The Peter Problem

Post 216

Theologically we all wrestle with properly applying the scripture in a right and real way. This is the motive of all the doctrinal controversy and is the number one frustration of all genuine followers of God. In earnest desire to walk in a way that pleases God we stumble and trip in the unknown and cry out in frustration to God; “What am I supposed to do here?”

Frustrate: [Latin frustrates, past particle of frustrare to deceive, frustrate] 1. To prevent from attaining a purpose; balk. 2. To bring to nothing; defeat; baffle; also, to nullify.

Why is it that God designed it this way? Or perhaps better asked; Is this the way God designed it, or are we simply living in the corruption of the system God designed to be different than it is now?
As is common to concepts beyond our comfortable reach, the scripture suggests by a plethora of inference and even declares directly that we are to understand the truth of God from the tangible system he gave us.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest 5319 in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” Romans 1:18-20
manifest 5319 phaneroo; ...to render apparent...

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth…” Deuteronomy 4:32- (also Acts 14:15b-17)
So by the suggested observation we see by the pattern of life itself that mankind is born a fully ignorant and helpless child who then spends his life learning to be able beyond who he was the day before.
Along the way he is able to share with those less learned that which he has acquired while he continues to learn what he himself does not yet know.
So we see that the process is indeed the design of God while what the individual has or can acquire may be reduced by the corruption of those sharing with him, this is also verified by scripture;

“When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves… and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day… ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 4:25-26
Obviously by the duration shown, this is speaking generationally to a people where the children are destroyed by the corruptions that progressively accumulate generation by generation.
The children suffer the consequences of learning error to the resulting anger of the LORD by those generations that precede them, but growing up in the error they ignorantly accept the resulting displeasure of God as normal and add error to error for the next generation. In this way the later children who suffer beyond a willingness to bear it eventually cry out to God in frustration asking for the right way which they cannot see because of being misguided through generations of error.

“When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (for the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee…” Deuteronomy 4:30-31

But we typically don’t seriously investigate how this works. We assume that when I finally get to the place that I really don’t like anymore, I decide to become a Christian and God magically makes everything all better.
But this is not the pattern we see from reality which the scriptures declare is how we discover the understanding that is hidden from us by our ignorance. Human history shows that changes come by understanding of gained knowledge and again scripture shows this to be true as we continue the passage.

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth…” Deuteronomy 4:32

The depth of this verse is profound as it allows us to apply this to every area of knowledge to any depth we desire to investigate, including the archeological investigation of the way things were designed to be from the beginning; such as palm trees buried under the frozen tundra of northern Alaska or the previous environment that resulted in huge volumes of oil buried beneath the sands of the Middle East. ‘Ask of the days that are past’ means to investigate the times before your current environment today and even before you were born; “What was it like in ‘the old days?’ and why did things change for better or worse?” This is the pattern of learning which changes our ableness, that we see explained in the lifecycle of an ignorant helpless child to an able adult.

We can learn from history, and in fact God declares that we should, if we want to learn how to end the undesirable conditions of life we face at any given point in time, even specifically the really hopeless conditions that occur in the latter days! (v.30, Hosea 3:5)
But God gives us a head start in our confusion of where and how to begin looking through history for the answer;

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29

So we see by example of life and by direction of scripture that God designed the system that cause-and-effect occur at all times, and he intentionally designed it that we begin in utter ignorance to then progressively gain understanding which can change the cause and therefore get a different effect. Further we see that the degree of cause-and-effect is compounded through generations in a linear progression by instruction and “passed-down” understanding or the lack thereof.
Yet we are mercifully shown that we can significantly jump locations on the linear path of generational understanding by seeking the LORD directly and asking the distant past. The text seems to indicate that the asking of the past will point us to God whom we are to seek as available wisdom outside our available linear sources of error (current educators).
* * *

OK, But this post is about those who have sought God with all their heart, it is asking why is the system designed by God to frustrate us by what we don’t yet understand? Why did God make children so vulnerably empty to be directly and helplessly affected by the condition of (possible) error in their parents?
Theologically we all wrestle with properly applying the scripture in a right and real way. This is the motive of all the honest doctrinal controversy and is the number one frustration of all genuine followers of God. In earnest desire to walk in a way that pleases God we stumble and trip in the unknown and cry out in frustration to God for understanding; “What am I supposed to do here?”

What is the point of making learning difficult? Why not just be born with all knowledge? Why did Peter not have what he needed to succeed in his walk to the Lord on the water?

The answer itself is both frustrating and enlightening:
If we had all knowledge we would not need God; we would BE God. Since we are not God and CANNOT be God, it is impossible to have all knowledge. This is why we need God; because we are not God. The very failure of understanding that causes the cry; “What am I supposed to do here?” is the thing that keeps our face turned toward God. The learning process is what keeps us facing the direction of learning. If we had all that we needed to know we would have nowhere to face toward and no cause to motivate the turning.
I believe that Peter HAD to fail in his endeavor. It was not exactly “sin” that caused him to fail and the failure itself was not sin in the willful aspect. It was a lack of understanding, it was the fact that he was not God (by definition sin is to miss the mark - I John 1:7-8).
Peter, more than the other disciples, was closest to the understanding of “all things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26), but still he was lacking and needed to cry out to Jesus for rescue.
So how is it that Peter started out in good shape at all? Because without thinking of all the other factors, he began his venture with one thought; Going to the Lord. THIS is the secret of success because it contains two needful factors;

1st - It seeks the LORD as the singular perfect goal of the effort.
2nd - It comprehends that I am not the source of the power to succeed.

As long as these two factors are in place I believe there is no limit to the possible success of the mission, but the purpose of the “able wind” that drives the frustrating sea is to confuse our awareness of these two factors.
So while Peter got off target by beginning to think completion of the walk to Jesus was the goal, instead of to Jesus, he deviated from these factors and began to sink.
Peter HAD to fail or there would be no need for Jesus to be standing there for him to go to.
Once Peter failed and cried out to Jesus, his environment of cause and effect quickly reorganized his thinking and the two factors returned; “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him…” Matthew 14:31
Once he was in Jesus’ personal care we are so confident in Jesus that we don’t even bother to consider how Peter made it back to the boat! We just naturally assume with a lack of wonder that the two walked back to the boat and climbed aboard as if it was no miracle at all. Peter did so because those two factors were then securely established while in the presence of Jesus; Peter no longer struggled with “properly playing his part of walking” and simply was “with the Lord”. I liken this to breaking the very turbulent sound barrier to then find virtually no turmoil at all as the violent air flows harmlessly around the plane to crash violently behind it as you are beyond "hearing the forceful wind" (sound barrier). The turbulence (able wind) is still there, it just doesn’t affect the plane. This is the secret place of the most High (Psalm 91:1) in which Peter was dwelling as he walked with Jesus back to the boat in what didn’t even seem to be a miracle.
“and when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased” Matthew 14:32. Unlike the disciples, we blow right past them ‘coming into the ship’ to see the miracle of the wind ceasing! “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” Matthew 14:34, But “WHO CARES ABOUT THE WIND? I WAS JUST WALKING ON THE SEA WITH THE LORD!” (rabbit trail but consider the variation of recorded reaction in the narrations that exclude Peter’s walk; Mark 6:51, John 6:21)
Now if Peter had walked on his own from start to finish we would be all excited about that, but since he failed and then came back walking with the Lord, we wrongly see it as a failure and miss what these disciples comprehended.

In this way I confidently believe that the frustration of our faith is not seen by God as a failure that needs to be fixed, but the process of learning by which we can change the undesirable effects that lead us to seek God.
Seeking God IS the goal with the understanding we will never be God.

Are you seeking God? Great, by learned understanding you can improve the effects by changing the cause, but don’t forget that is not the goal but just the motivation. The success of the motivation (fixing the cause of effect) is not the same thing as the success of the goal (seeking the LORD) though they are related.

Peace is found in realizing that seeking the Lord is the goal that pleases God and not the past success of having sought the Lord;

“Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: but because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
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 3:20-21,
“…Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house (that came before you): open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee” Ezekiel 2:8.
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat 5153 the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 4095 his blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53
* * * * * * *

eat 5315 phago; a primitive verb (used as an alternate of 2068 in certain tenses); to eat (literal or figurative).
2068 esthio; strengthened for a primitive edo (to eat); used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by 5315; to eat (usually literal).
Drink 4095 pino; a prolonged form of pio which (together with another form poo) occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses; to imbibe (literal or figurative).

Clearly by the alternate meanings available, the 5153 and 4095 use here is to be taken figuratively and not in transubstantiation. The intended meaning is to be nourished by the life of Jesus that he intends to fill us with; “To put on Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14, Galatians 3:27).
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One Coin Two Sides,

And A Lot More!
Post 215

Resolution of Problems:
By my personal embarrassing exposure of my own wrestling, I have been showing you the intricate details that caused Peter to sinking into the sea, which were only covered in scripture by the single line; “But when he saw the wind boisterous 2478, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Matthew 14:30

Boisterous 2478 ischuros; from 2479; forcible (literal or figurative).
2479 ischus; from a derivative of Is (force); forcefulness (lit. or fig.):- ability, mighty, power, strength.

