus without any negative repercussions? But this country’s following the pattern of Constantine, who, after coming to power around 300 A.D., banned all religious expression except Christianity. As a result, the empire he led fell apart pretty fast. I am speaking of the same empire that crucified Jesus. And soon, it’ll not be allowed for me to speak the truth about the governments here, and I’m tired of the excuses the “church” gives to try and deceive me into believing Trump or anyone else in the U.S. leadership system is less brutal than Nero had been. For if anyone is willing to take away good things and call it Christianity or godliness, that’s actually worse than what Nero had pulled off. And he used to torch Christians for his amusement. There’s a reason the book of Jude, which speaks of the Great Apostasy (see verses 3-19 there) was written after Jerusalem fell again in A.D. 70. Sadly, though, the love of Christ is completely absent in every U.S. church… I explained to a friend that it was the sin of 2 Peter 2:20-21, but if he doesn’t believe this or if he changes the subject, there’s no truth in him. I think these churches here change the subject A LOT whenever I bring this up — I’m actually thinking they don’t want to be the hands and feet to the leads of these when it’s in their power. And sadly, there’s nothing I can do about it… the Word of God seems to have been wasted.

But back to the Bible passage… Moses sends a letter asking Edom if they’d let him and the rest of the Israelites pass through, and he was quite reasonable about it… but Edom wasn’t — they’d been nursing a grudge against Jacob since he had swindled him twice (Genesis 25:29-34, 27:1-41) — Jacob was indeed no Christian in those days, but he repented before he died, yet Esau believed forgiveness and justice contradicted each other… sadly, much of humanity has followed his lead, and the Puritans and most of their descendants are no exception. But justice is described in Amos 5:24 in terms of restoration. I found out about this from reading Brian Zahnd’s Radical Forgiveness book. (I don’t really know how to cite it properly, but whatever.) This is much-needed, but who among us is receptive to this truth nowadays? I can’t speak truth to anyone determined to misunderstand it… there’s a huge population in this country willing to do this 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔

I want to explain more, for I feel brokenhearted just thinking about it… but it’s good that Israel finally packed up from Kadesh and set out to try and go through Edom — they had to go another way to Mount Hor, where Aaron would die and be buried because he and Moses hadn’t treated God as holy (verses 10-12). Jesus wanted to showcase His love to the community again, and He was indeed the Rock they drank from (1 Corinthians 10:4), but Moses and Aaron didn’t do it properly, and most of the others had disowned God in their hearts both before the unbelieving generation died off and as a result of this (1 Corinthians 10:5). So, He had Aaron die at Mount Hor, and the Israelites mourned for him for 30 days, in contrast to the customary seven for most others’ deaths. They’d mourn for Moses for 30 days later, a note 📝 📋 says after this chapter is finished.

I want to showcase God’s kindness more often, and I don’t often know how, which honestly, is awful, knowing most of us stay inside every summer in the Valley, and water is getting expensive. I don’t think I can be humble enough… but at least no one has to humble themselves without Christ’s Spirit — it’ll be false humility if we looked to some other source, including ourselves. Also, today’s the last day of my vacation, and I probably won’t need to write anymore this week (I mostly want to look at more lovely images of Hawai’i, Bora Bora, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Google Maps 😅😅 sorry that I don’t have the freedom of going anywhere) — I want to jump in my apartment pool today, so that’ll be good. I’ll need to shower 🚿 first, but that’s OK. I’ll see you next time when we analyse Numbers 21!

