ABRAHAM'S COVENANT AND VULTURES
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THIS GLORIOUS TEXAS AFTERNOON, ENTERTAINED BY THE DAZZLING WATER THAT APPEARED ALIVE WITH SPARKLING DIAMONDS ALL AROUND ME, I WAS FEELING PLEASANTLY PAMPERED. WOW. AS IF CRADLED IN A LOVING WOMB, I WAS AT ONE WITH THE SOFT ROCKING MOTION AS THE SWELLS TIPPED US BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH; “ROCK A BYE BABY”. AS THE DREAM GENTLY LISTED I LISTENED TO THE QUIET LAPPING OF THE UNDULATING WATER BELOW HER BOW.
WHAT WAS SHE SAYING AS SHE SWUNG ME FROM SIDE TO SIDE, EVEN AS MY STORY TIPS FROM MY TRIPS TODAY TO TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO TO CHRIST AND TWO THOUSAND YEARS BEYOND THAT TOO, TO ABRAHAM...AND BEYOND...AND BACK, LAP AFTER LAP. SWAYIN’ FROM THE OLD COUNTRY TO THE NEW TOO I WAS SIMPLY SAYIN’ IN MY ESSAYIN’ HOW GLORIOUS AND SHINING GOD’S CREATION IS, BUT THINGS CAN SUDDENLY CHANGE.
THE WATER WAS LAPPING BUT LAPPIYD ((H3940) LAPPIYD – TO SHINE, A FLAMBEAU, FLAME, FIRE BRAND, A LAMP, FIRE, LIGHTNING, TORCH) IS THE WORD FOR LAMP IN GENESIS 15:7, “AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN, AND IT WAS DARK, BEHOLD A SMOKING FURNACE, AND A BURNING LAMP THAT PASSED BETWEEN THOSE PIECES.” WHAT PIECES? PIECES OF FLESH OF THE THREE YEAR OLDS: THE SACRIFICE OF A HEIFER, A SHE GOAT AND A RAM; ALSO A TURTLE DOVE AND A YOUNG PIGEON...AND SOMEHOW THE SCENE REMINDED ME OF ME ON THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE SEA.
YOU SEE, I WAS SITTING ON THE DECK OF ZION’S DREAM, THIS TIME LOOKING OUT OVER LAKE WHITNEY WHERE THINGS WERE FINALLY ALL WHITE. WOT? WEALLY, WHITE BLUFFS BEFORE ME FROM THE EAST SIDE OF THE LAKE MADE A BEAUTIFUL BACKDROP TO MY TRANQUIL PICTURE. I WAS CONTENTEDLY TYPING AWAY, TAP, TAP, TAP ON MY LITTLE LAPTOP, QUIETLY MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS AFTER I HAD RETURNED FROM ENGLAND IN 2006.
MY STAY AT CAMELOT AND PORT ISAAC FRESH ON MY MIND, I WAS NOW COMPILING MY THOUGHTS AS I STARTED WRITING A BOOK. I HAD TAKEN MY LAPTOP TO THE BOAT AND SET ABOUT UNFOLDING MY STORY EVEN AS I UNFOLDED UNDER THE WARM AUTUMNAL TEXAS SUN. IT WAS VERY PEACEFUL AND WORDS STARTED TO FLY OFF MY FINGERTIPS AS THOUGHTS WENT ROUND AND ROUND IN MY HEAD...BUT I COULD NOT HELP BUT NOTICE THAT WORDS WERE NOT THE ONLY THINGS FLYING ROUND AND ROUND MY HEAD THAT AFTERNOON.