By approaching the problem that erodes success with a scientific mind of investigation we can learn much more from scripture as it relates to our own experimental trials than we can if it remains untried (James 1:2-3).
As it relates to my own experiment I notice that Peter was not actually struggling directly with the turbulent sea as we imagine; the verse tells us it was the forceful wind that had his attention and caused fear. It was the fear of the very powerful wind that caused his sinking but it was the turbulent sea into which he sank.
In past posts we have been learning quite a bit about the winds and that while they are very real destructive forces of nature, they are even more significant the spirits that drive the winds. So in representation we can understand that while indeed the turbulent sea as riotous mankind was making his spiritual journey quite difficult, it was the very powerful spirit that drove mankind which was actually giving Peter the problem, this is played out in his denial of Jesus (Matthew 26:74). It is very easy to focus on the people or situation standing against us and miss the forceful spirit that drives them because as much as we like to think we have a handle on the spiritual concepts it is difficult to really understand how the spiritual and the physical world interact.
The East Coast of America just had another big storm they named Hurricane Irene that caused significant damage, and we accept it as something in our temporal world that just happens from time to time. And we really don’t have a problem spiritualizing the storm to mean spiritual activity moving against us, but when we try to combine the actual spiritual spirits driving the actual temporal winds (Daniel 7:2, Zechariah 6:5) we find it quite hard not to automatically allegorize that. To actually blend the spiritual and the temporal is ingrained in us to be wrong. We have been successfully educated by society that the two are not to be blended. This is the powerful “Separation of Church and State” philosophy that America has swallowed wholesale by segregating God from Reality, demanding he stay within the context of religion where we find him at church on Sunday. We live in a two-dimensional perspective of life and try to introduce three-dimensional thinking into it. It simply will not work but we confuse ourselves by trying and the world mocks the effort.
* * *

The Coin:
Imagine with me that you reach into your pocket right now and pull out a coin and place it there on the table in front of you. Go ahead. Do you see it in your mind? Good.
Now describe that coin to me:
“It is circular like a disk, it has a serrated edge, there is the face of a reasonably forehead-bald guy with a ponytail in a side profile, there is a date below his neckline 1987 and by his collar the words IN GOD WE TRUST, and over his head is the word LIBERTY.”
Good, I have no criticism to your very good description; it is completely correct and needs no further embellishment to make the description complete.

Now from your explanation of the coin before you, I know which coin you have, so let me describe it as I know it even though it is on the table in front of you:
“There is an Eagle with his wings stretched out as if he were drying them while perched on a bundle of arrows, below him is two tied branches of leaves and below that are the words QUARTER DOLLAR. Above his head is the phrase E PLURIBUS UNUM, and above that is the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

Isn’t it curious that because you know the general properties of the coin you will not argue with me, but while the coin is lying on your desk in the two dimensional flat plane, everything I just said appears to be completely wrong.
How hard will you have to stare at that two dimensional image before you begin to see what I described? Will a magnifying glass help? Does it matter if you further identify the ribbon in his ponytail or the single letter “D” nearby? What help is it if you study it even more and describe his noticeable Adam's-apple or the fact that you cannot see his ear? Perhaps you should do some research to discover the identity of the man and why he is on the coin. Does any of this very personal and diligent investigation help you see what I have described?
While the deep investigation is certainly good information, none of what you are so earnestly studying has any relationship with what I described as long as the coin remains in the two dimensional plane. I suggest this two dimensional view of the coin is the human perspective of reality. It is completely correct with nothing missing but still has nothing to do with the description I gave, to the point you are obligated to determine I am either a liar or insane. The coin is in front of YOU, and you just described what YOU are seeing; who am I to tell you that what you are seeing is wrong?! (II Timothy 3:7-8)
But I did not say it was wrong, just “small”. I’m trying to give you a bigger (not larger) picture by an entirely different view of the same coin.

Now some people with the coin on their desk in the two dimensional view will get all excited because they agree with me; they see exactly what I am describing… and so YOU are the one insane as my description proves it!
I suggest this view is the spiritual side of reality still seen from the two dimensional human perspective (Romans 2:12). And with two guys seeing clearly two different views of the same coin in two dimensions, we have the contention of trying to convince the other guy that he must be seeing wrong. In the two dimensional human perspective they both CANNOT be right. If I say they can it seems that I am declaring the “both hands” system of worldview perspective while you declare the “either or”. But this is not so while at the same time it sortof is. How confusing. The law of non-contradiction seems to agree with you; both CANNOT be right, so which is it?

Now enters the third guy who declares that he sees "a sailing ship with a serpent as the mast with an eagle in his mouth and the word DEMOCRACY over the ship sailing to an island in the form of a forehead-bald guy with waves crashing against his nose near the date 2009 and below all that are the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". (for the none American readers; there is no such coin.)

Now how do I declare HE is insane since the first two guys can’t agree on what they see and I seem to reject the law of non-contradiction by claiming they are both right?
THIS is the confusion coming on the world because we are stuck in a two dimensional perspective of reality; some focus on the temporal issues of reality such as crime while others focus on the spiritual issues of reality such as hate; Two sides of the same coin but somehow unable to reconcile the foundations of the apparently different perspectives. There is simply no way these views will ever be reconciled between them.

God has a view too, but his is not a two dimensional perspective.
God sees the coin not as a double two dimensional image, but a three dimensional object made for a purpose in a three dimensional world that really has little to do with the image on either side but to identify the way the coin is to be used.

You know this concept in a vague kind of way but somehow you don’t know how to get that image on your desk to “become” a useful three-dimensional coin. In fact many people can’t even figure out how to flip over the coin to examine the other side they have not seen.

Pluralism is the two-dimensional philosophy reconciling the views of all three guys in the argument; declaring that the coin has no image but what the viewer "sees".
This is true insanity but about the best possible explanation of the facts from a two dimensional perspective!
So until you have seen and know both sides of the coin and how they are not in conflict, how can you declare there is no ship on the coin?
This is the unending conflict between Law and Grace, Free will and Predestination, Armenian vs. Calvin, Legalism vs. Lasciviousness, Resisting evil vs. Turning the other cheek. Accountability vs. Forgiveness, Christian nation vs. No religion legislated, etc. etc. etc.
* * *

Excluding the whacko that invents his own image of the coin through Evolution and such, the Christless honest world studies reality from the head side of the coin through temporal science while common Christianity studies the scriptures to understand the spiritual tail side of the coin. We learn of God and of Jesus and even find salvation all from that two dimensional human view, but the reconciling of both views at once is another matter all together; it takes a three dimensional perspective from God’s angle.
This is what Peter faced as he ventured to walk to Jesus on the sea, and this is the conflict I face as I wrestle with the application of two sides of the coin in a single perspective of reality.
How do you change from a two-dimensional human perspective to the three-dimensional perspective of God? That is the million dollar question.
* * *

Not a third side:
The first step is the relatively easy one and that is to flip the coin over.
First you have to realize there is another side. The religious person has a head start on this as he has no problem understanding the two sides concept, but the two-dimensional view encourages the study of one side you can see while ignoring the other as a hard to grasp illusion that you cannot see except in your mind. Independently viewed at different times, each side makes very good and easy sense as long as they stay exclusive as if they were two coins, but you can only focus on one at a time while the other becomes a ghost memory.
It is wise to become familiar with the details of both sides of the coin by flipping back and forth between them as regularly needed. In this way you can by familiarity spot the impostor view as elements not even on the coin. And the light begins to dawn that a two-side view of reality is not Pluralism or a “both hands” worldview.
The next step is quite a bit more difficult because you cannot simply slide both views together making one mixed view as is expected in a two dimensional perspective, but rather you must “see” the coin rise off of the table and stand on its edge as if by magic. The coin must become three-dimensional to your sight, not overlapping the temporal and the spiritual but not just complimenting either. They are inseparably blended into a single world-view coin that suddenly has a very real and practical use that could not be comprehended in the two dimensional perspective regardless which side of the coin you studied.
So how is this actually done?

The study of scripture over time eventually flips the coin from the head to the tail side, but while studying that side through scripture don’t miss the greater fact that it actually flipped the coin in the first place! The flipping of the two dimensional view to comprehend there is another side to it, is a dawning of comprehension how the third dimension is viewed. While the study of scripture flips the coin, the study of scriptural Prophecy stands the coin of reality on its edge in all its three-dimensional glory as God sees it, not as a third side (Revelation 1:3,22:7).

