The Light That Guides Us

People with perfect physical vision can still be totally blind if they have no physical light to see. The same holds true for spiritual vision; without the light of the Holy Spirit, what is in "plain sight" cannot be seen. It's a factor that affects all humans until such time that their possibility of beginning The Process Of Conversion is enabled by Spiritual Conception (see the Fact Finder question below).

"^8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20 KJV)

"^1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: ^1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ^1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:19-21 KJV)

"^2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. ^2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. ^2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ^2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:11-14 KJV)

"Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God"

The Messiah often healed physically blind people, because He had Compassion on them, but moreover as an object lesson of the great healing from spiritual blindness that will come to the entire world in due time e.g. "^30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers" (Isaiah 30:20 KJV; see also When Their Eyes Were Opened and A Brainwashed World).

"^9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. ^9:2 And his disciples [see Disciples of Christ] asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

^9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ^9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me [see Works Means Obedience], while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ^9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

^9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ^9:7 And said unto him, Go, wash in The Pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, Sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

^9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ^9:9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

^9:10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

^9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made Clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

^9:12 Then said they unto him, Where is he?

He said, I know not." (John 9:1-12 KJV)

The healing was brought to the attention of the as-yet spiritually-blind Pharisees who again blasphemously accused the Christ of violating The LORD Sabbath (see Did Jesus Break The Law?). Rather than rejoicing with the man who was healed, "^9:34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out" (Luke 9:34 KJV).

"^9:13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ^9:14 And it was the sabbath day [see How To Be A True Christian - Lesson 4] when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. ^9:15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

^9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.

Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

^9:17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?

He said, He is a prophet [see Prophets].

^9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. ^9:19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

^9:20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: ^9:21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. ^9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did Confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. ^9:23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

^9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

^9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

^9:26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

^9:27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

^9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. ^9:29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

^9:30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. ^9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. ^9:32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. ^9:33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

^9:34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." (John 9:13-34 KJV)

When Jesus heard that the man who could now see (physically and spiritually) had been put out, He sought him out and revealed to him (and everyone else) why such healings were done: "^9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind" (Luke 9:39 KJV). When the Pharisees again confronted Him, Jesus gave them a stark condemnation (see Damnation): "^9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (Luke 9:41 KJV).

"^9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

^9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

^9:37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

^9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

^9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

^9:40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

^9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." (John 9:35-41 KJV)

Fact Finder: All humans are blind to the Word of God until the Holy Spirit gives them light. Are humans also "deaf" to the Word of God until the Holy Spirit comes?
See Ears To Hear

This Day In History, December 11

1205: John Grey, Bishop of Norwich, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury. He was later rejected by Pope Innocent III.

1640: English Puritans introduced the "Root and Branch" petition to the Long Parliament in London.

1688: King James II abdicated the British throne.

1792: King Louis XVI of France was put on trial for treason.

1845: The Sonderbund was established by the 7 Catholic Swiss cantons to oppose anti-Catholic measures by Protestant cantons.

1845: In India, Sikhs crossed Sutlej and made a surprise attack on the British, starting the Anglo-Sikh War.

1899: During the second British-Boer War, the British under Methuen attempted to advance and were defeated with the loss of over 1,000 men by 9,000 Boers under Cronje at the Battle of Magersfontein.

1901: Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi flew a kite fitted with an aerial from the Cabot Memorial Tower on Signal Hill in Newfoundland which enabled him to receive the world's first transatlantic radio message. Sent from Cornwall, England, it consisted of 3 dots, the Morse Code signal for the letter "s".

1930: The Bank of The United States in New York failed and closed all of its 60 branches. The bank had over 400,000 depositors.

1931: Britain's Statute of Westminster gave complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland.

1936: Britain's King Edward VIII told a radio audience that he was abdicating the throne to marry U.S. divorcee Wallis Simpson. Edward had reigned for only 11 months, the shortest reign since that of Edward V in the 15th century. George VI, father of Elizabeth II, became king.

1937: Italy withdrew from the League of Nations.

1941: Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. then declared war on them. Poland declared war on Japan. Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Guatemala all declared war on Germany and Italy.

1941: Japanese forces occupied Guam.

1948: Newfoundland signed an agreement to become Canada's 10th province.

1955: Israeli forces attacked Syrian positions on the Sea of Galilee.

1961: Captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Israel. He was hung in May of the next year.

1962: Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin were hung at Toronto's Don Jail (Turpin murdered a Toronto police officer while fleeing an armed robbery; Lucas, who was a U.S. citizen from Georgia, murdered an undercover U.S. narcotics officer from Detroit while he was visiting Toronto). There were 710 executions in Canada between 1867 (when Canada became independent of Britain) and 1962 when the death penalty was abolished.

1967: The Concorde, a joint British-French development and the world's first supersonic airliner, was formally introduced in France.

1973: West Germany and Czechoslovakia signed a treaty nullifying the 1938 Munich Pact which sanctioned Hitler's seizure of the Sudetenland.

1983: The first visit to Lutheran church by a pope was made by Pope John Paul II in Rome.

1991: European Community leaders signed the "Maastricht Treaty" which aimed for a common foreign policy and a single currency by 1999.