Sunburn

Post 189

In the last post there presented a very foundational question that needs further exploration:

Define Innocent.

The determination of who is innocent is decided by whom we choose as God.

This is important!

We also saw that many who believe they choose Jehovah as God, have actually chosen a figment of their own imaginations they simply labeled as such. And so in the next few posts we will investigate some foundational concepts that have become confused in making the determination of just Who is God and thus aid in the determination of just Who is innocent.

* * *

While the large majority of modern Christians seem to vaguely think this present period of Liberty (most often called grace) is a permit to lounge around in general harmless but lawless salvation while the Shadow of God covers us in spiritual salvation and protection, it is my experience that if we are to remain under that shadow, we must constantly stay on the move to be where that shadow falls at any given moment.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” Psalm 91:1.

Because we naturally equate Jesus with the Sun, we usually see this verse to be only a warm and fuzzy “generalized” verse of encouraging poetry that really cannot mean anything more because it doesn’t seem to make scientific or spiritual sense.

But lets seriously test the actual concept of the verse to see if it can hold water (has no holes in the principle intended).

* * *

Sunburn:

If God (the Almighty) is going to cast a shadow, He cannot be the sun in the analogy.

If we therefore use the perspective that Evil is the hot blistering sun of the scorched desolate land of sin, and God is the thing standing between that evil and ourselves to cast a shadow of protection such as a tree, we can comprehend that if we align ourselves directly behind the tree in line with the sun, we are protected from the harmful rays.

Ok, good so far.

We can easily comprehend that God does not change; correctly represented by the stationary tree.

And sin remains the same value (always burning hotly); represented by the stationary sun in space.

So in our simple generic Christianity of ignorance, we want to plant our lawn chair of faith in the relieving shade we found and grab some ice-tea for a snooze.

But what happens?

Within only a few minuets we wake up to find we are no longer in the shade!

Since we know practically that our lawn chair did not move, and we know scientifically that the sun does not move, and we know rationally that the tree does not move… how is it possible that the shade moved?!

Our world position in time is always changing though never “moving”, and our practical observation of the stationary sun "moving" across our sky is a representation of how confusing it is to comprehend the ways of the sin that burns us.

This scriptural analogy correctly describes; "What I learned from God last week that utterly changed my life", cannot be applied today in the same way expecting the same result, because time has transformed yesterday’s present into today’s history.

Although we have not moved an inch from our lawn chair of faith after carefully aligning it in the very specific shadow of an unmovable God to protect us from a constantly evil environment, somehow we are no longer in the right place.

Only a simpleton would demand that the shade must be here now, because it was here just ten minutes ago... Yet Christians regularly find security in an experience with God that happened 20 years ago!

Since we know that unlike the tree, God is actually omnipresent, (everywhere at once) we can rightly conclude this verse is worded this way because the concept is regarding OUR location at any point in time, not his. We will see this application as we continue.

To dwell 3427 in that secret place we must abide 3885 under the shadow of the almighty. This is the description of actively maintaining our status resulting in a permanent home, NOT the focus of actively setting up a home in one specific location once found.

Dwell 3427 yashab; a primitive root; properly to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication to dwell, to remain: causative to settle, to marry:- (make to) abide (-ing), continue…

Abide 3885 luwn; a primitive root; to stop (usually overnight); by implication to stay permanently; hence (in a bad sense) to be obstinate (especially in words, to complain):- abide (all night), continue, dwell…

“He that dwelleth (chooses to put down roots) in the secret place of the most High shall abide (actively remain) under the shadow of the Almighty” Psalm 91:1.

The word dwell, used here, clearly tells us that the place of permanent position in which we are to intentionally “call home”, is the hidden place of God which we judge to be the right place we want to be, by an investigation (trial) which causes us to determine; “Here; This is it. This is where I want to be.” But such a secret place is only found in the idea of "abiding" in a shadow.

This definition suggests a relationship, or mentality, rather than a location;

We “continue” (dwell) in that secret place by ensuring we constantly "remain" (abide) in a constantly moving location even though the source of the location never moves!

