The Importance of Belief Part 2: How can one be held accountable for something if they don't believe in it?

Google couldn't find me anything directly answering my question. But indirectly Google revealed Romans 1:19-20 and Romans 2:14-16 which I found quite interesting:

Romans 1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, beingunderstood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

"Although the Gentiles had no written revelation, yet what may be known of God is every where manifest among them, God having made a clear discovery of himself to them. For his being and perfections, invisible to our bodily eyes, have been, ever since the creation of the world, evidently to be seen, if attentively considered, in the visible beauty, order, and operations observable in the constitution and parts of the universe; especially his eternal power and universal dominion and providence: so that they cannot plead ignorance in excuse of their idolatry and wickedness." -Adam Clarke Commentary

Romans 2:14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

"The expression they are a law to themselves is another way of saying that the demands of the moral law are written within a man. The point is this: the attempt to “accuse and defend” will be brought into broad daylight on the day when God judges the secrets of men. That God will judge men’s secrets is in keeping with the fact sin is often related to the conscience, i.e., the inward and hidden moral reasoning of a man (And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. ~Heb 4:13). That this judgment will take place, and that Jesus will be the judge, is in keeping with the gospel which Paul preached." -Adam Clarke Commentary

So I guess this scripture answers my question from a biblical point of view. We are accountable to GOD in all things. It doesn't matter whether we believe in being accountable, or not. We are all part of a system that was put in place a long time ago, an invisible reality. A reality I believe left unable to fully prove in order to leave the choice to believe, or not and most importantly the choice to love GOD, or not.

The Importance of Belief

I am again obsessed with thinking about our beliefs. We can give fake fronts about who we are and say what we believe just to fit in with our friends, but our true beliefs still lay dormant in the core of our being.

Why do we believe what we believe? What is determining those bundles of neurons to connect in such a way to form a belief? My beliefs have changed drastically over my 35 years. I've gone back and forth with some issues swaying from the right to the left on many occassions. In many cases the more I come to understand a certain subject, I really never understood the stance I originally took about the issue.

I believe when we go to the grave certain beliefs are cemented for eternity. Well, that is the question? Are we given another chance? Does it really matter what we believed, because GOD is all loving and he'll understand we were just ignorant feverish little clots. Is it all good? Our beliefs change over time, so that wouldn't be fair if we weren't privy to knowledge that would of changed our belief for the better. And if we did know it's not our fault that we chose the wrong belief beacause life is extremely complex with so many variables and influences. I can only work with the neuron's that I was given at birth. But what if only a few exceptions and no excuses are accepted in the afterlife. Who are we to judge?

Everything in this world revolves around responsibility and accountability. I have to believe that I will be responsible and accountable for how I lived this life. My belief system is the motivation for my actions. Yes, I'm going to make mistakes and go against what I believe at times, but there will always be that belief system in the core of my being administrating my everyday decisions making me who I am. It's amazing how one little belief can change how you see yourself in this world and how one little new belief can sometimes sprout a seed changing one into a completely new being.

Remembering Jorai Mae Newman

This was taken from a draft i found in my gmail back on 12/26/07. I was planning on posting this but it never made it........

"Today I worked on the printer that printed Jorai's picture at her birth. The printer actually only needed a new color cartridge, but at the same time I felt an attachment to this printer. If I wasn't able to fix it and needed to replace it, I know I would have brought it home. I don't know if this is healthy, but I find myself not wanting to part with anything that had anything to do with Jorai.

At home we still haven't taken down the pictures, cards, and Jorai's ashes that sit on the wood trunk in our living room. I wanted them up until the end of this year. I never understood when people would tell me after their loved ones departed from this world that they still felt them alive, or in some way felt that they were still with them. I do feel Jorai is still alive."

mingle-mangle

I saw a "never satisfied" bumper sticker and felt a sadness for the driver of that car.

The other day I saw a Ford commercial and they dropped in a line stating they now have the same quality as Toyota. So I'm trying to find out exactly when Ford was able to match Toyota's quality. Does this mean all the models of Ford were matched at the same time? America deserves to know when this quality standard was acheived so we know not to buy any Ford products prior to that date.

Dark Horse, my favorite brewery in Michigan has released another batch of Sapient BelgianTriple Ale. It is now available only at E. Lansing Oade’s Big Ten, or if you feel like driving
to the Dark Horse brewery in Marshall.

Go see Ben Stein's film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." Amazing!

Are All Sins the Same?

