The Almighty

Atheism is labelled so because Atheists do not have Almighty God, the Theos, as their God. Hindus believe in many gods but not the Almighty God, the Theos, from which we get Theism. They are without this Theos in their religion but do not call themselves Atheists because they identify with their gods, not with their absence of God Almighty. Strictly speaking, polytheism is not belief in many gods existing but putting many of them in top spot. Monotheism is not belief in only one god existing (not in it’s truest original sense) but belief that only one is Father and Almighty Supreme God. So strictly speaking Trinitarianism is polytheistic since Father and Son and Spirit are regarded as Almighty God. In contrast to Trinitarians, the Apostle Paul admitted there are many gods but confessed the monotheistic faith that only one God and Father exists who is over all these many gods and Father to them. He confessed the faith that Jesus is Son of this Father and is Lord over all gods and all of the rest of us too. Trinitarianism gets around the charge of polytheism by its insistence on unity between Father and Son and Spirit even though they somewhat polytheistically regard all as Almighty God. So in this sense they differ from Paul who is truly monotheistic by only believing the Father is the Almighty God. I have suspicions that Trinitarian dogma was introduced like Sunday rest day, to distance Christianity from Judaism and keep Jews out of it on pretext the Jews were Judaizers. A strict Jew obeying the Ten Commandments would be unable to embrace Trinity God because it puts God Father and Son together as the Almighty God. Similarly they could not stop keeping their Sabbath just to obey the Gentile church councils such as Council of Laodicea. Paul, however, did not hate his own people like that nor God and God’s truth and God’s commands. Paul did not in any way believe in any multiplicity of God Almighty. Only the Father is God Almighty in Paul’s beliefs and dogmas. Trinitarian dogma that Jesus is both Almighty God and man in the same body was invented, I think, to force Jews to break the commandment not to have other gods before God. Just like the Council of Laodicea tried to force Jews wanting to join the church to break the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy for rest. They do not have to persist anti-Semitic dogma any more. Laodiceans used Judaization as lame excuse but the threat is no reason to force anyone to break commandments of God. Forcing people to sin only brings the word of Christ that it is better to have a stone tied around the neck and cast into the sea. Jews, likewise, need not break any commandments of God to be acceptors of their Messiah, their Salvation. It is the Father who is Jesus’ God and Father, the Father who is Almighty God, the Most High. 

A message to Atheists

ATHEISTS ASK: WHY DOESN’T GOD PROVE HIMSELF TO EVERYONE?

The wisdom of God seems to me to be to focus on those who believe from the testimony they have received and miracles they have seen and God seems to put to one side for a bit the needs of hardened unbelievers. God loves the inner circle of believers who are becoming a family around Him. Others take time to get to this position of believing but God does provide space and some help in which they can take their time to work things out. It is a balance. At the moment the believers are sinning badly, perhaps too much influenced by Atheist dogma. This is uppermost in God’s mind it seems. The command to love God supremely needs to be put up high in view of these believers. But if your Atheism is a condition you want addressed by God then try showing willingness to cooperate and try all you can to get a glimpse of what God has sent so far to help faith, then reach out to the unknown God and maybe He will make Himself known to you too. Christ died for you.

Placeholders

The concept of a ‘placeholder’ applies well to religion. I grew up in religion with a lot of mental placeholders in my head, like scaffolding keeping my brain intact until some real believable facts could be put in place. I longed for the day the placeholders could go and hard facts replace them. It made me search and search for truth and assurance of truth. I wanted to stop having to convert myself to believing God exists before getting up each morning. I thought nobody understood this about me in my religious circles. I started hunting down facts related to God and Christ so I could be sure I had real faith, not pretend beliefs. John the Baptist was a great fact to help belief in Jesus being the Christ. His historic existence dawned on me. The facts of the mentions he gets in the New Testament gospels and how those refer back to Old Testament prophecies about someone levelling things to prepare for a Messiah did convince me genuinely of Jesus being this Messiah. The facts stacked up. Still I needed more. The NT foretold the Holy Spirit being given to believers. Why not to me? Perhaps God did not think me a real believer. The beliefs I thought I had might be still those placeholders and God is no fool. Then I saw Him.

To Find Meaning in Life

Be like Nature. Keep doing over and over, ever and ever, what you are given to do. Without wavering. Even dying like you are given to die in hope of living again like you are given to live again if you are worthy of resurrection. Believing that the goal is to be children of the Creator of it all, ever lovingly serving Him, together with the Father and the Son. Becoming the next creation. 

Missing the Point

Theists and Atheists debate whether logic in nature shows God really must exist, yet all these debates about the existence of God are missing the point a bit. It is like debating the existence of the mobile phone company when the mobile phone bills are going unpaid and you about to get your phone cut off. Better to debate the duty to love God and believe in His teachings: The teachings of God coming to us through the likes of Jesus Christ and others. Like doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Like being like the ‘Good Samaritan’ when people nearby need emergency kindness. Like being so loving towards beloved friends that you lay down your life for them. Like asking over and over for justice from God against enemies rather than taking vengeance into your own hands. These teachings fill the social psyche around us and inside us. We need to believe into these teachings instead of getting hung up on logic and existence and what is real or imaginary. 

Normalised Miracles

Just look at galaxies. Their arms defy science. Their arms move around the outside of the galaxy at the same speed as the galaxy turns. This is miraculous because it runs counter to scientific reasoning. It is happening every day so it is unusual to call it a miracle but God must be involved for it to happen. A hidden power makes it happen. It defies the Standard Model. A normalised miracle. Then consider that these normalised miracles happening day after day are everywhere in Nature. The growth of plants. The movement of planets. A hidden name drives it all. A hidden God’s power. We just struggle to acknowledge it. We need to change our thinking.  Once we realise there is truth like this which we just need to accept into our thinking then we can behold the wonder of Nature like in the workings of living cells and think how God has made it so. These natural things such as living cells are normalised miracles. In their daily workings they display miraculous power granted to all things which obey the teachings of the Son of Man in their daily behaviour. So it is normal for healings to happen too in the name of this Son of Man.

