Today’s Devotional – January 27th (It’s a Brand-X World)
By admin On January 27th, 2014.
.
Today’s Devotional – January 27th
.
.
.
It’s A Brand-X World
.
.
.
.
Have you ever bought the cheaper brand of some product, and wished that you would have spent the extra money for the name-brand?
.
Perhaps, some cleaning product that just didn’t perform as well as the higher-priced product?
.
Or maybe some generic brand of cola, that tasted kind-of like raisins?
.
Or some inexpensive watch which didn’t keep proper time?
.
And do you remember all those TV ads that compared their product with that notorious, “Brand-X”?
.
Well, this is what today’s devotional is all about! The cheaper, lower quality brand. Brand-X, if you will.
.
Generic Cola Can Jewel – Wikipedia – share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
BRAND X WASN’T WORTH IT!
.
Yes, we remember those ads showing “our wonderful Name-Brand”, and comparing them to that infamous, “Brand-X”.
.
And of course, during this little demonstration, Brand-A always out-performed Brand-X! Without fail! Brand-X was an inferior product!
.
It just wasn’t worth spending your hard-earned money on!
.
Generic Cola Can Jewel – CROPPED IMAGE – Wikipedia – share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
A BRAND-X LIFE
.
Well, the television isn’t the only place that the notorious Brand-X is found!
.
No, it’s also found in real life, too!
.
Let’s explain…
.
Have you ever been on a tour through the colossal Hearst Castle?
.
Quite a museum!
.
And yet, isn’t it kind-of like touring a mausoleum?
.
Because, all of the buildings and hallways, and swimming pools and dining rooms which were once filled with fun, frolic and laughter, are now silent, except for the tour-guide and his audience!
.
Hearst Castle panorama – Wikipedia
.
.
.
.
.
THE CREME-DE-LA-CREME!
.
And in a very real way, the people who once lived there and all the guests that frequented its not-so-hallowed halls, were convinced that they had purchased the name-brand!
.
As a matter of fact, they, their own selves, WERE the real thing! Oh yes, they themselves WERE the name-brand! They were the famous! They were the beloved! They were like family to us! If they left their top button unbuttoned, then so did the rest of the world! If they laughed, so did we also laugh! These were the fresh faces of the silver screen! (Well, some were not-so-fresh). These were the movers-and-shakers of the world. These were the beloved idols of millions!
.
And yet, they had unknowingly bought into Brand-X! Yes, they thought they had purchased Brand-A. But in reality, they (like all of us) got stuck with a Brand-X life, in a Brand-X world!
.
You see, all these people were totally invested in this selfish world! This take-all-you-can-get world was their oyster, as the saying goes! And these were kings and queens in their own right! And this whole world was their very kingdom! They were the royalty of this giddy and fickle world!
.
And the whole world adored them, it seemed! Movie-makers, top actors, and actresses! Great politicians and statesmen! Business moguls and international jet-setters!
.
These were the creme-de-la-creme of the world; and the world belonged to this top-of-the-heap crowd which gathered there to play and party at the Hearst Castle!
.
Hearst Castle – Wikipedia – share-alike license
Hearst Castle – indoor pool – Wikipedia – GNU Free Documentation License
Hearst Castle swimming pool – Wikipedia – share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
15 MINUTES OF FAME
.
But what these cherished and adored ones didn’t realize was, that all their glory, and all their beauty, was like a little flower of the field.
.
As one philosopher said, these were enjoying their “15 minutes in the Sun”. Because after a few short years, their beauty began to fade! Their popularity began to wane! Their fans began to move on! Their movies began to bomb!
.
They were like that little flower which loses its petals, one-by-one.
.
And eventually, they disappeared, one-by-one, as they each slipped silently into their eternal reward.
.
Just like the little flower of the field, which eventually bows down and dies at summer’s end!
.
Dandelion_close-up by Benjamin D. Esham for Wikipedia – share-alike-license
Dandelion_sun – Wikipedia & avmaier – Share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
“WITH KINGS (QUEENS) & COUNSELLORS”
.
“Why died I not from the womb?…For now…I should have slept: then had I been at rest, With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:” Job 3:11, 13-15
.
And now, they have all finally disappeared.
.
Every last one of them! And all that is left, is this great big giant mausoleum called The Hearst Castle!
.
Oh, perhaps there are a few still surviving, somewhere in the world. Lone survivors!
.
But now that the world has forgotten them, and moved on, they would probably be the first to tell you that this world is a cruel place (if they’re at all honest about it)!
.
Heast Castle library – Wikipedia – share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
IT’S A BRAND-X WORLD!
.
Listen to the wise man… “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit has a man of all his labour which he takes under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes:” Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
.
Yes, all is vanity (meaningless).
.
Every single day, perhaps 200,000 or more people die! This means, that enough people to fill a fairly good-size town pass away! Of course, it’s also true that every day enough new babies are born to replace that lost city of 200,000, and then some!
.
And so, the wise man was right!
.
One generation does pass away, and another generation comes to replace it!
.
Calvary Cemetery Queens – Wikipedia – public-domain
.
.
.
.
.
THINGS JUST DON’T QUITE WORK OUT RIGHT HERE!
.
Well, what’s the point to all this?
.
Oh, perhaps one can look at it this way. This world is like that brand-X product that doesn’t work so well. This world is like that cheap hair-dye, that leaves your hair with a slightly orange tint! Or that knock-off suit that doesn’t fit quite right! Or that sale-camera that takes slightly fuzzy pictures! Or that cut-rate restaurant with the greasy french-fries!
.
Yes, we have been sold a bill-of-goods by Lucifer, “the god of this world”! And he tries so very hard to convince us that we bought the expensive soap, when the fact is, it leaves a sticky film! Yes, he works overtime to make us think we got the custom-built home on Nob Hill, when in truth, this world is just rambling-wreck in a hopeless ghetto!
