Join me Tuesday Night, October 5th....

At 11pm (Eastern) on Tuesday night, I will be discussing some recent current events that have caught my attention on my internet radio show (Hodgepodge Horizon). I'll also be taking phone calls.

What is the 'Beast Out of the Sea' in Revelation 13:1?

I thought I would go back to the study in Revelation involving the beast that rises out of the sea. Many will think this relates to a sci-fi monster movie but we have the answers from Scripture itself to shed light on what God is revealing to us. As I often tell people, you cannot understand Revelation without studying the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. To make a long story short, this 'beast' represents a unified government of Gentile powers. During this time, they will be officially unified under the Antichrist.

First of all, the ten horns on the beast represent ten kings or leaders which is found in Daniel 7:24 and Revelation 17:12. I guess you can call this a G-10 summit (Global 10). We also know from reading Daniel that the Antichrist will be the 'little horn' behind the scenes that will take power over the ten (Daniel 7:8). The seven heads on the beast can be counted from the number of heads the 'four beasts' in Daniel 7:4-7. Babylon (represented by a lion with one head), Media-Persia (a bear with one head), Greece (a leopard with four heads), and Rome (a beast that was difficult to describe by Daniel but had one head where the ten horns resided).

In Revelation 13:2, it gives a combination of the beasts (or animals) of Daniel 7:4-7. We read "And the beast which I saw was like unto a LEOPARD, and his feet were as the feet of a BEAR, and his mouth as the mouth of a LION: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." We know the 'dragon' is Satan from reading Revelation 12. This is a unified government under the control of Satan himself which will take place during the 7 year Tribulation. But we see shadows of this being prepared for fulfillment right before our eyes today.

As always, a lot more can be said. But it's interesting to note what those nations represented by those beasts are today. Babylon is modern day Iraq. Media-Persia is modern day Iran (it used to be divided which is why you get the two names although Iranians still refer to it as 'Persia' to this day). Greece (well, that's pretty much self-explanatory). And Rome (we must understand that in God's eyes, the Roman Empire still exists in a fragmented formed. Humpty Dumpty will be put back together again though).

It's interesting how Iraq and Iran are constantly making headlines in the news. Not to mention Greece with the economic chaos we're hearing about today. Just saying!

ADDICTIONS

Part 2 of the Addictions series is now available right here on this page on the 'Blog Talk Radio' player box to your right. It was an interesting Biblical analysis on this subject. Did you know the word 'addicted' occurs one time in the Bible? And it shows that we're gonna be 'addicted' to something, so why not to God. Here's the verse:

"I beseech you brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have ADDICTED themselves to the ministry of the saints)." (1 Corinthians 16:15).

With this in mind, 'addictions' in a negative term always focuses on SELF as opposed to being 'addicted' to God focuses on OTHERS.

Time change for my show this week....

My internet radio show 'Hodgepodge Horizon' is scheduled for this Thursday at 11pm instead of Tuesday. I'll be continuing a series on Addictions which I put on the back-burner for a while. Join me for an interesting and in-depth study from God's Word. Live chat and taking your phone calls. Thursday at 11pm (Eastern).

Scriptural answers to 'Speaking in Tongues'

The following is my answer to an email I received from a dear friend today concerning the meaning behind 'tongue speaking.' Here's my answer:

Well, concerning the 'tongues' subject it's all about reading the whole context of the book of Acts (in the second chapter to be exact). The word 'speaking with other tongues' which is the actual phrase mentioned in Acts 2:4 means the same thing as speaking in a foreign language (such as Spanish, Russian, etc.) but they didn't have to go to school to learn it. They automatically knew how to speak in the person's language (or 'tongue') to give that person the Gospel. The miracle was to break the language barrier at a very critical moment. That moment was the day of Pentecost (verse 1) where according to verse 5, "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven."

