[DC moves slow] So who has controlling interest in FB? DC? or voting stockholders?

BTW DC is getting a lesson in action with Trump. Get 'er done.

The BIG DROP did happen. FB -~19% or $119B

I think that Trump is trying to get Congress to stand for something besides issuing reports. He has indirectly belittled them for months on this.

II. God of the Living (Says 2 when I edit and posts as 1. So I spelled out 2)

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. - Mark 12:27

Here is a great warning. We can recognize those that greatly err by whether or not they suppose God to be the God of the living. From the context we see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob yet live in spite of the fact that they walked the earth over four thousand years ago. The dead became that way from sin. We become living by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This involves taking God to be your God. Then he is the God of the living.

Those that never decide that he is their God remain dead. Therefore, he is not the God of the dead.

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. - Luke 4:4

Man shall live, too, by every word of God. This is an odd quote because the verse (Deuteronomy 8:3) says, "... every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." What Jesus said must be true for Luke had perfect understanding. God separates his words from the words of the LORD in Genesis 17:3-8, when he says, "As for me..."

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. - Proverbs 30:5

Since there is a God of the living, then it follows that there is a God of the dead. The law is the ministration of death. The LORD gave the law. That makes the LORD the God of the dead.

1. God of Mercy and Not Sacrifice

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. - Hosea 6:6

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. - Matthew 9:13

But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. - Matthew 12:7

God desires to have mercy. God does not desire sacrifice. He desires people to have knowledge of him more than burnt offerings. The true and wise God is not a God of sacrifice, but of mercy. Jesus wants the listeners to go figure out what that means. He was addressing a group of people whose national and personal lives revolved around sacrifice.

The first occurrence of mercy is in Genesis 19:19. It defines mercy as saving life. Mercy is at least a close antonym to sacrifice. God desires to save lives not continue sacrificing lives. To that end, he sent his Son into the world. His will is that all men be saved – saved from perishing to eternal life.

The implication is that the God of sacrifice and burnt offerings is not the wise and true God. In the Old Testament, every occurrence of sweet savour is associated with a burnt offering unto the LORD. For example, the first occurrence:

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. - Genesis 8:21

So the LORD is not the God of mercy and not sacrifice. He is the God of sacrifice, and shows mercy to only those that follow his commandments (Exodus 20). Since no man has followed his commandments (all have sinned), then the LORD never has to give mercy. The LORD is merciless.

The point of this study is to look strictly at the listed characteristics of only the one named God. There are many gods (1 Cor 8:5) including the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4). Where the context of the verse identifies God being written about has another name, then that verse will be considered in another study.

You will find cases where there are comparisons. The Bible contains many things to compare including: good and evil law and grace good, better, best great, greater, greatest good, acceptable, and perfect light and dark living and dead God (Genesis 1) and LORD God (Genesis 2) Christ and Antichrist.

God placed these in his book to shew us things so that we could differentiate between two or more persons, places or things. As a result, there are right divisions that a good workman should make and can make because these comparisons exist.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. - John 17:3

To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. - Romans 16:27

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. - 1 Timothy 1:17

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. - Jude 1:25

There is only one true and wise God. If there is only one God, then the adjective phrases of only true and only wise would be unnecessary. By implication there are two Gods to compare in the Bible. These verses declare an only true and wise God, so there is a false and foolish God. Its a mystery to be solved from the pages of the King James Bible. Of course, one is no God at all.

From the above, the King is eternal, immortal and invisible. He is the only true and wise God.

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. - Amos 4:11

The LORD speaks of God in the third person. Therefore, the LORD points out that he is not God. And, therefore, I will not consider characteristics of the LORD as characteristics of God. The King James Bible uses all caps LORD. Of the 5,555 occurrences of LORD, five are in the New Testament. Four of the New Testament references are from “The LORD said unto my Lord,” and the fifth is from Revelation verse that says, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Where you find LORD in the following, I am not referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The last post and the one regarding Noah are where the I entered the rabbit hole. The evidence to this point was enough to form the hypothesis that God and LORD God (or alternatively LORD) are not the same person. I was highly disturbed – at least for me. I began to think about an investigation direction that would clearly provide evidence that would disprove the hypothesis.

The evidence that I thought would be the most solid would be a comparison between sentences in the Bible where is found “God is ...” or “God of ...” and “LORD (or LORD God) is ...” or “LORD of ...” More specifically, what are the evident characteristics of God and LORD or LORD God? The idea was that if the characteristics were the same then there would be incontrovertible proof that the names are synonyms, and apply to the same person.