A VERY LARGE FLOCK OF TEXAS SIZED TURKEY VULTURES WERE ALSO VLYING VROUND AND VROUND; OMINOUSLY SWIRLING OVERHEAD... MY HEAD, SIZING ME UP. VUT? VULTURES... VEIGHING ME UP? THERE WERE MAY BE 25 OR 35 OF THEM OMINOUSLY WHIRLING ON THE WIND; SUMMING UP THEIR FEAST AS IF I WAS THE BEAST TO BE SACRIFICED. I WAS TEMPTED TO PROSTRATE MYSELF ON THE DECK...JUST TO SEE IF THEY REALLY WOULD SWOOP DOWN AND EAT ME, YOU KNOW, JUST FOR FUN; I COULD ALWAYS RETREAT TO THE SAFETY BEHIND MY SLIDING GLASS DOORS IF I NEEDED TOO... BUT THEN I RECOUNTED SOME OF MY EARLIER TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS AND DECIDED THAT MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA; SO WE EACH POLITELY KEPT AN EYE ON THE OTHER!
THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A DEAD SACRIFICE BUT I WAS STILL ALIVE AND KICKING, ALBEIT, JUST BARELY AFTER SURVIVING BEING KICKED IN THE HEAD AND RAN OVER BY FABIO MY UNRULY STALLION. NO, THEY WOULD HAVE TO WAIT FOR OTHER BAIT WHILE I DEBATED THE REALITY OF LIFE AND DEATH AT THE DOCK… SO I PEACEFULLY WATCHED THEM PASSOVER ME AS THEY SOARED IN THE SKY.
HOWEVER, FATHER ABRAHAM HAD TO DRIVE AWAY CIRCLING VULTURES WHEN THEY DECIDED TO COME DOWN AND SEE WHAT HE WAS DOING WITH HIS FEAST, HIS BLOOD COVENANT WAS A TYPE OF COVENANT THAT JESUS WOULD ENTER INTO WITH THE CHURCH. HE ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE LORD EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST PASSOVER IN EGYPT, BUT THE VULTURES THERE THOUGHT HE HAD MADE A FEAST JUST FOR THEM. VULTURE HAS A MEANING RELATED TO “PLUCK” AND “TEAR” AND IT SEEMS THAT WHERE EVER GOD IS AT WORK, SATAN HOVERS OVER TO SEE HOW HE CAN SWOOP DOWN TO DO JUST THAT, EVEN AS JESUS, GOD’S COVENANT INCARNATE, WAS PLUCKED AND TORN...BY MAN.
WHEN ABRAHAM MADE HIS SACRIFICE HE DIVIDED EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE BIRDS...AND THEN HE DROVE THE FOWLS AWAY, AS THEY SWOOPED DOWN TO TRY TO EAT THEM. WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN, WE ARE TOLD IN GENESIS 15:12, THAT ABRAM WENT INTO A DEEP SLEEP AND A “HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS” FELL ON HIM. GOD TOLD HIM THAT HIS SEED WOULD BE A STRANGER IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS AND THEY WOULD BECOME SERVANTS AND AFFLICTED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. GOD SAID HE WOULD THEN JUDGE THAT NATION (EGYPT) AND HIS SEED (THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL) WOULD BE BROUGHT OUT OF IT WITH GREAT WEALTH.
AS HE WAS TOLD THIS, HE SAW A SMOKING FURNACE AND A BURNING LAMP THAT PASSED BETWEEN THE TWO PIECES OF FLESH OF THE DIVIDED ANIMALS. WHY? COVENANT AGREEMENTS WERE MADE THEN LIKE LEGAL CONTRACTS ARE MADE TODAY, EXCEPT AS A SHOW OF SINCERITY, ANIMAL SACRIFICES WERE MADE AND THE TWO ENTERING INTO AGREEMENT WALKED BETWEEN THE SEVERED SACRIFICES. WHY? TO INDICATE THE SINCERITY...AND TO SAY THAT IF THEY BROKE THAT COVENANT...THEY TOO WOULD BE SEVERED AS THE ANIMALS HAD BEEN. WOE! IF I HAD TAKEN THIS TO HEART...COULD I HAVE DIVORCED MY FIRST HUSBAND? GOD PLEASE FORGIVE ME. THE IMPRECATION PROVED AN APPRECIATION OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE CONTRACT.
