Could Your Suffering in the Flesh Be God's Way of Completely Cleansing You From Sin?

Many people are suffering much physical pain nowadays. Some of it due to a disease (such as cancer, Lupus, Parkinson's, etc), many from old and current injuries such as playing sports, accidents and work-related injuries, and some, simply due to past peccadilloes (such as drinking and using drugs, illicit sex), and other nefarious activities: God shall not be mocked, whatever a man soweth, he also shall reap, (Galatians 6:7).  Some people suffer from none of these causations, but  merely suffer because their faith is being tested, as we read in the Book of Job, or, as is defined in 1 Peter 1:7.

None of us truly knows why we suffer physical pain, most people chalk it up to old age, especially if your over 50 years of age. It could well be a combination of all of the above. Today's medical community has the technology to identify all of the above mentioned symptoms, but they can't really pinpoint where (or why) they originated to begin with.

Regardless, whether it's attributable to one, two, three or all of these actions, we need to accept this as a positive action allowed by God, and realize that the main consequences of experiencing pain (in many cases great and excruciating pain) is that they are leading us to a complete and sinless life. Is there a better way to enter the next phase of our journey with Christ?

1 For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin; 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have worked the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, reveling, parties, and abominable idolatries, ( 1 Peter 4:1-3)

Romans 6:7, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Ephesians 6:13, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

1 Peter 2:21, To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

1 Peter 3:18, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Romans 5:3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James 5:11   you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

1 Peter 1:6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Suffering as Christians

1 Peter 4:12-14 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you: 13But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

Luke 17:30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Romans 8:18  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 1:5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

2 Timothy 2:12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;

1 Peter 1:5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed:

Jude 1:24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--

Evangelist and theologian John Piper in his great video soliloquy has best presented a sermon that speaks directly to the heart of this issue, which probably over 90% of Christians who have seen it squirmed in their chairs as Piper pushed the button of uncomfortability that has long and sorely been missing and needed by today's church.

How about you? Do you believe your walk with Jesus should be filled solely with joy, happiness, great health and an overly abundant life?

[For more information about the author and his books, please click on Joe Ortiz.]

JEWRY MOURNS DEATH OF "GREATEST" RACIST RABBI

By Rev. Ted Pike
15 Oct 13 

Nearly one tenth (700,000) of Israel’s Jewish population packed the streets of Jerusalem last week to mourn the passing of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic founder of Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Shas party.  He is considered by many Jews to be the greatest Talmudic authority of our time. The big Jewish media has virtually ignored the ever-widening scandal of Talmudic rabbis and authority figures raping and sexually abusing adolescent Jewish boys and girls.  In contrast, they have given lavish attention and praise to Rabbi Yosef. So did Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The Jewish people have lost one of the wisest men of this generation. Rabbi Ovadia was a giant in Torah and Jewish law and a teacher for tens of thousands.”
But what did the rabbi think about us Gentiles and Christians? Here are some quotes from articles I have written that included mention of him.

• For centuries, critics of modern Judaism’s most sacred Scriptures, the Talmud and Zohar (Kabbalah), have charged that Gentiles are viewed by Talmudic Judaism as beasts of burden meant to serve Jews. The world has dismissed these critics as “anti-Semites.” Society and most Christians have unquestioningly accepted the official Jewish claim that the "exalted ethics of Judaism" exclude such bigoted racism.
  
  Yet this week, one of modern Israel’s greatest rabbis confirmed every “anti-Semitic” claim. The Jewish Telegraph Agency says:
  
  Israeli Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said that non-Jews exist to serve Jews, in his weekly Saturdaynight sermon. “Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world; only to serve the People of Israel…Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi [Arabic, meaning lord or master] and eat,” he said to some laughter.
  
  Yosef, the spiritual head of the Shas party and the former chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel also said that non-Jews are protected in order to prevent financial loss to Jews. 
  
  “With gentiles, it will be like any person: They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant. That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew."  (See Top Rabbi: 'Gentiles Exist to Serve Jews')
• For centuries in polite society, it has been considered anti-Jewish to tell what Judaism’s Talmud and Kabbalah plainly and repeatedly teach—that pious Jews have a duty to kill or assist the deaths of Gentiles, especially those who resist the goals of Judaism.
  
