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Tehillim/Psalm 23: "A verse-by-verse understanding for us all" (Part 5)

PSALM 23: A VERSE-BY-VERSE UNDERSTANDING" (Part 5)


"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over" (verse 5) KJV

" You prepare a table for me even as my enemies watch. You anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup" (verse 5) CJSB (Complete Jewish Study Bible)


As we are coming almost to the end of Psalm 23, we again have to look at imagery and symbolism. We can take some things literally, yet in this case we see a lot of imagery, yet it affects us in our spiritual life as well as in our physical world life.

A table means "provision," and "preparing a table" can remind us of mom and dad preparing lunch and dinner, and we all sit down and eat our share. (especially on Thanksgiving). Providing for our needs is what God is all about. He knows our needs as well as our wants. At times, we sit down to eat a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but at times, we get the steak with potatoes and corn, with biscuits and maybe red wine.

God knows our needs, both physical and spiritual. The enemy can be either spiritual (Satanic influence, demonic attacks) or physical (persecution by radical religious fanatics), political unrest, and persecution of different groups (Christians, Jews), like Russia under Stalin, Hitler's Third Reich, etc. Yet God seems to always provide our needs, maybe just enough to survive the hard times. Bread, water, milk, beans, hidden ration cards,

Bibles were smuggled into the communist bloc countries by Brother Andrew in the 1960s. Even though the enemy was at the gates, the Bibles got through, and the "eyes" of the guards were "blinded." The people in those countries got the WORD even though the enemy was all around. I was a part of "Underground Evangelism" in the late 1970s, sending the gospels of John to people in communist countries.

All I did was put the name and address of the person on the envelope, and put a stamp on it and send it off from the nearest post office. (It was cheaper when I lived in Germany) All I needed was a 40 Pfenning stamp. The post office was at the "Bahnhoff" (The Train Station). Most letters went to Communist-controlled European countries. Underground Evangelism sent me a paper with 15 names and addresses each month. Every other day, I would send a letter. (The names and addresses were taken from phone books) I still remember the brother who introduced me to that ministry. It was Larry Tilicani, in Colorado Springs, CO, when I was stationed at Fort Carson. (1977)

"A Table of Provisions" can also remind us of God's "protection". "Protection" is also "provision". The Talmud (a collection of Jewish commentaries) tells of a time when David is being pursued by Saul. David finds a cave and hides inside. Then God sends a spider to "protect" David. During the night, the spider spins a web at the entrance of the cave. When morning comes, Saul's men come by the cave and notice the spider web covering the entrance. Saul says, "Let's search elsewhere. David can't be inside; otherwise, the spider web would be broken." So, in the face of his enemies, God protected David using a spider.

The oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. It is an inner peace that we get from knowing that even in rough and tough times, God will provide ALL of our needs. Thus, we should be rejoicing even though we might feel pain. Kings were anointed by pouring oil on their heads. Samuel anointed David to be king that way. Oil also has healing properties. The Holy Spirit can heal our inner hurts if we allow the Spirit of God to work that way in our lives.

So, apparently The Church Is Israel

Well, yeah.
And you do have a verse where Israel is part of the Body of Christ ?\

And the Greek for EKKLESIA mean, OUT . and LESIA , means A CALLING , means an. ASSEMELY

And in 1 Corr 12:15-17. the Body of Christ is made up of. of Foot , of EARS , and EYES and SENSE pf HEARINS

and SENSE of SMELL. !
dan p
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CLERICAL HOMOSEXUALITY 101 FOR CATHOLICS

Reading the entire body of witness and experience of this former Navy Chaplain presents, to any faithful Catholic, a gravely serious challenge and opens us to a very dangerous temptation. The temptation is satan's work and plan. The challenge to steadfastly and courageously hold fast to the traditional Catholic Faith even in the temptation, is God's work and plan. Men and women insisting on remaining in the shallow end of the sea, near the beach - close to the land - safe on the earth - are in greatest danger. Where faith can be thin - shallow - to survive in comfort with this passing world - this is satan's most fertile soil: easy low-hanging fruit, easy to steal away their confused and darkened souls.

But the stronger ones learned long ago that the world's treasures are cheap glass beads and hollow praise from liars, worth nothing more than noise to souls seeking the purity of melodious choirs of angels in worship of the One True God, more precious than this world can imagine. To them, to those who have tasted the real and the eternal, no temptation from the father of lies can shake them loose from the Rock of Truth.

