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Sunday, March 14 2010
"Sooth" and "soothe" are two English words that sound somewhat the same when spoken, but nevertheless have very different meanings.
"Sooth" originated from an old Anglo-Saxon word which meant truth e.g. centuries ago, some people would say "I speak the sooth" in the same way that people today say "I speak the truth." Certainly, there is nothing wrong with telling the "sooth."
On the other hand, "soothe" originated from a word that meant to say yes to, that is, to speak "soothing" words that would make others happy - which isn't necessarily wrong, if the "soothing" words are true and righteous. A parent's soothing words to a child is an good example of when "soothing" words are good.
But what does "soothsayer" mean then? Is it about telling the truth, or is it about telling people what they want to hear? An example of "soothsaying" (based on the actual words that were written, not as they are variously translated) from the Holy Bible plainly answers the question - soothsayers told people what they wanted to hear, under the pretense that it was truth:
"30:9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD [see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM'; also Did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Know 'The LORD'?]: 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 30:12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 30:13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant." (Isaiah 30:9-13 KJV)
"I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers"
"13:22 Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer" (Joshua 13:22 KJV) is one of the most well-known "yes men" of the Bible - so much so that centuries later Peter used him as an example for all false prophets. Until the LORD put an end to it, Balaam actually hired himself out for "wages of unrighteousness" to tell people what they wanted to hear.
"2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass [see Balaam's Donkey] speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet." (2 Peter 2:14-16 KJV)
In describing the time after Christ's return, "for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (see The Messiah) is also one of the most well-known (but nevertheless ignored) verses of the Bible. But notice how that verse will be accomplished when the lies of the "soothsayers" who serve those who "please themselves" will then be silenced.
"2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. 2:6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers." (Isaiah 2:2-6 KJV)
Fact Finder: How will "5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers" (Micah 5:12 KJV) be accomplished?
See The Coming World Dictator
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This Day In History, March 14
1369: During the Castilian Civil War, Henry of Trastamare defeated Pedro I of Castile at the battle of Montiel.
1489: Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus and last of the Lusignan dynasty, sold her kingdom to Venice.
1558: Ferdinand I assumed the position of Holy Roman Emperor without being crowned by the pope.
1590: During the French Religious Wars, Henry IV, with a force of 13,000, defeated the 25,000-strong army of the Duc de Mayenne at the battle of Ivry.
1647: During the Thirty Years War, a Treaty of Neutrality was signed at Ulm between Sweden, France, Bavaria and Cologne.
1757: British admiral John Byng was executed by firing squad for his failed attempt to relieve the island of Minorca when threatened by the French fleet.
1883: Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, died.
1915: During the First World War, the German cruiser Dresden was sunk by the Royal Navy in the Pacific.
1936: Adolf Hitler told a crowd of 300,000 that Germany's only judge is God and itself.
1937: Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical Mit brennender Sorge ("with burning anxiety") against Nazi Germany; it charged that Germany had violated their 1933 concordat whereby Roman Catholicism was not to be hindered under the Nazis.
1938: After his anschluss of Austria, Adolf Hitler made his triumphal entry into Vienna, where he had spent his hobo years.
1945: The heaviest explosive of the Second World War, the 22,000-pound (9,980 kilogram) "Grand Slam," was dropped by the RAF's Dambuster Squadron on the Bielefeld railway viaduct in Germany.
1964: Jack Ruby was found guilty of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald.
1965: Israel agreed to West Germany's request to establish diplomatic relations.
1978: An Israeli force of 22,000 invaded south Lebanon, hitting the PLO terrorists based there.
