I was wrong, it is going to take three post.
Is this why so many believers are accepting our end times are close at hand? lex talionis
Lex Talionis is a word Jesus, Obadiah and Moses either spoke or wrote about. It is the Greek word for payback equal to what evil has taken place. It was used when Moses wrote God's law we are all familiar with? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. When God gave this law to Moses it wasn't to start trouble but to stop overdue retaliation from happening. Of course, the dead souls created their own meanings. 'See there, the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful bloodthirsty god that hates us all'. 'He had his prophet write to take revenge with anyone that harms you. The word used by Moses from God says not to take more revenge than what happened to you! Did the other person give you a black eye, then, if you have to retaliate then don't inflict more than you received. This is the explanation Jesus was giving the listeners during the Sermon on the Mt. If we return more than we received when would the end come? God is the perfect judge and will repay each eye for an eye and each tooth for tooth perfectly according to what each punishment deserves. - One more example of dead people is the way they love to twist words around, making them the way that sounds best for their needs. In Psalms 139 King David is giving praise to his God for a long time then it is as if the enemies of God overtook his mind? He mentions how he hates the things mankind does against his God. He mentions how evil and vile his enemies are. He went on to tell God that he hates his enemies with Perfect hatred of them because of their slanderous and evil ways. King David will one day rule on earth during the Millennium, after Jesus places his enemies underneath his feet. He is the only man I know of that God said 'he is after my heart'. King David used these words because he hated seeing his Lord being lied about and from watching how wrong evil treated others. But, King David did all this with perfect Love. A perfect love can't come from a human heart without the Holy Spirit being in control of our every minute. This was used by dead people back in his day. Being distorted to show their hatred for the Living God. Perfect love is written about in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 if we care to read it? Perfect is something many of us believe we have attained but boy are we the fool.
The old days haven't changed, just different dead people carrying out Satan's wishes. Do we feel duped, doesn't it make you mad; or do we honestly believe humans have the power to persuade the 'souls' of other people. If another human has us doing their bidding then it can only happen if they have more power than us. Since all humans have the same power as the next person, where is their power coming from?
Some of the people listening to Jesus in Matthew 5 were Pharisees. Or, as some call them, 'our Congress' today. They would read scripture from Obadiah and Moses in their temple but somehow were able to ignore its true meaning. Pharisees were the spiritual leaders controlling the population in their day. Since no prophet had lived in the past 400 years they had been having their way over the ruling class. Making up laws that helped them. Giving themselves glory from belonging to such high society. Ruling over all Jews but hating Samaritans and Gentiles. When they walked down the street they might have a bell attached so people would look to see who the important person was? They made sure to wear their outer coats in case they bumped into scummy, evil or dirty people, like you or me?. Lex Talionis fits these dead souls perfectly. Jesus said to beware of these types that come in sheep's clothing but in reality are wolves.
Pharisees would control the masses by their own made laws all too often. In Matthew 5 Jesus was speaking of such people as these. Those that will work hard at getting, then even harder at keeping what isn't theirs to start with. I believe we are living this way worldwide now? Not in every sector of our world but who isn't being taken advantage of today? Tax dollars are spent on who?