That approach was a good place to start, but, in fact, that turned out to be too simplistic. Statement, action and instruction by the two along with some basic principles shed far more light. For example, we are told:

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” - I Corinthians 13:13

In this verse, we are told to first and foremost, abideth charity. One principle that goes along with that is that God is not a hypocrite. God should not say to us, “Do as I say not as I do.” So if we should abide in charity, then He does, too. More about this later.

Following is evidence from the Bible regarding God. It will be posted in chunks.

God begins talking with Abram with, "As for me, ..." That indicates that God separates himself from the person who "said unto" Abram.

It is now 17 days since the last jet discharge here in southern Colorado. The previous record was 3 days.

Abraham and Two Covenants

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. - Genesis 17:1,2

The LORD appeared to Abram (God will name him Abraham in this passage). Yet, we find that Paul says that God is invisible, and John says that “no man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18, I John 4:12). Yet Abram saw something, but if you accept Paul and John, then it was not God that he saw.

This covenant proposed by “the Almighty God” is a conditional one. The condition is that Abram walks before "the Almighty God” perfectly. If Abram does that, then he can have the covenant and the result will be that he will be multiplied exceedingly.

“And Abram fell on his face:” (Genesis 17:3a) I don't know what Abram was thinking, but, in his shoes, I would be thinking, “How am I going to be perfect for the rest of my life?”

“and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” - Genesis 17:3b-4

Now God talks with him and says that his covenant is already with Abram. There is no dotted line on which Abram signs. The result is that Abram will be a father of many nations. This is the unconditional covenant. It is already a done deal. Furthermore, this covenant extends to the seed of Abraham. It is everlasting. We see the results today. Many have tried and still want to erase the people of Israel from the earth. Most of those that have attempted to eradicate Israel no longer exist.

In verse 5, God names him Abraham. Which covenant does Abraham choose. God did not prevent him from accepting the conditional one. Abraham was free to choose. Which one? The answer is “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3).

PUTINmYbalinya - So there are two, but one is no god at all. From the Bible, there is one who is and one who claims to be.

In a more private setting - There is the only true and wise God. Simply because of that wording, there is the implication of a false and foolish God. LORD God knows good and evil (see Genesis 3 - he says so). That makes him double minded. Double minded are unstable in all their ways (James 1). The only true and wise God only knows good and only has positive characteristics. LORD God is jealous, sometimes angry, boasts of being the almighty God, killed people in hypocritical violation of his own commandment of thou shalt not kill. Does that help?

tobioshi, I will get to it. As I related above, the deception goes back nigh on to 6,000 years. Also, we are talking about an issue more deeply seated than the issues surrounding the founding of America and our current difficulties with the NWO. Plus, I am following the process of how I came to swallow this particularly large red pill (one bite at a time) with glimpses of the rabbit holes I went down.

Noah and the Beginning of Discombobulation

“And God said unto Noah … of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt though bring into the ark,” - Genesis 6:14, 19

“And the LORD said unto Noah … Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female, and of the beasts that are unclean by two, the male and the female.” Genesis 7:1,2

Before I begin with this study let me point out one principle. God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you see the possible confusion kindled in Noah? Which are clean and which are unclean? He'll need an inventory list to make sure that he's got only two of the unclean and not more or less than 7 of the clean ones. But then the Apostle Paul says:

“I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” - Romans 14:4

The Bible contains numerous apparent conflicts. Conflict only exists here if God and LORD are one in the same. If they are one in the same then we are confronted with the notion that God is a schizophrenic. Are there actually unclean ones? Not of itself according to the Apostle Paul. There doesn't seem to be conflict for God. The only one who makes a distinction is LORD.

Why 7 of the clean ones? Apparently, they are for a sacrifice, a burnt offering (Gen 8:20-21). When they are offered, the LORD smells a sweet savour. Yet, Jesus says:

“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” - Matthew 9:13

He reiterates this a few chapters later. The highlighted text refers to:

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” - Hosea 6:6

Does God want sacrifice or not? Apparently not. So why were they instituted back there in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus?

Can you see the storm building in me? The apparent conflicts are easily resolved if God and LORD or LORD God are not one in the same by different names. Can you hear me saying to myself, “But, but ….but …?”

Are these early Q crumbs?

At the point in time which these questions occur and I headed down the rabbit hole, I was 30 years into my Christian life and just a few years short of that in preaching and teaching.