  Increasingly today, dozens of ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel, even members of Knesset, boldly assert that killing Palestinian Gentiles, even their babies, must be upheld as divine law. Yet a recent sermon by a powerful Israeli rabbi wanted even more—the deaths of everyone worldwide who opposes Israel. “May our enemies and haters end. Abu Mazen [Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas] and all these evil people should perish from this earth. God should strike them and these Palestinians—evil haters of Israel—with a plague."
  
  Rabbi Ovadia Yosef founded the Shas party which is part of the prime minister’s coalition government. ABC News calls him “the spiritual leader of one of Israel’s leading parties.”
  
  Yosef’s ruthless words didn’t only target Arabs, but anyone around the world who criticizes Zionism. "May all the nasty people who hate Israel vanish from our world,” he said, “May God strike them down with the plague, along with all Palestinians who persecute Israel." (See The Talmud: Scalpel That Bleeds the Mideast)

How should such wrath descend upon Gentiles and Christians?  From heaven?  No, the Talmud and the Zohar teach that the Jewish people are the visible manifestation of God's will upon earth, the active instrument of His plan to "repair" a world especially brought into chaos by the "idolatry" and "polytheism" of Christianity.  Only when Christian "idolaters" are exterminated, the Zohar says, will "proper order" be restored.  Only then can the Great Harlot Israel, her garments soaked in the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, "sit like an effendi," according to Rabbi Yosef, and fully enjoy her predestined rulership of the nations.  (See 'Babylon the Great' is Israel)

• Christians, like Palestinians, are considered Amalekites and in the crosshairs of Talmudic/Kabbalistic homicidal anger.
  
  Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of Israel’s Shahs party, argued in a 1989 article that even though Israel is not strong enough yet to expel and destroy “churches [which] are definitely places of idolatry and cult practice…we are commanded by our [religious] law to destroy all idolatry and its servants (emphasis mine) until we uproot it from all parts of our land and any areas that we are able to conquer.” 
  
  Did you catch that? Since Talmudic Judaism considers Christians idolaters of the false god Jesus, the rabbi is teaching that if things were as they one day shall be all Christian “idolaters” should be killed worldwide!
  
  Ha’aretz's recent article about the savage beating of two Arab youths by a mob of Israeli teenagers claims that more and more Israelis now view violence as a solution to the Arab problem. Violence in Israel is not just a backlash against Arab rocket attacks and suicide bombings; it is sanctioned by the greatest legal and moral authorities of modern Judaism and Israel : the Talmud and its mystical-revolutionary companion, the Zohar. (See Israelis Attack 'Amalekites' - With Baseball Bats!) 
• "No less a figure than Professor Yehoshaphat Harkabi, former head of Israeli military intelligence, has revealed the facts surrounding Israel’s official burning of the gospels so cherished by all Christians...General Harkabi writes: ‘Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who is considered to be a moderate. . .(in 1979) issued a ruling that copies of the New Testament should be burned. This ruling did not remain a dead letter. An item in the newspaper Ma ‘ariv (14 June 1985) reported the burning of a copy of the New Testament found in the library of the Chief Educational officer of the Israeli army…’”  (Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, by Issa Nakhleh, p. 395) (See Christians in Israel: An Endangered Species)

President Shimon Peres said he had been at the rabbi’s bedside hours before his death. “When I pressed his hand, I felt I was touching history…. and when I kissed his head, it was as if I kissed the very greatness of Israel.”
Yes, Mr. Peres, Rabbi Yosef does indeed embody the essence of Israel, Zionism and Jewish supremacism. He did so in ruthless determination to believe:

• “Goyim were born only to serve us.”
• “May all the nasty people who hate Israel vanish from the world.”
• “We are commanded by our [religious] law to destroy all idolatry and its servants [Christians] until we uproot it from all parts of our land and any areas we are able to conquer.”
• And that all copies of the New Testament should be burned.

I couldn’t have described the essence of the Christian- and Arab-persecuting rogue state of Israel any better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog organization.

To contact Rev. Ted Pike call (503) 631-3808.