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There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don't knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don't.
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods (American Gods, #1))
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Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,' the good thief said from his cross. (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well.
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Frederick Buechner (Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner)
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I'm afraid that Jesus coming as a thief, he might be hanged this time, instead of the crucifixion. Theft is prohibited. Even God doesn't like thieves.
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Mwanandeke Kindembo
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Matthew Henry, the Puritan preacher and Bible commentator, made this statement after a thief stole his money: “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.
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Randy Alcorn (Happiness)
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2PE3.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV))
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There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don’t knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
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Indeed, in Scripture, no two people encounter Jesus in exactly the same way. Not once does anyone pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” or ask Jesus into their heart. The good news is good for the whole world, certainly, but what makes it good varies from person to person and community to community. Liberation from sin looks different for the rich young ruler than it does for the woman caught in adultery. The good news that Jesus is the Messiah has a different impact on John the Baptist, a Jewish prophet, than it does the Ethiopian eunuch, a Gentile and outsider. Salvation means one thing for Mary Magdalene, first to witness the resurrection, and another to the thief who died next to Jesus on a cross. The gospel is like a mosaic of stories, each one part of a larger story, yet beautiful and truthful on its own. There’s no formula, no blueprint.
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Rachel Held Evans (Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (series_title))
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8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and t a thousand years as one day. 9 u The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise v as some count slowness, but w is patient toward you, [1] x not wishing that any should perish, but y that all should reach repentance. 10But z the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then a the heavens will pass away with a roar, and b the heavenly bodies [2] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. [3] 11Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, c what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 d waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and e the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we are waiting for f new heavens and a new earth g in which righteousness dwells.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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Satan can quote Scripture, but he uses it for his own means. He also hates when we quote it back to him. This is because Satan's version of God's Word is always twisted.
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Robby Dawkins (Identity Thief: Exposing Satan's Plan to Steal Your Purpose, Passion and Power)
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3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: King James Version)
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There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don’t knock the guys on death row.
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
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The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class- leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole families,— sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,—leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.
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Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass)
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There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don’t knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don’t.
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
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JOH10.9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. JOH10.10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: King James Version)
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There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don't knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don't." -Shadow
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods (American Gods, #1))
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32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34 For where your
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
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not, little s flock, for t it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you u the kingdom. 33 v Sell your possessions, and w give to the needy. x Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with y a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 z For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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But I’ll tell you something a guy once told me, back when I was in prison. Something I’ve never forgotten.” “And that is?” “There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don’t knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don’t.
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Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
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The entire flaw in the Bible is the notion that God is perfect. It represents a failure of imagination on the part of the early scholars. It’s responsible for every impossible theological question as to good and evil with which we’ve been wrestling through the centuries. God is good, however, wondrously good. Yes, God is love. But no creative force is perfect. That’s clear.” “And the Devil? Is there any new intelligence about him?” He regarded me for a moment with just a touch of impatience. “You are such a cynical being,” he whispered. “No, I’m not,” I said. “I honestly want to know. I have a particular interest in the Devil, obviously. I speak of him much more often than I speak of God. I can’t figure out really why mortals love him so much, I mean, why they love the idea of him. But they do.” “Because they don’t believe in him,” David said. “Because a perfectly evil Devil makes even less sense than a perfect God. Imagine, the Devil never learning anything during all this time, never changing his mind about being the Devil. It’s an insult to our intellect, such an idea.” “So what’s your truth behind the lie?” “He’s not purely unredeemable. He’s merely part of God’s plan. He’s a spirit allowed to tempt and try humans. He disapproves of humans, of the entire experiment. See, that was the nature of the Devil’s Fall, as I see it. The Devil didn’t think the idea would work. But the key, Lestat, is understanding that God is matter! God is physical, God is the Lord of Cell Division, and the Devil abhors the excess of letting all this cell division run wild.
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Anne Rice (The Tale of the Body Thief (The Vampire Chronicles, #4))
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If the Pentateuch be true, religious persecution is a duty. The dungeons of the Inquisition were temples, and the clank of every chain upon the limbs of heresy was music in the ear of God. If the Pentateuch was inspired, every heretic should be destroyed; and every man who advocates a fact inconsistent with the sacred book, should be consumed by sword and flame.
