GOOD PEOPLE

“Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren..." (Pro 13:22, NLT)

Christians who do not have time to vote or educate themselves on the issues or see the need to be involved in government, will leave their children bound in chains resigned to the hollowest credo, "God is in control."

(But God has decreed, “...select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten.” Exodus 18:21, NLT)

They will be cursed from the grave by those who have gone before who have sacrificed everything to leave them a Republican form of government. The generation following will bemoan them for allowing the gates of hell to confiscate their freedoms.

What percentage of Christians will be voting this November? Do you know how important your vote is? Do you know that the church should be the most powerful voting block in America if they will simply take one evening to educate themselves on the issues, and 1 hour the first Tuesday in November to vote.

Is it wrong for your pastor to take one sermon a year, one out of 52 sermons to discuss the importance of Christians voting? Many Christians, including pastors, have been deceived into believing that politics is for unbelievers. Thus we live in a country ruled by unbelievers, the county going to hell, while we debate about when will we all escape in the rapture!

Text the phrase ivote to 73075 to get information about getting registered to vote, when to vote, etc.   If your value your freedom for yourself, your children and grandchildren, VOTE.

THE TWO UNLUCKY GOATS 🐐🐐

The holiday celebrated by Israel called Yom Kippur was the holiest day of all. Yom Kippur means day of atonement (covering). It was the day of the year when God would cover all the sins of all the people for a whole year.

There was a special ritual in which two goats were selected from the herd. One goat was sacrificed to God, and it's blood sprinkled in the holiest place on the Ark of the Covenant. The other goat was released alive into the wilderness. The second goat has been called a scapegoat because he escaped death–but to be driven into the wilderness, away from all the people, away from all the other goats was hardly better than death.

This is an Old Testament prophetic picture of the death of Christ to come, when he would make atonement for all of our sins. Before releasing the goat, the high priest would lay his hands on the goat's head and put all of the people's sins on that goat, then send it away and the nation would become blameless in God's sight!

Why did God require two goats for atonement? We know that Jesus died more than one death that day. His physical body was sacrificed, and then his soul (passing through Paradise) went into the deepest part of the earth, where disobedient souls of men go when they are unforgiven.

Jesus predicted this before it happened. He said “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Mat 12:40)

Jonah was swallowed by a fish (whale?) because of his disobedience. You can imagine it was dark and putrid in the belly of the fish. He couldn't eat or drink. He could barely move around. He was cut off from every other living creature. He could only pray (read his mind-blowing prayer in Jonah chapter 2)!

Christ was completely cut off from God and men to suffer alone in the heart of the earth for three days, not for his disobedience, but for OUR disobedience.

Father God accepted the sacrifice of his Son's blood for the sins of all mankind, but Jesus had to carry our sins into the pit to fulfill Micah 7:19, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” and Psalm 103:12,“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” 

He left them there and rose on the third day just like Jonah came out of the fish. Ephesians 4:9-10 describes how Jesus, once he had fully defeated sin, was taken from the lowest place in the foundation of the Earth to the highest Throne in Heaven, becoming Universal King. 

Importantly, Christ not only COVERED our sins, he removed every trace of them, ETERNALLY, for everyone who puts their trust in him!

QUESTIONS

What does Yom Kippur mean?

What do you think two goats were necessary to atone for the sins of the people?

How was Jonah being swallowed by a fish actually a prophecy about Christ?