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Friday, December 4 2009
The Messiah's parable of letting your light shine (it begins with the famous "Ye are the salt of the earth" because salt is meant to be salty just as light is meant to shine, but perhaps Christ was also giving a prophetic physics lesson - in our time now, "salt" produces light i.e. energy-efficient sodium vapor lamps are widely used around the world today):
"5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16 KJV)
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven"
The Messiah then continued, explaining, and warning, how the light is to be made to shine - by genuine obedience (unlike the religious hypocrites of that time, or the present - Jewish or "Christian") to the LORD's Commandments:
"5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20 KJV)
Mark and Luke also recorded the parable, explaining how, along with the light not being hidden, the time will come when the darkness (the evil that people have done that they think that they have gotten away with) will also become known to all i.e. "For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad."
"4:21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. 4:23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:21-23 KJV)"8:16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." (Luke 8:16-17 KJV)
Luke also recorded Christ's teaching about how the light signified the Holy Spirit (see The Cure For The Carnal Mind).
"11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light." (Luke 11:33-36 KJV)
Fact Finder: What is meant by "jot and tittle" in the KJV?
See Jot and Tittle
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This Day In History, December 4
771: Charlemagne became the sole emperor of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.
963: Holy Roman Emperor Otto deposed Pope John XII for dishonorable conduct and for plotting an armed conspiracy. Leo VIII succeeded as pope.
1154: Nicholas Breakspear became the only Englishman to be crowned pope. He reigned as Adrian IV.
1489: The Battle of Baza between the Spanish army and the Moors.
1563: The 18 year-old Council of Trent ended.
1674: French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette constructed the first building of a mission in the wilderness area of Lake Michigan. Today the place is known as Chicago.
1791: The Observer, of Britain, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, was first published.
1809: The International Bible Society was founded. It has since distributed the Bible to over 150 countries in the world.
1829: Britain abolished the practice of "suttee" in India, in which the widow burned herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre.
1861: Britain's Queen Victoria prohibited the export of gunpowder and firearms.
1918: The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed. It became known as Yugoslavia.
1978: Pioneer 1 entered orbit around Venus.
1991: Terry Anderson, journalist, the last American and the longest-held western hostage in Lebanon was freed by his Islamic Jihad captors after being held for nearly 7 years - he was kidnapped on March 16 1985.
