For Men Only

A terrible, world-ending battle looms on the horizon, and soon, even in the midst of it, the children of Israel will become Christians.  All of the nations of the earth will gather together to exterminate the Jewish people, who will be holed up in what’s left of Jerusalem.  The prophecy in Zechariah 13:8-9 and 14:1-5 concerning this day of great doom reads:

8: And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

But, just prior to this great battle, a nation-changing event comes to the remnant of Israel.  Zechariah 12:9-10:

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Zechariah 13:6:

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

A national conversion takes place.  The prophet Isaiah writes in Chapter 65, verse 15:

And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:

Their new name will be Christians, for they will become followers of Christ. 

Things will be moving very quickly to this great battle of Armageddon, and the very vast majority of the world’s population will be caught, as Jesus said in Luke 21:34, “unawares.”  For most, it will be too late to make their peace with God.  II Thessalonians states that on the day of the world’s great trial, those who have rejected Christ in the past will be given over to a spirit of strong delusion and will believe a lie. 

Have you been born again as Jesus declares in John 3:3?  Have you been born a literal second time, this time of the Spirit of God?  Today, God is knocking at your door.  Will you stand and open it?  Today, all your sin and shame will be washed away.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages will be broken, no matter how daunting.  Today, everything becomes brand-new.  Follow me in this simple prompt and today you will begin to participate in the eternal promises of God.  Follow this instruction.  Ready?  Click onto “Further with Jesus”  for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:19-23:

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:16:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

GOD SAID, Psalm 68:13:

Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

MAN SAID: Marriage is a religious construct.  Men and women should not be shackled by Biblical restrictions.  Follow your heart—Yeah, follow your heart!

Now THE RECORD:  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 989 that will once again certify the full and supernatural inerrancy of God’s beautiful Book. All of these marvelous, Word-central features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification, and as ammunition in the battle for the lost souls of the sons and daughters of Adam.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.  Thank you for coming. May God’s face shine upon you with Light and Truth. 

I will tell you things that I have learned and some things I should have learned.  This is a feature for men, specifically married men and those intending to marry.  This is a message for men who desire to build a marriage that will create a home, whose days will be like the days of heaven upon the earth (Deuteronomy 11:18-21), and this message will be delivered in pure GodSaidManSaid fashion.

Saturday, January 18, 2020, at precisely 5:00 p.m., Connie, my beautiful wife of nearly 50 years, ended her pilgrimage here upon the earth and entered into eternal life in Christ Jesus.  For her, what a glorious day it was!  GodSaidManSaid features go live at 5 p.m. weekly, and I think the timing of Connie’s 5 p.m. departure is no coincidence, but the thumbprint of God.   My beloved was highly instrumental in the GodSaidManSaid ministry, sitting in the first university confrontation—ordered in true GodSaidManSaid array—praying and encouraging me.  That was about 45 years ago. 

It has been 19 days, exactly, to this feature’s 5 p.m. airing since Connie has been in the presence of God and His Christ, along with the host of heaven.  It’s impossible to fully imagine from our perspective, but what a comforting joy in trying! I will intersperse more as we move along. 

It will be no surprise to you that men and women think differently, even approaching life through dramatically different perspectives.    Most of the time, they don’t realize how serious the differences are, but without these God-given differences, we would not exist.  The woman was not created by God the same way He created her husband, and part of the secret of the gender differences is discovered here.  To cite the Genesis record in Chapter 2, verses 20-24:

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

This account of Eve and the rib has been scoffed at through the centuries, but today’s latest science is taking another look.  Now, eyes are wide open. Several foundational excerpts from GodSaidManSaid features follow:

👨 GodSaidManSaid, “Adam’s Rib:”

Don't you find it ironic that the worldly mind that rejects or diminishes the idea of God attempts to duplicate that which has already been made by the Creator they deny? This is just another proof that God is. In the feature subject "No New Thing," we briefly addressed the "new" darling of science: cloning. I mentioned that it wasn't quite as new as men suppose. God had taken a man's rib and out of it made a woman, which was much more stupendous than cloning. From this rib, God formed a brand-new personage—a female, man's counterpart—who had the ability to reproduce and nourish a new member of the human family. But it was with a rib. And, by the way, here is where we have the first use of general anesthesia—used by God, created by God. The Bible says in Genesis 2:21:

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

Why did God choose a rib? Was this account in Genesis simply words of mere men, as the critics claim?

As an aside, we received an e-mail message that asked, "If this account of the rib and Adam is true, then why doesn't man have one less rib?" The answer is elementary. God did not alter Adam's genetics. He removed a rib. If someone has a finger cut off in an accident, his offspring will not be born missing a finger. This example would apply to Adam's situation.

👨 GodSaidManSaid, “Adam’s Rib and Woman:”

The following paragraphs, written by Carl Wieland, were published by Creation magazine; the article can be found in full at Creation.com:

A head-on impact with a fully laden fuel tanker at highway speeds is an experience I would hope for none to share.  The surprise was to have survived it—God clearly had other plans for me.