Prophecy:
Now don’t get all weirded out by the word prophecy. Scripturally that word simply means to see things from God’s perspective and so a prophet is one who reveals that perspective of life. Prophecy is just one gift of several revealed in Ephesians 4:11 for the purpose of making the people of God complete, and as tools of the ministry, and to edify 3619 the Church (Ephesians 4:12).
Edify 3619 oikodome; …architecture, i.e. (concretely) a structure; figuratively confirmation:- building.
Prophecy, like Apostleship is one of those tools in the list now made clear by this fuller understanding of what it does. Prophets of scripture were often given insights into the future to validate that they indeed heard from God, but the message of their prophecy was actually reveling the perspective of God which is what made it prophetic; revealing God’s perspective to man.
Evangelists and pastors on the otherhand are able to explain the tail side of the coin to those looking at the head side, and teachers are able to reveal God in the head side view. All very important to the work.

In our imagined coin, while you were looking at the head side of the coin, I metaphorically prophesied the other side that you could not see. To understand the prophecy gave you the needed concept to flip the coin and then see it for what it is; a two-sided object; opening the perception of three dimensions as God sees the coin of reality. It doesn’t matter which side of the coin your looking at, I’m going to “prophesy” the other side because this is how you begin to understand the third dimension of God’s perspective. My blog has been flipping this coin back and forth from side to side for this purpose.
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Troublesome Responsibility

post 214

Matthew 14:22-34, Mark 6:45-53, and John 6:16-21.

Oh I know in my spirit what we (Christ in me) are doing, and I agree with my heart it is good but my head just won’t be done with the worrying of that illogical bone! I am pressed with the responsibility to bail the boat as long as possible even if there is no reasonable hope!
But is this not what I have accused Glenn Beck of doing in America and now in Israel in my analogy of the Titanic? (The foolishness of hope in hope like faith in faith, or faith in un-regenerated fallen man which works out to be the same thing.)
But to stop bailing is the action of a coward, a quitter, a part of the problem. So how can I declare I am none of those things yet toss in the bucket and walk away?
Through the spirit of prophecy I have shown in scripture that the appointed time is now and by the mathematical calculations of reality this ship (age) is going down as we speak. Therefore to continue to bail is a waste of precious resources that can be used to aid others to secure themselves in the Lifeboat Jesus Christ.
So why does the captain “go down with the ship”? Have you ever asked where this concept came from?
* * *

Regardless of the cause, the full weight of responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the captain. Not until all life is safely extracted from the sinking ship does the captain have the choice to also step from his sinking vessel. Going down with the ship is his physical representation of having given his all to succeed in his job as he dies with the failure. Today the military phrase meaning the same concept is “No man left behind”. This concept is what sent Jesus to the cross to redeem us from the sin of death we got ourselves into (John 3:16) and is the same reason the first Adam ate of the fruit which his wife could not resist.
Why was Jesus called the second Adam? (Romans 5:12,14b, I Corinthians 15:45-47) What did their two stories have in common? Adam brought the world under sin by his act and Jesus saved us from that sin by his act, both as "forefathers" of their actions affecting those that come after. but wait, there is more (a concept from Chuck Missler); “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” I Timothy 2:13-14
This is not a gender blame thing, Eve represented humanity and Adam represented the Christ that was to come who sacrificed himself because of his love toward us “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
The comparisons of two Adams was not in the redemption, it was the willingness to join his spouse in their condition because of love. “You fall I fall”. Jesus the sinless God took upon himself the sins of humanity just as Adam did for eve, though not a God; he could not redeem her and so Adam the “captain of the ship” took on the weight of responsibility as he should. Adam went down with the ship and the second Adam did likewise, but being sinless God, his Adam like act brought redemption to his love. (oh that is going to take a month to explain)
This is the understanding and meaning of responsibility extracted from scriptural concept;

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (unbeliever)” I Timothy 5:8.

This is why the captain goes down with his ship.
* * *

But just what does it mean to provide for those under your responsibility? Does bailing to the last breath while people drown count as providing, or does tossing in the bucket and getting them to lifeboats count? These are complex questions with complex answers.
If there are enough lifeboats and enough time to fill them, then the answer is easy; go help.
But if there are not enough lifeboats or not enough time to fill them, then bailing has new advantage and is reasonable responsibility as it either extends the time to fill the boats or is the last fruitless effort that can be done before those left on board drown in hopelessness but knowing that all possible effort was made by those responsible.
This creates contention in the stress of foundering between officers with different ideas. Some should prep the boats, some should round up the passengers, and some should continue to bail. I confess I may have been slightly hasty in my public rebuke of Mr. Beck’s actions but only because I know there is no hope of saving the ship and so all effort must be given to saving the passengers that can be saved rather than falsely encourage them that we can keep it from sinking. (There were many empty seats in the lifeboats of the Titanic because the passengers were not made fully aware of the imminent danger and in confusion of hope that the ship was not actually sinking they elected to stay on board.)
The difficulty comes when the answer is not so simple. Mr. Beck knows there are not enough lifeboats and a lot of, in fact most, the passengers are going to die. What do you do then? You play beautiful music on deck to keep the passengers from panicking as long as possible and you bail the boat with all you have in your last effort to keep it afloat to the very last second. There is nothing really dishonorable in that though it is fruitless and hopeless hope in hope itself. But it frustrates me that the soothing music designed to keep them from panicking is also what encourages them not to get into the lifeboat! A deceitful feeling of security by a pleasant environment.

Yet this is all there is to be done in this fateful moment in time… for those not fortunate enough to find a lifeboat. But the same world; the same event, is a very different place for those who do!
For those in the lifeboats drifting not far away, the horrible scene before them is unspeakable. Yet surrealistic as what their eyes witness might appear, the fact that they do not experience the horror they witness makes the surrealism that much greater. But those going down with the ship don’t see it as surrealism; to them it is actually life and death.

So the captain goes down with his ship and the souls that do not escape, but the crew has responsibilities too. Theirs is the safety of the passengers that do survive; let the captain care for those who don’t (Matthew 8:22, (Matthew 25:8-9, a hard saying)).
Jesus is the captain who in self sacrifice went down with the ship on the cross, two thousand years ago, We the ministers of the Gospel of Christ are sent to the perishing showing them that in resurrection from the dead Jesus provided the Lifeboat by which they can live. “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9 Unlike the Titanic there are no classes here, all are equally encouraged to get into the Lifeboat (Colossians 3:11)
* * *

Responsibility is not actually a hard thing to carry out when you have no doubt of its application to you, history is littered with the bodies of faithful soldiers who carried out their clear responsibilities. But when the responsibility becomes questionable or confused it becomes a troublesome burden that plagues the mind and must be worked out to understanding.

When everyone but you can see clearly your responsibility, you are called a coward or irresponsible. This is because what should be clear to you is not because of a double mind (James 1:6-8); Two Masters.

When you once knew your responsibility but it has been mostly but not completely forgotten by the greater desires of a double mind, you are called timid or wishy-washy as you approach the responsibilities you simply cannot run away from but would like to (Luke 9:62).

When you take up your responsibilities with commitment, you are called courageous or dependable because you have the ability to face whatever comes regardless of your opposition or likelihood of success (James 2:22, 1:3, II Corinthians 5:7-9).

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” II Corinthians 5:10

If every child of this generation in America was to have memorized this single verse and be instructed to meditate on what it means, the entire nation would not be sinking today.
I go further to declare that if only every child from a Christian home of this generation in America was to have memorized this single verse and be instructed to meditate on what it means, the entire nation would still not be sinking today.

Where is the scripture that declares to be saved by the blood of Christ removes your responsibility and thereby your accountability? This verse states clearly that WE ALL MUST APPEAR to be held accountable for our actions. Yet today’s gospel of cheep grace has instructed our Christian children to be irresponsible fools under Grace alone!

Christians love to quote Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
But to stop reading the whole thought is to become useless couch potatoes in God’s house. These verses are the prepwork for the next verse; Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained (OT) that we should walk in them (good works).”

So knowing my responsibility, how can I of all people push responsibility as I just declared my desire and intent to let my boat sink as I think to “walk on water” in my real life analogy!?
This is the bone that my mind refuses to let go as it worries it to bits while my heart and spirit look back and laugh saying “give it a rest already”.
I believe this is something like the doubt which caused Peter to begin sinking after starting out so successfully in simple faith.
* * *

Troublesome Responsibilities.
When is it ok to stop bailing without being irresponsible?
Reason, of all things, seems to come to the answer explaining that there are two considering factors:

1st - The awareness of the futility to continue.
2nd - A greater responsibility.

