Proverbs 25: 20
Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.
Oh my, have I been guilty of singing songs to a troubled heart, instead of weeping with those who weep?
I know that I do rejoice with those who rejoice; but I also want to commiserate with the miserable, not condoning (or accusing of) the sin that brought on the misery, but encouraging the troubled heart to trust in God.
God's Word created, and our words also have great power: a soft tongue can break a bone (v. 15). Our words can build up and encourage, or they can tear down and destroy.
O my Father, please grant me the discretion and discernment, in Your wisdom, to tread lightly, thinking and considering my words before I open my mouth or approach my keyboard.
Father, keep me mindful of my words, that I may see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears, understand according to Your ways, filling my heart with Your love that will overflow my mouth to speak Your words: to commiserate, to encourage, to teach, to admonish, to reprove--to be Your hands and feet and mouth to accomplish Your purposes.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Given To Change?
Proverbs 24: 21-22
My son, fear the Lord and the king; do not associate with those who are given to change; for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that comes from both of them?
In America we don't have a "king:" our king is our Constitution, because we are not a Nation of Rulers, but a Nation ruled by our laws.
We had a man who wanted to be our Emperor, who promoted "Change;" and he barely succeeded, gaming the system to gather the Electoral votes needed. And everything he did divided and tore down this great Nation.
I believe that God allowed him this window of power in order to show us how detrimental his reign was, to overwhelmingly (geographically, look at the map) elect our present President.
And the "spirit of antichrist" is still working (I John 2:18), and will continue to deceive those of the World.
But, dear friends, we are not of the World, if so be that God has called you to faith to put your trust in our Lord as your Lamb of God.
Pray with me:
Dear Father, Thank You so much for loving us so much, in spite of our sin. Thank You for washing us in Jesus' Blood, cleansing us to be as white as snow, without spot or wrinkle; fit to live with You in Your Glory.
Father, thank You for Your power, Your goodness, Your wisdom! Thank You for giving us everything we need, and even so much of what we just want.
Help us, dear Father, to listen to You as Your Spirit whispers into our own spirits. Strengthen us to follow Your directions, walking each step in the path You have placed our feet upon, obeying every rule for our own benefit and Your glory.
Protect all who are working to return Your Righteousness to the governments of the World, to permit the peoples of the Nations to enjoy the benefits, the prosperity You have put in this Earth for our use.
Help us in America to reverse all the changes that pulled us away from Your goodness for us, and return our respect for the principles of our National Supreme Law, our Constitution, that acknowledges You as our Lawgiver, our National Motto being: We Trust In God.
And help us, O Lord, to continually seek Your Face, conforming our thoughts and attitudes to Your ways, being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we will be able to test and approve what Your will is--Your good, pleasing, and perfect will for each of us (Romans 12:2).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
My son, fear the Lord and the king; do not associate with those who are given to change; for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that comes from both of them?
In America we don't have a "king:" our king is our Constitution, because we are not a Nation of Rulers, but a Nation ruled by our laws.
We had a man who wanted to be our Emperor, who promoted "Change;" and he barely succeeded, gaming the system to gather the Electoral votes needed. And everything he did divided and tore down this great Nation.
I believe that God allowed him this window of power in order to show us how detrimental his reign was, to overwhelmingly (geographically, look at the map) elect our present President.
And the "spirit of antichrist" is still working (I John 2:18), and will continue to deceive those of the World.
But, dear friends, we are not of the World, if so be that God has called you to faith to put your trust in our Lord as your Lamb of God.
Pray with me:
Dear Father, Thank You so much for loving us so much, in spite of our sin. Thank You for washing us in Jesus' Blood, cleansing us to be as white as snow, without spot or wrinkle; fit to live with You in Your Glory.
Father, thank You for Your power, Your goodness, Your wisdom! Thank You for giving us everything we need, and even so much of what we just want.
