Psalms 94

1  O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
2  Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3  LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4  How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5  They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
6  They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8  Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
13  That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14  For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15  But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16  Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17  Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18  When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19  In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
20  Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21  They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22  But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23  And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement....for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:"

Ezekiel 9:1
He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
9  Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
10  And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.
11  And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement....for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:"

Jeremiah 23:1
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
5  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9  Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11  For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12  Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
13  And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
16  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tIZgZsDWYj4/Svq07koMcCI/AAAAAAAAB4g/QsEglSZGSpY/s400/wetrust.jpg


In the book of Daniel, God reveals a coming series of empires or kingdoms of mankind, that are represented within an image of a statue.
And then God explains by Daniel, that Babylon was the first empire, the head of gold.
All of the subsequent system(s) of man on earth are in their way, later representations that first empire setup by Nebuchadnezzar.
The 'Babylon' in Revelation is a metaphor for all of the systems of authority devised by man, to rule over man.
Systems which lead mankind, to abandon their trust in [a spiritual, creator] God, and to look to the authority and 'wisdom' of fleshly men.



Daniel 2:46
Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.


Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;


Jeremiah 17:5
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
....
7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.


Psalms 118:8
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.


Psalms 146:3
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
5  Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:


Proverbs 29:23
A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
24  Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.
25  The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
26  Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the LORD.


Malachi 3:13
Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Our God is very near, to each one of us.

His advice to us, is to seek him, and his righteousness, in this time, while we can.


2 Chronicles 15:2
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.


Isaiah 55:6
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:


Acts 17:26
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.


Malachi 3:1
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.


Malachi 3:13
Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

psalm 23 is excellent.


It says to me :
At times God is leading, at times with us. Is that beside ?
Indeed I lost my fear of death once becoming a christian (...valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil....)
you will have enemies here, but it'll turn out alright.

Now I try not to discriminate on the basis of religious belief: I consistently maintain that each religion is as ridiculous as any other. But I must admit I do have a favourite piece of "holy" scripture, and it just so happens to be from the christian one. I can't quote chapter, verse or even the chorus, but it's that bit where some young kids are teasing an old man for having a bald head, so god sends down a couple of bears to mutilate forty-two of them.