In Christ,

Ron Outland

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

When I read this chapter one day a number of years ago, someone in the commentary mentioned that God hadn’t spoken to Aaron without going to Moses first. And Aaron and Miriam had interrogated Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman in chapter 12! So we see that God’s grace extends to even those who don’t believe in Him 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 and I wish we could recognise this in greater levels! I don’t often think of grace as something to be abundant, though, sadly, since there’s too many unforgiving and hateful people where I’m from, and blessing is hard to find, even if I’m in a supposedly safe neighbourhood 😬😬😬😬😬 I did send a bunch of photos of a Bora Bora video I was watching this afternoon to my brother, though (all six of them were screenshots). But this chapter is found in page 90 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 114-115 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 182-183 of my VOICE copy, and pages 185-187 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I hope my brother and the others I’ve sent these pictures to would love the video I got them from, and what the heck, my other family members should see it, too! I’d like to send the photos to my mom and maybe her husband soon after writing this post… for God’s grace should be for everyone, even if they hate Him. Too bad they won’t see any blessing if they do hate Him, though. Indeed, it’s not surprising that anyone I’m related to would impugn either me or even a young relative I have… but I still don’t enjoy that 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 there must be a reason God decided to speak to Aaron even though he had rejected Him (the insurrection he and Miriam had warranted God’s rejection of them, and his personality made it so that he was a poor leader, hence the golden calf story in Exodus 32). If you don’t feel ready to forgive right now, that’s not something God can’t handle 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇 there are indeed a lot of malicious people in this life, though. And I don’t want to watch anyone mention in a church that forgiveness doesn’t work hand-in-hand with restorative justice… but life is often indeed unfair, and this probably won’t end anytime soon even though we should anticipate Christ’s return as if it were to happen in the next ten minutes or less.

Also, if you’ve read my last three posts prior to this one, you’ll notice I wrote today’s date on all of them; don’t worry, I want to encourage godliness and love here. But the system God was setting up for Aaron and his family line wasn’t what He had wanted, really, since, again, it is impossible for the blood of goats and lambs to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). He did want to point the Israelites to Jesus, but even when He came down to Earth, most of them didn’t receive Him 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 this is mentioned loosely in the While You Were Sleeping song Casting Crowns had written over 20 years ago (spoiler alert: at the end, he asks if the U.S. will be a nation with no room for its King, and I’m sorry to say He will never be popular here). It is nice to see people receive Jesus, but often, their stories are unheard. And I don’t expect to be popular after writing all this, since I have only 13 subscribers in this platform, but each of the subscribers are worth it 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

I don’t know when I’ll write on chapter 19 (I feel I’ve done a lot of writing already), but I’ll see you there soon, God-willing.

In Christ,

Ron Outland

I’m getting through this section of Numbers as fast as I can because I want to get this over with and not think about widespread betrayal against the Lord during my vacation this week. Indeed, God was still angry with all of Israel during that week in which Korah, his three friends, and 250 others had rebelled and challenged Him and were subsequently swallowed by the ground itself — sadly, Israel has always been prone to earthquakes, but then again, so is everything on the West Coast, Iceland 🇮🇸 Chile 🇨🇱 New Zealand 🇳🇿 the Philippines 🇵🇭 Japan 🇯🇵 and so much more. This chapter is found in pages 89-90 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, page 114 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 181-182 of my VOICE copy, and pages 184-185 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Again, I’m not sure how old Moses, Aaron, and all the others were when these events in chapters 16-17 had happened that week, but it had to have been quite a few years, probably less than halfway into the wilderness wanderings, which, again, had lasted nearly 40 years. The staff was to stop the community from snatching Aaron’s rightful position as the first-ever high priest, to which they responded, “We’re going to die! We will be destroyed! If anyone comes close to the tent where the Eternal One is supposed to meet with us, then he’ll die. Will we all die, then?” (Numbers 17:12-13 (VOICE)) And who hasn’t felt that way before? For if there’s enough judgment and/or punitive people around, everyone else will question if forgiveness even exists! Indeed, Jeremiah prayed in Jeremiah 14:18, “Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion?” (NKJV) among other things, though that may have been the repitions of the people to try and deceive Him in that passage — unfortunately, Judah’s doom had been sealed by then, especially with passages like Deuteronomy 31:16-21 around. However, the people had embraced the influences of all the idols around them, and Manasseh also brought some idols into God’s temple (see 2 Kings 21:4), so that was when it was time for this to happen. Of course, the man repented and began following Jesus (2 Chronicles 33:12-13) and later reinstated the reforms he had erased (2 Chronicles 33:14-16), but it didn’t avert God’s judgment, and neither did Josiah’s reign in 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chronicles 34-35, for when he had started a revival, most of it was fake. Regardless, every time widespread betrayal of the Lord Jesus happens, there’s always a remnant of those who are faithful to Him, even if their nation is wiped off the map, as Paul later illustrated from Elijah’s example in Romans 11:2-4. Indeed, without the 7,000 people who never worshipped Baal, the faith of Jesus probably wouldn’t have survived.