Paid Worship of God

The word for idolatry in Revelation 21:8 means idol worship which is paid for - worship for money - idolatrous = idol + latris where latris means a hired worker. People, you would think, should not be encouraged to worship God the way they worship idols - as hired and paid staff. On the other hand the word latris does occur many times in scripture in reference to the worship of God. https://biblehub.com/str/greek/3000.htm So worshipping God as a hireling is still acceptable enough. Over time servants progress to friends as they learn the Master’s will and willingly do as He wills.

Ongoing Creation

God does work mysteriously. Overall the outcomes tell us the ways of God are predominantly good but there is some “nature red in tooth and claw” evidence of a scary, darker component to what God does. Even though we might intelligently dismiss the idea of random events creating us, the concept of God creating us is itself hard to grasp correctly, truthfully. We might think God just dove in one day and made us then got out of there quick. That seems to be how Genesis implies it happened. Yet there is truth to learn about God that tempers this understanding. He can work in chance events like the proverb says “the dice is cast but God determines the outcome”. So making us might have been by a series of tailorings of events and might not yet be finished. God might be constantly adding touches to the creative work. Jesus turning water into wine is the closest miracle to a demonstration of God’s creative work as He did it through Jesus. Plus it shows He still creates. We lose our skin and hair and even shed our bones repeatedly and constantly through our lives without noticing and they are replaced many times over and God has plenty of constant opportunity in all that to work in chance events creatively. So we see Creator in creations.

The Meaning of Life

I never thought I could find meaning in life and in the natural living world until the Holy Spirit of God found in churches started teaching me to do so. Over decades I started learning the meaning of living things. They start minuscule, microscopic, and very gradually grow without any leaps or jumps, gradually doing their bit of growth for each day on that day, none in advance, none in arrears, just a day’s growth for a day’s life, until they fill the space around them with wondrous living matter. The Lord of life grew this way and will fill the universe having become a tiny cell and baby and having even died but then arisen to live and grow and fill and master all things forever and with His way we can be like that to some extent too.

Before the Advent

I recommend a look at the Parables section (middle chapters) of the Book of Enoch for an understanding of the Son before the advent. Throughout those chapters He was called the Son of Man, the Elect One, the Anointed. The chapters were not added by Christians as some suppose. Many scholars agree the chapters predate Christianity and personally I accept they are original work of the prophet Enoch. Then in chapter 105 (R H Charles translation chapter numbering) God calls the Anointed one His Son “I and My Son ...”. Daniel follows closely on from Enoch (even though, in my belief written thousands of years later but in prophetic continuity) and parallels passages such as the one where the man (actually this Son of Man before the advent) is led into the presence of the Ancient of Days. Ancient of Days or Head of Days is the phrase for the Father in both prophecies. Revelation likewise follows on from Daniel. Closely like Daniel follows from Enoch. The passage in Rev 1 describing the appearance of the Son of Man after the advent exactly follows the wording of Daniel’s description of Him before the advent. So the continuity is there from beginning of prophetic scripture to the end.

The Name of the Lord Jesus the Christ

God the Father fills the universe and was before the universe and is forever and ever and ever and ever, ever blessed. His Son became flesh and then grew from an embryo to a young adult, to a dead, sacrificed young adult to a resurrected adult to the Lord who will go on forever to fill the Universe together with His Father, His God. This is why we call the Christ, Jesus, ‘Lord’. He is not only the lord of what is very big but what is very small too, having Himself become the very microscopic perfection of the small in the perfect will of God the Father and grown in full view of Mankind to become a perfect young adult. Then in that perfection He died on a wooden cross like a tree, as a sacrifice raised up in front of all to purify all those who regard Him and keep His teachings. The Son of Man. The Christ. Ha Mashiach. ‘Mash’ in old Sumerian meaning a sacrifice that settles debts, Mash being the Sumerian symbol written as a cross. Then He rose from death to become a perfect, living resurrected human, growing to become so great that He will fill heaven and earth. Master over all things. The Lord. Lord being translation of the Greek word kyrios, the root of which means one like a cloud who starting very small grows to fill the whole vessel, and is normally used of the head of the household, growing from a child as son to become master of the house. The son who becomes the Lord. His personal name Jesus means salvation, deliverance. He became all this in full view of mankind so that mankind can see it because it is this name Lord Jesus Christ that is given among human beings by which we are perfected and purified from sin as we see this example of perfection and He purifies us who see Him and believe in Him. This is to save us and He ever lives to perfect that salvation of us. Nature adheres to this lordship quality of His name in how a tree grows what starts as a tiny bud and grows to become a fully grown leaf or branch. He grows to fullness organically. He does not jump ahead but does it the long way, the hard way, that adheres to the will of God. He does it obediently and shows us this obedience that we would live this way too and so be saved. As we do so, meanwhile behind the scenes He has endured crucifixion so as to purify our state before God in terms of the sacrifice our failings needed to bring us into the right standing with God, His Father, our Father, His God, our God. So we too can be sons of God. 

Can good education coexist with faith in God?

Understanding the evidence for the existence of God and gods requires a certain amount of good quality education. One of the greatest proofs or matters of evidence for God’s existence is the calendar but understanding this is an education in itself. Children can be taught it by parents but only with clarity of thought and good grasp of reality. The Moon can be explained to children with regard to its four phases of a week each all completing a 28 day cycle. This explains why there is a week and a weekend break. A 28 day lunar cycle happening thirteen times approximates to a year but is not quite accurate. If people had only used the Moon to determine the year the seasons would gradually shift in timing in that 364-day year. This too could be explained as part of educating children or adults well. The harvest times require a better year understanding. Only the Sun can enable it. This explains the importance of the Sun to the proper functioning of any society. The solar and lunar calendars can be combined and both Sun and Moon used to keep farming in sync with nature. Otherwise you start life with a year beginning in spring and end it with a year beginning in autumn. Evidence of God: How on Earth did humans work it out? Who helped?

