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Labels...Inclusive...Universalist...

2011-04-01T19:12:00.000-04:00

When I started this blog, I was going through some pretty serious questions about my faith. I had come to a point where I was questioning God, questioning his reality, questioning my own faith (Christianity,) wondering and using this more for my own benefit as I sifted. I haven't posted in awhile, because I have come across an awesome group of people who have also questioned and come to similar conclusions as I have, and have been basking in and bouncing ideas off of their faiths. But as that group has grown, my own inclusive beliefs have come up and it occurs to me that I have never really written out how I came to those beliefs nor thought out how it is that they have affected where I am.

I was going through some serious questioning, as I said, and in discussions with atheists had realized that I could not deny the work of God in my life, how He brought me back from the edge of insanity. I'm not writing about that now, if you've been through the confusion of religion and taken it serious, you likely have an idea of what I'm talking about. I had to filter God through what I had been through, though, and what I knew of him was from Christianity, and it was real. But did that mean Christianity was the one true world's religion? I really couldn't come to that conclusion considering the evidence for it. God is God of all, not just the Jewish people and those who were grafted in to their views of God. This idea doesn't sit well with most Christians...understandably since their view of scripture is that it was written to them, now, and the words that were spoken to the Jewish people (Christ was sent to the Jews, not the gentiles) aren't taken in that context.

There is an OT story about the Tower of Babel, most everybody has heard it. God split the languages of man, divided us and sent us away from each other. I'm sure it's metaphorical of an event in our history...but it can't be denied that man has grown in separate paths with languages that are completely different from each other. The earliest known written language is the Chinese language, and it is written using characters that represent ideas. Most words use multiple characters combined to represent different ideas. Within the characters, are stories. The story of Noah's Ark, or of creation, are there in words that combine other words such as water, boats, etc. My point is...the stories in the OT are often told in other civilizations in one form or another, and leads me to believe that if the story of the Tower of Babel is true in any form, the stories in the Word of God went out in all these different languages as well. God did not send out people with different languages and stick his own story (our story) strictly within one. I have to believe that God did not ignore the rest of humanity and just pay attention to the Jewish race.

The Jewish people knew this. In scripture they referred to themselves right alongside of Egypt and Assyria. What we have is the Jewish story in Christianity, but God is God of all, not just a select group. Yes, he chose certain people for certain reasons...in the OT the Jewish people are set apart for the purpose of showing God to the rest of mankind. It appears however, that they got caught up in a legal system that wasn't what God was after, and so he plowed that under. It cropped back up again...man is always wanting something more tangible for their law and order of society than each following their own conscience. Unfortunately, it cropped up in the very name of the one who was sent to put an end to it. I can only assume there is a purpose for this too, perhaps to bring the rest of us to the same point of realizing law doesn't bring us relationship, but is there to govern us until we're ready for that.

So my understanding of God evolved to include all who seek him out within the brotherhood of his people. It mattered not what faith to me, as long as his fruits were manifest in the person's character, I would not deny God's work in their life. There were plenty of Christians I figured were on the road to destruction, most actually, but I could also see plenty who weren't Christian who seemed to me to be honest and show the fruits of peace, joy, mercy, and love that we in the faith are told to look for. Views of God are so wide ranging, it's hard to say really that one is more right than another. It's all based on beliefs...there is no proof today of even the basic tenets of Christianity. We believe...not because we know one thing to be true and another false, but because we have reasoned it out within the perimeters of what we've been taught. We filter our beliefs through the writings of Paul, John, James, and the gospels. We base everything on what the authors of these books wrote, even though many or most of them we don't even know who the real authors were. Most Christians hold these writings as the very Word of God, even though the writings themselves say otherwise. I am personally way past that...they are the writings of men's understandings of God and their scriptures. There are doctrinal differences in these writings depending on who wrote them and when. If that can't be understood, then the writings themselves will be misunderstood.

Christian and Jewish scripture is what I know...I have spent my whole life learning them, and live by their teachings. But my beliefs are what I'm talking about, and maybe I filter scripture through those eyes. If so, I am no different than any of the writers of them, who all filtered the words and beliefs about God through their own understanding. Preachers will use a statement like that as an accusation...that's what satan does. Accuse. I am just being honest, and letting the chips fall where they may. If you judge me for reasoning thus, so be it. Christ died to save us from our sins, not our minds. (An anonymous quote I happen to love.) I realize this paragraph will turn away readers, but I'm not writing for them, I'm writing for myself, and trying to be as honest as I can in sorting out how I have gotten where I am.

I can make the case for inclusionist belief from scripture, but there is really no point...if you don't see Christ in all of creation, you won't see it from any proofs I offer. I will only say, if a person is to believe in a God at all, then that God by definition almost has to be God over every living creature. All beliefs about him/her must be filtered from this viewpoint...and it is unacceptable to say He is only the God of one faith...especially when that faith is so divided as to have tens of thousands of factions, each claiming to be correct, each claiming the others are wrong. The human race is coming out of the dark ages of religions past...and we need to come to a realization that we are all living in this world together, because we are running out of space to divide ourselves away from each other. I proudly align myself with the Christian faith, but not with the Christian religions of any form. In the faith I see, God is all in all, and we are all his children. I see the chosen in every denomination, those called the true church, within all those walls. I would like someone to tell me why I shouldn't also see the chosen within the walls of other faiths, who have different ideas of God, who nonetheless come to a point of peace with God and show love to their fellow man. Scripture will not cut it...because for every scripture I am shown that says Christ is the only way...I can show a scripture that says God is all in all, and point out that those words weren't written to you and I, but to the world being preached to before the judgment on Jerusalem.

I no longer believe any man or woman's soul will die. I certainly can't abide by the belief that God will send unbelievers to some eternal torture chamber...it's so ridiculous a thought to me now that I've grown in his grace, love, and mercy. I can be put in the camp with those whose belief is in Universal Reconciliation. I see it all through scripture, in virtually every book, and in language so plain as to be undeniable to anyone who is willing to be honest, except for the most die-hard of those who have been harmed so bad they just can't conceive forgiving the ones who hurt them. I don't have to back up that belief here, there are plenty of websites one can research the subject on. Perhaps the best I have come across is tentmaker.org, but I haven't really needed to research it through sites like this myself to see it. I have been shown. At least that is what I believe.

Every wind of teaching...

2010-10-29T20:23:00.000-04:00

Just some personal observations on this verse:

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming."

When I was a fundamentalist...this verse was used early and often to keep me in line. Every time I would question a doctrine, this was used to keep me within the orthodox position.

But I found out their orthodox position about one thing was wrong, and it just made me all the more determined to make sure I was in the truth. If they could be wrong about one thing, who's to say what was right or what was wrong? Then I met Mike Stallings, an ex-southern baptist and ex-weslyan preacher. He showed me that my understanding in Romans 14 was 180 degrees wrong, and I was off and riding the waves. One by one, I have been calming those waves. The first wave, the most overwhelming one, was law versus grace. Law was so ingrained in my being that it took years to get the ship to sail with the current. The cursed hell doctrine fell, and the idea that I had to subject myself to the teachings in those church buildings went to the wayside, satan lost his grip and evaporated.

I had a real battle with faith. I think I took moving mountains too literally :) With no Christians that I knew outside of orthodox understandings, I needed someone to discuss belief in God with. Atheists worked wonders there. The idea that the bible was inerrant, after devoting so much of my life to learning it, went to the wayside. I started looking at the early history of it. I started wondering what it was exactly I was putting my faith in? The atheists gave me a reality check in that regard. But they can't speak above the whisper of the Holy Spirit, when you've been listening for that voice for 20 years, and the Spirit wants you to know something. You can't prove that voice is His. You can't even prove it's real...psychology would suggest it's a voice from within your subconscious. Well, that's where the Holy Spirit works from, so it takes faith to recognize and differentiate it. What do you do when your faith takes a hit?

All the proof I needed was in my life. He helped me to see it. I can't make anyone else see what is proof for me, I can only assume God makes himself known in ways that are this subtle for everyone. All these issues we face, these waves that we calm down in faith one by one, by God's grace, are overwhelming at first. The apostles in the boat were in panic mode when the storm hit, the waves threatening to topple the boat. Christ slept. Later in the apostles journeys, those same waves were rebuffed by them.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

As young christians, we're going to get tossed about by the waves. Turn to God, and sort through all those doctrines and beliefs with him. He may guide you to a teacher, someone to guide you until you can discern his voice for yourself. Don't assume your teacher is infallible, but go ahead and submit to him if that is the case. If God has you there, it's for a reason. I had to go through fundamentalism to burn off the junk I had accumulated previous to that, but he led me out. He led me 800 miles away to Mike Stallings who pretty much taught me to search for myself.

The waves of future second comings and rapture, those waves were calmed early, but no understanding of eschatology came, just an understanding that all was finished and heaven was here within man now. I have held the doctrine that men who don't get saved perish, for three decades, and now believe most if not all men are going to be saved in the end. I now believe much of the preterist point of view of fulfilled eschatology, and am sure enough of it to have calmed another wave. People watching a 30 year christian change doctrinal stances like that would likely say I'm being tossed by waves, and in fact I have been accused of that several times.

The truth is: those waves have been buffeting my ship for 30 years, I've not worried at all about them, and they are now being calmed. When I cried out, "Lord save me, the boats going to sink!" He showed me the truth of his grace, and the storm calmed down enough for me not to care anymore about the rest of it. I let it rain and blow. I wasn't worried, I knew he would show me when the time was right. I knew I needed to be grounded in grace, because the law had been so deeply imprinted. Once grounded in grace though, every other storm I have faced has been done without fear.

You know, when I look at it this way, I can say I dwelled in his rest during the storms:) lol

How Unforgivable Is The Unforgivable Sin?

2010-10-17T21:40:00.000-04:00

Mt 13:32...one reason why I love all you ex-preachers...”Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Notice he doesn't say “who has been instructed in scriptures” or “interpretations” or “law”...they are those who knew the law, and found the new wine...

They have been forgiven of the unforgivable sin.

Let me explain. I really should start by addressing the New Covenant, and because this will mostly be read by those who hopefully by experience will already have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll just hit it briefly. In the New Covenant, just what is it?

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

How much though, have we really considered just what this means? Our minds and hearts are already endowed with the knowledge of right and wrong, and a craving for communion with our God. We don't need a list of rights and wrongs to follow, we just need to live with God. He knows we'll be caught up in the flesh, we live in it, but the longer we go in our walk, the more experience we have with him, the more we become spiritually minded. The law was at odds with this. Following a set of rules did nothing for the heart, did nothing for compassion for our brothers, much less our enemies. His goal is to win over all mankind, and having the leaders rule over them with the rod of the law, the iron fist, failed to win over the hearts and minds of the people.