So I went off on a rabbit trail and found a wolf in the sheep den. I was trying to figure out how to equate not murdering someone because we don't want to go to jail, to not letting certain things slide that we know GOD doesn't want us doing. No, I'm not thinking about murdering anyone. Just trying to figure out how to stop doing those things I know GOD doesn't want me doing, but I do them anyway. This led to the question: Are all sins the same? That answer led to: Why don't people believe in Jesus?

Conclusion: We're just more physical than we are spiritual. Until it hurts us in the physical, the spiritual seems to be left by the wayside.

Africa's World War

(CNN) -- The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the country signed a deal Wednesday to end years of fighting in Congo. According to the International Rescue Committee the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Congo had taken 5.4 million lives since 1998, and 45,000 people continue to die there every month. This loss of life is equivalent to the entire population of Denmark, or the state of Colorado, dying within a decade. Even with the country's violence, the IRC found that most of the deaths were from non-violent causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition. Nearly half the deaths were among children younger than five, even though they are only 19 percent of the population.

The reason why I'm speaking about this is that I didn't even know about this war until 2 days ago when I was listening to NPR. How can a war that is equivalent to World War II go so unnoticed by the media. Why haven't I heard any of my friends ever speak about this war? Why haven't I heard or read anything about this war until 2 days ago on NPR?

For an inside look on Africa's World War read:

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=519&Itemid=1

Is America Addicted to Porn?

XXXchurch pastor Craig Gross and ex porn producer of 9 years Donny Pauling went up against Monique Alexander and Ron Jeremy in a debate at Yale on the harmful effects of pornography. Take time out to view this video, it will take about 45 minutes. Debates like these are rare and this gives a good look at how people in the pornography industry justify their trade. Pay close attention to what Donny Pauling says about the countless woman that are ruined from the industry.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff

A great book to read about the pornography industry and the effects inside relationships of men and woman that view pornography on a consistant basis is Pornified by Pamela Paul. If you view pornography on a consistant basis, or want to stop viewing it, this book shows you the troubles you will have in relationships from couples that are extremely candid about their pornography habits and the connections that are made to the pornography that is hurting their relationships.

Money for sex

Kim and I just watched "Trade". This movie was based off a 9 month investigation piece The Girls Next Door from the New York Times. According to the U.S. State Department's report on sex traffic in 2005, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, with 14,500 to 17,500 trafficked into the U.S.

The Girls Next Door stated that there are thousands of sex slaves right here in the U.S. Please watch this movie. Please understand every time you look at porn whether you pay for it, or not, your click of the mouse is recorded and used for keeping women on the screen with money and addiction to drugs. And worse of all, the promotion of kidnapping and enslavement of innocent children only to be emotionally and physically scarred for the rest of their lives.

Neti Pots

My wife tracked all the people coming to her blog and realized that most of them came because they searched for Neti Pots. She had Neti Pots as the title of one of her blogs. So I'm attempting to get more traffic. Sorry, I apologize for misleading you, but this blog has nothing to do with Neti Pots. The things we do for attention.

I notice more and more people seem to say, "this book is our bible". Today it was a reference to a database. On another day it was Wikipedia. I find this extremely fascinating, because whether you believe that the Bible is GOD's one and only collection of writings that He wrote through man, or not, it's interesting how we go to documents as our one and only source for specific topics of knowledge. Whatever the subject is we all have our bible's. It makes sense that GOD would leave a book for life.

New Identity?

Nobody I know reads my blog, except my wife. I kind of like it that way, but then what's the point of having a blog. At first I created Speepr McCree from Christmas Island as a joke. I got the funniest picture I had of myself and posted it. But my first entry in 2005 ended up being the only humor of this blog and I deleted it.

I still like my picture and enjoy being from Christmas Island, and I kind of like the name Speepr. So why do I think I want my real identity on my blog? Does it matter? What do I gain and what do I lose? If anyone is reading please give me your opinion.

The decline of the FDA

I read somewhere that the ingredient "natural flavors" can have monosodium glutamate (MSG) in it, and then I read another detailed article about MSG that didn't have natural flavors listed as an ingredient that might contain MSG. Does anyone have any knowledge regarding the vague ingredient of natural flavors? Why doesn't the FDA require companies to list the origin of the natural flavor? What about artificial flavor? I'm scared to look up what the definition is of artifical flavor in the Code of Federal Regulations.

The exact definition of natural flavorings & flavors from Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows:

"The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional."

Switchgrass

This could be the replacement for big oil.......

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5183608

The Future of Food

This really scares me, buy organic.............down the road it might just save your life one day. GMO's might of been invented to help poorer areas grow more crops, but I believe profit has become the force behind the development of GMO food.