Is Jesus a historical person?

ATHEISTS ASK WHETHER JESUS IS HISTORICAL
There are two possibilities. Either time travellers took artificial intelligence back to the first or second century and used it to generate a clever set of fake news stories and distributed these stories by smartphones handed out and later destroyed a century later. Or He is the Son of God who became flesh just before the first century AD and grew from an embryo to a young adult, to a dead, sacrificed young adult to a resurrected adult to the Lord who will go on forever to fill the Universe together with His Father, His God. If it is the second possibility which is true it would explain why He is called the Christ, Jesus, ‘the Lord’. The first century Greek word for Lord has roots in something that starts small then grows like a cloud to fill everything. 

Adapa and the Whereabouts of God

THE ANCIENT TEXTS OF ADAPA

There are ancient texts of an account copied either from an oral account or perhaps even an originally written account from the lifetime of Adapa (biblical Adam) called Adapa and the South Wind which might come from the time of the writings of Enoch. They were discovered twice in archaeology from separate times so appear to have been preserved for many centuries. They might provide evidence corresponding to passages in Enoch about the whereabouts of the Throne of God. The account tells how Adapa (Adam), one of the seven sages, a line of patriarchs possibly those listed in Genesis and elsewhere as being the first seven in Adam’s genealogy up till Enoch, was able to enter some kind of tunnel into a mountain guarded by two contemporary sages, leading to the Throne of God where he went to give account of his actions. This corroborates the Book of Enoch and possibly the Epic of Gilgamesh on the whereabouts of God’s dwelling place and court. This would place it within a mountain in the Middle East accessible to Adapa who lived in Eridu, now Southern Iraq.

In a world torn apart by religion, hope remains

Not all of the world is torn apart by religion. Becoming part of the bit that isn’t is your best hope. It is not called the world though. It is called the body of Christ. Within this body its members are united by a Holy Spirit which is like a web extending from the throne of God to every believer keeping us all united to one body. Christ is the head of this body which belongs to Him. He owns it because His blood was shed for its sins. The baptism into His teachings keeps its members in this body, receiving the Holy Spirit with signs, miracles and gifts of grace, because they believe.

Hear O UK

UK: The eagle of the Lord will be over the house of ‘Israel’ again but it is police flying the helicopters and GCHQ/NSA/CIA controlling the mass surveillance so they all play a key part in God’s plan because of the sin of ‘Israel’ (no not Israel the nation). Love the LORD, your God O ‘Israel’, with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind - and all your voice!

The ’Sky Daddy’

Atheists ask why people still believe in a ‘Sky Daddy’

Look at the history of the word God. It is found in 3000 BC and even earlier texts depicted in pictograms with a star which also came to mean fatherly supreme God. So from earliest times * meant both God over all and Father over all. The star has the added meaning of worthiness of being blessed forever. We use ‘star’ to denote this today and used to use the related word aristocrat. The God over all was from earliest times considered to be Father of all other gods or archangels. In Christianity the Apostle Paul invoked this understanding (1 Cor 8:6, etc.) by speaking of the Father who is God over all and ever blessed. The ancient understanding depicted with a star symbol does indeed allude to sky and to father over all. The sky is a symbol of highest authority, stars being above all. It is probable that this being is highest in situation as well as high in status. The ancient texts about His situation imply a high mountain such as Mount Lebanon and later symbolised by the word Zion. The Book of Enoch describes what seems to be a chamber - possibly a magma chamber - deep inside such a mountain. But the sky/highness is mostly a matter of status and authority that does not change and diminish through eternity, unaffected by worldly decay. Important is that this being is not only highest but is fatherly and is blessed forever. The ancients recognised this fatherly status because of creation of all other beings and ongoing care for these. The care is above reproach too and hence this being is forever blessed. So nothing about modern humanity diminishes the worthiness of this God for belief.

The Way of Obedience is Joined with Suffering

God sends into the world His Son, the Christ, and tells everyone they must believe in this Christ, this beloved Son. The Christ was taught by God, taught a way of an essential combination of obeying and of suffering. We can live innocently filling our time with normal things, a bit of this, a bit of that. Then we hear or remember there are right things too but as soon as we set out to do these things taught by Christ we find we are quickly joined by something to which Christ was no stranger: Suffering. Obedience to Christ is a magnet to suffering. We gather our pennies and determine to discretely give them to the poor and suddenly adversity dogs our heals. This is the way: The way Christ walked as well as taught. Walks as well as teaches. Worship by the Spirit and persecution lies in wait. No separating of obedience and suffering is possible because God commissioned both. Embrace the inevitability of suffering as you resolve to walk increasingly in obedience and let Christ be the Saviour and the Lord that God has made Him to keep you on that path. I will too and we will have fellowship in this Way.

Behind Enemy Lines

The book of Revelation (Apocalypse) tells of three key eschatological apocalyptic entities which seem to be related to the EU:
1. Babylon the Great (Rome the secular city and seat of Roman power for centuries and later so-called Holy Roman power and now influential power worldwide),
2. the Beast associated with this Babylon the Great (seems to be Europe’s ongoing Empire via descendants of a Charlemagne, seen in ten horns which seem to be the Charlemagne royal houses of Europe) and
3. an image of the first Beast (seems to be the EU) which is created by a second Beast with two heads (seems to be USA with Republicans and Democrats).