Assuming we have already established that the specific is indeed your responsibility and not just a self-imposed illusion, both of these factors must be in place before abandonment of your responsibility is proper.
The doom of those under your care is irrelevant to the evaluation if factor 1 is in place; To continue or not will not change the outcome and therefore you are free to abandon the effort and in fact should, but to then play cards is to abandon responsibility all together, No, factor 2 must also take affect for it to be proper.
If a greater responsibility does not present itself then find one. Responsibility does not evaporate (Matthew 10:14-15+16-22=23). But although the first portion of the passage tends to suggest their mission was then over, we see by context of instruction concluding in Matthew 10:23, and in their obedience to the instruction in Acts 13:51-52, that they were to continue to another place of effort to the cause.
Isaiah 52:2 informs us of the principle that freedom from that specific responsibility is the reason for this act of “abandonment” of those who will not be helped, but not to then run without responsibility but rather freedom to be responsible elsewhere. Therefore stop bailing if it is pointless, so you will be freed up to then continue saving lives in another way; caring for those the general bailing was actually supposed to help but couldn’t. The common concept is to find those who will be saved among the many that won’t.
In triage it is heartbreaking to walk away from the dying you cannot save to aid those you can, but if you cannot bring your emotions under control to do this, many more will die while you fruitlessly bail the sinking boat through fixation.
* * *

In my present case similar to the Disciples personal adventures while in the same boat, there are no passengers; I am the single occupant and owner of my boat free to respond without complex responsibilities to cloud the scenario.
Yet I struggle with factor 1 as it seems clear that by laboriously bailing I may at least save part of the boat if things fall in my favor by trying, better described as picking my crash landing site to minimize the damage. Therefore is it not reckless abandonment to choose to let the very expensive boat sink without resistance? I must conclude that it is… except for factor 2 (“But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead” Matthew 8:22).

If the captain calls the crewman to stop bailing and use the radio, to refuse to heed the instruction would be punishable even if the crewman was sure that his bailing could save the boat. And once again we have a Two Masters problem that we have already addressed as unacceptable; the master says “do” and you obey.
But what if the captain is not the one who made the order? What if the crewman is the one who asked permission to stop bailing to use the radio to which the captain agreed? Now where is the responsibility if the crewman felt that continued bailing could save the boat? Does it not still remain in the hand of the captain who gave permission to do something else? If the ship sinks is the crewman to blame? No, the burden of responsibility remains with the captain even if he allowed the crewman to play cards instead of bail. Where is the scriptural support for such an idea?
Peter did exactly that (well, except for the playing cards part exactly). He asked the Lord if he could take a walk instead of bail/row to which the Lord replied with a single word; “Come.” Matthew 14:28.
In like manner by analogy I saw the Lord on the sea and the possibility, and so made the request to which I received confirmation, and so I began my venture in faith but am really struggling with the wasteful and needless loss/irresponsibility of the boat.

Here is my turmoil: by abandoning the responsibility of the ship to work on my calling, I have made my choice and set my course. but until the consequence of that choice actually takes affect it still remains a strange surreal event as if I watch from the Lifeboat still being lowered onto the sea; still a part of the ship but clearly disconnected to the events aboard. I think I’m impatient as once having made my decision I want to just get on with it; “Sink already, I have other things to do!” as I wait trembling with the conflicting excitement and uncertainty of the unknown affect of my choice.

In my feelings of troublesome responsibility I simply hate to see the perfectly good boat sink with thoughts that I could sell it and use the money for the mission the Lord has given me or some other such plan.
The unshakable dilemma is that at this time continued bailing still has a theoretical potential of working… at least until the next wave hits to finish it off, and not naturally given to surrender I am compelled to keep fighting to keep it afloat. Yet even to me, this is really sounding a lot like burying the dead which Jesus already covered.
* * *

In further study of the scriptural event it is clear by the immediately previous event of feeding the 5000; showing the disciples the impossibility of actually doing what they were told to do (“give ye them to eat” Matthew 14:16), that this is the same boat trip shown in Matthew 14:22, Mark 6:45, and John 6:16. Each rendition gives unique bits of additional information to the whole event.

First I notice that in this adventure, the disciples did not want to leave the Lord and the “responsibility” they felt was their duty, so the Lord himself constrained 315 them to go. It appears they were placed by God himself in an environment without a responsibility to others; This scenario was personal to their faith without conflicting encumbrances, for a specific reason.

Constrain 315 anagkazo; from 318; to necessitate; - compel.
318 anagke; from 303 and the base of 43; constraint (literal or figurative); by implication distress:- must needs, (of) necessity, needful.

It seems Jesus had a plan they were not aware of and it was necessary that they make this trip without him or others in their presence, and so he compelled them even against their perception of what they felt was their responsibility. Very curious.

Next reading all three narrations I notice that although the seas had greatly kicked up and were contrary, it does not suggest the boat was in danger of sinking or indicate it needed bailing as before, it was just very hard going and making little progress. So in this trip the issue of responsibility changes from bailing to rowing. For this reason Peter did not abandon his duty to save the boat or others in favor of a walk on the sea, this seems significant as there were others in the boat. But since the only occupants were equals in the faith I think we can reason that they were each on an equally personal adventure of faith in this specific scenario with meaning. This was not a “you’re letting your team down” kind of thing. I believe each of them may have had the same opportunity Peter did, he just saw it as the Father moved him.

Next I notice that Peter’s personal great adventure was only recorded in Matthew and completely ignored in the telling of the other two gospels. Why in the world would his fellow disciples entirely leave out something as great as that, as if it never happened!?
Note that Peter was not given extra praise, the other disciples were not told to wait in the boat as Peter and the Lord went into the village to do some greater work of faith; there appears to be virtually no advantage for Peter’s experience. In an earlier post I suggested that this boat trip represented “crossing over” as in death. In this way every believer who calls out to Jesus arrives on the “other shore” regardless of his exploits or lack there of. Note too that Jesus repeatedly stated “No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” John 6:44 and also 65. Clearly Peter was called of the father to come unto Jesus and responded in faith. This was Peter’s special private event with the Lord completely unrelated to the others to the point they never even mentioned it in their narrative much as we don't seem to even think about how Pet traveled back to the boat. This suggests that while there are some believers who can and will do great works in Christ, most will not and are not rebuked for it beyond noting their little faith, which Peter was also made aware of.
But on another level we must note that because it WAS mentioned in Matthew, it has a significant meaning which we will cover in a later post.

What I am saying here, is that to get caught up in the detail of mental confusions is to loose the singular sight of the Lord. Follow the Lord in simplicity and don’t stress over the doubts and confusions that try to trip your walk. This is exactly why Peter began to sink; he began to fear in doubt, and this is what I am trying hard to shake.

I am ashamed to still be struggling with this troublesome responsibility as I question my actions perhaps much as Peter did once he set out. Drat that little faith through doubting!

Troublesome Doubts

Post 213

I have been working on the next two part post a bit over 2 months but the elusive prophecy interpretation of it for several years. (8/27: posted as 214 then removed to post later). I now realize that what remains of Revelation 17 is still out in our future and so slightly less urgent than the information we have discussed until now, though the interpretation of the next few posts has been unfolding with world events these last several weeks. This morning while watching the news I was excited to receive the missing understanding that has hidden the interpretation key, which I will show in the next two posts (again, removed to post later).
The interpretation of scripture is being set up right before our eyes! but the easy interpretation of simplistic events is a thing of the past. A deep knowledge of scripture is now needed to keep up and the purpose of this whole blog offers assistance to that understanding.
But before I continue with the Revelation 17 end times study, there is more to be understood in this 6th 7 pause which has me rabbit trailed in a seeming complete different direction.
* * *

I had every intention of leaving this morning for a three-day venture to “bail my boat” or gently “crash land my plane” using the previous metaphors, but this morning’s sudden interpretation revelation takes precedent as the Lord’s work I have been given to do. Like Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:28-29); as long as my eyes are on the Lord I don’t need a boat beneath me, so keeping the boat afloat becomes the Lord’s responsibility at this point and irrelevant to my mission (Luke 14:33), (though I know the thing made it to shore ok in the scriptural example of Luke 14:32-34).

But drat! Even after such incredible faith of climbing from the boat to actually walk on the water, Peter got doubtful after successfully starting out, and so was also rebuked as before; “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:31. This then seems to be my hurdle as well as I leave my boat behind to walk among the stormy waves. I really liked that boat and the security it provided!

But note: Peter was not this time rebuked for fear, but for doubt. In contemplating this it seems that he must have realized the full reality of what he had just done and began to question his sanity. I honestly do not think that he doubted the Lord’s ABILITY to sustain his walk on top of the sea, that would again result in a rebuke for fear. Clearly in the first few feet from the boat God had already shown him that He could, I think Peter doubted his own wisdom in putting himself there and whether the Lord WOULD sustain him for his rash actions of violating the natural ways of life. This is exactly what I wrestle with and so by the example God provided in scripture I see that indeed this is rebukable so therefore now cast off the doubt in confidence that this should not be my thought.

