The "Stoning" Verse

If there is found among you, in any city that ADONAI your God gives you, a man or a woman who does what ADONAI your God sees as wicked, transgressing His covenant by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun,the moon, or anything in the sky- something I have forbidden- and it is told to you, or you hear about it; then you are to investigate the matter diligently. If it is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done in Israel; then you are to bring the man or woman who has done this wicked thing to your vita gates, and stone that man or woman to death.

-Deuteronomy[D'varim] 17:2-5

Have you had this verse thrown in your face before?

it's a verse that God mockers(Atheists/Agnostics)

love using. it's suppose to make God look cruel and at the same time make His word(The Bible) look like a "Contradiction"(trust me I know, I use to do the same thing they do with certain verses) 

Claiming that The Bible is a "Contradiction" only comes when one is lacking of understanding, and doesn't understand the context of the scripture they claim is a "Contradiction". I'd say 90% of the time "contradiction" comes up when it has to do with Torah(Old testament) and this stoning one is a perfect example, it comes around because most people fail to realize what God was doing with His people. 

BUT, before I get into that, lets just think logically for a second(something the atheist/agnostic throwing this verse in your face claims to do nothing but)

Lets imagine God is exactly who He says He is, crazy I know, but try to stay with me. So, God is one(Echad)

there is NO other, He is creator of all, the potter who can mold and destroy as He wishes. He demands, doesn't just ask for, but demands Holiness and worship of ONLY HIM, remember the 1st and 2nd commandment? they pretty much make that absolutely clear. So does...

Exodus(SH'MOT) 34:14 

because you are not to bow down to any other god; since ADONAI -whose very name is Jealous -is a jealous God.

So, as He is molding His people, there comes one person who decides he/she will ignore all God asks and worship creation rather than creator. Now this ONE Holy perfect God is suppose to do what? tell His jewish people;

"Oh…that man or woman worshipping what I told you NOT TO, just ignore them, it's all good."? 

This man/woman wouldn't just be effecting themselves, they are living in Gods Holy Land which He gave to His people, this person would corrupt others and lead others to do such wickedness. God isn't going to bless you if you completely ignore His mitzvot(Commandments) and He was blessing His people by giving the land He promised them. So God said get rid of the wickedness from you before it corrupts you all, provided there is two or three witness's to attest to the fact that the person is indeed worshipping a false god. (Deuteronomy[D'varim] 17:6)

God was establishing a Holy people & nation, He chose a people who were lesser then others, He showed His grace to the Jewish people by saving them out of Egypt! they did nothing to deserve saving from slavery, and did nothing to deserve Him choosing them as His people.

Now all God asks from them( and us by the way) is to put Him first, and that we don't worship His creation or false gods. What a cruel God to ask for such a thing! what a cruel God to show grace and only ask we acknowledge Him as ONE!(that's called sarcasm kiddies incase you missed it)

Now if you would say this to a person who throws the "stoning verse" in your face, what will they say next?

 well, they will absolutely ignore all the "babble" about God being ONE and Holy and demanding we surrender to Him completely and they'll either go off into some other tangent or say something like;

"Ok…so then your "God" gives you permission today to go and stone people who don't believe like you."

Again they will ignore the fact that God was establishing His people in the Holy Land and thats who the verse was directed too. The fact is..NO that verse isn't for today, and no that doesn't mean God has changed in His Holiness or jealousy or that He still doesn't demand us to worship ONLY HIM nor does it mean that God doesn't still want us to be Holy. NONE of that has changed, the reason killing someone who ignores the truth has changed is because the promised Messiah/Prophet/Lord of Lords and King of Kings has come! Yeshua Ha Mashiach! (Jesus The Messiah/Jesus Christ) Moses talked about Him in 
Deuteronomy [D'varim]18:15

"ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him,just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested ADONAI your God, 'Don't let me hear the voice of ADONAI my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!' On that occasion ADONAI said to me, 'They are right in what they are saying. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him. Whoever doesn't listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to account for himself to me.

What Yeshua says is from Abba, and Yeshua paid the price we couldn't, the Prince of Peace our High priest who intercedes for us! Hallelu et ADONAI!(Praise the LORD)

Yeshua's yoke is easy, but His words and following Him isn't. 

Deuteronomy[D'varim] 19:21 says;

Life for life,eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 

As human beings wretched and wicked as we are that is probably the easiest thing for us to follow, HOWEVER Yeshua says;

"You have heard that our fathers were told, `Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too! If someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well! And if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, carry it for two!  When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something from you, lend it to him.- Matthew(Mattityahu) 5:38-42

You see, Yeshua doesn't destroy the law but fulfills it, He doesn't make it ok to worship other gods or to sin, He makes it so we can be forgiven of such wickedness, so those chains can be broken and we can be a new creation, and be Holy as God called us to be! All Glory to HIM! Holy Holy Holy is the one who was and is  and is to come!

†..Old becoming New..†

Some may choose to ignore the Old Testament of the bible,

for many reasons, after all the New Testament is

so much easier to read and understand(for the most part).

But the Old Testament is very important to understand,

for through the Old Testament you truly come to understand

the establishment of the "New Covenant", you understand

the cost and the price that had to be paid.

Not only that, but you come to understand just what sin is

and how God expects us to live. For just because

Christ in blood paid the price for every sin we would

ever commit does not mean the law doesn't matter,

It was Paul who said in Romans:

"I would not have known what sin was except

through the law. For I would not have known what coveting

really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

Romans 7:7

In the Old Testament God gave Moses orders,

and he told Moses the people would have to

give "offerings" for the forgiveness of sins...

I.E sacrificing animals or giving grain offerings.

Anytime a person sinned they would have to not

only confess their sins but also give, more often

then not, a blood offering by sacrificing an animal

and the priests would sprinkle the blood on the altar.