What I am going to get into here, I do so with the understanding that the New Covenant understanding is already there for the listener. What seals the New Covenant, and from where does it draw it's power to shape our hearts and minds into one mind with God? You know the answer, the Holy Spirit, but how much do Christians today really give credit to that power? I am pleased to know many who regularly listen and give credence to the voice of the Spirit. But among most, that power is denied by the following of principles, rules, maintained impressions (maintaining a 'right' standing with other believers being more important than their standing with their God), works, effort in gaining not just salvation, but status. The majority of Christians are followers, sheep, who live their lives by what they are taught. Many make this work, their hearts allowing them to remain pure, and the Spirit still does His work in them. Most do not. In their lives, they'll have some secrets that they won't share with their brethren, because they know condemnation would result, and so they condemn themselves and live a phony life. For these people, their shepard is their only way to the Kingdom and peace.

And so the leaders of the faiths, who society has always given authority to, are responsible if they set themselves into that position. And if they are within the confines of established doctrines, they are likely also not within the truth and are powerless to actually do anything for these people. Such was the situation with the Pharisees. They were schooled in their law, and experts in it. But as leaders (or servants, as God puts it) of the people, they fail because they don't know God. Today, it's even worse, because in teaching a form of law and regulation, in preaching guilt,condemnation, and fear, they also deny the Holy Spirit the right to do the healing He will do, because the voice of God has become the voice of the preacher. They are a house divided against themselves. They preach the power of the Holy Spirit, while denying it at the same time.

Understand, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom weren't given to the religious leaders. They were / are for the most part ignorant and wouldn't be held accountable. But because they SAY they know, they are held accountable for each person they keep from the Kingdom. Each one of those people live in some form of hell, torment in their minds. Each one could be healed with one understanding of God's love for them. They are trying to find God, and are being shut out. John chapter 16 describes the work of the Holy Spirit. But a person won't listen if they don't think there is anything to listen to, and won't put their faith in it.

Now look at John 9:41...”If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” He said this to the Pharisee's who were with a man he was talking to. Until such time as they admit to their spiritual blindness, and receive instruction in the Kingdom of God instead of the Law, their guilt remains. They cannot be forgiven. Why? Because they deny the Holy Spirit, they deny His power and claim it for themselves.

Now let's read the unforgivable sin: “So Jesus called them and spoke to them in PARABLES; 'How can Satan drive out Satan? (How can an earthly teacher heal the spirit?) If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. (You could read this: all the sins and blasphemies of the sheep will be forgiven them). But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.' He said this because they were saying, 'He has an evil spirit.'”

Who said he had an evil spirit, and to whom was Jesus speaking? Vs 22, the teachers of the law, of course. The teachers of the law in Jesus day had taken up the doctrine of eternal torment. In fact, in every instance of Jesus using the idea of a place of torment like this, he was speaking in a parable to the Pharisee's.

That is a clue right there.

Isaiah chapter 28, a condemnation of the teachers of the law, drunk on their doctrines, lording over the people as masters instead of servants, speaks to this as well. “hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it...The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.” Read the chapter, it's pretty obvious who he is speaking to.

The teachers of the law, they deny the Holy Spirit and take the glory for themselves. They shut the doors to the Kingdom. Those who do so in ignorance, will be forgiven. Those who claim they know, won't be. At least until they humble themselves and acknowledge that they were wrong. It is the only thing God didn't throw a blanket over with his forgiving our sins. So if you say you KNOW, make sure you KNOW. :)

1 Jn 5:14...”This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.” Notice, we don't go point out the sin to our brother here, but hand it over to the Spirit of God. (True story: years ago someone I knew and was close to, was involved in something that bothered me. I prayed about what to do about it, and one day an opportunity opened up for me to speak to that person. I took their bible, and opened it to the verse that I was going to use to show them the error, and the very verse I was going to use was highlighted! I knew right then that God was already speaking to them about it...said never mind and never brought it up again. To my knowledge, until their dying day that person was never involved in that issue again.) The reason I give you this story, is because it illustrates the principle outlined here, that the Holy Spirit really does deal with us.
“There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.”
The problem? That sin is never specifically spelled out, beyond blashemy of the Spirit. It is obvious, from the context in 1 John, however, that it involves not being able to hear the Spirit, becoming so calloused that God can't get through to you.

A friend, posted this:
"The "blasphemy" of the Holy Spirit was not an unforgiveable sin. It was a "consequence" not a sin. That consequence would not be forgiven or taken away.
They went down in history as ones that had crucified the Lord of Glory and rejected him.
The meaning is historical and was for apostate Israel only.
All manner of sin was forgiven but not this historical consequence.
This answers to the "shame" that is spoken about so many time in the OT. Like here:

Eze 16:62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD:
Eze 16:63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy SHAME, when I am PACIFIED TOWARD THEE FOR ALL that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

It is through this historical "shame" that old covenant Israel has its mouth shut, yet they are fully forgiven.

From the audience relevance of the time, the rejection of the miracles of Jesus through the spirit was the rejection of Jesus as the Lord of Glory. Rejection of a mind and heart change.
This was forgiven as sin but not taken from history. Legacy for these people WAS EVERYTHING. And Legacy was egoic for them and this answers to their egoic based shame."

Now, with callousness of the heart in mind, and also bearing in mind what was said in his comment, read the short little book of Jude. If you've never read Josephus, his account of the end of the temple illustrates this perfectly. They not only got rid of anyone in their camp who might have some semblance of God's knowledge, but ignored some pretty passionate pleas from Josephus and even Titus.

Baal

2010-10-08T21:26:00.000-04:00

I want to share the following post from "Jacob's Ladder," a blog from a brother I have come to appreciate tremendously.

GREAT EVIL KING RELIGION
&
The Profits of Baal

Many want to know why I have decided recently to basically drop away from the social scene, and end my popular radio program for awhile. I wanted to give everyone a simple answer. But I know few would understand, if I simply said, “I was meant to” “It was necessary for me to go, to let you find the answers alone”

Ecclesiastes 9 14There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: 15Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. 16Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 17The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

There are FEW who are that “little CITY” and indeed there are FEW in this CITY, which is the LIGHT set upon a Hill. We are that Light that cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid

But then there came a GREAT KING against this CITY (Christ in us) and besieged it. This Great King called Religion has made slaves, prostitutes, murderers, thieves, and adulterers of us all, allegorically of course. You see first we become these terrible beasts, and then in the natural world these terrible beasts (murders, pedofiles, rapists, prostitues, adulterors, etc) appear. Every evil we see in the natural is a direct result of a spiritual evil in the heart of man.

Let show you some of the evil I have seen under the son… One we all know well, CARNAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS turn the Truth of God, the Word of God, which is the SEED that we are too sow into the world (hearts of men) into MONEY, and they have said, follow after Money, Sow your Money, Make more money. That it is God’s will for you to be in perfect health, and perfectly wealthy, and that God wants YOU to prove to HIM that you are serious about your faith by the size of HOW MUCH MONEY YOU GIVE help build, what they (the great evil kings) call the Kingdom of God, which is nothing more than a fools house of cards which will come crumbling down. You are only building a wicked man’s kingdom, the Kingdom of God is righteousness, faith, joy, and power in his spirit which costs nothing but your submission to God.

However, the Great Evil King religion, has convinced men and women to literally and spirituall kill others, to kill themselves, to convince others to do the same. To torture, to war, to death, this is what the great evil kings of religion are fighting for. Total domination and control of YOU! You are all slaves, you go to church and feel better about yourself by going and giving because you were told this pleases God, yet it is the very thing that disgusts God the most.

You have become dried up bones, there is no LIFE (TRUTH) in you, because the GREAT EVIL KING RELIGION has sucked you all dry, financially, emotionally, spiritually, with their candy coated lies, and when you lose your family, divorce, become broke, and your loved ones die even though the Great Evil Kings said they would be healed with enough faith, you ignorantly will return. “Thank you Sir or Man, may I have another.”

But there is found in this “little city” a “poor man” who will deliver this city, but no one will remember his name, for the name of God is what all a man needs to know. You see, as Solomon said, the words of the Wise are heard in quiet (deep meditation and sincere seeking) MORE than of him (the great evil kings) that rules among fools.

Jeremiah 23:14
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

You don’t have to go far to find an altar of Baal today, they are on almost every street corner. There are so-called fig trees all around, and yet NONE PRODUCE FRUIT.

PEOPLE are HUNGRY TODAY, the CHRIST in them is screaming, FEED ME TRUTH… And as that SPIRIT OF CHRIST drives us toward JERUSALEM (which means the teaching of peace) we, who are now awake, as it is the dawning of a new day, will see these Fig Trees have no fruit at all and we will CURSE THEM. We will say, these man made temples, churches, mosques, kingdom halls, and more will NEVER PRODUCE FRUIT FOR US AGAIN… And we too will see it wither away before our eyes. As I have seen over these last ten years of my life.

Mark 11:21
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

There are so many things wrong with the Great Evil King Religion, that I couldn’t possibly name them all and address them all in one essay, but I will say, a great LIGHT is shining for those who have eyes to see it, a great LIGHT for those who are bold enough to open the blinds to feel it. And this LIGHT is truth, and this TRUTH is Word of God, and this God is LOVE.

Luke 10:27
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.-

This do, the man Jesus said, and you will LIVE! Now some will question who is your neighbor, well your neighbor are those that have been robbed, stripped and beaten by THIEVES, and the THIEVES are those who try and enter the KINGDOM ANY OTHER WAY but the STRAIGHT GATE, which is LOVE, WHICH IS TRUTH, WHICH IS CHRIST. The THIEVES are all of these RELIGIOUS LEADERS you are putting your faith in!

GOD WANTS ALL OF YOU TO GO TO THE MOUNTAIN, and see God FACE TO FACE. But like Israel, you refuse, you’re like “Nah Moses, you go up there, if we go there we will surely die… you come back down and tell us what to do.” CARNAL MAN wants to be ruled by MAN, and what did Moses and his law produce DEATH!

Exudos 20
18And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

People don’t want to DIE TO THE ILLUSION that they are in control. They would rather worship and serve the CREATURE “MOSES” or the Man “JESUS” INSTEAD OF THE CREATOR.

Now LISTEN, you want to know the truth? You want freedom? Well, there is but ONE WAY in, LOVING ALL, and UNDERSTANDING God is IN CONTROL.

We need to enter this rest, HIS REST. We have to cease for our works, our belief that we must do this or that, and most importantly our belief that “we” are actually in control, and have free will. This lie is the reason people suffer the way they do today. You are wrangled by the Great Evil King Religion into believing “Your dead in your many sins, and you MUST DO SOMETHING to be saved, say something, do this, do that.” Yet, the sad thing is, while millions take the bait, hook, line and sinker, they don’t realize they are eating of the very Tree that causes them the DEATH (Ignorance) they suffer from. The Great King Religion is the Great Satan, it is the Key Master who lures you in the gates of Hell (Your suffering, lack of faith, and ignorance) with the promise of riches, salvation, and peace IF ONLY YOU DO SOMETHING! It’s up to you, The Great Evil King save, Because GOD’S ARM IS SHORTENED AND CANNOT SAVE! God needs YOU…. What a crock!