This is very confusing until you use the analogy of a shadow.

You live (dwell) in the protection of the tree, by staying (abiding) in its moving shadow.

So is the dwelling place on the third branch from the bottom left? No.

Is it 26 feet from the base of the tree in a southerly direction? No.

Is it... No.

“Just tell me where it is, and I will be there!”

I can't; the place is secret,

but not because it’s intentionally exclusive. I can't tell you where it is, you have to find it for yourself because it’s not a place at all, though it is a place so to speak. Just as a shadow is not a place when considering the tangible tree, but it is a place when you comprehend the application.

Yes for me it is a very specific place where I am now existing, but that is not the place you will find it because you are not where I am. You must observe where the sun is in relation to yourself and find where the LORD requires you to be for your protection from the sin at that moment.

What I can tell you is that ALL sin is sunshine in this analogy. It is up to you to determine how much burn you want to endure!

Your failure to find the shade is directly related to your unwillingness get out of the sun. The hotter the sun and the more painful the experiences of past burns, the sooner you will be willing to search for the shade.

Now although the word abide clearly means a place of permanent existence, it really has a strange negative connotation!

Why is that?

For the same reason you seek out the shade on a scorching hot day; You do so, not because you have an affinity for shade, but because of your complaint of the heat! You need relief and find it in the shade.

When the shade moves, you complain again, and go to the effort to move your chair and belongings to relocate yourself in just the right spot behind the tree to protect yourself from the sun. You maintain your abiding in the shade with an obstinate effort of motivational complaint!

“The sun is too hot!” is the motivation for our action of abiding in the shade.

Isn’t it marvelous how God used the perfect words of the perfect analogy to perfectly describe our protection from the wicked one?

I confess, like all men, I naturally like a little sun. What I don't like is sunburn. Experience will tell a smart person that the unprotected pleasure in the scorching sun is not worth the pain of the consequences. And so without someone making a law, after being burnt a few times, the smart person will choose to use informed caution of limited exposure.

“All unrighteousness is sin 266: and there is a sin 266 not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth 264 not; but (rather) he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” I John 5:17-18.

There is a significant amount of mystery to explore in the meaning of this passage but we will stay on track and explore only basic sin.

Sin(eth) 264 hamartano; perhaps from 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 3313; properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin.

sin 266 hamartia; from 264; sin (proper abstract):- offense, sin (-full).

Clearly by definition; sin is sin, and it is declared that the born of God does not “miss the mark” to the failure of obtaining the prize (Eternal Life).

In this verse, born and begotten are translationally the same original word; in simple terms meaning, “regenerated”.

The “but” as used here is not representing an alternate, but rather represents furtherance (as in this sentence). The one “born” does not sin but instead keeps himself so that he can’t be touched.

“That makes sense, but how are we to apply the first verse indicating there is a sin not unto death?”

What do we care about other sin if the born of God do not “miss the mark” (sin)? That is our goal. But what if we do miss?

We must accept that although all unrighteousness is sin, there are two applications of unrighteousness here; One that leads to death, and one that allows the Devil to touch you but not kill you spiritually. This suggests "degrees" of sin as related to the degrees of consequences.

We are able to see this possibility by the slight difference of the words used. 264 and 266.

While they are both the same sin, the one is definitive and the other abstract.

While all sin is abstract, there is a sin that by application is definitive. The born of God do not “commit” sin (definitive), but keep themselves from it, though they might "fall into sin" (abstract) through ignorance or weakness.

This flies fully in the face of the “Calvinists” who utterly deny the idea of any such self-works. Yet plain as day, John declares it is the regenerated individual that actively maintains this sinlessness; He "keepeth himself".

This in itself needs to be fully agreed before we can move on, but here is where we find a very large percentage of Modern Christians get stuck;

* * *

Christians of Sin:

“Everyone sins”, “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”, "perfection is unattainable in this life", and many other such declared statements of “fact” are regularly heard from the Modern Christian who by experience cannot break free from the clutch of sin.

