Saturday, February 15, 2020

* Samson: Enormous strength comes upon him by the Spirit of God


Joan Boney ...  apostle/prophet

Judges 14:1-4   And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.

And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines:
now therefore get her for me to wife.

Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? 

And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that HE sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.


***


5-6   Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 

And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

***

Shortly after I was born again, in 1975, I was asleep in the night and God "transported" me into heaven.  I was with God, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit.  (no images, an experience in the spirit)

At that time, I was "merged" into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, God and the Holy Spirit witnessing.

A few nights later, the exact same thing happened again.

I thought this happened to everyone who became a Christian.

I had a friend 10-years younger than I.  We were having breakfast one morning.  Bill had become a Christian a few months earlier than I and all he talked about was being a Christian and how wonderful it was.  I thought Bill was slightly crazy!  

Then this happened to me.  First, the Holy Spirit said to me:  "Joan ... you know those mistakes you've been making all these years?  Those weren't mistakes.  Those were sins."

"Sins?"  I gasped.

And instantly I was born again.

Then after that, I was taken into heaven twice.

Bill was eating his breakfast and I said, "Bill ... you're right about this thing of being a Christian.  The thing that I like best is that thing that happens to you in the night."

Bill kept shoveling food into his mouth, and he said, "What thing?"

I replied, "I don't know what it's called.  It's that thing where you are taken into heaven and you are with God and with Christ and with the Holy Spirit and you are merged into the body of Jesus."

By that time, Bill had stopped eating, dropped his fork into his plate, and was staring directly at me in a kind of frozen state.

He said, "What are you talking about?"

This was my first glimpse into the fact that this was unusual.

Samson's experience in strength when he encountered the lion was similar to that which I felt after being taken into heaven twice.

This experience was very important to me as the years passed and I had to do difficult things which required strength in dealing with the churches.

God gives us that which we need to do HIS calling when such is on our lives.


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Judges 14:7-9   And he (Samson) went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. 


***

Judges 14:10-20   So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
 

And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments:  But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. 

And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.

And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?


And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. 

And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?

And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? and he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.


And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. 

And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

Samson was betrayed in two ways.  His wife betrayed Samson.  And then his wife was given to Samson's friend.

***

Judges 15:1-1-20   But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.


And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
 

Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? 

And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. 

She deceived Samson to escape being burned with fire and then that which she feared came upon her anyway.

And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? 

And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? 

And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. 

And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.



*** 


Judges 16:1-3   Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.


And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.


***

The ways and rules in the Old Testament were very different from the New Testament: 

In the Old Testament:  Men had multiple wives and multiple concubines.  The woman had one husband unless she was a harlot (prostitute).  If the woman's husband died, she could marry again, as did Abigail when Nabal died and she married David after Nabal's death.  But women did not have multiple husbands unless they were prostitutes.

In the New Testament, the rules were very different:

I Corinthians 7:1-5   Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Matthew 5:32 Jesus said:  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

*  If the faithful wife is divorced by her husband and remarries another man, she commits adultery, but her husband who divorced her will be the cause of her adultery

*  The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery


Concerning women:

I Corinthians 7:10-11   And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. 

I Corinthians 7:39-40  The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.  But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. 

Mark 10:6-9  Jesus said:  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 

Mark 10:11-12  And HE (Jesus) saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.  And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.


***


Concerning sex with a prostitute:

I Corinthians 6:15-20    Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith HE, shall be one flesh.

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

Many women today live like unpaid prostitutes.


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