Speculating About the Bible

My hometown of Edmonton, smack-dab in the center of the Province of  Alberta, was founded on the fact that someone discovered GOLD in the North Saskatchewan River (NO❗️I'm NOT going to tell you how to pronounce that. 😆) which flows from the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

When I was a kid I often saw historical photos of people panning for Gold in the Edmonton River Valley.

I would sit in the River Valley and imagine the decades stripped away and wonder what life was like for those FIRST "Edmontonians" speculating for Gold.

Probably muddy, back breaking work. No indoor plumbing. No home but a tent or shack. No wife. No kids. Just men driving themselves to exhaustion at the merest hope of striking it rich. 

(I'm sure they had NO idea they were beginning a city and influencing a future culture.)

In my life I've read literally thousands of Christian Novels and something Christian writers LOVE to do (especially the woman) is take a Bible event and speculate about the rest of the circumstances that the Bible leaves out.

Speculating about what isn't mentioned in the Bible is something I do often. 

I wonder what it was like for Jonah to be swallowed up and in that "great fish" for three days. 😲

I wonder about the Shepherds in the field watching their flocks suddenly seeing angels proclaiming Jesus's arrival in nearby Bethlehem. 🤫

I imagine John (the Apostle) on Patmos falling down as a dead man because he is so overwhelmed by looking upon the risen Jesus standing before him.

I think it's a good and healthy part of our Bible Study to try to imagine and ponder these things.

😊

However, ☝️ we must also be VERY careful when we do this because we are dealing with God's Holy Word which has a closing page.

Let's repeat that.

"God's Holy Word has a CLOSING PAGE!"

God doesn't tell us everything. The Bible (as lengthy as it is) is Need to Know info.

PLUS, so much of what is in the Bible is, on a deeper level,  SYMBOLIC and PROPHETIC.  Things God will do in the future or things He uses to tie themes together.

For example.

 I was listening to a song I LOVE called "You Were There" (by Avalon) where it depicts Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

The Lyrics say, 

"But God in all His sovereignty had bigger plans

 and just in time, You brought a Lamb."

Beautiful. (sniff sniff) 🥹🤧

But then I thought,

"Hey. Wasn't it a Ram  Not a Lamb that Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac?"❓️🤔

Let's look at the story briefly.

Here's the scene of events. God has suddenly asked Abraham to take his beloved, only son, Isaac, who has just turned 13 years old, to the top of a mountain, lay him on an altar and sacrifice him to God.

"Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,  Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

"Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together."

And continuing later...

"Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son."

Genesis 22 (Excerpts)

This story is FULL of prophetic symbols that foreshadow God the Father sacrificing His beloved, only Son, Jesus who is often referred to in the Bible as "The Lamb of God".

It's important that there WASN'T a Lamb caught in the thicket but a full grown Ram that was sacrificed in Isaac's place. The Ram doesn't represent Jesus. It represents Isaac and on an even deeper level, Israel.

Isaac is bound (caught). on a pile of gathered wood (the thicket) and Isaac is 13 years old which, in Jewish culture, makes him an adult male who will one day become the father of Jacob (Aka Israel).

As Abraham said (prophetically), "God himself will provide the lamb." The Lamb being Jesus.

Then Avalon comes along with their pretty song and messes up all God's imagery and symbolism just by changing ONE word. (And you know "Ram" would have rhymed just as much as "Lamb".) 

It might sound like I'm nit-picking, but even the smallest details in the Bible can mean something big.

When Moses struck the rock TWICE to get water from it after God had  explicitly told him to hit it only ONCE, God was so "Nit-Picky" about this misdeed that He punished Moses by forbidding him to enter into the Promised Land with the rest of the Hebrews.

Now, I truly believe the members of Avalon were not trying to lead anyone astray, but a Biblical error is no small thing and there are many people these days who are PURPOSELY trying to lead you astray to make money and gain control over you and they can come up with some pretty crazy and riculous things. 🤪

YIKES. 😬

🔴 People who declare THEMSELVES to be modern day Apostles and Prophets (and Prophetesses).

🔴 TV Shows and Movies making up dialogue for Bible people (who were REAL people BTW) and inserting things they NEVER would have said or done.

🔴 Taking HUGE liberties (the kind that would curl your toenails) by writing modern day (or Futuristic) versions of the life (and death and life again) of Jesus.

🔴 Ken Ham's Ark Encounter with it's "Ark-Tistic" license.