In other words, the Jews from different countries who only understood the language (or tongue) they lived at were gathered together in Jerusalem for Pentecost (a Jewish feast in the Old Testament) had to get the Gospel preached to them by the disciples who only knew either Hebrew or Greek. Look at Acts 2:6 about how they were amazed (or confounded) "because that EVERY MAN HEARD THEM SPEAK IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE." Continue to read for yourself in verses 7-12 in Acts 2 about the different language/tongue descriptions. This was important because the Gospel was to be preached to the Jew FIRST and then the Greek (or Gentiles or anyone else who wasn't born a Jew) according to Romans 1:16.

I think you may understand by now that many people are confused about the 'tongues' subject because they ignorantly think it was a state of 'spiritual ecstasy' or jibber and jabbering along. It was just a gift given to the apostles who had to get the Gospel to those with different languages and people don't know how to read the context of the Bible these days which leads to more confusion. And as a matter of fact, the apostle Paul made very clear that it was all for the purpose of UNDERSTANDING and not confusion. He says in 1 Corinthians 14:19, "Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." (or a foreign language you don't understand).

I like to remind people who claim they are filled with the Spirit who get involved in the out-of-context practice of tongues that the fruits of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and it doesn't involve 'speaking in tongues.' (But it does teach that we need to control the tongue we have..lol). Also understand that Acts was a 'bridge' book with a lot of transitions to bring in the full teachings of the New Testament by completing the writing of God's Word. The transition is over and the Word of God is now complete. People who build their church or religious denomination out of context in the book of Acts is like a person who builds a house on a bridge as opposed to solid ground. In other words, very dangerous!

Overcoming Depression (a Biblical remedy)

Here is a brief outline to help you cope with depression (the Biblical way). Before I share it with you, It's important that you have a relationship with God. This is only through Jesus Christ since He is the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). This outline is for Christians who have the Holy Spirit to help them cope with this issue. Christians still are not exempt from these issues while upon the earth. As I always say, we're not SINLESS but we're supposed to 'SIN....LESS.' Open your Bible to Psalm 77:


1. Cry out to God. He's not surprised how we feel and wants us to be honest. (verses 1-3)

2. Recall past blessings that God has done for you. You know you have gotten this far by His grace and He didn't lead you this far to forsake you. (verses 4-6)

3. Ask God some hard questions. (verses 7-9)

4. Choose to redirect your thoughts by His grace. (verses 10-12)

5. Magnify God to diminish your problems. His presence is manifested when we praise Him no matter how we feel. (verses 13-18) And on an interesting note, I know someone personally who overcame a spell of anxiety by having the wind blow in their face. I say this because these verses mention about God's actions in nature.

6. Trust God to be your deliverer and Him alone regardless of how 'unscientific' or 'unreasonable' it may sound. (verses 19-20)

What is 666?

The following is an answer to a question a dear Christian brother had concerning the number 666 in Revelation 13:18. You can read this response in the comment section under the 'Antichrist' blog, but I thought I would make it more visible here as a blog post. Here's my answer:

666 has been commonly interpreted as representing the 'Satanic Trinity' which happens to be found in Revelation 13 where the number is mentioned.

Of course the number 6 is used to describe being short of 7 (a number of being divine or complete). But the Satanic Trinity (being represented by three sixes) would be The Dragon (or Satan), The Beast (which refers to the unified kingdom of the Antichrist and also the Antichrist himself since God usually sees a king and a kingdom as one in the same), and the False Prophet (who will use religion and supernatural miracles to lead people to worship the Beast).

It's interesting to read Daniel 3:1 where Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) had a golden image "whose height was threescore (sixty) cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits." This is important because Revelation 13 also mentions about an image of the Beast to be worshiped and no doubt the image in Daniel was one of Nebuchadnezzar himself. I say this because history has a funny way of repeating the past (read Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Also, 1 Samuel 17:4 mentions about Goliath "whose height was SIX cubits and a span." He also had "SIX hundred shekels of iron" (verse 7). No matter how big the enemy is, God seems to use this number to remind them that they still fall short of his glory. This is the best so far I can answer from the Scriptures without overly speculating.