Hebrews 3
18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.-

Everyone has been told they are in control, and so they become the ANTI-CHRIST sitting on God’s throne (Your mind and heart) saying I am John, Grace, Helen, Bob, etc, and I am the master of my destiny, I make the choices, I call the shots. But with all your hard work, and all your FREE WILL thinking, you still feel empty, you are tired, you feel like a failure, and can’t find the peace, you have hang ups, insecurities, need counseling, drugs, alcohol, your relationship fall apart, you feel lost and alone. So what does the The Great Evil King Religion tell you, “You’re not doing enough, giving enough, or believing enough.”

But the ONLY WAY TO KNOW PEACE is to know GOD IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE. Your ups, your downs, your decisions, your mistakes, your EVERYTHING! This truth sets your free, not the empty promises of perverse idol worshipping greedy men and women.

Matthew 10 29Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Now when you learn that everything else is VANITY, that your work, your effort, your belief, your church attendance, your giving, your this, or that, that you did with the belief if you GIVE IT SHALL BE GIVEN, RUNNING OVER… MEANS NOTHING! When you understand it is all VANITY! When you finally let Go and let God, then you overcome. When you DIE TO YOUR SELF EFFORT AND VAIN BELIEFS, then you OVERCOME and BECOME the Christ, the ANNOINTED ONE! – This is what ISRAEL did not want to do, they didn’t want to DIE to their egotistical lives. They had been tricked into believing their works were actually pleasing to God, as to realizing they are an abomination in his site.

When you hear your Religious Leaders shouting about all of their SALVATIONS, HEALINGS, AND GREAT TESTIMONIES, AND PEOPLE THEY SET FREE… They are bragging about what they did, while pretending to say God did it through them. They say, of “we” are just the vessel, so send in your love gift and the annointing of God will flow through me to this prayer cloth and we will send it to you, and you lay it on your sick loved one and with enough faith, they will be healed. HOGWASH! They should be ashamed of themselves, But God is IN Control of even that! You see we are ALL ONE and one day, we will ALL COME TO THE UNDERSTANDING AND THE STATURE OF THE PERFECT MAN.

Ephesians 4:13
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Ephesians 4:4
There is ONE body (humanity), and ONE Spirit (God), even as ye are called in ONE hope of your calling (To realize who you are, CHRIST)

When you understand you are God’s child, and you say, “Not My Will, but Your’s Father be done” when you understand, it’s not about You, but the SPIRIT THAT IS WITHIN YOU. When you say, “I can DO NOTHING OF MYSELF” and grab hold of the fact that YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN, AND YOUR LIFE IS HID IN CHRIST, then CHRIST will no longer be HID, AND that little CITY WILL SHINE BRIGHT FOR ALL TO SEE!

The Great Evil King Religion, has given birth to hundreds of thousands of lying profits, imans, pastors, priests, evangelists, rabbi’s, and new age teachers, all saying “Do what I say and you will be okay.” But they are all LIARS, and GOD has turned them all over to the REPROBATE MIND, and the more they believe the lies they teach the more arrogant, prideful, and pitiful they become. But one by one, these domino’s will fall, the question is what will that mean to you?

TIME TO DISAPPEAR FOR AWHILE

Recently, after seeing my name next to name of a man, who I know to be a thief and liar, a Bishop who claims miraculous healings without proof, who boasts, tears down, and is on the rise in the “evangelical world” I was taken back.

What happened? How did I, who never wanted to be in the same company with such men or women, all of sudden find himself as a “must read” author next to this sheep shearer?

Jeremiah 50:6
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. -

At first I was disgusted seeing my allegorical Fiction “The Calling” placed in the same company, with some nonsensical self help “Christian” mumbo jumbo manual written by a man who doesn’t know his right (truth of God) from left (lies of Man).

But then the more I thought about, the more I realized, people were beginning to make me a “name”, a “somebody”. However unlike so many others who crave a “name”, I don’t. This is something that is not acceptable to me, as I am NOT A NAME. I am not a MAN that has all the answers, or even a man who knows God, except in part.

You’ll hear many Religious Leaders say, “The Lord told me”, “God spoke to me clearly”, “God said ten people are going to send in one thousand dollars tonight” … etc… Yet, every true prophet from scripture never heard clearly, never trusted what they heard, and everyone, EVERYONE WAS FORCED TO DO GOD’S WILL… jonah, moses, joseph, even Jesus wanted the cup to pass. – But these GREAT EVIL KINGS OF RELIGION say they have a main line from God, and hear him clearly. Well guess what, only in Babylon would someone not be declared insane. I don’t HEAR GOD, I get revelation, and pray it is correct. So much for your LYING PATHETIC LEADERS who you willingly allow to rape your young, rob your wallets, and have the nerve to say you’re not doing enough and need to do more. They get off on their control, telling you when to fast as a congregation, when to commit to having sex with your partner as a congregation, they get off on the control. THEY ARE A PLAGUE, THEY ARE THE FROGS that CROAK and have gotten into your bedroom, kitchen, living quaters, every aspect of your life, you have allowed the ENEMY OF GOD to steal and rob from you. You live in constant Fear of a God who LOVES. But that is all about to change. Because I go away, so you will go within!

All I know, is what I know, if it is the truth, than it is the Grace of God and of myself I’ve done nothing. If it is not truth, then God has allowed me to believe such, and it is once again by the grace of God and I cannot write anything but what I have written and there is a purpose. Which means, God is in control of the TRUTH spoken and the LIES spoken.

You see there is great freedom knowing you are not in control of your life. Now this doesn’t mean you aren’t always striving to do right, you are. It doesn’t mean you aren’t always looking to help others, better yourself as a child of God, you do. But you understand YOU aren’t doing the work, God is GIVING YOU THE DESIRES of your heart. It is your greatest desire to be close to your Father, this is why you prayed “Not my will, not what I believe, teach me the truth no matter what the cost, Lord teach me, Father use me.”

This is submission, but that does not mean it is giving up, in fact you do more, seek more, reach higher, bow lower, but YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE, and you understand that. So when the storms of life come, you KNOW IT IS FOR YOUR GOOD, BECAUSE YOU LOVE!

Six months ago I lost my cool and had it out with my Mother N Law, God bless her. Because after this big fight, we decided to sell out house, and we ended up in my wife’s dream house, 3 times bigger, less of a mortgage payment, an apartment to rent if we wish, a pool, and because of issues with permits, we have lived here since June 15, and our rent is one dollar a day, until we close, and my ashtma is gone. Now had I not gotten all carnal and had such a terrible blow out, with a woman I now love, than I wouldn’t be writing this to you from my new office. God instigated this argument, he set the stage, he sent the tormenting spirit (as he did with King Saul) and got me to do exactly what I needed to do, so he could Bless us as our family has grown in him. But like a fool, I beat myself up for months about losing my temper, but now I have seen, if I never did this, I would have problem breathing, in a shotty small house, instead of a huge brand new blessing of a home, FOR LESS MONEY.

The Wise person knows that in every hard and bad time there is a greater blessing because of it. Where would the flowers be without the manure, the pearl without the suffering of the oyster, the diamond without all that pressure?

So why should I get upset when I see so many Profits of baal in the land, tormenting God’s children, imprisoning them with lies, and fairy tales, making them fools by claiming miraculous healings, and miraculous wealth… Those that continue to build the wall higher and higher until all people can see and know Babylon’s folly, is surely also part of God’s plan. The bigger the bully the bigger their fall. And the GREAT EVIL KING RELIGION will fall. Because God is in control of it all. And God RAISED THE BULLY UP as he did Pharoah.

Romans 9:17
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

So the question is, if God is hardening the Great Evil Religious Kings of the world, and putting lies in their mouths, where is the proof, why, and what is the point?
1 Kings 22
20And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 21And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.

You see AHAB was a false prophet, he was the SON of OMRI (which means in Hebrew, “God’s pupil”) – Now OMNRI may mean “Pupil of God”, like many of the “religious leaders” claim to be out there, but Omri, like many others who do evil in the sight of the Lord, are meant to be much more than simply pupils of God.

We are GOD’S CHILDREN… You can study, and quote scripture until the cows come home, but if you have not LOVE and the TRUTH, it would be better if you had not studied at all, than to give birth to an “AHAB”… Which is exactly what is ruling the land today.

AHAB, a lying king, married to Jezebel and we all know (that Religious spirit) only wants to kill the Truth of God. So how does God handle such false teachers, like AHAB? By getting them to FURTHER BELIEVE that the LIES THEY TEACH will bring them VICTORY, when in fact, it will be their destruction. Which is a good thing, because a man must first die to himself and the LIES he believes before he is born again.

So when I see those out there teaching lies, robbing their congregants with candy coated poisonous words, I know that God is yet in control of this as well. He needs to brings the liars or the land to their knees and there is no better way to do this, than to make them believe that they can do whatever they want, and that God is not watching. (And just WHO do you think filled their heads with this belief?) – Well read the next passage and you tell me.

22And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a LYING SPIRIT IN THE MOUTH OF ALL AHAB’S PROPHETS. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 23Now therefore, behold, the LORD HATH PUT A LYING SPIRIT IN THE MOUTH OF ALL THESE THY PROPHETS…-

You see, God is the one that has PUTS THE LIES in the Mouths of these False Profits. Now why would God do such a thing?

It is to BRING AN END TO THE LIES we have believed, so People can finally be set at liberty and may know the truth. It’s sort of like that old story you heard about a child who was caught smoking a cigarette, his father gives him a whole pack and sends him to his room and says he can’t leave till he smokes the whole pack. The kid got so sick from those cigarettes, he never touched them again.

There is going to come a point in the congregation’s lives, when they too will become sick of all the lies they have been force fed and swallowed over the years. They will grow tired of hearing about scandal after scandal, seeing no change in their life and in their heart, having no hope, and now broke, and they will finally turn to God and say, “God I don’t know what to believe, who to believe, and what is true?”

AND THAT’S WHEN THE TRUTH WILL BE REVEALED TO THEM! The instant people stop going to Man to know God, but go to God to know God, they will find the Truth and the Freedom they so desperately crave.

24But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? 25And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an INNER CHAMBER to hide thyself. -

When we GO WITHIN, (the kingdom/reign/rule/truth of God is within) – That is when you SEE (Understand) where THE SPIRIT of the LORD WENT… It never went anywhere, it is we, the CARNAL SOUL in the BODY that went to a far country and forgot who we were and where our home was… Micaiah understood this, before the liars of the land knew this, but he also knew eventually they would GO WITHIN, even if it was to Hide Themselves from the devastation to come.

So to briefly address why I decided to go off facebook and end my radio program for a time, it was because I truly have no choice in the matter. I was tired of seeing so many people being so misled, I was becoming sickened by the hypocrisy from the pulpit, I was saddened by those who I KNOW would benefit from understanding the TRUTH.

