WHERE THERE IS NO VISION T. Q. Pavone,A.TH, B.TH

Teaching on: "Where There is No Vision....."
COPYRIGHT@2000 Theresa Q. Pavone,A.TH, B.TH
DO NOT USE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
NO PORTION PART OF WHOLE IS TO BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION except for
scriptures which are not copyrighted.


This is lengthy, but worth your time to read.

I Samuel 3:1-14; Proverbs 29:18

WHERE THERE IS NO VISION
COPYRIGHTED
Prov.29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he
that keepeth the law, happy is he".

Though we live in a wonderful country (those of us who are Americans
and live in the USA), America has lost her vision. America started
out being a God-fearing country when first the pilgrims landed on our
soil, but she has lost her vision. Has God removed His Hand from
off of this country? Is that why we had 9/11? Is that why God
allowed it to happen? I don't believe so. I believe that God is
still in control but He allows or permits certain things to happen
to get our attention. America needs to wake up.

We still are a wonderful country to live in. We are still a great
and wonderful country to live in. We have so many freedomes.
We have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship.
Almost any freedom that you want to talk about, we have here in
America. Undoubtedly, it is the greatest country in the world and I
am proud to be an American.

Last year, however, there were 30,000 legal abortions in Alabama,
1.7 million legal abortions in the United States. There have been
around 21 million since Roe vs.Wade in 1973. That is more than one
abortion every 19 seconds. It is estimated that 69% of Americans
over 18 years of age drink alcohol, and about 13 million of these in
the United States are alchoholics.

Statistics show us that there are 8 million teenagers drink alcohol
every week, and 4.5 million have serious drinking problems.

Yes, America is in trouble when our future generation of
politicians, scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, are not serious
about their studies, but are out "having a good time" and "partying"
all the time. But there is hope. If parents can get their children
back to church and back to the bible, there is hope.

In 1990, a Gallup poll revealed that 24% of all families were
troubled by problem drinking. In 1974, that number was only 12%.
That's a decrease. There is hope America.

In the United States, one million children are affected by child
abuse each year, and over two thousand of these children die each
year.

In the United States, there are about 15 million practicing
homosexuals. At one time, they were in the closet. Now they've come
out of the closet and flaunt their lifestyles. They march down the
streets of our cities proudly flaunting their lifestyles. They are
even honored in the White house. But understand this, my friends,
according to the Bible, being gay is not an alternate lifestyle nor
is it deviant behavior. Homosexuality is a sin, an abomination
against God and man. To have sex with same sex partner is SIN!!!!

And now we are talking about SAME SEX MARRIAGE!!!! God help us!!!
What an abomination.

No one knows exactly how homosexuality entered into human history.
I would imagine that the practices associated with the erotic
attraction of people to one's own gender have been around since the
dawn of humanity. The earliest accounts of homosexual behavior seem
to be found in ancient pagan religious practices. At least, the
pagans included homosexuality in the worship of various gods.
Whether the inclusion in worship was because the practice was
already a part of the society-at-large or if the pagan worship
introduced the practice is impossible to determine, although some
understandings of Paul's writings argue for the latter.

Human beings began to worship many gods very early in human
history. These early gods were most often associated with
fertility, agriculture, and war. One of the early gods of the
Assyrians, which later spread into the area known as Canaan, was the
goddess Asherah. She was worshipped as the goddess of fertility.
Often worship of this goddess included orgies and sexual practices.
The goddess of fertility was often worshipped in the form of a tree
with many female breasts carved into the trunk. These trees were
central in a grove where worship was conducted. One would invoke or
appease the goddess in order to gain fertility for one's self, the
tribe, or the clan.

When polytheism, the worship of many gods, was dominant on the
earth, gods could be both male and female. These gods were not
considered to be infallible or all-powerful like the Christian
concept of God. Often they were very much like people with desires
and the ability to make mistakes. Gods were believed to have sex
with one another and procreate. Those who practiced these religions
often felt that the nature of these gods had to be appeased in order
for the tribe to survive. Having sex with a god as a part of
worship, or to seek help for fertile crops, animals, or selves, was
a logical extension of the concept of polytheism. Since sex was
required for fertility in humans, they believed having sex with a
god was all the more crucial and beneficial.