Babylon the Great was used as a picture so it would make sense when God says to leave it. There was an old prophecy that is sung in churches “You shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace”. Getting out of the EU will be akin to Jews leaving Babylon and returning from exile. In the time of Persian rule there were many Jews who were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. Some chose to stay but the ones who returned and built the Temple were revived spiritually and had a great awakening.

Those Jews who stayed in Babylon were in prophecy described as blind sheep - they did not return to build the Temple but turned away from it and were blind. This was foretold in the Book of Enoch prophecy. Nowadays the colloquial phrase is ‘sheeple’ for blinded sheep. People need to wake up and have their eyes opened spiritually and staying in association with the most immoral block of countries on earth does not open your eyes but keeps you in the dark spiritually. Babylon the Great, secular Rome and those closely associated with it, is called in Revelation “the Mother of Harlots”. The EU today has 65% of all the world’s online child sexually abusive images. By far the worse place on Earth for porn and sexual immorality. Staying in league with this block keeps God’s people spiritually blind. Leaving the EU, even if spiritually when politically is impossible (though with God nothing is impossible) is a massive step towards fellowship with God and Christ.

Perhaps like many, I find myself living ‘behind enemy lines’ as a Brexiteer-Leaver living and working in Remain territory, like Lot living in Sodom, but Lord Jesus the Christ is well able and willing to keep me from the punishment He authorises over these territories.

Brexit Release

It is becoming clear that the British Parliament cannot deliver a real Brexit. All that can be done is to release them from their obligation and pray to God “Thy will be done”. Forgiveness must come from the heart willingly, but we have sins we want the Father to forgive, so may God forgive us as we forgive Boris and the others. They simply cannot pay what they owe us, so all we can do now is forgive their debt. They must remember they are forgiven when faced with people like Assange though. Like the parable of the forgiven debtor who could not pay but went off after being forgiven and grabbed another by the throat demanding settlement, the king unforgave him. Anyhow, if we want to pray “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who sin against us” we have to stand there praying and give forgiveness with our hearts, so God forgives us too. I think personally I can do that over Brexit now because it is clear they cannot pay. There is no good in persisting to hold them to it. Releasing them allows God to release us. That is the Way.

Unchanged Unchanging

Jesus Christ promised to show Himself personally to those who keep His teachings. Blessed keeping by Him of that promise meant I did get a meeting with Him, albeit so brief, back in 1995, and He clearly and wondrously showed me in that encounter that He teaches EXACTLY the same today as He did back then. That was amazing and astounding but very real. I guarantee He has not changed His tune, changed His teachings, changed His faith-giving, changed His own behaviour which matches His teachings exactly, perfectly. God be blessed! Jesus foretold only one change that would happen to His followers before His return - Christ’s Apostle Paul affirmed the same as having happened - the Holy Spirit being given. When I came into major contact with the Holy Spirit directly I found He utterly affirms the Lord Jesus Christ as authoritative teacher who even teaches nature with authority that it obeys (so clearly He did so from the beginning of time). The teachings come only from the Father and He simply does not change, ever. For ever and ever and ever and ever He will be the One. That too was shown me by the Father, God Himself.

The True Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ proclaims that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. It is a bit difficult for all authority to be given to someone if they are God. They would already have it. We should believe and love who Jesus actually is. Simply saying He is God is not good enough and not accurate enough. He is Lord. That is not quite God but as close as you can get while being fully human. That captures the truth accurately. That is how the first apostles who closely knew Him put it. Let’s love the truth about Him and love Him in truth.

The Mark

Brexit is being resisted because of the coming new world order global government and the USA role in the establishment of the EU. Soon the EU mark (traditionally known as 666) will appear. Those who take it will be doomed.

The Time when the USA with bilateral support decided to recreate the Roman Empire to counter Communism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan
The Apocalypse foretold a beast with two heads creating a copy of the former beast. USA has two heads - Republicans and Democrats. Both worked together to recreate the Roman Empire by beginning a European United States now called the European Union. 

The Cross

The cross started as a written Sumerian cuneiform symbol at the beginning of the history of writing and it depicted a ‘half’: One of two. A ‘whole’ (one of one, one and only) was depicted by the symbol of a star, the symbol of the topmost God (and a high aristocratic or angelic being). Over time the cross came to also mean mediation and priestly sacrifice and a sacrifice that takes away sins or debts. The word for this cross symbol is Mash or Mass, as in Mashiach (Messiah) and the Christian Mass. Three crosses meant exorcist. The cross took its meaning for medicine (like a pharmacist cross or the Red Cross) early in history, being associated with shamanism and priesthood. It already meant all this before the crucifixion of the Christ. So it is highly symbolic that Christ died on a cross.

What does it mean to prophesy?

What does it really mean to prophesy? Relating what God actually says. That is the point of being a prophet. Hearing what God actually personally says and searching out its meaning by human thought and relaying it as a human to other humans so it is accessible but still maintains as exactly as possible what God actually said and meant and made known. It is not easy because out of context it might be misunderstood so you have to try as best you can to convey the context too without detracting from the content. So it might be God (as with me indeed He did) gave the words “Israel has sinned!” together with a sign signifying the gravity of it (as indeed He did with a sign of mass surveillance like a vulture or eagle scanning the ground for prey), but saying it like that might sound racist or antisemitic when actually the message was not only targeted, you prophetically know, at Israel as a nation but rather Israel as those who hold God in reverence as supreme God. So very briefly you could say “Israel has sinned, says the Lord God” but it could be misunderstood, so you best do it in a situation where you are confident it will be received as intended, if possible, but otherwise you just do your best trying not to mislead or misinform.

Love God

There is a growing merger of the people who recognise that the most high god is God Almighty but there is still apostasy of love of God which now means all should be commanded again to love God and restore the honouring of His words and commands. Love God. That is His command. Obviously that means remembering the ways of God taught long ago such as sabbaths. Most of all it means keeping His commands and keeping the neighbours to whom we owe much love high in our priorities. So - To whom it may concern: love God.