To these latter ones I say you need to read this; you can take it, it can prepare you for the sufferings and plagues to come. Judgment is due, long due, and it is near.
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Denominations

One small step toward truth perhaps ?
Nothing in any Scripture shows or indicates that at that time they were any denomination at all. They were assemblies of Jewish believers following Jesus, or fallen or at risk of falling away from obeying Jesus.

We can rule that out because Revelation is dated to the late 1st century and is regarded as the last book of the NT to be written, by St. John the Theologian and Beloved Disciple during his exile on Patmos (where today there is a thriving monastery). While on Patmos he had a vision which was written down.

By that time, it had been perhaps as many as 40 or more years since St. Paul in his epistle to the Galatians wrote “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free, for all are one in Christ Jesus.”

There were of course Christians of Jewish and Samaritan descent and their descendants represent a significant fraction, perhaps a plurality or even a majority of the membership of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the related Catholic denominations (Chaldeans, Syro-Malabar Catholics, Syriac Catholics, but perhaps not the Maronites) (both in India and the Middle East, for large numbers of Kochin Jews from Kerala were converted, as well as a group of 400 survivors of a shipwreck that was sailing to India along the southern trade route from Alexandria down the Red Sea, calling at Abyssinia (modern day Eritrea or Djibouti) and/or Socotra, off the coast of Yemen, which had a Christian majority population until they were killed during the genocide instigated by Tamerlane in the 12th century; this group has remained endogamous and can prove their Judaic heritage.

They are definitely a majority of the population of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Tewahedo Orthodox Church, an Oriental Orthodox church which until the 20th century was part of the Coptic Orthodox church, which can be said to prefigure the Messianic Jewish movement insofar as the Ge’ez liturgy consists of a modified version of the Synaxis portion of the liturgy of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Judaism, which was the official religion of Ethiopia until the conversion of the Imperial house and most of the country to Christianity in the fourth century, around the same time that the Georgians were converted, about ten years after the conversion of Armenia in 306 and the Edict of Milan in 314, making Ethiopia either the fourth or fifth country to embrace Christianity (after the Kingdom of Edessa, a city-state, the Kingdom of Armenia, the Roman Empire, and possibly the Georgian tribe known as the Kart’velli. Edessa also had a substantial Jewish population, for it was one of the cities where St. Thomas the Apostle and two members of the Seventy, Saints Addai and Mari, who worked with St. Thomas as his disciples, spread the Gospel - St. Thomas took an overland route following the other route favored by Jews trading with India (a trade that began when Alexander the Great established communications between the Greek-speaking world and India, leading to an exchange of ideas, silk, spices and so on, and the spread of Judaism and later Christianity to India). This northern route was from Antioch or Damascus to Edessa, then Nisibis, then ancient Nineveh (modern day Mosul, at the time probably called Mepsila), then Tikrit, then Seleucia-Cstesiphon, where the Babylonian Talmud was replaced, the city that had replaced Old Babylon when the Tigris shifted in alignment and which in turn was abandoned and replaced by Baghdad (which has grown to be adjacent with or overlap the ruins of Babylon) when the Tigris shifted again, and finally to Basra, from which one would board a ship and sail to Kerala down the Persian Gulf and close to the shore of the Persian Sassanid Empire, and modern day Pakistan. Churches were planted all along this route, like along the southern route, although we’re less sure who evangelized Socotra since they were all martyred.

At any rate, the Ethiopians are mostly of Jewish descent although there were some non-Jewish tribes ruled by the Solomonic Kingdom (whose history is complex; for a time in the 17th century it split into three, due to a schism between the Orthodox church and two heretical churches). If you look at the liturgy of the Beta Israel, it is extremely similiar, with both the Beta israel and the Ethiopic churches (Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and Eritrean Tewahedo Orthodox) using nearly identical vestments, for example, Jewish kohanim wear the same attire as Ethiopian Orthodox bishops and levites wear the same attire as Ethiopian Orthodox deacons., except with the Star of David instead of a Cross, and this style of vesture has been preserved despite most, but not all, of the Beta israel having fled the country after the Derg Communist revolution and the martyrdom of Emperor Haile Selassie and many Christian leaders (like most Communist states after Stalin, the Derg was anti-Semitic, whereas the late Emperor was not; fortunately, the Jews had the option to flee the country; the Derg was also opposed to Christianity and meddled in the affairs of the church, forcing it to select a Patriarch who had been vetted by the Communist party (who was in turn deposed after the Derg regime collapsed in the 1990s), but the Christians had no where to go in terms of an alternative homeland that would actively help their evacuation, nonetheless, the evacuation of the Beta Israel by the IDF was a great thing, and Netflix made a very good film about part of the operation, “Red Sea Diving Resort.”