I’ve done enough writing for now, so I’m going to have some lunch. I don’t know what I want to eat, but I don’t need to spend any cash. Regardless, I do need to withdraw a small amount to put into my laundry card and wash all my clothes when the time comes. Thank God I had gone to the bank 🏦 yesterday! (I needed to put a $20 in it after paying rent earlier this week to prevent an overdraft, for I had signed up for a small monthly payment to block spam calls, but I think I need to switch banks; it’snot really working… I don’t really know.) I PRAY I can showcase God’s grace in the next few chapters…

In Christ,

Ron Outland

I don’t want to write on this, but I promised years ago I’d get through every part of the Bible, as far as each chapter is concerned, at least… I’m legit speechless on the fact that Korah with three others among the priesthood mentioned by their names, two of whom were descended from Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn (read Genesis 29:32 for his birth) and 250 others tried to take Moses’ priesthood away from him… I don’t even like to believe anything bad about even one human being, including an enemy of the Lord Jesus who has wilfully disgraced me and all the others with them before… this chapter that makes me wish I weren’t in a grocery store where I work (I’m still on vacation; thank God 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇 I’m halfway through it right now) every so often is found in pages 88-89 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 113-114 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 179-181 of my VOICE copy, and pages 182-184 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I find it interesting there’s a note somewhere in the middle of this chapter (in the VOICE version) that says everyone could experience God’s glory, but this isn’t good news, seeing that the two Reubenites had complained about both the promise land being bad and claiming their experience in Egypt to be good and that Moses was like a thoughtless dictator 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 he was furious concerning this. And I don’t blame him! Indeed, I actually sometimes pray to God that He would kill those who destroyed everyone’s peace when I’m working at Fry’s! That’s not something I enjoy anyway, prayers like these. Yet Jeremiah would later pray things like in Jeremiah 18:21-23 — who doesn’t rage against the violent people from time to time? I work in Gilbert, where it’s supposed to be safe for an American town, but I guess no blessing cannot be cursed into oblivion later, even if it actually is from God! And He seemed short of patience, yet thankfully, it says in 1 Timothy 1:16 that He never grows impatient with anyone, such as you, the reader of this post. I think He only said what He had said in verse 21 here to stir Moses and Aaron to plead for His mercy 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💝💝💝💝💝💖💖💖💖💖💖💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥💯💯💯💯💯

And when I read verses 28-33 here, I noticed the earth opening its mouth and swallowing the 254 people (the 250 with Korah and his three co-leaders had probably been a rough estimate, which is important to differentiate between Numbers 25:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:8, since they say 24,000 and 23,000 people, respectively — there’s no contradictions in the Bible, so neither writer probably had any idea what the other had written) was pretty extraordinary, and I’d rather nor die in my sins like these guys did. I don’t want an unrepentant soul! Nor do I want to be fake about it… indeed, I’ve mentioned to several of my friends, both among our former Awaken crew (I used to attend the Awaken young adult group at Two Rivers, but I’m 35, now, and had aged out in early 2024) and at work, that I don’t think I’m as kind as I want to be. I hate it. But I did look at images of Hawai’i and French Polynesia 🇵🇫 through Google Maps this week so far to fill my mind and heart with pure bliss, since I want to go on several mission trips one day, and also take a vacation on both areas for several weeks each. Heck, I think it’d be cool to live there 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍🌸💮🏵🌺🦋🐳🐋🐬🦭🐟🐠🐡🦈🐙🦀🦞🦐🦑🐚🪸🪼🐌🐛🐞🌴🌼🌻🏵🌺🏖🏝🏞🏔⛰️🌋🌄🌅🛵🚲🛺⚓️🛟⛵️🛶🚤🛳⛴️🛥🚢✈️🛩🛫🛬🧳🛎🏢🏣🏨🏰🏩💒