Poverty Radio

Instead of sports radio, its poverty radio. Instead of talking about the games, they talk about meetings and discussions going on around the world trying to figure ways to improve living conditions. Instead of talking about the stats and how the players performed each day,they talk about the stats of how many water wells were drilled, and how the workers performed that day. And instead of win's and losses its how many people now have cleanwater for the first time in that region. Instead of fantasy football, it's fantasy worker's. Instead of baseball cards, its worker's against poverty cards.

This all sounds a little off, but what I'm trying to point out is that we spend billions of dollars on sports a year. 100's of players make over 10 million a year, 1000's of players make over 1,000,000 a year. The average salary in the United States is under $30,000. What if we salary capped each player at 1,000,0000 in every sport. What if people wouldn't pay more than$10 for a ticket to see a game. What if all the extra money that was spent on sports somehow,someway could be used to pay the salaries of the WWAPL (Worker's Working Against Poverty League). We could still have our sport's cake and eat it too.

Why can't we get excited about listening to the stories of worker's in the field building infrastructure, supplying healthcare, bringing the means for people to help themselves. Following our hero's through news of their whereabouts and what they are doing throughout the year.

We spend countless of hours focusing on games that overall are meaningless to our well being. There is no reason why we can't take a part of that and put it towards life instead of letting it continue towards death. The crazy thing about all this is that the sports world would go on as if nothing happened. Players would still compete at the highest levels, but with just less salaries. The sports fan would even benefit from getting to pay less for tickets. It's a win win situation. No one needs more than a million dollars a year, no matter how hard they work.

Death in the Mirror

This is an excerp from an article called "Death in the Mirror: Real Meaning in Life is to be Found Beyond Life" by Timothy K. Jones:

"Christian faith has always argued that meaning in life will be found beyond life...Despite the richness of this world, the New Testament reminds us that we are on our way to a reality even clearer and more substantial than we presently experience, 'Here we do not have an enduring city,' the writer of Hebrews wrote, 'but we are looking for the city to come' (Heb. 13:14). Or, as Paul put it, 'We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen' (2 Cor. 4:16,18).

Indeed, we will never live fully if we think we can exhaust the meaning of the moment without reference to the longer stretch...We cannot live rightly until we aim past life. Eternity provides the only goal that makes the ultimate sense of each moment. Awareness of death, and of its opening to a life beyond, has not only framed how I look at life. It has also begun to work a change in how I walk through life. It has, in other words, brought not just new meaning to my moments, but changes to my behavior. As Samuel Johnson reportedly said, 'When a man knows he is going to be hanged in fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.' Our awareness of the transitoriness of this life, find, concentrates my priorities, helps me refashion my daily choices.

To know that life is not a destinationless journey helps me live more completely for a final good, an ultimate end...To know that 'we have such a hope,' as Paul says, makes us 'very bold' (2 Cor. 3:12). God's gracious assurance and promise of eternal care helps us 'incline to our proper center.' Our daily decisions become oriented around something more profound...A conviction about what lies beyond is giving me courage to live more fully and more faithfully...God can take even my frailty and mortality and invest it with eternal significance."

Instruction

I believe GOD has an agenda. I believe this agenda is the only agenda that will allow Heaven to function. It's not that GOD is a tyrant, its just that His agenda is the only way things will and can work in Heaven. It's not a choice because there is no other way. So if there is only one way things can work, this must mean there are instructions.

This must mean its all in one instruction manual. As tough as life is, it would be seemingly impossible to try and figure out the truth from multiple books. How can the most important thing in our life not be written down for all to read under one cover? Each product I buy has the manual under one cover. It never tells me the intricate workings of the product, but it does tell me how to operate it. At work, if something isn't documented I get multiple stories. Along the way my experience can be misleading when I believe I have fixed the issue only to find out 5 hours later I had only band aided the problem.

Life is extremely complex. I'm bombarded with different philosophical ideas and perspectives each day. Even my closest co-workers disagree on ways of dealing with situations and how to fix the same issue. Ultimately how do we know we are living life the way we should? How do I really know? How do I judge what goes through my mind each day? What if my life is supposed to be different when it appears I am doing just fine? What if I'm not even supposed to be living my life the way I am? What if I'm supposed to be living my life for something else? What if I'm supposed to be living my life for someone else, so they can slowly change me into the person I was created to be? How can I know? I can only know if its written down, or the one who knows is somehow giving me the message in some form or another.