Now I know that God WILL sustain me in my action of faith without the need of a boat. Anybody feel like jumping from the plane without a parachute? Now I know why the instructor jumped first in a previous post!
This is not the solution to my box canyon problem that I had anticipated but it is the right move for me at this time to grow my faith, watch me walk on air as I follow the Lord where he leads! What happens to my plane is a concern of the past (Matthew 6:24-25) as I realize that Peter's great faith in stepping from the boat was still seen by Jesus as "little". Just think how much bigger God wants our faith to be than wrestling with this small-minded faith! I wonder what is actually possible in big faith or even regular size faith! (Matthew 19:26) I want some of that! *1

"When the crisis is great and your resources low,
You need to know God has already solved the problem."
- Chuck Missler
* * *

Do not suppose I have lost touch with reality. I assure you the full force of the implications of what I declare have a heavy weight.
And I do not corrupt the value of an analogy by supposing I have yet stepped from the "boat or plane" as Peter did without the benefit of analogy. In my present situation described by analogy, I am yet in the boat and the boat is full of water and sure to sink by the sheer laws of nature.
But if I am able to look beyond the present situation of a swamped boat and see that Peter did not even need a boat then my comprehension of small medium and large faith slides up the scale a bit and my concern for the probable sinking of the boat diminishes as I turn my attention to walking on water.
But now I see by the Lord's rebuke of Peter's faith, that to seriously stress over each step on the tumultuous sea as if it is difficult or nearly impossible without careful concentration is indeed small faith and missing the point of the exercise which was faith is Jesus above even the known laws of nature. Peter should have been wondering how high over the waves the Lord would allow him to jump. And if he could jump over them, why not fly above them? Is flying over the waves really any more miracle than walking on them? This is not about the miracle but about Jesus himself! And so at this level of understanding, to look back at the men in the boat crying out to Jesus to help them in their boat, is now seen to be little indeed even from here. How small it must seem from Jesus' perspective of what he wanted for them!

I like to fly. So to think of myself in a non-analogy situation as Peter having seen the Lord on the waves; To think of myself given permission by the Lord to open the door and step from the plane 2000' above the ground is something I don't think I have the faith to actually do at this time, but I am growing my faith by exercising it beyond where I am now, with the bigger awareness of what is possible.
While stressing over your boat sinking into the depths from under you, is not the time to learn the faith to walk on water, the fear of sinking at that time makes such greater success improbable (Matthew 13:58). Previous training is needed to succeed in the challenge of faith, just as it is in any great challenge.
But I have the advantage to learn from the experience of the disciples and so have the instruction to greatly accelerate my education by further vision! This is in fact one reason for scripture (II Timothy 3:16).

But I do not suppose that by public declaration I am guaranteed trouble free success from here on out. It is very humbling to know that after Peter had his few minutes of walking on water before exhausting his small faith while the other disciples watched from the boat with still smaller faith, this same Water Walking Peter later denied Christ Jesus with strong words of determination to do so (Matthew 26:74). So where was his faith then? What happened to the faith that allowed him to walk on water? Did that experience mean so little?
It seems that faith is something strange that is built up like muscles to ever greater potential (Matthew 25:21) but unlike muscles is very hard to get and slippery to keep *2. Yet faith is premiere in Salvation.

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Matthew 3:26-27

Note: contrary to the belief of most Christians; you do not put on faith, rather you put on Christ in whom is your faith *3. Faith is not something you collect; it is something you use as you immerse yourself in Christ through exercising your faith. By exercise you can learn to use more, but you cannot store it up. Use it or loose it.

It occurs to me that many will read this with great hope of learning how to do some miracles. This is missing the whole point. Walking on water, whether metaphorical or in reality does not impress me, what I seek is to experience Christ. The miracle is not the goal but simply a tool in that experience (Luke 9:1,10:1+10:17+19-20).
* * *

What does it all mean?
The scripture tells us "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" II Timothy 3:1.
My blog is showing in detail that the last days are no longer something to wait for, they are here now and increasing daily as labor pains grow stronger near the end.
As the disciples in the sinking boat were fearful that they should perish, they felt they were in peril because their situation was perilous, and indeed it was. But Jesus was not about to let them perish; he was just building their faith for the more perilous times ahead. So were they really in peril?
Today we face hardships and struggles but for most of us the times are not actually perilous....yet. (In the first layer of physical events and in the second layer of spiritual, which is why the scripture uses “perish” and not “die”). Now is the time to learn of Christ. Now is the time to, by experience, learn that he is trust worthy even unto death. It is always more pleasant to grow stronger by voluntary willingness in a controlled environment such as a gym with a coach, than in an environment not of your choosing such as a labor camp with a task master.
Faith is a word specifically used 317 times in scripture. It is the core value of Christianity. It is something we desperately need to grow by use for the times ahead.
This is the second time I reference the parable of Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). I will eventually post this study specifically but it would be wise to take a long inquisitive look at that parable. They all had lit lamps and they were all waiting, yet only five successfully entered, Why?
* * * * * * *

*1 Enough with the analogy, what does it actually mean?
The boat or the plane, are those lawful temporal vehicles which are reasonably expected to carry us safely and comfortably through this life. They are the temporal things in which you learned to rely. They might be your bank account, your job, your home, your marriage, your health or anything else in which you find security to traverse this domain. These are not evil and it is not wrong to use them in their place, Jesus himself used them when he walked on the earth as is represented by being in the boat with the disciples on the first trip across. Normally these temporal tools can be relied on to traverse the seas of life, but in perilous times the seas become greater than the boat can take. Then what do you do? Where do you put your trust when for so long it was in the boat itself?
The use of the boat is not rebukable, but even in calm seas the faith should be firmly in the Creator himself so that when the boat fails, your faith is not shaken or moved. Jesus sends us scripted storms in life to cause this understanding that motivates us to transfer our faith to the right entity. The perilous storms coming are not Jesus' simple scenarios of mere testing (early labor pains if you will) but the wrath of Satan intended to sink the focus of your wrongly placed faith.

So how do we know if our storm is a testing scenario or a sinking scenario storm from Satan? In the storm does it really matter? The response should be the same. The only difference is that in a Satan Storm your boat will actually sink. For the Christians who inordinately love their boat the loss will be great and potentially ruinous as they turn on Jesus for letting it happen. These Christians still see Jesus as there to keep the boat from sinking. In this mindframe he is nothing more than a very good deckhand in whom they have faith to do what a deckhand does.

*2 Slippery faith is due to improper use. When we use our faith to get something, we cease to use it once successful, and so by the lack of use it evaporates. But if we use our faith to experience Jesus, then we never have need to stop using it and we see it grow. If you love your spouse only when you want something, what you thought was love will also evaporate. But if your heart belongs to your spouse, to "take a break" from love is not even a thought, love is not proper unless it is focused on someone specific besides the one doing the loving. This is the breastplate of faith and love.

*3 What about I Thessalonians 5:8 the only apparent reference of putting on faith? "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love: and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

It is curious that Paul goes to great detail through the previous verses to show that alertness, watchfulness, soberness, clear thinking, and daylight are all factors needed to put on the breastplate of faith, clearly a protective armament. But if the breastplate was faith itself then our protection would be the faith.
I often run into weak Christians who have great faith in faith that has no focus; it is just “faith” in which they trust; "Have faith." what does that mean? To be of any value at all, your faith must be in something other than faith. Do you have faith in money? ok, do you have faith in strength? ok, do you have faith in Santa Clause? ok, this is faith in something (albeit not wise, but still faith) but to have faith in faith? "Have faith." It is meaningless.
The breastplate is not faith. It is not made of faith. A breastplate made of faith is made of nothing tangible. You may as well simply imagine you have on a breastplate.
This is why you must be wide awake and alert and in the daylight where you can see right and sober of mind and spirit to put on the breastplate of faith and love.
Like faith, love is virtually nothing without a target on which to fasten it.
So what is the target? What is the breastplate of protection of faith and love?
It is Jesus Christ himself. Your breastplate is your faith and love IN CHRIST JESUS which we are to put on with clear and sober eyes and mind. Blind faith is foolishness put on by drunks in the dark because it has no focus of what is put on. Jesus is not to be put on in blind obedience or by silly women with air in their heads, The breastplate of faith and love is reasonable, and carefully explored, inspected and tested to know it can protect your breast.
What is in your breast? Your lungs and heart. Your breath of life and the motive that spreads that life through your entire being. This is why the heart is described as the seat of emotion. It is what motivates our conduct even above reason and this is why it must be guarded with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23, Joshua 22:5,Deuteronomy 4:9)
In the perilous times just ahead, is your faith in the Christ exercised to meet the challenge? Very very soon every common man's boat is going to sink, are you prepared to step from the gunnel onto the waves in faith and not into them? You best be. Faith with dry pants is a whole lot more pleasant way to endure the stormy sea than a soggy faith that barely keeps your head above water (I Corinthians 3:15).
I don't have faith that I can walk on water, I have faith in the one that can cause it to happen. I'm growing my faith now by getting to know that One in my very real storm scenario sure to sink my boat. Growing your faith in Him is the purpose of this blog by showing you just how much control he has. THIS is the power of prophecy.
[Post 214 The Fall of Satan has been lost in the blog order, please use this link to find it: (http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-fall-of-satan.html)].
*

Still Learning

Post 212

(Matthew 8:23-27, Luke 8:22-25).

