The following words were written by my bro Jose Valentino while we were talking about the Lord last Year. I know you are going to like them as much as me.
“I’m not saying these the official official answers but there are specific Bible scriptures that support this notion.” JV.
What a fascinating argument… Luis Almeida.
- The judge of Israel, Samson. The spirit of the Lord came upon him and he massacred the Phillip time army with a donkey jaw bone (3,000 people) single handedly. It was a slaughter of judgement.
- Solomon. God granted him unsurpassed wisdom, which also led to his arrogance and disobedience to God, to where he lost everything and wrote Ecclesiastes and repented.
- Now THIS one most people never get right. Most pastors never teach this part. I find this one absolutely fascinating because this person is portrayed as a vacillating and wandering generalist. A prince of Egypt who left everything he had in Rome during the desert for 40 years and then lived as a poor Israelites requesting pharaoh to let his people go. He is strong willed and he has a temper. He wasn’t even the best speaker and some say he had a stutter. It’s (drum roll)… Moses. Numbers 12:3 “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than any other man in history.”
- Peter. Peter was the only one to jump out of the boat when he saw Jesus walking on water and everyone was terrified because they thought it was a ghost because Jesus transfigured himself to not look like his normal self but Peter and his understanding of Scripture understood that if anyone were able to walk on water, even if it were unrecognizable, it must’ve been the Lord. He was so firm in his faith that he jumped out of the boat to walk on water without Jesus even telling him to do so. He had the courage to stand up for the Holy Spirit in a community where they were mocking and questioning them for speaking in tongues where he could have been arrested and killed immediately. His courage always got the best out of him. Jesus would tell him to calm down and had to pick up after some of Peter‘s mistakes because Peter grab the sword and cut the ear off of one of the soldiers. And yet, Peter did not have the courage to acknowledge Jesus and denied him three times before the rooster crowed. It’s fascinating because all of these amazing figures in the Bible had tremendous qualities but the common theme is this… We are all subject to our own demise if we do not put the Lord first in everything.
- Daniel. He was one of the very very few Israelites who while captive, had direct access to king Nebuchadnezzar. He knew how to navigate his position in the court. He was a bureaucrat Of Babylon. And he knew how to navigate conversations with the politicians to allow freedom of worship and the true God. Because he was so savvy, he was able to recruit three young Israelites who is intellect was equivalent to PhD’s of the time… Shadrach Meshack and Abednego. Basically the four of them were able to steer the wheel of the Provost a.k.a. king Nebuchadnezzar.
- Jacob (also called Israel). This guy wrestled with the angel of the Lord, lost of course, the Angel touched his hip and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life and his name was changed to Israel. He was truly arrogant and greedy even from his birth. Read the story about him and Esaw, his twin. Anyways, eventually he humbled himself and the Lord granted him what is equivalent to being the president of 12 countries. The 12 tribes of Israel. Up until now, there’s not a person who has been a president of 12 different countries whose descendants are still existing today.
- Joseph, step-father of Jesus. Husband to Mary, mother of Jesus. Talk about courage. He married a woman and Jewish law requires them to not consummate the marriage until a year after. So Merrie goes and visits her cousin and comes back pregnant which in Jewish law is punishable by death by stunning. And Angel talks to him and he decides to protect her in front of the entire community. Then he’s required to leave his entire comfortable life and go through the desert with a donkey and a pregnant woman in that heat completely trusting in the Lord. When he gets to Bethlehem, nobody wants to take them in and provide them a home and he delivers baby Jesus in a stinky barn. Now the entire Roman empire hears about this baby who is prophesied to be the Messiah and the entire Roman army soldiers are ordered to kill every living baby and child that is two years old or younger. Joseph can’t even take a moment of rest and is required to escape and I live in Egypt that speaks an entirely different language and has a separate belief system and he has to be there for a number of years in adapt, with no guide, no connections, just got the father. Then for 30 years he raises up the creator of the universe and Hass to be the preeminent example of what it is to be a good man to Jesus. He could’ve been a complete coward and walked away but this dude does not get enough credit. To me, he is the most courageous man that ever existed.
- Paul. He studied with the greatest Greek philosophers and scholars of his time. Theologians and historians suggest that the amount of study and scholarship he had and his contributions to analyzing old testament scripture and the recent phenomenon of Jesus the Messiah and writing 2/3 of the entire New Testament equates to 13 PhD‘s. Fascinating Lee enough, that’s one of the reasons why Paul was able to travel and speak with the greatest minds of his era. One of the coolest stories was when he went to the courts of Athens, commended them for the pursuit of wisdom and understanding, and began to talk to them about the statue that is dedicated to the unknown God and revealed to them that the unknown God had arrived and is the only God… Jesus. His teachings in Athens are the reason why the Greek orthodox church exists today.
- Paul. He studied with the greatest Greek philosophers and scholars of his time. Theologians and historians suggest that the amount of study and scholarship he had and his contributions to analyzing old testament scripture and the recent phenomenon of Jesus the Messiah and writing 2/3 of the entire New Testament equates to 13 PhD‘s. Fascinating Lee enough, that’s one of the reasons why Paul was able to travel and speak with the greatest minds of his era. One of the coolest stories was when he went to the courts of Athens, commended them for the pursuit of wisdom and understanding, and began to talk to them about the statue that is dedicated to the unknown God and revealed to them that the unknown God had arrived and is the only God… Jesus. His teachings in Athens are the reason why the Greek orthodox church exists today.
- David. Talk about strategy bro. A poor shepherd boy who had a gift for music playing the harp and writing songs. He wasn’t famous. He was a complete nobody. His gift for Music landed him a gig in King sells court. While playing the harp he was very observatory and develop strategic relationships. Essentially, he went from playing the harp to killing Goliath, to joining the army of Israel, to becoming the general and chief strategist of the Israel Army and conquered so many battles to the point that people would sing songs about David begging for him to become king and king Saul got jealous. Then, king Saul ordered the entire army of Israel to find and kill David. David was so strategic That the entire army of Israel could never find him and he’s single he manage to capture king Saul and could’ve killed them but spared his life. King David also use his strategy power for Ivo which is why he killed the husband of a wife that he lost it after. God gave him what he deserved. And yet, he always asked forgiveness and was a man after gods heart
Hope you enjoyed this one.