SEVEN GREAT TRUTHS

1) God is LOVE 2) God has a plan 3) God is in control 4) God cannot fail 5) You cannot fail because God will not fail 6) You will overcome, because God has created you to live the life you are living and you will reap what you sow and will learn to submit yourselves to the truth 7) God will bring you into his rest by frustrating you with your vain self effort and imaginings that will never comfort you.

THERE IS SUCH GREAT HOPE! WE CAN’T LOSE, EVEN THE GREAT EVIL RELIGIOUS KINGS WILL RETURN

Romans 8:38-39 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.-

This is OUR HOPE! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING shall separate us from the LOVE OF GOD, which is in CHRIST, which is OUR LIFE! This is what everyone needs to grab hold of. YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL! You don’t accomplish anything or destroy anything. You are not who you THINK YOU ARE.

1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN?-

For years I have been trying to share this with others. This is the hidden meaning of my novel, it is the very core of everything I write, it is my very reason to live, my passion, my heart, MY DESIRE, which is not my own. So for awhile I did the best I could to share this. I wanted to inspire, to encourage, to share what I had learned, that everything was according to plan and that we should not fear, anything, but reverence God, and seek Love in all we do. This is why I began my radio show, my facebook, my blog, to spread this and to get my Novel out there, which I believed with all my heart, was a key to the kingdom. I believed, and still believe, my Fiction, would help many to question who have never questioned, and help those to see who have questioned and haven’t seen before.

This was and is my hope. Because I believed, and still believe this is what was written, and that I was, as the lead character in my novel was, a VOICE IN THE DEAD WOODS. I wanted to be a FIG TREE with FRUIT. And so each day I prayed and woke to help inspire or encourage anyone who would read my posts, entertain and get to question anyone who would hear my programs, test and try any who would watch my youtube videos, and wake up anyone who would buy my novel… But yesterday, it all seemed like such vanity to me.

I was tired of seeing so many perverse men and women making bold claims, that I knew without a shadow of a doubt were not true. My heart broke every time someone would say I had no faith, and that I somehow was quenching the SPIRIT OF GOD. As if this is possible. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to have a literally blind person healed to know God and to have Faith. We are to put our faith in the UNSEEN, but the whole world is sensual and want miracles and show, and want natural things that they can naturally wraps their mind around.

Because….

1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Watch what we are to put our faith in.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And without FAITH (in the UNSEEN) it is impossible to please God.

Read the Faith chapter, each great man and woman of God DID NOT SEE A NATURAL THING, they didn’t look for the promises, they didn’t need to, they had faith that God was true and man was a liar.

And those lost tribes of Israel, are lost to the temporal natural carnal world, led by carnal men, more concerned with gaining wealth or losing it, than with what GOD TRULY WANTS OF THEM. submission

So I decided to leave facebook, the radio, at least for a time, because they had not tasted what I had tasted, they weren’t where I was, they hadn’t understood what I understood, that NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER, and there was NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT IT! So, I would walk away.

“I AM NOT A NAME I AM GOD’S CHILD!”

So, I shut down my facebook and would no longer do my radio program, until I felt it was right again, if it ever was wrong, it was God that made it so. For those who say this is a mistake, I say, there are no mistakes with God. Now here is the MAIN REASON I decided to take myself out of the equation. People were beginning to think HIGHER OF ME than they should. People were turning to me for answers, and I DON’T HAVE THE ANSWERS, GOD DOES. And every single one of us, Has God WITHIN, waiting to give us every answer to every question. But many are looking to me, AND OTHERS, as if WE have what they have not.

John 16 5-13
But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?-

No one has asked where I am going, but why I am going. That’s the wrong question people.

6But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. -

I received so many sorrow filled emails, people feeling like there was something wrong, like I had been attacked or torn down, but I had no choice in the matter, and it wasn’t until writing this letter that I realized why I was leaving for a time, it was so YOU ALL COULD FIND THE TRUTH WITHIN YOU, WITHOUT NEEDING ANOTHER LIKE ME TO TELL YOU.

If all those who claim to know the TRUTH leave, than those who worry they don’t have the TRUTH will find the TRUTH has never left them nor forsaken them. PEOPLE, YOU DON’T NEED THE EVIL KINGS OF RELIGION because the Poor Man with wisdom will save you from their whiley ways, and he will not want credit for doing do. You need only simply knock and the door will be opened, seek and you will find.

12I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come(REVEALED IN YOU), he (CHRIST) will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.-

I have done all I can for now, I am not a police man for God, pointing out the flaws of the liars of the land. I am not a RELIGIOUS KING that people should turn to for advice and prayer. I need to go away, so they see that GOD is IN THEM, and THEY are in God, and we are all ONE!

John 17:21
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.-

The reason why people believe in the lies of these false religious teachers and profits today, is because they want NOW MORE THAN EVER to have an experience of God. They are hurting, and they want answers, they want freedom, but they are following their itching ears. They are looking for the answers OUTSIDE of themselves. They are looking to the natural as the spirit, and forbidding the spirit for the lies of the natural man. This is why we find people claiming miracle healing, miraculous tongues, resurrection of the flesh, and other phenomenon, when NONE OF IT IS TRUE!

They have been taught these things are true by liars, and so the lie became the truth and the truth became the lie, and I find myself wishing things were different.

Romans 1:25
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.-

So God did to them, what he did to Profits of AHAB, he turned them over to the REPROBATE MIND. (And no, this has NOTHING to do with homosexuality, that is another LIE of MAN)

Romans 1:21,22
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. -

And remember the FOOL in his heart, says THERE IS NO GOD. These religious leaders today, driving their fancy cars, boasting miraculous shows, dressed in thousand dollar suits, taking the money from the poor and the hungry, DON’T TRULY BELIEVE IN GOD. If they did, they would not do what they do, act the way they act, or live the way they live. They would be transparent and not care what others will think and say. IT IS TRUTH THAT SETS PEOPLE FREE, not the FACADE OF TRUTH. The NAKED EXPOSED UGLY TRUTH is one hundred fold better then a handsome well dressed lie!

So God gave them over to their VILE AFFECTIONS (LIES) as he did with AHAB’S PROFITS. But I know that I am not the one that needs to correct them. These Profits of Baal can gather together, cut themselves with stones, scream, shake, quake, jump up and down scream and shout, and the lord will not take their sacrifice.

1 Kings 18
21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.-

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SERVE? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND? HOW LONG LORD WILL THEY SUFFER BEFORE THEY ENTER IN? So I leave this challenge to all the Profits of Baal in the land, as Elijah did before me.

1 Kings 18 25And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. 26And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. 27And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 28And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 29And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. 30And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down-

The Profits had no power, when in the presence of the Man of God. They looked as fools. And when the PEOPLE realized they had been duped by these money hungry witches with all their signs and wonders crusades and visions of hell, heaven, allah, jesus, and joseph smith… I stand here saying, WHERE IS YOUR GODS when you call on them? Why is not your SACRAFICE accepted? Why are the people in bondage and have no hope?

Then they will see the TRUTH, and grab hold of the HOPE OF GLORY, CHRIST IN THEM, not far from them, not coming soon, but WITHIN THEM. And I travail until Christ be formed in the Body, and when the BODY WAKES OUT OF THE SLUMBER these liars have caused, they will KILL THESE PROFITS (Meaning they will no longer go to their churches) – And BABYLON WILL FALL, and is FALLEN ALREADY. Then they, like I, will REPAIR the ALTAR OF THE LORD which was broken down by their greed and insecure need for control and power, and the altar will be repaired… OUR HEART!

So,l eave your mega churches, keep your money, pay your bills, and turn within. Stop your works, see the truth, BE ONE AS WE ARE ONE, AS I AM ONE WITH THE FATHER, AND THE FATHER IS ONE WITH ME, I IN YOU, YOU IN ME, AND WE IN GOD, FOR GOD IS ALL IN ALL and in control of all, setting the stage for THE GREAT EVIL KING RELIGION TO FALL!

If you feel led, send this to as many as you can. One can set a thousand to flight!

Jacob
www.JacobIsrael.org
“The Truth Will Change You”

Covenant Fulfillment

2010-08-29T16:59:00.001-04:00

The covenant relationship starts with Abraham. “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you....as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.” This is the covenant of circumcision, which came long before the law. God promised Abraham his descendants would number as the stars in the heavens.

Passover regulations, restrictions, consecration of the firstborn, all happened before the law was handed down. Moses sat as a judge over disputes among the people during their wandering in the desert. His father in law, Jethro, saw this when he visited, and suggested he appoint officials to serve as judges. Moses did this, letting the simple cases be handled in this way, and only dealing with the harder cases himself. On the third month after leaving Egypt, God says this through Moses: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

It is at this point that God gives Moses the ten commandments. Then, this: “These are the laws you are to set before them...” to Moses. There are laws for personal injuries, protection of property, social responsibility, justice and mercy, Sabbath laws, festivals, etc. Moses wrote it all down, then took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took blood from sacrificed bulls and sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

At this point, God calls Moses up to the mountain to receive the commandments in stone. Regulations for the Ark, tabernacle, table, lampstand, altar, courtyard, garments for priests, and on and on were written down. The people became a people of rules and regulations, living their lives by the strict letter of the laws that were handed down.

Years later, after inhabiting the promised land, the Hebrews had judges to settle disputes and priests to serve God. Eventually, the elders of Israel came to Samuel, and told him to appoint a king to lead them. Samuel took their request to God, and this is what God told Samuel: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”

Samuel pleaded with the people, but they insisted, so he anointed Saul as their king. Saul later disobeys, and is rejected as king by God. Samuel then anoints David as king, while Saul is still holding the position. To David, after Saul's death, God gives this promise: “Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you....Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me, your throne will be established forever.”

Israel had many kings, but Hoshea was the last of them. Shalmaneser king of Assyria put him in prison, and captured the land and deported the Israelites to Assyria. 2Kings 17 gives God's reasons for this. Shalmaneser brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and sepharvaim and settled them in the land.

Judah still had their land, however, yet troubles were there as well. They had King Josiah, who became king when he was eight years old, but he did right by God. In his eighteenth year, the High Priest found the Book of the Law in the temple, and presented it to the kings secretary, who presented it to the king. King Josiah renewed the covenant, and had the book read to all the people, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. Of course, four kings later and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon overtook Jerusalem, and set fire to the temple, and broke down the walls, and sent the people into exile. They just couldn't keep the covenant.

Cyrus of Persia, seventy years later, allowed the temple to be rebuilt, and helped the exiles to return to Jerusalem. The temple was rebuilt and the people rededicated themselves.

Now that is the literal story of the covenant. It's longer, with a lot of stories, but basically it's try and fail, try and fail. The people were never able to make righteousness work within the confines of the law, they kept falling away. Now lets start to look at the prophets testimony.

“The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: 'do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare....Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.” He is our sanctuary, but for the people of the rules, he is a stone that causes them to stumble. About those from the literal covenant, Isaiah says, “See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers!” Murderers of the spirit, preventing people from gaining access to their peace.