Help us, dear Father, to listen to You as Your Spirit whispers into our own spirits. Strengthen us to follow Your directions, walking each step in the path You have placed our feet upon, obeying every rule for our own benefit and Your glory.
Protect all who are working to return Your Righteousness to the governments of the World, to permit the peoples of the Nations to enjoy the benefits, the prosperity You have put in this Earth for our use.
Help us in America to reverse all the changes that pulled us away from Your goodness for us, and return our respect for the principles of our National Supreme Law, our Constitution, that acknowledges You as our Lawgiver, our National Motto being: We Trust In God.
And help us, O Lord, to continually seek Your Face, conforming our thoughts and attitudes to Your ways, being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we will be able to test and approve what Your will is--Your good, pleasing, and perfect will for each of us (Romans 12:2).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, August 20, 2018
Who Inherits The Kingdom Of Heaven?
I Corinthians 15: 50
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Paul follows this statement with revealing a mystery that was not known until now: that the Church will be "raptured" and we will all receive our Resurrection bodies, those "spiritual bodies" that will envelope our "natural bodies," and be able to live with God where He is.
I wondered who would enter Jesus' 1000-year reign to repopulate the Earth, and be gathered at the end of that 1000 years to surround the Holy City (Revelation 20:7-9). They will need to have "natural" bodies, but in the Resurrection we will be like the Angels, not marrying or having children (Luke 20:35-36).
I was fine without knowing, since I know that God knows what He's doing.
Since then, I've been continuing to study, muse, and connect more dots in God's Plan of the Ages.
So I think that all over the World, those people who have not received the "Mark of 666" to worship the statue and have escaped the extreme persecution, along with the Hebrew people who have survived, will all see the Return of Christ Jesus, and beholding Him will realize that He really is Messiah and King (Revelation 1:7; Romans 11:26), and enter His millennial Reign in their natural bodies.
Then by the end of that 1000 years, the whole Earth will be repopulated, under the rule of King Jesus the whole time: our Golden Age. Since those who have been born during that time will have never known any other government; when Satan is released, he will be able to deceive them into believing that King Jesus is too stern, too rigid, too whatever, and gather them in rebellion.
That's when the Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, and God will re-make the whole Universe with a New Heaven and New Earth (II Peter 3:10-11; Revelation 20:11, 21:1). That will be the Kingdom of Heaven. King Jesus' rule has begun in our hearts, will continue in His World-wide reign, and last forever on the New Earth.
O my Father, You are Great; You are Good; You are Love, and in Your loving wisdom You have planned out everything You will do. And You have graciously given us the whole Story of Man in Your written Word, from before the beginning to after the end.
Your power over all Creation is absolute. The "free will" that You have granted every person is limited to being able to only choose what will further Your Plan.
If someone refuses to do something pivotal in Your Plan, You will have someone else do it, and the first person will lose out on the blessing (Esther 4:14).
Please, Father, strengthen me to do whatever it is You would have me do to further Your Plan and promote Your Kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Paul follows this statement with revealing a mystery that was not known until now: that the Church will be "raptured" and we will all receive our Resurrection bodies, those "spiritual bodies" that will envelope our "natural bodies," and be able to live with God where He is.
I wondered who would enter Jesus' 1000-year reign to repopulate the Earth, and be gathered at the end of that 1000 years to surround the Holy City (Revelation 20:7-9). They will need to have "natural" bodies, but in the Resurrection we will be like the Angels, not marrying or having children (Luke 20:35-36).
I was fine without knowing, since I know that God knows what He's doing.
Since then, I've been continuing to study, muse, and connect more dots in God's Plan of the Ages.
So I think that all over the World, those people who have not received the "Mark of 666" to worship the statue and have escaped the extreme persecution, along with the Hebrew people who have survived, will all see the Return of Christ Jesus, and beholding Him will realize that He really is Messiah and King (Revelation 1:7; Romans 11:26), and enter His millennial Reign in their natural bodies.