Tammuz was the Phoenician deity identified with Adonis of the
Greeks. He was the husband of Ishtar also known as Asherah to the
Semites and Aphrodite to the Greeks. Followers of the cult believed
that Tammuz was a beautiful shepherd who was killed by a wild
beast. His wife's longing for him led her to enter Hades to deliver
him from death. His worship is connected with poles, similar to
Totem poles of the early native Americans, which served as phallic
symbols, or replicas of the penis. This cult grew to be extremely
sexual in its practices. He is said to return from Hades every
spring and return there during the winter. Spring orgies were
associated with the planting season and a bountiful harvest. In at
least one culture, his worship included homosexual activities.
Adonis is referred to in the erotic literature of the homosexual
community today. His supposedly perfect body and beauty is
sometimes promoted as an ideal that may often take on god-like
dimensions.

The Greek god Dyonysus was worshipped and followed by men known as
Satyrs, who are always depicted with an erect penis. A god from the
orient, Shiva, of India, is worshipped with a long linga, or phallic
pole. It is said that Shiva went into the woods to watch men play,
they caught him and cut off his penis. In order for Shiva to be
restrained, once they learned he was a god, they replaced his penis
with an artificial one.

An early Babylonian god was called Baal. The name literally means
possessor, and came to be translated into the word, lord, referring
to an owner of a particular piece of land. Baal took many forms
over the years. Originally he was worshipped as the sun god. He
was therefore believed to be both benevolent, when he caused the
crops to grow, and cruel, when he scorched the earth with heat. Due
to the perceived power and influence of this god, those who believed
in him felt they had to continually appease his anger. They walked
a delicate balance between awe and fear in order to maintain their
lives. The various Baal gods took their place beside the Asherah,
their female counterpart. Often the worship of Baal included a
pole, or phallic symbol, in worship.

As the ancient Babylonians gained influence, perhaps as early as
8,000 BC, they spread their religion. Babylonian cities included
towers, or Ziggurats, which served many practical and religious
purposes. These towers were strategic to the defense of the city.
They also served as points from which the stars could be plotted
both for scientific study as well as for religious significance.
One additional purpose of these towers was as shrines. The tower at
Babylon is attributed with gold statues of gods and a golden bench
at the top for sexual worship.

Ziggurat towers appear to have been plentiful in the days of ancient
Babylonian influence. They served as phallic symbols. Early
worship at these towers included masturbation allowing the man to
spill his semen on the earth. The earth was seen as female, since
seed is sown in the earth, therefore male gods were invoked to make
and keep the ground fertile.

Interestingly, phallic towers remain to this day. The various
orders of masons erect towers as memorials. May Day is a holiday in
the British Isles when a phallic pole is decorated with streamers
and colored, and a festive dance is performed. This spring rite is
directly connected to ancient fertility practices seeking the god's
blessing on the spring crops.
There is a phallic tower in Vatican Square at Rome. Although the
perceived significance may have changed over the years, these
symbols of male-worship still exist.

One of the most famous Ziggurats and the best archeological find of
such a tower is at Ur of the Chaldees, home of the ancient patriarch
Abraham. Abraham's father had been an idol maker in this prominent
town. It was Abraham who separated himself from the polytheistic
people around him and initiated monotheism, the worship of one God.
Abraham is revered as the father of faith for the Jews, Islam, and
Christianity. Although Abraham was a devout monotheist, his
descendants struggled with polytheism for generations to come.
Towers and poles have been included in many forms of ancient
religious practice. They are often associated with the penis in
order to deify male-ness. Towers, similar to the Babylonian temples
have been found in ancient Egypt. The pyramids certainly have
religious significance. The Mayan culture in North America is
unknown for the most part, but their culture included these towers.

The pantheist, belief that everything is god, and animist, holding
all of nature sacred, like the cultures of the early Native
Americans, developed totem poles, which are more obviously phallic,
as a part of their worship of nature as god. Masturbation, leading
to excretion of the semen and sperm onto the ground, has often
played a part in early polytheistic and pantheistic worship.

These are all evil and against God:

Divinations
Horoscope predictions (reading & believing newspaper horoscopes)
biorhythm charts
Tarot card readings
crystal ball readings
tea leave readings
Sorcery

Micah 5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and
thou shalt have no more soothsayers:

Ezekiel 13:23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine
divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye
shall know that I am the LORD.

Isaiah 2:6 "Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of
Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are
soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the
children of strangers".

2 Chron. 33:6 "And he caused his children to pass through the fire
in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used
enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit,
and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to
provoke him to anger".

Micah 5:12 "And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and
thou shalt have no more soothsayers. ..."

soothsayer: divination giver, tarrot card reader, crystal
ball reader, etc.