These “Christians”, like the “Evolution scientist”, have accepted a doctrine from “better men than them” who have declared such things as Truth and support it by evidence. But is it true?

The Holy Scriptures through John has said otherwise. And although you can easily interpret your alternate view through the lens you use, we see the fundamental flaws in this theory when it runs its course:

I have actually heard it argued using these same verses, that once we are saved, sin is no longer sin! Apparently now that we are “born again” even adultery and murder is not sin!

This is blasphemy by misapplication of scripture, but arrived at by the same demands that require Dark Matter and Dark Energy to explain Evolution; a re-invention of reality confirmed by theoretical evidence that does not exist or is misapplied.

The passage says; Those actually born of God do not commit sin.

Therefore, if you find yourself committing sin, the state of birth should be seriously questioned and not the state of sin.

If the very fact of regenerated birth made it impossible to sin, then the one verse would be enough. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not” I John 5:18a.

Done deal. Lets move on.

But the verse does not end there; there is more to the thought,

and now we see emerge the need of the other element of the passage:

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, (God) and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death (see also I John 2:1). There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” I John 5:16.

It cannot be debated that “the brother” in this verse is a “born of God” individual.

Read the verse with intent and we discover the life given upon request is not given to the brother who sinned, but to the brother who prayed (asked).

This is because we know that a sinning brother cannot receive any request from God but forgiveness by the request of repentance (James 1:7,22 Ezekiel 3:20). Therefore the brother that has not sinned, asks God for life for his still sinning brother that cannot find repentance, and God gives that life to the sinless brother who then imparts it to the sinner through reasonable instruction, much as I am doing here.

The sinning brother must be instructed to the life altering understanding which when applied can save him from sunburn type unrighteousness; not that of spiritual death which we are not pray for, but from the destructive power of unrighteousness in this life that can be corrected through instruction.

This same concept played out in the Old Testament;

“Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” Ezekiel 3:21.

The warning here that we are to give is not to say; “Don’t sin”, but to impart reason; “The righteous do not sin!”. Like 1 John, this verse is speaking of a concept of education of instruction, not a command of fact. Of course the righteous can sin, he just doesn’t, or he wouldn’t be called righteous!

I John 3:9 declares the righteous cannot sin, but there is an explanation; BECAUSE he is born (regenerated) of God.

This is like saying; "I cannot cheat on my wife BECAUSE I love her."

Of course it is not impossible, it's just NOT POSSIBLE!

With this comprehension we now understand that verse 18 is not speaking of an impossibility to commit sin, but a state of sinlessness by actively keeping oneself from it.

In such a state, the wicked one cannot touch us!

Therefore it follows that unless we keep ourselves from sin, we can and will fall to sin by which the Devil can touch us.

It does not take a theological degree to comprehend that the Devil’s touch is destructive. This concept here of "touching" is not speaking of tribulation against the saints which can result in even physical death as is common among faithful Christians throughout the word today, but rather speaking of a personal failure in the war with sin and the consequences we see common among weak believers today; A failure in the successful application of faith.

Apparently we have forgotten what "we know(;) that whosoever is born of God sinneth not”, and have now been convinced that it means whosoever is born of God cannot possibly sin even though it looks and results exactly like sin!

This verse is not a statement of unalterable existence, it is a statement of being (abiding); “Christians do not sin.”

But if we do get confused and fall into the clutch of sin, our brother who sees it, can pray that God would show him how to lead us out of the flawed understanding, and give us life in our salvation.

Now with this understanding, read James chapters 1 and 2, and I John chapter 3. The scriptures are stuffed with this concept;

“Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sineth hath not seen him, neither known him… he that committeth sin is of the devil;… Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;…”

I John 3:6-9.

But like the earnest study of the geological evidence supporting Evolution, if you really want to believe that these passages describe an impossibility to sin because sin has somehow changed though the consequences look like it hasn't, you can find that verification by the lens you use to read it.