Then by the end of that 1000 years, the whole Earth will be repopulated, under the rule of King Jesus the whole time: our Golden Age. Since those who have been born during that time will have never known any other government; when Satan is released, he will be able to deceive them into believing that King Jesus is too stern, too rigid, too whatever, and gather them in rebellion.
That's when the Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, and God will re-make the whole Universe with a New Heaven and New Earth (II Peter 3:10-11; Revelation 20:11, 21:1). That will be the Kingdom of Heaven. King Jesus' rule has begun in our hearts, will continue in His World-wide reign, and last forever on the New Earth.
O my Father, You are Great; You are Good; You are Love, and in Your loving wisdom You have planned out everything You will do. And You have graciously given us the whole Story of Man in Your written Word, from before the beginning to after the end.
Your power over all Creation is absolute. The "free will" that You have granted every person is limited to being able to only choose what will further Your Plan.
If someone refuses to do something pivotal in Your Plan, You will have someone else do it, and the first person will lose out on the blessing (Esther 4:14).
Please, Father, strengthen me to do whatever it is You would have me do to further Your Plan and promote Your Kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Polluted Lands
Numbers 35: 33
You shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
God is very clear on what He says. When innocents are killed, that blood pollutes the land. There are so many who are responsible and will have to give account for all the innocent blood that has been shed all over the World.
And God's people who are doing nothing about this when they have opportunity to speak out and to rescue the perishing will also give account.
One person can't do everything, but each person can do something. Some are able to do more, and others less, but we all can find something we can do to help the innocents that are being sacrificed to the gods of convenience and avoiding consequences of poor choices.
There is coming and now is, when God's people will be slaughtered for not worshiping false gods. If you ever read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, or just heard about it, there are more martyrs dying and being tortured today than at any other time in History. (Subscribe to The Voice of the Martyrs to learn what's going on now.) This is also innocent blood.
When Jesus fulfills the Feast of Trumpets (I believe that will be the Rapture of the Church), and immediately after (nine days) will cleanse the whole Earth of all that pollutes and destroys it in fulfilment of the Day of Atonement; that is when Jesus will cleanse the land with the blood of those who are responsible for shedding all the innocent blood, in the Battle of Armegeddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:19-21).
The World-wide mega-Earthquake (the Sixth Seal, the Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Bowl) will have destroyed all the cities of the World (the Seventh Bowl) and levelled all the mountains, and the subsequent Tsunamis will have overflowed all the islands by then (the sixth Seal and the Seventh Bowl). So the World will need to be rebuilt, and we who are going into the Kingdom will need to live in temporary housing while we rebuild, fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles (four days after the Day of Atonement).
O my Father, Thank You so much for your Love for all You have created! Your Love put the Order in the Universe. Your Love put a bit of Your Light into our Light-Holder, the Sun, to make this Earth a paradise for us.
Then Your Love was grieved to see all the violence Mankind inflicted on one another, and You started over with Noah. Then You gave Your Law to Moses, so that Your people would be able to follow Your ways and be prosperous, drawing the other Nations to also worship You.
But we couldn't consistently obey Your rules until You sent Your Son to fulfill the Law, so that You could give Your own Holy Spirit to us to live in us, giving us the power and ability to do Your good will for us.
Now, Father, continue to lead us along the path You've put our feet on for each of us; give us the unity of thought and belief and purpose that Jesus prayed for (in John 17:21). And continue to send Your workers into Your fields that are ready for harvest (Matthew 9:37-38).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
You shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
God is very clear on what He says. When innocents are killed, that blood pollutes the land. There are so many who are responsible and will have to give account for all the innocent blood that has been shed all over the World.
And God's people who are doing nothing about this when they have opportunity to speak out and to rescue the perishing will also give account.
One person can't do everything, but each person can do something. Some are able to do more, and others less, but we all can find something we can do to help the innocents that are being sacrificed to the gods of convenience and avoiding consequences of poor choices.
