Malachi 3:10 for money?

Malachi 3:10

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

I must say that I do not agree with the common idea that this particular verse is a call to give money to church as a means of increasing financial income. I really don’t understand at all how money can be applied to this verse. I was raised however to always believe that this was the purpose of this passage.

Why not money?

Storehouse: even today a storehouse is a place used particularly by farmers to keep goods. It usually refers to a place to store meat or produce. The verse even backs up this claim by saying that there may be meat in mine house. The LORD says the purpose of bringing in the tithe is so there will be meat or food in His house.

Open you the windows of heaven and pour you out…: It is my speculation but you can tell that when the LORD is making mention of opening the windows of heaven he is referring to the skies. This seems to mean that the replenishment from the LORD will be by way of the heavens and not through monetary vehicles.

…not be room enough to receive it: This is a key to me that He is not referring to money. When has someone ever had so much money that they have not room to receive more? Even the richest on the planet have more room for money. Food on the other hand can easily been supplied so that there is not enough room to receive it. I can even recall a few accounts in the Bible where such a thing has happened: Twice when Yeshua prays over the fish and loaves. Then when all were fed there was still more that could not be used. Also twice when Yeshua tells the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Then they received so many fish that their net almost broke. An account from the Torah would be how the Israelites received so much food from the heavens that the excess rotted away. When speaking of food it is quite intuitive to understand how this promise from the Father would apply. With money, none of this makes sense.

There also could be an entire study done on the past of tithing that would touch on just what was allowed to be tithed and what was not. Such a study would also lend to the idea that tithes mentioned in Malachi referred to actual food.

Women Candidates for President?

The election of 2008 could see a woman seated as Vice President or President. I was pondering the idea today while surveying the news and media. I see many programs coming across the tube promoting women in the highest office. There's of of course the Geena Davis TV show, Commander in Chief, which I've mentioned before among others.

I also notice how Condi is the only Republican that is "shines" in the media. She makes all the right moves and receives praise from all. Apparently she is doing a fantastic job according to the media. Since I consider American media to be no media at all but rather a tool of suggestion this would lead me to believe that Condi may be getting set up for a much larger role in the future.

The same cannot be said of Senator Clinton though. I have not seen her name mentioned in media much at all. I really don't know if she has a strong enough career to be considered for the presidency. I could see her as a good compliment for Senator Kerry as a Vice President. I expect the democrates to receive a mandate because of citizen disgust over the Bush administration. I predict that the 2008 election will probably feature Condoleezza Rice and/or Hillary Clinton in the position of President or Vice President.

One shocking possibility...wrap your mind around this one...If for some reason VP Cheney is seen unfit to finish his term or resigns, there is none more qualified to assist President Bush in boosting his approval rating and perhaps changing the public's view on his entire legacy than Condoleezza Rice. For the "truly powerful" this may be a way for Republicans to win the 2008 and '12 elections and keep with same overall strategy for running the government.

Possibilities:

Kerry & Clinton vs. Rice & other - Kerry would win
Clinton vs. Rice - Rice would win
Rice as VP then Rice vs. Anyone - Rice would win
(side note) Kerry vs. Anyone - Kerry would win

In fact, barring an especially enticing offer, the POTUS of 2008 will be a democrat.

Are you a sheep?

Well are you a sheep or aren't you? First I must say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a sheep! None whatsoever! If that fact gives you a bit a calm then you probably are a sheep.

My analysis of what a sheep is or isn't is just my own analysis. It may not even be true but it is what I've seen to be true. Sheep are the masses. Sheep are the influenced. Sheep are people who are affected by the policy and the programs of the powerful. Since sheep are easily influenced and especially dependent on the guidance of a leader they are equally succeptable to misguidance.

Unlike other topics I may write about this one is especially scary for me because I give great effort to self-humbling (humbling from G-d is pretty painful). This observation I've made about sheep is very close to the line but anyway...

I made this observation when thinking of the difference between sheep and people (unnamed group). Yeshua (Jesus) told one of his disciples that if he loved him to take care of his sheep. I've learned in church coming up that we were all the sheep that he was referring to. Then I recently thought that if the disciples were sheep why were they put in charge of other sheep. That seemed to be a dubious relationship. I had to consider that sheep may indeed be another type of disciple of christ. Not one from the leadership of the 12 but rather from the thousands who followed Yeshua.

EVERYONE must be a follower at some point in their life an probably be a follower most of the time during their life. At some times a person must be a leader. What I've assumed about the nature of a sheep is that they are people who are not very likely to lead others and that they are very loyal individuals who are intelligent and who make a conscious decision to follow the voice of their shepherd but that are also inclined to wander, fall prey to a hunter, or be manipulated unto death.

When I think of sheep today I think of our churches and even our nation. The masses of people make small decisions about whether or not they approve the leadership of their elected officials. The sheep of today do not actually lead or do much of anything outside of the lines but instead respond when they are queried. This is why millions of Americans automatically accept the corruption, scheming, and deception being done by our government. Sometimes to hear of this type of behavior leads to intense feelings among the sheep but these feelings don't last.

