The Gospel Of Repentance

                                                                                  The Reluctant and Angry Prophet The name Jonah means dove. The Bible says Jonah was from a town named Gath-Hepher near Nazareth. This town according to Joshua 19:13 was in the tribal land of Zebulun in the north country. Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel (793-753 B.C.) according to 2 Kings 14:25. This would make him an eighth century prophet. God commanded Jonah to go east to Nineveh the capital city in Assyria and prophesy against it. Jonah is the only prophet in the Old Testament told to travel to a foreign nation to prophesy. Jonah refused and decided to travel far west to Tarshish which scholars claimed was in the region of Spain. Jonah simply wanted to get as far away from Nineveh as he could. A brief history of the Assyrians The nation Assyria gets its name from Asshur the son of Shem (Gen 10:22). Assyria was located on the west bank of the Tigris River which today

Jesus said in the title verses above, "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation." To understand what He meant, we have to understand the entire context. The religious leaders said that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub the prince of demons; in essence Satan (Matthew 12:24). Jesus exposed the foolishness of their logic. He said, "If Satan casts out himself how can his kingdom stand" (Matthew 12:26-27)? In other words, why would anyone fight against themselves? Why would anyone tear themselves down? That is lunacy