A MAN’S WORD USED TO HAVE MEANING. IN ABRAHAM’S DREAM, HE WAS NOT WALKING BETWEEN THE FLESH, HE WATCHED A ONE SIDED COVENANT. TRADITIONALLY THIS LAMP AND FIRE IS SYMBOLIC OF GOD, OR JESUS FOR CHRISTIANS. GOD TOLD ABRAHAM THAT HE HAD GIVEN HIS SEED THE PROMISED LAND FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT TO THE GREAT RIVER EUPHRATES. EUPHRATES MEANS FRUITFULNESS AND SWEET WATER, AND THE ETYMOLOGY BREAKS DOWN AS “GOOD TO CROSS OVER”, HU MEANING GOOD AND PERETU MEANING FORD.
THEN CAME A NAME CHANGE. JUST AS MY NAME CHANGED FROM MY FATHER’S NAME CLIFFORD, TO MY FIRST HUSBAND’S NAME DILLS AFTER I ENTERED INTO A MARRIAGE CONTRACT, AFTER I CHANGED NATIONS. ABRAM’S NAME WAS CHANGED TO ABRAHAM, THE FATHER OF NATIONS AFTER HE ENTERED INTO COVENANT WITH THE LORD.
WHILE LOOKING UP AT THE SKY FROM ZION’S DREAM, IN THE COVE OF PATRICIA DE FORD’S MARINA AT LAKESIDE VILLAGE, I MUSED OVER HOW ABRAHAM DROVE THE BIRDS OF PREY AWAY FROM HIS OFFERINGS. PATRICIA MEANS NOBLE AND FUNNILY ENOUGH, THE OWNER OF RON’S MARINA ON LAKE WACO, ZION’S DREAM’S NEXT HOME, BORE THE SIR NAME OF KNOBEL TOO. HA. I DON’T KNOWBLE ‘BOUT ALL THAT OR HOW NOBLE ANY OF US ARE, BUT GOD SAID...HE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE COVENANT IN ITS ENTIRETY BECAUSE APPARENTLY MAN CANNOT BE TRUSTED.
THIS COVENANT WAS NOT TO BE DEPENDANT ON ABRAHAM, NO, IT WAS ONE SIDED. I DO KNOW THAT THE NAME “ABRAM” HAS VERY LOFTY AND NOBLE ROOTS THAT GO DOWN DEEP. GENESIS 17:6, “AND I WILL MAKE THEE EXCEEDING FRUITFUL, AND I WILL MAKE NATIONS OF THEE, AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF THEE.” SARAH TOO: GENESIS 17:16, “AND I WILL BLESS HER, AND GIVE THEE A SON ALSO OF HER: YEA I WILL BLESS HER, AND SHE SHALL BE A MOTHER OF NATIONS: KINGS OF PEOPLE SHALL BE OF HER.”
WELL, HOW NOBLE CAN YOU GET? SHE WOULD BE A MOTHER OF NATIONS, HE WAS PROMISED AGAIN THAT HE WOULD BE THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. ABRAHAM WAS GIVEN AN INCREDIBLE PROMISE, BUT GOD ASKED SOMETHING OF HIM TOO. GENESIS 17:1, “AND WHEN ABRAM WAS NINETY YEARS OLD AND NINE, THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD; WALK BEFORE ME, AND BE THOU PERFECT.” WAT?
SADLY, HE AND SARAH THOUGHT THAT GOD NEEDED HELP WITH HIS INCREDIBLE NOBLE PROMISE THAT WAS TAKING SUCH A LONG TIME TO MATERIALIZE, AND SARAH, IN DESPERATION, IN HER NINETIES AND ABRAHAM LOOKING AT 100... TOOK HER SERVANT UPON HER LAPTOP SO THAT ABRAHAM COULD SOW HIS SEEDS INTO HER IN SARAH’S STEAD. THE BAD NEWS WAS, THAT WAS NOT GOD’S PLAN FOR SARA! HE WANTED HER TO HAVE HER SPECIAL BABY IN HER LATTER YEARS AFTER ALL HOPE WAS GONE...AS A SIGN.