Clothing for the mind

We humans clothe ourselves and we use words; two ways in which we differ from other animals. We use words: Words in our minds; Words in our mouths; Words on computers; Words in writing. We clothe our minds with words and we clothe our bodies with garments. Words are that with which the mind clothes itself and if words are clothing for the mind, then the Christ is clothing for the mind of God: Christ who is the Word of God. The Logos. So by clothing ourselves with Christ, taking to heart Christ’s words and putting those words into action, we clothe ourselves with the clothing of God; the clothing which is what God’s own mind takes for clothing. This sets us apart from the animals.

How convincing are the Bible and Quran?

The Bible and Quran do not really provide conclusive proof on their own (although they persuade enough to convince many, including myself); not without a good understanding of their historical and religious context. Genesis, for example, is unconvincing on its own of individual facts such as creation of Adam, Noah or the Tower of Babel, until you see other, secular evidence, such as ancient texts like ‘Adapa and the South Wind’, ‘Instruction of Sharappak’, ‘Sumerian King Lists’, ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, ‘Eridu Genesis’, ‘Enuma Elish’ and ‘Enmerkar and the Lord Aratta’. Then you get to realise that there is more to all this than religion and persuasion of the masses, but rather that actual events were recorded, and out of these events arose, through centuries, a deep understanding of the supremacy of God, an understanding which directed the course of human history.
To a pure, open mind, the teachings of Jesus recorded in the gospels have such authority and genuine knowledge that they do rather prove the existence of God since this same man with such authority put it all down to God, ‘the Father’.
To a pure, open mind, the clear, sincere purpose of Jesus’ teachings to avert disastrous future for those who hear these teachings does prove that there is a saving Father who sent Him. Yet to a warped mind none of this proves anything.
Do dictionaries prove the spellings of words? Note: In Scrabble only certain dictionaries are canonised for this purpose of proof. In Scrabble there are always some who argue even with the dictionary, just as Atheists argue with a priest. Do dictionaries prove meanings of words? Not 100% since they do not make certain the conclusions quite on a par with faith. Scriptures taken correctly and understood properly and listened to with open heart can do better than a dictionary, not only in settling disputes and clarifying meanings but also in helping confirm beliefs but are not 100% reliable since we never know whether we understood them correctly and got close enough to original meanings and in our hearts are aware it could all be a pretence until we get more conclusive proof corroborating them.
A simplistic understanding of scriptures, such as is propounded by so many religious individuals, leads to use of scripture which is not convincing but is easily dismiss and despised. Many use scriptures like a kind of magic spell which is supposed to inspire faith in all but the hardest of hearts. Yet often they misunderstand scripture passages or single verses and spread their misconceptions rather than using the scriptures properly and intelligently with due learning background. So Atheists might have come across this and thus think scriptures are ridiculous and prove nothing. Yet if the scriptures are taken in context and humbly learned from with intelligent enquiry and research they show profound lessons which have been recorded for posterity as mankind’s finest, most elevated lessons. The depth of meaning is unfathomable and yet deeply satisfying to human pathos. Often other scriptures need to be brought into focus besides the canonised ones since many were sidelined by unscrupulous generations of religious and secular leaders.

Lord’s Supper?

Question: Is the trinitarian “Lord’s Supper” truly the Lord’s Supper if it is only for trinitarians?

Should the PM of the UK do a deal with the Brexit Party?

I do not believe in Just In Time wisdom. I do not believe in Just In Time politics. You cannot go hand-in-hand with fools and foolish pursuits hoping to switch to wisdom just in time for an outcome. He might think the goal of a united Great Britain free of the EU and the European tyrannical control can best be achieved by playing along with folly then switching to wisdom at the last minute but the reality is that there is never really a last minute and folly tends to stick. “If you make that face and the wind changes your face might stick like that” as British wisdom tells us. Go in company of fools too long and you become a fool. Go in company of the EU too long and you become the EU. Then it remains to others to do the leaving. And they leave you, when they leave. You have to question the loyalty to his country of a politician who would rather do a deal with Europe than with the leader of the Brexit Party.

Real Brexit?

Brits wanting to be out of the EU should maybe remember it is the British government (answering to the British Parliament) and not the British people who is a member of the European Union. As such the British people are separate already from the EU. Maybe this is not reflected in law and treaties and constitutions (yet), but if you want out then simply not sharing in the government and Parliament processes such as elections is one way to stay out of involvement with the EU.

Revelatory Dreams

We can be told about the afterlife in our dreams. A few days ago I woke up early and thought I’d pray and, wanting to ask for something beneficial to believers, I prayed I would prophesy. I went back to sleep. My dreams were then all about the afterlife. I dreamt that there was a book about the afterlife that is in two parts. Both parts are about the best things that can happen if you live worthily. The first part is all about the places of the dead in the here and now and one place which saves you from torment and misery. It is a place of rest and calm. People resting in it are almost like they are alive. They have energy and joy. Then the second part of the book concerns what happens to the worthy ones later. They are awakened from their rest later. They are brought gloriously back to life. The revelation by dream continued two days later. I was in the Hereafter to tell people more about it and there I was surprised to find Jacob to a great extent in charge of things. I was asked why I was surprised and worried about telling people this and it was pointed out that it was very much in the gospel scriptures. Jesus said “people speak of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob - He is not the God of the dead but of the living”.

The Main Thing - the One Rule

God sends into the world His son, the Christ, and tells everyone they must believe in this Christ, this beloved Son. That is the one main rule God made. It is enshrined in the scriptures. Christ died for you, becoming the sacrifice we need for falling short, and God raised Him for you and you really need to hold to that and let it sink in, believing it. He is the key to you living forever, made worthy of living forever, by this Christ alive for you and me right now.