What I don’t want to see here or anywhere else is anything like what had happened in verses 41-50 in response to the judgment in verses 31-35… it shows how far the Isralites had gone into a wild bout of insanity and depraved content 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😓😓😓😓😓 what if we do some humanitarian aid here in the U.S. to the least of these and someone comes to you, saying, “You have raped the Lord Jesus with your generosity!” I’d be utterly horrified and flabbergasted again, just as I was with reading this chapter (this is the first time in years that I had done this) about the wild mega-crap the evil one had inspired in all the people. Indeed, 14,700 or so perished for the attacks on Moses and Aaron for what had happened — this was literally the next day after the rebellion had started. I think a long time had passed between the events of chapters 15 and 16 here. There’s probably several episodes of God’s judgment in anything like this in many parts of the world for opposing Jesus and His Gospel work, just as Paul had mentioned to Timothy that Alexander thr coppersmith had done him much harm and that God will recompence him so that he is forgotten by God Himself (2 Timothy 4:14). Maybe that’ll work for seeing numerous people in each of these places giving thanks to God for Him making them safe? For judgment to the offenders of the Lord Jesus is mercy to everyone else. I’d rather testify of Jesus getting people saved, though. There’s a difference between being safe and getting people freely loving Jesus, for safety is often working with forgiveness to make it happen.

It’s good that Eleazar was around as a priest to curb the Lord’s wrath in future possibilities of presumption of their leadership by others, but again, I think it’s unfair that wickedness-lovers take the positions frequently. For if everyone in leadership was Christian, no matter what facet of life they’re in, the world would be a lot less unfair and ungracious. I don’t know how old Eleazar was in this chapter, but he was one of Aaron’s other sons who didn’t perish with Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire before God in Leviticus 10:1-2. I’ll also cover Aaron’s blossoming staff in the next chapter, and God-willing, I’ll see you soon.

In Christ,

Ron Outland

This isn’t really a favourite passage of mine, since there’s an actual public execution because someone had gathered firewood one Sabbath (Saturday) during the wilderness. The Sabbath being a Saturday will serve as a main plot element in Jesus being in a tomb for three days, much later in Luke 23:56. Indeed, this system God never wanted anyway, since it’s impossible for the blood of goats 🐐 and sheep 🐑 to take away our sins. But this passage is found in page 88 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 112-113 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 178-179 of my VOICE copy, and pages 181-182 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I already don’t like when I sin by accident and/or do anything that may offend someone unawares, for I know I can put someone in danger if I’m not careful enough. And if I have sinned against someone under 18, woe unto me! I never mean for that to happen, though… but you know what I don’t understand? Why do those people who lord it over all mankind claim you’ve put their little ones in danger when they’ve probably had sex with them? But I gained knowledge two weeks ago from a friend of mine from Australia 🇦🇺 that sadly, the U.S. was founded by violence, and Jesus said those who live by the sword die by it (Matthew 26:52). I was texting several large messages to a friend of mine this morning around sunrise concerning this; I don’t think he’s read it yet… but it was pretty early; I’m not sure when the sun rises in his area, but we are in the same time zone most of the time (Arizona doesn’t do daylight savings). But anyways, someone would use this and the following chapters as a weapon to deceive their victims into believing God is so ungracious He has no interest in forgiveness, no matter what it is. Sadly, though, it’s difficult to find ANYONE who even believes God’s love still never fails (see 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NKJV)) — yet I met someone from India 🇮🇳 and wants to do life with us here, and I’m thrilled for it 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 he’s receptive to the words of Jesus, and me and several others celebrated his birthday last night at Pita Island, where the Mediterranean food is a blast! I highly recommend you try that if you’re in Gilbert. I’m really happy he made it here, and I want to see India have more and more godly moments. And thank God just about every nation is more receptive to godliness and kindness than the U.S. is. Even the U.K. can’t be THAT selfish… but many people from different countries do come here to the U.S. for work, and I’m here for it 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 there’s also the World Cup occurring here in North America, with 11 stadiums 🏟 in the U.S. alone. I don’t think there’s any games in Arizona, but it’s still pretty awesome 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 too bad Trump’s willing to transform the hearts of all the people visiting into something like his, though. Even if someone’s heart 🫀 has been restored in Jesus our God, these antagonists who work in the governments here are willing to erase every last trace of what is holy, good, righteous, true, and lovely… and freedom is supposed to be honoured here? *scoffs* I guess that’s why they call it America 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

