Between Faith and Knowledge

Post 230

There is a perpetual problem when trying to communicate, and that is the differences between two perspectives.

We both read the same scriptures.

But what you hear from the Spirit is slightly different that what I hear even though it is the same message, the reason is because each of us is a different vessel with different histories, and as God delivers his perfect message into the imperfect vessels of clay, the entire and perfect message does not come through in a form useful to everyone. This is called interpretation, and the weak link is our “clayness”. This is not a problem though a challenge to reconcile in fellowship, but it can be improved.

Add to that the people who feel they too get an interpretation from the scriptures but it does not come from the Spirit of God but only from their own imperfect mind as they read. How are we to discern the truth from all this confusion? The simple answer is found in James 3:13-18. But the answer is not actually simple because of the engrafted error we find present in these last days.

Let me explain:

In Luke 24 we read the narrative of events just after the Crucifixion from the perspective of the disciples. To us its easy to read in the mystery of the Gospel message but to them it was as real as it gets, their messiah whom they placed all confidence in had been killed and they had no idea what to make of it.

“Much perplexed”, “afraid”, “their words seemed to them as idle tales”, “wondering in himself at that which was come to pass”; these are the descriptions given regarding their confusion even after two angels reminded them that Jesus told them all this would come to pass (Luke 14:6-8), and yet the narrative continues following two of them as they went that same day to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24:13-14) “and they talked together of all these things which had happened.”

These are not Pagans, they are not even the Jew who rejected the Christ, these are Jesus’ own followers. And because they were Jews we know they knew well “Moses and the prophets” (The Jewish Old Testament), but they still had no idea what to make of the recent events that seemed to go so horribly wrong.

They were greatly confused.

Was it due to a lack of study? Was it a lack of knowledge of the scripture that hid the proper interpretation from them? No. In fact it was probably the authorized education from the temple priests they did have that hid the interpretation from them. We see the additional support for this in the Apostle Paul, who being as formally educated and zealous for God as a person can get, went about killing the followers of the Christ he spent his life looking for. No; The answer is not found solely in the education of knowledge… but neither is it exclusive from it.

The problem of confusion lies in our pre-conceived comprehensions of what is being communicated. These men were discussing and reasoning through the recent events and their meaning, but were not getting anywhere with the effort.

* * *

In Luke 24:15-17 we see Jesus incognito join these two as they were worrying over these things and he began not with simply the instruction of knowledge, but with where they were in heart;

“What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” he was addressing the spirit of their perspective and not telling them they had it all wrong.

Their trouble was not a lack of knowledge of the events or even a lack of knowledge of scripture; their trouble was one of perspective.

And so Jesus drew out of them the specifics of their perspective as a place to begin.  Please take the time to read this perspective in Luke 24:18-24. Where did they have it wrong? It was not in the events, and it was not in their scriptural understanding of hope, they had it all right, but were still sad because of perspective.

Then the risen Jesus declared them fools and slow of heart to believe. But believe what?

The prophets of the scriptures that gave them confidence to trust that Jesus was he which should redeem Israel! The very thing they trusted in was the same thing that made them sad because they didn’t understand what it said and so the events appeared to dash the scriptures though they actually fulfilled them!

They never doubted the prophets but by a wrong perspective of them they began to doubt the very messiah that every fiber of experience confirmed to them was indeed Jesus. The only flaw in their whole comprehension was their perspective, which they clung to rather than the one they knew to be the messiah of the scriptures. Perspective is so powerful.

There are three parts to this problem:

1)            The scriptures that foretold the messiah

2)            The man Jesus who was obviously that messiah

3)            Their perspective of the way prophecy said things were supposed to turn out but didn’t.

With this combination of elements there is no solution, no matter how diligently it is contemplated (John 3:10,12).

“O fools *1, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his Glory?” Luke 24:25-26

Here was the single and pivotal point to resolve all the wrong perspective! “Is this not what scripture said was supposed to happen?” They had not been trained to see in the scriptures these things, they had been trained to see their own rescue, and what better time to be rescued than when under the thumb of the GDE of Rome?

This single question of Jesus re-aligned the focus to then see another perspective, and THEN Jesus burst open the scriptures to reveal what was hidden in plane sight;

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” Luke 24:27 (that shows these things must happen as they did and why).

What a change of heart they must have had, from sadness to the ecstasy of joy in now seeing the recent events as the long prophesied big picture plan of God Almighty shown all through the scriptures! Now they could see in scripture the proof that indeed Jesus was and is the messiah and there is no discrepancy between what was written in prophecy and the events that played out. The only thing that changed was their perspective, but what a difference a change of perspective makes!

* * *

What perspectives do you now hold that hinders such joy in the absence of conflict in your faith? Today I see many sad Christians who don’t doubt the scriptures but the circumstance in their life seem to prove the result is not what God had in mind. Our ministers and bible schools teach us the scriptures, but give us, or at least support, our wrong perspective of it and we remain blind to the actual truth in application of scripture just as the two on their way to Emmaus.