The most important decision a sheep can make is who their leaders are. If a sheep decides that they will follow a particular church leader then they are guilty if their church leader leads them into corruption. The same is true for political decisions. Since voting for leadership is perhaps one of the most basic rights in human government the responsibility of voting is in the hands of the masses. Voting is not a form of leadership but it is a way that the masses may have and exhibit power to those who are rulers and leaders.

Shocking things about TV

If you want to fully understand television, which is vital to do if you are going spend quality time with it everyday, visit www.turnoffyourtv.com.

The site is very well written and the subject matter is quite compelling and credible. If you love television then you will undoubtedly make objections to this site; although if you're a TV junkie your argument probably will make very little, if any, sense and will end with "um... yeah!".

I had to include the following excerpt from the article by Ron Kaufman about the Fox News station because, as a former Fox watcher, I found it histerical:

"I have no doubt that if someone intimately tied into the Fox News Channel were to read this article they would immediately label me a seditious-evil-lying-communist-scumbag-bastard who hates America."

Read it all here!

Check out these links to others articles about TV and the effects of TV watching. If you are TV watcher then you will undoubtedly identify with the symptoms of TV-itis. Unfortunately, you probably won't care!

Attention Span Theater

Television's Hidden Agenda

The Beautiful People Syndrome

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Ted Turner had this to say about American Media:

"It's not how big you are, it's how good you are that really counts . . . The media is too concentrated, too few people own too much . . . There's really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see and hear. It's not healthy."

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THE 23RD CHANNEL (instead of the 23rd Psalm)

The TV is my shepherd, I shall want.

It makes me lie down on the sofa.

It leads me away from the Scriptures.

It destroys my soul.

It leads me in the path of sex and violence,

for the sponsor's sake.

Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my

Christian responsibilities,

there will be no interruption,

For the TV is with me.

It's cable and remote, they control me.

It prepares a commercial before me in

the presence of worldliness;

It anoints my head with Humanism,

My coveting runneth over.

Surely laziness and ignorance shall

Follow me all days of my life:

And I shall dwell in the house

Watching TV forever.

~Author Unknown

All, or almost all of the info in this particular section is from TurnOffYourTV.com. Although, the site is often one-sided in it's claims, that's okay, because the defense for TV will certainly come from it's masses of subjects.

Our universe is a drop in the bucket

"Confirming previous experiments the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) satellite showed that the visible matter we see around us (including the mountains, planets, stars, and galaxies) makes up a paltry 4 percent of the total matter and energy content of the universe."

- Michio Kaku, Parallel Worlds, 2004

Okay, so everything we see to exist is only a sliver of what ACTUALLY exists. This is definitive scientific proof. This is fact. What's really pivotal to me is that perhaps in our thinking we should consider the fact that in the universe we are only really aware of a miniscule amount. We know next to nothing about the real state of things. If the actual universe were a 100-page book we would have knowledge of only the table of contents and we would only be truly familiar with one letter.

That's a humbling truth of our existence.

The Vatican Says the Bible is Inaccurate

"We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision."

-The Catholic Church
The Gift of Scripture

Apparently the Catholic Church no longer supports the inerrancy of the Bible. This isn't so shocking for me because they are the Catholic Church. I'm all shocked out. This is still powerfully troubling since the Catholic Church has the largest religious control in the world. Together with the Pentacostals they hold 1/3 of the entire earth's population. That's shocking!

The Day the Real American Dream Died

After President Woodrow Wilson left the office of the Presidency and reflected on his legacy he made the following quote:

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.

We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."

-Woodrow Wilson, Fmr. U.S. President


// President Wilson did indeed destroy his country. He gave all power and control to the banking elite. HE FORMED THE FEDERAL RESERVE in 1913! The Federal Reserve Act which was NOT passed by congress when it was 1st introduced and re-introdued but that was passed by an act of the President, Woodrow Wilson. This act put a PRIVATE company in charge of the US Monetary Policy. This meant that a company was in charge of the American economy.



//Even today the Fed runs the US monetary policy. The country is currently so in debt to the owners of the Federal Reserve, who receive 4% interest per year, that all of the American tax dollars go toward paying only the interest of the loans from the Fed. Wars and other government policy that need funding mean that we borrow more and more money from the Fed and fall deeper and deeper into debt.

//All of this was heartbreaking to learn especially since we are now engaged in an enemyless war which the government claims will take decades to win. If we stay steadfast in war for such a long time our nation may become completely impotent and powerless to defend itself from the bankers who own the Fed!

Insurgents will wage war?

"The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia."

-George W. Bush, U.S. President


//Are we really buying that. Are Spain and Indonesia really in trouble from unorganized insurgents? Are they really powerful enough to wage a war on anyone? Where would they get the money for that type of effort?

This is all ridiculous!

Dick Cheney

"Like other great duties in history, it will require decades of patient effort, and it will be resisted by those whose only hope for power is through the spread of violence"

-Dick Cheney, U.S. Vice President

//Incredible! We now have a war that will last decades. Why and who are we fighting again?