KennethBow's Blog

I am listening for the Seventh trumpet.

It is amazing to me how this number seven is associated with nearly everything sacred.

Through out the Bible, the scriptures rest upon it with peculiar emphasis.

It was on the seventh day that God ceased his work of creation and hallowed a rest, which has made the counting of time by septenaries of days the common and universal method from that day until now.

Seven days were given to Noah to gather in the tenants of the ark; and with him came over the flood seven persons, and sevens of all the clean animals. On the seventh month the ark rested On the earth again, and on the seventh day the dove was sent out.

Seven years of plenty and seven of famine were sent upon Egypt, as the Lord signified through Joseph.

Seven priests, with seven trumpets, were to encompass the walls of Jericho seven successive days, and the seventh day it fell into the hands of Israel.

Seven days were the Jews to celebrate many of their feasts; seven days were their priests to be in course of consecration; seven days were their unclean to be in cleansing; and seven animals were required in many of their sacrifices.

Seven days did Job’s friends sit with him, and seven bullocks were to be offered for their sins.

Seven years was Solomon’s temple in building; seven days was the feast of its dedication;

Seventy years was Israel captive at Babylon.

Seven years was Nebuchadnezzar degraded as a brute, and seventy weeks were determined until Messiah should be cut off.

Enoch, whom God translated, and the first man ever exempted from death, was the seventh from Adam;

According to Luke, Jesus was the seventy-seventh descendant of Adam.

Seven hours did Jesus hang upon the cross; seven times did he speak while hanging there;

Seven times did he show himself after his resurrection; and seven days after his ascension was the Holy Ghost poured out.

Seventy was the number of disciples whom he first commissioned.

Seven petitions are contained in the prayer which he taught his followers.

Seven lamps were in the Tabernacle.

Seven Churches of Asia;

In Revelation there are seven seals, seven vials, seven angels, seven Spirits of God.

And now we are waiting for the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

Leviticus 25:8-9 (KJV) 
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

The Gospel is a trump of gladness, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound.

Our great High-priest is still within the veil sprinkling the atoning blood. Sinners without are still afflicting their souls and waiting for his reappearance to pronounce upon them the life-giving benediction.

Bonds, trials, heavy sorrows, and pain still afflict the saints. Even the holiest Christians have not yet come to the fulness of their rest. The very martyrs, who laid down their lives for the testimony of Jesus, are represented as waiting and crying, “O Lord, how long!”

With all our peace in Christ Jesus, our lives are still connected with dust and tears.

The final Jubilee, therefore, is yet to come. Our priest must first come forth from the Holy of holies, where he has gone, and close the reconciliation day.

Then will our perfect rest rightly begin.

Jesus must first appear the second time, before our final release and salvation shall be complete.

Many a time have we heard the sounding trumpets of the Gospel. Long and loud has the summons to repentance been ringing in the ears of a drowsy world.

Many have listened, believed, and experienced the glad earnest of the appointed Jubilee; but there is another trumpet, “the great trumpet”,”the trump of God”, which yet remains to be sounded.

It is a trumpet which shall never be heard but once in all the the ages; a trumpet whose blast shall thrill worlds, and startle up the very patriarchs from their long-lost graves, and transmute time itself into eternity.

A trumpet which shall be blown throughout all the earth the moment our High-priest shall have appeared again. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise.”

“For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” And that trumpet is the true trumpet of the true Jubilee. When it sounds, the great Sabbath of the ages begins.

I am waiting for the 7th trumpet to sound!

Thanks for reading today!

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It is pretty hard to look back over world history and find someone as dumb as Pharaoh!

This guy was actually leading a Nation! Pretty crazy.

While reading the sequence of pain, anguish, and disaster again I again read a verse that has troubled me all my life.

Exodus 9.16 “for this cause have I raised thee up”. I have always struggled to believe God created him just to be the stubborn idiot that brought such horror to his country. This does not fit my template of who God is!

While reading it recently and doing the “be aware and compare” I wrote about in a recent blog, I was happy to understand this better.

In place of “for this cause I raised thee up”, is also translated “for this cause I have allowed you to remain”.

It appears God simply allowed Pharaoh to remain on his throne to show His (God’s) power and deliverance to Eqypt.

There is vast difference between creating someone just to serve a wicked purpose, and simply allowing them to remain there because it serves your purpose when you could have rubbed them out long before 🙂

That mental knot was untied for me today so I decided there could possibly be someone else out there in Blog-land that has also scratched their head and thought hmmm.

Thanks for reading today.

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Bible Versions: Be aware and compare.

This is a controversial subject among all faiths and many scholars. The reasons are complex and we make decisions based on what other “scholars” write and say. This makes it difficult to come to conclusions first hand. The issue becomes who to trust and who is right?

The basis of discussion is that we have no original manuscripts (hand written copies of scripture). We only have copies from many time periods and geographical locations.

To oversimplify, there are two camps of thought and translation today. One is a very large camp of manuscripts that number around 64,000. These are everything from a small scrap of paper, to whole books, and entire copies of the Bible. These are from all over the world, and from many different centuries.

The other camp is relatively small and represents only a few manuscripts from very few locations. These are dated around 100 years earlier so are considered more authentic by “modern” scholars. This is one of the hotly contested issues.

Most manuscripts are well worn from being copied many times until they virtually wear out. These “earlier or older” manuscripts are in excellent condition. The critics say this is because they are faulty, hence they were not used but were discarded.

This smaller group is referred to as the minority text, while the larger camp of 64k manuscripts is generally referred to as the majority text.

The King James Version is translated from the majority text group from a specific group of manuscripts sometimes called the Textus Receptus, abbreviated TR.

Virtually all other modern versions since the King James Version are based on the minority text.

There are somewhere around 60,000 plus differences between the KJV and the modern versions. When there is a difference it is called a textual variant.

Some of these differences are small and hard to notice while others are glaring and disturbing. The minority text omits some verses that are traditionally important to Pentecostal people.

Here are a few examples of verses that are omitted: Mark 16.9-16 (These signs shall follow, etc), Matthew 17.21 (this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting), Acts 8.37, 1 John 5.7, et al.

Other times the verses are changed such as in 1 Timothy 3.16 where God was manifest in the flesh is changed to He was revealed in the flesh.

Many times the words Jesus or Christ or Lord are omitted in the modern translations from verses. Another example is in John chapter 8 where the woman taken in adultery calls Jesus Lord in the KJV. Minority texts usually translate Lord as Sir.

These are the issues that cause debate and emotions to ride high among Pentecostals.

I have adopted the position that The King James Version holds the preeminent place for me. I personally trust the majority text more than the minority text. I still use the KJV in church exclusively. We are simply more used to it and more familiar with it. It also provides us with a uniform Bible text for our public worship service.

Having said that, I use, and encourage, the reading of other versions. I have adopted the phrase “Be aware and compare”. Be aware there are differences and always compare against each other to get the most complete reading.

Nothing will ever take the place of the KJV in my life, but I will be aware and compare as I continue my “life walk” through the Word by reading other versions also.

God bless you, thanks for reading today.

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