All the study and learning in the world cannot alter a wrong perspective but only make it stronger. Only the Spirit of the Risen Christ the Son of God can open our eyes to see plainly what the scriptures have said all along. But here is a curious thing:

Jesus did not reveal himself to them as he expounded. To them he was just a learned man explaining the scriptures in a way they had never heard. Clearly their hearts perceived what he said was true (v.32) but they did not comprehend it was Jesus… and then “he made as though he would have gone further” v.28,

What is that all about?

It is prophetic instruction: “But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them” v.29.

This tells us that when we are enlightened by God and perceive his spirit instructing us, it is our job to constrain the Lord to stay with us as long as he will. We must play our active part lest he leave before he intends. Jesus wanted to stay, intended to stay, gave them every opportunity to ask him to stay, but whether he stayed or not was in their hands.

We see in v.31 that he didn’t actually tarry long and didn’t even finish the meal, so why bother constraining the Lord to stay at all?

Because of what took place in that short period. If they had not constrained him to stay they never would have figured out it was Jesus himself ministering in their presence!

All the expounding on the scripture was exciting to them, but it was in that last brief moment, having been constrained to tarry, that he opened their eyes even further to see it was the risen Lord actually in their midst. This is what motivated them to hi-tail it back to Jerusalem immediately, not bothering to wait till morning (v.33) to tell the Apostles and the others that “The Lord is risen indeed!” v.34.

It was not the explanation of the scriptures that did that, though necessary to get to that point, but the personal presence of Jesus Christ that blew away the sadness! No amount of expounding on scripture can reach that place, but Jesus came to them while they discussed and reasoned with the events (v14-15). Confused theory and speculation of the

interpretation and meaning of his resurrection from the dead had been turned into clear reality by experience which made sense of the scripture! On what equal plane do you suppose these men would now be willing to discuss the meaning of scripture with someone educated but who without the experience must analogize away the actual resurrection which is of course impossible? Proper faith goes far beyond knowledge but nevertheless does not leave knowledge behind. Proper faith is not illogical or irrational to him who experiences it but can be nothing else to him that does not (I Corinthians 1:18). To him who believes, prophecy is more sure than experienced reality to which we must take heed until the experience of the Holy Spirit comes and fills our heart (II Peter 1:18-21) as he did with the travelers to Emmaus. Jesus did not rebuke them for their confusion, he instructed them as they diligently attempted to reason what they knew.

* * *

Let’s apply a bit of perspective adjustment to see things in a new way:

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

II Peter 1:2-4

There is so much packed into this one sentence that we must focus our attention so that we don’t get rabbit trailed from our intended topic. Read this verse at least three times and actually try to follow the links in his chain of reasoning:

How is grace and peace multiplied to me? Through the knowledge of God and Jesus, which is how God’s power has given us all things relative to life and godliness. How is his power given? Through the knowledge of Jesus who called us specifically to glory and virtue: The colon tells us that this glory and virtue are what is used to give us very, very great and precious promises. What are those promises? That by the glory and virtue we are called to, we can participate in God’s divine nature since we have escaped the decay/ ruin that is in the world because of longing for the forbidden. Did you hear that?!

God has promised that we can partake of his divine nature, if we follow this chain of application! But what a chain it is.

Why is it so complicated? For the same reason Jesus spoke in parables. Many in slothfulness will simply drop out here because “it makes their head hurt”, but I expect better for you:

In both cases here, the word knowledge is 1922 epignosis; from 1921; recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgment.

It is important to understand that this full discernment of God is not to be confused with the word knowledge later enjoined in verses 5 and 6 which is;

Knowledge 1108 gnosis; from 1097; knowing (the act), i.e. (by implication) knowledge:- science.

1097 ginosko; a prolonged form of a primitive verb; to “know” (absolutely) in a great variety of applications with many implications…

We are informed that this incredible partaking 2844 of God’s divine nature is a result of applying the acknowledgment of God that gives us all that we need regarding life and godliness.

Partakers 2844 koinonos; from 2839; a sharer, i.e. associate.

But hold on, there is a caveat (as there always is); these promises that allow us participation of the divine nature is contingent upon having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Yet here is where the modern Christian has been beguiled out of the access through the ignorance of God and of Jesus our Lord. Our lack of the knowledge of God has resulted in a blocking of grace and peace being multiplied unto us and we walk in the darkness of this world while struggling to follow Christ (Romans 1:18). We call him a liar when he says; “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29) because by experience it is not so. This II Peter passage tells us why if we would only believe it.

* * *

After faith and before knowledge:

While most modern Christians are so entrenched in the lust of this world and struggling in their faith as if their ship is sinking while waiting for the rapture lifeboat to rescue them, the early disciples of Jesus had a similar perspective regarding the purpose of the messiah to save them from Rome.

It is not that these things wont happen, they will, but this shortsighted temporal focus resists the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord by which we have access to his divine power and participation in his divine nature…

Then Peter continues his instruction with; “and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” II Peter 1:5

It is a tragedy that we want a one verse answer to the ignoring all others.

Beside 846 autos; …of the third person and …of the other persons.

Meaning; “along with this” or “coupled with this”; giving all diligence to these things, also add to your faith virtue;

What this is saying is that verses 1-4 are describing the faith that we are to give all diligence to.