Dire Warning

There exists the testimony of Jesus (it exists even if you deny He exists or existed). This is thoroughly moral (even if you deny it is true). This tells of places of the dead. Jesus claimed to know such things personally, first hand, and by teachings from His Father God. The moral teaching is worth heeding even if you doubt its veracity and plausibility. To get it wrong could be hugely costly to you yourself irrespective of anyone else. It claims, He claims, that a person constantly ignoring poor people you can help will later have your own cries ignored when you are in the place assigned you in death. There is no room for cynicism. Poor people who are suffering severely need attention and help from the better off. Being such a help occasionally costs you little and benefits them greatly and Jesus warns missing out on giving this help is one way to get in trouble after death when existence continues. Think your own thoughts about after-death (the ‘after-life’) existence but get this wrong and the poor will suffer and so will you. Nobody else. Even if you do not believe most things about God believe this.

Jesus in Art

Artistic depictions of Jesus are simple reminders that He is. If He is then God is too. Better by far is to encounter Jesus Himself in the spirit and then know that He is - with personal certainty. That becomes personal proof of the existence of God who sent Him and was proclaimed by Him and has raised Him. 

Using your voice

It is important to be free to speak out if you have a voice but do it in love for God.

Has Religion passed its expiry date?

Has religion passed its expiry date? There is a promise of Christ that has not expired. It is that if you love Him enough to keep His sayings then He Himself will come to you, as will the Father, and make their home with you. This is not expired nor does it expire. It is how you and I can know God even today. Father and Son. And receive the Holy Spirit manifestations as a stamp and seal on this too. This is true, I have personally found. It is reality. It proves to be a reality which can be experienced and I indeed guarantee I have experienced it as reality - Father and Son and real Spirit.

The Origins of Religion

Why did the people of Uruk start using writing in the earliest times of civilisation? They were simple peasants of the Urbaid Period. The temple priests out of nowhere started writing symbols for recording transactions and drawing up contracts of obligations and completed obligations - and among those first symbols were the cross and a symbol for deity. * meaning the One God at the top of the hierarchy. + meaning just one of two. That cross never got lost as a symbol throughout history and developed to also mean a sacrifice for forgiveness of sins - yes long before the Christian Period began. It also meant part of shamanistic intermediating between mankind and the gods, including exorcism. That too was thousands of years before it was used similarly in Christianity. Hence its parallel association with pharmacy and healthcare. Throughout history these two concepts symbolised in the star and the cross - DENGIR and MASH - were preserved into modern times in the religion of the Turks and Mongols - Tengrism. Even the word DENGIR for the symbol of God (and gods) is preserved as the Tengristic name for God, Tengri. Similarly in the Chinese Ancient Religion name for God, Tian. The symbols are related 天 and 𒀭. The word for 𒀭 in Sumerian was DINGIR or AN but later in Akkadian it became EL (hence names like Gabri-el). So there was acknowledgement of a topmost God among the gods even at the time writing was first developed in Uruk and it continued throughout history.

What is the best way to open a closed mind?

What is the best way to open a closed mind?

If I knew I wouldn’t tell you. I would simply open your mind to it instead. 

Speak soul to soul. The mind puts up barriers to protect the soul but speak to the soul and those redundant barriers come down. But only living spirit can convey anything directly from soul to soul. I suspect the spirits of many are too dead to do this.

Constantly and consistently speak only the truth, with grace, in love.

Constantly back up consistently speaking the truth by actions consistent with that truth. Actions speak louder than words. People put up barriers to protect themselves from words which are inconsistent with actions.

These words can sometimes do it: CHRIST DIED FOR YOU.

If you had a choice to live forever

If I had a choice of living forever it would have to be more than a choice. It would have to include someone else who lives forever and is worthy of it making me worthy of it and keeping me worthy of it so my living is not a constant affront to others. Especially,  my living would have to not be an affront to the righteous topmost God. Well here is the good news: the Son of Man will keep me worthy forever while I believe and hold to His teachings. 

Parallel Universes

Parallel Universes: 

their possible albeit unlikely existence is a real and present danger to Atheists everywhere in all times in all the past and future in all universes because it only needs one parallel universe to have a real god in it and suddenly all these Atheists are wrong.

Was Religion an Invention Introduced to Control People?

Early religion appears, from archaeology of Eridu temples (Urbaid Period), to have been about sacrifices made to a kind of universally acknowledged topmost god then maybe to other gods later as more cities were built by the patron gods who were lower than the top God. The temples built in service to God and gods had men working there who used to fish and catch small animals both to sacrifice and to feed the visitors and these workers themselves in their service: so it seems from bones found around the altars and from oral and later written traditions about these times (e.g. ‘Adapa and the South Wind’). Did these men later called priests and kings ever seek to use their position to control people? It would have been documented if they did. Record management developed in Uruk around these practices. The records would show evidence if it happened that control was wielded by these men. It is not a major feature of these times. What we do find is a corruption period arising around that time but not based on the religious priests but on dreaded marauders who forced people to hide in holes dug and extremely hard to reach caves. The magic arts period coincided with this around 3200 to 3100 BC as evident from Levant archaeology such as the Nahal Mishmar finds. Tradition says it was offspring of the inventors of Chalcolithic technologies who, as sorcerers of greater-than-average size (giants), wrought havoc. Priests and kings were typically noble and well regarded in comparison. Evil people controlled society as oligarchs who were served as gods. The earliest named such person is Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells how society tried in vain to stop his atrocities. He became a tyrannical demigod. Even though he was a hero later venerated like Hercules. He was not a religious leader but was an enemy of the gods whose cedar forests he destroyed.