Double YIKES❗️😬😬

Now I caught (barely) the seemingly small error about the events surrounding the sacrifice of Isaac in the Avalon  song because I have been studying the Bible since 1978. But if I can be tricked (and I often am) how much more can you be if you have only a limited knowledge of the Bible?

These False Prophets,  and Snake Oil salesmen are counting on people who are not Bible literate to succumb to THEIR versions of what's in the Bible.

And just like the desperate first Edmontonians panning for Gold and losing the little bit of money they had when they hit the nearest saloon, these modern day  Charlatans  are taking advantage of you.

Let's say it again.

"GOD'S Holy Word has a CLOSING PAGE"!

and you Need to Know what IS in it from cover to cover.

I'm bouncing you over to my previous blog post,  "The Bible for Newbies" .

The Truth with Love, Always Laura-Lee 

Santa in the stable?! 😲

TRIPLE Yikes❗️😬😬😬

🌿🌸🌿🌸🌿🌸

Every summer all of Edmonton speculates about our origins at Klondike Days. (K-Days)

We have a big parade and dress up like we're in the "Olden Days".

Take a Family Photo between the feet of Klondike Mike.

And all our women folk dress up and compete for who is the most like a Saloon Floozie named Klondike Kate (who was a real person BTW).

Then we go home after a full, summer day tired grimey, having eaten way too much, with our kids bouncing around becausse they've had too much sugar and we imagine doing it all again NEXT year. 🫠 

Welcome to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 🤠

Wild Rose country.

BTW. I STILL recommend the song "You Were There" by Avalon. 

I don't have a direct link to share since YouTube dumped me months ago, but I'm sure you can find it on your own.

😚

Medical Assistance in Dying Courtesy of Laura-Lee 😔

 

We just finished Tax Season here in Canada and it reminded me of the first job I ever had. Back in 1978, when I was just 12 years old (Oops❗️🫢 Accidentally outed my age on the internet again), I had to have my official Social Insurance Number issued (we appropriately call them "SINs") in order to spend 3 hours a day, 6 days a week, in the Vancouver rain (it rains 400 Days a year in Vancover) delivering the (inappropriately called) Vancover Sun newspaper to my neighbours. Not an easy task for such a little girl to tackle. (Although I was already "my full and glorious height of 5' 3") Thus began my lifelong adventure of paying Taxes.

If I could have looked 48 years into the future and seen what my hard earned money would be someday going to pay for, I wonder what I would have thought. 🤔

In 1988 the Government in Canada started paying for Abortions under our Universal Healthcare. In paying my taxes that year I included a letter of Protest against my money paying for abortions that I wanted "permanently kept as part of my tax file".

I wonder if it's still there?

 I wonder how many people have read it through the years and the impact it had on them?

MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) became Government funded in Canada in 2016. Since then more than 80,000 Canadians have been killed. They didn't have to be Terminally ill to qualify for MAID just not want to go on living anymore. 😢

👩‍🦽👩‍🦽👩‍🦽

When I became mysteriouly paralyzed from the neck down in 2019 I under went weeks of testing by every disciple of Medical Science. Everyone wanted to be the one to make a name for themselves to solve my paralysis mystery.

On my birthday that year the head administration of the hospital sent me a bouquet of flowers and balloons with a card wishing me a "Happy Birthday" and that he was "watching my progress with great interest and hope" (I still have the card).

The last doctor I saw was some world famous neurologist who, even though he was booked solid for 2 years, made an opening for me. He and his team examined (and ZAPPED) me for 5 hours straight!

When all was said and done my verdict was,

"We don't know what put you in that bed, Laura-Lee so we don't know how to get you out. You are going to have to find some way to prepare yourself to live out your life paralyzed."

Well, the attitude around me changed OVERNIGHT. I went from the Cause de Celebre to nothing more than a sack of potatoes hurled this way and that way. Suddenly just a big burden on those who had to take care of me and the System.

If I hadn't been a Christian, I wonder how long it would have been before I started feeling that way about myself?

Now the MAID program is well entrenched in Canada and growing exponentially each year.

Keep in mind people do NOT have to be Terminally ill or even physically sick to qualify for MAID.

Many people have been killed because they faced the grinding effects of poverty year after year and wanted out.

When it comes down to it, as far as the Canadian Government is concerned, it's cheaper to KILL people than to take CARE of them.

The Government expects MAID to include the Mentally ill by 2027 and have also tabled a bill to include children as young as 13 years old WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT. 

All brought to you by MY tax dollars.

And that is ...

The Truth  with Love, 

Always Laura-Lee