1 Samuel 15:23 "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected
the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king".

witchcraft: sorcery, or one who uses sorcery

Galatians 5:19 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. ."

[Galatians 5 verse 20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

(Galatians 5 verse 21) "....of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God".

In our great country of America with its free enterprise system,
men, women, and children are exploited daily by the filth mongers
who produce so much pornography that it is estimated that they make
between 500 and 700 million dollars a year in profit. Hollywood
degardes our country's morality with its filth.

My friend, we live in a great country, but it is a country that has
been invaded by the very demons of hell. Over and over again, people
wonder aloud, I don't know what is wrong with this old world. It
just seems to get worse every day.

The American people have lost their vision.

Prov. 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he
that keepeth the law, happy is he".

The passages of scripture we have just read tell us exactly what is
wrong in our country, in our families, and in our churches
today. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." But this type
of vision is not some supernatural occurence where a person goes
into a trance and sees some nebulous images. This type of vision
means a divine revelation or oracle from God. It means to look, to
see, to behold, to understand the message that God has sent to his
people through the prophets. But there is very little of that
understanding, there is very little concern for that type of vision
in our world today. The Bible tells us that where there is no
vision, the people perish. But that word perish doesn't mean that
they are annihilated by an angry God though it has happened before.
It means that they let go of all moral and ethical responsibilities.
It means that the lusts of the flesh go unbridled. It means that
they become lawless, and run wild. Many modern translations
read, "Where there is no divine revelation, the people are
undisciplined/ they get out of hand." Though scripture was written
thousands of years ago, it is a direct statement of what has
happened in the 20th century America that we know.

There is only one way that we can turn the situation around. There
is only one hope for calling America back to God. As Christian men
and women, we, not the lost people or the children, must experience
the vision, the divine revelation from God. Like Moses, we must
catch a glimpse of the very image of God so that our very being
pulsates with his glory and righteousness. But we cannot experience
a vision of God by sitting passively and waiting the arrival of an
earthquake, wind, and fire as Elijah did. The only way to see God is
to strive after it. It is the insight of disciplined devotion, a
daily(not weekly)and constant worship.

It is the practice of the presence of God.
David cried out in Psalm 63:2, "So I have looked upon thee in the
sanctuary, beholding thy power and glory."
He had seen a vision of God. But he did not gain this by going to
church one service a week and offering God two hours to get his
message through. You cannot expect God to cleanse you and overcome
the world in you in two hours when you have given the world 112
hours a week. David saw God in his holy place, he saw God's strength
and glory because of his urgent longing desire for his God.

People of God, you must give God more than 2 hours of church a week.
You must serve God 24/7, always sense His Presence in Your life,
leading you, guiding you, helping you in your daily walk. Catch the
vision.

The family is the basic building block of any society. Two gay
people adopting a child, does NOT a family make. A family is one
male, one female, and a child/children.

It has been said many times that as the family goes, so goes the
country. Many of you sitting here today can look at your family and
say proudly, if the country does as well as my family, we will be
alright. But there are some of you who must pray "God spare our
country" because you have seen the result of the absence of vision
in the family. Many of you have experienced the pain of having your
family split up and satan has won a victory. But for those of you
who still have your family in tact, there is hope. There is hope for
us all. Catch the vision, for where there is no vision, the people
perish.

Reading about Samuel in the Old Testament one wonders how he was
able to stand fast with Eli, the priest of Israel, supposedly holy
with ungodly sons.
Many people have wondered about this boy Samuel. How could he have
been such a godly child, one that God would call and use when the
old man Eli, the priest of Israel, supposedly the most holy of all
men, was there. There is recorded a vision of God to Samuel. But Eli
had no vision, he had no divine revelation from God, there was no
word of the Lord for him. And look what happened to his family.
Verse 13 says, "I will judge his house for the iniquity that he
knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained
them not." Sound familiar. Where there is no vision, the people go
undisciplined, unrestrained. "

In chapter two, we see the story of Eli's sons. It is said that they
were the sons of Belial, they were worthless men who knew not the
Lord. Instead of waiting for the proper portion that the priest was
to receive at the sacrifice, they took by force the best part of the
meat. They bullied and pushed so much that men hated to come to the
temple to sacrifice.
Verse 22 says that Eli knew what his sons had done, how they lay
with the prostitutes who assembled around the tabernacle. And all he
did was say, Now, now boys, you know better.
There was no vision of God in that family.