Again I point you to the fantastic discoveries at Mount St. Helens (http://store.icr.org/products.asp?dept=8) and many, many others that show convincing proof of a very different interpretation of the geological evidence for the age of the earth and how things came to be as they are today!

If the evidences in your own life don't seem to show proof that your spiritual theories work, I invite you to consider mine!

* * *

Skin Cancer:

"…There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it" I John 5:16b.

Don’t waste your time with this person because you will not be able to change their minds. They now have spiritual skin cancer from extended exposure to the rays of the sin, because they love being in the sin!

But the earnest Christian who has ignorantly fallen to a corrupt comprehension of the faith, we can pray on their behalf, and receive what is needed for them if their sin is not already unto death.

Apparently there is such a thing as a sunburnt Christian!

Although this passage of the shadow of God is relative to the scorching hot sands in the stifling heat of the Middle East, we can glean at least in part that which relates to us Americans who have lived in the defused heat of the sun as it shines through the perimeter leaves of the tree of America's protective God.

Like the mild warmth of the American sun, casual sin feels so good… but without care to avoid exposure, it too results in horrible pain and suffering of sunburn. The longer the exposure the greater the burn that in time turns to cancer and death. And now you know why God designed a temporal system that hides the consequence of sunburn until the next day... It is a lesson for a spiritual application!

But when we remove ourselves from the sun, we find we are healed over time through a process of small and many steps of the Creator's miraculous repair, which he also built into the system.

And yet we also find that if we build up a familiarity with the sun little by little, we can tolerate a lot more pleasure in sin without feeling the consequences (much as an alcoholic acquires a tolerance)… until we end up with spiritual skin cancer!

While the regenerated Christian is immediately sensitive to even the smallest rays of sin, Today’s “Christian” has a love affair with the sun of sin and will do everything possible to get just a little more actually believing it a desired improvement in their spiritual complexion!

It is my experience, by the observation of trial and error, that a two hour Hollywood movie is like sitting under a sun lamp for the same duration.

(You can make your own applications as you think about it.)

This perfect analogy of scripture only seems to fail, if you love the experience and results of sin, just as you love the heat and suntan from physical exposure. Perhaps your sin is already unto death? I pray not!

What color has your spiritual skin become from exposure to the sin, and just how long is the hair of your priest now?

* * *

Moldy Bread and Ever Moving Shade:

“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) was how Jesus taught us to request our sustenance from God. In the shadow example he described protection, in the bread example he described provision.

The miracle of the manna that came daily and molded if kept over the next day, is another of God’s examples of this principle of moment by moment fresh sustenance (Exodus 16:29).

This confirms our comprehension that God is not stagnate nor is he the God of the spiritually slothful. God is a God of action and if we expect to remain under his wing (Psalm 91:4) it is us who has the duty to find the shade or collect the manna DAILY. All the promises of Psalm 91 are contingent upon our vigil abiding under that shadow, the specific place “protected” by his presence.

So with this concept, what do you think God feels about a preacher who drags out of his file a sermon he gave two years ago?

“But it was a good one; God really moved when I gave it back then!”

Whether it works again now or not is missing the point; That message is dry!

Yes, even dry bread has sustenance if you can choke it down, and what is now no longer provision to that preacher may indeed be provision for the hearer because the preacher and the hearer are not in the same place relative to sin. A dry sermon does nothing for the preacher who will soon be burnt by the sun of sin because the shade has moved and he didn't keep up. The Manna he collected yesterday has molded, and to offer it to others is destitute at best in the obvious observation that he has no access to fresh manna.

In addition to that, we have the example of the priest’s Show Bread which was made weekly, (Leviticus 24:5-9) not daily, and our temporal world too shows regular bread to last several days before going bad. This is an example of a limited period of expected duration of the spiritual sustenance we get from the LORD before it becomes old and we need new bread. It also shows that God provides different types of sustenance; some get stale while the other gets moldy, and their rates are slightly different.