.
But no matter how much the television, etc., tries to make us think that this world is a really great deal, the fact is, the television and other media are just like the proverbial used-car salesman. Yes, by choosing this world, we have purchased a real lemon! A real dump! A bad deal!
.
No, it’s not difficult to look around and see that the wonderful experiment in “freedom” which is this nation, is just now crumbling before our very eyes. It’s not hard to realize that this entire world is falling apart!
.
Just look at the hatred that one group of people has for another, to the point that they are ready to sacrifice their own lives to blow up their fellow human being!
.
Now that’s real hate! Isn’t it?
.
Yes, just look around! This world is full of all sorts of woe and misery: all the wars, and the murders, and the family quarrels, the divorces, the illnesses, the loneliness, the broken hearts, the abortions, the thefts, the bigotry, the racism, the greed, the hunger and poverty, the cheating, the totalitarianism, the confusion, the selfish ambition, etc….
.
Algeria slashes food prices amid riots wikimedia share-alike license
Homeless woman in Toronto wikipedia public domain
September 11 Photo – cropped image – Montage by UpsateNYer & Wikipedia share-alike lic.
Highbrow drunkard – cropped image – wikimedia share-alike license
ISIL – Execution of man – September 2014 – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
SATAN’S GREATEST SALESMEN!
.
While Satan works around the clock to deceive us into thinking that this selfish world is far more wonderful than the Paradise-to-come, the fact is, Satan’s world is falling apart at the seams! We’re like a cruise-ship in which the passengers are so busy partying, they fail to notice that the ship is slowly filling with water!
.
.
.
.
.
.
SATAN’S PROPAGANDA MACHINES!
.
Yes, this clever salesman, Lucifer, has done a really masterful job of selling his Brand-X product! And TV, radio, Internet, etc… are just his propaganda machines to sell us on the big lie, that this world is Brand-A, when in reality, it is actually Brand-X. Satan is using these various medias to present this horrible world in the very best light! He takes some aspect of this world, and adds some pretty lighting, nice music, and handsome heroes, and “VOILA!” Now the world looks great! A real nice place to live!
.
But all those who are now suffering intensely in this world from one thing or another, are quickly finding out that this golden image which Satan has sold us, is nothing more than a big fat lie!
.
Berlin neukoelln – TV satellite dishes – Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
.
WHAT WILL A MAN TRADE HIS SOUL FOR?
.
What ambitious dream, what captivating lust, what all-consuming hobby is a person willing to trade for his soul?
.
Listen… “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37
.
Question Mark – at a loss – Wikimedia – Share-alike license
.
.
.
.
.
THE FAR BETTER “BRAND-A” WORLD!
.
And all the while, thousands of voices call to us each day: holy voices, crying out, that there is a far better option to this lose-lose-planet! And there’s a new world coming, which is like the “Brand-A”…the expensive product! While “the god of this world” attempts to convince us that we will be much happier here, there is another world: a wonderful world in which we will never get sick, nor get old, nor die!
.
The_Pilgrim’s_Progress_by_Byam_Shaw – Wikimedia Commons – US public domain
.
.
.
.
.
NO MORE SUFFERING!
.
Because Jesus holds out to us “Brand-A”! His kingdom doesn’t know sickness, nor suffering, nor crime, nor war, nor hate, nor bigotry, nor kidnapping! Nor cheating! Nor lying! Nor selfishness! Jesus came to tell us of that wonderful name-brand product, The Kingdom of Heaven!
.
Listen… “And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth: for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away…And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” Revelation 21:1, 4
.
The River Of The Water Of Life by H. Melville – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
GET YOUR MONEY BACK!
.
And so, dear friend, why not return our brand-X world to the place where we got it and lay our money down…for the real thing! What do we have to lose!? A few miserable years which end all-too-fast, and oh-so-painful?
.
.
Believe-you-me! We won’t be disappointed with such a trade as Jesus has to offer!!!
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Let the people of this world realize just how hopeless and vain this world really is! And help me not to get led back into this very deceptive world…
Girl Praying – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Flower of the Field Constellation: Part 2-”All is Vanity”” or you can also read… ““Vanity Fair” & The False Prophet”
Magnifying Glass – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
THE END
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
.
.
.
FLOWER OF THE FIELD IN HEAVEN
.
.
This is perhaps one of the most amazing constellations that God has created. It truly looks like a flower, and appears to be blowing in the direction westward. But as summer begins to pass, this constellation appears to bow itself down, just like the flowers of Earth bow down, at the summer’s end.
.
And these are not merely obscure stars. These are among the biggest and brightest stars in the night heavens.
.
The Two Turtle-Doves Constellation is also known as Sagittarius .
.
The Flower of the Field is also known as Scorpio .
.
But there is another obvious aspect to this constellation group. Notice that the birds are flying in the same direction as the flower is bending; it is as if the east wind is blowing these heavenly messengers. “The wind blows where it desires, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8. So here is another incredible Bible concept, written in the heavens.
.
THE ZODIAC CONSTELLATION NAMES
It is not the purpose of www.theheavensdeclare.net to give any validity to the Zodiac or any pagan deities. But the common names of many constellations must be given, solely for the purpose of locating them on star-charts.
.
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Flower of the Field Constellation” or you can also read… “The Flower of Heaven Constellation”
Magnifying Glass – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
TOMORROW:
January 28th (A Living Sanctuary)
ABOVE PICTURE: Most Holy Place within the heart – Signs Of Heaven
.
.
.
.
.
.
20 MINUTE+ AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH
.
ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
.
THIS IS STUDY #27 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…
.
.
above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain
Leave a Reply