What the sons of Eli had done was wicked and extremely sinful, but
it dulls in comparison to what many children do today. Today we have
Teenage rebellion, runaway, suicide, pregnancy, rape, drugs, murder,
crime runs rampant in our society, in our own communities. In many
of the larger cities, why do children have to carry guns to school?
Why have the sin and wickedness of our culture increased one hundred-
fold since the time of our fathers? Because there is no open vision,
there is no word of the Lord, there are no family altars anymore.
How many times does your family talk about the Lord. How many times
do you get down the Bible and read to your children. Where do you
think that children learn their values and morals? At school? I
praise God that there are some godly Christian teachers in our
schools, but many of the educators in our country are not qualified
to teach morals to a snake.

The word of God tells parents, "Raise up a child in the way that he
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." You
cannot put the responsibility nor can you place the blame on
society, the church, or schools. It must begin at home.

I am soooo blessed that my husband and I have raised successfully 5
children, all adults now with families of their own, and all walking
with the Lord and serving God. We have done our job. People RAISE UP
your children in the ways of God. Pray with your children. Have
devotions with your children. Teach them and they will not depart
from it.

As the family goes, so goes the country. When we raise up children
in an absence of vision, there is an absence of vision in the
country. The Old Testament is filled with stories of the defeats of
Israel because of the lack of a vision of God. Under the judges of
Israel, there was victory and defeat that occurred in a continuous
cycle because there were too few men who were prepared to receive
God's directions probably because they had not been taught how as a
child. In the book of Lamentations, we see where the people suffered
great disaster at the hands of God himself. It seemed that he had
savagely crushed the life out of his own people. The reason that is
given for their utter defeat was because there was no more teaching
and the prophets could not even find a vision from the Lord. When
there is no vision, the people perish, they go wild and then God
must bring punishment.

Benjamin Franklin made famous the quote, "An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure." Had there been a vision of a holy and
powerful God, had there been an understanding of what it really
meant to worship God, had godly parents stood firm in the teachings
of the Lord, then disaster, punishment, judgment could have been
avoided by the nation of Judah.

In our day, it is the prophets who preach a gospel of love, peace,
and prosperity who are popular. They proclaim that everything is
going to be all right. They preach that there is no hell. They
preach that God is not going to judge this world. They preach that
the United States is invincible. That, my friend is exactly what the
prophets of Judah were preaching days before the destruction of
Jerusalem. We must seek after a vision of God in our families and in
our country or the United States will become like so many other
world powers who fall by the wayside to be trampled under foot.

But let me tell you something that is even more tragic than an
absence of a vision of God in the family and in the country. It is
an absence of vision in the very church established by God. Listen
to Revelation 3:14-19. Many say that the church at Laodicea
represents the present church age. They say that the universal
church is lukewarm. But what is the overwhelming characteristic of
this church? They think that they are rich and blessed when they are
truly wretched, miserable, poor, and blind. They are spiritually
blind to the vision of God and as a result they lack the white
raiment that throughout the Bible is symbolic of the salvation of
God. When there is no vision of God within the church, when there is
no understanding of God's commissioning of the church, when people
refuse to move out and witness, love and care for those around them,
when all they can say is we've always done it like this before, or
that has never worked in the past--when there is no vision of what
God can do in and through his church and when there is no desire to
seek out that vision, when there is no commitment he will spue that
church out of his mouth. He will chastize and rebuke. He will judge
that church as it has never been done before.

Our lives are dominated by vision. Let me share a few types of
vision with you. As with Lot's wife at the destruction of Sodom and
Gomhorra, looking backwards arrests progress. You cannot move on to
new ground when all you do is focus on the past. As with Peter
walking on the water with Jesus, looking at difficulties simply
depresses. As with all of us, looking to Christ saves us. And as
with Stephen who was stoned for his testimony, looken to heaven
glorifies. A family, a nation, a church cannot be blessed until the
people take the vision, the divine revelation of God, seriously.

Only when we look toward God for our direction can we get anywhere.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Remember.... ......... Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Catch the vision. Draw close to God and let him show you the vision.
Terry
COPYRIGHT@2000 Theresa Q. Pavone,A.TH, B.TH
DO NOT USE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
NO PORTION PART OF WHOLE IS TO BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION except for
scriptures which are not copyrighted.

Isaiah 54:17 "No Weapon Formed Against You Shall Prosper!" KJV

Romans 8:28 "For all things work together for good to them that love the Lord" KJV

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". KJV