Jeff Ragan > Recent Status Updates

"I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one. So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them in the fire of my anger. I will heap on them the full penalty for all their sins, says the Sovereign Lord." - Ezekiel 22:30-31

"God...takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, even of those who fight against him. Instead, he delights in giving life to those who repent, to those who forsake past sins and change their hearts...While God will punish those who continue to rebel against him, he longs for them to turn back to him and live" (1013).

"The Pharisees held minimal political power throughout the Hasmonean era and into the Roman period, although at times (for example, during the reign of Salome Alexandra) their influence and power in the Sanhedrin rose. Phariseeism essentially was a lay movement dedicated to obeying the Torah in daily life" (212).

"When Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord, he fell face down in the dust. Then he heard the voice of God speaking to him. The order of these two events should be the model for all God's people as they seek his voice. First we are exposed to God's glory as we come before him in humility. Then we hear his voice" (995).

"The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him!' The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord." - Lamentations 3:22-26

"The Romanization of Palestine began in earnest during the reign of Herod the Great. Herod was Rome's choice to handle affairs in Palestine. He won the favor of successive Roman rulers by his unfailing loyalty to the interests of Rome. In return, Rome granted Herod a large territory that he ruled effectively" (199).

"Compassionate Father, your love for your creation overwhelms us. Although you must execute judgment on those who choose to turn away, you grieve for them. Instill in us this same compassion for the lost. Give us a desire to see them turn to you for forgiveness. Amen." (p. 975)

"Spending [Texans'] money comes quite easily to the federal government. They are much like an unfaithful spouse who takes our paycheck and pisses it away on booze, drugs, and hookers. Lest anyone think this is an exaggeration, there is proof that our money has literally been spent on booze, drugs, and hookers" (104).

"Our income and our labors are taxed and redistributed to those who won't work, to inefficient and corrupt governmental agencies, to programs that might violate our faith and to morally despicable foreign governments - of which many hate us despite the money we give them" (88).

"When God established his covenant with his people, he promised never to forsake them. Despite Israel's constant unfaithfulness to the covenant, God honored his word. So even when his people were carried away to a foreign land, he reaffirmed his promise to be with them. This provided peace and assurance in the midst of their troubles, and the people could anticipate the fulfillment of God's promise..." (972).

"She had located the direction of my last call with great accuracy, but had misjudged the distance, & not finding her prospective mate at the spot she had expected...she was now working herself up into a perfect fury, & you will have some idea of what the fury of a tigress in her condition can be...on one occasion closed a public road for a whole week, attacking everything that attempted to go along it..." (285).

"'But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day...I will put my laws in their minds, & I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, & they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors...saying, "you should know the Lord." For everyone...will already know me...And I will forgive their wickedness &will never again remember their sins.'" - Jer 31:33-34

"Every one of the hundred or more inhabitants had fled, taking their livestock with them - the only animal I saw in the village was a cat, which gave me a warm welcome; so hurried had the evacuation been that many of the doors of the houses had been left wide open. On every path in the village, in the courtyard of the houses, and in the dust before all the doors I found the tigress's pug-marks" (261-2).

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you,' says the Lord." - Jeremiah 29:11-13

"The Roman Empire provided the historical setting for all New Testament events & created the conditions necessary for the spread of the gospel. The Roman Peace...established by Augustus ended centuries of bitter conflict & established safe borders within which Roman law governed...In some sense the political & cultural dominance of Rome over the Mediterranean basin was part of the 'fullness of the time'" (190).

"The thicket into which the tigress had retired was roughly forty yards square, and she could not leave it without the monkey's seeing her and warning us, so we sat down back to back, to have a smoke and listen if the jungle had anything further to tell us while we considered our next move" (247).

"O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned." Jeremiah 18:6-8

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord have spoken!'" - Jeremiah 9:23-24

"Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States." Article 1, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution

"People who carelessly assume that God is honored by what they do rather than who they are deceive themselves...Jeremiah anticipated the life of New Testament worshipers, who would hear the Word & receive the Spirit. Today God's law is written in our heart through his Spirit. Jeremiah reminds us that worship should extend beyond a Sabbath ritual response and permeate the routine of our daily life" (923).

"Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth - so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more." - Isaiah 65:17-19

"Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! Be he was wounded & crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, & we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt &sins of us all." - Isa 53:4-6

"Chinese society was built not on science but on a strange and unique mixture of religion, morals and philosophy. History has known no people more superstitious, and none more sceptical; no people more devoted to piety, and none more rationalistic and secular; no nation so free from clerical domination, and none but the Hindus so blessed and cursed with gods" (783).

"...the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles..." - Isaiah 40:28-31

"A calling is a settled conviction that God wants you to do something. It is a feeling, yes. But it's more than an emotional moment. It's a soul-burning passion that you cannot escape and can only satisfy through obedience" (14).

"Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God." (Isaiah 35:1-2)

"...troops may be engaging snipers...while trying to protect engineers who are reconnecting the power cables, & trying to win the support of the population by running a clinic...They may be doing all of these things in a town where some people want to fight them, some want to steal from them & most want to get on with their lives...and all of this may be taking place within the space of three city blocks" (123).

"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, 'I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.'" - Isaiah 14:12-14

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this!" - Is 9:6-7

"Does this apply to the individuals Jacob and Esau or simply to the nations springing from Jacob and Esau? It must be observed that in Malachi 1:1-5 the peoples of Israel and Edom are distinctly in view" (20). Yet Murray goes on to import meanings beyond what Paul and Scripture expressly communicate.