If you are not getting fresh sustenance from God on a regular basis; AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, you are not being fed the fresh bread of life, but old, dry bread at best. If you are relying on your preacher to give you that weekly bread, it is imperative that what he gives you needs to be received fresh from the “Baker” if it is to last you a whole week!

Do you complain of a consistent hunger that your preacher can't seem to fill?

God’s provision of personally collected daily bread (manna Exodus 16:15-12) is even that much more timely to be personally collected daily before it loses its usefulness for us. This concept fits well with the ever-moving shadow of protection and our constant efforts to remain in it. The point is that our action of maintaining our faith needs to be daily current to be useful (except on the Sabbath). Please read this section of Exodus for a fascinating application of this concept! The nature of Manna suddenly takes on a far richer meaning.

As a child I watched my dad spend daily time with the Lord, and on Saturday he spent twice as much time and effort in preparation of presenting his Sunday-School lesson the next day. Without perhaps realizing it, he was fulfilling the righteousness of the manna principle, to give weekly bread to his students. I can tell you, his weekly bread was daily fresh!

Isn’t it exciting to know how simple it is to remain where Satan cannot inflict us with his wickedness? (Even though he can still inflict us BY his wickedness. But that is another post!)

Simply do not sin!

* * *

“But”, you complain; “I have tried! O how I have tried! It cannot be done!”

I too spent far too long with this cry until I discovered the instruction that was able to save my soul… I had to give up the sun of sin!

For a sun lover, that was very hard to do! and even more so without sound spiritual guides to warn me against the siren call of sin singing in my ear; "You don't need to give up the little pleasures of sin to be a Christian, Grace covers that!"

But once I grasped the truth that “whosoever abideth in him sinneth not”, I comprehended I could not rightly think I was abiding in him if I continued in sin. I had to choose; The sun or the shade *1.

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” I John 1:5.

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” I John 1:6

“but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” I John 1:7.

The choice has always been ours, yet we cry out to God for help as if the problem is his. But to continue in sin and then cry out to God to save us from the consequences of the Devil’s touch in our life is foolish and even stubbornness:

“The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise” Proverbs 15:3, (also 6:23).

This is not the reproof of a fellow man, this is the results of the Devil’s touch through the sin in your life. Be reproved, stop the sin, and be wise.

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” Proverbs 29:1.

This is spiritual skin cancer; far more complex than even a deep sunburn, this does not heal on its own by removing from the sun of sin, this is a sin unto death.

* * *

Still hope:

But glory to God, even in this destruction there is yet hope of life which springs from the ashes if true repentance is sought because of the destruction (Matthew 11:21, Hebrews 9:13 the representational use of ashes in repentance).

Just as science has discovered ways to remove the cancer and save the life, so salvation can yet be found even after destruction though the devastation is irreparable (more on this but not for several posts).

The destruction is not repaired, but the cause removed. The tissue is cut out, and the scars of disability remain, but the life is saved.

All this can yet be done, but only BEFORE the cancer kills you!

* * *

Two gods rule,

Both claim to be light.

The choice you make, confirmed

by the lens your god provides.

Each justified god

commands by light,

One toward death

The other toward life.

Of whose children are the innocent?

* * * * * * *

*1 Who is the Light and who is the Dark?

Yes I understand the confusion of the apparent "flaw" in my interpretation by the reversal of light and dark with sun and shade. And for some time I resisted exploring this analogy because of it. How could I dare to call God shade while calling Satan light? But I eventually realized the reason for the switch!

"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" II Corinthians 11:14.

Now if Satan then shines his "light" of wickedness on man, pretending to be God, God must stand between us as a resistance to and protection from that destructive "light". He becomes "shade" from that "light".

This becomes even more profound when we contemplate that the Anti-Christ, as an impostor of Christ, will have to present himself as light if he is to pull it off. But we know Satan and his henchmen, by their very nature, cannot help but corrupt the light (II Corinthians 11:15).

It is this corrupted light that is described in the burning heat of the sun from which the LORD must hide us in his shadow which he explains in his analogy.

God does not become "dark", only "shade" (protection) from the destructive evil light.

*