The Afterlife

The four afterlives I believe exist are not good news for me so my belief is not a choice but an imperative. In my gut I wish there were no such afterlives. Like a criminal on trial wishes there were no prison systems or justice system. The afterlife equalises. Many in the world need a fair share of privileges I currently enjoy. The afterlife addresses this. Victims of the system that gives me preference now deserve their redress of the balance. The afterlife is that redress. Fortunately it is not a binary solution to a complex problem. Christianity hides this. The teaching of Christ on hades and paradise is not meant to paint the whole picture but samples what Jesus taught. The details are extended in the Book of Enoch which Jesus endorsed and mandated for knowledge at the same time when He taught His abstract. 

Get woke

Get woke to the existence of God and some other things follow, more important perhaps because they affect us directly and put us in the subject of the topic. Firstly God who exists is to be trusted with being topmost God. Secondly God wants a human son who is true to type. Thirdly Jesus Christ exists - living - resurrected - having existed in aeons past and now and forever - but has become human in the same sense we are human but now resurrected. Fourthly this Jesus is everything God wants in a son - what God wants a son to be. Fifthly God is happy with Jesus as a son, and raised Jesus having sent Jesus to his death in obedience but Jesus lives forever by God’s power. Sixthly God still wants more sons; sons like Jesus. Seventhly there a some of us God and Jesus see as such potential sons. Eighthly Jesus can make us those sons if we believe in him and hold to his teachings.

Freedom from fear of death

How can people be free from fear of death? Believe in Jesus Christ then believe the promise of Jesus Christ to those who believe Him: recorded in Gospel of John chapter 8 “If you hold to my teachings you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (Famous saying that last bit, motto of the CIA.) Why is this a cure for fear of death? In the rest of that chapter Jesus’ words say that those who do not believe will die in their sins. This is what “set you free” means - free from dying in sins that enslave. Believing and following by adhering sets free from this dying in sin. Dying in sin is what is feared. Dying freed is not fearsome.

The Burden of Proof

The whole of nature (creation) obeys its creator - just look at it and you might perceive it in the lapping of the waves or the budding of the trees - and wisdom tells it to our hearts - but don’t ask me to prove it because I would not want to spoil the inner light by having to think about how to prove that light to darkness - but it is still wisdom that brings deep happiness when you let it in. Without this wisdom nature will leave your heart baffled at it all. Insist on proof and you will be missing out on the happiness of understanding and wisdom. Remember your creator and obey your creator and you will find yourself at one with nature and that will be your proof. You will find you have fellowship and peace and that peace will surpass understanding.

The Meaning of Life

The highest being is looking to recruit some faithful lesser beings to serve Him forever as sons in His family. The selection process is tough. But He creates the opportunities to succeed and the prospects are good if you join in good faith and stay with the plan. That is why we are here and the meaning of life and the universe.

How it all began

God must have survived the Big Bang if there was such a thing - along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They must have existed before Time itself became what we think of as Time today. (Was Time real before the Big Bang? If not, how could there be a before and after the Big Bang if there was no time until after it?) They, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, must have existed as something (‘spirit’) that is not part of the universe that did not exist back then. What must have existed though is their faith and hope and love between each other; then any other spirits they created which are not part of the Big Bang universe. Then order must have existed, coming into existence, like Heraclitus and the Stoics said, as the ledger of balances that transcends all things - the laws of nature - human-comprehendible, mathematically-expressable laws as Pythagoras pointed out - based on the Logos, preincarnate Jesus. And as nature started to exist it must from the start have obeyed such laws and all in the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Son of Man. And nature has never departed from this way since then, always functioning, like a true Christian, by the power of putting into practice the teachings of the Christ, the Son of Man. So it is natural to do the same, putting into practice what He said. If He says it, such is His reputation, it is good to rely on that reputation and do it. Such is the power of His name.

Proof of God’s Existence

The existence of evil in humans is enough proof - the existence of a satanic being influencing humans to do and think atrocious things. No other animal is evil. Only humans. No animal would utterly destroy the environment it needs for life; that its offspring will need. Only humans. Something is influencing humans. That proves the supernatural spirits are real and that God has rightly called out one of them as evil, liar and murderer. Humans are too evil to have worked that out. There must be a God for light like that to be shining in darkness. See John 8 - there is your proof.

What is my opinion of Jesus?

What do I think about Jesus?

Just imagine you are not an absolute out and out Atheist but you want to be more real in how you think of God. You want to genuinely believe God exists and Jesus exists and even the Holy Spirit too but you find you are too Atheist or simply Agnostic and ignorant and have to keep persuading yourself they are real beings. So you are in a storm that floods a nearby river and you know God is meant to preside over such things as judge so you decide to walk to the river and see the flooding and try to think how it might be it is God judging. On the way back a voice shouts at you inside your head “Put down your umbrella!” You are carrying a huge umbrella like golfers use which keeps you dry despite the downpour but you sense such authority in the ‘voice’ that you fold it immediately and as you do so the rain stops so abruptly you just know that voice was Jesus. To be really sure you later ask for a sign and as you go to bed you see a dressing gown never used hung on a peg. You ask that if it was really Jesus may that come down off the peg before the morning. You sleep but halfway through the night you feel suddenly deeply compelled to wake up and get up. You take the dressing gown off the peg and suddenly remember the sign. That’s Jesus. And that was me in 1995 encountering Him having pleaded to meet Him.

He seems to do what God wills. He is very loving and kind even though He is in charge of judging humanity. If God wants Him to do something to help someone Jesus does it, so it seems. Considering He is top man in the universe and all nature continues to function by His name’s power He is remarkably humble. He is just the same nowadays as He was when gospel writers wrote down His actions and words. Astounding guy.

Also I notice He still practices what He preached. He is not the kind who gives advice and teachings then does something different to His teachings when the time comes. He says to use faith to command nature and still today He does just that. That is very cool. And He amazingly carries on after two thousand years doing just the same as in gospel days. He doesn’t move on from doing those old things He did but there is an utter excellence to them now - I guess because Ge is back with the Father like He was before He came. 