“I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” No more spiritual insight. Just a wasteland. Isaiah is full of what has happened to the people of the law...describing them as calling evil good and good evil, putting darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, calling them wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. They rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah (peace). Of the remnant, he says, “will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.” “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.”

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the Lord, 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'” Notice, in this new covenant, we aren't burdened with rituals and regulations. We're not given instructions to keep. In this covenant, God has taken on all the responsibility himself. He will call us, he will teach us, he will keep us and not count any wrong against us.

That is the core of the gospel (good news). God redeemed us from ourselves, setting aside the old covenant of responsibility for ourselves, and bringing us a new covenant where he himself bears our burden and gives us rest. The old covenant of the law was fulfilled in death, as that was the only real outcome it could have. The new covenant is fulfilled in each of us individually, as we pass from death to life. Living in the old covenant leaves us in a cycle of trying and failing, and ultimately always results in failure. Living in the new covenant always ends in successful communion.

Israel Our Example

2010-08-20T22:29:00.001-04:00

I'm doing a study on the covenants and the law, to explain the name of my you tube channel. In doing this study, I of course get sidetracked as always. I can't read the story of Abraham, for instance, without reflecting on what he was thinking as he was on his way to sacrifice his son. I used to think it was a joke, God making him wait until he was 100 years old, then giving him his son and then telling Abram to give him back. "No, no, I was only kidding, Abraham..." Now I see it as trying to relate to us what it meant to Him to give up His son.

Anyway, it occurred to me that God repeatedly tells the people of Israel, that they would be his people. He would establish Israel forever. Of course, we all know that the true Israel is the believers in love and mercy, not those who were literal descendants. But...his people Israel WERE still an example to the world. They were the perfect example of how to piss God off. They just couldn't help themselves, actually. Seriously, they were an example of how not to go about having a relationship with God. Their religious system will forever go down as the system of laws that neglects mercy. To make mankind work, for us all, we have to serve each other. When someone is going through their life as a user, or a taker, not giving back, they upset the natural order that is necessary for us to survive in the long run. Eventually, if everyone were takers, we as a people would completely destroy everything around us. Witness what corporate rule is doing to the environment around us that we depend on (ultimately for the survival of all). Take morals out of the hunt for money and that's what happens.

It has been bothering me that the purpose of the cross was the fulfillment of the law, and Christ in this act did away with the 'old' covenant and set it aside for the new, wherein the laws are written on our hearts. Well, the part that has bothered me isn't so much that, as the idea that after the destruction of the temple and setting aside of the law, the church itself merely picked it up and embraced it. The whole thing started all over again, with all the rules and regulations, only now it was spread all over the whole world. I couldn't figure out why God would allow that to happen, if He were the one doing the destroying of it within his people.

I see it now. Rules are man's natural inclination towards order. The example was put forth on all of our behalf, to show us all why it doesn't work, and to show those who desire it what does work. Israel and their covenant laws really were an example of the people of God for the whole world. Only they weren't the example we expect when we think of an example. They were an example of failure, because no effort of man's will work when approaching God, or the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Man, or however you think of him. Only approaching in a spirit of love and mercy will suffice. Thinking you are acting on God's behalf is nothing more than puffing yourself up. If God can orchestrate the whole charade of the Jewish nation just to show all of us how NOT to live for God, I don't think He really needs our help, and anything WE do is going to be a microcosm compared to HIS works.

Eschatology

2010-08-02T10:23:00.000-04:00

I've come to the view that most of the prophecies I used to believe were future and near at hand were actually fulfilled in the first century. It always bothered me that Jesus said these things would happen within that generation, and yet we use verses from other locations to explain away why it was taking him so long. The issue has been the form we have been looking for him to come back in. A study of clouds and their symbolism in the bible shows we should have been looking for his return in the spirit, not physically manifested coming down out of the sky. I have long believed the kingdom of God is within, and the indwelling of the Spirit as doctrine. But not to connect the dots of that to the second coming is because I have ignored the subject. We are in the next age, and have been for two thousand years. By the time we realize it, it will be past us and we'll be into the next age! ☺

The redemption of mankind happened at the cross. The judgment of Israel happened in AD70. There are some rather interesting descriptions of that event by Josephus if anyone cares enough to get that far and read his witness of the event. The 'parousia' either was at Pentacost, (what I think) or sometime in between, or at the event itself. There are differing opinions about that within the Preterist groups, which believe this eschatological view, but the point is that it already happened, and fulfilled eschatology makes Revelations much more understandable. I still think some of it has to do with this age, but it's more commentary than prophecy that does. For instance, the condemnations you read of about the Pharisees easily apply to the Institutionalized Churches (IC) of history since, including today, although we are seeing more of a movement toward grace teaching today. Too bad they still mix in so much law.

I'm also coming around to the view of the Universalists, although for me it's not so much a belief as a hope. No one really knows about the afterlife, after all, and there are arguments for some not reaching life. I think though that if God WANTS all men to be saved, then it is likely that all men will be saved. It may be after the age of faith, but at some point it would seem all would be drawn in. Eternal damnation is an impossibility according to the bible, since the tree of life is in heaven and to eat of it you must dwell there.

Short post today, just wanted to update my progression...

Faith isn't a rock, it's more like a vapor

2010-06-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

I have noticed a thing or two about people and their faith. I think it's a misunderstood concept. For some, it's a requirement, they force feed themselves and immerse themselves into their indoctrination of their respective beliefs. It's almost a brainwashing, convincing themselves that God is what they are being taught he is, or perhaps what they think he should be. Doubt is a killer, and can't be allowed no matter what. For these people, anything that can cause doubt is argued against, and whatever argument will counter it becomes a fact in their lives. Eventually, if any of what they believe is wrong or absurd, the arguments to defend them get to the point of absurdity. (ie: hell believers, for example)

The other extreme has those who can't understand why they aren't sure in their faith. They think faith is something that should be solid, and it just isn't that way in their lives. They seem to wait for God to slap them upside the head and say, "Wake up!" The problem is, God apparently doesn't do that, at least not for most people. We are meant to live by faith, and yet it seems like a vapor; try to grab it and you're grabbing at air.

I struggled with both extremes, so I have a perspective from both angles. I actually had to step back, and reassess why I believe what I believe. I mean, we have religions which if you study the history of them, no one can argue how corrupt and evil they have been throughout the centuries. They base their authority either on apostolic succession ( a joke also when you realize Paul was the apostle to the gentiles ) or the Bible. And what of the Bible? Are we to base our faith on that? If you are being honest about it, and weighing it, the Bible alone isn't something to base a belief system on. Or at least on the face of it. It has more contradictions than you can shake a stick at. It has more differences in the scripts than there are words in it. It has obvious add-ins to support doctrines that weren't there in the beginning of Christendom. It has books written by other people than who they are being claimed to be. It has in many peoples eyes an evil God who is responsible for genocide, infant murder, hypocrisy of the worst kind.

I no longer accept the teachings coming from any religion. For that matter, from anybody, at least not at face value. I will digest them all for myself first and decide for myself if teachings are worthwhile. It may sound like I am digressing, and maybe I am but it's for a reason. I don't care what anybody else thinks about what I believe. Because of that, I am able to free myself from the influences of what others think about what I believe. And so it's me and God. Are you real? Why should I believe you're really there? Does it matter to you what I believe about you? Should it? Is this voice I speak with just me, or what I think you would say? Where is the reality?

I can look back on my Christian life, even my fundamental days, and honestly say that whenever I put the principles that were taught into practice, without compromise, they worked just as the Bible said they would. So I can look at that. For wisdom, once you understand it, it's sound. But couldn't that just have been common sense?

I fought this for several years. I leaned toward the atheist point of view, at least as far as God being an omni-potent, all powerful creator. I realized though, I can't deny that God exists. If you strip it down to this point, I can understand atheism, but I can't accept it. How do bees flying in a swarm all know to turn at the same moment? Study nature, how does almost any creature you look at instinctively know what it needs to do to survive? Did evolution all happen by chance? Really? This world, which we were given as our domain, to protect and rule over, is our only real evidence of his existence. Compare it to the other planets we know of, how much has life progressed compared to them? How much have we progressed? Could this really have happened without design? That is the question at the core, that we all have to decide. I have decided that no, it couldn't. I could be wrong, I guess. There is no proof of life after death, I could die and that could be it. But my life in the here and now is enriched with the center of God. I have realized that. Without him, without that belief, I wasn't as happy, wasn't as centered, was in fact fearful of the possible events life can throw our way. There is no comfort in the loss of a loved one, there is no real purpose to life at all. You live, you die, within a generation you are forgotten. Without God, it's all about the here and now. Get while the getting's good. Whoever has the most when you die, wins. I can go on and on with the philosophies of living for now, but hopefully the point is made. This isn't me. Life isn't meant to be obsessively lived for yourself, I'm sure of that. Mankind would not have survived if everyone were narcissists.

And so we have philosophers in history, teaching us that life is about serving others. Of course, those who become leaders never live that way, for them everyone else serves them. But mankind as a whole is not like that, even by nature. We may have prejudices, but we also have mercy. We have wars, but in the midst of wars, we have peacemakers. We have people who have given their lives for their beliefs, and we have people who have given their lives for others. We have God in our nature, and it cannot be denied. And so it is in my own life. I've been through hell, I've been self-absorbed, I've had my self-pity parties, I've been to the point of suicidal thoughts, and yet I've learned to be content in whatever role I am to live. I got that from him. Acknowledging that is my faith. Christianity is how I know to express it.

Goodbye YouTube, Progress in Faith

2010-05-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

Well YouTube was quite an experience. I made several friends, some of whom I have carried over to a facebook page, where they have become a fellowship group. That group has actually grown, and is mostly like minded people when it comes to religion. I am surprised how many actually share doctrines with me. That has been encouraging. And I have been able to mostly work through my doubts, even as I have come to realize that the bible isn't God's inspired Word. I have been reading a few of Bart Ehrman's books, and he has confirmed for me that there are too many contradictions and inaccuracies for the bible to be God's Word. Besides, it even being accessible is really only a recent phenomenon history wise. So I am back to God is within us. In religious terms, God's Word is within us. We have the spirit of truth, if we are willing to accept what truth teaches us.

Many of the new friends are some form of universalist. One of the doctrines I was unable to go along with in Christianity is the idea that you had to believe in Jesus (in fact certain things about) to be saved. I knew I was 'saved' even when I was going through my doubts about Jesus and God for that matter. Now that I have decided to believe again, I will also feel free to dictate just what about Him it is I do believe. I can't understand for instance, this dogmatic Trinity doctrine that people get so upset about when you point out that the only scripture to back it up was added in by church scribes who realized there wasn't any scriptural support for it. The freedom and salvation that Jesus brought us He brought to all men, even those in other belief systems like Muslims or satanists or whoever. So I am at home with universalist thinking. I don't know if everyone will be, if there is some judgment in the future for the dead I am sure that God will treat them as he did Thomas. Personally I think our judgment is past, we just need to work through it and do something with it. Easier said then done when your head is so polluted with religious dogma.

