When I was on shore duty at TTF Kings Bay in the Navy, my last two years, I had a nice desk and some cabinets for my own use. I was studying the Scriptures diligently, as God had changed my life miraculously when on my third and last patrol on an SSBN [missile submarine].
I decided to post a “Scripture Of the Week” to ‘sow’ into the lives of the few men who were around me daily. They were all senior to me, as I had been posted in the Tactics training department. They were all Chiefs and Officers, and three other enlisted petty officers, all 1st class to my 2nd class stripes.
I remember only one passage specifically that I posted during that time:
8Will you even make void My judgment? Will you condemn Me, that you may be justified? 9Or have you an arm like God? And can you thunder with a voice like Him? ~ Job 40:8-9
We are now studying the book of Job on Thursday nights, and I think that’s what reminded me of this.
I never posted the ‘lovey-dovey’ verses, but the tough ones. And it got me some good conversations out of those around me. The one I remember the most was from my favorite young officer, a Lieutenant with whom I had served on the Submarine. He and I both worked together again at the training facility in the same department. I will not post his name, though I remember him very well. He was a cuban-born American from Miami, Florida. He was the most likable officer of all that I met, he and one other who was my Lieutenant on my last submarine patrol.
This officer came into the training simulator one day and asked me if it would be okay for him to film he and his wife compromisingly and sell it for profit. Of course, he was trying to incite me into an argument, or poke fun at me, or test me; I don’t know which. But, I simply stated that what he and his wife do is their business, but that contributing to someone else’s sin problem was an egregious provocation and would make him guilty. “Hmmm.” He didn’t blurt out in laughter. He seemed genuinely pensive. Then he just turned around and walked out.
One of the other officers tried to engage me in an argument once; I think he thought he’d slam-dunk me, since he was ‘educated’ at the academy and I was not. It didn’t turn out that way, however, and the book of Job was in question. This was one of the first of many creationist/evolutionist debates I would have over the years. I had been concurrently studying science, the real science, and working out in my mind that what I had been taught was erroneous theory, and not scientific fact, and that I did not have to stuff theory into the plain narrative of Scripture. I don’t remember the specifics of my conversation with him, but I do remember him also walking away pensively, and a mite surprised by the enlisted swabby.
I posted this particular set of verses today on my social media. Corinth was a hub between Athens and Sparta, and was attributed to be founded by a ‘son of Zeus,’ and “Korintos” means ‘many sons’ [of Zeus]. I don’t think that Sha’ul was compelled to address them that way by the Ru’akh of God on accident. They were former pagans who were being drawn back to their pagan ways, in short order, after having become believers. Paul wrote FOUR letters to them, but we only have two. I would LOVE to see those other letters! I bet they have even MORE citations of the Torah than the two we have. There are citations of Torah in this meme, and most people just brush that off.
In December, the Ancient Greeks in Corinth celebrated the birth of Dionysus, calling him “Savior” and divine “infant.” His father was Zeus, the king of the Gods. Dionysus was preeminent in Corinth, so much so that a later ‘saint’ of Catholicism from that city also bore his name.
The pagan priest of Dionysus held a pastoral staff, and so did the “Good Shepherd” of Dionysus. On December 30th, ancient Greeks commemorated his birth. Some of the rites of Ancient Greece from Dionysus’ birth celebrations are blended with other rites of similar pagan societies to create the traditions we see even among believers in Messiah today.
One of the most well-known, Christian customs throughout the world is the singing of Christmas “carols”, a beloved tradition that has roots in ancient Greece. Specifically, during his stay on the island of Samos, Homer, along with a group of children, composed a series of carol-like hymns. In ancient Greece, these carols symbolized joy, wealth, and peace, and the children sang the them mostly in the homes of the rich. Children would go from house to house, holding an olive or a laurel branch adorned with wool (a symbol of health and beauty, product of shepherds) and different kinds of fruits. The children brought the olive branch to their homes and hung it on the doors, where it remained for the rest of the year.
All of the pagan societies had some form of deity born at the winter solstice. Constantine moved the feasts inherited from Scripture and the Jewish customs that went with them, to the dates of these pagan rites. God does not mean for us to MOVE dates in order to placate the pagans around us, and certainly not to worship Him the way pagans worshipped their lesser gods. Paul told these former pagans to come out from among them. God sends a Messenger who says the same thing to His Congregation in the last days ahead of us:
“Bavel the great is fallen and has become a habitation of those possessed with demons, and the shelter of every foul spirit, and the shelter of every unclean and detestable bird, and the shelter of every unclean and loathsome wild beast. 3Because all nations have drunk of the wine of her wrath, and the kings of the earth have committed harlotry with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her trade. 4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, O my people, so that you may not become partakers of her sins, and lest you be smitten by her plagues. 5For her sins have reached up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6Reward her even as she has rewarded you, and return to her a double portion according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix for her double. 7For as much as she has glorified herself and lived deliciously, give her so much torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.’ 8Therefore, her plagues shall come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be burned with fire; for mighty is יהוה God who judges her.
This is earthly religion God is speaking to: Bavel means “confusion” or “mixture”, and it is the blending of earthly religions with a taint of truth to form a conglomerate religion. Whether you believe it or not, most protestants are still Catholic, as they all follow papal authority on when and how to worship. And most protestants, though their forebears started out casting off much of the paganism, have returned to it, like a dog to vomit.
God is coming for a ‘spotless’ bride. That means, a Body of people who have cast off mixture, and have striven to walk in truth. Most do not. They accept the ‘norms’ of society, thinking their society is ‘christian’. That may be; but it is not divine.