And to such faith we are to also give diligence to add virtue (703) which is what he said we were called to back in verse 3, along with glory.

Virtue 703 arete; from the same as 730; properly manliness (valor), i.e. excellence (intrinsic or attributed).

Glory 1391 doxa; from the base of 1380; glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literally or figuratively, objective or subjective):- dignity, glory, honor, praise.

Virtue and glory are our calling. They are what the faith is to produce in us. They are the product of faith, they are our calling in the faith.

But we are not to add knowledge (the intellect of science) to our faith; we are to add virtue. Knowledge is then added to virtue. Why this order? Because the intellectual collection of information without adding that to an established virtue, simply produced pride and not godliness. Therefore, add to your uncorrupted faith, virtue.

But today we must root out the corruption of our faith which we have been subverted to accept as normal. Virtue is a great tool in that effort as we are to add virtue to the faith we have. With all diligence, purify and maintain your faith by adding virtue to that faith.

Then add the knowledge of God to your virtue. Now the introduction of knowledge has the instruction to enhance our virtue which increases our purity of faith.

And with knowledge you can add temperance, then patience, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, and finally genuine love.

Don’t imagine this is a weekend achievement; rather it is a lifetime goal. It is the maturity of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. As you adventure through one layer of these compound character attributes of God, line upon line and precept upon precept, you will eventually begin again at a new and deeper level of faith to build the next layer of faith, virtue, knowledge etc. The diligence you give to this, results in the promise of verse 8:

“For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge 1922 of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And remember it is this acknowledgment of God that grants you the ability to partake in God’s divine nature. But note, there are two degrees of possession here; be in you, and abound: Not the same thing. Abound indicates a degree of what is in you, showing the increasing of these things as you give diligence to it. The fruit comes when these things abound in you.

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” II Peter 1:9

What is the result of such a one who was once purged but then forgot because of neglect? Read the whole of chapter 2! Woa!

If you don’t take the time to read the whole thing then focus on this part;

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” II Peter 2:20-21

Salvation is not about a free ride through sin; it is about the divine empowerment to dwell above sin where Christ sits on the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-10).

Cast off your wrong perception of the faith and let God’s Spirit teach you what it actually says as you acknowledge God through reading his word afresh and applying it in the power of obedience. Christianity is not so much about the arriving but about the being. And yet there is indeed an arriving that we look for at the appointed time!

* * * * * * *

*1 Fool:

Matthew 5:22b “…but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Fool 3474 moros; probably from the base of 3466; dull or stupid (as if shut up), i.e. heedless, (morally) blockhead, (apparent) absurd.

3466 musterion; from a derivative of muo (to shut the mouth); a secret or mystery: (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).

Fools: Luke 24:25 “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:”

453 anoetos; from 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 3539; unintelligent; by implication sensual.

3539 noiel; from 3563; to exercise the mind (observe), i.e. (figuratively) to comprehend, heed.

At first it is somewhat hard to distinguish between these two Greek words both interpreted as “fool”, but Jesus himself declared the warning against calling a man a fool (Matthew 5:22) then calls his own followers fools (Luke 24:25); clearly there is a difference.

By the context of the Matthew statement expanded through Matthew 5:21-26 we understand the meaning of the condemned statement is to declare someone incapable of intelligence while the second application was a declaration of state of being that could be altered but has not been.

The first use is to declare a flaw in God’s creative work while the second declares the flaw is in the creation’s application of what is possible.

*

Slow of Heart

 Post 229

Today these Simonized Christians fill our pulpits, seminaries, and religious TV channels with all manner of iniquity *1 (Matthew 7:23), and the produce of such leadership is a Simonized congregation where the condition of Simon is normal (Acts 8).

But it’s worse than that.

At least Simon quickly saw his iniquity when Peter showed it to him and in fear he cried out to Peter to pray for him so that the evils declared on him did not happen (Acts 8:24). My message, among other faithful ministers, is decrying the same evils of an entire nation for the same general reason; bondage to iniquity (Acts 8:23). While earnest repentance is the only means of salvation, our lack of repentance leads to our perishing (Acts 8:20). But instead of repentance, Simonized American Christians look to the economy and jobs and Health Care and confused national leaders to determine if we are doing OK or not; “I don’t care if he’s for abortion or is an adulterer, his personal values are unimportant, all I care is if he can get our economy back on track”.

The problem is; I can’t find in scripture that this is God’s sentiment so what part of Christianity is that vote by what has been determined in poles to be a large Christian majority?

By the evidence of unscrupulous and immoral men seated in elected office, we as general Christians have failed to follow God’s values of importance beyond meaningless lip service “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:”… Colossians 3:6+.

Today our Churches are filled with these Simonized Christians who have been carefully and methodically inoculated from the fear of God. They line up at the churches of “Christian Clinics” to get their weekly one hour dose of spiritual inoculations and walk out all Simonized and happy in their placebo dose of defense against the wrath of God (Romans 1:18).

They go to church faithfully, teach Sunday school, attend seminary, share the gospel and go on missions, they do all that Simon did and are very active practitioners of Christianity, but to repent in the fear of the LORD? “Why would I need to do that? Jesus forgave my sins back when I was saved” or; “I’m OK, I repent of my sins every day!” but that sort of misses the whole point of “repent” doesn’t it?