This sounds like heresy if you're a fundamentalist, but you should feel free to dictate what you believe. You should not have to submit something so important to your very being to some preacher or group. But the YT experience has shown me how passionately people will defend their doctrines, even though everything they've learned about them they've trusted other people to define. YT has also shown me that there are a lot of deceitful people out there parading around as Christians, who in fact are just playing some trolling game. I think some of them could actually be dangerous, hence my exit from the YT community. It is an anonymous group for the most part, and now I know why. If anyone noticed a post on this blog from a couple weeks ago, I posted a universalist argument. Now I think that the person I thought it was isn't real, but I can't be sure. If not, he stole the paper to send me and gain my confidence, scarfing my email address along with it. I believe my last conversation with him was under a pseudoname, another channel alias that he uses. Hence the deleted post. Not knowing if others were real or not is a drag when you start to like them, and I find myself wondering if they aren't actually another person who I liked but who got upset with me for some unknown reason (thought I was a part of some cult he was against?). Anyway, YT as it turns out has at least as many trolls as not. I even argued nightly for like six months with a fundie that in the end I'm not sure he's not just a gamer. I don't understand wasting that much of your life but it's games I guess.

There are some people out there on YT doing legitimate searches and posts. I have hopefully protected them from the dangerous ones I had after me. I 'unfriended' as many as I thought could get caught up in their stupid game as soon as I realized how organized it was. Maybe I should go back in and troll the trolls. Ha how stupid. Be nice to do a little payback, but I'm not into vengeance enough to put that kind of effort into it. So I'm back to the old fashioned way of communicating, blogs and facebook lol. (I hate that little term...lol...gotta come up with something different). And no personal info on the facebook it seems, as I am unsure if some of those friends even aren't involved in that one group of trolls, and this way I can freely accept the friend requests. Theology discussions on fb. I need a life, apparently.

Anyway I am glad to put my agnostic days behind me. I still can't say 'yes' or 'no' there is or isn't life after death, but I can say I think there is. I don't base it on the Bible, but I do base most of what I believe about it on the Bible. I can only say that I believe I have met God, He has revealed a part of Himself to me, my understanding of Him is waaayyy different than it used to be. He may be all-powerful, but it's not the side He has revealed to me. He may have the ability to, for instance, make me financially secure. But He's not concerned with financial security. Why should He be? He has promised me truth, it's all I need to be happy.

The Apostle Paul

2010-03-20T16:33:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking about how much credence to give to Paul's writings. As a Christian, as a believer in
the resurrection, you almost have to give him more credit than any other biblical writer. Christianity as
we have it today wouldn't even be around if not for his taking it to the gentiles and starting all the churches
he started. And yet he never really wrote (unless it's been hidden away or destroyed) any gospel, or
specific doctrine of any kind. What we have are letters he had written in response to specific issues that
arose within the churches he had started. So I have decided anyway, that if you believe the resurrection,
you pretty much have to believe the conversion of Paul happened pretty much the way he described it.
Jesus himself stopped him and interceded to make sure the gospel got spread to the rest of the world,
which means his mission to the Jewish people was completed.

I always wondered whether the story of his conversion was just an allegory of some sort, his explanation
of what happened to him when he saw the light so to speak. He realized with great guilt that he had been
persecuting Christians unjustly, and it was such a life changing experience for him that his zeal changed
into a different direction. That he was blinded in the process by the bright light seemed irrelevant in some
way and an embellishment. But if you think about it from the perspective of Christ, you've just given your
life for the world and here your apostles are just sitting on it and keeping it to themselves, or at least within
the Jewish community, will you let the rest of the world not know? And who better to spread the word, than
a man of zeal for his faith? So from that aspect it would make sense that Jesus really did interfere, and Paul
really was God's chosen apostle to the gentiles.

So I would have to say, as a believer much authority would have to be given to Paul's writings. Now how
about those writings by his followers that were written in his name? Several of the letters we have as Paul's
weren't written by Paul. In fact, in the years of the early church there were many many forgeries. We know
now that the gospels weren't written by those attributed to them. Perhaps Luke, but he was not an apostle.
I think in cases where the forged letters contradict Paul's and Jesus' teachings, I would give them no credence.
For instance, in 1 Tim we are told, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent...But women will be saved through childbearing..." And yet, in his letter 1 Cor, Paul wrote, "And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head-it is just as though her head were shaved." But within the kingdom, there
is no male or female. Chapter 14, vs34,35 appear to have been later additions to the text, most scholars
agree they weren't written by Paul, and with good reason.

It appears we must do a little research of our own to find out the truth about some of these doctrines. Nothing seems to have been just laid out for us, we are required to search. Well, not required for our salvation, but for the deeper understandings of God. We cannot just take some teacher's say so, or some preacher or evangelist. They are all passing on what they've been taught, perpetuating the same and often invalid teachings throughout the centuries. On almost every issue, you will find God fearing Christians on both
sides of it. Sometimes it seems the truth lands in the middle, sometimes nowhere you would expect. In Galatians Paul wrote there is no man or woman in the kingdom, so the debate can either end or be fueled, depending on which side of it you are.

To me, it appears that Paul, who explained grace so well, sometimes struggled with it as well. I guess that
should be expected, since he was well indoctrinated in the Law. He gave instructions and dos and don'ts, but would sometimes then suffice it with "but if you..." In other words, not following his instructions wouldn't get
you removed, or separated, but more like you weren't following his advice. We're still free to think things out
for ourselves, and I still think we should give credence to his advice. He was, after all, the one who brought
our faith outside of Judaism, and it appears Jesus chose wisely in picking him for that purpose.

Bart Ehrman

2010-03-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

Well I just finished a most excellent book. I started looking at the Nag Hammadi, it made me remember that I had gotten a book that was a commentary on it by Bart Ehrman (sitting on the shelf of course). I decided to give it a go, and "Lost Christianities" turned into an excellent read, but before I got too far along in it I got a notice from Amazon (you know, related books to what you've bought email) and there was another Bart Ehrman book on there. I ended up ordering a few more, and got into "Misquoting Jesus" as soon as it arrived. I will have to go back to "Lost Christianities" because now the Lost Gospel of Judas has my attention. Anyway, "Misquoting Jesus" turned into a must read in my opinion.

Bart Ehrman is probably our foremost scholar on ancient Greek texts. I never realized how readable his books were, but they are packed with information. I always knew there were differences in manuscripts, but I had no idea how many and how many were deliberate. Whole doctrines were made with changes to scripts. Once a copy was changed, all the copies after it would keep the change, unless somewhere along the way a knowledgable scribe recognized it and changed it again. Changes were made to support Christ's diety, to support the trinity doctrine, to support the repression of women (Jesus and Paul both taught women would be equal to men in the Kingdom of Heaven), to refute doctrines from gnostics, docetists, gospels were written to pin the blame for the crucifixion on the Jews (squarely), and on and on.

When a letter was written to the churches, it was written to be read aloud, since most people were illiterate. To share the letters with other churches and reproduce them within the churches, anyone who could would do the copying. There were scribes who couldn't read what they wrote, and would practice there signatures, and if they missed a letter, they would miss it with each rewrite as well. I found the whole lecture rather fascinating and would highly recommend the book to anyone wanting to know about their scriptures, and why there are so many little footnotes with various readings all the way through. I got this on Amazon for less than $15, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it at a discount book store (which is really sad considering who the author is).

YouTube

2010-01-23T22:28:00.001-05:00

That may sound like a crazy title for a post on a blog like this. Lately I've spent quite a bit of time traversing the many videos and comment sections and it has been a real eye opener. For one, I never realized before just how many people there are who are truly searching out and finding the truth about their churches and theology. Also I find myself amazed at the number of people who think they 'know' the truth of the gospel, and comment rather adamantly about their beliefs. Everything from what day the rapture will happen (May 21, 2011) and what year the universe was created (11,013bc) to spreading the word that God hates us and will laugh at us as we burn for eternity in hellfire. But it's been a rewarding experience, sharpening the sword with people trying to defend Westboro Baptist Church and their evil picketing, engaging in conversation and debate with some people that I've even come to respect even if I don't agree with them.

"Besides, we used to kill gays for centuries. Why didn't God do anything to stop it? Because He liked it. Now that we stopped killing them, Jesus gives them AIDS to carry out the punishment. Praise Jesus"

This is an ACTUAL post from the comment page of Michael Moore vs Westboro's video. I've come across a lot of ignorant people in my time so it shouldn't really shock me, but it did, and it happened while I was writing this post. But to refute him, I, my wife, and a new friend who is a soldier were all posting. I found myself wondering if this wasn't one of the Westboro pastors kids.

Anyway, I've also been able to make friends with many very cool people, such as (recently) the above mentioned soldier and an ex Jehovah's Witness who is standing up to her old church, a young man in Ireland who recently let go of his churches hypocrisy in search of the truth, another from Ireland who is aetheist, but well versed enough in his bible that I think it's really an agnostic stage but is very cool either way. Another friend who does hard rock christian music videos. Another recent friend who actually has the message of grace, and a couple more who are oh so close. Some of these friends get into the discussions such as the aforementioned, and that's how we find each other. All in all, the religious experience on youtube has been very interesting and even fun, except for witnessing the occasional ignorance.

I believe it would be very easy to get carried away with all the different beliefs, so I don't think I would use it as a place to shape your faith. But as a place to be exposed to all the differing ideas that are out there and refute those who spread ignorance if you're into that, it's been fun. And I can say it definately encourages the Bible study too...

Adam and Eve

2010-01-09T19:13:00.000-05:00

      I just read Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol, (an excellent read by the way) and he wrote something that never even occured to me. God created Adam 'in His own image', and His image wasn't physical, because God is spirit. So originally we were spirit, and the Garden of Eden existed in spirit form. This makes total sense to me, and if you carry the story further, after being kicked out, he placed the cheribum and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam and Eve were sent out to 'work the land'. When you think about this as being we were created as spirit beings, but the fall cast us out into the physical realm, and a guardian sent to keep us from finding our way back. This has so many repercussions as far as understanding of the Bible, it's a bit mindboggling to me at the moment. I know literalists will poopoo this, but even they must admit that parts of the story (the apple, for instance) are definately symbols for something else.

     I have always struggled with the 'why' of not knowing or having any real evidence of life after death. At least this is an explanation, that we are really spiritual beings trapped in physical bodies, and if we knew we were spirits we wouldn't be trapped anymore, possibly, or would pursue it more anyway. Mankind has always had superstitions about another world beyond our reach, spirits and demons and gods. Of course, if this is really the case, it also begs the question, why did we not get restored to the spiritual realm after the sacrifice of Jesus. I mean mankind. Is there really some test that we all must go through here in this realm? Do we really have to 'just believe'? Why when we're saved are we not allowed freedom from this mortal body instantly? I guess maybe this whole thought process just leads to more questions than answers. At least if it's all about the here and now, the path I'm on has me feeling that my here and now is worthwhile.

     It does shed a different light on the creation story though.