What happens if I need to change in order to be able to function correctly in Heaven? There has to be a process. There has to be a manual. There has to be an easy way to get the manual. I'm guessing its right in front of my face. When you purchase a product the creator makes sure the instructions are included with the product. Many of you believe we just came to be through the big bang and evolution theories. Well, I guess that would mean there couldn't possibly be a manual and that means you are on your own to do as you wish and will, it's just as simple as that. But what about those of us that believe we were created. Logic and common sense tell us that like a company including the instructions with its product, GOD would likely do the same, otherwise the product would have to be figured out how to use and repair. I guess thats simple with some products, but I've watched a professor get extremely frustrated trying to put together a diaper changing table and we even had the instructions. He had even already put it together before and from what I heard became extremely frustrated. We all can agree things get complicated when dealing with those seemingly easiest of tasks. What would happen if we had to reinvent the wheel each time building houses, cars, airplanes, computers, a magnetic particle separator. If a company created it there is always a manual. I believe GOD made man in His image. How could GOD not include the manual with the most complex product on earth?

If you believe GOD created us, then you have to believe he left us some instructions. Whatever we believe, we need to continually challenge and test its strength. One day we come to know the truth. What will you say when GOD says it was written down your whole life right in front of your face? You even had people tell you the truth, but you wouldn't listen for whatever reason. Will you be able to say I'm sorry I was wrong. What if GOD forgives you and says that isn't the problem that you decided to live your life the way you wanted, but that the problem is all your life He was trying to tell you that you needed to be a certain way at this moment in order for you to function correctly in Heaven. That as you dwelt on your physical and material well being throughout your whole life, the change He needed and tried to make in you was a spiritual birth that would slowly renew your mind on earth to prepare you and be ready for a life of eternity in Heaven. The Bible says man focuses on the outer appearance, but GOD focuses on the heart.

Typosquatting

I was a victim of typosquatting today as I typed in www.gmail.com. I'm not sure how I mispelled it, but I did and a typosqautter got me. Below is an explanation, if you haven't already been struck by this evil that is now among us on the internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting

Team

My thought of the day came to me about what makes up a good team? The most talented team cannot win unless everyone works together. If a player doesn't function correctly in his position, the team eventually will suffer and the victory's are few. In many cases, the most talented players never win a World Series or a Super Bowl. Time and time again we see players who are focused on themselves spouting off to the media about how they aren't happy with other players, the coach, even how they want to be traded. It's everyone else's fault.

I might be reaching out on a limb with this one, but I'm paralleling a sports team with Heaven. GOD is recruiting everyone to Heaven. He's looking for souls that will listen to the coach. He's looking for souls that want to play with His game plan. He's not looking for talent, or performance, but obedience. He needs the team to be one. He needs the team to enjoy, respect and love each other. And most importantly He needs everyone to want and do anything for the coach. He needs everyone to abandon themselves to the game plan, passionately believing and honestly loving that it is the best and the only way that everything will work out for the best.

Maybe I've gone way overboard with this one, but think about if your a coach, or owner of a company. Who do you want playing, or working for you? Isn't everything I just said exactly the same characteristics you would want in your team? Everyone thinks that creativity and individualism is destroyed by conformity, but conformity to a point, or a solid foundation has to be obtained in order for individualism and creativity to be able to exist in the first place, otherwise we just have chaos.

Battle of Wills

I constantly hear the phrase from people, "if GOD is all loving He will accept me for who I am because I'm an overall good person." It's your will vs GOD's will. Your will says GOD's will should accept your will and GOD's will says you should want and accept His will. We base ourstatement "if GOD is all loving He will accept me for who I am because I'm an overall good person" on the presumption that GOD's will wants and accepts our will. Everyone has their own will, we are constantly making decisions to allow our will, or let another's will impose on us. Marriage, work, family, the decision to purchase a product from another store, everyday interaction with people requires us to make a decision that will either go towards or against our will. So why does everyone think that GOD is going to say when we get to Heaven that we can just go ahead and fulfill our will any way that we shall please, or that its going to be a give and take relationship, or that we will just magically want, accept, and do His will? It seems to me that people think our life on earth is going to parallel eternity.

What does the Bible say in regards to how GOD is going to please us in Heaven? What does GOD say about what He wants us to do for Him? I've compiled some scripture below that I think is relevant:

Deuteronomy 13:18 "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.

1Kings 11:33 For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh,the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my laws and regulations as his father, David, did.

2Ki 16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the LORD his God, as his ancestor David had done.

2Ki 17:9 The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were not pleasing to the
LORD their God. They built pagan shrines for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest outpost to the largest walled city.

2Chronicles 14:2 For Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the LORD his God.

2Ch 31:20 In this way, King Hezekiah handled the distribution throughout all Judah, doing what was pleasing and good in the sight of the LORD his God.