But enough of my rambling, I pray the lovely men, women, and their families can read this passage in their native tongue when watching the games here, or in Canada, or in Mexico, and then find out about Jesus’ sacrifice for them so they’d recognise His love for them 💖💖💖💖💖💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💗💗💗💗💗 it says in Revelation 7:9 there will be a multitude from every nation, tribe, and tongue whose population is so high no one can count them. The Bible is clear on this. There’s no room for debate. And India is the world’s most populated nation, now, so we need to pray for deliverance from the Hindu gods there (but thankfully, freedom of religion and speech is legal there, mostly). And I understand the local Christians’ approach to Jesus in some ways, since I know what it’s like to be trapped in a hostile environment, and I know what it’s like to be stuck in the streets more than once, not to mention for nuclear suffering to happen (though not in a high or extensive amount). But I did give a Bible and 60 bucks to someone outside a Wal-Mart once, and he said his roommate had stolen his rent money 💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸 so I hope he’s doing OK, now 🗣👤👥️🫂👣 I pray the guy can receive Jesus, and likewise for another dude I gave another Bible to one day by Fry’s, as well as ten bucks, although I don’t find it fair that someone was spying on me, and I didn’t know they were there. I don’t want to reveal the details here, though. Regardless, if we follow the media too much, we violate Romans 12:2. And that’s un-Christian.

The story of someone violating the Sabbath in verses 32-36 is particularly easy to manipulate, forcing dozens of episodes containing legalism and unforgiveness on me and my friends. Jesus never wanted that to happen anyway (see Ezekiel 33:11 and 2 Peter 3:9). I respect the fact that people are willing to preach on overlooked passages like this, but man, these people do not respect me back. And when someone sees this and decides to… try the Lord Jesus, as if Paul mentioning that the only way to put Jesus to the test (as per his referencing of Numbers 21:4-9 in 1 Corinthians 10:9), was to do anything like what’s in the Numbers passage referenced above, God will be offended with them because He knows everything the “peace” makers are up to. For a time is coming when sudden destruction and punishment (I remember I looked into the Greek for that several years ago) will overtake them (1 Thessalonians 5:3), and for them, there will be no escape! I don’t want to say worship of true or false peace is common, but I swear, every time a macho dude comes forward to announce his agenda for power, a huge crowd follows them. I haven’t done so hot in dealing with the Trump supporters here, and I actually feel defiled in watching those I know follow the pedophile 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 so if I had lived in the 70s watching Dobson and his satanic content getting so popular that all the lovers of joy and peace whimper and shiver and tremble in fear, I don’t know what I’d do. And I was born in 1990, but thankfully, I hadn’t heard almost anything about the heretic when he was alive (he died in his sins last August). I’m glad the pastor never mentioned anything favourable concerning him around that time, but it’s unfair he and all the others in the Valley worshipped Charlie Kirk for supposedly dying as a martyr (he didn’t talk about Jesus when he died, but about his politics 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 he’s in Hell with Dobson and all the other children of the devil, where all their supporters are going). It’s been nearly nine months since then, and nothing has changed. Indeed, my spirit and soul don’t feel right most days because of the extreme atheism of all the people, especially the “Christians” here. I feel like there may be something like the scenario in Ezekiel 9 where God told his angels to mark those who grieved over all the sins of Jerusalem and take out everyone else with advanced technology, but a lot of people probably have this worthless and unforgivable idea to shoot everyone in a marketplace or a school who disagrees with the “sound” and “divine” words of the president 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 I can never say this dude speaks anything besides what’s worth literally less than nothing. What do Trump and his supporters do in their spare time, anyway? Cut themselves to showcase their bloodlust for endless and unrestrained power like Baal’s worshipers did in 1 Kings 18 when they tried to call for him?! I’m not ready for this 😭😭😭😭😭😓😓😓😓😓 heck, just the fact there’s a Trump statue which multiple pastors claim isn’t an idol shows this is the USA’s darkest era yet.