Excerpts from "Apocalypse of Peter"

2009-12-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

"For many will accept our teaching in the beginning. and they will turn from them again by the will of the Father of their error, because they have done what he wanted. And he will reveal them in his judgment, the servants of the Word. But those who became mingled with these shall become their prisoners, since they are without perception. And the guileless, good, pure one they push to the worker of death, and to the kingdome of those who praise Christ in a restoration. And they praise the men of the propagation of falsehood, those who will come after you. And they will cleave to the name of a dead man, thinking that they will become pure. But they will become greatly defiled and they will fall into a name of error, and into the hand of an evil, cunning man and a manifold dogma, and they will be ruled heretically."

"But many others, who oppose the truth and are the messengers of error, will set up their error and their law against these pure thoughts of mine, as looking out from one (perspective), thinking that good and evil are from one (source). They do business in my word. and they will propagate harsh fate. The race of immortal souls will go in it in vain until my Parousia. For they shall come out of them- and my forgiveness of their transgressions into which they fell through their adversaries, whose ransom I got from the slavery in which they were, to give them freedom that they may create an imitation remnant in the name of a dead man, who is Hermas, of the first-born of unrighteousness, in order that the light which exists may not be believed by the little ones. But those of this sort are the workers who will be cast into the outer darkness, away from the sons of light. For neither will they enter, nor do they permit those who are going up to their approval for their release.

"And there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves bishop and also deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend themselves under the judgment of the leaders. Those people are dry canals."

"...that he whom they crucified is the first-born, and the home of demons, and the stony vessel (?) in which they dwell, of Elohim, of the cross which is under the Law. But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands joyfully looking at those who did him violence, while they are divided among themselves. Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception, knowing that they are born blind. So then the one susceptible to suffering shall come, since the body is the substitute. But what they released was my incorporeal body. But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy Spirit."

I am finding it very interesting that some of the things that were revealed to me in the Bible, which I sometimes struggled with because noone else around me seemed to see them (save for my wife, who pushed and prodded me to not give up, and who took the lead when I grew stagnant), were actually believed by at least some of the earlier Christian sects. These excerpts are from Peter's dreams, and Jesus' interpretations of the dreams. At least this is attributed to Peter, the guess is it was actually penned around the third century.

The saying, they will not enter, nor will they permit those who are going up to the approval of their release, is right out of Isaiah chapter 28, which is a prophecy about the priests and teachers of the law. And they put the cross as under the law. It's nothing new but satisfying confirmation. It's also interesting to me that the early gnostic Christians considered Peter their founder. No wonder the catholics wiped them out, and as much of their literature as they could. We are truly fortunate that some of it was hidden to be discovered in our age.

"

Sin

2009-11-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

Sin. Most people don't even know what it is. For some, smoking and drinking is sin. For others, it's a part of their religion. I constantly hear supposed Christians professing that they are sinners, and daily ask for their forgiveness. That was the Old Testament way of doing things, and the churches have perpetuated it despite professing to be followers of the New Testament. In the New Covenant, the laws of God are written into our hearts and minds. Our 'sins' are forgiven, once for all time, and going forward God sees no sin in us. If God sees no sin in me, I certainly am not going to go looking for it. And if I don't see any sin in me, than why would I keep on begging forgiveness? That really isn't what God wants. That's sacrifice. If you stay in this mode, you can't grow, you can't learn. As a Christian, it's time to accept God's gift and move on, accept that He has made you pure.

The eastern religions have a great philosophy about this. Yin/Yang, accepting that the good and bad parts of yourselves make up the whole. We tend to look at our weaknesses as bad things and try to get rid of them, or pretend they aren't there. I personally like Popeye's philosophy,
"I am who I am." When Jesus was preaching, he accepted pretty much everybody who came to him, even the Roman soldiers. The only time he really got upset was with the moneylenders and vendors at the temples. Those temples are symbollic for the real temple, in each of us. The vendors selling their sacrificial animals to me represent those influences around us who would have us constantly offering up offerings, repentance, and keep us under the old system of law. Nothing that goes on in this life is anything more than a shadow of the reality. The churches, the temples, they are not the real dwelling places of God. We are. They are symbols of our inner being, our relationship with God. And Jesus has entered our most holy of holies and become the High Priest, and made us Holy.

So I get pretty upset when I hear somebody trying to berate me into feeling bad for not doing enough, not being holy enough, not being perfect enough. That is literally the job of the accuser, and I recognize that as somebody who doesn't know or understand God, but who's own ego is in control. They think they know something I don't, but I know I'm past them on the learning curve. It's the baby Christians who want to save the world and tell everyone that they're going to hell. As someone who's been there and back, I can tell you they're misguided and full of judgement, which in my opinion is real sin.

lapses

2009-10-31T18:07:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in awhile. Didn't feel the need, since it seems to be just for me anyway, and I have managed to get some things sorted out that I was stewing about. But I'm going to get started again, because I never got to what I was getting to, which is the best stuff. Nothing like sharpening the old sword with people who think the bible is to be taken literally to get the juices flowing. Shall post again in a day or two, and renew myself with this. Even if it is just for me.

Life after Death?

2009-06-23T21:00:00.000-04:00

No answers here, just pondering. I grew up believing in life after death, and
never really questioned it except in my rebellious teen years (when I never
truly gave it much thought.) The night my dad died, I was in boot camp, and
had a vision of him as full of clarity as I ever had outside of some recurring
dreams I used to have. When I was called to the Red Cross in the morning
so they could give me the bad news, I never even considered it could be him
though. All the way I was running through in my mind which of my siblings
would have had an accident. I was in shock at the news. My sisters and
brother also had the vision, however, so I figured it was him saying goodbye
to us. I've never really doubted that, either.

But it's not proof of life after death. Noone has ever had any kind of proof of
that, at least that they've been able to share as more than personal experience.
Some people who were brought back talk about seeing the light, or tunnel, or
relatives, etc. But all these can also be explained by the process of the brain
going down. Which leads me to wonder: when did we (humans) start believing
in life after death anyway? Did it start after we became aware of our loss at
loved ones dying? Did we need to be consoled, or to console others? It appears
that virtually every civilization believes in the spirit living on in some form or
other. And yet, why? Noone can prove it (and not for a lack of trying either.)

I think it must be the one belief we all share that actually goes back to our
roots. If we really did have an Adam and Eve type beginning, starting from
a common ancestor, it must have started with them. At some point in our
youth of humanity we gained an awareness, a knowledge, that the other
animals don't share. We don't know if that was an event or an evolution,
but it seems to me the idea of life after death must have started back then.
It could be that a fear of death (after becoming aware of it) caused us to believe
this way, out of denial. Or it could have been actual knowledge, passed on by
someone overseeing our evolution.

And so, as I get older, I ponder this more and more. I know what I believe.
I believe the Adam and Eve story is a story about our beginnings with
knowledge and understanding and awareness. I don't believe Eve ate an
apple and suddenly gained knowledge, but it's a symbol for whatever did
happen. I believe it was an event, and humanity evolved from it. I believe
we have an event in our future as well, that will greatly revolutionize our
understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe. But will those
who have passed on already still be around? I know what the Bible teaches
about this, but the witnesses to Jesus death and ressurection lived 2000
years ago, and what we know about them was passed on by people several
generations later. So it's faith, not knowledge. Things get exaggerated
about all the great people in history, so while I accept all Jesus teachings,
I question the stories, or at least don't accept them as verbatum facts.

I have no point to make here. It's just something I think about and wanted
to put down on paper (so to speak). Think on this, though: If we as
humanity suddenly DID have proof of our life after death, and DID have
understanding of what it really is, wouldn't that change us? Perhaps that
will happen someday.

King James?

2009-06-16T20:19:00.000-04:00

When I was still a babe in the Lord, my preacher was emphatic that the
King James version was the ONLY reliable English translation of the Bible.
I came to believe that the reason this was pushed was because it was so
totally unreadable by most people that preachers were able to hide behind
it and teach whatever they wanted by using excerpts, or verses, totally out
of context. It was very difficult for most English speaking people (especially
those without a higher education) to read this with any flow. Kind of like
reading Shakespeare. I started reading the NIV, and wore it out.

My wife loves the King James. She says the NIV translation is incorrect
in too many critical places, and she's probably right more often than not.
I maintain that any translation you can read will be OK. If you get to the
point that you want to know a more precise meaning to something, go ahead
and pull out a Schofield or King James or New American Standard and see
what they say for a translation. We have the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons,
that give exact translations for the original words, but it isn't necessary to
get the gist of what's being said.

There are many other books out there that weren't included in the Bible.
The Catholic version has several extra books, that were excluded in our
Bible because the original language wasn't Greek or Hebrew. Really though,
you can pick up a Mormon Bible and still find God's message in it. I've had
God speak to me when I've been reading fictional books. There's a series
of novels about a Navaho cop that speaks quite a bit about Navaho beliefs.
There's a lot of great stuff in there. Many of the so called secret societies
such as Dan Brown wrote about in his novels actually had glimpses of truth
that drove them underground to avoid persectution from the church.

God is Spirit. God is Love. God is Light. He lives in the hearts and minds
of many people. He doesn't just belong to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Eastern
Peoples or any one group. We are all His. And we can all learn from each
other. The idea of accepting the Yang side is contrary to the way we teach
our religion in this country, but it's not contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
We are who we are, and we need to learn to love ourselves as well. That
begins when we realize that God loves us. Not, loves us if we straighten
our lives out. Not, loves us if we walk the straight and narrow. For those
for whom that matters, they can become one with Him. Too bad it only
really matters to a few of us.

God's Word.

2009-06-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

Everything I believe is grounded in the Bible. There was a time when I could quote scripture with the best of them, and wouldn't read anything else. I still try to live my life by the principles I learned, even though I wouldn't necessarily agree anymore. (Like tattoos. Don't have them, don't know why anymore. I don't wear jewelry. Stupid things like that.) I no longer necessarily look at the bible as the sole guideline of my life, even though I'm guided by my grounding in it. If that makes sense.
When I read the Public Letters to the Editors in the paper, I get so sick of people arguing there point with their Bible as their authority. You can be on either side of almost any issue and argue your point from the Bible. Someone thinks their point of view is backed up by God if their interpretation of the Bible backs them up. Too bad most people get their interpretation from
someone else, who gets it from someone else, etc. etc. etc. I read today that one of the Reformed Churches has voted a new statement of faith, which is to be accepted by everyone in their church.
Never mind the politics involved (in accepting gays or not and how strong etc), it's a statement of faith put out by men. Nothing to do with God or the Bible, but dictating beliefs nonetheless. We've literally had centuries of this sort of thing. And yet it's "God's will". Right. So excuse me
for not jumping to your point of view just because you think the Bible backs you up. I've learned enough of what the bible has to teach to know that the teachers don't have a clue, but not enough to consider myself a teacher.
For instance. I might say that the bible is God's Word. But the way you might interpret that is that God literally dictated what was written. NO no no. The bible is God's word in the same way that what I'm writing now is God's word, (sort of). Someone learned from God and wrote about what they learned, in the context of what they knew. I believe I learned a few things from God myself. For instance, the timing of the rapture, whatever that ends up being, isn't in the middle of the tribulation, as is taught by most of the Tribulation Warning preachers. What makes them think they should be spared the battle is beyond me, but that's another discussion.
God has made himself manifest in many people in our societies. God is Love. God is Light. It's not too hard when you get to know God, to spot Him in others. And if he is in someone, that someone might just have something to teach you. And it would be considered God's Word. If you consider the Bible to be God's word, anyway.