Starting with post 209, these past several posts were actually written in my own exploration of study for my own personal understanding and were not meant for posting. I have simply gotten in the mindframe of studying like this to actually write out my reasoning as if I am making an argument I expect to be challenged, it helps me to refine my reasons better in my analysis. Then I had a few regular faithful readers that I thought might be able to use these personal studies in their own explorations of the faith and so post them for a short time without publicly broadcasting it.
Now as my study develops depth I find that in the pattern of Revelation 7:1-17, 10:1-11:14, and 16:15-16 regarding the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls, there are significant elements to my own pause between the body of my blog and the last segment of the end times study that perhaps needs to be included in my whole big picture too. So although this will be a side issue and a distraction from the intended exploration of the End Times, I am in good company and believe I have God’s Spirit of confirmation. Be advised to take this with whatever grain of salt you choose as this is not intended to be primarily instructional as if I know something you need, but rather I expose to you the workings of my mental exercises as I respond to my situation and grow in my next level of faith in a real way. I really find it distasteful to expose myself like this but somehow feel inclined.
* * *

Analogy:
Using my previous analogy of my flight instructor carefully setting up a box canyon scenario then turning the plane over to me to deal with the situation, I find my real life situation to be very accurately represented. I indicated by quick observation of the facts there is not enough room to gain the needed altitude to clear the mountains I can see at the end of the canyon, nor enough width in the canyon to make a U-turn. The canyon may have some hidden saddle pass in the end which I cannot see at this point but that is a poor reason to continue flying deeper into trouble. I indicated that with the information I have available, my first and greatest inclination of safety is to find a flat strip of grass and put the plane down as safely as possible and so I develop this line of thinking now.

Grass Strip or Push On?
Let me start by saying that by nature I do think I often overthink too much. I remember I had this trouble in my actual flight training. I would reason that if my instructor set up a situation it could not actually be dangerous as this was only training and so there must be some avenue of safety he knew that I didn’t. Was I supposed to find that hidden option? Was this part of the scenario? How do you know what parts of reality to pretend don’t exist and pretend parts exist that don’t, when you are actually in a real world training? Therefore I had a tough time responding to the scenarios correctly. In otherwords I would act differently with him in this setup scenario than I would if the situation was a real event. This always complicated my training because I usually choose the thing in the scenario that I would not choose if it were a real situation....or at least I think so. Pretend in reality is actually hard for me to deal with well but I usually do pretty good in real life situations without these distractions of overthinking the added variables. Observe the problem then choose the solution.
I remember really fighting to grasp another flight instruction situation where I was supposed to pretend the ground was at the 2000’ altimeter elevation and the instructor would set up the scenario starting at 3000’ instructing me to land on the pretend ground. I just never could do it but I rarely failed to stick a clean landing on the real asphalt runway. My problem is trying to understand where pretend is supposed to be thought of as real but where reality still must be applied; If I bleed off speed and flare at 2020’ for a pretend landing the plane will stall, but that was not in the scenario given so am I supposed to be thinking of this? Is this really a lesson on landings or stalls?
I remember in another lesson it was impossible to pretend to act out in flight that I had entered a stall and then respond correctly with real actions without actually having stalled the plane, but it was almost harder to get the instructor to actually stall the plane and recover. I eventually asked if he could do it and he confirmed he could, “So lets do it and see if I can recover”. Eventually he agreed and everything went fine; real problem/real solution. I just can’t easily pretend in real life situations without a lot of groundwork establishing the many rules and purposes that govern the pretend lesson. What makes a scenario different from pretend is that in a pretend scenario you don’t actually do the event you just imagine you did where in a scenario you act out the real events but in a carefully scripted safe boundary. In a scenario I usually figure; Since you won’t let this go too far, lets push forward and see what you know that I don’t, and so I choose to push deeper into the canyon. But this is where it has gotten interesting in my present situation as I think about all this.

Although the instructor declares himself to be absent, he is still sitting there in control of the big picture boundaries. Likewise in real life even though the Spirit of God seems to have departed, is the Lord actually gone? Of course not! This is a scenario. Now how am I supposed to respond?

This is the same situation in which the Disciples found themselves in the stormy sea of Matthew 8. Jesus the Master flight instructor had set up the environment; he ordered the weather, he invited them boating with a declared destination, and then “went to sleep” but he was still in the boat. This was a scenario. So they plunged ahead doing what they know how to do so well.
Obviously there was a time between the calm seas they set out in and the boat full of water. You have to give them credit for waiting as long as they did before crying out in fear. They really must have given it all they had in order to weather the increasing storm until it filled the boat, and you know they had to run through all the options of what they knew they should do and what the scenario demanded them to do but the options and efforts simply ran out as futile. They tried everything to pass the lesson but simply ran out of ideas. Still the master slept. Your kidding right?
* * *

Chicken:
I remember actually scaring my flight instructor on a flame-out “deadstick” landing scenario over the waters of the Southeast Alaska coastline south of Juneau. From 2200’ the instructor pulled power and told me “the engine is out” what was I going to do? I verbally walked through my thinking as I acted; Evaluating elevation, wind direction, traffic, and location I chose the longest flattest unobstructed beach within reach and began my calculated descent. He silently let me carry out the scenario until we were literally feet above the sand with a good approach and full flaps. I was a bit curious that he was going to let me actually land it but figured it must be a good beach if he was going to let it happen and so had every intention of putting it down for the experience. From the corner of my eye I noticed him involuntarily stiffen in an accelerated way as we grew closer before he shoved in full throttle about the time the wheels should have touched and we made a powered pass-by. Later in evaluation he expressed amazement at my apparent calmness through it all.
Now in retrospect I think the instructor was playing chicken with me expecting me to cry uncle first, but I had faith in the instructor expecting that he would not let the scenario go further than he could handle and it wasn’t my plane if I wrecked it so what did I have to fear? Dying? Was I really supposed to think the instructor was going to let a dangerous set up actually play out putting himself and his plane at risk? Was Jesus the messiah “sleeping” in the boat during the storm of the century really going to let them all die that night? Hardly *1.
* * *

One Master:
Now I may have intellectually considered that the weight and configuration of the plane with the small asphalt tires it carried were not acceptable to land on a beach that may or may not be soft sand, and with reasonable intelligence and knowledge of facts I could have become very concerned that the instructor was ignorant enough to let me land in a dangerous environment putting both our lives at risk, but this is a two masters issue; who is in control? It is apparent that this is the double mind of the Disciples as they cried out to Jesus in fear for their lives and small faith in him as the Son of God they knew him to be. It was this doubt in him that he showed them by his gentle rebuke, and by suddenly calming the seas he showed them the incredible control he had over the scenario he gave them. Just think what I could learn if my flight instructor had that ability!
I may or may not have been foolish in my trust of the flight instructor to keep us from an actually dangerous situation but my simple confidence and lack of actual responsibility for any consequences gave me a great boldness to simply follow instructions to the best of my abilities and see what came of it. Is this not the instruction given to us by Jesus? “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” Mark 10:15. What is Jesus saying here? This is an issue all about just who is the master of the scenario in your own mind. “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” II Corinthians 5:7-8. So pull the plug and sink this boat, I'm excited to see what it looks like on the bottom of the sea while Jesus sustains me there! with such an incredible opportunity am I really to be concerned that the water might ruin my i-phone?

So how do we put all this into a package of application?
Knowing that the instructor is in complete control of the scenario, I am still doing virtually all the flying; the decisions and inputs I make have very real effect on the plane in the scenario and we end up going where and how I decide by such input, but who is really in control? We are safe as long as I fly according to his previous teaching I have already learned and I am completely ready to do whatever the instructor says at any given moment. So while the plane is mine to fly, it is always in his control.
The scenario of the disciples in the boat is actually a more accurate analogy of the reality in that their input was not acceptable to the need and they simply could not apply “the right” action for success. Why would God put them in such a situation of impossible solution and then rebuke their fear? Because they lacked faith in the Master and this was the purpose of the scenario training.
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It's all about faith:
In my flight analogy of my very real present situation in life which I have been given to fly, I am really searching the ground for a place to land because this is the safest logical resolution of the danger I face; I look for a place long enough to put it down safely in good condition while I keep an eye out for a break in what lies ahead. There have been a few spots that seem to come up but as I set up to commit to it, they turn out to be no good; “Clouds without rain” as in Proverbs 25:14 and I power up and continue on.
The disciples too, simply ran out of options though they tried them all to no avail, but still the Lord was not helping. Yet because of his rebuke of their fear and lack of faith after the scenario was over, it is clear that they did not do well in what it was he was teaching them. So just what is it they were to learn from the scenario Jesus put them in? By his own words it seems evident that they were to learn to have a lot more faith in him; “Where is your faith?” Luke 8:25.

