Holiness is not a set of rules that we must follow

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JD: Probably quit a bit of confusion about holiness or actually what it means to be holy. Get into that for us.

DJ: Well I think many tend to think of holiness as following a set of rules and these usually end up being man made. And we tend to see this trend in holiness churches and denominations and some other groups today. They tend to have very strict codes of conduct including dress and personal appearance. But just like the Pharisees these often go beyond the word of God. And this almost inevitably leads to legalism, which is when we judge someone’s spiritually based upon how much they conform to a set of external rules that aren’t necessarily stated explicitly in scripture. So I do think there’s think there’s some confusion. I think it’s good that we’re discussing this.

JD: What is the Biblical definition of holy and also the definition of holiness?

DJ: Either holy or holiness appears 669 times in 598 verses. And in the first mention is in Exodus 3:5 where Moses encounters the Lord on Mt. Sinai and the Lord said don’t draw near to this place, take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand as holy ground.

And then the last mention of holy or holiness is found in Revelation 22 the last chapter of the Bible where it talks about let him who is holy let him be holy still talking about the way it will be in the future. So the concept of holiness itself has the idea of being set apart to God the most basic idea is to be set apart for the purpose of being pure and undefiled before the Lord. Peter actually says in I Peter 1:13 quoting from Leviticus 11 he said he who called you as holy you also be holy in all your conduct, be holy for I am holy. So the idea is that just as God is set apart from all forms of wickedness and evil those who are believers are also to be set apart from wickedness and evil in our daily lives, in our thinking, in our conduct, in the things that we say, the things that we participate in, that we are to be set apart to God for the purpose of worshiping him with our lives and doing what he would have us to do and walking before him and walking before the world and having a good testimony of what it means to be a child of God.

JD: David James with Bible in hand detailing the Biblical definition of holiness.

We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

It doesn’t matter what you and I think about holiness but what the Bible says on this subject. For each of us to be in the presence of God forever we must be holy. In fact, when we arrive at the third heaven one of the first things that we will see will be four throne room angels shouting holy, holy, holy, that’s Revelation 4:6-9.

Iranian leaders say it is time for Israel to say goodbye

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DD: It’s a very delicate very very tense situation and it comes with many other things going on in Iran and Gaza and terror attacks in Israel Jimmy; just a very difficult period. Of course these are the holy days between Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles and usually a time of just joy and peace in Israel and relaxation. Well in 73 they were in the middle of a war for their existence. And Jimmy the Iranian Chief prayer giver in Teheran the guy that delivers the sermon at the Friday prayers the main mosque in Teheran said Israel’s days are numbered. He said it’s time for Israel to say goodbye. Those were the exact words he used. What do they mean? Are they preparing an attack imminently? This comes after Nasrallah of Hezbollah said also on Thursday that Israel will soon disappear; we have weapons they don’t even know about precision weapons and they’re going to get pummeled.

Netanyahu responded at a Bible study Jimmy that he holds occasionally at his home. He was there studying the Bible and he made a comment that made it into the news that if Nasrallah thinks he can do that he has something else coming for him and that we will pummel Iran and Hezbollah and anybody that joins them. So the war of words has gotten extremely hot Jimmy and it looks like we may be on the verge of a full-scale action that Iran is holding military exercises and the US has been doing the same. The oil exports a third of the worlds oil that goes by sea comes out of there. So things are just really hot right now and we’ll see how they go. But a lot of prayer is needed for sure over the situation.

JD: David Dolan with the information on the situation in the Middle East today.

We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

At this time during the celebration of the Jewish Feast days and now in particular the Feast of Tabernacles the radical Iranian leaders have proclaimed it’s time for Israel to say goodbye. Meanwhile, Hezbollah the surrogate terrorist organization in southern Lebanon, sponsored by Iran, has also added to the radical rhetoric that Israel is about to disappear. 

These threats may well be leading up to a war in the Middle East that the ancient Jewish prophets foretold thousands of years ago. Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister had a Bible study that he holds in his home. The Prime Minister said that if Iran and Hezbollah attack these two terror operations will be destroyed. And that is the end time scenario that one of those Jewish prophets wrote about. Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 38:18-39:6 that the Islamic world would be destroyed.