Since most Jews worship in a very different way than the Beta Israel, Messianic Judaism has the opportunity to fuse the synaxis according to the Nusach and the varying Siddurim used by the Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Romaniote, Bukharan and Karaite Jews with the Eucharist. This was also done in antiquity in the East Syriac Rite, which is the other Christian liturgical rite which is heavily influenced by Judaism; the Synaxis, or Liturgy of the Word, begins with a Torah portion and its corresponding Haftarah, albeit rearranged from the one year lectionary used in the Babylonian synagogue to match the Scripture Lessons and liturgical occasions on the Assyrian calendar, and these are followed by an Epistle and a Gospel, and in place of the Torah Ark in the Holy of Holies, behind a curtain, is the altar, which is treated with the strictest rubrics of any denomination in terms of its sanctity (even minor liturgical accidents will require the altar to be reconsecrated). Additionally, the East Syriac churches historically had Bemas, which were of the raised platform variety, facing the Altar in the same way the Bema in a Synagogue faces the Altar, albeit connected by a walkway for the easy movement of clergy such as the deacons and the Presbyter who might be reading the four different scripture lessons (in the diaspora in the US at least sometimes one of the two Old Testament lessons is omitted, but in the Middle East all four will be used, and also in the more liturgically robust parishes n the US).

Recently some Chaldean Catholic churches have been restoring the Bema based on the ancient architecture (the Chaldeans are the mainly Arabic speaking former members of the church who separated in a schism along tribal lines in the 17th or 18th century, perhaps because unlike the rest of the Church of the East, they no longer used the Aramaic language in the vernacular; the largest population of native Aramaic speakers in the world are the 700,000 speakers of Neo-Assyrian Eastern Neo-Aramaic in the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East (the two groups were estranged in the 1960s by a schism over the former moving to the Gregorian calendar but are in the process of reunification).

It should be noted that all of the native Aramaic speakers live in the Middle East, mainly Iraq, Iran, and with smaller populations in Syria and Turkey (but these are more associated with the West Syriac Syriac Orthodox Church, which has a much less Semitic liturgy, being based primarily on the ancient Greek liturgy of Antioch but with some Hagiopolitan influences (from Greek liturgy of the Church in Jerusalem, whereas the East Syriac Rite as far as we know has only ever been celebrated in Syriac, Arabic, Malayalam (among those in India, who, following the Portuguese occupation of Kerala in the 1500s, almost entirely, perhaps entirely, joined the Syriac Orthodox Church or became part of the Catholic communion, the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, which still uses the East Syriac Rite, although in the late 19th and 20th centuries the Assyrian Church of the East made a comeback in India.


Nonetheless, the Church of the East actively evangelized both Jews and other Aramaic speaking people, along with Persian speakers, Arabic speakers and others; indeed, at its peak it stretched across Central Asia to Tibet, China and Mongolia, and was larger at least in geographic area and possibly total membership than the Roman Catholic Church, before the genocide of Tamerlane killed all of its members outside of the Fertile Crescent and the Malabar Coast of India.
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House Passes Trump-Backed Rescissions Package Slashing $9 BILLION in Bloated Spending — FOREIGN AID, NPR, and PBS on the Chopping Block — Two Republic

Republican leadership thinks this is a good thing--and they have bamboozled their followers into believing that it is an inevitable and desirable consequence of the hallowed "free market."
They have? Do you have some sort of research shows registered Republicans all think this is a good thing?
Democratic leadership agrees with them about it, too,
Hmm... I havent heard the Democrats agree with Republicans that its a food thing.
Berniecrats, but you mustn't listen to them, because they are evil socialists
I dont know about evil, but they are socialists.
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Self-Proclaimed Fascist Raises $28K (and counting) on GiveSendGo After Claiming He Was Fired Over Political Beliefs in online Debate

After watching the video, it looks like the left has found their own version of Ben Shapiro in the form of Mehdi Hasan lol.

Talks really fast - check
Reiterates shallow talking points - check
Asks loaded questions - check
Steers every conversations to areas where they can 'dunk' on debate opponents with memorized cherry picked stats and "factoids" - check


I saw that performance on "surrounded" as no different than this performance (in terms of quality)


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Perhaps that "surrounded" show should just have a Hasan vs. Shapiro - and offer every viewer a free bottle of Aspirin.
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Suing Founding Ministry to Retire Like Kings

Knowing why God said...