SHE CREATED MUCH DISTRESS IN HER HOUSEHOLD AND MANY HOUSEHOLDS TO COME...EVEN TODAY. I CALL IT THE RIPPLE EFFECT. I THINK GOD DOES TOO. THE GOOD NEWS WAS, THE ARAB NATIONS WERE BORN AND ALTHOUGH IT STIRRED UP CONTROVERSY IN THE HOME...ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD! THIS OTHER FIRSTBORN NATION WOULD BALANCE THINGS OUT A BIT!
GENESIS 17:10, “THIS IS MY COVENANT, WHICH YE SHALL KEEP, BETWEEN ME AND YOU AND THY SEED AFTER THEE; EVERY MALE MAN CHILD AMONG YOU SHALL BE CIRCUMCISED.” WOW...OW! ABRAHAM WAS TOLD TO CIRCUMCISE EVERY MAN CHILD ON THE 8TH DAY AFTER THEY WERE BORN; SYMBOLIC OF ENTERING INTO A BLOOD COVENANT WITH GOD TO INHERIT HIS PROMISES OF A NEW BEGINNING. I WONDER IF THIS SIGN WOULD HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO SEPARATE THEM FROM OTHER NATIONS IF ISHMAEL HAD NOT BEEN INTERJECTED INTO GOD’S PLAN FOR ABRAHAM? NO PAIN, NO GAIN EVEN FOR NEW BEGINNINGS!
BLOOD COVENANTS WERE COMMON PLACE IN ALL RELIGIONS AND THEY SPEAK OF A BOND THAT CANNOT BE BROKEN, AND THE BIRTH OF SOMETHING NEW. THE MALE AND THE FEMALE BOTH SHED BLOOD FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENTERING INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES. THE COVENANT INCLUDED THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD, TAKING ON A NEW NAME AND PROTECTING EACH OTHER REGARDLESS OF WHO WAS RIGHT. THAT IS WHY OUR MARRIAGE COVENANT IS TILL DEATH DO WE PART.
MARRIAGE IS A COVENANT FROM WHICH WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO WALK AWAY BECAUSE IT IS TO REFLECT OUR STEADFASTNESS TO GOD HIMSELF. THAT IS WHY IDOLATRY AND ADULTERY BOTH CARRY HARSH CONSEQUENCES. GOD WANTS US FAITHFUL TO HIM, ALL THE TIME. THE VEIL BEING TORN IS ALSO SYMBOLIC OF THE MARRIAGE AND REPRODUCTION WHERE HISTORY AND MYSTERY ARE ALL WRAPPED UP TOGETHER TOO. IT ALL HAS TO DO WITH COVENANT RELATION-SHIP AND THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD, WITH GOING FORTH AND MULTIPLYING AND WITH A FAMILY INHERITANCE.
THOSE WHO INDULGE IN OCCULT PRACTICES WELL UNDERSTAND BLOOD COVENANT, AND TODAY IT IS WIDELY PRACTISED IN THOSE CIRCLES FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONTROLLING OTHERS, AQUIRING WEALTH, AND DOING THINGS ON OUR OWN, OUTSIDE OF FAITH ING GOD. WHEN WE GO AFTER FALSE GODS, WE ARE TURNING OUR BACKS ON GOD HIMSELF.
TODAY EVERYONE SCREAMS ABOUT THEIR OWN IDEAS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, FREEDOM, MARRIAGE ETC. FROM THEIR PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE. GOD'S PERSPECTIVE IS MORE LOFTY. HE PLANNED EVERYTHING BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. HE MADE US AS AN IMAGE OF HIM AND AS AN IMAGE OF THE HOLY TEMPLE AND EVERYTHING IN IT. WE ARE CUT FROM PATTERNS OF ETERNAL TRUTH. HIS WORD WAS INCARNATE IN JESUS IN THE FLESH. THE WORDS, THE LIVING CODE , OF OUR DNA CARRY DEEP TRUTHS THAT WE CANNOT BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND.