God said he would then forgive the persons sin, and he did,

But the overwhelming truth is NOW through Jesus Christ

he paid the price to wash away our sins for GOOD!

If God forgave people who sinned by accepting the blood of an

animal, how much more are we sanctified by the

blood of CHRIST?!

"But only the high priest entered the inner room,

and that only once a year, and never without blood,

which he offered for himself and for the sins the people

had committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the

way into the Most Holy Place had not yet

been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle

was still standing. This is an illustration for

the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices

being offered were not able to clear the conscience

of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food

and drink and various ceremonial washings-

external regulations applying until the time of

the new order.

When Christ came as high priest of the

good things that are already here, he went

through the greater and more perfect tabernacle

that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part

of this creation. He did not enter by means of

the blood of goats and calves; but he

entered the Most Holy Place once for all

by his own blood, having obtained eternal

redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and

the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who

are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so

that they are outwardly clean.

How much more then, will the blood of Christ,

who through eternal Spirit offered himself

unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts

that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,

that those who are called may receive the promised

eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom

to set them free from the sins committed under the

first covenant."

Hebrews 9:7-15

I've said it before and I'll say it again,

the more we come to understand Gods love the

more we come to understand just how much we are not

deserving of it. We are all sinners, and we all fall down

but a price has already been paid for each and everyone

of us, I do not say this to give you an excuse to keep sinning...

I say this so you don't take the price that Christ paid

for granted. I say it for myself also, so that we may

strive to live as we should live, with Faith

that will not falter and with the love of Christ

that will never die.

Don't say God can't possibly forgive you,

because he already has...Christ paid the price

and instead of saying He was not enough...

it should make you rise up with the

fire of his all consuming love and strive

to not live for yourself but to live for HIM.

Gods Chosen People

So I'm feeling the need to explain the symbol on the main page

of Rev22-12.com, the cross in the middle of the star.

<---------------------------------

Now the star, that is the star of David, a symbol or

rather one of the symbols of the Jewish faith,

and the symbol that is on the Israeli flag. It's not a pentagram..

or some kind of satanist symbol with a cross in the middle.

A pentagram is 5 sided and points downward, and is usually

used in occult/satanist rituals.

So you may be asking yourself...why? what's with the use

of a Jewish symbol? First let me say I have nothing

but respect for the Jewish faith and culture, after all

they are Gods chosen people. I don't think I'm alone there either,

because there're plenty of "Christians" who support Israel and

the Jewish people.

However, there are those who twist words around

in the bible, and there are those who just believe that God

essentially has given up on the Jews and now those who follow

Christ are his "chosen people".

I don't know about you, but I don't view God, nor does his word

make him out to be somebody who gives up on anyone.

The Jewish people are still his chosen people, and Israel

is still their homeland. Yes the Jewish faith was and is

based around doing works to earn Gods grace, it's based

around following the law, and they don't believe Jesus was/is

the messiah. There are those who actually do recognize

Jesus as the messiah however, and there is a lot of

them finding Christ to this very day,

and we must pray that more do.

God's not going to give up on them, why should we?

In the end when it comes down to it we are worshipping

the same God, God didn't change from

the old testament to the new

he is was and always will be the same.

Just because we know Christ,

that doesn't make us better then anyone, and just because

they are Gods chosen people doesn't make them better either.

The message remains the same...God loved us all equally and

He gave of HIMSELF so every single one of us could spend

eternity with him! so sin could not dominate our lives!

First for the Jew, then for the gentile. I didn't just come up with that, no!

it's in your bibles!

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God

for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the jew,

then for the Gentile(or Greek, meaning anyone not Jewish)."

Romans 1:16

Don't get it twisted, I'm not saying Jewish people

are better or are more deserving of Gods grace,

just as we are not more deserving then they.

I think Paul was trying to say that the word of God

came first to the Jew, God chose the Jewish people to work through, they received the word and what was to come

before the Gentile. The Old Testament is proof of that,

as God took the Israelites/Jews under his wing,

He chose Abraham and his line to be his people..

for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession

Deuteronomy 14:2

Did God choose them because they were better?

Did God choose them because they were deserving?

No...God chose them because he chose them..

they are not deserving, just as we are not deserving.

The Jewish people received Gods word, that being the Old

Testament, they were the care takers, they were the

first to be told a messiah would come.

The Old Testament isn't just a bunch of mumbo jumbo

that doesn't matter anymore, It is the foundation

of our FAITH. The Law isn't a nice thought to follow,

that God just put together, Just because Jesus saved us

from our sins, Just because we are not under Law but

saved by Grace doesn't mean we ignore the Law.

For if it wasn't for the Law we wouldn't know what sin was,

If there was no Law, there would be no sin, hence

no transgressions and we wouldn't need salvation

through Jesus Christ.

You see, I believe far to many people today look at Gods Law,

look at the Old Testament as a nice "sentiment"..

to many people, because of their personal view of

the New Testament, they think everything is sunshine

and lollypops. They think God is love, and don't get it twisted

of course he is Love, but that's not all he is.

Too many people do whatever they want and they ignore

their sins and transgressions and just simply say

"I'm saved by Jesus...and all I need is Jesus,

he saved me from my sins"

and he did! Amen! but that doesn't freely give us the right

to continue living in sin! Going back to the Jew,

they may be blinded in thinking they can earn Gods grace,

and that they can follow the Law, but Christians

are blinded in thinking they don't freakin need the Law!

Together we can learn from each-other about

Faith,Love, and most of all GOD.

In closing the symbol of the Cross and Star of David..

It's about a unity with our Jewish brother and sisters,

It's about love for our ONE God.

It's about standing side by side and learning from one another

It's about standing up for those who get kicked around,

and it's about standing up for Israel.