And here we are now, in the age of confusion when in earnest religion the best of us are a people who have no idea what it means to be a Christian. Even in most the pulpits of our better churches we hear ministers preach the truth from the word of God, but they preach it from behind; meaning they themselves cannot live what they are preaching because in compromised lives they have not found the power of the risen Savior (Romans 1:32-2:1). Their Christian lives are lived as if Jesus did not rise from the dead. And if Jesus did not rise, then all he preached was nothing more than good but impractical philosophy just as is preached from our pulpits.

But Jesus DID rise from the dead. For real. In the flesh. Indeed! And this miraculous resurrection is the power of witness he gives to us by his Spirit to live successfully in the flesh after dying to ourselves;

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” Colossians 3:1.

But what is the one thing that must be true if you have been risen with Christ? You must have previously died with Christ.

But how is this possible? What does that actually mean beyond the safety of a vague metaphor?

This question must be answered before we can go on in the passage to the state of rising with Christ in our temporal lives; You simply cannot rise from the dead if you never died (I Corinthians 15:31,36, John 12:24). Yet dying to these iniquities is what most professing Christians cannot do except by metaphor, and so remain very much alive to them as they wrestle themselves to exhaustion crying out to God for help that does not come.

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:11.

…“Mortify (3499) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:”…

Colossians 3:1-6.

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify (2289) the deeds of the body, ye shall live”

Romans 8:13.

Mortify:

3499 Nedroo; from 3498; to deaden, i.e. (figuratively) to subdue:- be dead, mortify.

2289 thanatoo; from 2288; to kill (literally or figuratively):- become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortify.

This mortification of our earthly notions (members) in conflict with God’s nature is indeed a death of those perspectives and values we once lived by. Paul is clear that we are the ones that must swing the executioners ax on our own parts and deeds, yet the churches are filled with weeping Christians begging God to do this for them and eventually concluding that for some reason he won’t or can’t. And so in disillusionment they live as defeated men in powerless compromise, subconsciously blaming God for failing to raise them, even proudly in self-righteous strength of endurance they patiently “wait” on God to eventually do the work “in his time” as if they are more righteous than God for the waiting!

I am not ignoring the idea that these well meaning people WANT to be free from their godless natures, but they are ignorant by the inoculation of a false gospel regarding the part they must play. Christ’s blood by his sacrificial death fully pays for your sin so that you are no longer held accountable for it, but this does not mean, nor can it mean, that his blood covers our remaining iniquity.

It is the iniquity which we must mortify ourselves by repentance. But it is our iniquity which we never hear preached about, only our sin which is the natural byproduct of iniquity. The result is the similitude to the Catholic faith where we have no compunction against sinning all week because we plan on confessing it to the priest (Jesus) and getting forgiveness. This is the blasphemy of the blood of Christ in denial of the Power of his resurrection. Without the resurrection there is no enduring salvation, and so we must reckon ourselves dead unto sin but also reckon ourselves alive unto Christ as participants in his resurrection to life and not simply dead spectators.

Christ himself likened salvation to a new birth. But mistakenly, Americans fawn all over birthdays. We make a great deal about the event of our birth, we memorialize it and give gifts to the celebrated birthed presumably in a confused memorial of the wise men gifting the infant Christ as we incorrectly celebrate Christmas as Jesus birthday. But where in scripture do you find the date of Jesus birth? In fact the scriptures are significantly consistent in their neglect of glorifying births.

Why?

Because a man is not judged by being born, it has little to do with his effort and is simply an event that begins his existence by which he is judged. The scriptural celebration is at his death.

Why?

Because at your death the entire profile of your life can be evaluated; How did you live?

Yet Christians today place a huge and inordinate degree of attention on their salvation (spiritual birth) as if that is the end goal. But salvation is nothing more than your birth into life, which although extremely important to your future, has little importance after the event. How do you live that life: In mourning that you are not victorious in the faith? In perpetual crying to God about your inability to turn from your iniquity? In powerless compromise?

Beyond giving you spiritual birth into true life, salvation has little to do with what you do with that life. The power of God through the risen Lord who succeeded his life’s mission, has everything to do with it. So…

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God”… Colossians 3:1+

But how does that apply to my love for football, or relationships, or a comfortable home, or a good career? “These things are not sin and surely God doesn’t mind my preoccupation with them because this is where God put me.”

But the passage continues;

…“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”

Colossians 3:2-3.

It seems that in confused misapplication of such scripture, we convince ourselves that setting our affection on things here below is OK with God. And in that blindness we simply cannot see the connection between that poor choice and the resulting uncontrollable temptations to frustration, anger, lust, covetousness, and the like, which produces the works of the flesh in our hearts (Galatians 5:17-21), and not the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26).

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” Galatians 5:16.

You cannot walk in the Spirit if your affections are set on things here (Matthew 6:32-33). If the works of the flesh through its desires has you in bondage, you must conclude you have failed to walk in the Spirit. But Simon the Christian never received the Spirit in the first place because he did not comprehend his need to repent of his iniquity. And so we have identified two problems:

1)     A failure to die to self,

2)     and a failure to live unto Christ.

In both cases the solution is a preoccupation with Christ. Turn your full attention to him by the abandonment of your pet iniquities that lead you away.

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayset obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for this is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers…” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 and 4:26-28.

“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision (legalism) availeth anything, nor uncircumcision (doctrine of grace); but faith which worketh by love (it is all about your love for him). Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This (wrong) persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you” Galatians 5:6-8.

“And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him”  Acts 5:32.

Are you lacking the evidential Power of the Holy Ghost? Its because you are not obeying him because you don’t love him.

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16.

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first began at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” I Peter 4:17.

Now read the short book of I John and ask yourself;

“What are the commandments of Christ?”

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”

I John 2:3-4.

Where then is the room for this all too common heretical doctrine of perpetual failure though we “try”? It is the conclusion from a life of powerless compromise.

Jesus called us to far more than that!

* * * * * * *

*1 Iniquity 458 anomia; from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (general) wickedness.

*

On Iniquity

Post 228

 

As the events in our world move at an alarming rate, most of us can see the very black storm looming larger on the horizon, we don’t need someone to tell us that as many hunker down to wait what comes with apprehensive uncertainty. But due to the long history of many claiming to be prophets of God with a seemingly unending variety of “prophetic” details and timelines, the majority of Christians have simply shut their ears to the cacophony of confusion by declaring; “We cannot know what the prophecy of scripture means until it comes to pass”. Yet most of these same Christians have a insatiable fascination with UFOs, the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus, Global Economic Predictions and the Global Warming - Hole in the Ozone - Acid Rain - Asbestos - Lead Paint - Ebola - Aids - scientific forecasts of doom.  The world ending fear mongering of these things are quickly accepted and earnestly investigated with the perverse sick curiosity of a drive by car crash gawker. But scripture prophecy? “I guess we will never know until we get to heaven.”

What is with that?

I contend it is because like Peter told Simon of Acts 8:9-24, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

What did Peter mean by that? Simon was a solid Christian as the scripture states; “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip…” Acts 8:13a.

I feel I must draw attention again to some of the points of the last post because of the incredible importance to this generation as we watch come to an end the short transition between the 7th and 8th Global Dominant Empires (GDEs) of Revelation 17:10-11.

The obvious black storm now coming with enormity is an excellent wake up call and many are heeding its warning by seeking after God more earnestly than before. Since you are reading this I imagine perhaps you are one of these. So let me again be clear;

Although I earnestly believe my interpretation of scripture is of God and correct, I do not pretend to suppose I am given everything the scripture has to say. The scripture is so full of all wisdom that no man can glean its full truth anymore than we can fully comprehend God himself.

“…Oh that he (God) would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! … Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the almighty unto perfection?”

Job 11:5-7

What I present is only a small portion of what the scripture has to say, so like the drive by gawker of all manner of prophecies of doom except the scriptures; do not, like the Jews, be content to read the work of expositors of the scriptures over the scriptures themselves; (Talmud over the Torah). Expositors, like jumper cables, are there to jumpstart your own searching of God and his word to help you then get from him directly the true fuel for your soul. My work is intended to be just such jumper cables, to excite your hope in God that he is not dead, his word is incredibly relevant, and that most of his holy word was written more for our time than any previous if that were possible. And so, the purpose of my work is to excite you to seek for the moving of God in your spirit through the Holy Ghost where he runs deep and not primarily on the surface with flamboyant displays of prophecy and miracles and tongues and such.

Do not be like Simon who actually believed in Jesus Christ, followed the instruction of baptism, and earnestly made the work of the faith his life, yet still lacked the power of God moving on him personally so remained curious in wonder as he observed the Holy Spirit moving on others.

“…he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done” Acts 8:13b.

There are those who want desperately this fellowship with God but somehow never figure out how to access it and so choose “second best” by joining themselves earnestly to those who do.

As we see in the Acts 8 narration, Simon was not rebuked for this until it became a problem. This might suggest, like Matthew 13:25-30, that the line there is too gray to distinguish in the early stages as people sort out the working of their faith by clinging to those who can mentor them, but Simon eventually showed his problem when he made the wrong conclusion;

“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost”  Acts 8:18-19.

Finally Peter was able to address Simon’s error as it came to a head and expose for him his root iniquity that lay at the source in his heart. How is it possible that a Christian who worked in the ministry with the saints of God could conclude that the Holy Spirit could be had for money? It was because no matter how hard he worked at applying the faith, the Holy Ghost never came but he didn’t know why. So as he observed the apostles simply giving it away to others with a bitter heart casting the blame elsewhere, he concluded surely he could buy it from them as he was one of the ministers with them.

“But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought (3543) that the gift of God may be purchased with money” Acts 8:20.

The reaction of Peter tells us this was not simply a case of ignorance but due to a rooted wickedness that produced such a thought.

Thought 3543 nomizo; from 3551; properly to do by law (usage), i.e. to accustom (passively be usual); by extension to deem or regard:- suppose, think, be wont.

3551 nomos; from a primary nemo (to parcel out, especially food or grazing to animals); law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), general (regulation), specifically (of Moses [including the volume]; also of the Gospel), or figuratively (a principle):- law.

This definition of thought has a curious source of development that warrants further investigation:

Such a thought is not a sudden idea that pops in from nowhere; it is a methodical working of accepted and approved ideas that build one upon another similar to the scriptural “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? …for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;” Isaiah 28:9-10.

Yet this passage goes on to state that this very process of learning is also the cause of the fall of those who would not learn what God is instructing by this method (Isaiah 28:12-13). The process of learning is the same but everything about what is learned is different because of the various chosen elements of the construction of that thought. This is the building up of wrong comprehension by which Simon reached his concluding error. And Peter shows us the cause of such wickedness; “…thy heart is not right in the sight of God”.

We can easily see in Acts 8:9-11 that the cause of wickedness in this man’s past deception and manipulation remained as a seed of bitterness in his heart upon which he continued to build with the truth of his new faith to eventually come to a completely blasphemous desire that seemed logical to him. Instead of repenting from his ways of error he only incorporated the new faith into his previous perceptions.

Dear Christian who sees the great black storm building on the horizon and darkening the sky of world events, are you even now trying to “buy” safe passage around the storm with your salvation? Do you suppose that Christianity is a golden ticket to avoid the horrors to come by expecting “the rapture” and so have turned a deaf ear to the watchman on the wall because you believe you won’t be here to endure it? (I Peter 4:19).

Have you shrugged your shoulders at the fall of America because it simply does not matter to you since you won’t be here to experience the evil in all its unresisted glory because your Christ is promised to rescue you… as did the Jews who by scripture were confident their Messiah would come before Judah fell to the horrors of Rome? (Genesis 49:10). Have you so long been following the methodical teaching of the scholars as they build a strong case for the rapture in your lifetime, yet have not bothered to search the scriptures for yourself to see what the Spirit of God has to say to you? Maybe the scholars are right… but maybe not.

Frankly my point today is not the eminency of the rapture but the fact that you have nothing more than a belief based on little more than someone else’s opinions. You are confident that a learned and studied methodical conclusion of scripture by “someone smarter than you” is all there is to have, and you know even less about the rapture itself than its timing, yet like Simon you wonder at those who seem to have more than that. Are you buying the teaching of the Holy Ghost from others because you don’t have it? and you know you don’t have it because you “simply don’t have the time” to get it? Do you suppose the Holy Ghost comes with more knowledge? How much knowledge do you need before he comes? The next book, the next DVD, the next conference?

* * *

OK, Before you feel like I’m beating you, let’s move on toward the answer, so bear with me a little longer:

Let’s be honest and quickly push away the security of an imaginary holy spirit of common powerless Christianity, and address the topic of a real and powerful Holy Ghost promised to every repentant Christian (Acts 2:38) which you don’t have. If you do not have a part or lot in this matter of the Holy Spirit, there is a reason. And if there is a reason there is also a solution. But the hard part is logically and emotionally tearing down the huge structure of reasoning you have built over time with the wrong materials. Nobody likes to start over after years of work on anything; All the wasted time, all the embarrassment of being wrong; all the new work of starting from scratch. These are the thoughts and emotions that keep us from reaching the right ends by choosing a different road once the error has been discovered. This concept was expanded in post 129 All Roads November 23, 2010 (http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/11/all-roads.html).

The correct focus to maintain is not about you and your public image, but about the end result you are endeavoring to reach; are you arriving at the wrong destination in spite of the fact you are sure you are on the right road? Wisdom will tell you the resulting destination trumps the confidence in your present course, every time. Simply change toward the correct direction and suddenly you will be getting closer to the actual goal, (keep this thought in mind; we will develop it in a moment). Looking back in my own past I am still surprised how long and hard it was for me to actually wake up to the truth I already knew but could not make my heart believe. My mind was fully in agreement with the word of God in principle, but my heart had an incredible ability to maneuver around the truth to remain where it was happily grazing. This too was expanded in post 168 The Heart February 20, 2011.

(http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2011/02/heart.html).

These are both well worth a fresh reading.

* * *

As you look around the world through Youtube, the internet, or TV, and see all the glories of technology and science and advanced achievements, of happiness, and comfortable living, it is very easy to agree with your heart and grow dull to the warning cries as the black cloud looming on the horizon doesn’t seem any closer than it did yesterday and things are really not all that bad. I am not ashamed to admit that these are two competing worldviews from which you must choose your course. And in this choice is the continental divide from which everything that follows will take opposing courses to different seas of reasoning. Among all that confusion of input we have arrived at the summit on the Pile of Decision. From here you choose the Creator or the creation (Romans 1:25).

Simon also arrived at just such a summit when Peter confronted him with his wicked heart. Suddenly washed away was his argument that he believed in Jesus Christ, that he was baptized into the faith, that he gave his life to the work of evangelism and was a co-worker with the apostles themselves! Peter gave no weight to any of that argument as he pierced the heart of Simon to nail the root of his failure to receive the Holy Ghost.

“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity”

Acts 8:22-23.

“That is some very harsh words to a fellow believer Pete!”

But at this point there was no use dancing around the issue. It was now time to address his heart, he was at the dividing line between watersheds, and according to Peter’s words it seemed that he was already on his way down the wrong side. Peter himself was uncertain if Simon could be delivered as he must have been thinking about the tragic end of Ananias and Sapphira so recently in the past (Acts 5:1-11). Notice that the last verse on the subject leaves us hanging as to the result;

“Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me”

Acts 8:24.

There is no other Simon in the rest of the bible that might be this man. We simply do not know what became of him and I believe there is a reason for that. If such a person who finds himself in the condition of Simon was to read that Simon was saved, it would allow them to be relieved in knowing there was still hope and so not feel as pressed to repent in the cold sweat of great fear. And bitterness will not give up if there is even a thread of alternative.

But if it was revealed that Simon was lost, it would condemn such a confused person in hopelessness and they would not have the strength to seek repentance at all. The self-destructive power of bitterness will grasp even at the hope of hopelessness rather than give up. And so it seems that scripture leaves out the result so that in great fear such a one might earnestly seek God in repentance and hope, turning from the iniquity of the heart with great diligence.

There is one other point that should be made; Peter told Simon it was his job to repent and pray, but it is also stated without rebuke that Simon asked Peter to pray for him. I believe this suggests that the combination has the most successful chance of recovery in such a case.

* * *

Now here is the crux of this post that should alarm virtually every Christian in America:

Nearly every breathing person in America can see the storm clouds building. We really are in very serious trouble. Forget the arguing about the causes or the solutions; we all know things are very bad. Agreed?

So do we, or do we not believe God the Creator? We do. Agreed?

So what has God promised?

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” II Chronicles 7:14.

God is speaking to those like Simon who are called by His name and committed to the faith perhaps even in ministry but have built over time a value system of solid and logical thinking one brick at a time … that results in wicked conclusions. The problem is that by the time an entire nation needs healing, it is because God’s people as a whole have become Simons.

Did you hear that?

The problem is that by the time an entire nation needs healing, it is because God’s people as a whole have become Simons.

Now when most everyone is a Simon living out his faith in honest ministry to the best of his ability without the Spirit, what authority does a Peter have in making his argument? The whole pack of Simons stand up in the security of democratic defense and tell Peter he is out of line, they drive him from the church as a disrupter to the ministry and think they do God a service, and eventually do even worse;

“They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” John 16:2.

Jesus the redeemer said to this kind of Simon; “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust” John 5:45.

The Jews trusted in Moses the bringer of the law, as do the Christian in Christ the bringer of liberty; both are missing the point as they blindly break the ways of those whom they trust, and both result in the destruction of their land; The Jews as our historical example and the Christians as yet near future.

Look, I am not trying to save a nation, but if one person receives the fire of the Holy Ghost and spreads it to another and they to others, the end result could be a saved land. It is not impossible as God has already declared, America is only doomed if she does not repent from her wicked ways. And yet if America does not repent but you do, then you go through America’s consequences with everyone else but are in the very center of God’s eye like Caleb, and that is what is far more important (Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8).

But here is the obvious problem that is evidenced by America’s looming storm clouds of destruction. As a whole, God’s people don’t recognize their own wickedness and so see no need to repent;

“Yep, America is in bad shape, but it ain’t my fault, I’m good; I have faith in God.”

I recently had a discussion with a pleasant young Christian woman who is a smoking, drinking, blaspheming, fornicator as she earnestly declared she is a God fearing woman. How is this possible? What does it mean to her to fear God?

Do you know that statistically approximately 80-95% of Americans feel they are above average? *1, So honestly, should I judge the merits of my own “goodness” when it comes to eternity, or perhaps take some other “above average” person’s perspective on my righteousness? Or might it be wiser to spend some time reading what God has to say on the matter, and search for the confirming evidence of his active Spirit? If American Christians were as good with God as we all think, America could not be on the verge of destruction. Just this Sunday in church, I heard a group of grown Christian men question why God remains silent and inactive while evil runs free.

I don’t see him silent or inactive as he has already declared that if we do good he will bless us, but if we do bad he will destroy us (Deuteronomy 28). It seems that God is speaking loudly and is very active!

* * *

So let’s stop beating around the bush, and cure the problem as Peter directed Simon:

Simon only had 2 things to do (Acts 8:22):

1.      Repent, and

2.      pray for forgiveness.

How simple is that?!

Well, first we have to see our wickedness as Peter so un-delicately pointed out to Simon. And here is where Simon gets lots of hopeful credit; He did not argue with Peter but readily agreed that Peter was right, and he immediately sought help in the very real fear of God. And here is another hurtle for America;

Our abundance of preachers are not showing to us our wickedness, nor the root cause of iniquity that binds us, but rather like Rick Warren’s books “The Purpose Driven life” and “The Purpose Driven Church”, they are soothing our humanity and decrying the need for Christ. And our people are eating it up. So how can an “above average” Christian actually see his own wickedness so that he can repent of it and pray for forgiveness? God gives us a clue in the steps he lays out;

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” II Chronicles 7:14.

Humility is the place to start, but not ignoring the rest.

Admit to God you are probably not as above average as you presently think. Start looking for what ways you are currently offending God, and ask him to help you discover them. Begin with those things you already know about but have long been willing to ignore. Yep, that one! Say, that was quick! And now as your insides are instantly cold from the sudden realization this is going to be personal, you have to decide if that thing is actually worth your soul.

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and loose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26.

Sure you are really quite attached to that simple and harmless sin and the thought of giving it up is unthinkable, but if you do actually consider the silliness of the battle, is that stupid trifle really worth your soul? Of course not! Give it to God with delight because he wants something so insignificant!

But the actual reason why that little thing is so impossible to consider giving up is not because of the thing, but because by giving it up you are turning over control of your life; you are surrendering your will to God’s, and right now you are actually more attached to that thing than to God. Such “things” only provide evidence of the self-rule that is the source problem. This is the actual focus of salvation; Saving you from your stubborn self. So what kind of salvation is it that retains control? The kind that displays no power of the Holy Ghost.

I wasted far too many Christian years excusing away those insignificant trinket sins by rejecting the idea that such a small departure could be so expensive. But God’s word many times says otherwise; (Hebrews 10:38, Ephesians 1:4 etc.) and;

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” James 1:21.

This verse is worded this way because the filthiness and superabundance of depravity will keep you from applying the soul saving word into your life (engrafting). But you don’t think you are as bad as all that, right? Except somehow the word of God just doesn’t rock your world or “speak” to you anymore does it? You would rather do virtually anything than read your bible. Except you want to read it, you just… can’t.

Hmmm. Nothin’ spiritual going on here.

Perhaps you are involved in far more filthy depravity than you think. Like that simple insignificant sin that just came to your mind a moment ago but it quickly evaporated from your thoughts because you love it and want to hid it from the chopping block. I can hear Satan in your head now; “Oh that is ridiculous! This is such an insignificant thing it can’t possibly matter to God at all, let’s look for something else that is probably the real problem.” So just to prove its not Satan with power over you, let’s experiment with that one if you will simply choose to cast it off since it’s so insignificant. And honestly, is it so important to you that you couldn’t afford to do without it for experiment sake regarding your eternity, even if somehow it turns out not to actually make any difference? (Yah, I heard him make that argument too.) But let me assure you it does matter.

Remember the above discussion about changing direction when you discovered you were not getting to the intended goal? Wisdom will tell you the resulting destination trumps the confidence in your present course every time. Simply change direction and suddenly you will be getting closer to the actual goal. This is the meaning of repentance.

Repent 3340 metanoeo; from 3326 and 3539; to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally feel compunction).

* * *

Straight Paths:

This reconsidering of what has been established as “normal” and “acceptable” is to be a fresh examination of what has long been “beyond question”. I use a lot of air quotes here because the difference between what is actually true and what is perceived as true is the very crux of the cry of John the Baptist! “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” Matthew 3:3.

The wording of this verse indicates the paths already exist but are now crooked, and they need to be made straight. So how did the paths of the Lord become crooked? Acts 2:40 gives us a clue in context; “…Save yourselves from this untoward generation”

Untoward 4646 skolios; from the base of 4628; warped, i.e. winding; figuratively perverse:- crooked, froward, untoward.

(Remember this is the root of our word Scoliosis; a curvature of the spine.)

Therefore we are able to conclude that the original paths of the Lord had become perverse; crooked, warped, by the generations of those to whom the straight paths had originally been given. And now, after John’s straightening, we are back to a nation full of American Christians who are walking perverse paths of the Lord resulting in the destruction of our land but feel confident that we are not the problem because we are on the Lord’s path.

* * *

What is the purpose of paths?

It is to get from one place to another in an ever easier and confident manner. Lewis and Clark first hacked their way to the West through a laborious and perilous effort so that those who would come after would have a path to follow. Each use of the path created a more defined trail increasingly free of obstacles, and the trail eventually became a road, and the road became a paved highway for the masses to travel so easily it is now regularly done by 18-year-old girls in expensive shoes with little concern.

The way West had been made straight. But then because of the great ease and security of travel, there are many more that are able to set out on the journey, and there was also a greater opportunity to deviate from the highway to things previously inaccessible and so unknown. And with the ever-increasing deviations by the masses using the straight highway, there came an ever-increasing need for maps while traveling the road west in order to distinguish one destination from another.

In analogy, the straight path West has been made crooked; it had been perverted from its original purpose by those later many who had altered the intent to go West; they stopped short of the goal or deviated from the plan as it were, and after many followers to the various new ends, the road west is no longer plain (straight).

But is this wrong of them? Not by their perspective or opinion; because theirs has deviated from the original goal of Lewis and Clark. This is the way of the modern Christian who has included in his faith the bondage of iniquity and does not know it’s wrong. They are “this untoward generation” from which we now must save ourselves;

“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul” Proverbs 16:17.

* * * * * * *

*1 Statistic Resources:

General Aviation Stats

(http://www.meretrix.com/~harry/flying/notes/aboveaverage.html)

American drivers Stats

(http://www.cheapcarinsurance.net/above-avarege-driver)

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