There is coming and now is, when God's people will be slaughtered for not worshiping false gods. If you ever read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, or just heard about it, there are more martyrs dying and being tortured today than at any other time in History. (Subscribe to The Voice of the Martyrs to learn what's going on now.) This is also innocent blood.
When Jesus fulfills the Feast of Trumpets (I believe that will be the Rapture of the Church), and immediately after (nine days) will cleanse the whole Earth of all that pollutes and destroys it in fulfilment of the Day of Atonement; that is when Jesus will cleanse the land with the blood of those who are responsible for shedding all the innocent blood, in the Battle of Armegeddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:19-21).
The World-wide mega-Earthquake (the Sixth Seal, the Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Bowl) will have destroyed all the cities of the World (the Seventh Bowl) and levelled all the mountains, and the subsequent Tsunamis will have overflowed all the islands by then (the sixth Seal and the Seventh Bowl). So the World will need to be rebuilt, and we who are going into the Kingdom will need to live in temporary housing while we rebuild, fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles (four days after the Day of Atonement).
O my Father, Thank You so much for your Love for all You have created! Your Love put the Order in the Universe. Your Love put a bit of Your Light into our Light-Holder, the Sun, to make this Earth a paradise for us.
Then Your Love was grieved to see all the violence Mankind inflicted on one another, and You started over with Noah. Then You gave Your Law to Moses, so that Your people would be able to follow Your ways and be prosperous, drawing the other Nations to also worship You.
But we couldn't consistently obey Your rules until You sent Your Son to fulfill the Law, so that You could give Your own Holy Spirit to us to live in us, giving us the power and ability to do Your good will for us.
Now, Father, continue to lead us along the path You've put our feet on for each of us; give us the unity of thought and belief and purpose that Jesus prayed for (in John 17:21). And continue to send Your workers into Your fields that are ready for harvest (Matthew 9:37-38).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, August 18, 2018
The Personal Sacrifice
I Chronicles 1
Jesus fulfilled this for each of us. God saves us one-by-one.
Tell the Israelites: if any one of you bring a sacrifice to the Lord, you must offer an animal from your own cattle, sheep, or goats.
When you bring a burnt offering, ... you must offer a male that has no defects.
Jesus is God's Lamb, with no defects.
Offer it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that the Lord will accept you.
Don't go inside, while your sin is still on you. Stop at the door.
Place your hand on the animal's head.
To identify with the animal.
The burnt animal will be accepted to make peace with the Lord.
As your substitute.
Then [the priest will] slaughter the [animal] in the Lord's presence.
Because we are all born "in sin" with that Original Sin we inherited from Adam (the "sin-nature"), which entices us to make wrong choices; and the paycheck sin earns for us is the debt of death (Romans 6:23); so the animal dies instead of the person.
Showing how Jesus would take our place, individually, in death.
Aaron's sons, the priests, will offer the blood. They will throw it against all sides of the Altar that is at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Without the blood shed on our behalf, there is no forgiveness for sin (Hebrews 9:22). This animal blood was splattered on the sides of the Altar to cover the sins of the penitent, so he could be forgiven; but animal blood can only cover, not take away, sins (Hebrews 10:4).
Jesus' Blood was splattered on the sides of His Altar, the Cross, and God's own Blood has unlimited value and power to wash away every trace of sin from each of us. Enough to save every person who ever lived, if they would only accept it (John 3:16-17).
The rest of this chapter goes into all the technical details of how this sacrifice was to be performed.
The tribe of Levi was scattered throughout all the other Tribes (Genesis 49:7), for the Levites were the teachers of God's Law to all the people. This was given by God to Moses to have the Levites teach this as the first sacrifice each person was to offer, before any other. We need to first be right with God before we can go on and walk with Him.