So in analyzing their actions in their scenario, what were they to do differently? Were they to sit in a circle around the mast while singing coom-by-ya in the Joy of the Lord knowing that Jesus would come around at the right time to save the day? I don’t think so as that is irresponsible lack of participation in this life; in otherwords it is not flying according to the training already received (Example: Matthew 5,6 and 7 as basic “doing” the faith). The whole idea of a scenario is for you to play your part *2. They were fishermen and knew how to handle a boat. They were indeed to apply real and responsible actions to their real situation in which the Lord asked them to enter. They did that, so what was lacking?
There is a bit more detail in Matthew 8:26; “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?”
The rebuke here was not their actions or lack of actions. It is not that they “failed to do” the right thing or “did” the wrong thing. All this was beside the point of the lesson they were supposed to learn. The answer to their failure was in their fear as if he would let them die; "Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Mark 4:28

But because this was a scenario we know and they should have known that Jesus was not going to sit there and let them perish even though by all observation it was really looking like he would. He gave them that extra believable option of thought by being “asleep” in the storm *3. Jesus carefully set up all the parameters to bring out any fear that might be in them in their level of faith, and clearly Jesus is a master scenario setter-upper! This was done for a purpose; to increase their little faith by showing it to them for what it was; little.
Who was this Jesus riding in their boat? Was it not the Creator himself? (John 1:1-3,14) Was it not Jesus who called up the storm that had them so afraid? He shows this to be true by “striking the set” at the end of the scenario, and so by experience and observation their little faith grew significantly.
Later they were sent out in a repeat of the scenario but this time he was not with them because their faith was stronger Mark 6:45-53. Same difficulty of success at a different skill level.
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The Bigger Picture:
Now I find my own similar problem Jesus is no doubt teaching me; clearly my faith has room to grow as I am in my own scenario carefully set up by God. But having the advantage of the scripture to read that Jesus can even be raised from the dead if killed, and seeing that all life is just a scenario of training, how can I find myself in a scenario that can actually show me my lack of faith? How can I really be afraid with what I know through scripture? Try as I might I can’t ignore that the instructor is still in the plane even though he is “sleeping” while I sort out my options. So how bad can it really get? Oh the scenario can get really bad because Jesus is the master scenario setter-upper but what is the real danger with him in control? Is physical death serious enough to abandon the test? The three Babylonian captives did not think so as recorded in Daniel 3:16-18. So while they had faith unto death should we waver in our confidence in these smaller matters we face? If no safe landing spots present themselves in an allowable way, why should I not be excited to see what’s at the end of the canyon? I have confidence in the flight instructor.
So to make the point more dramatic for my sake, he jumps from the plane with no parachute! (by analogy of course) in otherwords the Spirit of God seemed to depart from me. So now what do I do? I wrestle with the reasons and causes and meaning. I seriously search out my error and find a few issues I can fix and do. But really? I’m not convinced these are really the cause anymore than the disciples found fault of their own for Jesus being crucified.
Judas obviously felt significant and justifiable guilt and responded incorrectly by killing himself. Peter also felt a huge weight of guilt as did the others for abandoning Jesus in fear, but they responded correctly in repentance. Yet these were not the actual reasons Jesus died; God simply used their actions and lack thereof in his bigger plan just as he used the actions of the Jewish leaders to kill their own Messiah; It had to be done and the scenario was set up to reveal their lack of faith while also fulfilling other purposes too.
Were there lessons to be learned by the individuals involved? Of course there were, but the lessons were theirs and not going to change God’s big picture plan regardless of their conduct, it didn’t matter what the disciples did their boat was about to sink. This is all about faith. It’s always all about faith (Romans 14:23). So if I am all shook up about potentially crashing my plane because God is sleeping, then I don’t know my God at all.
Might I have to crash my plane to learn whatever it is he is teaching me which might have nothing to do with flying? Perhaps. Should that bother me? I don’t think it should if it is all about faith in the Master, though obviously I will do all I can and rightly feel responsible to do to make sure that doesn’t happen; I really don’t want to crash my plane anymore than the disciples wanted their boat to sink. But whether the boat sank or not was not actually in the power of the Disciple’s actions and neither are the problems in our similar scenarios of life. This is about faith. (Obviously there are other scenarios with different reasons that will have different outcomes, this is for each of us to perceive with our Lord. I don’t think being killed for your faith is really a scenario for the sake of growing weak faith but it still has much to do with faith! (Revelation 2:10, Luke 6:48, I Corinthians 3:13-15)
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Real Application:
Believe me, I am trying to remember that in a scenario you are supposed to pretend the instructor is not in the plane while performing your tasks with an assurance that you cannot actually do anything by mistake that will put you in peril. This allows you to perform your tasks of training without fear. You are supposed to do the best and most reasonable reaction to the situation set up as if he was not in the plane while knowing that he is. In my present case I can think of nothing safer than to land the plane and end the flight before things get worse (this would end the scenario), and while I am looking for a place to put it down I’m hoping to find a side canyon junction big enough to turn around in. I’m looking for options I don’t yet see and wondering what is the actual right thing to do; Do I play it safe and bail on the mission by carefully crashing here, or do I continue to fly expecting some break will show itself further ahead? Honestly as I grow older my reactions are becoming different. Not long ago I would have boldly pushed on in the confidence of success not even looking for a landing site, but now I gravitate toward the safe choice (crashing even a little in an poor landing option is not something I would actually choose over continuing in hope, but it sure is something I evaluate as an option now days), so will the outcome of the lesson be different in my older age than in my young days? I don’t think so if I have maintained faith, and here is cool part; God won’t offer the safe option in the scenario because he knows my present weakness, and landing is not the purpose of the intent of the scenario. So knowing I will choose the grass strip, he leaves them out of the box canyon and provides only unacceptable crash landing options I must deviate from my training to choose. So in faith I continue to fly while sweating out the right choices. I have to believe the disciples in the storm must have beat themselves up for insufficient bailing or not turning the bow to the wave in time or any other of a number of things that might have been able to save the ship in theory. But although putting in an effort was indeed a part of their tasks, the scenario was going to play out as the master intended. An unsunken boat was not actually the goal of the scenario; this was about their faith.
So fear that I might do or not do something critical thus failing the lesson? I don’t think so. In fact I am sure that’s why I’m not finding any solutions to end the scenario; apparently that is not within the scope of the lesson at this point and God won’t let us outside of his intended lesson unless we cry uncle and want out because of fear as the disciples did. See how cool this is? This is why there was no 4th servant given money/talent that tried but failed; it is simply not possible to fail if we just apply our training to the end of the scenario in faith *4.
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The scenario continues to a deeper level:
At Jesus death that scenario seemed to end and the disciples went back to what they knew in order to pay their bills and get on with their lives as best they could while sorting out the deep meaning of the recent events, and that was where the Lord found them after his resurrection (John 21). This was not even mentioned as a rebuke, it was just the natural place for them to be. They occupied themselves with the fishing but what was on their minds was the confusion of their faith. They did not abandon the faith now despised as a failure, they simply didn’t understand the events and were wrestling with what it meant.
I find it curious to note that though they went back to their former work, their efforts were reported as unprofitable (John 21:5); similar “Clouds without rain” as my own efforts. Were they doing wrong by trying? No, but what they did at the time had no benefit as it was really inconsequential to the big picture plan and what was on their minds. I don’t think it mattered what they did at that time outside of contemplating what they thought they knew of Jesus and all he taught them. They thought it was all over but the scenario was playing on just as pre-planned by God.
How many times have you experienced failure and were sure you had destroyed God’s plan for you? Are you really so powerful as to foil God? Did he not know what you would do and is that not already calculated into his big picture for you? Is your faith in yourself or in God? If I enter a spin and apply the wrong action have I foiled the plan of the flight instructor or does he take control, fix the situation and then hand it back to me with more instructions? Fear comes when we actually think we have become the master of our own plane and the instructor is no longer involved. In life this is not possible as it is all just a scenario in God’s hand. Fear also comes when we choose to protect our second master's desires in opposition to God's. If you are afraid God will destroy your life if you let him, you are serving the second master.
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Paying Taxes: Matthew 17:24-27
I love how Jesus performs miracles while hiding the miracle in “natural events” that relate as a miracle only to those receiving the miracle. Remember the issue about the disciples needing to pay taxes? Whether they actually owed them or not is not my point here (v.25-27a), but after Peter agreed that they would pay them (v.25) Jesus gave instruction to avoid an issue.
These were fishermen by trade and spent their lives fishing to pay their bills. But they had stopped fishing to follow Jesus and so were short of cash. What now?
Jesus did not send them out to harvest crops or make furniture, he sent them fishing. But not in the same way they made their living before. These men had fished in volume by nets to pay the bills but now he sent them with a fishing pole and instructed them that the bills would be paid in the first lone fish caught. These men knew fish and the value of fish, they knew you could not pay the bills with a single fish, but off they went with their instructions from the master. What a display of commitment to a single master....who was not them; the master fishermen! They did not use their experience or logic or their reason of wisdom to disagree or argue with Jesus who was not a fisherman by trade, they just did as they were told by the one they declared was their master. No Two Masters problem here even though they knew quite a bit about fishing and bills. And what do you know; the first fish they caught had a coin in its mouth of a value large enough to pay the taxes, just like Jesus foretold!
In order to avoid our ability to confuse the meaning, Jesus specifically stated the money would cover not just himself, but the disciples as well; “that take, and give unto them for me and thee.” v.27b.
So why make them go through the temporal actions of fishing if he was going to perform the miracle of the coin, couldn’t he have just pulled it from a disciple’s ear while sitting around the fire? Do you suppose the coin was dropped from a boat and the fish took in the coin perhaps because it was flashing as it fell through the water, and that just by happen chance the fish then swam to just the right spot at just the right time to be caught by the fisherman Jesus sent at just that time? Well yes. Scientifically provable by the unbelieving mind it was all a series of normal events in our temporal world, yet the timing and pre-planning of the Creator to make it all come out the way it did was a very real miracle. It was confirmed to be a miracle only because Jesus prophesied it before it happened but confirmed or not it was would have been the same miracle if he had not foretold the end result; the coin would still have paid the tax.