THE WOMB IS AS THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE SANCTUARY OF THE TEMPLE OF OUR BODIES AND YOU CANNOT ENTER THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE FLESH WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD AND THE TEARING OF THE VEIL. THE GENES AND CHROMOSOMES WRAP TOGETHER LIKE THE RIBBONS IN THE MAY DANCE. IT IS IN THIS SECRET PLACE THAT GOD ENTERS AND FORMS US IN OUR MOTHER’S WOMB WHERE THE CYCLE OF LIFE STARTS OVER AND BABIES GROW AS FIRST FRUITS FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH, OUR OWN BEINGS.
WE ARE NOT FORMED RANDOMLY IN THE WOMB AS CHAOTIC CLASHES OF CHROMOSOMES AS SOME SAY. NOT A HAIR OF OUR HEADS COULD FORM RANDOMLY. 100% IMPOSSIBLE. PERIOD. WE ARE SKILLFULLY WOVEN FROM A GENIUS WHO SPEAKS “GENISH” FLUENTLY AND PROGRAMMED HIGH TECH FROM THE MOST HIGH LORD OF HOSTS, EVEN A SWAB FROM OUR CHEEK REVEALS OUR COMPLEX HERITAGE. SATAN SPINS LIES THAT CHILDREN ARE TAUGHT AS FACT BUT IT IS GODLESS HERESY AND HERESAY. I WOULD SAY, PROVE IT.
WE ARE CARNAL FOR A SEASON. OUR DNA IS ALL INTERWOVEN IN AN ETERNAL PICTURE BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR UNDERTANDING. IN THE JEWISH CULTURE, THE ESTATE OF THE FIRSTBORN AND THE INHERITANCE WAS VERY IMPORTANT. THE FIRSTBORN CHILD GOT A DOUBLE PORTION OF ANY OF THE OTHER CHILDREN IN THEIR INHERITANCE AND THE HIERACHY DEPENDED ON THE STANDING OF THE WIVES AS WELL AS BIRTH ORDER AND ALSO THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CHILD. EVEN TODAY, WE DECIDE HOW WE WANT OUR WILL'S TO READ.
I SEE NOW THAT AS A HUSBAND COULD HAVE TWO OR MORE WIVES, A CHILD CAN HAVE TWO FATHERS. AN EARTHLY FATHER AND A FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. JESUS WAS GOD'S FIRSTBORN SON BEFORE JACOB WAS, BUT LOOK AT EXODUS 4:22, "AND THOU SHALT SAY UNTO PHARAOH, THUS SAITH THE LORD, ISRAEL(JACOB) IS MY SON, EVEN MY FIRSTBORN SON. JESUS WOULD COME FROM HIM BUT HE DID NOT SAY THAT HE WAS ISAAC'S FIRSTBORN SON, HE SAID THAT HE WAS HIS FIRSTBORN. IN JEREMIAH 31:9, GOD SAYS THAT EPHRAIM IS HIS FIRSTBORN SON. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS SPIRITUAL NOT CARNAL AND I THINK THAT IT WAS THE SPIRIT IN JACOB THAT SEPARATED HIM OUT, EVEN THOUGH HE DID MANY THINGS THAT DID NOT SEEM RIGHT IN OUR EYES.
HEBREWS 11:1, "NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN." HEBREWS 11:3, "BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE WORLDS WERE FRAMED BY THE WORD OF GOD, SO THAT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN WERE NOT MADE OF THINGS WHICH ARE VISIBLE."
HEBREWS 11:17, "BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS TESTED, OFFERED UP ISAAC, AND HE WHO HAD RECEIVED THE PROMISES OFFERED UP HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, OF WHOM IT WAS SAID, "IN ISAAC SHALL YOUR SEED BE CALLED," CONCLUDING THAT GOD WAS ABLE TO RAISE HIM UP, EVEN FROM THE DEAD, FROM WHICH HE ALSO RECEIVED HIM IN A FIGURATIVE SENSE." ROMANS 4:21, "...AND BEING FULLY CONVINCED THAT WHAT HE HAD PROMISED HE WAS ALSO ABLE TO PERFORM. AND THEREFORE "IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
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