Hope In the Word of God

(I might not be able to post for a while after I leave here this weekend. I figured this email that I sent out to the fam & friends is a good post before being offline. Enjoy)

This is something I heard a pastor named (I believe) Joe Chambers say about the Bible being divinely inspired. In Genesis Chpt 5, the names of the "generations" from Adam to Noah are given. If you look up what each of the names mean and then read them IN ORDER, you get a wonderful sentence of love and hope. It's as if God gave us a message within the message of His Word.

Below are the verses from the Bible. I added in parentheses and boldface the meaning of each name. At the end, read the sentence that comes out. I thought it was pretty neat. In case any of us need to be reminded of what the Father can do!

Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam(Man). In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Gen 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Gen 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth(Appointed):
Gen 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Gen 5:6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos (Mortal):
Gen 5:7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
Gen 5:9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan (Sorrow):
Gen 5:10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
Gen 5:12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel (The Blessed God):
Gen 5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
Gen 5:15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared (Shall come down):
Gen 5:16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
Gen 5:18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch (Teaching):
Gen 5:19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
Gen 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah (His death shall bring):
Gen 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
Gen 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Gen 5:25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech (Despairing):
Gen 5:26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Gen 5:28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
Gen 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
Gen 5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
Gen 5:32 And Noah (Comfort & rest) was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And, putting it all together, the pastor pointed out the sentence:
Man appointed to mortal sorrow. The blessed God shall come down teaching. His death shall bring the despairing comfort and rest.

By the way, when I checked the Smith dictionary in my eBible download, I didn't get the same meaning for Seth; I got the meaning of "compensation . I then went online to a SECULAR source of baby names and the meaning of "appointed" did come up. I checked a couple of the other names and some came up in Smith and the online as what is shown above. (I wanted to check because I got an email a long time ago about the center of the Bible. While it's not untrue, it was unclear without some checking. Snopes has the article on that if you want to look it up. Pretty neat.)

Peace
--Free

(P.S.: I want to give a shout out to the very excellent e-Sword Bible study software that is available for free download. These brothers and sisters provide this amazing resource free of charge, but can use donations. If you are blessed and able, please donate AND spread the word about the site!)

Questions For Oprah Fans

A great many people admire Oprah Winfrey. Her fans admire her for what she has accomplished, or because she is a black woman (double minority) who has done so much with her life, or because she seems to be so down-to-earth and compassionate. I have one niece who just cannot get over how Oprah has overcome so much to reach such heights of success. I heard one lady say that Oprah is the kind of woman she could see being great friends with - you know, someone fun to hang out with or share confidences with. I agree with all of that.

But I have a problem with Oprah. I think she is dangerous.

With all her fans and all her money, Oprah has a lot of influence. What frightens me is that she seems to be using that influence to - knowingly or not - lead people away from God. I'm not talking about people who never had an interest in God in the first place; I'm talking about Orthodox Christians.

Here is what I would like to know: how much do those Oprah fans (the ones who are Christian) know about Oprah's faith or lack of? Here is what those fans should want to know about a woman they look to for so much feedback on their lives and goals. (And, remember, I am asking this of Bible-believing orthodox Christians):

• Does she, like you, believe in Jesus, the Son of God, the second part of the Trinity?
• Does she believe that the ONLY way to God (not "a" god) is through His Son, Jesus Christ
• What exactly does she mean when she talks of "many paths" to God? Which path does she plan on using? Has she picked one and committed to it?
  
• Why did she do the New Earth classes with Eckhart Tolle? (His beliefs are clearly not in alignment with Christianity.)
• What does she think about the Bible and orthodox Christians who believe the Bible is God-breathed and the final authority on how we live our lives?
• If she has a particular belief or faith system, why not be more open about it so that people can decide if they still want to be influenced by her?
  

I'm not trying to be mean-spirited. I'm just tired of Christians thinking that it is okay to be vague about their beliefs. Who are we trying NOT to offend? Who are we trying to please? Oprah? It's not like she can get us into Heaven or send us into Hell. Oh - wait... Scratch that part about Hell. Actually, she - and anyone else teaching false doctrine - can lead the way to Hell.

Be careful, people. Be more aware of who and what you open your ears and minds and hearts to. I don't know whether or not Oprah is concerned about your soul, but you should be concerned about hers. We should all be praying that she quit following all those many paths and get on the right one.

Peace
--Free

2Cor 11:4
1Tim 4:1
Gen 3:1-6
(BTW: I got the Bible links to those verses via here)