I think about this as I consider my own options; do I return to what I was doing before God called me to do this work? Sure, it just makes reasonable sense in my need and request that is not answered, and in a disciple-bailing-the-boat kind of way I have extended that shingle in a variety of ways to see what might happen. I will not go into the details but the result is a very curious multiplicity of negative in that option just as was the disciple’s strange negative results from applying their craft of fishing; What normally should have produced was a dry well. Curious; This scenario is going to play out as God intended even against my efforts just as the Disciples boat filled with water in spite of their best efforts. This is good to know. If I sat on my hands while waiting for God’s input I would not know if the resulting crash was due to my inaction or a design of God’s scenario, so I act and thereby eliminate that concern. I see virtually no good outcome of this scenario outside the Lord’s direct involvement, but so far the scenario continues to play out as the flight instructor remains silent. I find myself in the anxiety of uncertainty a bit too regularly assuring God that I’m ready for him to jump in any time he feels the need but he simply smiles in silence which I take to mean I should keep at it. I mean this literally as I have his amazing peace about all this in the middle of the unknown and that is a fantastic assurance that the scenario is still going well within his plan. I can all but actually see him sitting right seat there in the plane but “unavailable” for counseling as this is my scenario to act within as I see fit to do.

With a serious aversion to sitting around the mast in a circle of one singing Coom-by-ya, I am honestly out of ideas and finding it hard to avoid the knowledge that the Lord has everything well in hand and so I find myself not trying to fix things as diligently as I perhaps should, but instead continue in the work I still feel called to do that has no financial profit. This recognition of my scenario busting mindframe bothers me as I suppose that means things are going to have to get much worse before I can learn my intended instruction. This does not set well with me as my stomach knots get tighter the further into this box canyon I fly as it appears a very real crash might be included in the scenario for my education because of my mindframe!
But by what I know from the nature of God and the cause of the scenario; I know I will survive this and out the other side I will have even more confidence that God is faithful and will indeed sustain me (Psalm 55:22).
“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast…” Pslam 56:1-
The Psalmist indicates he too knows he will come out the other side regardless of what it looks like at the time, the disciples in the boat didn’t have this perspective.
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Perspective:
I find it strange to have full confidence that I will come out of this in good shape but still fly my scenario with the appropriate stress of the events. It seems I am better at scenarios than I thought (said wryly). And while you suppose I am simply out of touch with reality I am suggesting that by jumping dimensions I am viewing all this from God’s side of the scenario. I honestly believe this is the whole idea of faith; to see life from God’s perspective. What I find amazing is that I am not “trying” to do this, I am actually experiencing it. The peace of God that passes all understanding is flowing through me like a torrent even while the concern for the situation causes tension. This amazes me as I observe it while still uncertain about what I should do in the scenario presented. But again; What should the Disciple have done differently? Nothing but to let go of the fear and enjoy the ride in faith.
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Blessing before breaking:
Recently a preacher that shall go unnamed hit a homerun with me in an interpretation of Jesus feeding the 5000 (Matthew 14:17-21). “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude” Matthew 14:19.
In this teaching it was brought out that first came blessing, then a breaking, before the miracle increase could be useful to others.
We often accept that a breaking is going to result in a good outcome through verses such as is commonly quoted; “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 but what is almost always left out is the reason for this verse; “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren (the conformed)” Romans 8:29.
This tells us that what individual undesirable events we go though that eventually work together for good has been predetermined by God for the purpose of conforming the called to the image of Jesus. This also has a reason; so that Jesus will have many brethren of those who have been so conformed in this way.
The point that stuck with me is that before the breaking is a blessing to those who are the called according to his purpose. There is no such prior blessing before the breaking to the wicked because the breaking is for a different purpose; perhaps calling them in the first place to learn to love God.
I have been incredibly blessed before the apparently soon breaking. Being the called and having a predestined purpose for the breaking I know that the end result will convert me to be able to benefit far more than I could have before the breaking, by conforming me to the likeness of Christ.
Now in my box canyon analogy a crashed airplane could be seen as a breaking. So while we are imagining, lets imagine “Why” by continuing using the analogy:
Just suppose there is an unknown village of natives that I am supposed to bless once I crash right in their mountain habitat. Of course I don’t know that now in the scenario and of course I’m going to do my part not to crash, but honestly none of my efforts are going to change the intended outcome if I remain willingly within God’s scenario he has given me to fly. I don’t need to know the plan, just do my part and have faith in God that his plan is perfect. What is there to fear but the foiling of a second master’s desires to keep a pretty plane? This is really the cause of concern isn’t it? I like my present life and don’t want it messed up. But whose plane is it really? Have I not already turned over the title to him? And was it not at that time a great wreck I had made of it and now under his ownership it became a pretty nice ship? Has he not carefully instructed me over time to the skill level needed in this present scenario? So what have I got to fear?
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Do I really believe that the God I worship is really God?
In the many years before his miraculous provision did he not provide the means I found to pay my bills? And in this recent work he called me to do, did he not provide for my needs miraculously for more than three years? So now when he chooses a different scenario to play out am I to fear it is because he cannot provide? I have not failed to do my part diligently so whatever comes is a part of the scenario with the purpose of betterment and not destruction.
I will tell you what I have to fear; it is the second master revealed in the illusion of the undesirable consequences of my own actions. I have no confidence of what I’m doing as this is a development I have never experienced before in training. Clearly in life our actions produce outcome; cause and effect. And to be honest the second I step away from my present committed course of action I begin to fear; “What kind of an idiot am I? What do I think will be the real result of my cavalier mindframe?” What do I expect?
But I am not failing an attempt to bail the boat, I am just aware by the present results that it will do no good until God wants it to, so while I bail I am curious to see what God has planned. After all, is this not the Creator who could and has put gold coins in the mouths of fish to pay taxes?
This is the mystery of our scenarios of this life; We are in control of the flight choices as we react to events, but God is the flight instructor in control of the scenario (Psalm 37:23-24). In otherwords right or wrong on my part, if I play my part honestly the outcome can only be a better pilot! So I boldly pick my path and fly it seriously desiring a better evaluation than “Why are you fearful, oh ye of little faith.”
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John 20:29-31

*1 Chicken: I don’t recommend playing chicken with God, he does not loose! I was not playing chicken with this flight instructor, I had faith in him. He was playing chicken with me similar to Jesus with the disciples. In both cases it was a learning situation but my human instructor is not in God’s class; God cannot be afraid so it really was not a game of chicken it was a lesson.

*2 Scenario; 1. An outline or synopsis of a ply, the book of an opera, etc., showing the scenes and the entrances and exits of the actors. 2. Motion Pictures. The story of the plot of a photoplay, showing its development scene by scene and giving all essential details for acting the play.

Merriam-Webster modern Dictionary - The plot or outline of a dramatic work; also: an account of a possible action.

So if the Lord is never absent from the plane, what is the difference between a scenario and reality? The entire opera of life is already scripted in the Bible. It seems that life is simply a scenario. This is the potency of prophecy.

*3 I chuckle when I think how disconcerting it was to be in what appeared to be grave danger but the flight instructor was busy reading the paperwork in his lap. All I desperately wanted him to do was just look up for second so that I would know he knows how bad things are, but he wouldn’t look up! This is why Jesus was asleep in the boat. Looking back I now know there was nothing occupying the instructor’s mind, it was all a part of the set up to make me believe I was fully in the seat of responsibility with an idiot beside me, This is how I learn to make good judgments, but to doubt the ability or intelligence of the instructor to the point I DEMAND his attention? That is a whole different problem. If I panic and demand he take control to get us out of danger, the scenario would be over and I would fail the lesson. The lesson might not have actually been about faith but it was over because of a lack of it. This was why they were rebuked.

*4 Now look, I am not intentionally leaving out the details of my personal situation so that you can waste your time wondering what they are, It doesn’t matter and explaining them would take far too long and would never be enough to get your mind in agreement with mine in my personal situation; It has been said “the difference between a Recession and a Depression is that a Depression happens to me, while what happens to you is just a Recession.” Instead of wasting your mind and energy dreaming up what possibly could be my situation, apply this intentional universal analogy to your own life and your own level of faith in your own situation. Can you apply any of this in your own life? Good, that is the point of posting this.
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