A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
Search topic, word, or Bible verse (Bible books may be abbreviated)
-
Keeping Calm and Showing Trust: Covid 19 Revisited: Isaiah 30
I’m still fond of the year text from 2021: “Your strength will be in keeping calm and showing trust.” (Isaiah 30:15) Anxiety is the flavor of our age, “staying calm” our greatest need. It’s a crazy world, with norms such as gender that have been in place for all human history changed overnight. Unheard of expressions, such as “fake news,” pop up suddenly and become…
-
David and the Deceased 70K
David makes a dumb move at 70,000 die. Israel of old clears out the Promised Land and many more die. And then—what about slavery? Probably, the way it works is that once humans, in the persons of Adam and Eve, have sailed past God’s will and entered the doomed experiment of independent self-rule, to be concluded several thousands of years later, God works with the…
-
“Adulteresses” and “Vomit” Expanded
If the ones who demanded signs of Jesus, and who couldn’t understand what the children could, and who sneered at Isaiah’s words as “Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah,” (Isaiah 28:10–Message version) were of a wicked and adulterous generation, just how wicked and adulterous were they? Adulterous is as adulterous does—plenty of the literal adultery going around, most likely, but sometimes the scriptures…
-
Who Molds Who and Who is a Cult
If it is accurate to call first century Christianity a ‘cult’ then it is also accurate to call Jehovah’s Witnesses a cult. Take, for example, Paul’s direction that: “Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should all speak in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you may be completely united in…
-
When the Music is On, You Can’t Touch ‘Em
“When they have their music on, you can’t touch em.” Mattie would say that about Pentecostals she’d meet in her ministry. What are other scenarios where “you can’t touch em?” How about, ‘When they’re roaring drunk?’ Isaiah had no success with that bunch. They were a sorry lot, and it was not the common people spoken of. It is the religious leaders: “And these also…
-
When There are Judgments from You in all the Earth: Isaiah 26
“For when there are judgments from you for the earth, The inhabitants of the land learn about righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9) This is a very helpful verse to get our heads around John 5:28-29, which doesn’t make a lot of sense otherwise: Says Jesus: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did…
-
First Thing Upon Arrival—Chow Down: Isaiah 25:6
The first thing we do upon arrival in the new system, apparently, is chow down. Finally, we have arrived and all the promised blessings being to flow. We have been breaking eggs for the first 23 chapters of Isaiah. Finally, an omelette is emerging. The broken eggs were not for nothing. It’s such a departure from what threatened to become same ‘ol, same ‘ol, that…
-
Let Me Count the Treacheries: Isaiah 24
William R Millar, the author of ‘Isaiah 24-27 and the Origin of Apocalyptic’ (1979) argues, not for the first time, but he puts major flesh on the bones, that those four chapters are those of the prophet, or whoever wrote as though the prophet, attempting to rustle up a little “proto-apocalyptic” stew in the kitchen. Chefs of later centuries, such as Daniel and John, would…
-
No Vacations Until the Big Vacation: Isaiah 25
Then there was Joe, who in this early days of being a Witness, would decline vacations, saying he as awaiting the Big Vacation. This is plainly what Isaiah 25 is: the big vacation. After that formidable banquet of all the choicest dishes, the real treats roll out “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;…
-
Be on Your Way
“I knew it!” Jonah fumed. “I KNEW it! I knew you were going to cave at the last minute! You’re just so nice! That’s why I didn’t want to go in the first place!” Isn’t that the gist of Jonah 4:1-2, discussed at the mid-week meeting? “But this was highly displeasing to Jonah, and he became hot with anger. So he prayed to Jehovah: “Ah,…