God's holiness is absolute. Anything that is not in agreement with His perfection would detract from the goodness of His Presence. That's why Jesus came. He came to live among us as one of us, so that He could cleanse us and make us fit to live with Him where He is. The whole Law was given to show us what Jesus would accomplish. He said that He would not destroy the Law, but fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), because the Law is only a "shadow" of the reality (Hebrews 10:1).
With His life, Jesus fulfilled all the civil and moral Law. And by His death, He fulfilled all the sacrificial Law. Beginning with the first one, the personal sacrifice each individual person was to offer first.
We must be clean for God to accept us and hear our prayers. He cannot accept anything that is dirty or wrong, or polluted by sin. When we admit to Him that we deserve death, and let Jesus take our death for us, as though we're the only one, individually; then God accepts that payment putting our sin on His side, and puts Jesus' righteousness on our side of His ledger. That's the only way to balance His book on us. He's the only One Who could pay our debt.
Any other view makes it not worth His leaving His Glory in Heaven to live as a human in this vale of tears and die a painful and humiliating death.
He considers you and me worth all that. His desire is for us to live with Him where He lives (John 17:24). So He suffered all that for you, and for me, and for each one of us who will accept His payment, receive Him as Lord (Boss) over our life, and follow in His footsteps into righteousness and Love.
He did all the work. We only need to change our thinking to realize He did it all, and just let Him do it. Then we will respond by loving Him back, and loving who He loves.
May we all who know Him tell everyone we know how much God loves us to do this for us. Find all His lost sheep, to draw them into the safety of His fold.
And He will reward us for what He is doing through us. He is so generous! We only need to be available for His use. He only requires of us faithfulness to Him and His ways.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jesus fulfilled this for each of us. God saves us one-by-one.
Tell the Israelites: if any one of you bring a sacrifice to the Lord, you must offer an animal from your own cattle, sheep, or goats.
When you bring a burnt offering, ... you must offer a male that has no defects.
Jesus is God's Lamb, with no defects.
Offer it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that the Lord will accept you.
Don't go inside, while your sin is still on you. Stop at the door.
Place your hand on the animal's head.
To identify with the animal.
The burnt animal will be accepted to make peace with the Lord.
As your substitute.
Then [the priest will] slaughter the [animal] in the Lord's presence.
Because we are all born "in sin" with that Original Sin we inherited from Adam (the "sin-nature"), which entices us to make wrong choices; and the paycheck sin earns for us is the debt of death (Romans 6:23); so the animal dies instead of the person.
Showing how Jesus would take our place, individually, in death.
Aaron's sons, the priests, will offer the blood. They will throw it against all sides of the Altar that is at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Without the blood shed on our behalf, there is no forgiveness for sin (Hebrews 9:22). This animal blood was splattered on the sides of the Altar to cover the sins of the penitent, so he could be forgiven; but animal blood can only cover, not take away, sins (Hebrews 10:4).
Jesus' Blood was splattered on the sides of His Altar, the Cross, and God's own Blood has unlimited value and power to wash away every trace of sin from each of us. Enough to save every person who ever lived, if they would only accept it (John 3:16-17).
The rest of this chapter goes into all the technical details of how this sacrifice was to be performed.
The tribe of Levi was scattered throughout all the other Tribes (Genesis 49:7), for the Levites were the teachers of God's Law to all the people. This was given by God to Moses to have the Levites teach this as the first sacrifice each person was to offer, before any other. We need to first be right with God before we can go on and walk with Him.
God's holiness is absolute. Anything that is not in agreement with His perfection would detract from the goodness of His Presence. That's why Jesus came. He came to live among us as one of us, so that He could cleanse us and make us fit to live with Him where He is. The whole Law was given to show us what Jesus would accomplish. He said that He would not destroy the Law, but fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), because the Law is only a "shadow" of the reality (Hebrews 10:1).
With His life, Jesus fulfilled all the civil and moral Law. And by His death, He fulfilled all the sacrificial Law. Beginning with the first one, the personal sacrifice each individual person was to offer first.