There’s no footnote in the first Amplified Bible translation, so I don’t think I need to say anything else. But I’ll see you in the next one! Later, guys!

In Christ,

Ron Outland

I don’t want to touch on any of the sins the Israelites are warned against today, and God must’ve had to wait at least several years before giving any further instructions to Moses and Aaron after He had pronounced judgment in verses 28-35 in the previous chapter. But this passage is found in pages 87-88 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, page 112 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament), pages 178-179 of my VOICE copy, and pages 181 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

As God’s people (most of whom really being His enemies) were perishing, He was giving Moses and Aaron more instructions for the promise land, Canaan. And I wonder if I’ve lagged behind in following Jesus as of late? But I thank God I’m on vacation from work this week 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼😇😇😇😇😇😇🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ I want to go to Hawai’i at some point, or another Pacific island with lovely everything, but I know my only choice is to wait a very long time for that, possibly, even with my savings, all due to my debts I need to start repaying soon (though thankfully isn’t a big amount right now, but it sucks). Besides, I feel for the missionaries who are doing God’s work and spreading His love to unreached places like John Chao once did several years back to the North Sentinelese tribe, though he was martyred for it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 may God reward him for his work there on the day of judgment (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)! — I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to do the same thing in the future, and I’d rather live in an actual safe country where I can have all my needs met without having to take out a loan for something. I’m grateful to God for a hotel 🏨 stay almost a year ago in the neighbourhood I used to live in, but this time, I can’t afford that one, especially since next week, when I go back to work, I’ll have to buy new uniforms. And I don’t expect to be allowed to wear shorts when that happens (we’ll all be required to wear new uniforms soon) but I did discover earlier this month that I had gotten a 20¢ raise from my maintenance duties I pull off at work sometimes. And if I get to do that full-time in the autumn 🍂 I’ll have only 🕗➡️🕓 shifts five times a week, which will put me at 4️⃣0️⃣ hours every time, even when I’m sick or need to take a personal holiday to take a break from all that. It’s a shame I can’t go to church when working during the weekends, but I thank God I played a Hillsong Netherlands 🇳🇱 message from Arizona, where I live — it’s about submission, but thankfully, the speaker mentioned it has nothing to do with making people feel less valued and that submission is supposed to be mutual; the wives-submitting things is tossed around too much, and there’s always worldliness when that happens. We as Christians are called to be different from that. And I’m glad God includes the foreigners to the Israelites in His plan for redemption for the entire world, as detailed for something in verses 15-16. So I can take delight in the fact that everyone gets a chance to know Him 🎶🥰💖💝💘💗💓💞💕❤️‍🔥❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️🩷💜💙🩵💚💛🧡🤎🤍🩶🖤💯💯💯💯💯 to God be the glory 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

Maybe sometime later this week, I’ll write on the rest of the chapter, and I’d really love to mention godliness again on here, too, not just my personal stories of life. But for now, let’s rest awhile. And for those who love what’s good and are reading this, I hope you can be encouraged with today’s post! I’ll be back with the rest of this chapter, if I or anyone else can wait that long 😅😅

In Christ,

Ron Outland