Monthly Archives: September 2013

October 1, 2013—SnyderTalk Editorial: Salvation, Obedience, and the Leading of the Spirit—Part 1: Follow the Leading of the Spirit

1--Intro

Intelligent and Informed People Read SnyderTalk!

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2--SnyderTalk Editorial 4

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Salvation, Obedience, and the Leading of the Spirit—Part 1: Follow the Leading of the Spirit

Trying to get to God by obeying the law is like trying to drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte, North Carolina by taking I-75.  Problem is I-75 doesn’t go to Charlotte.  In fact, it doesn’t even come close to Charlotte, so if you take I-75 out of Atlanta, you’ll have to get off the interstate somewhere and take an alternate route that includes lots of back roads with which you’re probably not familiar.

If your goal is to drive from Atlanta to Charlotte, the best and most economical route to take is I-85 North.  No amount of rationalizing, arguing, or sermonizing will change that reality.  According to Jesus and Paul, faith is the only way to Yahweh, and people who have saving faith are led by Yahweh’s Spirit.  You can’t sermonize those facts away either.

I’m not suggesting or implying that obedience is unimportant.  I’m simply pointing out that obeying the laws in the Bible will not lead to salvation.  On the other hand, our attitude toward those laws says a great deal about our faith.  Saving faith wants to please Yahweh.  It pleases Yahweh when we obey Him, so it makes sense that saving faith is accompanied by a desire to be obedient.  But that’s a far cry from believing that we are saved because of our obedience or that Yahweh owes us something if we obey Him.

There’s a hymn that most Christians are familiar with, and the chorus goes like this: “Where He leads me, I will follow.  Where He leads me, I will follow.  Where He leads me, I will follow, follow where He leads.”  The children of Yahweh are led by His Spirit.  Over time, being led by His Spirit touches every facet of our lives as He works to shape us and make us into the people that He created us to be.  In effect, Yahweh teaches us to play by the rules as we follow Him.  That involves our hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and everything we think, do, or say.  It also includes many things that you won’t find in the Bible.  How do I know?  I know it because there isn’t a single verse in the Scriptures that has my name in it.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Thus says Yahweh, Neil Snyder write a book titled His Name is Yahweh and take that message to the world.”  Yahweh’s Spirit had to lead me to do that, and my willingness to obey Him in that situation is similar to Abraham’s obedience when Yahweh told him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar.

I’m not trying to puff myself up.  Abraham believed Yahweh and obeyed Him.  That’s what I did, and according to Jesus and Paul and the prophets, that’s what every other child of Yahweh does.  If you refuse to follow Him, if you won’t open your heart and listen to His voice, you don’t belong to Him.  That’s what they said, and simply following the rules can’t make up for failing to follow the Spirit of the Living God.

This is the bottom line.  You can obey every law in the Bible to the best of your ability as if your salvation depended on it; you can go to church every Sunday without fail; you can read the Bible three times a day, teach a Bible class, serve as a deacon in your church, tithe religiously, sing in the choir, lead an upright life, even make a profession of faith, and still not be a child of Yahweh.  Jesus explained it like this:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Matthew 7: 21-23

That statement is as amazing as it is frightening.  Jesus said that there are people who prophesy in Yahweh’s Name, who cast out demons in His Name, and who perform miracles in His Name who will be denied admission to heaven because they did not do the will of the Father.  He said it so clearly that you need help to be confused.  There’s no room for misinterpretation here.

What happened?  Where did they go wrong?  It’s obvious that they were performing miraculous feats.  Jesus said so.  They probably received lots of praise and admiration from men.  Some of them must have written bestselling books telling about their exploits for “the LORD”.  Others probably charged hefty speaking fees and toured the countryside giving talks to captivated audiences.  Still others built megachurches where they pranced around on potted plant laden stages in front of television cameras and adoring fans, and they pontificated about the things to come as if they actually knew.  And according to the Messiah, they did all of these things in God’s Name.  As you can tell, I suspect that things aren’t much different today.

Some of those people are going to be stunned when the Messiah looks them in the eye and says, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”  The look on their faces at that moment will be sheer terror because no one will need to tell them what comes next.

This is what you need to grab hold of.  If you put your faith in the law, you can’t win, but if you put your faith in Yahweh, you can’t lose.  It’s as simple as that.  Don’t try to make it any harder than it is.  You’ll have enough trouble dealing with the ridicule that comes your way for believing and following Yahweh.

This SnyderTalk editorial is adapted from my book What Will You Do with the Rest of Your LifeClick here to order a copy.

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9--Jerusalem Post

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Differences between Obama and Netanyahu diminished

Analysis: Rouhani drives wedge between Netanyahu, Obama on Iran issue

Iranian foreign minister: Israel has an arsenal of 200 nuclear warheads

Kerry hopeful of quick US-Iran nuclear agreement

UN Security Council turns attention to Syria’s humanitarian crises

France was ready for Syria strike when Obama decided to seek Congress’s approval

Syrian refugees blame Hezbollah, Syria’s main allies for their plight

Netanyahu to meet foreign minister of Turkmenistan in message to Iran

Analysis: Will Sudan be the next to have a revolution?

