Revelation Installment #1

Just so you know I was raised under dispensational views... My pastor and most people in my surroundings went to DTS. (Dallas Theological Seminary.) So I mean I always thought the whole apocalypse was coming; tribulation and Armageddon and all that jazz is imminent. So, we are doing Revelation..So we can learn what has been fulfilled at 70 A.D. and what is still future. I am really excited to learn about Eschatology and to learn more about the Scripture. It is going to be so fantastic to find out what the Bible says..So these are just some random notes from the sermon :) I like to rewrite them so I can internalize it and get it right in my brain.  So I figured, “Why not write it here!”

 Revelation 1:1-3 "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and he sent and communicated it by his angel to His Bond-Servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophesy, and heeds the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

 *A better translation for the word ‘Communicated’ would be that the message was Signed to him.
A better translation for the word ‘Heeds’ would be Keep (Obeys and guards)
(My pastor stressed how important it is that we keep and guard these things. Which also implies we really need to know what the flip is going on here.)

 *Apocalypse, which is a Greek word, means, 'To pull the veil aside or Pulling away the veil. (What wasn’t known is now known.)

 Revelation is:
From God
^
From Jesus
^
From the angel
^
From Paul
^
To the 7 Churches

 *Revelation is Heptamerous. (7 Fold) it is built on 7s.
It mirrors creation. Creation was in 7 days and in Revelation there are 7s everywhere. (7 churches, 7 angels, 7 stars, 7 golden lamp stands, just to name a few.) It is built on 7s because Revelation is about a New Creation.

 *Testimony of Jesus vs. Word of God.
Cognate phrases/ words. ‘Word of God’ refers to the Old Testament where as ‘Testament of Jesus’ refers to New testament. Rev 6:9- Were old testament saints who had delivered the Word of God and had been martyred as a result.

 *The Church is growing and we are all being unified over time.

 *‘Soon must take place.’ Soon, quickly, near and swiftly are all words used in Revelation and throughout the Bible. They always mean exactly what they say. Which are SOON, QUICKLY, NEAR and SWIFTLY.  (Heb, 8:13) ( Eph 2:13, 17) (John 11:55) (Acts 12:18) (James 1:19) are a few scriptures that have these terms. Language is language. It means what it means. The meanings never vary.

 *Why then do people (Ahem dispensationalists) try to stretch out the meaning of these words over 2000 yrs. Perhaps is it possible that Jesus already came in a way (Not the second coming mind you) that was judgment on the nation of Israel for how they broke the covenant ant would not believe the New Covenant? (AHEM **SPOILER ALERT!**) Perhaps at 70 A.D. when the temple and Judaism were destroyed?....

 *Revelation was written somewhere in 64 or 65 A.D. under the reign and persecution of Nero. People think it was written 90 to 95 A.D. under the reign and persecution of Domitian. However, my pastor pointed out that in Revelation John is told to ‘measure the temple’ and he could not have measured the temple in those years because the temple had already been torn down and destroyed in 70 A.D.

 *Written to the church that was in persecution and not written to ‘Israel’.
Most of revelation is not about the Second coming.

*In the Old Testament, Gods law was administered by angels. The angel is guarding the garden and we are barred from Gods presence which was in the garden. In the O.T angels had the keys but now in the N.T and in the New Covenant the church has them. The church is now the guardian of the ways and things of the Lord.
At 70 A.D. the O.T Disappears.  Revelation is a transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Angels are still operative in Revelation.
Not that they aren’t operative today but just not in the same way. We aren’t getting direct words from angels from God. It does not work like that anymore…

 My pastor told us it is so important that we look in the Bible to see what it says instead of just going with what we have been taught. He says we can’t make a ‘Procrustean Bed.’
*Procrustes was someone in Greek mythology that would cut off the legs of the person on the bed if his legs were too long to fit.
*People do that with their theology, they try to make scripture fit their argument when we should be doing the opposite and be making sure our arguments fits scripture.

 (When the truth of the matter is hardly anyone even knows what it in revelation!!) I am so excited to learn this week by week. Let me know if you want to come here the word as well!!

Neeways. Just some thoughts..

 
Love always
HollyDee

 
P.S Did you know the Serpent that deceived eve in the garden was really a dragon? I’m just saying. My pastor blows my mind. I should blog about that sermon as well….. :)

Not me Monday..

Well we got through rehearsal today without getting yelled at. This is a feat. (That is for dern sure.) One of the songs we are singing is called, "Close to you." We are singing the version that was recorded by the Carpenters. (If you don’t know who they are...THEN you need to get some more EDJUMACATION.) I love the Carpenters..They are totally iconic 70s. There is something so pathetically sad about them as well...

Some of the lyrics go,
"Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you. Why do stars fall out of the sky every time you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you."