We must be clean for God to accept us and hear our prayers. He cannot accept anything that is dirty or wrong, or polluted by sin. When we admit to Him that we deserve death, and let Jesus take our death for us, as though we're the only one, individually; then God accepts that payment putting our sin on His side, and puts Jesus' righteousness on our side of His ledger. That's the only way to balance His book on us. He's the only One Who could pay our debt.
Any other view makes it not worth His leaving His Glory in Heaven to live as a human in this vale of tears and die a painful and humiliating death.
He considers you and me worth all that. His desire is for us to live with Him where He lives (John 17:24). So He suffered all that for you, and for me, and for each one of us who will accept His payment, receive Him as Lord (Boss) over our life, and follow in His footsteps into righteousness and Love.
He did all the work. We only need to change our thinking to realize He did it all, and just let Him do it. Then we will respond by loving Him back, and loving who He loves.
May we all who know Him tell everyone we know how much God loves us to do this for us. Find all His lost sheep, to draw them into the safety of His fold.
And He will reward us for what He is doing through us. He is so generous! We only need to be available for His use. He only requires of us faithfulness to Him and His ways.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, August 17, 2018
The King's Heart
Proverbs 21: 1
The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
God is Lord of all. He holds all Creation in His hand, and He directs all the "kings" of the Earth, to fulfill His Plan of the Ages. He even set up Obama to (I believe) prepare the way for President Trump to be elected, by an overwhelming majority of the geography of this Nation.
I pray for our Nation every day, that our gracious Father would protect President Trump, his family, and his staff and supporters; that he would be used of God to return safety and righteousness to us as a Nation.
And I pray that God would continue to wake up His true Church, to flood this Earth with His wonderful Truth and bring home all His lost sheep to His One Fold and One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
God is Lord of all. He holds all Creation in His hand, and He directs all the "kings" of the Earth, to fulfill His Plan of the Ages. He even set up Obama to (I believe) prepare the way for President Trump to be elected, by an overwhelming majority of the geography of this Nation.
I pray for our Nation every day, that our gracious Father would protect President Trump, his family, and his staff and supporters; that he would be used of God to return safety and righteousness to us as a Nation.
And I pray that God would continue to wake up His true Church, to flood this Earth with His wonderful Truth and bring home all His lost sheep to His One Fold and One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Who Considered?
Isaiah 53: 8
Who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?
Our Father told us ahead of time so clearly and detailed what He is going to do. But our understanding is dull, and we do not see what is right before our eyes. Only after He has accomplished His Word are we able to comprehend what was laid out so succinctly before us.
Even those who were the experts in the Law, who had spent their lives studying what He revealed, did not mix their knowledge with faith to trust God, so did not recognize when Jesus fulfilled every detail of what Isaiah wrote in this chapter, and other Scriptures.
The disciples and apostles could perceive what they personally witnessed only after God's Holy Spirit opened their eyes and understanding.
Father, please open our eyes today to see Your Truth, and teach us how to share with others who need to know these things, so that we all will be preparing for what is ahead, and be ready to greet our Sovereign King, Lord Jesus, when He appears in His glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?
Our Father told us ahead of time so clearly and detailed what He is going to do. But our understanding is dull, and we do not see what is right before our eyes. Only after He has accomplished His Word are we able to comprehend what was laid out so succinctly before us.
Even those who were the experts in the Law, who had spent their lives studying what He revealed, did not mix their knowledge with faith to trust God, so did not recognize when Jesus fulfilled every detail of what Isaiah wrote in this chapter, and other Scriptures.
The disciples and apostles could perceive what they personally witnessed only after God's Holy Spirit opened their eyes and understanding.
Father, please open our eyes today to see Your Truth, and teach us how to share with others who need to know these things, so that we all will be preparing for what is ahead, and be ready to greet our Sovereign King, Lord Jesus, when He appears in His glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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