Now the children of Israel want a king to rule over them like the other nations have kings.
Both Samuel and God are upset over this but God lets them have their king but warns them about that which their king will do to them.
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I Samuel 8:1-22 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.
And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.
And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected ME, that I should not reign over them.
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New Testament church:
After Jesus arose, after the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus gave the following to the NT church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ... for the work of the ministry. Ephesians 4:8;11-12
Antichrist was just waiting for an opportunity to move into the church group and present perverted doctrines and draw men away to himself. (antichirst is a spirit like devil is a spirit who operates in men)
John explains there were already "many" antichrist in the church in his day.
I John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Antichrist would come through the church as soon as men such as the apostle Paul were gone.
Paul explains:
Acts 20:29-30 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
So John and Paul and Peter were dead. Who is to control the churches which had met in homes up till then.
A church which called itself Catholic was started. And they added all manner of rules which were not in the Bible and they taught their followers to lust after those things which they could see, giving themselves fleshly emotional sensations which they considered religious.
Protestant churches began but they also set up their churches by their own thinking, ignoring those plans set up in the Bible for the church.
Paul tells us what was to happen when we come together as the church.
I Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
In that setting, God was free to speak through whom HE willed when the church gathered.
There were no platforms separating those who could speak from those who could not speak. Man added that to control the gathering of the church. But in doing this control, man greatly kept the Holy Spirit out of the church meeting. The spiritual gifts are almost completely eliminated from most of today's church.
Then man added the eating of a bit of cracker and the taking of grape juice while calling it "the Lord's supper". And this really caught fire and is "religiously" practiced today by countless millions as they meet as the church.
But crackers and grape juice have no power.
The Lord's supper is the eating and drinking of the Word of God but most do not see that today.
These churches set up by men, built large buildings to impress men with many symbols which seemed religious.
And they eliminated the apostles and prophets from the ministry, leaving evangelists, pastors and teachers in most groups.
If you eliminate apostles and prophets it would be like a society eliminating judges of law and police officer to deal with the lawless.
And they taught perversions of doctrine and completely eliminated many scriptures.
I was shocked to see the Catholics included the following words of Jesus in their Catholic Bible.
Jesus said: Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
So today we have a shell of the church of the New Testament Bible, with people loving what they have in their various perversions from scripture.
Some people say today's church is "watered down" but actually today's church is filled with antichrist.
The apostle Paul said this had to happen before Jesus could return.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
* The falling away: churches would fall away from scripture.
* This falling away from scripture removed the restraint so antichrist could surface in the church.
* And bit by bit portions of scripture were removed and other doctrines were set up in the church to the point none of us have ever seen that which the apostle Paul described as the gathering of the church in I Corinthians 14:26-40.
This simply sets the stage for the return of Jesus and the wrath of God that will come upon this present earth. Revelation 8-16
And that's where we are today.
Jesus said: Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in MY name, there am I in the midst of them.
We who are blessed by God do have two or three in our association who have not been caught up in the net of religion like birds trapped from flying. The others experience a mostly dead religion devoid of real power of God.
Many years ago, God gave me this dream: I had gone into a building filled with people. There was one empty seat in the balcony. I went there and sat down. A woman said to me, "You can't see much from that seat." (there was a pillar directly in front of that seat and it blocked the view of that which they were doing in that place) I replied, "Oh ... there's never much to see in these places anyway."
We wait in peace as we speak scriptures to those who will hear.
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I Samuel 8:8 God says to the prophet Samuel ... According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken ME, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
Forsaking the Word of God and setting up other gods in their church gatherings and in their homes.
9-20 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
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I Samuel 8:21- And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.
And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
It reminds me of the way the people in Moses' day demanded that Aaron make them a god that they could worship for they knew not what had become of this "Moses", who was on the mountain receiving the commandments of God for the children of Israel. Exodus 32
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Israel gets their king:
And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.
And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.
And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.
And he (the servant) said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?
And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.
(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)
Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.
And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?
And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place:
As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him.
And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.
Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto ME.
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New Testament church:
It is not unusual for God to show us that which is going to happen before it happens.
The Holy Spirit does the following in us today:
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
I've been shown many things that are to happen before they happen, mostly through dreams but also a few times by open visions.
One of the most unusual happenings to me occurred in December 2018. I was in a hospital as a result of an accident. I had just had surgery and was being given pain medication. As I was lying in my bed, a woman from our church group was standing at the end of my hospital bed and she was looking down at me. She wore a bright red shirt. She said nothing to me but all of a sudden she turned her back to me and walked through the wall, disappearing from view!
I thought I was hallucinating from the pain medication.
Approximately two weeks after this, this same woman came to the rehabilition hospital and sat down in a chair and said to me: "I no longer care about anything or anyone. I no longeer read the Bible or the blog."
She had been in our church group for 39-years.
She got up and went into the bathroom area in my room, and a nurses aide came into to do something to me. I called to this woman asking her to wait until the nurse left, but she took this as an opportunity to leave and she snunk out of the bathroom and disappeared without a word!
Later she sent me an email in which she apologized. She said she showed no mercy.
I told her not to worry at all about that which she did for God had shown me she was going to disappear that way. And actually it had freed me for she had been a drain on me for 39-years and I was glad when she left.
When she did this, I knew what I had seen where she disappeared through the wall was a vision from God and not something induced by pain medicine.
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I Samuel 9:17-27 And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same shall reign over MY people.
Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and (Saul) said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is.
And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.
And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house?
And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?
And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons.
And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee.
And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day.
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad.
And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on), but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.
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When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?
Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands.
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.
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8-16 And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.
And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.
And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.
And Saul's uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses: and when we saw that they were no where, we came to Samuel.
And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you.
And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.Saul shows some deception here.
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I Samuel 10:17-27 And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh; And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you: And ye have this day rejected your God, who Himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands.
And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found.
Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff.
Another flaw surfaces in Saul.
And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.
Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.
And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched.
But the children of Belial (the devil) said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought no presents. But he held his peace.
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