In the Old Testament no one is told to reason with a heretic, and not one word is said about relying upon argument, upon education, nor upon intellectual development—nothing except simple brute force. Is there to-day a christian who will say that four thousand years ago, it was the duty of a husband to kill his wife if she differed with him upon the subject of religion? Is there one who will now say that, under such circumstances, the wife ought to have been killed? Why should God be so jealous of the wooden idols of the heathen? Could he not compete with Baal? Was he envious of the success of the Egyptian magicians? Was it not possible for him to make such a convincing display of his power as to silence forever the voice of unbelief? Did this God have to resort to force to make converts? Was he so ignorant of the structure of the human mind as to believe all honest doubt a crime? If he wished to do away with the idolatry of the Canaanites, why did he not appear to them? Why did he not give them the tables of the law? Why did he only make known his will to a few wandering savages in the desert of Sinai? Will some theologian have the kindness to answer these questions? Will some minister, who now believes in religious liberty, and eloquently denounces the intolerance of Catholicism, explain these things; will he tell us why he worships an intolerant God? Is a god who will burn a soul forever in another world, better than a christian who burns the body for a few hours in this? Is there no intellectual liberty in heaven? Do the angels all discuss questions on the same side? Are all the investigators in perdition? Will the penitent thief, winged and crowned, laugh at the honest folks in hell? Will the agony of the damned increase or decrease the happiness of God? Will there be, in the universe, an eternal auto da fe?
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Robert G. Ingersoll (Some Mistakes of Moses)
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8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and t a thousand years as one day. 9 u The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise v as some count slowness, but w is patient toward you, [1] x not wishing that any should perish, but y that all should reach repentance. 10But z the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then a the heavens will pass away with a roar, and b the heavenly bodies [2] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. [3]
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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THESSALONIANS 5 Now concerning w the times and the seasons, brothers, [1] x you have no need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves are fully aware that y the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then z sudden destruction will come upon them a as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4But you b are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all c children [2] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6So then d let us not sleep, as others do, but let us e keep awake and f be sober.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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To the repentant thief upon the cross, the soft Jesus of the modern Bible holds out hope of Heaven: “Today thou art with me in Paradise.” But in older translations, as Soen Roshi points out, there is no “today,” no suggestion of the future. In the Russian translation, for example, the meaning is “right here now.” Thus, Jesus declares, “You are in Paradise right now”—how much more vital! There is no hope anywhere but in this moment, in the karmic terms laid down by one’s own life. This very day is an aspect of nirvana, which is not different from samsara but, rather, a subtle alchemy, the transformation of dark mud into the pure, white blossom of the lotus. “Of course I enjoy this life!
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Peter Matthiessen (The Snow Leopard)
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THESSALONIANS 5 Now concerning wthe times and the seasons, brothers, [1] xyou have no need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves are fully aware that ythe day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then zsudden destruction will come upon them aas labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4But you bare not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all cchildren [2] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6So then dlet us not sleep, as others do, but let us ekeep awake and fbe sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, gare drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, hhaving put on the breastplate of ifaith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God has not destined us for jwrath, but kto obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 lwho died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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READINESS FOR SECOND COMING. [1 Thess. 5:1–11] Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
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Anonymous (The Daily Bible® -- in Chronological Order (NIV®))
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Reasons for Joy Happy are the people whose God is the LORD. Psalm 144:15 “How’s life?” someone asks. And we who’ve been resurrected from the dead say, “Well, things could be better.” Or “Couldn’t get a parking place.” Or “My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii.” Or “People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.” … Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do? You have a ticket to heaven no thief can take, an eternal home no divorce can break. Every sin of your life has been cast to the sea. Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree. You’re blood-bought and heaven-made. A child of God—forever saved. So be grateful, joyful—for isn’t it true? What you don’t have is much less than what you do.
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Max Lucado (NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado)
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Like Marx before her, Zino had a great theory that hinged on completely unrealistic, even idealistic, assumptions. Capitalists are people, no more or less trustworthy than socialists. People choose the path of least resistance, and for most people that includes cutting corners. No, most CEOs don't read the Bible. But they do love to quote it. It convinces the masses to cede all power over to corporations, and that any failure is simply their own fault. It argues well - seductively - for the virtual elimination of government and any sort of regulation of power. People cling to the 'free hand of the market' as a perfect god. They're so eager for a solution that can be neatly applied to every situation that they're desperate to overlook it's faults.
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Nicholas Lamar Soutter (The Water Thief)
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do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and t a thousand years as one day. 9[†] u The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise v as some count slowness, but w is patient toward you, [1] x not wishing that any should perish, but y that all should reach repentance. 10[†]But z the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then a the heavens will pass away with a roar, and b the heavenly bodies [2] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
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Anonymous (The ESV MacArthur Study Bible)
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Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry
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Jon David (The Bible: A Student's Guide)
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Grace is undeserved. It makes no sense in the world’s economy. In one of His last acts, Jesus forgave the thief hanging on the cross beside Him and told him he would be with Him that day in paradise. It didn’t matter to Jesus what motivated this man’s confession. Jesus still forgave him. He forgave him knowing he would never study the Bible, never impact the kingdom, and never bring another to Christ.
