Ruth – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Turn—Six Sentence Story

In sorrow Naomi felt the need to turn away from Moab to find what was left for her in Bethlehem after the death of her husband and her two sons. Ruth, the widow of one of her sons, refused to let her go alone, telling her, Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay, and your people will be my people, and your God will be my God, and where you die, I will die.

In Bethlehem Ruth gleaned from the fields of an older man, Boaz, not knowing he was a near kinsman of Naomi’s deceased husband. After negotiations with another kinsman Boaz redeemed the land belonging to Naomi and married Ruth so she could bear children to raise up the name of her deceased husband upon his inheritance.

As a result of this union, Ruth, a Moabite woman, bore a son and called him Obed. From Obed would come Jesse and from Jesse would come David, the singer of psalms, mighty in battle and a future king, and from David would come, generations later, Jesus, the promised Messiah.

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Denise offers the prompt word “turn” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. For what really happened see the short book of Ruth.

Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Exploration 82 – Ruth

Elimelech, his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, went to Moab to escape the famine in Bethlehem. There Mahlon married Ruth (Ruth 4:10) and Chilion married Orpah. There also Elimelech died as well as his sons Mahlon and Chilion. Naomi told her daughters-in-law to stay with their families in Moab, but Ruth would not leave her.

¹⁶And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
¹⁷Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Ruth 1:16-17 King James Version

Ruth went with Naomi back to Bethlehem. She gleaned in the fields of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s husband Elimelech (Ruth 2:1). He married Ruth and she bore Obed, an heir for Mahlon, the son of Elimelech. After Obed came Jesse the father of David in whose line was born Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus) of a virgin named Miriam (Mary) (Matthew 1).

¹⁷And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Ruth 4:17 King James Version

Weekly Parashah Readings
Parashah: Pecudei 2 Adar II, 5782 – March 5, 2022
Torah: Exodus 38:21 – 40:38
Haftarah: Kings I 7:51 – 8:21
Brit Chadashah: Hebrews 1:1-14
Resources: Chabad, Hebrew4Christians, Weekly Torah Readings, Calendar

I am looking for a name to replace “Sunday Walk”. I am trying “Exploration”.

Sunday Walk 51 – From Witchcraft To Pornography

Derek Prince called witchcraft the “religion of fallen humanity” and associated it with rebellion, idolatry and the occult. Occult practices include the use of horoscopes, pendulums, or tarot cards. To give the devil his due, these practices work to some extent, but that’s just the bait, the demonic deception, the worm that makes the hook look attractive. When we take the bait we push the Holy Spirit aside.

When we yearn for the supernatural we should yearn for the real thing, not a demonic substitute. No fancy yoga position could ever replace repentance. No fortune teller could ever replace a real church.

Witchcraft can also be associated with activities that appear to have nothing to do with the occult such as watching pornography. People who think they are too smart to be fooled by fortune tellers are readily hooked by lust. If you are involved in this addiction, stop submitting to its demonic influence. If not, there’s a basket full of other addictions including gluttony, greed, fear and anger to avoid as well.

Lion of Judah, This Happens in the Unseen World When You Watch Pornography

Most of these ideas are relatively new for me and you are welcome to set me straight in the comments below.

Weekly Bible Reading: Judges (Audio), Ruth (Audio), 1 Samuel (Audio), 2 Samuel (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Judges and Ruth, Part 2 of 2, 1 and 2 Samuel, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Sunday Walk 50 – Good At Heart?

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, King James Bible 1769

When I was a teenager my family and I watched the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank in our living room. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp, but she left behind a diary of the events that occurred while her family was in hiding. A memorable part of the movie was when she expressed her belief that people were good at heart.

George Barna of the Cultural Research Center wrote recently that one of the top 10 most seductive unbiblical ideas embraced by Americans is ‘the idea that people are “basically good”’. That suggests that the memorable part of the movie about Anne Frank was seductively unbiblical.

The reason the idea that we are good at heart is wrong is because it is sentimental. It is a false form of consolation, because it looks for goodness in the wrong place. Rather than acknowledging that God is good, it claims that somewhere deep down inside of us we are.

To a society that rejects Jesus, we mythologize the Kingdom of God rather than preach it. To a society that blatantly intimidates with sexual addiction, we downplay the need for repentance. Alisa Childers wrote that one of the five signs that one’s church was becoming progressive is “[t]he heart of the gospel message shifts from sin and redemption to social justice”.

I’m still trying to figure this out. You are welcome to tell me what you think about people being good at heart.

I am grateful to Michael Wilson for presenting George Barna’s research and to Bruce Cooper for pointing out Alisa Childers’ criticism of progressive Christianity.

Final thought: After David impregnated Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah killed to avoid scandal, and was called out for it by Nathan (2 Samuel 11-12), he didn’t think much of his heart. He wanted God to create in him a clean one (Psalm 51).

Weekly Bible Reading: Joshua (Audio), Judges (Audio), Ruth (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Joshua, Part 2 of 2, Judges and Ruth, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Sunday Walk 49 – Weaponized Sexuality

Addiction weakens a person and undermines that person’s community. When addiction is socially promoted one needs to ask just who is benefiting? Anybody socially promoting addictive behavior is trying to undermine some community by weakening its members.

After reading Henry Makov’s excerpts from John Coleman’s 1993 book, The Conspirators’ Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300, I began to suspect that any promotion of sexual addiction may well be part of a plan to weaponize sexuality and use it against families.

Here are some points from the plan that Makov highlighted.

Marriage shall be outlawed and there shall be no family life as we know it.
Children will be removed from their parents at an early-age and brought up by wards as state property.
Women will he degraded through the continued process of “women’s liberation” movements.
Free sex shall be mandatory.
Pornography shall be promoted and be compulsory showing in every theater of cinema, including homosexual and lesbian pornography.

There may be an even deeper level of conspirators manipulating this “Committee of 300”. Those deeper conspirators would be demonic and they have been at it since that snake entered Eden (Genesis 3). You could read the Bible as God’s efforts to bring disobedient, but redeemed mankind, the Bride of Christ, back to the wedding feast (Revelation 19). Weaponizing sexuality would be a way for those not invited to try to spoil the wedding.

Now I know that’s a lot to swallow, but assuming you see this as something to be concerned about, what should we do? This is what I’ve come up with.

Affirm that sexuality remain within a traditional marriage between a husband who was born male and a wife who was born female.
Don’t engage in political or cultural activities that degrade or satirize the family including husbands, wives or their children.
Persevere by putting on the full armor of God in anticipation of His Son, Jesus, the Bridegroom.

The first two respond directly to this weaponized sexuality. The last one is there to confront those underlying demonic conspirators. You may have other suggestions.

Weekly Bible Reading: Deuteronomy (Audio), Joshua (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Deuteronomy, Part 2 of 2, Joshua, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Sunday Walk 47

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Mark 16:9 King James Bible 1769

I found the following oratorio by Kathie Lee Gifford and Nicole C. Mullen on the The Marshall Report. It is about Hagar, Ruth, and David and then wondrously about Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18). They all experienced crises. God saw them and answered them. He sees us as well.

Kathie Lee Gifford & Nicole C. Mullen, The God Who Sees

Weekly Bible Reading: Leviticus (Audio: King James Version read by Alexander Scourby) Numbers (Audio: King James Version read by Alexander Scourby)
Commentary: David Pawson, Leviticus, Part 2 of 2, Numbers, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible