Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

The name "LORD of hosts" occurs some 261 times in the Old Testament Scriptures.
God is first called the "LORD of hosts" in 1 Samuel 1:3.
The word LORD, capitalized, refers to Yahweh, the self-existent, redemptive Triune God.
The word hosts is a translation of the Hebrew word sabaoth, meaning "armies"—a reference to the angelic armies of heaven.

The Lord of Hosts does not share His glory with another.

God, the Father and The Son of God are One with each other, and they are One with the Holy Spirit.

The Son of God, The Living Logos has eternally been one with the Father.

His earthly birthdate references His being born the incarnate Jesus Christ upon earth, fully God, fully man.

I thank God the Father daily in prayer that the incarnate Jesus Christ was born into the world to offer us eternal life by once-for-all shedding His blood on Calvary, and in doing so, paying in full the sin debt of death, of every individual who accepts this precious gift.

I pray that prayer in Jesus' Holy name.

It is quite a simple plan of Salvation.

No one should ever depart life on earth without it.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Hi Rose,

Off the top of my head, one obvious name is that of Joseph W. Tkach (March 16, 1927 – September 23, 1995), the appointed successor of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the major cult, the Worldwide Church of God.

Tkach became President and Pastor General of the church upon the death of Armstrong in 1986. He spearheaded a major doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God, abandoning Armstrong's unBiblical, unconventional doctrines:

He denounced belief in British Israelism, also known as Anglo-Israelism, the belief that the "lost ten tribes" of Israel migrated to Europe and then to England and became the primary ancestors of the British people and, thereby, the United State;
encouraged members to seek proper medical treatment (while retaining faith in God as a healer);
the removal of the prohibition of interracial marriage;
the allowance of work on the Sabbath;
the acceptance of the Trinitarian doctrine;
women in the church would be allowed to wear makeup;
publicly declared the Worldwide Church of God a New Covenant church, not bound by the terms of the Old Covenant;
and the acceptance of the validity of other Christian denominations,
officially dropped all doctrines based on Mosaic Law (i.e., the keeping of the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and the dietary laws), making observance of such practices an individual choice.
dropped the requirement of triple tithing, declaring that giving, as taught in the New Testament, was voluntary.

among many other changes, and bringing the church into accord with orthodox evangelical Christianity.

Armstrongism, the abandoned teachings and doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong, who was a former advertiser and ordained preacher of the Church of God of the Seventh Day, had been written by Armstrong after becoming leader of the Worldwide Church of God, and had been erroneously claimed by him and his followers to restore the true Gospel of the Bible - revealed to him by God during his Bible study.

Joseph Tkach's son, Joseph Tkach Jr., continued his father's work of conforming their doctrines to Scripture, After
Joseph Sr.'s death, the WCG reiterated its full acceptance of the doctrinal changes implemented by Tkach and published an apology to current and former members of the church for the negative impact previous doctrines had had on their members.

In 1997 the Worldwide Church of God became a member of the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 45,000 local churches from 40 denominations.

Some WCG ministers and members, rather than accept the doctrinal revisions Tkach had made, left to create dissident renamed splinter groups, retaining Armstrong's original errant doctrines.

On April 3, 2009, The Worldwide Church of God became known in various areas of the world under the name "Grace Communion International," retaining, at that time, 49,000 members.

Joseph Tkach's son, wrote: "My father Joseph W. Tkach has himself submitted to the truth of Scripture. In the face of opposition, he insisted that Jesus Christ is the Lord. He was a humble and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, allowing God to lead him and the Worldwide Church of God to the riches of his grace. By relying on God in faith and fervent prayer, we fully intend to maintain the course on which Jesus Christ has placed us."

In the new creed of the original cult is the following:

"We emphasize the identity of the Christian in Christ:

"As Christians we were given a new identity in Jesus Christ. As his soldiers, his friends and his brothers and sisters, we were equipped with what is needed to lead the good faith struggle - we have it! Jesus promised never to leave or miss us, and if he lives in us, we will never leave him or each other.

We emphasize the power of the gospel:

"Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is a power of God that saves all who believe in it »(Romans 1,16). People enter God's kingdom by responding to the gospel. In the Worldwide Church of God we advance the kingdom of God. People accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They repent of their sins, show their loyalty and loyalty to him, and do his work in the world. With Paul we believe in the gospel and are not ashamed of it because it is the power of God to save all who believe.
We emphasize to honor the name of Christ

"Jesus, who died for us and loves us, calls us to honor him with all our lives. Knowing that we are safe in his love, we are a people committed to honoring him in all our relationships, at home, in our families and in our neighborhood, in our skills and abilities, in our work, in our lives our free time, the way we spend our money, our time in the Church and in our business affairs. Whatever we go through for opportunities, challenges or crises, we are always committed to bringing glory and glory to Jesus Christ."

Ruth Tucker, an evangelical leader and an early supporter of the changes which occurred in the WCG, wrote in an article in Christianity Today that:

"The 'changes'—as they are referred to by insiders—are truly historic. Never before in the history of Christianity has there been such a complete move to orthodox Christianity by an unorthodox fringe church."