Egyptian students clash at universities as Morsi turmoil continues

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10--Arutz Sheva

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Kerry on Iran: Words Won’t Replace Actions

Al-Shabaab Threatens Britain

Journalist: Nazi Scientists Helped Arabs Produce WMDs

Terror Release Opponent Demands Ministers Be Tough

Rice: ‘Every Reason in the World’ to Doubt Iran

Rivlin: US Linkage of Iran, PA Demands ‘Worrying’

Four Arrests Over Desecration of Graves

Obama and Netanyahu to Discuss Syria and Iran

Assad: We’ll Adhere to the UN Resolution

Poll: Most of Israelis Don’t Believe Rouhani [ST Comment: That’s good news.]

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11--THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

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Melting in the warmth of Rouhani’s embrace

‘Netanyahu to tell Obama Iran has enough uranium for a bomb’

Peres decries tone of US-Iran outreach critics

Iran: Obama call not enough to restore relations

Iraq says Iran’s shift toward West is serious

Who’s afraid of American-Iranian reconciliation?

At least 50 killed in terror attack at Nigeria college

Israeli-Palestinian talks said to be stuck over land swaps

Kenyan attackers spared Muslims by quizzing victims on Koran

Dagestan rabbi’s shooter killed in gunfight

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12--Other News

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Muslim Persecution of Christians: July, 2013

Netanyahu’s mission at the UN: To expose Rouhani’s fraud

“We knew our Muslim neighbours all our lives…We had excellent relations. It never occurred to us that Muslim neighbours would betray us.”

Destroy all churches in Gulf, says Saudi Grand Mufti

“One of the Worst Statements by an American President in History”; Israeli Cabinet Blasts Obama’s UN Speech

Suspected Iran Revolutionary Guards spy arrested in Israel

Obama At UN: End Occupation Of West Bank

America’s Largest Gun Shop Abruptly Dropped by Credit Card Co. — and the reason will have You Shaking Your Head in Disbelief

Egypt’s foreign minister wants nuke-free Middle East

Report: Israel warned Nairobi authorities before mall attack

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13--Perspectives 2

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Warner MacKenzie: Understanding Taqiyya ― Islamic Principle of Lying for the Sake of Allah—“Lying and cheating in the Arab world is not really a moral matter but a method of safeguarding honor and status, avoiding shame, and at all times exploiting possibilities, for those with the wits for it, deftly and expeditiously to convert shame into honor on their own account and vice versa for their opponents. If honor so demands, lies and cheating may become absolute imperatives.” [David Pryce-Jones, “The Closed Circle” An interpretation of the Arabs, p4]

Arlene Kushner: Abbas at the UN: Decoding the Babble— The irony is that Abbas himself provides an example of this incitement in his talk [at the U.N.], as he refers to almost daily attacks on the Al-Aksa mosque.  This is pure and outrageous fabrication.  The reality is that Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount – which is where the mosque is located – are sometimes accosted by stone-throwing Arabs, and sometimes prevented from visiting at all because of threats of Arab riots.

Richard Baehr: The Obama doctrine— Surrender abroad, fight the GOP terrorists at home.

Caroline Glick: Obama’s power and its limitations— US President Barack Obama’s rapidly changing positions on Syria have produced many odd spectacles. One of odder ones was the sight of hundreds of lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee fanning out on Capitol Hill to lobby members of the House and Senate to support Obama’s plan to launch what Secretary of State John Kerry called “unbelievably small” air strikes against empty regime controlled buildings in Syria.

Uri Heitner: Caution: Delay ahead— Obama’s weakness and Putin’s strong support for Russia’s allies increases the likelihood that Iran is tricking the free world.

Charles Krauthammer: The Iranian “Moderate”—The search, now 30 years old, for Iranian “moderates” goes on. The latest sighting is in the form of Hassan Rouhani. Strange resume for a moderate: 35 years of unswervingly loyal service to the Islamic Republic as a close aide to Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei. Rouhani is Khamenei’s agent, but with a smile and style.

Boaz Bismuth: No one likes a party crasher— Netanyahu has a problem: He needs to expose Iran’s true colors to a world that doesn’t want to hear the facts.

Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi: Obama blinked first— One can only hope that Iran will still be judged by its actions and not by the lip service paid by its leaders.

Dan Margalit: ‘Winds of Munich’ blowing in the West— When the appease-at-all-cost approach dominates international diplomacy, no one wants to listen to warnings against the trap set by the axis of evil nations.

Yossi Beilin: Look to Congress, not the UN— The real decision over easing sanctions on Iran will be made in Washington.

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4--Scripture of the Day USE THIS ONE

The scripture below is from the New American Standard Bible, and the hyperlinks associated with each word are from Strong’s Concordance for the New American Standard Bible.

Amos 2: 15-16

“He who grasps the bow will not stand [his ground], the swift of foot will not escape, nor will he who rides the horse save his life. Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,” declares Yahweh.

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5--HNIY Print form 2

His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.  It’s also available for free in PDF format.

  • God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
  • “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
  • “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
  • Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)

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6--His Name is Yahweh Audio Presentation 2

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Hamas is No Peace Partner for Israel

Click here to download the entire audio presentation for free and with no strings attached.  Share it as often as you want.

6--Freely You Received Freely Give

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14--Blessings from Revelation 2

Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now.  There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

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Other Books by Neil Snyder

  • Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming.  Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days.  Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall.  Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace.  With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.
  • What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life?  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.
  • Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide.  It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.  Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided.  They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make.  As they say, forewarned is forearmed.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

15--Concentric Circles 2

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