I am supposed to start the song a capella..

and being my Ballady self...I got up there...Closed my eyes....I was totally feeling it...I am sure you can imagine....And then I opened my mouth expecting the words I knew so well to fall of my tongue with precision, piercing the hearts and minds of all those around me..(hahahaha jk. im just being a DIVA) but INSTEAD.....I opened my mouth and said...

"Why do birds...Fall out of the sky...Every time you walk by..."

***Room erupts into laughter***

Fail***  MOMENT KILLED*** by me..

and then I could not sing it right for the rest of the day. TOTES FAIL***

At least Kathy thought it was hilarious

I am always good for a laugh.

HollyDee ;)

 

The Days of my Life (I am a lightning rod for drama.)

I was awoken this morning to face much annoyance...I had a doctor’s appointment but apparently the doctor had called my mother and made the appointment earlier. However, NO ONE had told me. Well I got up, did my makeup in like 10ish minutes and walked out the door. Without my cup of coffee…and you know I cannot function without my cup of coffee. .So you came imagine my mood...

My doctor’s appt went well. I got a steroid for my nose. So hopefully that will help my allergies. She told me she didn’t want to take out my tonsils because that can change your voice and she tries not to do that to singers. So I pray these drugs will help me.

Then I had to make a special trip to the school to get my sister belles alumni TShirt and while I was there I decided that I would go to the admissions/advising to get a degree audit and fill out my application for the Music Field of Study Certificate. That was exciting and momentous. :) On the way back I had to stop at CVS to get my prescriptions... I walked up to the desk, told them who I was and the pharmacist said, "Okay, that will be 250 dollars..." umm... what? NO. Will you please call the Dr. and get them to change the medicine?!?!? Geee. AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT. Hopefully they will get that worked out.

I drove home on my merry way...or so I thought...Suddenly...a car came out of nowhere (exactly the same circumstances that happened when I broke my arm.) This individual was trying to cross all lanes of traffic to go the other direction and basically stopped in front of me. I slammed on my breaks but it was wet and rainy and I knew I was not going to be able to stop in time so I had to swerve into oncoming traffic to their left turn lane to avoid hitting him. Thankfully the cars over there were in the far lanes away. I hit the curb in the midst of the chaos, blew out my tire, and destroyed the rim...AND THEN!!!!!!!! THE GUY JUST DROVE AWAY AND DIDNT EVEN COME OVER TO SEE IF I WAS OKAY!!! Seriously... (WORD to all of you people who drive out halfway in the road and stop...just don’t! This is the second time this has happened to me and my arm still hurts all the time because of that woman’s bad choice. It is just NOT worth it. Just go up the road a little ways a do a Uturn. I’m not kidding. You may really hurt a person. (LIKE ME!!!) )
Thankfully there was the sonic right next to me so I just pulled in... (On my rim mind you...what else was I supposed to do? Continue to face the wrong way in oncoming traffic!? I think not. P.s you are most likely thinking, "Holly, you dummy. Why did you swerve into oncoming taffic? " Um. Well... After an ambulance ride and three surgeries AND three times losing brain cells because of the anesthesia then you might want to avoid hitting other vehicles AT ALL COST!!) I was really shaky and nervous and was suffering extreme Deja Vu. But alive. My Momy came to rescue me and then she bought me chipotle.. :) But alas, my car is dead for a bit. I am supposed to take it up to see brad at discount tire in the morning.

We went home to eat and then I decided to take a nap and start over. After I woke up we headed to Carrolton to see Dr. Neagle for an arm follow up. Well the news isn’t great. They think I have tendonitis over the ulna. Mmmm pain. They did an X-ray and said there was good healing over the Styloid, SO that is a cause for rejoicing. But my tendonitis hurts. My arm hurts all the time. They gave me a cortisone shot over the area. OUCH. Now it is puffy and green. They told me I can’t lift any weight for a while only 2-5 pounds… and I should be wearing a brace. Lovely. It seems that this arm business never goes away. However, I will praise the Lord because this is just His path for me and the pain is bad, yes, but it could have been so much worse. I could be armless. Or be in an unresponsive state. So I am thankful :)

Anyway, such is
A Day in My Life.

 Love Always,
HollyDee

 

The shapes of things to come....

I'm not sure if you know this about me...but I see shapes. Everywhere I go I see shapes and patterns.
Before my living room was painted I saw a deer in the swirls of the wood. In my shower I see Aladdin's magic lamp with smoke rising above it.. It also sometimes turns into a cobra. On the choir room door I see an Indian decked out with a headdress and if you turn your head to the side it becomes a dodo bird.  I quite often see faces and sea horses in the textured walls and popcorn ceiling. So there you have it. I'm pretty sure this is a superpower.

Holly dee :)