During the 5½ months in hospital, and for years afterwards, I had a series of operations to reconstruct various parts of me, particularly the bones of my face. 

These operations often required using my own bone for grafting.  I noticed that the plastic surgeon would keep going back to the right side of my ribcage—through the same horizontal scar, actually—to get more bone for these procedures.  One day, I asked him why he hadn’t “run out of bone.”  He looked at me blankly, and then explained that he and his team took the whole rib out, each time.  “We leave the periosteum intact, so the rib usually just grows right back again.” 

Despite having trained and practiced as a family doctor, I was intrigued; I had never realized this before.  The periosteum (the literal meaning of this word is around the bone) is a membrane that covers every bone—it’s the reason you can get things stuck between your teeth while gnawing on a leg of lamb, for instance.  The periosteum contains cells that can manufacture new bone.  Particularly in young people, “rib periosteum has a remarkable ability to regenerate bone, perhaps more so than any other bone.” 

Thoracic (chest) surgeons routinely remove ribs, and these often grow back, in whole or in part.  A lot depends on the care with which the rib is removed; it needs to be “peeled” out of its periosteum to leave this membrane as intact as possible.  A major reason why the rib is the ideal situation for such regeneration is that the attached intercostal muscles provide it with good blood supply. [End of quote]

Archaeology and non-Biblical, ancient, societal records tell of creation and Adam’s rib.  The following paragraphs are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Archaeology Certifies Bible, Miracles and All:”

The archaeologists have unearthed ancient, pre-Moses (who penned the first five books of the Bible), Sumerian tablets that describe the creation account.  Dr. McCoy, author of Scripture Insights from Science and Archaeology writes:

Genesis chapters one and two.  Creation account.  The Sumerian creation account on six tablets known as the Enuma elish “when on high” dates to about 2500 BC.  In Babylon, it was recited on the fourth day of the New Year’s festival.  Creation is described ex nihilo.  The first tablet describes the time when heaven and earth did not exist.

One tablet describes the creation of a woman who is named Nin ti in Sumerian, translated as “the lady of the rib” and “the lady who make live.”  Thus, well before Moses, these concepts were known, but badly garbled, with accounts of gods and goddesses fighting for control. [End of quotes]

But what does Adam’s rib have to do with how women think?  Researchers are finding male DNA in the female brain and the blood-brain barrier said it shouldn’t be there.  From the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Science Flummoxed by What was Found in Female Brains:”

New research just published in September and reported in the November 3, 2012 issue of Science News is back inside the female brain.  The title reads, “Male DNA found in Female Brains.”  Excerpts follow:

Children live on in their mothers’ brains for decades, and not just as memories.  Scientists have found pockets of male DNA, presumably from boy fetuses, in the brain tissue of deceased elderly women.

Not only is male DNA present in women’s brains, it’s common, researchers report online September 26 in PLOS ONE.  J. Lee Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and her colleagues found snippets of a male-only gene in the brains of 18 to 26 women who died without neurological disease.  The male DNA was spread throughout their brains.

The technique used in the study couldn’t distinguish if the DNA was from intact, functional brain cells, though in a separate test of brain tissue from a different woman, Nelson and colleagues did spot nuclei from male cells in the brain.

So far, cells from fetuses have turned up in women’s blood, livers, lungs, heart and other organs, so finding male DNA in the brain isn’t a complete shock, says geneticist Kirby Johnson of Tufts University in Boston, who wasn’t involved in the study.  What’s interesting is how the DNA could have gotten there.  Male cells from a fetus could have broken through the blood-brain barrier—a wall that protects the fragile brain from pathogens in the blood.  But that shouldn’t be possible, Johnson says.  [End of quote]

They’re flummoxed.  What is this male DNA found in the brain and throughout the female body?  Would any in science dare to suggest Adam’s rib? 

God speaks to Eve in Genesis 3:16 and says, “…and thy desire shall be to thy husband…”  Think Adam’s rib.  It’s by design that women think and function differently than men.  For the husband, knowing what the differences are can change the marriage in a fabulous way. 

The woman’s desire is to her husband and the family they have made.  Thank God, brothers, they don’t think like men!  A man lives in a house, but for her husband and children, the wife makes a home. 