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Wendy Blight (Living 'So That': Making Faith-Filled Choices in the Midst of a Messy Life (InScribed Collection))
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The Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion (the thief on the cross) - one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume.
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Thomas Guthrie (Man and the Gospel)
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But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For ye yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall come, even as a thief in the night.
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Anonymous (The Authentic Geneva Bible)
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The story of the Bible is the story of God’s grace to graceless humanity. It is the story of God bringing heaven to earth so that it might be saved from hell. Each of us, like the thief on the cross, has a choice to make: to receive God’s gift or to refuse it. The feasting hall is lit and decorated; the table is set and a delicious meal prepared; the wine goblets are filled to overflowing; the invitation has been sent. But the choice is ours. Will you come to the party?
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James Paul (What on Earth is Heaven?)
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Two thieves also enjoyed the ride with Jesus. Maybe he's coming back to fulfil the promise that he made that day on the cross. Coming for the thief, rather like a thief himself.
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Mwanandeke Kindembo
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The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible Text Edition NLT: New Living Translation)
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Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,' the good thief said from his cross. (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well.”
― Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner
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Frederick Buechner (Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner)
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{5:4} But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that you would be overtaken by that day as by a thief. {5:5} For all of you are sons of light and sons of daytime; we are not of nighttime, nor of darkness. {5:6} Therefore, let us not sleep, as the rest do. Instead,
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The Biblescript (Catholic Bible: Douay-Rheims English Translation)
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{22:52} Then Jesus said to the leaders of the priests, and the magistrates of the temple, and the elders, who had come to him: “Have you gone out, as if against a thief, with swords and clubs?
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The Biblescript (Catholic Bible: Douay-Rheims English Translation)
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Sweet assurance of this truth is given. In Luke 23:39-43 we see how the repenting thief turned to Jesus on the cross beside him and said, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
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John R. Rice (Bible Facts About Heaven)
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With loving forgiveness, Jesus turned to the penitent sinner and promised salvation not only in the distant day of His kingdom but "to day," said Jesus, "shalt thou be with me in paradise." That very day the dying thief entered into the Paradise of God with Jesus or, in the term to which we are accustomed, entered Heaven that day.
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John R. Rice (Bible Facts About Heaven)
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APRIL 18 Some Things Never Happen You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. PSALM 16:11 Many times we get upset about things that never happen. Satan likes to get us anxious about things that are not even real problems. Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)” (John 10:10). The Bible says that the kingdom of God is internal righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (see Romans 14:17). When we make Jesus Lord of our heart, we have joy in our lives. Satan has no right to steal from you today, so enjoy the good life that Jesus paid for you to have.
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Joyce Meyer (Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year)
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But seek his kingdom,† and these things will be given to you as well.† 32“Do not be afraid,† little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.† 33 ‡ Sell your possessions and give to the poor.† Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven† that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.† 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.† Watchfulness
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Anonymous (NIV Study Bible, eBook)
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Beloved reader, do not set your affections upon things of earth, but seek those things that are above, for here the moth devours, and the thief steals, but there all joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Morning and Evening: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
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The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. 11“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep. [Ps 23; Is 40
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Anonymous (Amplified Study Bible)
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was the Jesus way. He further explained that in John 14:6, the Bible says: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Jesus didn’t say “I am a way, a truth, and a life.” He claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus left no room for other means of salvation. John 10:1 says: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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Joe Keim (My People, the Amish: The True Story of an Amish Father and Son)
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Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
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Anonymous (New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995 (Without Translators' Notes))
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Askari wa Kirumi alimchoma Yesu mkuki ili andiko litimie. Askari huyo ambaye Biblia haikumtaja jina kwa sababu zilizoko nje ya uwezo wetu, alivyoona kweli amepona na ameona alishuhudia, na ushuhuda wake ulitoka moyoni, ili nasi tupate kusadiki. Wauaji wa Kirumi walipoona kwamba wale wezi waliosulubiwa pamoja na Yesu walikuwa bado hawajakata roho, waliwavunja miguu ili washindwe kupumua na hivyo kuharakisha kifo chao. Kwa upande wa Yesu, waliona alishapoteza fahamu na labda alishafariki. Kuthibitisha hilo askari wa Kirumi alirusha mkuki, nao ukatoboa utando unaozunguka moyo wa Yesu na mapafu ya Yesu, na damu na maji kutoka. Lakini yote hayo yalishatabiriwa miaka mingi kabla ya Yesu: ‘Hakuna hata mfupa wake mmoja utakaovunjwa’ na ‘Nao watamtazama yeye ambaye walimchoma’.
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Enock Maregesi
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the thief steals from inside, the robber from outside.
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The Biblescript (Catholic Bible: Douay-Rheims English Translation)
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Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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Elizabeth Campbell (THE JEFFERSON BIBLE What Thomas Jefferson Selected as The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth)