When Did Reason Die?

New Old Commandment

2012-02-13T10:25:00.001-08:00

Line By Line - I John2:7-8

Post 232

Because obedience, thetopic of the last post, is so controversial and muddled in the modern Americanchurches today, I felt it necessary to continue with an additional post.American would not be in the condition it is today if my argument was not true.America is suffering at the hands of Christians living in “dirty grace”. Thispost should make that clear.

But the deeply entrenchedperception today is an excessive focus on grace and that we Gentile believersare not bound under the law, and to that I have no argument in principle. It isin application where the perception shows its error.

Today’s modern Christianperceives himself to be a “New Testament” Christian, and without shame orapology does not read, let alone obey the writing of the Old Testament; “Weare under the New Covenant”, they argue.But is this actually what God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ have in mind?

Why would the everunchanging God command the stoning of the disobedient in the Old Testament thencompletely and happily overlook the same sins in his people today? Because ofChrist’s sacrifice?

Is God a pretender toimagine his people are not filthy when they actually are? Does God actuallypretend we are not sinners because we hide behind Jesus? What kind of God fillshis house with fornicators and murderers to cohabitate with his faithfulchildren just because they blame Christ for what they do? What actually changedfrom the old commandment to the new commandment? Is it only who gets thepunishment for our sins? Is that really all there is to Christianity?

Lets explore this alittle deeper:

“Brethren, I write nonew commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from thebeginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from thebeginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true inhim and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.” I John 2:7-8

Is John confused herewhen he first says he is not writing a new commandment and then turns rightaround and says he is writing a new commandment?

As the word of God isinspired by God himself there are no errors or contradictions or confusions. Sowhat is John saying to the Christians to whom he is writing?

To answer that we need toask;

“What is the oldcommandment?”

John tells us clearly,that the old commandment is the world which we have had from the beginning.

“What beginning?”

“Genesis 1:1 is prettymuch as beginning as it gets; “In the beginning God created the heavens andthe earth.”

So what word was given inthe beginning that we have heard that John is now writing as a commandment? “AndGod said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, thatit was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:3-4

John writes; “Thisthen is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that Godis light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Now neither of these areactually commandments, but words given to provide the way of the commandment,But can you begin to see what old commandment John is pointing to? Let’scontinue.

Adam and Eve were givenfree reign in the Garden where God placed them, they simply had one rule; don’teat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). This wasthe first commandment given *1 and confirmed as such in Genesis 3:11 “…Hastthou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”

As long as Adam and Evesimply refrained from that tree which did not bear in its fruit the seed of itstree (1:29), they did well and there were no problems. But oh the troubles thatcame when they disobeyed (Genesis 3).

In their now fallen stateand cast from the garden, were they not still God’s children? By furtherreading we know they were (3:21), But clearly things for them were verydifferent now; life itself was harsh from its very core; Gone were the landswithout weeds, and fruit to be picked without effort of cultivating, Now lifewas work, And hard work (Genesis 3:17-19,23).

Old commandment indetail:

Later as Adam and Evecontinued their life in the new harsh environment, they had two sons; Cane andAble.

We hear no specificcommandment regarding offerings to the LORD at this time, but clearly Cain’soffering was not accepted by the LORD and it made him mad (Genesis 4:1-5). Wewill skip over the topic that Cain may be the father of vegetarians, or that itappears that his tilling the ground was actually closer to the directive of Godthan Able’s herds (Genesis 3:18-19) making the argument for vegetarianism acomplex debate, and we will skip over the specifics of why Cain’s offering wasnot accepted beyond the point that God makes;

“If thou doest well,shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Genesis 4:7

This details the samecommandment given to Adam and Eve in the beginning and helps us understand thiscommandment now written in First John as the old commandment we heard from thebeginning: Do well.

Oh how good we have it ifwe just do well! Where is the conflict in that?

But what if we don’tdo well?

God lays out the detailsin the above verse:

1) Sinnow lies at your door, focusing specifically on you as you go about your way.

2) Sin’sdesire is now unto you. (Desire: stretch out after, longing)

3) Youmust rule over him. (Rule: have, or make to have dominion, governor, reign,have power).

We have the temporal veryreal example of what such doing not well results in; a far darker worldformerly not even imagined to them. The degree of change is beyond words.

But God is not done withthem, they simply must now make their way in their less desirable conditions.

The same goes for Cain asGod told him; If you don’t do well this will be your lot.

This is the oldCommandment John speaks of here in I John

God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. If we say that we havefellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and don’t do the truth: Walkin the light, keep his commandments, and so do well. This is the oldcommandment which John is now confirming not replacing.

So What is the newcommandment that is not actually new?

“Again, a newcommandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: becausethe darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.” I John 2:8

Why start this statementwith “Again”? Reading from verse 1of chapter one, he did not previously tell us he was writing a new commandment,so why now say; Again, I write a new commandment?

John is not hiding thefact that he is preaching Jesus Christ as having always been in the oldcommandment; I John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning…”

Jesus Christ, hissacrifice, and the plan of redemption is NOT a plan “B” of God’s.

God did not change hismind and decide to stop the consequence for sin that the Old Testament Jewsfaced by stoning. That was the very real representation of the cost of sin,just as Adam and Eve faced by their new harsh world. The old commandment “Dowell” remains in full effect. But what is new in the old commandment is thatbecause Jesus did in fact come to pay the debt for sin with his own bloodsacrifice, we have been given new life. We can actually be forgiven our sins and cleaned from any and all unrighteousness! (I John 1:9). But this too is generally covered in the old commandment of sacrifices.

The new commandment isthat now we have IN us his truth. Because Satan has been overcome and thedarkness of bondage to sin along with it. The false light of obeying a letterof the law while the heart remains unchanged is past and we now possess within us His marvelous light to shine inour path and make easy our way of straight going.

“Come unto me, all yethat labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke uponyou, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find restunto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

I have sat under twopastors in 3 consecutive weeks preaching that the Christian way is hard. ButChrist himself says otherwise, yet it is not without constraints as we are told wemust take his yoke unto ourselves.

It is only hard and heavyif we “do not well”.

Then sin lies at ourdoor, ready to pounce every time we gear up to go about our way.

In this condition it ishard and laborious and we must determine by effort and exercise to rule oversin. This victory is a battle indeed, and bloody, but it must be fought if weare to overcome.

Yet there is an easy way.

Learn of Christ. His wayis not like your nature. He is meek and lowly in heart even while being theCreator himself. There is rest for your soul and the Christian yoke you bear iseasy and light if you willingly walk in the light where he is, rather thanremain a Christian stumbling in the dark chafing against his yoke because hegoes where you don’t want to and you can’t see the pitfalls under your feet.

The new commandment is the heart of flesh that God gives tous through repentance. This new heart empowered by the Holy Ghost of God,maintained by the choice of the will to walk right, enables us to dwell in theshadow of the Almighty which protects us from the rays of the false light(Psalm 91:1) (see “Sunburn” Post 189 May 10, 2011)

Many modern Christiansare living their Christian lives in the false light of compromise because whilewilling to believe there is no darkness at all in the Father, they have beendeceived to believe there is darkness in Christ.

“…Hereby we do knowthat we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, andkeepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” I John 2:3-5

Is that still you? I praynot.

“But whoso keepeth hisword, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are inhim. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as hewalked.

Brethren, I write nonew commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from thebeginning…” I John 2:5-7.

Walk this way in your private life.
* * *

Now regarding America, when she "did well" she was the glorious light of the nations. Her blessings and protections of God were as heaven on earth. Life was very very good.
Now today she is not doing well because her people of God are not "doing well".
Now sin lies at her door and mauling us with specific intent.
This sin must be battled, it is hard, it is ugly, but it must be overcome.
Ruling over is a judicial term. Nationally we must choose righteous laws and revoke wicked laws. The legal tolerance of the wicked to do wickedly is not wise legislation, but to legislate that wickedness must be protected is wickedness in itself.
America is now failing to rule over sin because her Christian people are failing to do so in their own lives. This is not wise. But to create doctrine that protects us from rebuke for it is wickedness.
There is no darkness in Christ, "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." I John 2:6

* * * * * * *

*1 I’m not ignorant ofGenesis 1:28 as possibly a kind of commandment before my topic point, and itactually fits into I John’s topic of brotherly love, but it is not actually thekind of commandment we are discussing and for brevity sake we can pass over itwithout damage to the point, for you to explore later on your own.)

Walk This Way

2012-02-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

Line By Line - IJohn 2:1
Post 231

I John 2:1 “My littlechildren, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin,we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”

John is now telling usplainly why he is writing “these things” to us; So that we do not sin.

But only a few versesback in 1:4 he said; “And these things write we unto you, that your joy maybe full”. Is the Holy Ghost through Johnjust artistically using convenient words to mean a general point or are we ableto distinguish a segregation between subtopics in his letter? Note a clue tothe answer; that in the first section John claims “we” write these things, butin the second section he states “I” write these things.

I suggest that that whatwas written from 1:1-1:3 is a comprehension of Jesus Christ that will indeedmake our joy full if we grasp and believe what he actually said.

What he wrote next in1:5-1:10 is a comprehension of the message that that very same Jesus gave them toshare, and the purpose is so that if we comprehended that message, we would notsin. “This then” means; Because of Who Jesus is, with the intent to give accessto full joy; THIS is that message (v. 5).

But at that period in themiddle of this first verse of Chapter 2, we find a very substantial cleftbetween perceptions of what we are now reading. No amount of discussion orarguing is going to change a seated perception so how this letter of I John isinterpreted hinges fully on the perception of the reader.

Experience creates andstrengthens perception.

Now when you’re on theright path this is a very useful thing; “Practice makes perfect” is the phraseoften used to encourage diligence to some skill not yet perfected and so quitedifficult. After a substantial amount of experience through practice, yourperception is that the thing you once though was difficult is not actually hardat all. But do you remember back at the beginning, crying after a very hardeffort of failure; “Its impossible!” At the time, even the best coach found ithard to convince you otherwise and motivate you to keep trying. You had tobreak a wrong perception that was created by immature but very real experience.

Most American Christianstoday openly declare in the confidence of experience that it is impossible notto sin. They can and will support this perception by scripture itself such as;I John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truthis not in us.” and I John 1:10 “If we say that we have not sinned, we make hima liar, and his word is not in us” which are of course unarguably true.

By the power ofperception built on experience these people see only what they are prepared tosee and so they see a single topic Sin and apply it generically across theboard. These people will actually run over the first sentence in our topicverse (2:1) to get to the second sentence and interpret it to say; “And whenwe sin, we’re still ok with God.” But thisis not the meaning of this sentence, nor is it in context with this letter ofJohn, nor the entire Spirit and instruction of scripture (Hebrews 10:26-27,Numbers 15:30, Romans 8:8-14, etc.)

But other AmericanChristians today will camp on the first sentence, never making it to thesecond, and herald with great zeal and forcefully declare; “That’s right,You’re going straight to hell if you step out of line even once!”, and they back up that view with other verses suchas I John 1:5b “…that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” And IJohn 2:8a “He that committeth sin is of the devil…”

Most of this kind alsohave a strong perception but not actually based on experience. Rather thisperception is based on a confidence that scripture is actually true even if wecan’t apply it correctly. Such were the Jews that Paul references in Romans10:2, the result is that these always go about creating extreme rules ofreligion in an effort to create a righteousness to follow since they don’tactually know God’s righteousness. But which of these two are more wrong? Sadduceeor Pharisee? Democrat or Republican? Liberal or Conservative? It seems they areboth wrong.

Both these perspectivesand types are flawed and missing the mark. God is not actually giving a lectureon theology or doctrine so we can get a degree in education. John plainly saidthese things are written so that our Joy can be full and so that we do not sin.What an interesting pair, like Grace and Law. It is not a contest between thembut a proper combination of them both to an end fare beyond what they individuallyseem to be.

It is a natural trend tosee and focus on the familiar. But this is something we should be keenly awareof. If sentence #1 of our topic verse is agreeable with you, then you need tobe seeking God regarding all he means in sentence #2. If sentence #2 rings truein your heart, then you need to be seeking God regarding all he means insentence #1. The scripture is amazingly written for every mindset, not thisportion for them and that portion for those but the whole thing is one fantasticmessage that needs to be perceived fully in order to understand it.

But let me toss in athought for our time.

There is scripture thatshows the conversion of some Pharisees, but not a single verse showing thesalvation of a Sadducee.

Likewise, It is not nowthe habit of society to be over excessive with following God’s law. Today weare a people that typically take Jesus and his grace for granted. Our faith haslittle importance to us because it has cost us little (Luke 7:41-43), This isthe danger we face in this the church age (often wrongly called the age ofgrace). “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the thingswhich we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip… How shall weescape, if we neglect so great salvation…?” Hebrews2:1-3 (also 3:6-12)

“Let us thereforefear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you shouldseem to come short of it” Hebrews 4:1,Mark 7:6, etc. etc. etc.

Hebrews is a great bookto get your faith sorted out; turning obedience into desire and desire intolove; “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God… but we must labour therefore to enterinto that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (of the preceding verses) Hebrews 4:9-11.

So we see that thesuccess is based upon correct faith. Correct faith is that which motivates youto act appropriately; “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seenas yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by thewhich he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is byfaith.” Hebrews 11:7

Did Noah rest in hissacrifices of the law? Well, yes. But that did not keep him from ACTING in fearthrough faith that resulted in a very real and tangible end. If his faith hadno action he would have drowned with the wicked. What action of faith are youimplementing through proper faith of God beyond simply resting comfortablywithout fear? (Genesis 20:11, 42:18, Exodus 9:30, 18:21 and many others), "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" James 1:22.

(Hebrews 5:9-14 +) “Thereforeleaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of (dead) faith toward God, Of the doctrineof baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and ofeternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permit.” Hebrews 6:1-3

So what is there inthe faith beyond these things? Doesn’t that pretty much sum up all the faith?

The previous verses ofHebrews I put in ( +) tell us that what comes after these things is really hardto explain to those still struggling with these things. This is why he endedwith “and this we will do, if God permit”.

Don’t get me wrong anddon’t misread Paul’s meaning; we are not recommending that you abandon thesethings, but to build on them as a foundation by taking the next step. Don’tkeep taking Salvation 101 over and over again year after year, rather takeother advanced classes in the faith. But for most, they don’t even know thereare other such; “things that accompany salvation” (Hebrews 6:9).

These things are so hardto describe they are only hinted at in verses like Hebrews 6:5 as “thepowers of the world to come” accessedthrough tasting the good word of God as partakers of the Holy Ghost.

“Now of the thingswhich we have spoken this is the sum:…”Hebrews 8:1a

Great!; here comes theconclusion of all that the Apostles have been expounding on;

“…We have such an highpriest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in theheavens;…” Hebrews 8:1b

O-Kaaayyyy.

“… For this is thecovenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith theLord; I will put my law into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and Iwill be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall notteach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know theLord: for (because) all shallknow me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to theirunrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” Hebrews 8:10-12.

(Yes, this is speakingspecifically about the Jewish people and nation, and it will actually befulfilled “after those days” (v.8), but don’t miss the promise that couchesthis specific;

“how much more shallthe blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself withoutspot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?)

So we see here the bloodpurges our guilty conscience from our dead works, but what about the dead worksthemselves? Does God just pretend they don’t exist? Does this promise actuallystate that God will simply ignore our unrighteousnesses, sins and iniquitiesfrom now on? NO!

The description here isspeaking of past conduct. God’s mercy (though Christ’s sacrificial blood) has“left the past in the past” through forgiveness because of Jesus sacrificialblood offering, but don’t for a second assume this is a free ride to continuein wickedness without consequences. And now we are back to the lack ofrepentance from Simon of acts 8:21 “Thou hast neither part nor lot in thismatter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

“or despisest thou theriches of his goodness and forebearance and longsuffereing; not knowing thatthe goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Romans 2:4

And to those defendingrather than repenting of their iniquity; “But after thy hardness andimpenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath and revelation of therighteous judgment of God;” Romans 2:5

“Tribulation andanguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also ofthe Gentile;” Romans 2:9. These passagesare not talking to the unbelievers but to the Simons!

The warnings of scriptureagainst disobedience is prolific, it can only be missed if you simply don’twant to see it or don’t bother reading it at all.

But what about theargument in the Christian Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) that at the salvationof the Gentiles there were only four rules of conduct laid out to them?

“Wherefore my sentenceis, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:but that we write unto them, that they

1) abstain frompollutions of idols,

2) and fromfornication,

3) and from thingsstrangled,

4) and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20)

That sure seems like ashort list. So how then can I suggest non-Jewish believers are accountable fortheir sins and iniquities? (I mean beyond the plethora of other verses that sayso).

Because if we would justread one more verse instead of stopping short on a single verse theology, wewould find that indeed the Gentile Christians were also to learn the Jewishlaw. “Say what?” You ask.

Yep, read it foryourself;

…“For (because) Moses of old time hath in everycity them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day” Acts 15:21. The argument against laying on them morerules than these four is because they already had available the instruction ofMoses every Sabbath. These four specific rules was because in their Paganculture these were the common practice that kicked against the laws of Mosesand needed to be specifically addressed in support of Moses. God promised togive the Gentile believers spiritual interpretation of Moses so they did notneed to be given the weight of rules as did the Jews who are still blinded(Deuteronomy 30:10, Luke 10:26-28, II Corinthians 3:3,6, I Peter 1:22, 3:21,etc. etc. etc.)

And now we begin tounderstand what Jesus meant when he said; “Think not that I am come todestroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” Matthew 5:17.

What is contained in thebooks of Moses is for another post, but now as we work our way through I John,we may have a new perspective on just what he is actually saying and what Jesusexpects from us as Gentile Christians (Matthew 7:21).

So is this Christianity areligion of works? Contrary to common Christian perspective, it is. But theChristian religion is a faith based on salvation which is not of works(Ephesians 2:9). God Grants you the free gift of a new eternal life while youare still a sinner, This is the Christian faith. Now what are you going to dowith it is the question of the Christian religion.

…“And IF any man sin,we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is thepropitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of thewhole world.” I John 2:1 (see also John3:16)

* * * * * * *

*1 Propitiation 2434 hilasmos; atonement, i.e. (concrete)an expiator.

Atonement: 1. Reconciliation. 2. Satisfactory reparation foran offense or injury.

Expiate: to seek to appease, purify with sacred rites, Tomake complete satisfaction for; atone for; to expiate sin.

Between Faith and Knowledge

2012-01-28T20:42:00.001-08:00

Post 230

There is a perpetualproblem when trying to communicate, and that is the differences between twoperspectives.

We both read the samescriptures.

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, theentire 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.

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

Let me explain:

In Luke 24 we read thenarrative 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 wasas real as it gets, their messiah whom they placed all confidence in had beenkilled and they had no idea what to make of it.

“Much perplexed”,“afraid”, “their words seemed to them as idle tales”, “wondering in himself atthat which was come to pass”; these are the descriptions given regarding theirconfusion even after two angels reminded them that Jesus told them all thiswould come to pass (Luke 14:6-8), and yet the narrative continues following twoof them as they went that same day to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24:13-14) “andthey 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’ ownfollowers. And because they were Jews we know they knew well “Moses and theprophets” (The Jewish Old Testament), but they still had no idea what to makeof the recent events that seemed to go so horribly wrong.

They were greatly confused.

Was it due to a lack ofstudy? Was it a lack of knowledge of the scripture that hid the properinterpretation from them? No. In fact it was probably the authorized educationfrom the temple priests they did have that hid the interpretation from them. Wesee the additional support for this in the Apostle Paul, who being as formallyeducated and zealous for God as a person can get, went about killing thefollowers of the Christ he spent his life looking for. No; The answer is notfound solely in the education of knowledge… but neither is it exclusive fromit. The problem of confusion lies in our pre-conceived comprehensions of whatis being communicated. These men were discussing and reasoning through therecent events and their meaning, but were not getting anywhere with the effort.

* * *

In Luke 24:15-17 we seeJesus incognito join these two as they were worrying over these things and hebegan not with simply the instruction of knowledge, but with where they were inheart;

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

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

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

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

The prophets of thescriptures that gave them confidence to trust that Jesus was he which shouldredeem Israel!

The very thing theytrusted in was the same thing that made them sad because they didn’t understandwhat it said and so the events appeared to dash the scriptures though theyactually fulfilled them!

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

There are three parts tothis problem:

1) Thescriptures that foretold the messiah

2) Theman Jesus who was obviously that messiah

3) Theirperspective of the way prophecy said things were supposed to turn out butdidn’t.

With this combination ofelements 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 thatthe prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, andto enter into his Glory?” Luke 24:25-26

Here was the single andpivotal point to resolve all the wrong perspective! “Is this not what scripturesaid was supposed to happen?”

They had not been trainedto see in the scriptures these things, they had been trained to see their ownrescue, and what better time to be rescued than when under the thumb of the GDEof Rome?

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

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

What a change of heartthey must have had, from sadness to joy in now seeing the recentevents as the long prophesied big picture plan of God Almighty shown allthrough the scriptures!

Now they could see inscripture the proof that indeed Jesus was and is the messiah and there is nodiscrepancy between what was written in prophecy and the events that playedout.

The only thing thatchanged was their perspective, but what a difference a change of perspectivemakes!

* * *

What perspectives do younow hold that hinders such joy in the absence of conflict in your faith?

Today I see many sadChristians who don’t doubt the scriptures but the circumstance in their lifeseem to prove the result is not what God had in mind.

Our ministers and bibleschools teach us the scriptures, but give us, or at least support, our wrongperspective of it, and we remain blind to the actual truth in application ofscripture just as the two on their way to Emmaus.

All the study andlearning in the world cannot alter a wrong perspective but only make itstronger. Only the Spirit of the Risen Christ the Son of God can open our eyesto see plainly what the scriptures have said all along.

But here is a curiousthing:

Jesus did not revealhimself to them as he expounded. To them he was just a learned man explainingthe scriptures in a way they had never heard. Clearly their hearts perceivedwhat 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 allabout?

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

This tells us that whenwe are enlightened by God and perceive his spirit instructing us, it is our jobto constrain the Lord to stay with us as long as he will. We must play ouractive part lest he leave before he intends. Jesus wanted to stay, intended tostay, gave them every opportunity to ask him to stay, but whether he stayed ornot was in their hands.

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

Because of what tookplace in that short period. If they had not constrained him to stay they neverwould have figured out it was Jesus himself ministering in their presence!

All the expounding on thescripture was exciting to them, but it was in that last brief moment, havingbeen constrained to tarry, that he opened their eyes even further to see it wasthe risen Lord actually in their midst.

This is what motivatedthem to hi-tail it back to Jerusalem immediately, not bothering to wait tillmorning (v.33) to tell the Apostles and the others that “The Lord is risenindeed!” v.34.

It was not theexplanation of the scriptures that did that, though necessary to get to thatpoint, but the personal presence of Jesus Christ that blew away the sadness! Noamount of expounding on scripture can reach that place, but Jesus came to themwhile they discussed and reasoned with the events (v14-15). Confused theory andspeculation of the interpretation and meaning of his resurrection from the deadhad been turned into clear reality by experience which made sense of thescripture! On what equal plane do you suppose these men would now be willing todiscuss the meaning of scripture with someone educated but who without theexperience must analogize away the actual resurrection which is of courseimpossible? Proper faith goes far beyond knowledge but nevertheless does notleave knowledge behind. Proper faith is not illogical or irrational to him whoexperiences it but can be nothing else to him that does not (I Corinthians1:18). To him who believes, prophecy is more sure than experienced reality towhich we must take heed until the experience of the Holy Spirit comes and fillsour heart (II Peter 1:18-21) as he did with the travelers to Emmaus. Jesus didnot rebuke them for their confusion, he instructed them as they diligently attemptedto reason what they knew.

* * *

Lets apply a bit of perspective adjustment to see things in a new way:

“Grace and peace bemultiplied 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 untolife and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to gloryand virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped thecorruption that is in the world through lust.”

II Peter 1:2-4

There is so much packedinto this one sentence that we must focus our attention so that we don’t getrabbit trailed from our intended topic. Read this verse at least three timesand actually try to follow the links in his chain of reasoning;

How is grace and peacemultiplied to me? Through the knowledge of God and Jesus, which is how God’spower has given us all things relative to life and godliness. How is his powergiven? Through the knowledge of Jesus who called us specifically to glory andvirtue: The colon tells us that this glory and virtue are what is used to giveus very very great and precious promises. What are those promises? That by theglory and virtue we are called to, we can participate in God’s divine naturesince we have escaped the decay/ ruin that is in the world because of longingfor the forbidden.

Did you hear that?! Godhas promised that we can partake of his divine nature, if we follow this chain of application! But what achain it is.

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

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

It is important tounderstand that this full discernment of God is not to be confused with theword 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 prolongedform of a primitive verb; to “know” (absolutely) in a great variety ofapplications with many implications…

We are informed that thisincredible partaking 2844 of God’s divine nature is a result of applying theacknowledgment of God that gives us all that we need regarding life andgodliness. Think of intimate knowledge rather than intellectual knowledge and you begin to get the idea; know God.

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

But hold on, there is acaveat (as there always is); these promises that allow us participation of thedivine nature is contingent upon having escaped the corruption that is in theworld through lust.

Yet here is where themodern Christian has been beguiled out of the access through the ignorance ofGod and of Jesus our Lord. Our lack of the knowledge of God has resulted in a blockingof grace and peace being multiplied unto us and we walk in the darkness of thisworld while struggling to follow Christ. We call him a liar when he says; “Formy yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Matthew 11:29) because by experience it is not. This II Peter passage tells us whyif we would only believe it.

* * *

After faith and beforeknowledge:

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

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

Then Peter continues hisinstruction with; “and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faithvirtue; and to virtue knowledge;” II Peter1:5

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

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

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

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

And to such faith we areto also give diligence to add virtue (703) which is what he said we were calledto 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 ourcalling. They are what the faith is to produce in us. They are the product offaith, they are our calling in the faith.

But we are not to addknowledge (the intellect of science) to our faith; we are to add virtue.

Knowledge is then addedto virtue. Why this order?

Because the intellectualcollection of information without adding that to an established virtue simplyproduced pride and not godliness.

Therefore, add to youruncorrupted faith, virtue.

But today we must rootout the corruption of our faith which we have been subverted to accept asnormal. Virtue is a great tool in that effort as we are to add virtue to thefaith we have.

With all diligence purifyand maintain your faith by gaining the knowledge of God.

And with the same diligenceadd virtue to your faith.

Then add knowledge toyour virtue. Now the introduction of knowledge has the instruction to enhanceour virtue which increases our purity of faith.

And with knowledge youcan add temperance, then patience, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, andfinally genuine love.

Don’t imagine this is aweekend achievement; rather it is a lifetime goal. It is the maturity of acitizen of the kingdom of heaven. As you adventure through one layer of thesecompound 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 thenext layer of faith, virtue, knowledge etc. The diligence you give to this,results in the promise of verse 8:

“For if these thingsbe in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren norunfruitful in the knowledge 1922 ofour Lord Jesus Christ.” And remember it isthis acknowledgment of God that grants you the ability to partake in God’sdivine 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 lackeththese things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he waspurged from his old sins.” II Peter 1:9

What is the result ofsuch a one who was once purged but then forgot because of neglect? Read thewhole of chapter 2! Woa! If you don’t take the time to read the whole thing thenfocus on this part;

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

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

Cast off your wrongperception of the faith and let God’s Spirit teach you what it actually says asyou acknowledge God through reading his word afresh and applying it in the powerof obedience. Christianity is not about the arriving but about the being. Andyet there is indeed an arriving that we look for at the appointed time!

* * * * * * *

Matthew 5:22b “…butwhosoever 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 aderivative of muo (to shut the mouth); a secret or mystery: (through the ideaof silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).

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

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

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

At first it is somewhathard to distinguish between these two Greek words both interpreted as “fool”,but Jesus himself declared the warning against calling a man a fool (Matthew5:22) then calls his own followers fools (Luke 24:25); clearly there is adifference.

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

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

Slow of Heart

2012-01-22T17:44:00.001-08:00

January 8-22, 2012

Post 229

Today these SimonizedChristians I showed in the previous post, fill our pulpits, seminaries, andreligious TV channels with all manner of iniquity *1, and the produce of suchleadership is a Simonized congregation where the condition of Simon is thenormal. (Acts 8)

But it’s worse than that.

At least Simon quicklysaw his iniquity when Peter showed it to him and in fear he cried out to Peterto pray for him so that the evils declared on him did not happen (Acts 8:24).My message, among other faithful ministers, is in essence decrying the sameevils to an entire nation for the same general reason; bondage to iniquity(Acts 8:23).

Repentance is the onlymeans of salvation, while our lack of repentance leads to our perishing (Acts8:20). But instead of repentance, Simonized American Christians look to theeconomy, and jobs, and Health Care, and confused national leaders to determineif we are doing OK or not; “I don’t care if he’s for abortion or is anadulterer, his personal values are unimportant, all I care is if he can get oureconomy back on track”.

The problem is; I can’tfind in scripture that this is God’s sentiment, so what part of Christianity isthat vote by what has been determined by pole to be a large Christian majority?By the evidence of unscrupulous men in elected office, we as general Christianshave failed to follow God’s values of importance beyond meaningless lipservice; “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children ofdisobedience:” Colossians 3:6+

Today our Churches arefilled with these Simonized Christians who have been carefully and methodicallyinoculated from the fear of God. They line up at the “Christian Clinics” of ourchurches to get their weekly spiritual inoculations and walk out all Simonizedand happy in their placebo dose of defense against the wrath of God (Romans1:18).

They go to churchfaithfully, teach Sunday school, attend seminary and go on missions, they doall that Simon did and are very active practitioners of Christianity, but torepent in the fear of the LORD? “Why would I need to do that? Jesus forgavemy sins back when I was saved”

And here we are now, inthe age of confusion when in earnest religion the best of us are a people whohave no idea what it means to be a Christian. In most the pulpits of our betterchurches we hear ministers preach the truth from the word of God, but theypreach it from behind; meaning they themselves cannot live what they arepreaching because in compromised lives they have not found the power of therisen Savior. Their Christian lives are lived as if Jesus did not rise from thedead. And if Jesus did not rise, then all he preached was nothing more thangood but impractical philosophy, just as is preached from our pulpits.

But Jesus DID rise fromthe dead. For real. In the flesh. Indeed! And this miraculous resurrection isthe power of witness he gives us by his Spirit to also live in the flesh after dying toourselves.

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

But what is the one thingthat must be true if you have been risen with Christ?

You must have previouslydied with Christ.

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

This question must beanswered before we can go on in the passage to the state of rising with Christin our temporal lives. You simply cannot rise from the dead if you never died.(I Corinthians 15:31, 36, John 12:24)

Now of course we livingChristians have not yet died physically, and by the very reading of the passageindicates it was not written to the physically dead whom cannot read, and so weunderstand this is not at first speaking of a physical death. So what otherkind of death is there which we reckon ourselves participants with Christ’sdeath?

“Likewise reckon yealso yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through JesusChrist our Lord.” Romans 6:11

“For if ye live afterthe flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify 2289 the deeds of the body, ye shalllive.” Romans 8:13

“Mortify 3499 therefore your members which are uponthe earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,and covetousness, which is idolatry:” Colossians3:5

Mortify:

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

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

This mortification of ourearthly notions in conflict with God’s nature, is indeed a death of thoseperspectives and values we once lived by. Paul is clear that we are the onesthat must swing the executioners ax on our own parts and deeds, yet thechurches are filled with weeping Christians begging God to do this for them andeventually concluding that for some reason he won’t. And so in disillusionmentlive as dead men in powerless compromise, subconsciously blaming God forfailing them, or proudly in the strength of endurance they “wait” on God toeventually do the work “in his time”.

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

It is the iniquity whichwe must mortify ourselves by repentance. But it is our iniquity which we neverhear preached about, only our sin which is the natural byproduct of iniquity. Theresult is the similitude to the Catholic faith; where we have no compunctionagainst sinning all week because we plan on confessing it to the priest (Jesus) andgetting forgiveness. This is the blasphemy of the blood of Christ in denial ofthe power of his resurrection. Without the resurrection there is no enduringsalvation, and so we must reckon ourselves dead unto sin, but also reckon ourselves alive untoChrist as participants in his resurrection to life and not simply spectators.

Christ himself likenedsalvation to a new birth. But mistakenly, Americansfawn all over birthdays. We make a great deal about the event of our birth. Wememorialize it, and give gifts to the celebrated birthed, presumably in aconfused memorial of the wise men gifting the infant Christ as we incorrectlycelebrate Christmas as Jesus birthday, but where in scripture do you find thedate of Jesus birth?

In fact the scripturesare significantly consistent in their neglect of glorifying births. Why?

Because a man is notjudged by being born, it has little to do with his effort, it is simply an event thatbegins his existence by which he IS judged. The celebration is at his death.Why?

Because at your death theentire profile of your life can be evaluated. How did you live?

Yet Christians todayplace a huge and inordinate degree of attention on their salvation (spiritual birth) as if thatis the end goal.

But salvation is nothingmore than your birth into life, which although extremely important to yourfuture, has little importance after the event. How do you live that life: Inmourning that you are not victorious in the faith? In perpetual crying to Godabout your inability to turn from your iniquity? In powerless compromise?
Beyond giving you birth into life, salvation has nothing to do with what you dowith that life. The power of God through the risen Lord has everything to dowith it.

So… “If ye then berisen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth onthe right hand of God.”… But how does thatapply to my love for football, or waterskiing, or a comfortable home, or a goodcareer?; These things are not sin and surely God doesn’t mind my preoccupationwith them because this is where God put me. But the passage continues;

…”Set your affectionon things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life ishid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

It seems to me that inconfused misapplication of such scripture, we convince ourselves that settingour affection on things here below is OK with God. And in that blindness wesimply cannot see the connection between that poor choice and the resultinguncontrollable temptations to frustration, anger, lust, covetousness, and thelike 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, Walkin 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 fleshthrough its lust has you in bondage, you must conclude you have failed to walkin the Spirit.

But Simon the Christiannever received the Spirit in the first place because he did not comprehend hisneed to repent of his iniquity. And so we have identifiedtwo problems:

A failure to die to self,

And a failure to liveunto Christ.

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

“I call heaven andearth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life anddeath, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seedmay live: that thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayset obey hisvoice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for this is thy life, and thelength of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swareunto thy fathers…” Deuteronomy 30:19-20and 4:26-28

“For in Jesus Christ neithercircumcision (legalism) availethanything, nor uncircumcision (doctrine ofgrace); but faith which worketh by love. (it is all about your love for him)

Ye did run well; whodid hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

This persuasion comethnot of him that calleth you.” Galatians5:6-8

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

“Know ye not, that towhom 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 comethat judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first began at us, whatshall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” I Peter 4:17

Now read the short bookof I John and ask yourself; What are the commandments of Christ?

“And hereby we do knowthat we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, andkeepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” I John 2:3-4.

Where then is the roomfor 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 farmore than that!

* * * * * * *

On Iniquity

2012-01-03T01:17:00.001-08:00

Post 228

As the events in ourworld move at an alarming rate, most of us can see the very black storm loominglarger on the horizon, we don’t need someone to tell us that, as many hunkerdown to wait what comes with apprehensive uncertainty.

But due to the longhistory of many claiming to be prophets of God with a seemingly unendingvariety of “prophetic” details and timelines, the majority of Christians havesimply shut the ears to the cacophony of confusion by declaring; “We cannotknow what the prophecy means until it comes to pass”.

Yet most of these sameChristians have an insatiable fascination with UFOs, the Mayan calendar, theGlobal Economic forecasts, the Global Warming - Hole in the Ozone - Acid Rain -Asbestos - Lead Paint - Y2K - Ebola - Aids - scientific forecasts of doom.

The world ending fearmongering of these things are quickly accepted and earnestly investigated withthe perverse sick curiosity of a drive by car crash gawker, but scriptureprophecy? “I guess we will never know until we get to heaven.”

What is with that?

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

What did Peter mean bythat; Simon was a solid Christian; “Then Simon himself believed also: andwhen he was baptized, he continued with Philip…” Acts 8:13a.

I feel I must drawattention again to some of the points of the last post because of theincredible importance to this generation as we watch come to an end the shorttransition between the 7^th and 8^th Global DominantEmpires of Revelation 17:10-11.

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

Although I earnestlybelieve my interpretation of scripture is of God and correct, and am onlyslightly less confident that my application of that interpretation for today isalso correct, I do not pretend to suppose I am given everything the scripturehas to say. The scripture is so full of all wisdom that no man can glean itsfull truth anymore than we can fully comprehend God himself.

“…Oh that he (God) would shew thee the secrets ofwisdom, that they are double to that which is! … Canst thou by searching findout God? canst thou find out the almighty unto perfection?” Job 11:5-7

What I present is only asmall portion of what the scripture has to say, so like the drive by gawker ofall manner of prophecies of doom except the scriptures; do not, like the Jews,choose to read the work of expositors of the scriptures over the scripturesthemselves (Talmud over the Torah). Expositors, like jumper cables, are thereto jumpstart your own searching of God and his word to help you then get fromhim directly the true fuel for your soul.

My work is intended to bejust such jumper cables, to excite your hope in God that he is not dead, hisword is incredibly relevant, and that most of his holy word was written morefor our time than any previous, if that were possible. But even more, my workis to excite you to seek for the moving of God on you through the Holy Ghostwhere he runs deep and not primarily on the surface with flamboyant displays ofprophecy and miracles and tongues and such.

Do not be like Simon whoactually believed in Jesus Christ, followed the instruction of baptism, andearnestly made the work of the faith his life, but still lacked the power ofGod moving on him personally but remained curious in wonder as he observed theHoly Spirit moving on others.

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

There are those who wantdesperately this fellowship with God but somehow never figure out how to accessit, so choose “second best” by joining themselves earnestly to those who do.

As we see in the acts 8narration, Simon was not rebuked for this until it became a problem. This mightsuggest that the line there is too gray to distinguish in the early stages aspeople sort out the working of their faith by clinging to those who can mentorthem, but Simon eventually showed his problem when he made the wrongconclusion;

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

Finally Peter was able toaddress Simon’s error as it came to a head and expose for him his root iniquitythat lay at the source in his heart. How is it possible that a Christian whoworked in the ministry with the saints of God could conclude that the HolySpirit could be had for money? It was because no matter how hard he worked atapplying the faith, the Holy Ghost never came. So as he observed the apostlessimply giving it away to others he concluded surely he could buy it from themas he was one of the ministers with them.

“But Peter said untohim, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of Godmay be purchased with money.” Acts 8:20

The reaction of Petertells us this was not simply a case of ignorance but due to a rooted wickednessthat produced such a thought.

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

3551 nomos; from aprimary 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 (aprinciple):- law.

This definition of thought has a curious source of development that warrantsinvestigation.

Such a thought is not asudden idea that pops in from nowhere; it is a methodical working of acceptedand 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, lineupon line; here a little, and there a little;” Isaiah 28:9-10

Yet the passage goes onto state that this very process of learning is the cause of the fall of thosewho would not hear what God is instructing by this method (Isaiah 28:12-13).The process of learning is the same, but everything about WHAT is learned isdifferent because of the chosen elements of the construction.

This is the building upof wrong comprehension by which Simon reached his concluding error. And Petershows us the cause of such wickedness; “…thy heart is not right in the sightof God”. We can easily see that thewickedness of this man’s past deception and manipulation (Acts 8:9-11) remainedas a seed of bitterness in his heart upon which he continued to build from thetruth of his new faith to eventually come to a completely blasphemous desirethat seemed logical to him.

Dear Christian who seesthe great black storm building on the horizon and darkening the sky of worldevents, are you even now trying to “buy” safe passage around the storm withyour salvation? Do you suppose that Christianity is a golden ticket to avoidthe horrors to come by expecting “the rapture” and so have turned a deaf ear tothe watchman on the wall because you believe you won’t be here to endure it? (IPeter 4:19) Have you shrugged your shoulders at the fall of America because itsimply does not matter to you since you won’t be here to experience the evil inall its unresisted glory because your Christ is promised to rescue you, as didthe Jews who by scripture were confident their Messiah would come before Judahfell to the horrors of Rome? (Genesis 49:10)

Have you so long beenfollowing the methodical teaching of the scholars as they build a strong casefor the rapture in your lifetime, yet have not bothered to search thescriptures for yourself to see what the Spirit of God has to say to you? Maybethe scholars are right… but maybe not.

Frankly my point today isnot the eminency of the rapture but the fact that you have nothing more than abelief based on little more than someone else’s opinions. You are confidentthat a learned and studied methodical conclusion of scripture by “someonesmarter than you” is all there is to have, yet like Simon you wonder at thosewho seem to have more than that. Are you buying the teaching of the Holy Ghostfrom others because you don’t have it? and you know you don’t have it becauseyou “simply don’t have the time” to get it? Do you suppose the Holy Ghost comeswith more knowledge? How much knowledge do you need before he comes? The nextbook, the next DVD, the next conference?

OK,

Before you feel like I’mbeating you, lets move on toward the answer, so bear with me a little longer.

Lets be honest andquickly push away the security of an imaginary holy spirit of common powerlessChristianity, and address the topic of a real and powerful Holy Ghost promisedto every repentant Christian (Acts 2:38).

If you do not have a partor lot in this matter of the Holy Spirit, there is a reason. And if there is areason there is also a solution.

But the hard part islogically and emotionally tearing down the huge structure of reasoning you havebuilt over time with the wrong tools. Nobody likes to start over after years ofwork on anything; all the wasted time, all the embarrassment of being wrong;these are the thoughts and emotions that keep us from reaching the right endsby choosing a different road once the error has been discovered. This conceptwas expanded in post 123 All Roads November 23, 2010.

The correct focus tomaintain is not about you and your public image, but about the end result youare endeavoring to reach; are you arriving at the wrong destination in spite ofthe fact you are sure you are on the right road? Wisdom will tell you theresulting destination trumps the confidence in your present course every time.Simply change to the correct direction and suddenly you will be getting closerto the actual goal! Keep this thought in mind; we will develop it in a moment.

Looking back in my ownpast I am still surprised how long and hard it was for me to actually wake upto the truth I already knew but could not make my heart believe. My mind wasfully in agreement with the word of God but my heart had an incredible abilityto maneuver around the truth to remain where it was happily grazing. This toowas expanded in post 168 The Heart February 20, 2011. These are both well worth a freshreading.

* * *

As you look around theworld through Youtube and TV and see all the glories of technology and scienceand advanced achievements, of happiness and comfortable living, it is very easyto agree with your heart and grow dull to the warning cries as the black cloudlooming on the horizon doesn’t seem any closer than it did yesterday. And I amnot ashamed to admit that these are two competing worldviews from which youmust choose your course.

But in this choice is thecontinental divide from which everything that follows will take opposingcourses to different seas. Among all that confusion of input we have arrived atthe summit of the pile of decision. From here you choose the Creator or thecreation (Romans 1:25).

Simon also arrived atjust such a summit when Peter confronted him with his wicked heart.

Suddenly washed away washis argument that he believed in Jesus Christ, that he was baptized into thefaith, that he gave his life to the work of evangelism and was a co-worker withthe apostles themselves! Peter gave no weight to any of that argument as hepierced the heart of Simon to nail the root of his failure to receive the HolyGhost.

“Repent therefore ofthis thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may beforgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and inthe bond of iniquity” Acts 8:22-23.

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

But at this point therewas no use dancing around the issue. It was now time to address his heart, hewas at the dividing line between watersheds, and according to Peter’s words itseemed that he was already on his way down the wrong side. Peter himself wasuncertain if Simon could be delivered as he must have been thinking about thetragic end of Ananias and Sapphira so recently in the past (Acts 5:1-11).

Now notice that the lastverse on the subject leaves us hanging to the result;

“Then answered Simon,and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye havespoken come upon me” Acts 8:24.

There is no other Simonin the rest of the bible that might be this man. We simply do not know whatbecame of him and I believe there is a reason for that.

If such a person whofinds himself in the condition of Simon was to read that Simon was saved, itwould allow them to be relieved in knowing there was still hope and so not feelso pressed to repent in the cold sweat of great fear.

But if it was revealedthat Simon was lost, it would condemn such a confused person in hopelessnessand they would not have the strength to seek repentance at all.

And so it seems thatscripture leaves out the result so that in great fear such a one mightearnestly seek God in repentance and hope, turning from the iniquity of theheart with great diligence.

There is one other pointthat should be made, and that is that Peter told Simon it was his job to repentand pray, but it is also stated without rebuke that Simon asked Peter to prayfor him.

I believe this suggeststhat the combination has the most successful chance of recovery in such a case.

* * *

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

Nearly every breathingperson in America can see the storm clouds building. We are really in veryserious trouble. Forget the arguing about the causes or the solutions; we allknow things are very bad. Agreed?

So do we, or do we notbelieve God the Creator?

We do. Agreed?

So what has God promised?

“If my people, whichare called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, andturn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgivetheir sin, and will heal their land.” IIChronicles 7:14

God is speaking to thoselike Simon who are called by His name and committed to the faith perhaps evenin ministry but have built over time a value system of solid and logicalthinking one brick at a time … that results in wicked conclusions.

The problem is that bythe time an entire nation (land) needs healing, it is because God’s people as awhole have become Simons.

Did you hear that?

The problem is that bythe time an entire nation needs healing, it is because God’s people as a wholehave become Simons.

Now when most everyone isa Simon living out his faith in honest ministry to the best of his ability,what authority does a Peter have in making his argument?

The whole pack of Simonsstand up in the security of democratic defense and tell Peter he is out ofline, they drive him from the church as a disrupter to the ministry and thinkthey do God a service, and eventually even worse; (“They shall put you outof the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will thinkthat he doeth God service” John 16:2).

Jesus the redeemer saidto 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 inMoses, the bringer of the law and the Christian in Christ, the bringer ofGrace; both are missing the point as they blindly break the ways of which theytrust, and both result in the destruction of their land; The Jews as ourhistorical example and the Christians as yet future.

Look, I am not trying tosave a nation, but if one person receives the fire of the Holy Ghost andspreads 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 shedoes not repent from her wicked ways.

And yet if America doesnot repent but you do, then you go through America’s consequences with everyoneelse but are in the very center of God’s eye, and that is what is mostimportant (Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8).

But here is the obviousproblem that is evidenced by America’s looming storm clouds of destruction. Asa whole, God’s people don’t recognize their own wickedness and so see no needto repent;

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

I recently had adiscussion with a good Christian woman who is a smoking, drinking, blaspheming,adulteress as she declared she is a God fearing woman. How is this possible?What does it mean to her to fear God?

And do you know thatstatistically approximately 80-95% of Americans feel they are above average?*1, So honestly, should I judge the merits of my own “goodness” when it comesto eternity, or perhaps take someone else’s views on the topic? Or might it bewiser to spend some time reading what God has to say on the matter, and searchfor the confirming evidence of his Spirit?

If American Christianswere as good with God as we all think, America could not be on the verge ofdestruction.

Just this Sunday inchurch, I heard grown Christian men question why God remains silent andinactive while evil runs free.

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

* * *

So lets stop beatingaround the bush, and cure the problem as Peter directed Simon:

Simon only had 2 thingsto do (Acts 8:22).

1) Repent,and

2) prayfor forgiveness.

How simple is that?

Well, first we have tosee our wickedness as Peter so un-delicately pointed out to Simon. And here iswhere Simon gets lots of hopeful credit; He did not argue with Peter, butreadily agreed that Peter was right, and he immediately sought help in the veryreal fear of God.

And here is anotherhurtle for America;

Our abundance ofpreachers are not showing to us our wickedness, nor the root cause of iniquitythat binds us, but rather like Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven life”,they are soothing our humanity and decrying the need for repentance. And our peopleare eating it up.

So how can an “aboveaverage” Christian actually see his own wickedness so that he can repent of itand pray for forgiveness? God gives us a clue in the steps he lays out;

Humility is the place tostart, but not ignoring the rest.

Admit to God you areprobably not as above average as you presently think. Start looking for whatways 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 toignore. Yep, that one! Say, that was quick!

And now as your insidesare still cold from the sudden realization this is going to be personal, youhave to decide if that thing is actually worth your soul.

“For what is a manprofited, if he shall gain the whole world, and loose his own soul? Or whatshall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew16:26

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

But the actual reason whythat little thing is so hard to give up is not because of the thing, butbecause by giving it up you are turning over control of your life, you aresurrendering your will to God’s. This is the actual point of salvation; savingyou from yourself. So what kind of salvation is it that retains control? Thekind that displays no power of the Holy Ghost.

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

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

This verse is worded thisway because the filthiness and superabundance of depravity will keep you fromapplying the soul saving word into your life; engrafting.

But you don’t think youare as bad as all that, right?

Except somehow the wordof God just doesn’t make any practical sense to you, does it?

Hmmm.

Perhaps you are involvedin far more filthy depravity than you think.

Like that simpleinsignificant sin that just came to your mind a moment ago but you quicklypushed out of your thoughts because you love it. I can hear Satan in your headnow; “Oh that is ridiculous! This is such an insignificant thing it can’tpossibly matter to God at all, lets look for something else that is probablythe real problem.”

So lets experiment withthat 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 withoutit for experiment sake regarding your eternity, even if somehow it turns outnot to actually make any difference? (ya, I heard him make that argument too.)But let me assure you it does matter.

Remember the abovediscussion about changing direction when you discovered you were not getting tothe intended goal? “Wisdom will tell you the resulting destination trumps theconfidence in your present course every time. Simply change direction andsuddenly you will be getting closer to the actual goal!”

This is the meaning ofrepentance.

* * *

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

This reconsidering ofwhat has been established as “normal” and “acceptable” is to be a freshexamination of what has long been “beyond question”. I use a lot of air quoteshere because the difference between what is actually true and what is perceivedas true is the very crux of the cry of John the Baptist!

“Prepare ye the way ofthe Lord, make his paths straight” Matthew3:3.

The wording of this verseindicates the paths already exist and are crooked, and they need to be madestraight. So how did the paths of the Lord become crooked?

Acts 2:40 gives us a cluein context; “…Save yourselves from this untoward generation”

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

Therefore we are able toconclude that the original paths of the Lord had become perverse; crooked, warped,by the children of those to whom the straight paths had originally been given.

And we are back to anation full of American Christians who are walking perverse paths of the Lordresulting in the destruction of our land but feel confident that they are notthe problem.

Now what is the purposeof paths?

It is to get from oneplace to another in an ever easier and confident manner.

Lewis and Clark firsthacked their way to the West through a laborious and perilous effort so thatthose who would come after would have a path to follow. Each use of the pathcreated a more defined trail, increasingly free of obstacles, and the traileventually became a road and the road became a paved highway for the masses totravel so easily it is now regularly done by 18-year-old girls in expensiveshoes with little concern.

The way West had beenmade straight.

But then because of thegreat ease of travel, there are many more that are able to set out on thejourney, and there was also a greater opportunity to deviate from the highwayto things previously inaccessible and so unknown.

And with theever-increasing deviations by the masses using the straight highway, there camean ever-increasing need for maps while traveling the road west in order todistinguish one destination from another.

In analogy, the straightpath West has been made winding; figuratively perverse from its originalpurpose by those later many who had altered the intent to go West; they stoppedshort of the goal or deviated from the plan as it were, and after manyfollowers to the various ends the road west is no longer clear (straight).

But is this wrong ofthem? Not by their perspective or opinion; because they like Simon have deviated from theoriginal goal of Lewis and Clark. This is the way of the modern Christian whohas included in his faith the bondage of iniquity and does not know its wrong.They are “this untoward generation”from which we now must save ourselves;

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

* * * * * * *

*1 Just for fun: General Aviation Stats

American drivers

On Tongues

2011-12-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

post 227

Recently a friend asked if I knew of a sound online resource that spoke to the topic of tongues (reference I Corinthians 14).

With regret, I know of none though I am sure they are out there, So I thought I would present a post with the important basics as I understand it.

Now while this post may seem to be a departure from my regular topic, it really does fit nicely in achieving my intended point.

* * *

Tongues in the early Church was first made famous by the Apostles in Acts 2:4;

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

This was not the first time the Holy Ghost came on men resulting in extra natural manifestation (conduct), but what is unique is the presentation of that manifestation; Throughout the Old Testament when the Spirit of God came on men they prophesied.

“And the spirit of the LORD will come upon thee (Saul), and thou shalt prophesy with them (the company of prophets), and shalt be turned into another man.” I Samuel 10:6 (also Numbers 11:25-29 an event that resulted in the prophecy of the last days fulfillment of Joel 2:28).

Stand alone verses can be very dangerous as any wrong context whatever can be added to them and alter the meaning, therefore verses must be read, understood, and interpreted not only within the context of the scripture in which it is found but in the spirit of the whole message of scripture. We discover that context by asking questions of scripture:

Why did Saul prophesy?

Because the spirit of the LORD came upon him and turned him into another man.

What was the reason he prophesied?

The very next line in Samuel’s prophecy tells us;

“And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.” I Samuel 10:7

What signs?

In the previous five verses Saul was given several events that would soon take place in his day’s activities and the sixth event was him prophesying after the spirit of the LORD came upon him.

The reason for all the signs is explained in verse 1;

“Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain (king) over his inheritance?” I Samuel 10:1

And this last verse (7) then gives him the confidence to be king; “do whatever seems right to you at the time, God is with you, as you will know by the signs and the power confirmed to you by your prophesying” I Samuel 10:7 paraphrase.

Therefore all the outward signs, ending in his inward sign being overshadowed by the spirit of the LORD causing him to prophecy as a last sign, were to convince him and others that he indeed was anointed by God to be king; He was changed into another man, capable of being the king God would use to lead His people.

That is some really powerful convincing, as well as evidence that he was not just some guy sitting in the office of king while God looked on from above as an uninvolved observer.

This validates the scriptural concept that the leaders of nations are indeed placed there under the power and design of God himself as is declared in passages such as Isaiah 45:1-7

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will”, and Proverbs 21:1+25:3 and others.

And this influence of the Holy Spirit is not just exclusive to kings though it was a rare Old Testament event.

* * *

Back to Acts:

Now we see in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, that the Holy Ghost came over the Apostles and they spoke in tongues (Acts 2:1-11), but it should be noted that these were the tongues of the many nations so that everyone there was hearing the message in their own native language.

What was the message they were hearing?

As Peter points out it was the fulfillment of Joel 2:28 an Old Testament prophecy showing the Holy Spirit of God moving on men, confirming that the last days had come.

So why did Peter use this Old Testament scripture about prophesying to validate them speaking in tongues? Because the tongues were simply the supernatural vehicle used to get the prophecy out to the listener. The tongues were not the point of the event but rather a confirmation of the prophecy as Peter continues to explain (Acts 2:22-36).

Acts 1-2 is the amazing narrative of the Apostle’s preaching and prophesying in tongues right after the Holy Ghost came on them. Acts 2:1-21 is an incredible prophecy and fulfillment of “the new world” after salvation was given to the Jews through the Christ, and as an additional marvel; to the Gentile too!

This new world, previously prophesied in Joel, and referenced here in Acts 2:16, and declared now in the events of Acts 2 as having finally arrived, is a world in which God can now be reached through the promised Christ who turned out to be Jesus of Nazareth, proven by many public miracles, and fulfillment of prophecy, and his resurrection from the dead. Here is what that new world looks like:

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21

This was a new thing.

It was seen by the religious rulers as a departure from the long standing Jewish faith of accessing God through the sacrifices offered by the Priests. And who better than the learned, the devoted exclusive to the faith, the priests and rulers of that faith, should know what representation was true to the faith?

Of course there was confusion.

The common listeners of the Apostle’s preaching were moved by the Spirit of God, and witnesses to the miracle of diverse tongues, and the reasoning of that preaching which actually fulfilled the prophecy of the longstanding Jewish faith, but were still a bit skeptical in confliction;

“And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” Acts 2:12

This of course opened the door for the nay-sayers to jump in and attempt to sway the crowed;

“Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” Acts 2:13

Swiftly passing by the concept that no amount of wine or intoxication will result in uneducated men speaking the native tongues of many various listeners, Peter simply uses the reasoning of the long standing established scripture of the Jewish faith to support what was being witnessed (Acts 2:14-36).

This explanation of the known scripture is what gave them the needed authority to accept this new “departure” offering of the Christ and respond with; “…Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37

Remember, this was a long standing faith of “doing”, so naturally they wanted to know what to do after accepting that Jesus, whom they had killed only days before, was indeed the Messiah long prophesied.

But did Peter lay into the long list of Jewish laws that they had been violating in principle while perhaps practicing in duty? No. Rather Peter preached the gospel of the New “departure” from an old faith, which was not really a departure at all (Matthew 5:17);

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” Acts 2:38.

What an incredible fool proof offer. This is better than the money back guarantee of advertising today; “Try it and see” is the claim. Turn to Jesus Christ in belief that he is indeed the prophesied messiah, and be baptized into the faith (which they understood to mean a full practical surrender to the new way) and the result would be a personal experience of receiving the Holy Ghost of God as a validation of their salvation. No Holy Ghost = no confirmation that this was the real deal. They had just seen the reality of the Holy Ghost acting miraculously on common fishermen prophesying in many foreign tongues for the listeners, so obviously they should expect some similar very real external power as evidence of the gift. This is what Peter promised; Confirmation.

At this point in their listening to the message and the recognition of what it meant, they were not looking for some great supernatural power to run around showing off, it was the salvation they sought and the Holy Ghost was the confirmation of success.

It is no different today:

Does possessing the supernatural power of the Holy Ghost to heal and speak other languages intrigue you as being desirable? This is shown to be a dangerously flawed comprehension by the narrative of Simon (Acts 8:9-24).

Simon was a wicked man claiming to have supernatural powers through sorcery and succeeding in convincing the masses that he was a great one, to the point that they revered him as “the great power of God” (Acts 8:10).

But the scripture states clearly that eventually Simon himself also believed and was baptized and continued with Philip as he went about preaching (Acts 8:13). Awesome; Another convert!

But wait.

Can you identify the problem in this verse?

“Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.” Acts 8:13

We just saw in Acts 2:38 that Peter promised the confirmation of the Holy Ghost in salvation, so why then did Simon not receive the power himself but only observe it and wondered? Think about that as we continue with the narrative to learn about this man’s corrupt perception of the faith.

“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

What’s wrong with that request? Isn’t it good that the Holy Ghost should be given to people? And isn’t it good that someone would want others to receive the Holy Ghost?

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

But is that the source of Simon’s problem? No.

“Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God” Acts 8:21, and the narrative continues on to define the root of his problem;

But here is the issue I wish to address; Simon never received the Holy Ghost though he believed and was baptized and followed in the ministry. Why?

Because he missed the critical element of Salvation (remission of sins), which Peter lined out previously in Acts 2:38, lets review; “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Repentance; Not just belief.

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2:19, its repentance that leads to salvation exclusive of religious conduct and even belief,

And this is exactly what Peter told him;

“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee” Acts 8:22. Simon didn’t need to be convinced who God was, he believed, Now he needed to repent; something entirely different.

So was Simon’s root of the sin and lack of repentance that he wanted to purchase the Holy Ghost with money? No.

“For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” Acts 8:23.

So Simon actually believed what he saw and heard, and in belief he was baptized and continued in the practice of the faith as he went with the Apostles, but he never repented of his wickedness, which was rooted in his heart as iniquity because of bitterness.

This bondage to iniquity kept him from partaking in the Holy Ghost and excluded him from a “part or lot” with the faith of the Apostles though he participated in their ministry (continued).

Continued 4342 proskartereo; from 4314 and 2594; to be earnest towards, i.e. (to a thing) or persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor):- attend (give self) continually (upon)…

This is the lot of many Christians today, who understand the wisdom and logic and faith of the gospel of Christ, and commit to the faith, are baptized in the faith, and continue diligently in the work of the faith, all the while unable/unwilling to break the bondage of iniquity and so miss out on the confirming power of the Holy Ghost which is the evidence and power of salvation.

These are the failing Christians first of the Church of Pergamos in Revelation 2:14-16, and next in the Church of Thyatira’s Revelation 2:19-24 who walk in the doctrines of the faith but miss the whole point of repentance because they allow those things which create the bondage to iniquity.

So what went wrong in their faith?

Acts 2:40 tells us that Peter used “many other words” to explain the whole point which is summed up with; “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”

This clearly reveals that there is something about this generation that needs to be escaped from, and that “something” being the untoward part;

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

This is the root of our modern word scoliosis; crookedness, medical; a lateral curvature of the spine.

The unacceptable condition of Simon as a believer is our warning; It was not his conduct but his mindframe, the motive of his heart, that was the problem. This too is revealed in the churches of Pergamos and Thyatira. Therefore the values of this present warped generation is what we must be saved from, and Peter declared we must save ourselves from this; This is repentance.

“…Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 3:2

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

Now here is the part that is easily missed:

If repentance is achieved by a change of mind, an altered perspective, a new and different course toward God, then the success of repentance will be witnessed or validated by the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:42-48 and Acts 3:26)

How can you possibly explain such power to someone who does not believe? To them you have simply picked one of a plethora of religions, but they have no idea the power which has changed you. We have not “picked a religion” we have met God himself!

Now while unbelievers who do not experience the Holy Ghost power may very well conclude that your changed state is due to alcohol or brain washing or insanity, the reality is that the powerful change within you will be an amazement even to yourself! The power of God is not an illusion of mind anymore than common fisherman could suddenly speak many languages because they “picked a religion”.

But like Simon, there are those who genuinely attempt to participate in the faith while clinging to the familiar sin of iniquity. This is a failure to repent (think differently).

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” II Timothy 3:5.

These spots (blemishes) in the Church not only blaspheme the powerful name of God before the unbelievers, they infect the Church with their iniquity from which we are to save ourselves. This is why we must turn away from them, not participating in the fruit of their corruption, saving ourselves from this twisted generation of religious people who will not repent.

* * *

So how does this relate to the gift of tongues?

Today there are large sections of quote Christians who participate in a flamboyant display of “tongues” though their private lives remain unchanged. In these groups there is a strong focus on the gift itself and not on the purpose of the gift.

I have personally witnessed the pretence of tongues as the practicer fabricates gibberish and there is a genuine supernatural gibberish that has no characteristic of the Holy God.

My criticism of them both is not the tongue but the unrepented individual speaking it. When the Holy Ghost of God comes on an individual the person is changed into a new man. It cannot be otherwise.

There are several biblical manifestations of the Holy Ghost on men as gifts of the spirit, Tongues being only one. And there are specific instructions to the proper use of tongues in public; They are never to remain uninterpreted (I Corinthians 14:27-28).

Why?

Because the tongue is not the point but only a validation of the message spoken. If there is no interpreter, the message is lost (I Corinthians 14:7-11).

“But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church…for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”… I Corinthians 14:3-5+(6-26)

Now regarding a prayer language, of course God understands the tongue which he gives and so the tongue is a gift to the prayer as an intimacy with his God. This is a private thing that is not performed for public display. But again, if the praying individual is not supernaturally drawn more intimately into holiness, you can be sure the tongue was not of the Holy Ghost (Galatians 5:16,22, 6:8, I John 1:6 etc.) but is actually of another spirit (Ephesians 2:2+ II Corinthians 11:4+ I John 4:1-3).

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” I John 1:1

* * *

Conclusion?

Do not deny tongues, Paul himself wished that everyone had the gift (I Corinthians 14:5a) but be wise and put it to the test to see if it conforms to the scriptural use and edification, or to confusion, silliness, foolishness and shame which belongs in the category of rolling on the floor and barking like a dog or convulsing as with seizure. These manifestations are the nature of Satan and not God.

* * * * * * *

The Door To Slavery

2011-12-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Post 226

It would take a whole book to describe the subversive socialism of the system behind the fence where I work. I will need to periodically provide examples to attempt an explanation of what I mean but I fear the actual point will not successfully be understood until it is personally experienced.

I have no desire to point at this organization and cry “Enemy” because that is to miss the point of all I am trying to show. Please remember my focus is to show what will soon become of America and the rest of the world in general, but far more important than that, it is important to expose the confusion that supports it’s success; the brainwashing of complex propaganda.

* * *

Hanoi Hannah:

“Trịnh Thị Ngọ (born in 1931), also known as Hanoi Hannah, is a Vietnamese radio personality best known for her work during the Vietnam War, when she made English-language propaganda broadcasts for North Vietnam directed at US troops.” - Hanoi Hannah

I grew up in an era where we children were familiar with the recent propaganda efforts of the enemy with which our previous generation had been at war. To us children it was hard to imagine anyone falling for such obvious propaganda efforts, “What fool would fall for such stuff?” but apparently the North Vietnamese thought it worth the effort and I suppose it had at least some degree of success.

What was her intent? To break down the resolve of their enemy; the US troops, by using good American music and useful true news in an otherwise foreign environment to draw in the listener while with a pleasant English speaking voice to constantly challenge the American reasoning. It was a perpetual one-sided argument that the good music and desired news of outside events would not allow you to just turn off.

* * *

American Propaganda:

Today, not many years later, our own media is doing the same thing to our citizens, no longer sharpened to resistance by war. Our pleasant slothful lifestyle is strongly attracted to mindless entertainment and easy news, and so most Americans sit for hours a day in front that box drawn in by that which they crave but fed the propaganda that comes with it.

And while most Christians today also find the time and justification to “relax” in front of that box each day, they somehow can’t seem to find the time to open their Bibles but for 20 minutes a week at church, and that is in the churches that even open it at all.

Now, Today, in the recent darkening of the familiar darkness, many are wakening up to realize much of the media is full of deception and misdirection and propaganda, and so turn to more conservative Fox News, and the safe History Channel, and Science shows, and go back to sleep as the propaganda continues to flow still unreduced in volume, but in a more silent stream than the other more obvious channels. And still the Bibles are not being opened because we just can’t find the time.

* * *

“Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة‎ al-ǧazīrah, literally "The Island", abbreviating “The [Arabian] Peninsula”) (also Aljazeera or JSC [Jazeera Satellite Channel]) is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages. Al Jazeera is accessible in several world regions.

The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, for example on call-in shows, created controversies in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it was the only channel to cover the war in Afghanistan live from its office there. It has also recently been acclaimed for its in-depth coverage of the Arab Spring protests and revolutions.” - wikipedia on Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is a new form of propaganda, more complex than any before it. With the now obvious utter lies and misdirection of American media, Al Jazeera offers the much desired and needed real news alternative that our own country will not produce even on FOX. But as all propaganda; with it comes a great complex problem.

Al Jazeera is showing America our own wickedness and iniquity in a light that makes us turn against ourselves. It is the spirit that creates the Occupy Wallstreet mentality that succeeds in nothing but the overthrow of America, just as Egypt was so recently overthrown to be replaced by a much greater evil.

Please watch this Al Jazeera documentary as it is enlightening and has more than one point necessary to understand: China internment Factories

* * *

China is a communist country, which stands against everything America used to value, individual freedom being high on the list. Of course slave labor is still abhorrent to us in principle and we can fully agree with the Al Jazeera’s exposure of it. It is criminal that America media is not exposing this from our own land, but even more criminal that our people so casually accept our guilt as we ignore the truth that might affect our purchase price of goods!

But what are the values of those countries from where we get this truth? What moral value is the foundation of Qatar?

Qatar “Legal System: mixed legal system of civil law and Islamic law (in family and personal matters)” factbook Qatar

But I digress into another topic which space and train of thought will not allow me, so for now lets just stop at the knowledge that we are getting this truth from a worldview that is contrary to that of Christianity.

In otherwords, we must recognize the foundational purpose of those presenting the truth before we can grasp the actual context of what they are actually presenting with the truth. Does Islam really abhor slavery? Hardly. So why does an Islamic legal system allow the exposure of slave labor in China? What is the message of this example documentary? That slave factories are created to supply America’s craving for cheap goods at any other price.

This is indeed a horrible truth that honesty cannot let us deny. What is not easily perceived is that the honest and truthful exposure of our iniquity tends to automatically validate the one who makes the exposure.

Does anyone remember Hanoi Hannah?

Her mission was to use the truth against us for the purpose of breaking the resolve of our troops.

Al Jazeera is doing the same thing but with the artful skills of a surgeon rather than the comparative hacking of Hanoi Hannah.

* * *

Our own sins stand to judge us:

It is not a new tactic of God to bring the judgment of captivity upon his own people for their iniquity at the hands of the Godless (Jeremiah 20:4-5, II Kings 24:15 etc.). If we will not conduct ourselves as we should (Luke 16:10-15, II Corinthians 13:5-7) God will send those who will help us repent through suffering (Leviticus 26:27-42).

Today the skills used to this end are incredible, and our smart children can see our national hypocrisy so easily exposed by those who hate us, and so our children believing they are rising to a just cause are being played by the skilful fingers of a master with a bigger plan of global dominance.

While Al Jazeera subconsciously justifies Islam to us by the exposure of our iniquity, my blog justifies our own God by exposing our own iniquity.

America has fallen because God said we would fall if we departed from him (Leviticus 26, Revelation 2:4). As a whole, Christians across America have departed from God by falling in love with what the world has to offer (I John 2:15-17) The exposure of our sin is not to beat us with it, but to move us to repentance and a turn back to the LORD before he destroys us utterly.

While we play our life like a video game with no real consequence, God takes it very seriously and is now preparing the vehicles of our punishment.

* * *

The Small Steps:

The man eventually elected to be president of the United States did not stand up out of a righteous nation to suddenly declare; “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation…”

Rather it took us a long process of small steps over many years to get to this point. And because of the many small steps of familiarity, the landmark statement came and went without a shred of resistance because we were already comfortable with the idea, just as we are already comfortable with the idea of slave labor to produce goods inexpensively to compete in a global market.

We mentally justify our demand for cheap goods by willing to believing that “prisoners” must deserve to be there, and putting them to good use is not a crime, it is just economically smart.

In fact our grandfathers of our own nation used our “convicts” in chain-gangs to do community projects, so how can we now criticize China for doing the same?

The growing confusion becomes so complex the correct answer nearly slips away entirely.

There is a question that must be asked first; “Is the convicting government righteous?”

The second question that must be asked is; “How can an unrighteous government judge the righteousness of another government?”

The fact that Al Jazeera of Islamic Qatar is the one exposing the unrighteousness of both China and America her sponsor in crime, is proof that America is now far too unrighteous to condemn China, but it is not necessarily proof that Qatar is righteous, any more than Hanoi Hanna proved that North Vietnam was righteous… UNLESS we are grading righteousness on the curve.

But Christianity does not grade on the curve, and therefore true Christianity confesses and abhors participation in captivity… unless justified.

Oh brother!

As an upright legal system designed to punish evil for the well being of society, the system of American government of yester-year imprisoned those convicted of doing evil. Those imprisoned were used something like slaves to produce community services in repayment of their internment provided by the community. This form of “slavery” is only slightly different that Indentured service that our righteous Christian forefathers used, and far from other evil forms of unjust slavery.

Confused yet?

How could God sell his own people into slavery as he does, if slavery itself was actually wicked?

From God’s Biblical perspective, slavery is a punishment for evil and so he sent other nations to enslave his own rebellious people to pay for their sins no different that sending convicts to hard labor prisons to work off the “payment” of their crimes.

From its very first colonies America has always accepted the concept of imprisonment for crimes as being just. So why did the colonies arrest the captain of the first slave ship to sail into Massachusetts and imprison the imprisoner as it were?

This is a very interesting question!

The answer lies in the justification of the imprisonment/slavery.

God provided no indication to the righteous colonies of his intent or reason to enslave the poor blacks that were shipped to the Americas, and so the colonists who lived according to the Christian faith rejected the enslavement of them in America as unjust. At the colonies own expense the slaves of that ship were returned to their homeland while the captain was imprisoned for his crime of unjust slavery *1.

These are the same Christians who knew the Old Testament scriptures well and understood that the Jews did have slaves.

Scripture examples of captives taken in the Old Testament:

Genesis 34:27-29 resulting in displeasure of their leader for taking slaves v:30

Numbers 31:9-12 resulting in Moses’ anger for it v:14-16

Leviticus 25:44-46 does indeed seem clear to permit slavery of non-Jews, but by exploring the whole work of the scripture on the matter it seems more of a permission resulting from a condition that existed in the earth anyway, much as divorce is also permitted though clearly not what God desires (Matthew 19:6-8). In otherwords these slaves would be better off under one submitted to God’s laws of kindness rather than sold to another of wicked mind. It is my belief that this is exactly the situation which found George Washington as a slave owner. There were strict scriptural laws regulating the proper care of those in your power, thus eliminating the idea that Israel's slaves (and Washington's) were such as we understand it today. Wallbuilders on slavery is a worthy read if you are interested, but we must move on.

There are far far more scriptures about God’s people taken as captives for their sins than there are of God’s people taking captives, but the indication is that captivity does go both ways.

So the validity or justification of slavery is really not the Christian argument but the righteousness of the nation that does the enslaving or the unrighteousness of the people enslaved. (Christians are specifically instructed that in Christ all men are equal as the children of One Creator, Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11, Philemon, but the laws of others might not see it that way and so we are to conduct ourselves accordingly as we find ourselves involved; Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, Titus 2:9)

Now that America is willing to encourage China, an evil Communist nation, to use slaves/convicts to provide us with inexpensive goods without questioning the justification for their imprisonment or questioning the righteousness of the government that convicted them, America’s own righteousness must be seriously questioned.

America has shown with many unarguable proofs that she is no longer capable of making a righteous judgment of our own conduct let alone China, the Islamic nations, or anyone else, because we have abandon the righteousness of the Creator’s standards of right and wrong, the most obvious example is our willingness to legalize the capitol punishment of our unborn innocent for the sake of convenience to the mother. Therefore using questionable convicts as slaves to make inexpensive goods for us? Not a hard sell!

* * *

A Bigger Step:

This week America completely missed another pretty big step in our own path to enslavement in the passing of Senate bill S 1867 titled; “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012”. With a few clicks you quickly realize this is another huge bill with literally months of reading required to even understand it, and so like Congress you let someone tell you the gist of it and accept or reject it accordingly;

“The most dangerous aspect of S. 1867 is not only that it could subject American citizens to military tribunals and detention, but also that individuals could be imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial.” - S1867 review

But does the American media, even the self declared conservative FOX NEWS, tell us such a bill has passed the Senate with a 93-7 landslide vote? No. They are too occupied covering the all-important Republican presidential race that has been filling the news minute by minute, day after day, month after month for well over a year. Apparently there is just nothing more pressing going on in the world, Ain’t we lucky the world is in such peace.

* * *

Name That Step:

So what is the difference between a hard job and slavery? How about the smaller steps between them such as poor wages or indentured servitude? As a people now willing to trade freedom for security do we even know slavery when we see it?

“Give me a bed, a meal, and a TV for a few hours and I will work 12 hours a day for you.”

Just what are you trading your life for;

The chance to pay the government 30%?

The funds to pay a biannual rent on the property you spent your life paying off?

A shinny new car you can drive to work to make the money to pay off your shiny new car?

As I write this today I do not fear being arrested for what I write… so long as I don’t cross the ever shrinking ring around my freedom.

And as our society becomes more and more out of control with our school children shooting a class room full of fellow students, or the drug trade filling our streets, or the sex trafficking trade consuming our land, we obviously need more laws; more control; more restrictions because we can no longer manage ourselves.

But instead of voting in righteous leaders to direct us back to our lawful and moral foundations of obedience to God himself where we don’t need external restraints, we chose to vote in greedy, immoral, corrupt rulers who simply drive us further into bondage such as our current Congress, Judicial system, and Executive branches are doing today.

Is this growing bondage outside of God’s will for us?

Hardly.

It is God who is directing our slavery for our crimes against him (Jeremiah 24:9-10).

Each step is supposed to wake us up and cause a reformation, but instead we get angry at “the man” who we see as oppressing us, and feel we are being mistreated.

We demand our rights, and mass into powerful bands of “democracy” to force others to do our will, as we see in the Occupy Wallstreet type movements which are simply better organized riots. We emulate Egypt as they tore down a regime they did not like to receive a regime they do not know.

“Change you can believe in” was Obama’s campaign slogan, but nobody stops to question what that is.

If today I can write this in freedom, not fearing the government beating down my door to haul me away for my words,

Do I want that to change?

Today if I don’t like my job I am free to quit and look for something else I would rather do.

Do I want that to change?

Tell me a single betterment for this nation that Obama has brought with his Godless change?

Open borders with the lawless of Mexico?

Government run private corporations such as the airlines, the auto industry, and the banks?

Fewer jobs?

Lower pay?

Lower quality products made overseas?

A good groping at the airport?

A more unstable dollar?

Bands of hoodlums organizing only destruction?

A more violent globe?

You think China is the only nation that can have internment camps of “convicts” that produce cheap goods on the global market?

Be patient, his plan is actually working…

Its just not the plan you had in mind.

* * * * * * *

*1 W.E. Burghardt DuBois, The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America (New York: Social Science Press, 1954), p. 30; see also Thomas R.R. Cobb, An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson & Co., 1858), Vol. I, pp. cxlvii-cxlviii; and W. O. Blake, The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade (Columbus: J. & H. Miller, 1858), pp. 370-371.

America Has Fallen

2011-11-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

Post 225

Please forgive the harder to read altered format, the new blog system is still giving me fits, I can't seem to change the provided font and editing has become much harder.

Also I simply don't have the time to give to posting that I used to and I am unable to organize my material into a regular post.

And further, this is my third attempt to write this post; the complexity of what is taking place is turning out to be very hard to explain on paper. So I attempt to break it down into bite sized pieces.

* * *

In previous posts I revealed that I spent the last several years exclusive with God, “bulking up” my faith and relationship with God while time and circumstances allowed, knowing that times would change and I would not be able to continue in the unrestricted freedom to do so.

And so it passed that I am now removed from that unrestricted freedom to spend my entire day basking in the instruction of God in my home, and now my time is consumed with other obligations representing a form of captivity as I have a job to do away from home in an environment completely foreign to me and the nation in which I was raised (my meaning I hope to detail in future posts).

It is this form of captivity that is the focus of my message at this point as it represents what is now growing in America. The America of the past is no more. It is not something that we are waiting to happen, it has happened already. Now we simply are watching it mature as an infant is simply an adult not yet grown.

In post 149 America In Prophecy 1/11, I showed my interpretation that the fall of America was prophesied in the fall of Belshazzar just as the fall and return of Israel was prophesied in the fall and return of Nebuchadnezzar. Although the king and kingdom in the narrative are different entities, they are inseparably untied and so I suggest in representation the kingdom is the nation as an entity and the king is the ruling spirit/authority of the nation. As Nebuchadnezzar went insane and was cast out of this kingdom, so the people of Israel were stripped of their independence and removed from their homeland for a represented period of 7 just as Nebuchadnezzar was before being restored.

I presented the idea that by investigating the details in the parallel example of Nebuchadnezzar with that of Israel, we can transfer that parallel example pattern and discover the amazing parallel of America and Belshazzar who’s duration was short and ended swiftly, and how the end of his kingdom came only slightly less swiftly. The parallel is startling and the meaning profound. I suggested that America is represented there rather than some other nation, because America has a special and unique place in God’s plan. She is not simply one of a number of equal nations across the globe that has risen and fallen through time, America is the sister representation with Israel as the example of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth still to come.

Therefore, whether America was or was not founded as a Christian nation is not simply a matter of history, it is a matter of purpose. The answer is significant to the interpretation of God’s all encompassing design of history past and future.

I have declared by interpretation then that America need not fear the fall of nuclear bombs as a sudden complete destruction we now understand as possible with North Korea and Iraq possessing nukes along with several other dark nations, nor should we fear even being destroyed by fire falling from heaven or other such “natural” disaster such as destroyed Sodom. America’s fall will come easily and quietly unnoticed as it did for Belshazzar’s Babylon, which I showed by interpretation.

* * *

Sodom and Gomorrah:

Now lets step back for a moment and review the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah to understand a spiritual principle that we can apply to our current situation confirming why America must fall as Babylon did under Belshazzar and not in a flaming fire such as the fall of Sodom.

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with all but one (Genesis 19:21-22) in the entire plain (Genesis 19:17) were consumed early one morning (Genesis 19:23) in the wrath of God by fire, most probably as a volcanic eruption (Genesis 19:24-25, 28). The destruction was so sudden that it began at dawn and as Abram rose from his sleep that morning (Genesis 19:27) he saw the smoke of it. (Luke 17:29)

In the narrative of discussion between God and Abraham concerning the pending destruction of Sodom, we learn that God would not destroy that hub city if 50 righteous were found within it.

It is important to note that Abraham pleaded not for the righteous people but for God’s justice;

“…Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?...” Genesis 18:23

“That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25

And God allowed that he would not destroy Sodom if there were 50 righteous (Genesis 18:23-26).

But what is easily missed is the declaration of justice Abraham exposed as a principle here; Would God be any more Just if he treated just one righteous as if he were wicked?

This is what God allowed Abraham to draw out by his “negotiations” with God. God did not alter his plan, he simply allowed Abraham to figure out God’s justice; thinking outloud as it were (Genesis 18:27-33) but what we see is that Abraham still didn’t figure it out completely and ended his plea with 10, and God ended the long drawn out discussion (Genesis 18:32-33).

We, like Abraham, can assume God would destroy Sodom along with nine righteous but not ten, But as we read the narrative we discover that God would not destroy ANY righteous; Lot, the only righteous in the entire plain, had to be dragged out against his will by angels BEFORE they could destroy it!

“Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither….” Genesis 19:22

and further we learn that Lot alone saved a city called Zoar because he wanted to live there rather than flee to the mountains as directed (Genesis 19:21).

So now begs the question, why then did God drag Lot away from Sodom (Genesis 19:16) to destroy it, if Lot could save a city by wanting to live there?

The answer is found in the reason for the destruction; (Genesis 18:20-21 + 19:13).

And now we see the principle that even 10 righteous can save an entire city from the destroying wrath of God even after God sets his heart to destroy it because of its wickedness.

Likewise, a lesser wicked city such as Zoar, though slated for destruction because there were no righteous to redeem its wickedness as it were, was spared by Lot alone because its wickedness was not as great as Sodom and so one was all that was needed to stay God’s wrath of destruction.

Without Lot it would have been destroyed.

So when God destroyed the entire earth with a flood, ONLY Noah was found righteous.

Not much chance of one guy standing up for an entire planet and so God put him in a protective boat and drowned the earth.

That had to have been a bad place!

* * *

Remember Elijah?

He was a prophet in a wicked land where idol worship was everywhere (I Kings 16:29,33)

“…and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him (combined).” I Kings 16:33

That had to be a pretty wicked place after such a long line of wicked kings (see previous chapter 15) Surely God had finally determined to destroy Israel NOW, right?

Weeeelll, It seems that God had already made that determination even further back;

“For the LORD shall smite Israel… and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger. And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.” I Kings 14:15-16

and yet the kingdom endured until Ahab who did even greater evil than Jeroboam as we saw in the previous verse.

Why did God delay destruction?

We learn why as we read the story of the prophet Elijah.

In I Kings 19:9 we find Elijah hiding in a cave thoroughly exhausted and emotionally unstable, where he finds himself in a discussion with the LORD.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” The lord asks.

And in his reply we learn that he is quite sure that the evil of a long reign of wicked kings, ending with Ahab the worst of the worst, has succeeded in killing off all the righteous and he alone remains as the last target for elimination.

“…for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine alters, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” I Kings 19:10

Things are really not looking good in Israel. So why has God not yet destroyed Israel like he destroyed Sodom?

But instead of sudden destruction, God shows Elijah another plan.

Not a fast and dramatic cataclysmic destruction, but a slow and painful process.

“…Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazarel to be king over Syria: and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.” I Kings 19:16.

Instead of the smoke and fire from heaven to destroy the wicked people, God layes out a plan that will continue even after Elijah.

“And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.” I Kings 19:17.

And Elijah should have known immediate destruction was not God’s plan, by his own prophetic prayer back at the dueling offering challenge; “Hear me, O LORD, her me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again.” I Kings 18:37

As bad as things were in the day of Jeroboam, they were now worse in the day of Ahab; worse than ever before. Worse than all the bad before combined. Things were really, really bad.

And Elijah, God’s prophet, was sure he was the last of the faithful of God. Maybe he even saw himself as a second Noah, we don’t know. But if he was the last, then sudden and complete destruction was sure to fall as in Sodom.

But God had a surprising answer;

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” I Kings 19:18

It seems Israel was still awhile from inhalation because of the righteous that dwelt in Israel though quietly and unaffecting the political landscape due to ruling wickedness. The prophet of God did not even know they existed, yet their power with God kept Israel from the full wrath of God.

But by no means was Israel spared trouble as we read further in chapter 20. The king of Syria, anointed by Elijah came to do his divine work, and the Israelites were helpless to react in any way other than to bring his wrath, which was God’s plan. Please read I Kings 20:1-12 because it is important to understand the impossible straights Israel found themselves in.

Ok, I have to stop somewhere and get to the finish of my point, which is not the duration of the fall; we already know by the representation of the two kings of Babylon why one was drawn out while the other was swift, My point is why America's swift fall will transpire NOT in the wrath of God but easily by our own hand through subversion.

* * *

As much as America has already politically rejected God as our high King, and the righteous have no more political voice to affect alteration of national decline into wickedness by the new motto “Separation of Church and State”, Christians can still flourish in their faith while being politically stifled and even soon imprisoned to block their voice.

And as much as America has already established her own doom by the innocent blood of abortion we have shed on our own land that must be paid; (Deuteronomy 19:10, I Kings 2:31, II Kings 21:16, Proverbs 6:17, Isaiah 59:7, Jeremiah 7:6, 22:3,)

“And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.” II Kings 24:4

“And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters… and the land was polluted with blood.” Psalm 106:38 (+:39-42)

"Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these" (done lawful) Jeremiah 2:34,

America is already slated for destruction.

But there is the little problem of the righteous.

And so, like Israel, God has ordained “rulers” to torment, and tear down, to take, and to oppress, to kill little by little and consume our land from under us while we remain immune to sudden destruction.

What does that look like in the prophetic example of Belshazzar’s Babylon?

The enemy sneaks under our protective walls completely unnoticed and we are taken by subversion until our own people become America’s enemies by a change of heart and mind, and then we ourselves fling open our gates to the new king of a different empire, we are conquered without a battle by our own acts.

I hope to show in the next few posts what the subversion looks like; the short period of time before we open our gates of law. Belshazzar is dead, but Persia has not yet come in officially as the new empire ruler.

The time between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell on earth is now.

* * * * * * *

Between the Lines

2011-11-13T18:54:00.001-08:00

Post 224

If you have notforgotten, we spent quite a few posts going through scripture identifying theGlobal Dominate Empires (GDEs) that affected Israel’s sovereignty.Then we recently touched on the final GDE on the earth as we know it; thekingdom of heaven as the ninth and last Global Dominate Empire of this earth.

So lets take a moment andreview:

Revelation 17:10 show thefirst five GDE kings that fell before John wrote the Revelation , and alsoincludes the next two kings, now fallen as well. We now know these to be: Egypt,Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. Then Rome, and the Islamic Caliphateunder the first 11 Caliphs: = SEVEN GDE KINGS (though each Empire had severalsuccessive lesser kings).

Revelation 17:11describes the eighth; we now understand to be the twelfth Imam of theCaliphate now rising in the precursor return of Islam itself. This Caliph willhave 10 lesser kingdoms under his eigth GDE (Revelation 17:12) yet hiskingdom will last only one prophetic hour, which Daniel 7:25 calculates to be3-1/2 years. But don’t be confused; Islam will last far longer than the shortdomination of the Caliphate at its end and much will happen in that Islamicperiod.

Revelation 17:14 andDaniel 7:21 describes this eighth king, in the power of his GDE, willmake war first against the saints and then Jesus Christ himself, but Jesus willovercome the eighth (Daniel 7:26), and the ninth GDE willbe given to “the people of the saints of the most High” meaning a republic of the faithful under God(Daniel 7:27).

This is the overallgeneral layout of all world history in simple form, written in the “midpoint”of the timeline so that all readers of all remaining ages from its writing canknow that it is true by its revelation and interpretation of yet earlierprophecies (Daniel 2:28+, Zechariah 1:6,+, and 4:6+ to 6:15 etc, etc.).

* * *

A Pause:

But now at verse 14,before Revelation 17 simply goes right to the nineth GDE (which is anentirely “new word” to describe at length), we get a long deep look at the Great Whore city and her destruction, which is after all what the angel toldJohn he would show him in this narrative (Revelation 17:1-2) and is thepreparatory reason for the world history review we find here in this section ofRevelation; "all these things come to pass setting up the stage for thedestruction of the Great Whore I wish to show you" (paraphrased).

Modern Christians arefocused on the appearance of the Antichrist (we now know to be the twelfthImam) and the great tribulation he will bring on the earth against more thanjust God’s people, rather than learning about this Mystery Babylon of which thescripture has far more to say.

Just off the cuff, Ibelieve the reason for this biblical focus is because although the Antichristrules with an iron fist to very great damage, it is only a period of 3-1/2years. Yes general Islam will dominate for a longer period but the wholeIslamic period is clearly identified as basic dark evil by any rational mind,It is simply something that must be spiritually resisted and physically enduredeven unto death (Matthew 10:28-33+) without any complexity.

But Mystery Babylon,Now THAT is a topic that needs discussion!

There is a far greaterportion of scripture dedicated to this city, and the complexity of herexistence and power needs pre-explaining to the saints. This suggests that manypeople, and even believers, will be very confused and conflicted in knowing howto relate and interact with this city, so God is kind enough to provide thatneedful information before hand for those who want to search it out.

But although thescriptures are indeed God’s words, the Spirit is God’s voice; If we mine thescripture for data we will get information, but God wants us to fellowship withhim as we read it allowing Him to explain what he wrote so that we canunderstand it.

I am freshly struck withthe great gap between the point I am trying to make with others through thesharing of information, and the understanding that is intended but notreceived.

Let me explain by asimple unrelated analogy:

* * *

A bigger pause:

If I want to share anexperience in telling of my exciting day with a friend, I begin by giving anarration of events;

I start off by sayingsomething like; “Yesterday was a perfect day to ride, so me and about adozen guys headed up the pass to ride snowmachines. Steven was climbing throughthis ravine and was making very high marks near the tops of the edges in verylight powder snow when…”

But my listener wants toknow “information” and so cuts me off to ask; “What kind of sled was he riding?Who is Steven? Where was this exactly? Who were all the riders that went? Whatday was that?” etc. etc.

Of course the more detailthe listener gets, he assumes the better he can picture the story as I tell it,but by craving excessive or detailed information beyond what I provide in mytelling, it shows his attention is stuck on his own interests and not in thepoint of my story which is my interest. If the listener is modifying his ownsled in his garage, his heart is knit with what Steven was riding as if that isthe point of the story when that has nothing really to do with my point eventhough it is factual information that can be shared I guess.

This is the problem withperception.

We hear only that which hasmeaning or connection to where our heart or mind is at the time:

The mechanic hears abouta sled that performs well (so evaluates my story by comparison of performanceto other sleds he knows),

The socialite hears about12 individuals that went on a ride (and will be offended if it turns out therewere only 11 that went),

The ride enthusiast hearsabout some great powder and technical moves (and then compares it to his ownexperience to personally evaluate the merits of Steven’s ride)

And the meteorologisthears about a great day to ride (but focuses on perhaps “a better day” heremembers),

When my point was reallynot about any of these specifically but about the end result of anunforgettable adventure I want to share in the hopes the listener will want togo next time, nor does the deep exploration of specifics aid reaching that endbut is actually a distraction as the topic shifts wildly from the story tospark plugs, belts, and best jet sizes at altitude, or who should go on rides,or what activities and conditions make a good day.

As I politely stop mystory mid sentence and listen to their story about a ride they had in Coloradosome years back, I realize going on a ride with me yet this winter is not whatthey had in mind as I told my story and so they missed my point.

Similarly, as I sharewhat I am learning about God’s point in scripture, my listeners tend to hearnothing but disconnected information. What they hear tends to agree with whatthey are already focused on and so they nod their head in interested agreement,but what they hear is not what I intended to say.

This was made freshlyclear to me just this week on more than one event;

In one example I sharedwith an individual what scripture says is coming on the earth as I have donewith posts here on my blog. And in excited agreement with the discussion, aChristian friend shared with me some History Channel shows on DVD regarding“the coming prophesied disaster of 2012” and the “Seven signs of theApocalypse” of scripture that he feels shows solidarity with my topic ofdiscussion. Another individual in a separate discussion agreed with my biblicalview and so shared some Islamic tradition that he felt supports what I wassaying as true.

From their perspective wewere on the same page of communication, but to believe my discussion hadanything to do with the Mayan calendar, or the prophecies of a witch in Rome,or the customs of Islamic burial rites, means they only saw a similarity in“information” and missed the point I was trying to make about God’s sovereigntyand our need to see things from his perspective as we prepare for what he hasplanned.

The History Channelprovided a Pagan religious perspective of coming world events by collectingsimilar information from many diverse sources. Without realizing it, this approachmakes the Creator God nothing more than one of many equals in our evaluatingthe future of mankind. This prostitutes the word of God as just another whoreto be spiritually slept with among the many we frequent, and not as thecovenanted love letter by our monogamous spouse the Creator.

This error of wellmeaning Christians is because information without understanding is what isreceived. Understanding comes through the Spirit of God as it teaches us whatthe information means in context of the message. Therefore scatteredinformation is meaningless and even perhaps dangerous because of how it will bewrongly used (II Thessalonians 2:11-12, I John 5:10).

A few posts back I gotcarried away and declared that God had made me a prophet (abused by proxy). I did not mean in the sense of divine inspirationin my writing, or infallible conclusions of knowledge as the very title andsubtext of my blog makes clear.

I am a simple manlearning of God by the Spirit of his word how to be the best servant I can be(Romans 6:16-18) through the knowledge of God (II Peter 1:1-2) according to thegifts of instruction by his divine power he has provided to me (II Peter1:3-4).

The huge differencebetween me today and the powerless struggling Christian I was for many years,is the abandonment of the enticing lusts of the word, and the wholesalecommitment to God’s will alone. “This is the will of God, even yoursanctification 38, that ye should abstain from fornication 4202” IThessalonians 4:3 *1

My one and huge regret isthe wasted years I lived in the torment of duplicity, confused in thinking my“innocent” attachments to the wicked age in which I live was meaningless toGod.
Sanctification 38 hagiasmos: from 37; properly purification, i.e. (the state) purity; concretely (by Hebrew) a purifier.
37 hagiazo; from 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate.

* * *

Between the Lines:

I really desire toexpound on the kingdom of heaven, which we are eagerly looking for in the scopeof eternity, I also feel the need to expound on the nearness of Islam as itwill consume the world in great horrors. I crave to write of the rapture weChristians look for in genuine hope, or to jump right into what the scripturehas to say regarding the global importance of the coming city identified as“Mystery Babylon”. All these are quickly arriving on mankind and we need toknow how to prepare and to pass on that knowledge to our children (IThessalonians 5:4-9).

But none of those areactually the next event in history and so we have a greater need to look intoour own day-to-day existence NOW as we fit into the big picture of God’sdesign.

I suggest we are nowbetween the verses of Revelation 17:10 and 17:11 and I feel compelled to focuson my message for America and what it means to the world even before all thisother stuff becomes dominate, but frankly, it is hardly future now; it is so close.

God willing, I will takethe next several posts to cover what I believe to be the immediate future ofAmerica as the end of the most recent image of the kingdom of heaven, and whatits loss might mean to the rest of the word. And in my life right now I amgiven the preview of it, perhaps in the image of Daniel as he went first into captivity of Babylon(Daniel 1:1, II Kings 20:18, 24:1) before the rest of the nation followed (II Kings 24:14), and I hope to share with you the continuation ofmy prophetic life example.

* * * * * * *

*1a - Fornication 4202porneia; from 4203; harlotry (includingadultery and incest); figuratively idolatry.

How easily we focus on ameaning that protects us from guilt; “I am a good Christian, I don’t sleeparound” and so we blow by this passage asunrelated to me; “I’m good, thanks.”

But although this passageand meaning clearly identifies this physical corruption of what God designed,the deeper context of the scripture is spiritual. Why simply assume thispassage is now singularly speaking only of the flesh?

The meaning of the Greekword used is general to cover all aspects, and figuratively means idolatry.This concept is prolific through the scripture as turning from God to otherinterests is an idolatry God describes as spiritual adultery and God used hisprophet Hosea to give us His very pointed perspective of our conduct, bothspiritual and physical.

Idolatry is to replaceGod’s healing with some other form, in any degree; “God designed THIS but Ineed THAT, God won’t mind, he understands.”

REALLY? and you get thatin which passage?

Idolatry 1495 eidololatreia; (Greek) from 1497 and 2999; image-worship(literally or figuratively).

Idolatry 8655teraphiym (Hebrew) plural, perhaps from7495; a healer; Teraphim (singular or plural) a family idol.

7495 rapha; a primitiveroot; properly to mend (by stitching), i.e. (figuratively) to cure.

Clearly the Greek fornication means to interact in a way with something that isforbidden to interact in that way. To turn toward something as a god other thanGod, to prostitute oneself to something outside of the exclusive divine intent,to make an idol through idolatry.

But the Hebrew word idolatry has a very curious meaning that at first seems tomake no sense; a healer? How is this related to an idol? How is an idol seen tomend or cure what needs fixing? Why is finding a fix for something wrong?

Does the Hebrew word andmeaning for Idolatry ring any bells? Teraphiym; a healer.

Today our science andscience fiction use the word Terre-form or Terraform to describe healing a deadplanet.

How is this idolatry?

Please bear with methough this:

“Terraforming(literally, "Earth-shaping") of a planet, moon, or other body is thehypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature,surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to makeit habitable by terrestrial organisms.

The term is sometimes used more generally as a synonym forplanetary engineering, although some consider this more general usage an error.The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actualscience. The term was coined by Jack Williamson in a science-fiction story("Collision Orbit") published during 1942 in Astounding ScienceFiction, but the concept may pre-date this work.” - Terraforming

“The terraforming of Mars is the hypothetical process by which the climate,surface, and known properties of Mars would be deliberately changed with thegoal of making it habitable by humans and other terrestrial life, thusproviding the possibility of safe and sustainable colonization of large areasof the planet. The concept is reliant on the assumption that the environment ofa planet can be altered through artificial means; the feasibility of creatingan unconstrained planetary biosphere is undetermined. There are severalproposed methods, some of which present prohibitive economic and naturalresource costs, and others which may be currently technologically achievable.”- terraformingmars

“Why would we everwant to go to Mars? As pictures beamedback from planetary probes and rovers since 1964 have shown, Mars is adesolate, lifeless planet with seemingly little to offer humans. It has a verythin atmosphere and no signs of existing life -- but Mars does hold somepromise for the continuation of the human race. There are more than six billionpeople on Earth, and that number continues to grow unabated. This overcrowding,or the possibility of planetary disaster, will force us to eventually considernew homes in our solar system, and Mars may have more to offer us than thephotos of its barren landscape now show.” - why terraform mars

I do not wish to belaborthis point to distraction, as I really don’t believe God has a problem withmankind desiring to inhabit other bodies in the heavens through curiosity andexploration of his Creation. But I do believe the reason why and the approachintended by declarations such as is above through the meaning of the wordterraforming, is a great offense to God.

To live on mars may not be iniquity though mankind was only specificallygiven the Earth (Genesis 1:28-30, 9:1-2 [notice the number of times Earth isspecified]), but to go so far as to remold it to our heart’s desireis iniquity *2;

Mars is God’s planetcreated as he intended, to cultivate it in its natural form may be allowable bythe example of command regarding earth; “…Be fruitful, and multiply, andreplenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over…” Genesis 1:28 (and 2:15), but to implement the meansto “heal a damaged planet” by utterly altering its nature is to suppose Godfailed in its design which needs mankind’s efforts to correct the flaw. Inotherwords terraforming a planet to be something it was never intended to be isthe idolatry of mankind by elevating his will above God's over the very nature of an entire planet. Of course this is controversial and I am not dogmaticin my view other than the intent behind the word terraforming as it directlyrelates to the Hebrew word and meaning.
Now although Mars has little to do with my topic, the intent of mankind has everything to do with it.

*2 - from the FabianSocialist Window. I intend to speak muchto this philosophy in posts to come as it is directly relevant to my intendedtopic.

Sovereignty of God and Man

2011-10-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

post 223

How can both man and God be sovereign?
The Calvinist/Armenian disagreement is not hinged on whether God is sovereign or not, nor is it debated that man is sovereign; both doctrines believe that man acts with choice, in fact this is why Calvinists do not reject the idea of putting a child molester or murderer in prison; man is to be accountable for his own actions and indeed God has made this more than clear in his scripture. “Do not murder”. But if man can be rightly held accountable for his sin he must also have the option of an alternative choice, this choice we call free-will; i.e. sovereignty.
So the argument is not the sovereignty of God or man but how both can be sovereign at the same time and in what relational degree.

Going through the Acts of the Apostles again and again, I was startled to suddenly discover the overlying answer to the persistent conflict of the Sovereignty of God vs. the Free will of man. I believe revealing this is a primary purpose of the book of Acts. Let me explain:
* * *

An Extra 40 Days:
After Jesus was raised from the Dead he spent 40 more days on earth before returning to heaven and assume his throne on the right of the Father.
Why?
What did he do in those 40 days he could not do in the 3 years of his ministry?
And why did the Son of God take 30 years to grow up before beginning his ministry of only 3 years?
Is this just some meaningless romance novel written by God to fill pages between important parts, or is there some great meaning behind it all?

The greatest mistake we can make in reading the Acts (and the other books of the Bible), is to assume it is primarily a history of past events. While it is indeed a history of past events, the primary purpose of the book is to reveal a comprehension of reality which we did not yet know or understand.

Theology is the study of God. But can you really put God into a box? Yet our theology does just that as we try to stuff God into our finite minds in the effort to understand Him. What we end up with is a very poor and corrupt perception of God by the mere portion of shirt tail we actually get in there. How small we must think God to be if we assume we can comprehend him at all!

Remember; God must be worshiped in truth (John 4:24). This is because Truth is whatever relates to reality.
God is.
He is not an illusion, or a thought, or a figment of our imagination. Neither is God a PART of our reality to be called on and dismissed as we choose perhaps one day out of seven to give him reverence.
God Is.
If we worship Him it must be done in truth. If truth really is whatever relates to reality then God IS reality. God must be worshiped in and by and through reality in truth.
But the limited truth our poor finite minds can comprehend does not come close to understanding God. So what are we to do?
Although the passage does end with worshiping God in truth, it doesn't begin with it;

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

Since we were born into an age when this kind of worship has always been the case, this verse is easily passed over as almost meaningless; “Of course” we say.
But take a look at the previous verses spoken in another age when Jesus was walking the earth in the kingdom of God’s law for the Jews (John 4:22) and God was worshiped in something else; the law, rules, the exercise of obedience.

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” John 4:23

Clearly before that day things were different than after that day. Jesus was identifying a significant change that took place in more than a change of empires.
I have previously shown that the 1st coming of Jesus on earth was at the change of ages. But his coming was not what changed the age.
The Jewish kingdom age was at its end and the Gentile age was well in place as the Nebuchadnezzar image revealed (Daniel 2). Jesus came to earth at the end of the Greek age of brass and the arrival of the Roman age of iron, (both Gentile ages) but what Jesus came to do was to seed the earth with the kingdom of heaven at the same time the kingdom of hell came to dominate in the form of the 4th diverse beast of Daniel 7:7-25 (Rome being the first of three progressively evil parts of this beast).
Why did Jesus do this at that time? Why did God wait thousands of years since the fall of Adam to send his Sacrifice of his Son?
“…When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 59:19-20

Jesus did not come at that time to establish his kingdom as his disciples had hoped;
“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6
The disciples were not asking the Lord so recently risen from the dead, if he was going to establish the nation of Israel which had not yet completely fallen, No. They now understood that Jesus was indeed God. They grasped fully that he was the Messiah of whom death itself could not hold. They now knew it was indeed He who would be the king of the the kingdom promised to Israel, and that it would be a heavenly kingdom on earth.
The kingdom they were asking about was the Kingdom of Heaven not Israel; They were asking about God’s dominion over the earth. Israel once had the kingdom of heaven but lost it. This is what the disciples were asking about being restored; "will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?"
So again the question; What did Jesus do for those 40 days after rising from the dead?
* * *

Lets take a few verses line by line:
Acts 1:1 “The former treatis have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,”
Acts 1:2a “Until the day in which he was taken up,…”

The author Luke refers to his Gospel bearing his name. The book of Luke is a first hand eye witness of all that Jesus did and taught while on earth. What did Jesus begin to do and teach? Jesus began to seed the earth with the concept of the kingdom of heaven and taught the ways of that kingdom. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10 ect.
Theophilus 2321 in the Greek tongue means; from 2316 (Theos- God) and 5384 (philos- friend); friend of God. Acts begins by reminding the friends of God that the 1st book was about the Acts of Jesus.
So now what will we find in the Acts of the Apostles different that what we found in Luke?

Acts 1:2b “…Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:”

Ok, here we have a situation; Jesus was taken up after he, through the Holy Ghost, gave the apostles commandments. But remember; The holy Ghost could not come to them until after Jesus departed:
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 16:7
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” John 15:26 (John 14:26, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, I Corinthians 2:13)
So how could he give commandments through the Holy Ghost before he was taken up?

The answer is that the Holy Ghost was on HIM as he taught but not on THEM;
“…but he that sent me (John) to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” John 1:33

Now stay with me.
The Old Testament has many examples of the Holy Ghost falling on men who then prophesied (I Samuel 10:10), but only for a period and specific purpose and then it departed from them.
Then quite differently than that, John the Baptist was full of the Holy Ghost while still in his mother’s womb! (Luke1:15), and both his mother and father were filled with the Holy Ghost at specific times (Luke 1:41, Luke 1:67), surely John must have been the one described in the verse above (John 1:6), But NO; Jesus is the only one that had the Holy Ghost "descend on him" (Matthew 3:16) and "remained on him" as he taught and commanded his apostles through the following years. The specifics of the scripture is very important.
It was this Jesus, full of the Holy Ghost, who promised that after he left, the Comforter (Holy Ghost) would come on them to teach and confirm what he had told them; “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” John 14:25-26.
And later, after the fact; “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” I John 2:27.

But since the Holy Ghost now comes on all those who believe in Jesus Christ who sends him (I John 2:20,27, Acts 1:5,8, 2:38, etc.), why then do we find the Apostle Paul still preaching, even to the end of his life, the things Jesus just said the Holy Spirit himself would teach? (Acts 28:31). Why are we instructed to preach what Jesus commanded? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I (Jesus) have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” Matthew 28:19-20.
Well that answer is easy enough; We who have the Comforter must preach to those who do not yet believe so that they can believe and receive the Holy Ghost who then teaches them the truth of what they have heard from us. It is a double header, a two-fold confirmation; “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.
But here is where many modern believers stop in the truth, assuming there are simply those who have and those who have not the Holy Spirit, as if that is the end of it;
“I now have the Comforter and so can turn off my alarms of concern and rest in this possession under grace. God’s Spirit will lead me in his sovereignty so I have nothing to fear.”
Nice comfortable doctrine… BUT DEAD WRONG.
* * *

Walk Earnestly:
Galatians 6 begins; “BRETHREN, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

Notice that the very first word in this chapter clearly defines those to whom it was written thereby excluding all others; This chapter was written only to the brethren in Christ.

AFTER clearly establishing this point, it goes right into a condition in which such a brethren can, and some will, be overtaken in a fault.
So begs the question; Where is the Holy Spirit teaching him all things as promised?
How can one who has been given the Holy Spirit of God to teach him all things find himself overtaken in a fault? Doesn’t this clearly state that a committed believer comforted by the Holy Spirit may in fact still be overtaken in a fault? YES it does.
and then comes another surprise; We are warned that even the spiritual who are to deal with this fault must themselves guard against falling to error through temptation!
The question then becomes; How does this happen? And just as importantly; Why?

There seems to remain a need for teachers to teach the teachers (Man is instructed to teach man: Deuteronomy 4:9, Matthew 28:20, Mark 6:30, Acts 28:31, II Timothy 2:1-2, etc.), but why is this If the Holy Ghost has now come on all believers? “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” I John 2:27
The clue seems to be found in the previous verse;
“These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you” I John 2:26, (II Peter 2)
I will not here for brevity sake, go into just who the seducers are but to note that even the spiritual children of God are susceptible to seduction just as Eve in the perfect garden in perfect fellowship with God was nonetheless beguiled and fell from that perfect place and fellowship (Genesis 3).

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” Hebrews 4:1.
What is the therefore there for? Read the previous chapter; The promised people of God, as our example, fell short after having been given the promise. How far did they fall short? Just look at the Jewish Holocaust! Where was their eternal security in being the children of promise then? (John 5:45)
Is Paul not clear enough yet? Simply read and ingest the clear words of the short books of I John and Jude. Do not waste your spirit of comprehension by twisting them to conform to your particular doctrine of faith, simply read it as if it meant exactly what it says.

Are you now currently walking fully in the light you have been given, or are you a bit compromised by your comfortable familiarity with the world? (I John 2:15, John 15:19)

The god of this world is a master at showing us the monster chained at the end of the room for the purpose of distracting us from the microscopic germ that crawls unnoticed through the skin of our unshod feet as we stand “a safe distance” while viewing the monster in curiosity.
You have no business abiding in that diseased room!
RUN NOW, it is not the chained monster that you should fear (James 4:1-4, Luke 9:62, Hebrews 12:14).

Virtually everything changes from the point of absorption, your illusion of faith has not protected you from what your feet are standing in (Luke 8:18 [as it follows 11-15]). Now the answer is no longer “more faith”, but a cure from the death you contracted after having been made alive. Anti-venom only works on the venom it was derived to combat. Your contracted death is a false perception which you must identify before the cure can work; That false perception is that Jesus blood can cleanse you while you remain in the sin that you choose not to see as sin; This is called iniquity (Titus 2:11-14, II Timothy 2:19) and is different than sin (Psalm 51:2-3).
Iniquity 458 anomia; Greek: from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (general) wickedness.
Iniquity 93 adikia; Greek: from 94; (legal) injustice (properly the quality, by implication the act); morally wrongfulness (of character, life or act).
Iniquity 5771 avon; Hebrew: from 5753; perversity, i.e. (moral) evil.
Iniquity 205 aven; Hebrew: from an unused root perhaps meaning properly to pant (hence to exert oneself, usually in vain; to come to naught); strictly nothingness; also trouble, vanity, wickedness; specifically and idol.

Iniquity is a spiritually legal term meaning to break the known Law. Lawless.
This is a willful thing.
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee..." I Samuel 15:23 (see yourself in Saul's negotiation regarding his perception of "not actually rejecting" the word of the LORD.)

The word iniquity is used 315 times in scripture and is something we should fully understand. Today’s Christians constantly ask forgiveness for their sins but not having dealt with their iniquity, are powerless to refrain from more sin. Like Catholics before a priest they go to Jesus seeking absolution for sins they know full well they will commit again. This is not repentance because the iniquity remains in the heart (Psalm 28:3,40:12,41:6,64:6,66:18, Isaiah 57:17,Ezekiel 14:3,Hosea 4:8-9 to list a few).

That iniquity is not the topic of this present post. We are not speaking of willful sin sourced from iniquity; Here, we are discussing “missing the mark”;
"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." I John 5:16-17 (Exodus 20:20)
This is a sin due to ignorance or lack of understanding or confusion. These sins are dealt with in I John 1:9;
“If we confess our sins (266), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (266), and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin (264) not. And if any man sin (264), we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (2434) for our sins (266): and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” I John 2:1-2

sin 264 hamartano; perhaps from 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 3313; properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (figurative) to err, especially (morally) to sin.
sins 266 hamartia; from 264; sin (properly abstract).
propitiation 2434 hilasmon; atonement, i.e. (concrete) an expiator.
atonement: 1. reconciliation, 2. Satisfactory reparation for an injustice or injury.

The iniquity in the heart of a common sinner is in ignorance of Jesus' offer of new life. The lowest, worst, most heinous wickedness is forgiven and cleansed by the sacrifice of the sinless Jesus Christ for the asking. But having understood such forgiveness, to fall back with knowledge in willfulness is a whole different thing entirely (Hebrews 10:26-31,38-39).
Judas was the only Apostle struggling with this back-sliding kind of sin and it destroyed him, all the others were committed to the Lord fully yet found themselves struggling with understanding application. This is the topic of this post.
* * *

Two Sovereigns:
How is it possible that we should be possessed of the Holy Ghost and yet still fall to subtle beguilement as did Eve? Is the Holy Ghost so powerless to protect us?
God forbid I should even whisper such a thought; IN NO WAY.
Yet the apparent problem clearly persists and seems to defy God’s Supreme Sovereignty in both doctrines of Calvinism (through the sovereignty only of God), and Armenianism (through the freewill of man under God's sovereignty). Only in the combination of ideas do we begin to see the incredible miracle of two sovereigns emerge and the awareness of the actual problem. But how is two sovereigns even possible!
Before I make my argument plain, lets look at the recorded scripture on the topic of Holy Ghost believers in the complexity and confusion of learning truth over time.
* * *

The learning of the Apostles:
The book of Acts does not hold back from the truth that once we receive the Holy Ghost of God we do not suddenly have all knowledge but learn it as we are taught and comprehend it (James 1:5). By its very nature learning is a process over time;
“But the anointing…teacheth you of all things… and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” I John 2:27.
Here we see the context of time; the anointing first teaches you, then once it hath taught, you then shall abide.
This learning is not so much aided by, but rather confirmed by the teaching of others;
“Let him that is taught in the word communicate (2841) unto him that teacheth in all good things…” Galatians 6:6-8.
Communicate 2841 koinoneo; from 2844; to share with others (objectively or subjectively)

The combination of the two kinds of instructors is our confidence from being deceived much as a check and balance (I Corinthians 2:4-5, 12-13).
And we see the Apostles themselves, of all people, struggle to figure out the implementation of this new revelation of the old faith.

Acts 1:3 “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:”

So after his Holy Ghost inspired teaching, Jesus was killed, then raised from the dead and spent another 40 days teaching them about the kingdom of God. But now with blown minds by his resurrection they had a whole new comprehension of what he was actually talking about. It was no longer mystical theory of “good ideas”, it was very, very real and now practical as they saw their dead king alive again! This was the ultimate observation of how the eternal kingdom of heaven on earth is going to be applied!
This kingdom he spoke of was not just another kingdom of man in religious practice of following laws and rules as before; Jesus was speaking of a kingdom of such power as the dead would be raised back to life, but not the same life as before but a new life, an incorruptible body! They finally knew what it meant for him the Messiah to be the King of the Jews in an earthly kingdom that actually comes from heaven itself.
And in this light, before they received the Holy Ghost “not many days hence” (Acts 1:5), they asked him “…Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6

So why did Jesus not simply say; No?
Why tell them “…It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” Acts 1:7
Doesn’t this fly in the face of the Matthew 24:32-34 fig tree parable describing that we ARE to know the times and seasons?

Jesus was not making a concrete declaration of the impossibility to know, it is a declaration that THEY could not know because it was not time to know, much as we see in other passages of prophecy;

“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel 12:8-9
and again:
“and when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not” Revelation 10:4.

What is with that? If God didn’t want it known why let it slip that something was said? did the thunders get excited and spill something before they should have?
Of course not; “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets“ Amos 3:7. But there is nothing to say they are required to explain it at the time they get it. This tells us God has a plan in play with a very specific timeline that the scriptures have yet to reveal because he told the prophets though even they did not get it at the time. These many years later we are just now figuring out much of it which means the time is right; it is for US to know! (in the spirit of Matthew 24)

Revelation 10:7 suggests a finishing of all the prophecy given, but 10:8-11 suggests John will yet one day prophesy still more! It seems God has already planned still more than he has yet reveled in the Revelation!
How long do you figure eternity is? What do you suppose goes on in eternity? Do we sleep happily dormant with elevator music playing in the morgue, or do you suppose this creation is but a shadow of similar but more incredible things still to come?! Reality does not end when we enter eternity, it just begins!

So again, Why did Jesus not simply inform them that the Kingdom of Heaven was not yet to be established at that time?
* * *

Why Like This?
From John the Baptist in Matthew 3:2 declaring that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” until Jesus was taken up in Acts 1:2, The ministry of Christ was all about the preparation for the future coming of that kingdom, and he spent an additional 40 days after his resurrection to expound on that (Acts 1:3). I am really amazed at the overwhelming focus all through scripture on the kingdom of heaven first alluded to in Genesis 14:22 by establishing just who really possesses what was made, and then in Deuteronomy 7:24 as we see the shadow of the Great King as he takes possession of all kingdoms (Daniel 7:26-27, I Samuel 2:10, Revelation 19:14-16) and on and on for a total of perhaps 79 shielded references to that kingdom; half in the Old and half in the New Testament.

So in recap;
We have Jesus full of the Holy Ghost giving instructions regarding the kingdom of heaven.
Then he continues speaking and teaching regarding the kingdom of God after his resurrection from death.
Then he is taken up into heaven (returned to the Father) and apparently it takes some time to get there and make arrangements to send the Holy Ghost because they waited after his ascension until Pentecost (Acts 2:1) when they themselves received the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:2-4).
Now we have a bunch of Apostles, personal close followers of Jesus, personally full of the Holy Ghost confirming to them all what Jesus had said. Great!
Finally. They have arrived!

But wait. Not so fast.
Why are they still confused about stuff?
Regarding the basics of Salvation they have it down perfectly from Jesus and confirmed by the Holy Ghost without doubt and without error (Acts 2:14-36, 4:7-14, 5:1-11, etc.) and proven true by miracles and signs (Acts 8:6, 9:34-35, etc.) even being led at times directly by angels (Acts 8:26-29,39-40,etc.),
while at the same time surprisingly in other things they act with confusion in trial and error:
“And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple” Acts 9:26.
(Side note: see Acts 8:1 and then 9:31; was Saul the primary source of the whole persecution?)
So they had to LEARN over time of Saul’s true conversion and that God wanted him on the team.
And along that line of thinking, Acts 10:1-27 really gets strange as we see the Holy Ghost run Peter through a whole series of things, repeating part even three times in order to change his mind of conviction about other foundational stuff of the faith.
Have you ever asked; Why?
Peter really had to wrestle with New revelation as it kicked against the traditional Law he already knew.
In fact we see the Acts full of such examples of conflict among the Spirit filled saints as they practiced the faith given them by Jesus and confirmed by the Holy Spirit yet still having to work out the logistics of the faith (Acts 11:1-4,18, 14:22,27, 15:1-29).
Even after the Holy Ghost fell upon men, there were still prophets of God which he used to influence the Saints from time to time (Acts 11:27-30,15:32).
Paul and Barnabas had a great and powerful ministry until they could not agree and had an unresolved heated argument that actually broke up their mutual effort into two ministries (Acts 15:36-41). That's quite an argument. But was it due to iniquity and self glory, or was it over how best to minister the Gospel?
How can two contending saints still have successful ministries? This does not seem spiritual or holy, yet the Acts goes on to show indeed they were both used mightily by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:5) and in the face of their recent dissension, the Holy Spirit still specifically redirected them to go other than they originally thought they should (Acts 16:6-8), and also found themselves guided by somewhat uncertain direction. It is a bit disconcerting to read the Holy Ghost filled Apostles themselves directed by “assuredly gathering” what to do (Acts 16:9-10).
I could go on and on reporting the struggle of the Apostles to administer their calling as revealed to us in the Book of the Acts, so why does God “air the dirty laundry” of this seeming weakness in the faith of the most holy saints who were actually taught by Jesus himself and confirmed by miracles and possessed of the Holy Ghost?
Why all the confusion, contention, and struggle even after all the personal teaching of Jesus, after all the miracles of evidence, and even after receiving the Holy Spirit himself? “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26
It seems apparent that something is seriously wrong here! But is it?
* * *

Ignorant Christians today seem to conclude that after being saved, there is nothing more to be done. "We have arrived. We now have the Holy Spirit to tell us what to do and now all we have left is to do as he directs" (usually thought to be through feelings) "We have little to do but sit around clinging to our faith waiting for the rapture to rescue us from this wicked age."
But our own scriptures are abundantly clear that this is NOT the Christian faith.
In fact, in spite of the Calvinist theological TULIP of security (which has great merit in its place), the scriptures seem to go on after salvation, and after receiving the Holy Spirit, to warn that we have not actually arrived in unbreachable security as modern Calvinism suggests:

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
“Quench not the Spirit.” Hebrews 10:29, John 5:16
“But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.” Isaiah 63:10
“…it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints… I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Jude 1:3,5 (and verse 4 is frightening when contemplating what Calvinism has been turned into by faithless theologians!)
"...No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62

So what is it that the Acts is revealing to us about the Faith?
It is more than a theology, it is more than arriving, it is even more than surrendering to God!
What is faith? It is diligently becoming citizens prepared for the kingdom of heaven and the work God has for us there (II Timothy 2:21). It is what comes after birth through growing up!
Let me explain why this is not simple:
* * *

Hang on a bit before stoning me:
All the strange acts of the Apostles revealed in the book called the Acts Of The Apostles is an utter mystery as to why, until we comprehend who we are;
God has made us eternal, free moral, sovereign agents. We really are little gods made in his image “And God said, Let us make man in our image (6754), after our likeness (1823)…” Genesis 1:26.
We are made with authority and responsibility over our own existence with accountability (Genesis 9:6-7), We are actually adopted siblings with Jesus himself who was natural born of God (Hebrews 2:9-14a). We are not just made in the worthless physical likeness of an inanimate idol (Isaiah 44:14-17), God made us eternal (John 10:28,Luke 20:36), a living soul (Genesis 2:7) which can never then be extinguished, spending eternity either with God or in Hell by our own free-will as it were.
And through union of two we re-produce images of ourselves, also eternal. We are literally created sovereign in the image of God’s sovereignty. It is actually frightening to think of what it means to be in the image of God. This concept begins to comprehend what it means to be free moral agents. Be careful not to abuse the concept as Lucifer did when he thought he could be equal to God (Isaiah 14:12-14 the iniquity of Mormonism) which is only the place for Jesus the Son (Philippians 2:6).
We are also likened as brides (Ephesians 5:25) in the sense that we were strangers to him until he invited us in and married us to then be his eternal companion. He retains the name and power, we are just some stranger he married and granted authority (Matthew 16:19). these representations are given to us so we can begin to grasp the far more complex relationship we have with God then we can now fully comprehend.

Image 6754 tselem; from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol.
Likeness 1823 demuwth; from 1819; resemblance; concrete model, shape; adverb like.

Therefore we cannot actually surrender our sovereignty to God anymore than God can cease to be God. Rather we must use our sovereignty in obedience to him as an act of our choice. It is not possible to be neutral because of our very nature.
Because God made us sovereign He cannot say; “Ok, since you have surrendered to me I can now erase your mind and reinstall different information to control your perspective as I choose.” Nor would he want to.
God does not just change our minds about stuff like deleting and adding data from a computer “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 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
This is important. No, it is extremely important.

Why is it like this?

The answer is found in our relationship with God who declared; “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” II Corinthians 6:14-18

This is not just a rule that God arbitrarily figured we should obey; God is declaring what we MUST be in order to have fellowship with The Sovereign God. God is inviting us into his fellowship as sovereigns. what fellowship could He have with something less?
As sovereigns, we MUST retain our sovereignty; This is not a choice but a state of being.

So how can the Supreme God; the All-existent One, share godhood with his creation?
How is it possible that God has actually made us eternal free moral agents yet retain his God status too? How do two free moral agents interact successfully?
What do you think he was representing when he gave us the mystery of marriage and the intimacy between man and woman, two independent minds and souls and bodies coming together as one?

Put another way, our mutual relationship with God is as complex and wonderful as flight! Let me explain:
* * *

Flight:
By itself the Law of Gravity always pulls things down to earth. It is an unalterable stabilizing force that must be respected as is because it is unchangeable. We can accept it or fight it but it remains Constant. Unmovable. Persistent. Reliable.
But the principle of Lift applied with Gravity allows for an amazing result; we can fly!
Flying does not eliminate or deny or even defy gravity, rather it needs gravity’s constant to work.
It is not a matter of either/or, it is a combination to produce an effect.

But unlike gravity the principle of flight is not a law but a combination of several carefully integrated elements into a specific function that all must be perfectly in place for flight to result. At any given moment if the combination is suddenly altered by any of several causes, lift will be lost and the plane will plummet because gravity is always there.
Gravity represents stable God while flight represents unstable man’s application of knowledge and the resulting proper combination is wonderful beyond imagination!

The Apostles were taught by Jesus and they really worked at grasping the truths he was providing. But how could they have actually understood the divine while dwelling in the temporal? Miracles aided that comprehension but still there was difficulty. Then Jesus was raised from the dead and all constraints were broken wide open! Yet still they were men existing with the laws of our domain as the normal standard. How were they to know when normal laws still applied and when miracles did? Their sovereign minds had to unlearn and then relearn this new information of truth. By the nature of “free” it must be learned until comprehension comes, otherwise it is simple dictation.
This is why the Apostles were still a bit confused as they began to apply this new faith. This is why we must learn from those who have already learned, and read God’s word in our temporal plain allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us what it actually says until we finally grasp its truth. This is why we have the lifetimes we do, growing in the Lord (Ephesians 4:15-16, Colossians 1:10-12, I Peter 2:2-3 etc.) and this is why the 9th GDE comes as a stone that crushes all other kingdoms and grows into a mountain to fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:35b). This is what was represented by the Jews conquering their land little by little (Exodus 23:30).
salvation is just the beginning!
* * *

So, in one way we can see that growing in Christ is a necessary process of learning and understanding to become who we should be and it will be often frustrating and painful to figure out, yet in another way we can be comforted by the fact that just because we have not yet figured it out, as believers in Christ through repentance we are guiltless even as we struggle (I John 3:20-21). Both Calvanism and Armenianism are wrong until they are combined into the miracle of flight! but the combination is something quite tricky to master.
We are the bride of Christ! Not as his equal but as one with him by his choice and gift. What a miracle that the creation can fellowship like that with the Creator!

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” Ephesians 5:25-28

Some wives take a lot of effort before they come around, and so do some believers.
And as our comprehension of marriage is corrupted by godless society so is our reference to comprehend our relationship with God (Hosea 4:6, Proverbs 29:18).
This parallel of concepts continues as we understand that we are also called the children of God. Do you wonder why your children struggle so hard to become successful contributing members of the family? It is a surrender of the selfish will, not to mindless obedience but to choose to participate in a social state. They represent that you are similarly struggling to become successful contributing members of the kingdom of heaven; they are images of you.
* * * * * * *

If you have the time, read again this previous post four winds with this understanding in mind.

The Fig Tree Parable

2011-10-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Pre Ten Virgins - part 2
(The Kingdom of Heaven)
September 25 - October 23, 2011
Post 222

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matthew 24:32-34.

What generation? What things? What is “it”?
Just what is the parable of the fig tree talking about?
The reason why this is so difficult and seems to be intentionally confusing is because by its wording it allows it to be properly applied to more than one point in time even though the complete fulfillment is in fact one specific event that covers quite a lot as it regards a process of something coming gradually like the changing of winter into summer.
* * *

The Fig Tree:
The meaning of the fig tree in this Matthew 24 passage has long been debated, but since Israel miraculously became a nation again in 1948 there has been an excited assumption in Christian circles to interpret that as the leaves on the fig tree. Indeed it is very exciting to see that after 1,878 years of abandonment the promised nation has been reborn. Clearly by many genuine miracles from the 1948 war just hours after creating the nation, to the 1967 6 day war, God has once again shown himself mighty on behalf of his people and it is easy to conclude that this is a significant putting forth of tender leaves from the dry bark of the tree long dormant through a very long winter.
But if the leaves of the fig tree in this parable is the 1948 nation of Israel, What is the fig tree?
There can be no doubt the fig tree is THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN which is after all the topic of the whole passage and even premiere in the whole book of Matthew (and Acts, but that will take another post to explain).
We know now that the coming of Christ in the clouds (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 24:30, 26:64, Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 19:11-16) prophesied by Exodus 14:20,16:10,19:9, Numbers 16:42, Deuteronomy 4:11,Isaiah 19:1,Ezekiel 1:4+ Jeremiah 4:13, and exampled by the cloud in the wilderness that drew the people and the tabernacle to it (Numbers 10:11-13,25,12:5), is the coming of Christ with his kingdom and the seat of that kingdom the new Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12, 21:2) with his saints (I Thessalonians 3:13, Jude 1:14-15, Revelation 19:14), to establish the 9th GDE on earth (Revelation 19:7) by the conquest of the 8th; “…he (the 8th) shall stand up against the Prince of princes (the 9th) but he shall be broken without hand” Daniel 8:25,
Daniel 9:27 “…even until the consummation (of the 9th)…”, (Daniel 7:26-27, Revelation 19:17-21) and to defend it even after it is consummated (Revelation 20:7-9).
The simplistic rendering of the 2nd coming of Jesus into a single simple event restricts the needful understanding that there are many complex details to the events of his coming just as any event in reality is complex. “My wife is having a baby” speaks volumes to those in the know but says nothing of all it means. The genuinely interested want far more information.

One such needful detail is the wrong “spring” that first comes and goes without the promised salvation of his coming. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” Jeremiah 8:20
“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” Jeremiah 8:22 (daughter is a prophetic meaning of the later generation not to blame for the original suffering still experienced).
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail… Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17-18

By careful reading of the scriptures we see that there are very specific criteria that identifies the right and final return to Israel and to God, but few bother to figure it out. And God complains.
“Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.” Jeremiah 8:7

God’s people can and should know, but the majority simply can’t bother to take the time to learn. Be among the few who can, and who with Habakkuk, joy in their God even though the time is not yet for the kingdom of heaven to dominate this globe.
Until then we are the citizens of that kingdom seeding the earth as sojourners (Acts 7:5-6, Hebrews 11:8-10). Until then that kingdom of heaven is only within us; the people of Christ (Luke 17:21-23) and we are preparing ourselves to be worthy citizens once it does come; “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” I Peter 1:17.
We live by a different custom, different laws, a different king while dwelling among the Godless in their kingdom. We are unwelcome guests and treated as such, and it is our job to remember this in humility while extending the invitation to them to transfer citizenship too.
“…Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Matthew 3:2-3
But many, including his own people, will refuse his gracious offer;
“But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us “ Luke 19:14.
* * *

Wrong Again:
Without going into the details of why the parable of the fig tree leaves are interpreted to mean the return of Israel, it has been most common to suppose the parable to mean the generation that saw Israel become a nation in 1948 will be the generation that sees the complete arrival of the kingdom of heaven to earth, and the mistake is understandable. But this error of counting is reminiscent of the decree of Cyrus to build the city of Jerusalem in BC 536 which began the counting till messiah presented himself king in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25).
Because there were three similar decrees that came close but did not fulfill the accuracy of the prophecy, the beginning of the counting was corrupted and believed to be unknowable by the failure of what seemed obvious, and likewise the 1948 return of the Jews to Israel has been close to fulfilling the prophetic return, but not accurately and so is not the point to begin the count of the Matthew 24:34 promise of the prophetic parable of the fig tree, to do so ends in failure and results in lost or confused faith by the apparent failure of the prophecy when that generation passes but the kingdom still does not come.

Yes the Jews were called back to Israel in 1948 and returned, but not per Isaiah 41:8-20, and not in the promise of everlasting joy described in Isaiah 51:11, not in the promised perpetual return to the Lord that identifies the correct return; Ezekiel 37:23-24, Jeremiah 24:5-7, 31:12-14, Zechariah 13:9, and many others.
We see THIS return of the Jews in Isaiah 30:15 as rejected and spurned by them as shown in prophetic verses 1-14 which prepares the way for the 4th dispersion yet to come as shown in verses 16-17, and the Lord will again wait for them to respond as shown in verse 18, so he can call them yet again as shown in verses 19-24, while the cleansing of the wicked nations continues in verses 25-33. This interpretation can be found by carefully reading this chapter knowing there is more than one return (30:8,13-14,25,26 etc to chapter 34 which describes the cleansing of the entire earth from the nations of iniquity).
Isaiah 35 reveals the kingdom of heaven at Christ’s coming.
Specifically reading verses 4-10 as if it meant exactly what it says, and not just a general pleasant event, reveals this cannot have yet been fulfilled by this present return.

So far I know of three returns shown in both scripture and history which do not fulfill the specific requirements of the promise:
1- The return from Egypt (Genesis 15:13-16, Exodus 12:41, Acts 7:6-7)
2- The return from Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11+29:10, Ezra 1:1-3)
3- The return from the Global scattering (Matthew 23:38, 1948 AD)
4- Can only follow a scattering not yet witnessed (Matthew 24:15,21,29, Daniel 12:1) resulting in the final return at the trumpet of the Lord (Matthew 24:31, Isaiah 27:13, Zephaniah 3:14-20, etc.)

Remember we already discussed there are four horns that scatter Judah (Zechariah 1:12-21,6:1-8). The first two returns are easily rejected as not the right return, but that third one really seems to be close until we understand there is a 4th. How do we know that the return in 1948 is not the promised return? Enter stage right, a very strange verse with now enlightened meaning;

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isaiah 11:11-12
Before a second recovery from all these places, there must have been a first recovery. 1948 was the first time to fulfill these specifics but it didn’t fulfill other specifics reserved for the second recovery.
A continued reading reveals a very spectacular geological alteration or a Red Sea kind of crossing that clearly has not yet been made! (Isaiah 11:15-16). Isaiah 13 is the events of Matthew 24:31.5 (between what is written), and Isaiah 13:19 is the destruction of Babylon also found in Revelation 18, all before Isaiah 14 talks about the promised rest for Israel (v.3) and the rest of the world (v.7) that now makes it clear all the great cleansing called the wrath of God and the day of the Lord comes after Jesus returns to earth (Isaiah 24). It could be this cleansing that requires the elect to wait an extra 45 days even after his lengthy arrival (Daniel 12:12, Isaiah 26:20-21).

Like the layer one “this generation” that Jesus directly spoke to was the generation that saw Jerusalem fall to the Romans and Israel’s scepter removed in 70 AD, the layer two “this generation” that lives at the time of “these things” is the generation that sees them all completed; therefore the events indicated in this passage all take place in the single last generation of the Gentile Age when Jerusalem will no longer be trampled down by the Gentiles (Luke 21:24, Revelation 11:2).
So what things do they need to see exactly in order to be “this generation”?

1- Matthew 24:15 begins; “When ye therefore shall see…”. This begins the end in the form of the great tribulation of Matthew 24:21-22.
2- Then the next event is the cosmic transition between the end of the tribulation and the coming of the Christ shown in verse 29.
3- Then the next event is the drawn-out coming of the Christ and his kingdom that takes some time to arrive (verses 27-28,30-31)
4- and the last event are the angels calling the elect to gather from all over the world (verse 31) in preparation for the great day of wrath also called the Day of the LORD (Psalm 110:5-6, Proverbs 11:4, Isaiah 13:9, Ezekiel 7:14-19, 38:19-23, Zephaniah 1:14-18).

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:32-33
The coming of the kingdom of heaven to earth is the “IT”, and so the signs listed are the “leaves”. The gathering of the elect (including Israel) is the last leaf described before “summer” breaks out. So just because we saw Israel gathered in 1948 as a single premature leaf combined with the pre-game leaf, we did not see “all these things” come with them and so this is not yet that long awaited spring in anticipation of the summer of holiness.

The use of a parable allows the promise to apply both to the generation hearing Jesus in 33 AD, as well as the last days generation. Once to the Jewish age and once to the Gentile age. The events will be fulfilled in both times though applied respectively. Was Jerusalem surrounded in 70 AD? Yes. Will it be again? Yes. Many Jews who did not flee to the mountains but instead fled to the walled city of Jerusalem for reasonably expected protection, experienced unspeakable horrors, and so it will be in the repeat event of the last days though prophesied to be a much faster destruction; as in an instant (Isaiah 30:13, Matthew 24:15-18) most probably by nuclear missiles. Those who flee in obedience, God will hide, but the mass majority will experience the beginning horrors of the Great Tribulation. It seems clear to me that Jerusalem will again fall and the land of Israel will again be desolate because of their unfaithfulness to God; they still turn to others to save them, as in imagined innocence they make God out to be the one who has failed them for so long (Isaiah 30:10-13, Ezekiel 20).

How many Christians today fall to this same delusion? How many Christians looking for the rapture still live in iniquity and will miss it because their hearts are turned inward in the corruption of selfish “Christianity” and not in yielding to Christ? It is easy to mock the Jews for their stubborn blindness against Jesus while doing the very same thing! “Asking Jesus into your heart” is not a magic incantation that then protects you from the iniquity of your own heart, Jesus came to give you a new heart and a new spirit. Do you have them? (Ezekiel 11:19,18:31,36:26)

“All these things” represent the listed events as the leaves that come about by the spring flow of life-giving sap in the tree, and therefore the tree is not actually the topic of this chapter but the summer itself as the “Time”; the “When” the “Season” the “Age”. The summer is the long awaited period and by this we know it means the domain of the kingdom of heaven. The coming of that kingdom is what causes these events just as the resulting birth of the baby is the cause of the labor pains that precede it. And again the whole topic of this chapter is answering “when?” and “what shall be the sign of thy coming and with it the end of the age that precedes that coming?”; Winter to Summer. When will the warmth of the kingdom of summer come?

These are the specific things the proper generation must see confirming that all the events will conclude within their generation which Genesis 15:13+16 declare to be 100 years. If all “these things” events are to fall within a 3-1/2 year period as is most commonly supposed, such a confirming promise of one generation seeing it all seems pointless. Therefore we can be sure that all these events will have every earmark of lasting many years, perhaps even longer than a lifetime! So Jesus encourages them by declaring; No, though taking many years and appearing to take even more, the fulfillment of the end events will all play out in just one generation. And to drive the promise home in an observable reason to doubt, the next verse declares; “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35. In other words; You can bank on this fact regardless of what appears sure to the contrary.

Since many generations following the rise of Rome (the Iron Beast part 1) have seen these beginning of sorrows signs (Matthew 24:8), we should not suppose any other generation than those who sees the Abomination of Desolation, the cosmic events, the signs of the Lord returning, and the gathering of the elect by the trumpet of the angels, is the generation that sees the establishment of the kingdom of heaven.
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matthew 24:34

It seems sorta silly to say “if you see all this, your generation won’t pass till you see it all”, so just what is he saying?
It is clear by his confirming promise of verse 35 that even after that generation sees virtually all these signs, there will still be a very long wait to see the fulfillment of it all; the day and hour that no one knows (v36).
Again we see the waiting. Doesn’t the waiting ever end?!
And so the next several verses of Matthew 24:37-51 speak in parables first of a cleansing likened unto that of Noah's flood, and THEN of the long delay in the transition of the ages and those who lose heart in the waiting.
and NOW we can understand the meaning and purpose of the Ten virgin parable that follows!

“THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” Matthew 25:1

These virgins had waited patiently for their groom, and for reasons explained by Jewish tradition, the groom sounded his coming and in excitement the virgins ran to meet him! But wait! He was still some distance behind his trumpet and there was still more waiting to be done!
But the wise virgins expected this for some reason (they knew the scriptures) and were well prepared, but the foolish had already waited with them for an undisclosed period and now at the trumpet call they thought the waiting was over. But the door was still closed.
Now note, they are not shown to be struggling or fighting while they wait, they are all slumbering. Apparently the conflict is over and they are at ease while they wait. But in the pleasure of slumber is the danger of running out of preparation that the struggle seems to feed.
America has likewise fallen into slumber and has like the foolish virgins run out of oil. It seems this last waiting is one of ease after the Great Tribulation and while Christ is seen coming in the sky! Incredible! It seems his coming will be so long we may simply get used to seeing him in the sky like a new sun and forget he is still on his way!
Now if you read the several parables with this concept in mind, they hold significant new meaning.
I will get into that meaning in the next post.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12

Christianity is not something you do while waiting for rescue, it is something you become regardless of the circumstances. (Malachi 3:13-18)
* * * * * * *

Note: through developing this post I was struck very near the end of it, by the awareness that my lifelong perspective on the Rapture may be utterly incorrect. Please allow me the time to explore this deeply before I post my conclusions. Until then I leave my original view unaltered.
It is regretful that I don't have the time presently to develop these last two posts as thoroughly as I would like before publishing them, but the Lord has me where I am for a very interesting learning that I feel continues my given mission. I hope to soon share it with you!
*

Pre Ten Virgins

2011-09-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

(The kingdom of Heaven)
Post 221

Required reading: Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21
* * *

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom” Matthew 25:1.

The word “then” has been a curiosity to me in this parable; Why start a parable with “Then”?
Clearly Jesus was structurally building from the foundation established in the conversation of the previous chapters and so to properly understand the parable we must understand the previous concept that results in the “then”.
The concept of the previous chapters (23-24), from beginning to end was the foundation of the questions “When? How do we know when?” (Matthew 24:3).
What brought on these questions was what Jesus had said to them, but because we are shown the part about the destruction of the temple just before the questions, we wrongly assume this was the whole topic of the questions, but no. Their questions clearly show they understood the discussion to be regarding the period of “the end” (Matthew 24:3). Mark 13:3 gives us the clue that the discussion lasted longer than a casual passing of the temple buildings or a random comment about its destruction, and by the flow of the Matthew passage (excluding the chapter breaks later inserted) we see that there were 8 woes also proclaimed upon “this generation” (Matthew 23:36). All this was included in their questions.
* * *

When what?
“…Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end 4930 of the world 165?” Matthew 24:3.
“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?” Mark 13:4
“And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things come to pass?” Luke 21:7

It is curious that Matthew (the Gospel to the Jews) is the only one that words it with “the end of the world”. The other tellings of the same questions ask specifically about the signs of the events he described as related to his second coming and not “the end of the planet” and we get the concept that they understood the events were the signs of something else. So what “The end” are we actually talking about?

To shortcut the confusion, let me say; I’m going to show that there are two meanings to this whole passage, both are completely fulfilled in their respective times. In otherwords by careful composition the passage completely means both meanings. The first is regarding the age of the Jews and the second is regarding the Gentile age, and the miracle is that the same words at that exact time in history can mean both concepts as Jesus walking on the earth had brought the seed of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:2) while at the same time the Romans had brought the final diverse (4th) beast (Daniel 7, Zechariah 1:19) of the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24, I Peter 4:3-4) which will only end upon Jesus' return and the establishment of his Kingdom of Heaven as the 9th GDE (Global Dominate Empire) (Daniel 2:44-45).
So lets explore both meanings of “The end” in order to understand the passage:

End 4930 sunteleia; from 4931; entire completion, i.e. consummation (of a dispensation).
World 165 aion; from the same as 104; properly an age; by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world; specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future).

We see by the original meaning of the Greek words used in Matthew 24, these words have potential to mean different things when used in this combination, so we must investigate further.
The original Greek word aion; (165) used here, was also used in Acts 3:21, Hebrews 6:5 and clearly is not the “known world” word (3625) of Acts 11:28, Hebrews 2:5, Revelation 16:14, nor the “created world” word (2889) used in Hebrews 10:5, Revelation 13:8,17:8, I John 4:14, 5:4 (in fact every use of the word “world” in I John). The disciples clearly had a different meaning in mind from these by the specific use of aion; we would call an “age”.

The word “world” as NOT used in this passage:
World 3625 oikoumene; feminine particle press. Passive of 3611 (as noun, by implication of 1093); land, i.e. the (terrene part of the) globe; specifically the Roman empire:- earth, world.
World 2889 kosmos; from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants literal or figurative).

These unused options of the Greek language would make this passage mean what most assume that it means; “the end of the world”, but by using the specific word “aion”, both Jesus and the disciples were clearly discussing an age, though the disciples probably did not actually understand the fuller meaning Jesus meant. The Mark and Luke versions of the same discussion are now not seen as strangely missing reference to the end of the world as a planet because that is not what was discussed. It seems evident that the 1st layer meaning was that of the end of the Jewish age which ended in 70 AD at the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple within the generation Jesus was talking to;
“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” Luke 21:24.

Since that seems to be a very specific landmark that will end the trodding down, we need to ask...
* * *

What are the times of the Gentiles?
Ephesians 2:11-12 gives us a clue;
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:”
and again;
“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:” I Peter 4:3.

We see then that the times of the Gentiles is a period when the Godless mindframe of the ungodly, rules in opposition to the provided option of the promised covenants through Christ.
What are those promised covenants (not singular)? They are the covenants of fellowship with God through the law and again through grace and still later through the combination of the two (Jeremiah 31:31-34), all three provided in Christ through Israel (and America as her offspring) as a society different from that of the Gentile mind without God. This is a difficult bit of "data" to understand because it is a "concept" that needs to be ingested not just learned.
This is the concept of the kingdom of heaven which we are learning in this passage.

The Jewish age came to an end after the rise of Rome and the fall of Israel in 70AD not because they were driven out of their land, but because the scepter was removed and Israel was no longer a sovereign nation of God’s rule; That time was the rise of the 4th diverse beast in three distinct parts as I have shown previously. Indeed that Generation did not pass until the eight woes befell Israel fulfilling Matthew 23:36 in the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans and the end of Israeli sovereignty; The scepter had been removed (Genesis 49:10) and the Jewish age of God’s direct influence on the earth through them had ended. Now God influences the world through the Gentile Christian nation of America in the times of the Gentiles. But like Israel, America has failed in her Job, conforming to the I Peter 4:3 Gentile will and we are now heading into our own punishment before our own "scepter" by analogy if you will, is also removed. The result is a world free of godly influence and so the kingdom of Hell will be free to rule unopposed for a time. This is the great iron beast kingdom of unspeakable destruction.

This "Times of the Gentiles" is complex because obviously the world dominate Gentile kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt ruled before Babylon took the Jewish nation captive, before they were brought back to Israel, before Rome finally destroyed the nation and dispersed them into the world, so how can I say the times of the Gentiles did not begin until Rome? I didn't.
I said that the nation of Israel; God's kingdom on earth if you will, did not end even while in captivity in Babylon, until Rome removed her sovereignty. The point in time is very significant to scripture and to the Jews, and is what paused the 70 week clock of the Jewish nation (Daniel 9:24, [representational prophecy of John the Baptist, II Kings 14:25], Matthew 11:12-13, Matthew 12:39-41,16:4,21:25-26, Luke 7:28. The times of the Gentiles was already under way while the Jewish age was still ending. But at the destruction of the Jewish sovereignty the Times of the Gentiles was established as the sole spiritually ruling kingdom on the earth, undisputed by another spiritual kingdom.
"For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." Luke 11:30. It is amazing to read the gospels (especially that of Matthew) to see that from the very beginning the concept of warning to "this generation" remains persistent. Jesus was talking very specifically to the last generation of the Jewish age as a first layer.
Although America has been indeed very influential over the whole earth after that transition, it is not a ruling kingdom but simply a Godly nation of Gentiles among the Pagan nations as a type of remnant of the Kingdom that was.

Without going into a lengthy rabbit trail, it is unfortunate the KJV translators chose the word “world” for this verse when in other places of scripture the same Greek word was translated “ages” to a more ready comprehension for us modern English speaking people (Ephesians 2:7, Colossians 1:26). But the fact that aion was used only in the Matthew telling of the three narrations is a clue to “What age?” The non- “Jewish age” gospels only asked about the events Jesus described and were not concerned about an “age” as the Jews are. Although I greatly value the KJV as perhaps the most reliable English translation available, it is only a translation of the original and we should be careful not to worship the translation but only the God that it reveals (“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” John 5:39).

It is not a difficult search to conclude the actual end of the planet earth was not implied or meant or possible by their question or the Lord’s response, so the only question that remains is; “what age?”
Yet still the “When what?” of this passage has been a rather difficult thing for scholars to accurately answer in agreement for a number of reasons that scholars such as RC Sproul in his 10 part “Crisis in Eschatology” *1 have done a great job expounding and I will not address here in my attempt to reach sooner the foundation from which is built the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
* * *

The Deeper "When?":
By divine purposes the disciples asked three somewhat different questions regarding Jesus comments, and Jesus gave them the answer to their questions, but it’s most probable they didn’t actually comprehend the 2nd layer that Jesus was talking about as he gave them the prophetic answer to what they didn’t know they had asked. It is clear that Matthew 24 is very, very deep with prophetic meaning regarding far more than a simple timeline of one generation and discussing far more than the destruction of the temple in 70 AD that began the long dispersion of the Jews. This is a pivotal prophecy.
So realizing that we will barely scratch the surface of its deeper meanings lets run through the simplistic prepwork focusing on our discussion of the parable that followed:

To the questions of “when?” and “how do we know when?” (signs), Jesus answered:
Bla bla bla…
“…but the end (5056) is not yet.” Matthew 24:6
bla bla bla…
“All these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then…” Matthew 24:8-9
bla bla bla…
“And then…” Matthew 24:10
bla bla bla…
“But he that shall endure unto the end (5056), the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13
bla bla bla…
“…and then shall the end (5056) come.” Matthew 24:14
(I mean no disrespect for the holy words of Jesus by inserting a representation; this is only to more clearly focus on the intended points for their's and our discussion of WHEN?)

Jesus said quite a lot here, and between what he said he gave us several recognizable locations (signs) on the timeline of approaching the “when” events.
Then that last verse pretty much seems to be a terminus and an answer to “what shall be the sign of… the end (4930) of the world? (age; or present continuance at the time)” Matthew 24:3.
Again we find here, that by verse 13 with 14 following it, the concept of “patient endurance” not “immediate rescue” seems to be the mindframe intended that modern Christians love to assume.
But note; Jesus’ answer does not end there but continues for some time more, so did he jump the gun by inserting verse 14 when he did? I don’t think so.
There seems to be two possible answers to why he put v.14 where he did:

1- Like the Genesis chapters 1 and 2 debate, we can either conclude that the thought was completed at this point and a new thought began (which supports the two creations theory) or
2- we can conclude that the general concept was completed at this point and then re-covered in different details showing an additional line of purpose for the same events.
This second approach fully conforms to all root scriptural concepts while the first conflicts with them and so we reject the first option as flawed.

I believe that in Matthew 24:1-14, we see the big picture of the coming of “the end” but
I believe that in Matthew 24:1-12, we see the detailed picture of “the coming” of the end,
or in otherwords; The pre-game warmup as the “…but the end is not yet” stuff (v.6), before Jesus drops “the arrival of the end” storm (not bomb) in verse 14 “…and then shall the end come” which begins a new period identified as “the end” and described in more detail by verses 15-28.
Starving to death or being shot dead are two ways to bring an end, one is sudden as a bomb and the other drags on for a long time as a storm. In the lengthy idea, this “end period” is further defined with its own multiple periods or stages of the events all identified as “the end”:
I believe that in Matthew 24:15-22 we see the description of the “before Christ’s second coming arrival” portion of “the end”, and from 23-51 we see the “as Christ arrives” portion of “the end”, separated by the cosmic events of verse 29 as a recognizable landmark of demarcation; a sign.
Simply put, I think the first 14 verses are written to the Christ-followers, and 15-31 is written to the Law abiding Jews with specific periods identified as signs of his coming, which is not the same thing as the signs of the end of the Jewish age that ended about 37 years after their discussion that day. Therefore we see this prophetic passage has two layers as many prophecies do; A soon fulfillment and a much delayed second meaning for the last days which ends the “times (age) of the Gentiles” by the arrival of the physical Kingdom of Heaven upon this earth.

I wrestled for some time with the apparent discrepancy of order by verse 14 until I realized it was verse 13 that was giving the problem. Without verse 13 the timeline flows easily, so what is verse 13 doing stuffed in there, messing up the simple flow?
The answer becomes obvious when we comprehend “the end” mentioned as still future, does not actually begin until verse 15; “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…” (see Daniel 9:27, 11:31 specifically, and chapter 11 generally) declared to have officially begun the end period by the fulfilled restraint of the pre-game required event of verse 14; “and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world (3625)…and then shall the end come.” Until v. 14 is actually fulfilled in proportion to the specific prophecy, v.15 as the end cannot come.
Now we have a tiny unknown verse hidden in Habakkuk 3 that prophecies although all the signs seem to be in place, the 2nd layer completion will not come to pass in the premature event of the 1948 nearness of summer as per Matthew 24:32. The tree will fail to produce long after expected not because the prophecy failed, but because its the wrong time; all the signs are not perfectly fulfilled.

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines... yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" Habakkuk 3:17-18 (as related to Matthew 24:32 which we will discuss later).

I’m sorry this is getting a little thick as I am addressing both first and second layers at the same time as well as briefly. Before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Gospel was indeed preached to all the “world” as the specific word Jesus used there allows:

World 3625 oikoumene; feminine particle press. Passive of 3611 (as noun, by implication of 1093); land, i.e. the (terrene part of the) globe; specifically the Roman empire:- earth, world.

Acts 8:25 and others tell us this required fulfillment was met in the 1st layer only and so "the end" was proportionally related to the age of the Jews, and yet by the specific word used we see that it also allows for a 2nd layer meaning and fulfillment of the Gospel preached to the whole earth, which is today being completed by several bible translator organizations with this specific intent, that will allow for the global "the end" to come on the times of the Gentiles in the fuller fulfillment of v.14. So we see both layers of the prophecy as they are to be fulfilled have a traffic light regulation of travel between the pregame events up to v.13 and the end events beginning with v.15. Verse 14 is a significant sign of "when what?".
* * *

Bad Enough:
So if whatever comes in the pre-game warmup of Matthew 24:4-14 is not yet “the end”, it is still apparently quite bad to need the encouragement of verse 13; “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” In otherwords verse 13 tells us that the events of verses 4-12 will become almost unendurable especially just before the end begins as the worst labor pains come at the end before the actual birth process begins, using the growing birthpang analogy of v.8 (beginning of sorrows, Romans 8:22, Revelation 12:2) we understand these pre-game events will increase in intensity by cycle and it has proven to be so from then until now; Hard times, respite, hard times, respite, progressively getting worse in the general direction; Rise and fall, rise and fall, but always steadily climbing in the general trend of increase.

Now understanding “the end” is also a somewhat prolonged period described from 24:15-51 we understand verse 13 is not including any of the end; Just endure UNTIL the end gets here. In otherwords; “endure until verse 15”. Since by this verse there is no need to endure THROUGH the end to be saved, Who then will be saved as described in verse 13 vs. who is the rest of the chapter talking about that was not saved by said enduring to v.15?
Obviously since we can easily see that everything after verse 14 to 31 is talking specifically to the Jews regarding Jewish things and concepts, we can conclude that verse 13 is talking specifically to the Disciples of Jesus Christ; the Church age we call Christians. Verse 13 therefore alludes to the rapture which apparently comes when the pre-great tribulation signs arrive; i.e. the Abomination of Desolation.
Disciples of Jesus, endure until then and you will be saved seems to be the message. But clearly, by the focus on enduring until then (v.13), we can be sure to see a significant portion of lesser tribulation that will nonetheless cause many to fail in the attempt to wait until then. It’s all about the proper waiting perspective. I know many Marines while I was on Okinawa who got “Dear John” letters from wives who got weary of waiting. Selfish love cannot endure and these are the ones the waiting is designed to weed out.
What I find curious is that there are seem to be those who will fail to endure until the end as v.13 directs, but will then heed the warning of 16-20! How is this possible?
It is because the Jews have been blinded (Acts28:26-29) until they see the Christ coming in the clouds as they have long anticipated (II Corinthians 3:14-16, Matthew 23:39), and so rejected the Christ who first came as a Son of man (John 10:33).
* * *

Hard Ball:
Again, Notice the immediate post v.15 warning speaks of a specific place and therefore to a specific people; the Jews.

"Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:" the housetops and the flight on the Sabbath are Jewish related and specifically said to Judaea.

The Christian idea we see in the books and films produced about the rapture tend to promote the idea that the great tribulation is all about Gentile Americans who failed to get it right in the first try and so get a second try through the great tribulation.
While this idea may be perhaps possible on an extremely small scale, the whole context of the prophecy is that the Church age is passed and this end period is for the Jews. In relation to the extreme grace extended to the Church age Gentiles in general; the Jews have really been given a horrible load to carry through great suffering over a very long period. And while we Church age Gentiles may experience some significant suffering in these last days it cannot be compared to the suffering of God’s People because the cause is completely different and for a different reason. And the worst part of their suffering is yet to come even after our suffering is finished!
Does this sound unfair? You bet it does! But is it unjust of God who is the creator? No.
God has a completely different thing he is doing in the Jews for his own reasons that will magnify His greatness in the end just as will his utter and complete rejection of Esau or his extension of grace to the Gentiles.
Fair is man’s perspective of temporal events much as religion is man’s perspective of the spiritual. God is not about religion and he is not about fair (Genesis 37:4). He is about faith and justice (Romans 3:28, 4:5, 5:1, Galatians 2:16, 3:8, James 2:24-26) which are completely different things and cannot be properly applied to a mind and spirit of selfish acquisition. This is a concept that is foundational to the faith, which modern self-centered Christians simply have no understanding. Selfish love cannot endure and these are those whom the waiting is designed to weed out. Christ wants those who are madly in love with Him and not themselves! (Thus the parable of the 10 virgins).
The divorce rate within the church today is a sure sign of this self-love problem and is a mirror in which to see our love of Christ or lack thereof (I John 4:20).
Even though the passage transitions quite smoothly from part one to part two at verse 14, Jesus is speaking of two different people in the 2nd layer of the latter end times we are now approaching (Isaiah 41:22). Yes, many world Gentiles will be saved in the second part of this passage through the Jews, but the Church age is over and for us who failed to see Christ in our opportunity of Grace, the second opportunity will probably be but an illusion as unattainable as salvation through grace was for the Jews in our time of offering. From here on out the passage speaks to the 70th week of Daniel Jews and the world related to them.
* * *

False Christs… Oh, I almost forgot; And a great tribulation:
Now leaving behind the v.4-14 pre-game Church age events and the concluding rapture, we see that the Great Tribulation actually doesn’t begin until Matthew 24:21 following the abomination of desolation and it ends in Matthew 24:26 with the presentation of false Christs. (The short transition period of fleeing in verses 15-20 is not included in the great tribulation but is included in “the end” which just began by the abominable open declaration of war against God and his people. But notice the primary topic of this defined section as “the great tribulation” is almost exclusively a warning against following false Christs:

Matthew 24:21 barely refers to a horrific great tribulation, and verse 22 casually mentions it will be so bad that the days themselves must be shortened so that anybody might survive it at all, but it doesn’t go into details of the events that make it so bad (many other parts of scripture go into detail). Then verses 23-28 spend all their time talking about the coming of false Christs as opposed to the real Christ, and then suddenly the great tribulation is declared over by verse 29 even though we have many other passages that tell us the great cleansing of wickedness comes after v.29 making it clear that God’s wrath on wicked man is not the same event of Satan’s wrath on man that comes first in the great tribulation. Clearly the tribulation and the Great Tribulation are of Satan primarily aimed at the children of God though not really concerned about the wicked either, while the wrath of God that follows is specifically to the wicked that enacted the tribulation and God protects His own in the process.
This neglect of the horrible details of the great tribulation is because of the three questions they asked in v.3; they did not ask for details of what the end would be like, just when it would come and what would signify the various events including his coming. This whole chapter 24 is about timing and the details included are simply there to aid that end.
We see then that the beginning of the end overlaps the end of the pre-game events (v.13-14), and the coming of the Messiah overlaps the end of the Great tribulation (v.27-28) and the actual arrival of the Messiah comes somewhere at the end of his coming (v.31-34) but apparently not at the very end of his coming (Daniel 12:11-12).

THEN: we have one single verse in 24:29 describing some very amazing cosmic events that are not a part of the great tribulation but come right after it ends while Messiah has already begun his coming:
* * *

The Coming of Christ:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” Matthew 24:29 (Isaiah 13:9-7, Revelation 6:13= Isaiah 60:19, Acts 26:13) (Isaiah 30:26 seems to suggest a kind of supernova type burnout of our sun.)
Again, the event is described here because it importantly identifies the “when and signs” of the timing of events on either side.
This cosmic stuff would sure seem like a part of the great tribulation but it is declared NOT to be because they are not for the purpose of tribulation on the saints as the events that just ended were, but are rather perhaps the first signs of the Wrath of God.
Will they be fearful to witness for the saints of that day? Of course; “And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear” Matthew 14:26. These are very real and very horrible events to affect the earth after enduring such a struggle, and just looking at the fear of simple "Global Warming" that is so insignificant that the data had to be manipulated to get the people to fear, what will they do with real problems?! (Luke 21:26).
As a later deeper study of this boat trip will show; This whole Matthew 14 event of crossing is a prophetic representation of the last days our world has already set sail into and the seas have been progressively building since John the Baptist (Matthew 11:13, Luke 7:26), The cosmic events initiating the signs of Jesus coming are represented by what the boating disciples first thought they saw which made them afraid which turned out to be Jesus himself coming to them. In the same way the Jews of that day will tremble with the world at the apparent cosmic disaster coming upon them, but Jesus will call out to them "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." Matthew 14:27, yet Peter representing the raptured Church is the only one who went to him as he came, while the others waited in the boat in the stormy sea. Very exciting stuff hidden in that boat trip.

Now as a shocking and sudden punch I will simply declare here that Jesus coming in the clouds over time as seen by the world to be something like a destroying comet, will be the coming of the New Jerusalem with Christ as the seat of the kingdom of heaven the 9th and final GDE (Revelation 3:12, 21:2-3, Daniel 2:44-45, Revelation 17:14, Luke 21:31). There is just simply no way to explain this event in any scientific understanding currently known but it will in fact happen in our known reality. This is why Jesus confirms that what he says will happen, will indeed actually happen even though it seems impossible (Matthew 24:35, Revelation 21:5), and here for the first time in this blog I must depart from reason of logic alone and appeal to the reason and proofs of all the scripture we have covered thus far. The scripture has proven itself utterly reliable.
* * *

Interrupting Parable:
It seems that Jesus spends a very significant period from Matthew 24:23-51 describing the signs of his coming as was part of their question, but for some reason he inserts an interrupting parable in v.32-35 seemingly in the middle of describing his signs of coming; “Now learn a parable of the fig tree;…” What is with that? By inquiry we see that what comes before the parable describes things related to recognizing false Christs before we see the Genuine Christ arriving, and then we see the final gathering of the Jews in v. 31.
If the section after the parable was related to the same topic of his coming doesn’t it seem to confuse the order? The parable should be at the end of the chapter. With this in mind we explore the pre-figtree-parable points:
* * *

Identifying the coming of Christ: Luke 21:29-36.
We see that Jesus did indeed answer the three questions asked by his disciples and the signs of his coming including “when” are the actual primary focus of the whole chapter;
The signs of his coming include:
1- the pre-game warmup of the Church age tribulation, (Matthew 24:3-14) and
2- the great tribulation of the Jews in the times of the Gentiles, (v.21-28) and
3- the great cosmic events that follow the great tribulation (v.29) and
4- the actual signs of his coming process (v.30) and
5- then we have the gathering of the Jews by the angels, as still another sign of his coming (v.31).
Before he tells the fig tree parable related to his arrival as the arrival of summer (v.32-33+).

Now don’t get confused with semantics; his coming is shown to be a process; these are not just signs that his coming will start soon; there are also signs that his coming is in progress, and signs that his coming will conclude soon after the sounding of the gathering trumpet. In that v.31 later sign of his nearly-complete-coming we see him as an advancing general breaking off commanders into a fan formation with the purpose of gathering in his own from among the enemy before he goes to war upon his arrival (Revelation 6:12-17).

“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:31

But clearly he has not yet completed his coming at this point in the narrative by the parable of the fig tree in the next verse.

Verse 31 is often confused with the rapture of the Church (alluded to back in v.13) and so the meaning and order of the whole chapter is confused and therefore the parable is too. This v.31 is indeed a gathering, but FROM “the four winds”. This is the final calling or gathering of the 4th scattering of the elect (Zechariah 1:18-21) back to Jerusalem after which they will never be scattered again (Zephaniah 3:15-20, Malachi 3:17-18). This return will finally be the fulfillment of the long awaited return that has not been fulfilled by the 1948 return of the faithless Jews who still fail to rejoice in the Lord (Habakkuk 3:17a, Jeremiah 33:7-9) and therefore ensures they will be scattered a 4th time so that he can call them at that trumpet.
With this in mind lets read Isaiah 27:13

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

Don’t make the mistake of supposing this passage has been fulfilled and so is now ignorable history. It is not finished. And now we can see Matthew 24:34 is a very commonly misused landmark parable because of the misapplication of verse 31 to mean what it does not mean.

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matthew 24:34.

What generation? What things? Just what is the parable of the fig tree talking about that would end in such a verse?
This is the question. But we will have to wait until the next post to answer it.

* * * * * * *
*1 Produced by the ministry of RC Sproul through his Ligonier organization; Renewing Your Mind podcasts are found on line at http//www.Ligonier.org

Intimacy

2011-09-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Post 220

In wrestling with the outcome of events Did I “walk on air” as originally intended in excited anticipation? I’m afraid I did not. Very much like Peter jumping from the boat and beginning in unwavering faith, I started out well but soon I too began to sink in confusion of “what is the right thing?” brought on by my circumstances of temporal reality as I know it; I felt compelled to respond as I did. Jesus rescued me and led me back to the boat and so in embarrassment of a grand idea failed I find myself again sitting among my boatmates of regular life.
Could I have done better if I had more faith? Sadly the answer has to be yes; “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:31. I even knew better by the record of scripture! Shame on me!
Oh how I wanted, and expected to do better! And now that I sit here in the boat of life about to head off to my new job, I longingly wish I had not doubted because of all the personal intimacy I will now miss out on. But that opportunity is now gone and the scenario is over. We are in public now and with it comes responsibility of public conduct.
It is hard to explain in temporal terms where the difference can be identified; Peter was with the Lord on the sea, and still with the Lord in the boat afterwards, so what makes the difference? The personal intimacy with the Lord is somehow greatly diminished though not gone. How do I describe it?
As I begin my mornings in prayer as usual and then a much shorter study than before, I find it is there where I am still “with the Lord” in that same “walking on the water” intimacy, before I take up rowing in the daily grind of life with the others. In attempting to express in meaningful words what this is like, I more fully comprehend the big picture of “waiting” as described in the previous post. A FaceBook friend made a comment regarding her absent fiancé that I thought describes it perfectly;

“My day is now wonderful! :) I got to talk to my man! Funny how one person’s voice can make the world seem complete again!”

I find my mornings of prayer and brief study are this kind of short phone-call to my Lord who not long ago was with me all day locked away in privacy without another care in the world. This present separation is not due to problems in the relationship but simply a part of life, and in fact the yearning of love grows stronger because of the separation.

As I continue to study the kingdom of heaven as described in Matthew 24 just before beginning the parable of the 10 Virgins, I have a much greater appreciation for the concept of this period of longing separation from our Lord and our eager anticipation of the promised union coming soon.
I have much to post on this issue and hope to somehow squeeze in enough time each day to continue this topic, but sadly I can no longer devote all day every day to the work as temporal duty now calls.
Having experienced my Lord in a very intimate way I am already hating the separation now required and long for the day when we will be reunited in the kingdom of heaven.

And so again I leave you with the still unanswered question “What IS the kingdom of heaven?”

Ten Virgins

2011-09-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

Line by Line - Matthew 25:1-13
Post 219

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” Matthew 25:1

Pre- Ten Virgins:
Leaving the very first word of this verse for a later post, we note this entire parable is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like. But before we can really apply what it is like we must ask the question: “what IS the kingdom of heaven?”
This is not as easy to answer as first thought. For some reason we all assume we know what the kingdom of heaven is without ever trying to define it. So go ahead, take a moment and discuss with yourself the question until you provide some expressible idea you feel reasonably happy with.

I find asking; “what IS the kingdom of heaven?”, is a lot like asking; “what is truth?” The mind is so sure it knows but doesn’t really want to exercise too much to get the actual answer. But again, that answer is exposed in the first word; “Then” which I intend to cover in a post called “Pre Ten Virgins”. It is not a quick answer but the study is actually a big part of getting past Revelation 17.
* * *

The kingdom of heaven is like:
So moving on with the understanding that this parable is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like, we must read everything in it with this foremost in mind. The virgins are not representing the kingdom of heaven, nor are the lamps, or the bridegroom, etc. All these are but elements that make up the representation of what the kingdom of heaven is like, so that we can begin to grasp the kingdom itself.

Since the story is about virgins and a bridegroom we are obligated to learn just a little about the Jewish wedding customs regarding such an occasion. Since Jesus was raised in a Jewish culture he used a Jewish concept that was readily understood and could be readily applied, whereas we in a modern western culture have no idea how to apply this as it has no ready meaning to our lifestyle understanding.
When I was a child I was under the (now questionable) understanding that “engagement” was a period of commitment promising a future marriage. It never crossed my mind that perhaps this happy couple would engage in acts reserved for marriage, especially for a Christian couple, but today our Christian youths are unashamed to explore their sexuality long before even engagement.
The Jewish custom of betrothal (from which the west originally got the custom of engagement) was not just some arbitrary idea of an old priest, but was directly given by the law of God. Not as an arbitrary rule to make young people suffer under their raging passions but because it had an eternal message; "The kingdom of heaven is like..." And while Leviticus chapters 18-21 are instructions regarding sexuality for health reasons (mental, emotional, spiritual and physical) the righteous perspective of the Jewish marriage custom was a representation of how we are to view the kingdom of heaven. This is not some lesson you learn one year in Sunday school and move on, the marriage process takes place over and over again as each young couple reach that phase in their lives. If you will permit it, the marriage ceremony is a phylactery we keep always instantly available in our minds as we observe the event, remembering it shows us the working material to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like. The constant phrase "Next year in Jerusalem" for the long exiled Jews was just such a phylactery for the same reason.
God wanted to make sure that even as the marriage concept was corrupted there would remain a pure message that could be found and so he established the chapter of Leviticus 21 governing the marriage of priests.
“And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife” Leviticus 21:13
Now in ignorance of God’s wonderful design we read this and immediately begin condemning these less qualified women and so miss the actual purpose of the rule: it is God’s pure example as a tool of comprehension to understand the parable showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like. Don’t be confused; the priest's marriage is not the example, just the tool needed to understand the example. The example is the singular committed waiting for "the one".

Jewish marriage custom:
I am no expert on this custom but glean enough from other’s studies to better understand this parable and so share it with you for the same ends.
Even more binding than our own “engagement”, the Jewish custom viewed “betrothal” as simply the first phase of marriage and in this way the couple was already married by betrothal though the marriage was not complete. The western culture somewhat diminished the view but nonetheless retained the notion that with an engagement ring the girl was already “taken off the field” and committed to one particular man. “I’m going to be married” was her joyful proclamation.
Likewise is the requirement of virginity: God had an eternal thing in mind when he established that a woman should be a virgin upon marriage, and by the fact God used his priest as the groom for her we are to understand the groom was even more sure to be so as he represented God. Yes, in our temporal minds we might comprehend a myriad of very solid reason why virginity at marriage is a good idea; avoiding diseases, lack of baggage (clinging history), uncomplicated future (pure unsoiled heart), avoiding fatherless children, and alimony and "bad Xs", etc. but all these are but examples of the spiritual concept of even greater importance as these directly translate to our relationship with God and the ways we can damage it.
Originally, even in America past, the fallen woman was looked upon as undesirable regarding marriage because it was understood we are created in the image of God and what we do should reflect that image as best as possible. Since God as the groom cannot look upon sin (I John 1:5-6), the fallen woman is less desirable to represent that best image in marriage.
So is it forbidden for a common man to marry such a woman? No. As Jesus our groom makes us spotless through forgiveness, so we too have that option (Ephesians 5:25-27)and might be so willing if her heart is repentant. Even God himself has often shown in scripture his willingness to forgive his whoring wife if she would only repent and return, but we see the suffering she has done to the relationship and so this is the concept that men once desired to avoid by marrying a woman without baggage: a heart undamaged for him alone. Young women fall in love so easily and so hard because they have not experienced the consequences of bad choices yet. “Mature” women have and so are far more self-protective resulting in a lack of trust which actually damages a good marriage. God desired us to avoid all that as far as is possible by remaining pure until marriage.
This also carries over in our faith not as a bi-product but as the actual reason. If we are raised to commit to God before we run wild, we will have the advantage of avoiding lots of history that cannot then be easily cast off. The pain and resulting self-preservation through lack of trust, is actually damaging to the relationship with God.

Continuing the Jewish marriage custom; it was common for a groom to betroth his wife while young, then leave her with her father, to make his livelihood and home secure for them once they were married, and in that time she prepared herself learning how to be a good wife and homemaker for him. Once he was ready he would return for her and they would be married.
* * *

Waiting:
So with this knowledge we read our parable. We find ten virgins having been betrothed, all prepared ready and waiting for their groom to arrive *1.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” Matthew 25:1

But look! These virgins went forth to meet him, why would they do that? Clearly the verse make it important that they took lamps because of the darkness. So where did they go and why go and not wait? I hate to keep coming back to it, but the answer is made available in the first word, so lets leave that alone for now and move on.

“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.” Matthew 25:2

Hold on here! We have 10 virgins, not fallen women, committed to the groom. They all have their lamps, and they all go out together, and so far we see virtually no difference between them (Matthew 13:30?), so what makes five foolish; they all look the same. Since we remember this is representing what the kingdom of heaven is like, are we to assume there is such a thing as foolish genuine Christians who are betrothed to Christ and have their hope in Christ’s coming for them? It sure seems plausible; lets continue.

“They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” Matthew 25:3-4

Nice! We are clearly shown what distinguishes the foolish from the wise; Its all about the quantity of oil. Note that all ten have lamps, all ten lamps have oil, and all ten lamps are lit, this is not the problem. You would think this would be commendable but instead five are called foolish. Why?

“While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” Matthew 25:5

Isn’t it strange how this is not written as some unusual or unexpected tarrying, and because the five are called foolish we are assured that all ten had been given warning that he would in fact tarry. The five wise betrothed brides had preplanned for the long wait by taking extra oil in a separate vessel while the five foolish betrothed planned only for the short term. This appears to be the only difference between them as all ten slumbered in waiting. Since we know the wise five were not rebuked for their slumbering it seems apparent that they had all completed their tasks of preparation and were now simply waiting patiently. The five foolish had simply done a poor job in preparing.

“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Matthew 25:6

Since we remember that this is showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like; Christians quickly see that the cry made is representing the trumpet that calls the Christians to Christ in the rapture (I Corinthians 15:52) and I am not simply declaring them to be wrong, but there is far more here because of the context of the previous chapter and because this is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like. Is the rapture event the kingdom of heaven? No. but it is a part, yet this whole parable is not about just a part, it is about the whole thing; “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto…” the wording is becoming more apparent as specifically important; “At this specific time after all the previous events, the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to...”
This is not a matter of “at the end of a string of events, the kingdom will be likened” but rather “after understanding all these events as a whole, the kingdom will be likened”.
So yes, the rapture is included here, but there is much more also included here in this parable. This is not a parable about the rapture as in; “Then shall the rapture to the kingdom of heaven be likened unto…” NO. This is not the meaning of the parable, and so again I ask; “What IS the kingdom of heaven?”
* * *

In verse 1 we saw the virgins go forth to meet the groom, so why do we see them later commanded to go out to meet him? Go from where? To where; where did they slumber? And then from where were they commanded to “Go”? and To where?

It is important that we don’t just blow off the parable as a general story to get a general idea across. God does not waste words. Understanding this parable is crucial if we are to be counted among the wise!
But perhaps it doesn’t really matter; a betrothed virgin is a betrothed virgin, all are eventually made safe in Christ through faith right? Lets keep reading.

“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.” Matthew 25:7

Now suddenly we see the proof of their preparing as they are awakened and in eager excitement to see the fulfillment of all their hopes, they trim their lamps together!
What does it mean to trim a lamp?
An old oil lamp was a bath that had a wick protruding from the oil. As the wick that bore the oil was consumed by the flame it became burnt ash and the flame was dampened down by the encumbrance. To trim the lamp was to cut away the ashen part to reveal the oil rich wick and the dampened flame sprang to life to light the area. There is no need for a bright flame while you are slumbering as long as the flame is present all you need to do is trim the lamp to get ready light.

“And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” Matthew 25:8

Here we see the first consequence of their lack of proper preparation. Everything went smooth and all ten girls had exactly the same results of their mission of waiting right up until the “moment of truth”. Until then no one could have told them anything that would show them the consequence of their foolishness; they were virgins, they had prepared, they had lit lamps and oil and went out to meet the right groom. In every way, preparation for preparation, they lay down in confidence just as the others did. All was well with the world as they waited in excited expectation.
The parable does not even mention all the virgins left behind who did not go out to meet the groom, or all the girls who gave their virtue elsewhere. No, the parable showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like (after understanding all that was described in the previous chapter), uses only these ten virgins to describe it... but it uses all ten, not just five. And we are to comprehend what makes them different as this is the whole topic of the parable.
Lets not even go into the whole “spreading the wealth” mentality of the foolish which is another deep lesson found here, but lets simply understand that the kingdoms of men are an image of the kingdom of heaven and so we can see the parallels apply. The request of the foolish five is the cry of the Progressive whores, apparently the five got their idea from hanging out with them.

“But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” Matthew 25:9

This is a hard saying in today’s confused society of unending compassion regardless of cost. Compassion is a truly wonderful thing and commanded by God himself in many places such as the Good Samaritan of Luke 10:25-37, but compassion is to spring out of our abundance. Do you take the food from your children to give to the soup kitchen? No, you give of your pantry so that your children can also eat. There is so much wealth in America that few yet know what its like to have so little that they cannot come up with something to share with those less needy, and to their credit America has long been a nation of incredible benevolence. But what we see in this parable is a waiting that lasts so long that even the well prepared have only enough to sustain themselves, there is simply not enough to sustain others. I am confident that as the five departed, the hearts of the five wise were broken for the foolish and their inability to help them.
* * *

So lets think about the wait:
At home in preparation they packed up for the adventure, they departed home to go out and meet the bridegroom. And the waiting began.
They slept some, and they slumbered some and still they waited.
Then there was a shout; the time had finally come, but no! They still needed even what oil was left in fear they would run out before they actually met the groom as they were told to do by the shout. Just how long does it take for the groom to get here? Clearly a significant period of waiting even after the waiting is over (Daniel 12:11-12).

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; (don’t it figure?) and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.” Matthew 25:10

It almost seems as if God himself is trying hard to keep them out! But while we complain that he is just not fair for this, we can’t wait to watch another episode of “Battle of the Brides” or whatever new reality TV show provides the concept of competition to weed out all the candidates that don’t measure up. The Marine Corps slogan “The few, The proud” suggests the many who do not measure up by the recognition of those who do by comparison: "The few"
God has often and clearly used the term “remnant” also described as a very small percentage of the whole. Beginning with Noah (Genesis 7:23) and ending in the last verse of Zechariah; as the few families left after the great wars, the concept is repeated 231 times in the Old Testament and seems to only be missing from the “love books” of Ruth, Esther, Song of Solomon, Hosea, Jonah, Nahum, and Malachi expressing God’s compassion for his loved.

It greatly saddens me to know there are those ten that made it to the final selection process, but only five will make it. Who gets weeded? Those who were not prepared for the long haul. In the sports world these that make it so far but fail in the clinch are said to have choked; they did not hold up under pressure.
In this kingdom description parable it is not a matter of skill or talent or natural gifting. It is all about preparation. Those who went away did not give up, they went to buy more oil so they could finish the job they started. But time for preparation had passed and they had failed to meet the challenge. After a long and diligent wait of happy preparedness, the groom came when they exhausted their oil and were no longer ready. How many times do we see this in our lives as "unlucky circumstance" and miss the lesson of extended mindframe needed? It wasn't unlucky, it was planned! Jesus is not something you try in college with your circle of friends, to then grow out of as you mature, Faith is who you are, and the faith needed in your lamp only runs out when you're dead! This is not simply a choice of determination, the oil you collect is gathered as you deepen your faith. If your faith is shallow it burns up as the tough times don’t seem to let up. The foolish virgins were in it for what they could get out of it in shallow faith whereas the wise had a single eye on the groom prepared to wait as long as it took, and by understanding they knew it was going to take some time (Hebrews 11).
It saddens me to know there will be many whose faith is so shallow this post will discourage them. They are barely holding it together now, what hope is there if it gets worse and lasts a long time? These are the foolish virgins who by all accounts appear to start off well but are actually missing the whole concept of the faith and the reason for the long wait (Hebrews 10:35-39). Quick, wake from your slumber, run, diligently purchase deep oil as if your life depended on it because you might actually get back in time and not be counted as one of the foolish five!

The wise five on the other hand were betrothed to the groom while they waited but the consummation of the marriage took place when he opened the door to them. Representationally Christians are saved now by the engagement ring of the Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 1:22,5:5-6), but the consummation does not take place until we join the Messiah.

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.” Matthew 25:11

Oh how tragic to see them try and fail. These are those who have been taught the right way and know it’s the right way, but in failure of weak trying can’t figure out how to choose it until it is too late. I will cover this in a later post as we explore the interpretation of this parable, right now we’re just understanding the parable!

“But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Matthew 25:12

There is not a single sentence in the world more tragic than this one from this person. Remember these are not strange girls who didn’t care anyway, these are those virgins committed to this relationship and went waiting on the bridegroom but came up short. They went way to buy more oil and are now returned, but the door is shut and the words come through “I know you not”.
What is to become of them now? There is not a person on the planet in worse condition than they at this moment.
This is not a matter of a one-time slip and the hammer comes down, it has nothing to do with that (I John 2:1-2). This is a matter of the depth of your faith for endurance. Is it real or just a religion you practice? If it’s real, you don’t run out of oil. If it isn’t real, it doesn’t matter how much oil you have it won’t be enough.

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Matthew 25:13

The entire concept of this parable is about the waiting. This is the primary reason that we are directed to abstain from forbidden pre-marital activates while the hormones rage, it directly aids our comprehension of the spiritual wait of faith. Patent endurance is extremely important to understand, but in today’s age of open and permitted fornication we have utterly lost this important comprehension and guarantee this generation of Christians will not have the waiting oil needed to enter the kingdom of heaven.
But though the parable ends here, it does not indicate what becomes of the foolish five virgins. They are indeed included in the “like unto the kingdom of heaven” so what becomes of them? Have you ever thought of how they went away in the dark since their lamps went out? Where did they buy their oil to make the return? How is it possible to have oil and a flame but not be let in as now “unknown”? Why does the parable not tell us what became of them?
And since we’re asking questions; just what is the oil representing? What is the flame of their lamps?
I have asked alot of questions in this post and the parable does not seem to provide the answer. This is because the first word is "Then".

What IS the kingdom of heaven to be explained by such a parable? We will explore that in the next post; “Pre Ten Virgins”, but because of my new circumstances I expect to be “off air” for a while. Drat those troublesome responsibilities that get in the way.
* * * * * * *

*1 This parable is not advocating 10 wives for one man as the mind of lustful man might think, the scriptures are clear that God designed one man and one woman as the intent (Genesis 1:26-17, I Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6, etc.) This is a parable of the kingdom of heaven and so we understand the groom represents Christ and the virgins as his believers in waiting.
*

“Change You Can Believe In”?

2011-09-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

Post 218

On Friday I had a brilliant idea. I know how I can keep this boat floating for another month. Since I don’t have any renters, I called the fuel company and sold them back the heating oil in that tank. After the heavy charge for pump-out and even with the reduced buyback rate I still ended up with enough money to make another mortgage payment! Brilliant. Now I can keep doing what I want. The fuel company seemed so eager to buy it back at that arrangement they sent an empty fuel truck on Sunday to do the job. Since Monday was a holiday I intended to drive to town this morning (Tuesday) to collect the check and make the payment just in time. But it rained hard all weekend in a typical fall storm and this morning I woke up to Fall rockslide at 19 mile that crossed the road between me and town. Oh those troublesome waves in this storm!

And I hear you cry; “WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WILL NOT LIFT A FINGER TO CREATE INCOME, BUT INSTEAD THINKS IT’S A GREAT IDEA TO TAKE A LOSS IN SELLING WHAT HE HAS ALREADY BOUGHT? THIS IS NO SOLUTION! DOESN’T HE SEE THAT THIS ELIMINATES THE POTENTIAL OF RENTING THAT PLACE AND GAINING MUCH NEEDED INCOME THAT ACTUALLY MAINTAINS WHAT HE HAS?”

But my great idea has suddenly expanded my inventory of ideas and I am now seeing previously unconsidered things I can sell or trade to keep this up for even more months, so why do you say this is a bad idea? It may not be the solution you have been raised to think of, but look, it works; I’m safe for another month! This is change you can believe in! It’s a new brilliant way of thinking that has immediate positive results and allows me to continue my present desires.
* * *

If you do not ridicule me for this I have to question your own sanity. How short sighted can a person actually be? How many things can I sell off before there is nothing left to sell? Then what?

Oh, I could fill pages of the strange ways that “circumstances” are systematically bringing about my disaster, but as I have declared; It is the Lord directing me, so isn’t my pending disaster the actual work of God himself even though it is at least in part my own choices and actions that result in my worsening situation? How can I blame God for my own stupidity? But in fact I can and do, as a representation; (“Wherefore God…” Romans 1:24, “For this cause God…” Romans 1:26, “[so] God gave them over…” Romans 1:28) Do not ignore the fact that God wants to make sure we understand that all the disasters we bring upon ourselves is also the will of God for our disobedience. *1.
Just as the victory is a “teamwork” between God and his people, so is the destruction; “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should belive a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:11-12
What was the cause referred to?
* * *

This is what America is doing. This is what Christian America (not the faithful) is doing as well. While our national leaders, that the people themselves have placed in that role, make utterly foolish and shortsighted choices of obvious destruction in response to “circumstances” of destruction, their actions do keep the accustomed life going prettymuch unaltered for a bit longer. Many Americans applaud in happy approval.
And the Christian Americans cry “foul! These are not our choices, we don’t think this is smart”, but they are likewise driven by their circumstances being guided by unseen forces clearly driving the destruction around them. “Its not fair! Why do we have to pay for the wickedness of people we didn’t vote for?” They cry out to God. But don’t they believe the scriptures; that it is God himself that brings the destruction and that, not without cause?

“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13
Who destroyed the earth? Whose fault was it? Do you suppose Noah had the only church on the planet who figured they were “good with God”?

“And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain…” Genesis 19:28-29
Again we see clearly that God took the credit for the destruction, but he used temporal means to get the job done. (While the reason and means and blame and implementer are the focus of this post, keep reading this passage for the prophetic salvation of God’s covenant people, but that is not the topic of this post.)

“He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed… And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless (says the LORD).” Exodus 22:20,24
The offense to God is the clear cause but look, it is the sword of man that does the destroying even though God says it is himself that handled the sword for that very reason, not as a reprimand but a destruction.

“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” Deuteronomy 4:3.
Here we see God separating out the wicked from the righteous, which shows that if there are righteous, God is Just to refrain from destroying them with the wicked. So as in the event of Noah, how many righteous were there on the planet in all those churches? (again read the next verse for the promise to the genuine faithful, but don’t miss the destruction here.)

“(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 6:15 Do you suppose this passage of scripture was written to the Pagans? Or was it perhaps written to God’s people themselves who must have thought they were “safe” because they were God’s people? (keep reading the passage for the way to keep this from happening)
This next one is very significant so slap yourself and read it with an alert mind. If your mind somehow won’t focus on it, slap yourself again and re-read it!

“As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 8:20.
How were their enemies destroyed before them? It was by the hand of God’s people that their enemies were destroyed at the command of God who took the credit for the deed he commanded. Therefore this verse says the tables now turn; and now God’s people will be destroyed by the hand of their enemies at the command of their enemy’s god, but God doesn’t just allow it, he pre-arranges it and sends the warning to avoid it before it comes!
So how was their success originally accomplished against their enemies? One battle at a time; it was a rapid progressive consuming of the land until it was theirs. It was a sweeping change of powers: “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shall thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.” Deuteronomy 9:3. Note the combination of God going before (softening them up as it were), but them doing the work.
This is the prophetic battle strategy which the Lord will bring back upon his own wayward people to destroy them for their disobedience. “Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.” Deuteronomy 9:4.

THIS IS A CRITICAL CONCEPT:
The misconception is a very strong root cause of failure to understand WHY things work the way they do. With wrong thinking comes wrong responses. Today America is feeling very guilty for our founders “taking the land” from the Indians. Our Federal government for years has given lands and moneys to the displaced Indian’s descendants in a fruitless effort to make up for the “crime”.
We see in this passage the principle that God declares America was not given to his faithful pilgrims because of their righteousness: but because of the wickedness of those who possessed the land. I’m sorry if this offends your sensibilities but it is an important truth that is foundational to a right response! I live fifteen miles from the Indian village of Klukwan. I am friends with several who live there and have nothing but equal human respect for them as I do for any other American neighbor, to me they are just people. To see someone of Indian decent as deserving some special treatment is to become racist in thinking. What does my neighbor deserve that I don’t deserve because of something in the long ago past that has virtually nothing to do with him? How do I know that his ancestor didn’t scalp my ancestor and so it is HE that owes ME some special favor? No. The people that God sends to overtake America today do not succeed because of their own righteousness but because of our wickedness! And this is not a matter of who is more wicked, God uses whom he will for his purposes regarding HIS people. Wickedness and unrighteousness are not the same thing and not treated the same way by God to people in different categories; it is a matter of ownership, but that is another topic for another time (Amos 9:12 "...all the heathen, which are called by my name..."?).

The scriptures are full of many more examples making it clear that while God declares the destruction is of his own design and purpose, it nonetheless comes by our own hand as it were; We bring it upon ourselves by our own choices not so much for general wickedness but for disobedience to our God.
“And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away…” I Chronicles 5:26
It is truly frightening to study the detail of God’s commands to his people in the original taking of the land from the wicked, when we consider its same way return upon his people for our later disobedience; Deuteronomy 8:20 (is posted three verses above. See also: Deuteronomy 12:2-3, Joshua 10:40 among others) *2

But this is not the only tool God uses in his anger against his own people. I Chronicles 21:15-16 is worth reading about God’s destroying angel.
Or II Chronicles 15:3-6 regarding God sending a lack of peace and great vexation and trouble because of going a long time without the true God, and without (true) teaching ministers, and without (righteous) law itself.
“And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.” v.6

II Chronicles 35:21 is a very strong warning against sticking our military nose in where it does not belong while we are in confusion;
“But he (pharaoh Necho of Egypt) sent ambassadors to him (Josiah king of Judah), saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war (Assyria): for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.” II Chronicles 35:21
What a study and intriguing story this is when considering the complexity of the confusion God’s people now face! The choices we make at the time seem logical to us, but end in our own destruction. Josiah was an actually godly king of Judah after a long line of real wicked kings. The nation was in trouble, but due to actually pretty good reasoning according to God, from his perspective, Josiah Stands between Egypt and Assyria. What a strange twist of events to have the Pagan Egyptian ruler declare to God’s pretty good king, that it was God who sent him! Apparently God didn’t let his own man in on the knowledge but Josiah didn’t take the warning from the Pagan ruler, and why would he? and so he stood against the Pharaoh of Egypt and was killed for it!

Being “God’s man” is not the place to stand in supposed confidence! This was the flaw in the religious leaders of Israel as they stood against Jesus and his followers.
“And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I way unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Matthew 3:9
Standing confidently on the grounds of morality by heritage is some very soft sand. Standing there against the might of Islam because it is clearly evil is utterly meaningless in assuming our success because “we are less evil”.
On what Ground does American now stand against Islam? Are you kidding? America no longer even standing against Islam, Obama speech and in fact is heavily leaning in that direction by the lawless rule of our national leaders and its current repeated support of Islamic nations over our Israeli ally by sponsoring indefensible borders , Surrendering much of their tiny nation to Palestine, Dividing Jerusalem and other anti Israeli recommendations. Our quazi-president can’t stop falling all over himself to praise Islam Obama Islamic praise-fest reel While he publically disdains our nation to foreign countries and mocks our God.
But we covered all this when he was elected, I’m just reminding you that we don’t have much room to claim righteousness by heritage anymore as we have not removed this man from office for his offense to America and to God.

This is the “Change you can believe in” that we were promised, and it is the change your going to live with now whether you like it or not because we did not stop it.
When the Jews were taken captive into Babylon, Jeremiah the prophet told them not to resist; it was a punishment that would have an end.
What end has America been promised? I suggest our nation has no promise other than destruction for our disobedience. If we had a clue what is actually coming we would resit it with our very lives, but because what comes is a judgment from God such a response would still be infective. National repentance is the only national salvation, but personal repentance is still in your hand. Use the time wisely.
* * * * * * *

*1 Personal Notes:
I have been significantly conflicted as to know if I am still in the boat or out of the boat. In the spirit I have long left the boat behind but in the flesh I am still sitting here (there aren’t any electrical outlets for my computer on the sea). The confusion of my struggle is my apparent attempt to keep the boat floating in the flesh but in the spirit I have already dropped it from consideration as no longer my concern.
How then to marry flesh and spirit in agreement? It fully comes at the physical sinking of the boat, which is not my job to do but the wind and waves. I have been busy walking even though it has not yet sunk (no fault of my own… but actually it has been my fault it hasn’t sunk yet I guess as I am finding ways to keep it floating even knowing it will eventually sink. In otherwords I am periodically dipping a bucket in the act of bailing the Titanic for a lack of something else to do. If its going down anyway, why not dip an expensive vase full before tossing it overboard?)
But is that or is that not clinging to the boat? I cannot tell.

*2 Recorded history has hidden much of the original conduct that returns as Just retribution in both directions! Psalm 137:9 appears obviously to be a godless heart of venom by David himself. “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” How could David verbalize such a thought?!
This verse is the end of a message: Read verses 7-8 and you find that Edom, Israel’s blood relative (the people of Esau: Jeremiah 49:7-18), just stood by as "observing neighbors" when Babylon came to destroy Jerusalem and they cried; “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.” This clue allows us to further study the scriptures for Edom’s conduct and we see that David’s cry was only repeating the acts of Edom earlier (Isaiah 25:12, Joel 3:19 etc.). Just retribution, as verse 8 declares the principle; Eye for an Eye of the law.

*3 A few days after writing this post, but before I could get it posted, out of the blue I get a phone call from an out of town company I worked for several years ago, asking if I wanted a project. Unlike other hopeful opportunities through this, there appears to be no hindrances to this direction and so I accept this as a completion of my strange adventure very much like Peter and the Lord returning to the boat (Matthew 14:32). I'm certainly not going to now refuse to get into the boat.
As I dwell on this sudden arrival back at the boat and what I have learned, it occurs to me that I left this boat several years ago when my job ended and began seeking the face of Jesus full time leaving everything behind to fend for itself.
There was the great struggle as I developed my faith and purified my soul and refined my walk as I made my way to him not for the first time, but in a deeper and significantly more powerful way. There the Lord met me as I struggled and I had three years of incredible blessing and provision and intimacy with God on a level I previously thought impossible while on earth, but then the waves seemed to again become a nuisance as I struggled with my footing of application in the unfamiliar situation, Jesus was teaching me how to walk beside him on the tumultuous sea.
And now suddenly, in a very quick turn of events, I am apparently back at the boat to continue a normal life with normal rules and the storm is suddenly calm. (Funny how yesterday I stressed over the need for firewood to survive the winter but today it means nothing, the job is out of town for the winter.) This adventure will make quite and entry in my personal book of remembrance but I confess I’m actually finding it hard to let go of this incredible period of intimacy with God to return to a regular life… but to be frank, I am really glad I did not have to experience a sinking though I was willing to go the distance if necessary, expecting some mission work in a distant land or who-knows-what-God-has-planned kind of thing. I should have known by the scriptural example that the boat was not going to sink and we would eventually end up back there.

What I glean from the three versions of Peter’s experience now with a lot more meaning to me personally, is that everybody else in the boat is not going to want to hear all about my great adventure once I get back in and rejoin them in rowing to shore. What happened to me out there is for my own edification and the few friends interested in hearing my story. I understand by the scripture that Jesus also met all the rest of the disciples that stayed in the boat, so most believers will not need to experience such an adventure and in the end it really doesn’t seem to add any advantage as they all arrived to shore together! This is a private thing.
Something that surprised me thought it shouldn't have, is that the wind does not stop blowing until you get back to the boat, even while you’re walking with Jesus through it. Jesus did not calm the seas for Peter, he just made it possible for him to walk it.
For the disobedient, this "change you can believe in" is a great leap in further separation from God as a government of wickedness takes power. For the believer this change is not unexpected and in fact right on schedule, and should be seen as a powerful tool of God to purify the dross from us in preparation of the kingdom of God.
“We now return to our regular broadcasting.”