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. - Isaiah 66:2

The love of power, money, and a wealthy retirement has made people terribly self centered!
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Why the Epstein List Anger is About Something Far More Fundamental than the List

I've never trusted any politician or government, even those I've voted for multiple times. In a democracy, we should always remain cautious about placing trust in politicians or governments.

Skepticism toward politicians and government has long been a cornerstone of American democracy. However, today the greatest challenge lies in the growing distrust of the media and the tendency to view fellow Americans with differing opinions as enemies of the nation.
Why is the media to be trusted when it is part of the same eco system as the government? It has lied and has been complicit in lies as much as anyone government has.
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Pray that The Holy Spirit elects a New Vice President of India who views Christians in favorable light, & values Christians concerns

I pray that God would soften the hearts in the government of India, including the next vice president, to protect the well-being of Christians there. In Jesus' name, amen.
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Pray The Holy Spirit guides Canadian & US diplomats to be humble enough to reach a mutually beneficial trade deal( one that would involve the US & Can

I pray that the United States and Canada would come to a trade deal that would be good for both countries and allow missionaries to preach God's word in both countries. In Jesus' name, amen.
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Georgia investors reeling after First Liberty 'private loan' affinity scam collapse, connected to state GOP figures, church; feds reportedly involved

Christian Conservative Edwin Brant Frost IV Charged With Ponzi Scheme
The political supporter, who swindled investors out of $140M, apologized for his actions.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Edwin Brant Frost IV, the founder and owner of Georgia-based First Liberty Building and Loan.
Frost also allegedly misappropriated investor funds for his personal use, including making over $2.4 million in credit card payments, paying more than $335,000 to a rare coin dealer, and spending $230,000 on vacations.​

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Trump calls his supporters "troublemakers" after Grand Jury orders release of Epstein files

The White House responded on Wednesday to a new Wall Street Journal report that Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump that his name was mentioned in documents related to the investigation into the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Journal's report cited senior administration officials who said Trump's name appeared "multiple" times in the Epstein files.

"This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal," White House communications director Steven Cheung told the newspaper in a statement.

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Hold On Tight! Don't Let Go!

“Depart from evil and do good,
So you will abide forever.
For the Lord loves justice
And does not forsake His godly ones;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
The righteous will inherit the land
And dwell in it forever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
His steps do not slip.
The wicked spies upon the righteous
And seeks to kill him.
The Lord will not leave him in his hand
Or let him be condemned when he is judged.
Wait for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.” (Psalm 37:27-34 NASB1995)

This is written under the Old Covenant God had with his people Israel (Jews only), but much of it parallels over to what is taught in the New Testament under the New Covenant that God has with his people Israel, the body of Christ, his church (Jew and Gentile by physical birth, but who are spiritual Israel, only by faith in Jesus Christ). For under the New Covenant we are also taught to depart from evil (die to sin) and to do good (obey God). And this is so that we will abide (live, continue) forever with God, in Christ Jesus.

The Lord does not forsake his godly ones. And the godly ones in the New Testament are all who, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, have died with Christ to sin and who are now walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord’s New Covenant commands. They are those who live righteously, in practice, and who no longer make sin their practice. And to live righteously is to live according to what God requires of us in holy living, in obedience to his commands, committed to serving the Lord with our lives.

But the wicked hate the righteous. The righteous are an offense to them because they remind them that what they are doing, and how they are living is wrong in the eyes of the Lord, and that if they continue to live in sin, and not in surrender to the will of God, in walks of obedience to his commands, that they will not inherit eternal life with God, even though many of them do make professions of faith in Jesus Christ. And so the wicked may well spy on the righteous and make plans to do away with them in one way or another.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:1-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

So, when this says here that the Lord does not forsake his godly ones, and that the Lord will not leave the righteous in the hands of those who seek to do away with them, we need to read this in the context of the New Testament teachings on the subject of sufferings and persecutions. For, although it is true that the Lord will not forsake his righteous ones, he also teaches us that to follow Jesus will mean that we will be hated and rejected and persecuted as he was, and even put to death for our walks of faith.

But even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for God is with me, and he comforts me, and he has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies, and surely goodness and lovingkindness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (see Psalm 23). So, though trials may come, and though enemies come against me, it does not mean that the Lord has forsaken me. I just need to hold on tight to him, and he will help me.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-39; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1


As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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Hold On Tight! Don’t Let Go!
An Original Work / July 23, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

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