In the final decade or decades of our marriage, God began to teach me “little” things to do that made a very big difference, all built around Ephesians 5:25-28:

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

The following is a short list of “little” things God taught me to do:

💕 Every morning as I began my day before God in prayer and in His Word, He instructed me to openly confess my love and gratitude to my wife as though she were standing beside me.  That confession was to be made every morning, regardless of how the relationship was faring at the time.  I didn’t just speak when things appeared good; I did what I was instructed to do every day, and still do.  Things changed for the good and stayed that way.  Surely the truth of Proverbs 18:21-22 was discovered:

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

💕 Every Saturday morning, I would make breakfast for Connie, experimenting with different self-designed recipes I hoped she would like.  One recipe, I named “Connie’s Premium Pancakes:”

🥞 12 oz. Ricotta cheese
🥞 1 cup milk
🥞 1½ cups pancake & waffle mix (Maple Grove)
🥞 3 eggs
🥞 ½ teaspoon baking powder
🥞 ½ cup all-purpose flour
🥞 Small skillet, lathered with olive oil
🥞 Medium heat
🥞 Slab of butter atop cake

The topping:

🥞 Any fruit, sautéed and sweetened, if needed, with maple syrup

I am reminded of what our Lord Jesus said in Luke 6:38:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

💕 I began to think of other ways to honor my wife, who also served as the controller of our third-generation, family marketing firm.  At this time in our life’s journey, we were no longer poor.  I could easily have called 1-800-FLOWERS and ordered her a beautiful bouquet to be sent to her office—and occasionally, I did—but my beloved deserved better.  I began to go out weekly to pick wildflowers in the fields and along the roadsides.  I created marvelous arrangements and placed them on her desk before she got to work.  After a while, I became very adept at finding these beauties which grew up in the same places from year to year.  In the fall, I made her a dry arrangement and placed it in a Lordly vase.  They lasted for years.  She was honored and loved by her husband before the whole company and her family—and not just on the “obligatory days.”  She once asked me why I did those things.  I told her she deserved beautiful things, and she did.  Song of Solomon 7:10:

I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

As we were going through Connie’s things, we fell upon her book of poems.  We found a prophetic one written, unbeknownst to me, for Father’s Day in 2001—this was years before I began my weekly bouquet treks.  She wrote:

If blessings were flowers
my life would be suffused
in glorious fragrance,
exultant in exotic and
brilliant splashes,
among the softest,
most delicate hues,
all laid upon a verdant bed,
pleasant to the senses. 

My life would contain
endless, wondrous beauty
in blooms of varying sizes,
shapes, heights, textures and designs,
enveloping me in sheer pleasures,
of a perfect, perpetual garden,
void of weeds, pests, decay and thorns,
God-given, in lovingkindness,
through—you.  [End of quote]

And, it happened.

One shouldn’t think that our marriage was without some bumps along the way.  In the early years, I kept an alarm clock and an iron at work, when on several occasions, I was required to sleep in the dog house.  But through the applying of God’s “little things,” a glorious result was obtained.  Brothers, you can build a marriage that will make your days like the days of heaven upon the earth.  Make a plan.  Work the plan.

When we arrive before our Lord Jesus Christ, we will lay at His feet the fruits of our labors.  Sometimes, it is good to look back and reflect.  Here are some of the fruits Connie has brought: Thirteen years and four months—or 693 weeks—of our nearly 50-year marriage were spent publishing a weekly newspaper that, at full tip, was 56,000 strong.  Each paper had a Gospel soul-winning page carrying messages similar to what you find on GodSaidManSaid.  We distributed approximately 27,720,000 Gospel tracts and an untold number of souls were saved and edified. Connie was the lead classified advertising sales representative.  She set type, composed ads, and proof-read in weekly all-night, deadline stints, often with our children sleeping on a blanket stretched out on the floor.  Many souls were won and continue to be won. 

As mentioned earlier, Sister Connie was highly instrumental in the global GodSaidManSaid ministry. She served as the final proofing editor for over 700 of the presently 989 weekly features.  In December alone, we tallied 1,415,392 page-views—that’s 45,660 per day—and since digital efforts began, nearly 255,000 souls are on the GodSaidManSaid soul counter.  That counter is ticking even as we speak—and believe me, the half has not yet been told. 

These final two paragraphs are found in Sister Connie’s obituary:

A farewell note from her husband, David: I met Connie on a “blind” date.  At the time, neither of us were born-again as Jesus states in John 3:3.  But what appeared to be blind happenstance was surely being orchestrated by the hand of God.  This year would have been our 50^th year of marriage.  In the early years of our marriage as we labored in business and in the ministry of the Gospel, Connie would often be forced to stand on the sidelines, caring for the children and me, and expressed her frustration to me on occasion.  One day, on the way home from work, while in the midst of such thoughts, God gave me a passage for my wife that surely came to pass, found in Psalm 68:11-13: ¹¹The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.  ¹²Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. ¹³Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Connie, my love, I don’t know how a man could ask for a finer wife and truer yokefellow.  That blind, yet not-so-blind, date was the second most eventful day of my life.  The first, of course, we shared together as we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ.  Our story is not over; we are just in different locations.  Farewell, my love, for now.  “…yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.”

I only wish I could have a re-do.

And, imagine, Adam’s rib played a crucial part in it all. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:19-23:

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:16:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

GOD SAID, Psalm 68:13:

Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

MAN SAID: Marriage is a religious contract.  Men and women should not be shackled by Biblical restrictions.  Follow your heart—yeah!  Follow your heart!

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

GodSaidManSaid, “Adam’s Rib and Woman”  

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