Ro 12:2 - Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

Romans 15:16 - a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News and offer you up as a fragrant sacrifice to God so that you might be pure and pleasing to him by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 11:5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying – "suddenly he disappeared because God took him." But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God.

Heb 13:16 - Don't forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God.

Heb 13:20 And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant,signed with his blood. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 5:10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.

I searched the word pleasing in an online Bible. This is a sample of the 74 entries I found with the word pleasing and all 74 of them referred to pleasing GOD, not us. I understand we all believe in something a little different, but only one belief system can be correct. I write these posts to make people think. I hope I am not imposing my will against another, I am just writing posts like these to challenge the world's belief systems and also to strengthen, or reveal holes in my own. The older I get the more excited I am for my death. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to it at all, its going to be the scariest moment of my life. I am so fearful of it, because I believe I will be in front of GOD reading word for word exactly everything I did in life. I am ashamed of so many things I have done, but I know GOD forgives me as long as I believe that His son Jesus Christ died for my sins/my wrongdoings against GOD's will.

I wonder why GOD created us to have such a hard time in figuring out His will for our life and even then when we do how hard it is to stay focused. Maybe because we are constantly seeking happiness through our own will and need to be disappointed, because only then do we look for something else. So this brings up the question why did GOD even create us to have a will if He is constantly disappointed with our decisions. I think GOD is looking for roommates who adore and truly love Him, and as we all know true love can't be forced. True love is wanting to do nothing for oneself and only wanting to please the one with whom your in love. I believe GOD needs and wants us to be in true love with Him. He's doing His best to gain our attention, to attract us, and most importantly can only hope for us to fall in true love with Him as He is already with us.

A Third of the Angels

I posted this on March 22nd, 2007. Our feelings and desires have been on my mind lately. Just how does one's mind develop emotions; wants, feelings, desires. Are we destined to have those emotions from birth? Or through the events of our upbringing, what people did and said to us, and our decisions on what to pursue, did these things form our feelings and desires?

Lately, my thoughts just keep going back to what I wrote on March 22nd about having a roommate. I don't know anyone who would disagree about what I wrote. Let me know if you disagree........

"Ever since I read Revelations 12, I've been fascinated by verses 3 and 4 where it makes the reference of a third of the angels being kicked out of heaven. Throughout the Bible we read about a spiritual war going on between GOD and Satan. Some of us can agree that not all of our desires are born within ourselves, we know they can come from an outside source. I have always wrestled with which desires are inspired from Satan, which ones from GOD, and which ones from myself.

But what I want to comment on isn't which desires are coming from where, but the fact a third of the angels were kicked out of heaven. I still can't get over how the angels weren't content with Heaven, that they still wanted to what appears create or have there own way with doing things that went against GOD's sovereignty in His kingdom. Kind of reminds me of me at work wanting to do things my own way even though I was hired and am getting paid to do things works way.

Think of someone you see every day. They really get on your nerves because they completely have no respect for your outlook on life. They joke about things around you that are completely irritating. You have to listen to their selection of music all day from their cubicle. You have asked them to turn it down, but they claim they can't hear it that low. They are loud and obnoxious. But even though they have all these traits that make you angry, they still aren't doing anything wrong in everyone's eyes at work. Some people actually enjoy the music, they enjoy the jokes and what is loud and obnoxious to you isn't loud and obnoxious to them. Basically its just a difference of opinion with this person, not what is right and what is wrong. But every day you feel a huge relief immediately when leaving their presence.

So I wonder would GOD kick a third of the angels out just because of personality conflict? One thing I just can't stop thinking about is that everyone I know eventually moves away from roommates that they are having a personality conflict with, its just a matter of time before one or the other can't take it anymore. So is GOD trying to groom us to be roommmates in Heaven?And from the way He created us and under the circumstances of what Adam and Eve did in the garden, the grooming has to be done through a relationship with Him on earth?

I know this all sounds completely ridiculous. But, man is made in GOD's image. There are many people I just don't get along with, but its just a personality confict, niether of us are right or wrong. Could I ever get along with that person as a roommate if either I or they never changed? Don't see how that would be possible. So how does one come to the conclusion that GOD needs to change for them, or put up with something that is completely annoying to Him in Heaven? I know many of you are saying GOD is completely above this petty analogy, GOD is love, love perseveres through all things. I agree completely, but no matter how much I go back and forth, a third of the angels were still kicked out of Heaven.

Reference: Angels are often referred to as "stars" and "sons of God" (Job 1:6, 2:1, Isa 14:12, Rev. 1:20, 9:1, 12:4,9)."