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Having grown up as the youngest child, I have some experience with the life of a young sibling. Everyone says the baby has it easier than the older children do, but not too long ago I realized that the Bible has quite a bit to say on this subject. Why is it that the older child often turns out to be a dork, and the younger child winds up inheriting the blessings? We all know the examples of Esau and Jacob, and Ishmael and Isaac before them; but I’m willing to bet there are more examples in the Bible than you’ve noticed. And one in particular. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Deuteronomy 21:15-17 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

The firstborn has the right to the greater blessing - a blessing that is exactly twice what the other children have. But there is an unspoken condition on this blessing. If for some reason the firstborn is disobedient, he can be disqualified from his blessing… Read the rest of this entry »

Why did Satan fall?Didn’t you ever wonder? Oh I know, the Bible says his pride lifted Him up, but WHY? Why wasn’t he satisfied where he was? For that matter, where WAS he? And what did he hope to gain by being “Like the most High”?These questions are ALL reasonable, and ALL answerable with a Bible, some basic facts about the earth you live on, and a bit of thought. So let’s answer them, shall we?

In the beginning, God created the angels. He did this before the physical universe was created. This is proved by…

Job 38:4,6-7 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Obviously, to be singing and shouting at the creation of the earth, they had have been made before then. As proof that God created the being who became Satan, and that he was among these angels, we offer…

Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

So Satan, or Lucifer as we will call him for the time being, was perfect from the day he was created(!), until something triggered his rebellion. I’ll get into the reasons he rebelled later, so for now suffice it to say that the reason he rebelled involved the earth. Therefore it is logical that he hadn’t rebelled before it was created… Read the rest of this entry »

In a preceding article I asked “Do You Trust Yourself” (Click to read it), and showed that you must if you ever intend to be in the Kingdom of God. But I neglected to cover in that article HOW you can trust yourself. Just how DO you learn to trust yourself? The question is of absolutely vital importance because it is a cornerstone of faith; having your prayers answered depends more on this one question than any other. Do you trust yourself? ARE you doing everything you know to do? Are you SURE you can be trusted? And HOW can you be sure?

Today, we are expected to trust everyone; if you don’t trust a complete stranger they are offended. So we pretend to trust people, while keeping our hand on our wallet. Because no matter what we try to do, it is completely impossible to fully trust someone that has not earned that trust. But to earn trust, a small amount of trust must be gambled. You might have to trust someone with $5 before you trust them with $500, and with $500 before you trust them with $5,000. There must be risks involved, and it must be built from the ground up.

People are basically scum. The Bible says so on many occasions; “deceitful above all things, desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9), that sort of thing. And no matter how you lie to yourself, you know that it is true - about other people, but most importantly about yourself as well. And so you must EARN trust. Others must earn it from you, and you must earn it from yourself… Read the rest of this entry »