Rose42

New info for me. And interesting. Thanks!

By apostate I mean those like Charles Templeton who appeared to be Christian but later turned their back on it.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Psalm 119 : 51...The arrogant mock me unmercifully,. but I do not turn from your law.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

I think the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to pretty well cover that.

2 Peter 2:22:

"Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

- and Solomon in Proverbs 27:22:

"Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him."

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Abraham could not have been saved by keeping the Law, because he lived over 400 years before the Law was given!

Psalm 143:2: "In thy sight shall no man living be justified." This, as written under the dispensation of the Law, naturally applied to that dispensation.

Psalm 32:1-2 shows that David was also saved by faith.

Galatians 3:10: "All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
11 "Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
12 "The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, 'The man who does these things will live by them.'"

Habakkuk 2:4 "Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright - but the righteous will live by faith."

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Everyone knows that David was a man of great faith.

Psalms 119 is a chapter where David thoroughly expresses his faith in the Torah (God's laws) and it's no coincidence that it has the most verses of any other.

The whole theme of 119 is about getting close to God by observing his eternal commandments.

Then along comes Paul and like the pied piper easily leads the unbelievers to the sun god.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Michael, Psalm 119 is one of the "orphan psalms" - meaning the author of Psalm 119 did not incorporate his name into the text of the chapter,' however it is conjectured by many that Ezra wrote Psalm 119; he also edited the Psalms.

Ezra was a scribe and a priest, a knowledgeable leader of Jewish law, and a descendant of the high priest Aaron, the brother of Moses.

The book of Ezra, written in tandem with the book of Nehemiah, chronicles the rebuilding of Jerusalem following the Israelite return from captivity in Babylon. Ezra used historical records to compile 1st Chronicles and 2nd Chronicles.

Significant portions of Ezra and Nehemiah, originally written as one book in the Hebrew Bible (457 B.C.), are devoted to the physical rebuilding of the Jewish temple and walls of Jerusalem.

Under Ezra’s leadership, the returning exiles would also experience a season of moral, social, and spiritual reformation as they recommitted themselves to the Word of God.

The Psalms were written over nearly a 1,000-year period ranging from the lifetime of Moses in the wilderness (1440—1400 BC) to Ezra (fourth century BC). Most of the psalms were composed during the lifetimes of David and Solomon (1000 - 900 BC).

During his time in exile, Ezra received extensive training in the Books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) as it was his job to copy, interpret, and transmit the Book of the Law to the people. Ezra loved God’s Word. As it is written, “he had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

During his time in Persia, Ezra had been instrumental in helping modernize the language of the Torah, correcting irregularities, updating and standardizing common expressions and preserving the integrity of Israel’s sacred text.

As a leader, Ezra’s extensive training, attention to detail, commitment to God’s standard of holiness, and his passion for the Word of God caused him to encourage the people to focus their attention on God’s plan, God’s Word, and God’s authority.

“I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have revived me” (Psalms 119:93).

Psalm 119, with 176 verses and approximately 2,445 words (depending on the English translation) is the longest poem in the Book of Psalms, and the longest chapter in the Bible.

It has 22 stanzas of 8 lines each giving a total of 176 verses.

The psalm is an acrostic (a unique poem or other composition in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, message or the alphabet).

"Acrostic" is from the French acrostiche, from post-classical Latin acrostichis, from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος "highest, topmost" and στίχος "verse."

It has 22 stanzas because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Many English versions put the name of the Hebrew letter above each stanza (e.g., Aleph, Beth, Gimel).

Psalms includes more authors than any other book of the Bible - The authors and the psalms attributed to them are:

David: (75 total psalms; Psalm 2 is attributed to David in Acts 4:25; and Psalm 95 is attributed to David in Hebrews 4:7): 3—9; 11—32; 34—41; 51—65; 68—70; 86; 101; 103; 108—110; 122; 124; 131; 133; 138—145

Asaph, and family: (12 psalms): 50; 73—83

The sons of Korah: (11 psalms): 42; 44—49; 84—85; 87—88

Heman, with the sons of Korah: 88th psalm

Solomon: 72nd and 127th psalm

Moses: 90th psalm

Ethan the Ezrahite: 89th psalm

Anonymous: 48 remaining psalms

Saul, raised in the city of Tarsus (owned by the Roman Empire), later the Apostle Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, a 3rd generation Pharisee (trained in Jerusalem in the Jewish scriptures by Gamaliel, one of the premier teachers of the Jewish Law in the first century), was well prepared by God to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Several rulings from Gamaliel were recorded in the Mishnah, the 1st written Jewish commentary on the Law, later embedded in the Talmud.

In Philippians Paul described himself as a Diaspora Jew raised in a family which kept the Jewish traditions faultlessly.

Gamaliel taught between 22-55 A.D, so if Paul began his study at the latest age of 16, his birth year was about 6 A.D.

Paul, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, led western civilization to Jesus the Christ.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

The history of psalms does in no way deny the law.