Can Christians Sin?

2009-05-22T21:15:00.000-04:00

According to Paul, Once God has accepted you, sin no longer has a hold on
you. There is no more sin in your life. Feel free to smoke that cigarette.
You'll still run the risk of getting cancer, but God isn't going to condemn
you to hell for it. Whatever that struggle is in your life, in the churches
system you'll constantly be repenting and starting over in your relationship
with God. It gets so depressing you can get suicidal and give up. When you
are being told how you should live your life, and your life doesn't stack up,
it becomes a spiral heading down into hell. Add to that a breakdown in a
relationship with someone you love, and your days become one miserable
stretch.

We think of ourselves as a Christian nation. But the reality is that only a
portion of the Christians truly seek a relationship with God. Most people
are content to be sheep, to be led down a path they think God wants for
them (because their leaders told them and that's where they put their
trust.) Just praying to God to meet needs isn't really a relationship.
When you have a relationship with someone, you learn about them,
you learn their character, you get to know them.

People who say they know God, but really everything they know about
God is what they've been taught, only know about God. Don't trust me
to tell you about God, as He'll reveal Himself to you without my help.
Preachers and priests go to school to learn about God, supposedly.
Really what they are learning is theology and pschology. Doctrines
have been passed down through generations upon generations
dating back waaay before the time of Jesus. It didn't change with
the New Testament and the advent of the Catholic or even Christian
church. Politics has influenced decision making in the church, and
always will. Well, maybe someday we will see "the knowledge of
the Lord cover the earth as the sands on the seashore." That's
another discussion.

To have a relationship with God, you must be perfect. There can
be no sin in God's presence. So by the teaching of the law, when
you think a bad thought, you need to repent of that before God
will accept you again. Our guilt bears witness, we don't feel we
deserve to be loved unconditionally. But that is how God loves
us. Even Paul struggled with this, and the early apostles. They
were brought up in a system of law, and they couldn't grasp how
God would just set us free like this. In his letters, Paul qualified
how our lives would be with: "...if the Spirit of God lives in you."
Which is true, if you don't really establish that relationship for
yourself, than the Spirit of God wouldn't live in you. As I said,
only a percentage of people actually seek that out for themselves.
The rest are followers who let other people seek it out for them.
And that is what you are doing if you are letting a preacher or
a priest tell you how to run your life. I'm not saying you don't
belong to Him if you're in the church (I'm sure God's people
really do reside there too) just that your trust is in men.

There really are no rules beyond love. I've tithed and not tithed,
it's made no difference on my financial status. I don't generally
swear or call people idiots, but it happens. Instead of being
seperated, I might get a nudge, when He knows I'ld be receptive
to it. At some point, you get a realization that our purpose in
this life is more about the people around us than it is ourselves.
You don't need to go looking for good works, but opportunities
to do the right thing and help your brother out will present
themselves from time to time. There's no requirement to do
anything. You don't have to give the homeless meals, but if
you do there are rewards that go way beyond money. God's
rewards are treasures that are not material in nature.

More later.

Why Trust Men?

2009-05-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

The point I was trying to get to in my last post, is that the people doing the
teaching have their own motives and slants. They've been taught by other
people with THEIR own slants. The theology that they preach doesn't get
questioned, with any credibility, and answers are bought into and accepted
as facts. Interpretation is controlled by a few at the top of the chain. Any
time a priest or preacher saw a different interpretation and stuck to it, we
would get a new denomination. These were courageous people, like Luther
and Calvin, but if they wanted to question further than the issues they
pursued they were probably limited by the thought of being labeled as
lunatics.

The advent of the press, that made the Bible available to laymen and as
time moved on millions of people made control of theology threatened I'm
sure. But the established churches have been consistent in their dogma,
and to belong to one means you believe as they believe. Minor differences
might be allowed, but not taught. If you tried to teach in the church that
heaven is here and now, not someplace you go when you die, you wouldn't
last long as a teacher. If you try to counsel someone that they are no longer
a sinner and that sin is no longer in them (despite that act they just did that
they're feeling guilty about), I doubt they'ld let you continue to counsel. You
get the idea.

This isn't limited to the Christian church, by the way. Any time you have
men running an organization, you'll have corrupt men running things. I
would dare say the number of people with an absolutely pure heart is a
fairly small sampling percentage wise. So if you're REALLY after the truth,
you're on your own. Or are you?

There are a lot of people today who have figured out what to believe for
themselves, thanks to the religous freedom we have found in America. It's
a good thing, really. There was a time that I would have been tortured and
killed for what I believe in. I'm careful talking to religous people, because
I still have respect for most of them, and I don't want to insult them. But
I do feel free to speak among most of my friends. I don't have to worry
about anyone ratting me out to the religous authorities, because I don't
belong to them. I'm free to go to their services if I choose, but I really
can't stand any more to listen to the garbage that gets spoken as 'God's
Word.' I hear Isaiah preaching, "For it is do and do, rule on rule, a little
here, a little there. To whom is he trying to preach, a child just weaned
from his milk?" I believe many of the preachers, whether it's their intent
or not, really do turn their converts into sons of hell with their teaching.

So what do I believe that's so different? Stay tuned. When I have enough
posts I'll change the title of this blog to "Are we really sinners?" One thing
I DO believe, is that if you earnestly seek out God, you WILL find Him, and
HE will teach you Himself. And the Bible, which men said for decades that
couldn't be interpreted by anyone but the leaders of the church, attests
to it. And when you start down the road to listening directly to God, you
will learn to trust Him and know His voice. And the Bible will even teach
you HOW to learn to recognize His voice. It's a voice you can hear like the
calm in a storm, but you do have to learn how to be calm yourself. (Comes
with trust.)

Scribes and Pharisees

2009-05-18T21:03:00.000-04:00

I am of the opinion that the priests and preachers and religous
leaders of the day today are just the same as the scribes and
pharisees of Jesus day. Human's being what they are, full of
ego and a lust for power, still do what they have to do to get
to the point of leadership. I think there are legitimate preachers,
who think of themselves as servants, but none of them are in
any of the megachurches. The ones I've met, that I felt were
sincere, are in smaller neighborhood churches of no particular
denomination. (Just my personal experience). But I've only
met one that was able to shake off the theology he belongs to
in a quest for truth, and he had a church with maybe 10
members. He had a radio broadcast, and whatever he talked
about, the preacher who followed his broadcast would address
his subject the next week. He put up with me for a summer
when my first wife left me, and I was at the time heavily
indoctrinated in Baptist beliefs. I imagine I was a pretty
miserable person to be around.

But I digress.

Anyway, I had to move 12 hours away from my home to find
someone like that. That's where God led me. Perhaps it was
to be just far enough away from home that I had to be alone
with Him too. That was the start of my growth. Fortunately,
my current wife (of almost 30 years) won't let me get stunted.

Getting back to the subject at hand, it's the nature of the beast.
The more followers they have, the more stature they have. It
doesn't matter if that's what they're after, it affects them, and
they can't do anything that would hurt it. By the time they are
there, theology is set. The Bible isn't read in the eyes of a
searcher, but in the eyes of a teacher. And accepting that
there could be other scripture, well, that would be out of the
question. Never mind that God's message could be in it, for
so many the Bible is God's only and last word. Psht.

All it takes is a little history lesson to determine the absurdity
of that. The organization that put it together was already
corrupt, with their own agenda. God protects his word, is
the rationale. But then here's a bunch of power hungry
men telling us what that word is. No thanks. I've found
that when you live with God, His word is revealed in all
kinds of people's writings. Because God still lives in people,
and people still write about their view of him, which is what
the writers of the Bible did. But until you get to know him,
I guess it's safe to stick to just the Bible. Just not the Bible
as taught today.

Church has limits

2009-05-17T19:51:00.000-04:00

Never blogged before. The address and title are intentionally provocative,
because I intend to write about this with the hope of reaching other people
who are searching God beyond what the churches are offering, which I believe
is based on fallible teachings. I find I can barely tolerate the jibberish that is
offered by most of the preachers, but also understand that to someone who is
in the church is where God wants them to be. Maybe. Or maybe wanted,
at one time.

I do believe the church serves a purpose in our society, and acknowledge they
do much good. But for those who are earnestly seeking God in their lives, it's
only a stepping stone. There is no church that has a corner on the truth, and
much of what is taught is actually AGAINST the true teaching of the Bible and
Christ. To know this, however, you have to take the Bible yourself, and read it
for yourself without the influence of what you've been taught. Sound
impossible? Difficult. Especially if you've been raised on Bible verses. They
need to be read the way they were written. The letters by Paul were letters,
and while the historical understanding that theologians might (or might not)
have helps, it isn't necessary to understand most of the points he's trying to make.

For instance, in his letters Paul refers to not defiling the body of the Lord. He's
talking about the body of believers, the church. Many preachers use this to tell
you it's a sin to smoke or drink. If you hear this from a pulpit, you're listening
to someone who hasn't even got the slightest clue what sin even is. They would
have you begging forgiveness over and over, even though the Bible teaches our
forgiveness is once for all time. When you have been forgiven in Christ, sin is
no longer in your life. It's a concept that teachers of law can't grasp, because
human nature being what it is, you will naturally go out and do things that
would be considered breaking the old law. But if there is no more law, there
is no lawbreaking. The idea is that you are free to be in the presence of God,
without guilt. Being in his presence starts a transformation in you, but it's a
process. A lifelong process.

Most people who grow up in stable homes, and who lead stable lives, don't
really 'search' out God. The people who really search are the people who
have trouble, at least at some point. And finding Christ really is a life
changing experience. And so, having gone through this, you naturally
have a certain loyalty to the church or people who led you down this path.
This is a good thing, and it takes a ton of courage to be able to continue on
in search for the truth, because the fact is that noone has ALL the truth.
So at some point in your growth, to continue growing you have to learn
from the only one who does (God Himself). If He teaches you something
that contradicts what you've been taught, you must understand that your
teachers are His as well, and were bringing you along as far as He would
have them do His work. That's kind of what my writing is about, I need
to continue my own growth and this is a tool to help me do that. If I get
into a dialogue with someone else who is searching, then that would be
awesome. I have no desire to get into any arguements with anyone who
is going to be dogmatic and stunted in their opinions, especially if they're
grounded in what they've been taught by their denominational doctrines.
Been there done that. I'll do it if necessary for someone else's benefit,
but I'm past it for myself.