The Holy Spirit does just what Jesus said He would in nowadays still telling what the name of Jesus can do and glorifying Jesus. The main thing I heard coming from the Holy Spirit in my lifetime (interpreted tongues) was this: ‘Consider the trees - they put forth buds and leaves - they do so by the power/authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ and it continued about planets but I forgot the words (back in 1995). That says so much about Jesus. Clearly it is natural to follow His teachings because even nature does so and has always done so and always will. If you want to act on the confidence His name adds to His teachings you are in good company with the natural world. It also speaks to His ‘preexistence’ - that He was a heavenly being aeons before His incarnation since nature relies on His authority in all it does.

Since hearing what the Holy Spirit says about Jesus I came across the Book of Enoch in a bookshop and bought several copies of various translations of it over the years (it is online too https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/index.htm). In it I found words extremely close to what was said by the Holy Spirit and then I read on to find whole chapters about Jesus written by this prophet Enoch who knew Him as the Son of Man. It is so clearly Jesus. So here was someone meeting the living Jesus five thousand years ago. Amazing. Jesus did not lie when He said “Before Abraham was born, I am”.

The Life that is Light

The Son of Man alive two thousand years after dying on a cross, and however many millennia after prophet Enoch saw Him, now perceived today still, He is light and such a bright light today because the life He has sustaining Him today is the power of the Father in unending supply. The very truth that He lives like this now and the perception by faith of that life from God within Him lights up the soul and fires up the spirit within. We might learn to love this light and yearn to let it linger on the canvas of the inner mind. By nature the evil mind shrinks from this light even though we know we need it so we need to be made good within so we can let its beam rest within like the sun’s rays rest without, so we can soak up those health-giving rays from the power of God that made Jesus alive from the dead and is perpetually keeping Him alive.

The Completed Gospel

The Book of Enoch shows us the Son of Man living in Enoch’s time and this completes the true Gospel. You see, if Jesus were an ordinary thirty year old, even a perfectly sinless one, even a prophet and teacher, that mere death on a cross could not pay for sins of every single person, including you and me. The Son of Man was no ordinary man but had been since before Abraham and the pyramids the Son of Man in heaven and right hand man and precious one son to the highest god. Enoch’s book verifies this. So the blood of this Son of Man shed on that cross was a sufficient sacrifice for your sins and mine and the whole world’s. So God raised Him after just a couple of days in death. He lives today and forever and that everlasting life is a light to us all, if we will let it shine within.

Is it a Threat if Islam Spreads?

The threat of Islam is in its suppression of the message of the cross. Islamic teachers tend to deny the cross and the crucifixion of Isa al Massih Jesus Christ. They interpret a verse in the Quran seeming to say Christ did not die - Jews only thought they killed Him. They say there was a substitute made and someone else was crucified. In reality only a few people witnessed the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of the Christ so proving Islam wrong intellectually is tough. Christianity has survived by asserting the crucifixion and resurrection. But if every country becomes Islamic how will such assertions continue except by divine help. The evidence of the crucifixion is not absent. There is the very meaning of the cross symbol for one thing and its relationship to the words Mass and Messiah (Massiach) - it is a very ancient symbol first seen in the very earliest writings in Uruk and continuing in use in Sumerian up until the times of the ministry of the Messiah. It means (from Wiktionary): 𒈦 (MAŠ)

1. şibtu "interest on a loan"

2. bīru; urīşu "sacrificial animal for omens"

3. mişru "border, boundary"

4. māšu “twin”

𒈦 (ĝešMAŠ)

1. gişşu "tree"

So it appears deeply symbolic that God who sent Him used a cross.

Did Darwin disprove Atheism and Theism.

Could it be that Darwin proved Atheism wrong? Theism too? If life evolves then fine but if it evolves from inanimate matter spontaneously over billions of years Atheism and Theism are disproved. In reality though we can call technological advances ‘evolution’. It clearly doesn’t mean if you leave a iPod in a room long enough and come back it will have turned into an iPhone. So life might evolve just as technology evolves but it does not mean life can spontaneously just happen. If it could just happen anywhere in the universe then there would be advanced beings appearing anywhere in the universe any time after enough time had passed and calling most advanced ones gods would be fair but calling just one of these God the god and creator of them all would be silly. Intelligent people see our failure to find other lifeforms and question the idea life can just appear on its own. The theistic records of a supreme being creating other beings and making Himself known to them here on Earth, a special planet, is upheld by looking at Science with circumspection and good discernment of truth.

Why do people find prayer ridiculous?

Too easily people dismiss things as ridiculous just because clear information about it is hard to find and inaccessible in some way. A subject hard to understand needs lots of explicit information to build an understanding. But a subject mainly consisting of tacit knowledge often has scarce explicit knowledge available. Communication is little understood because a lot happens beyond the words and the words have many layers of usage and meaning. I might call street slang ridiculous because it is inaccessible to me. The urban slang dictionary helps and I realise it is not at all ridiculous really. Praying is easy for a believing child. I know because as a child I prayed whenever I needed help and it always, always came and always in good time. I cannot explain why it was easy though so it might be dismissed by others as ridiculous because they find knowledge about it inaccessible. I prayed to God and to Jesus but mainly to God (The Father). I did believe in Jesus and sometimes in my dreams He stood nearby to protect me from bullies from school such as one time on a school bus. That is how I knew Him - from dreams. I dared to speak up for Him in school such as in religious studies classes and got bullied for it and for refusing to smoke or swear or flout authority. So my prayers were heard. It was not at all ridiculous and I became top student and a respected mentor. Always I knew it was God lifting me up. I was naughty too and ashamed that everyone thought me always good. I lied. A lot. I could not help myself. I got baptised but still could not stop. One day in my late teens or early twenties (I can never work out when it was) I saw a street preacher put the words “Christ died for you” on a whiteboard and I asked the preacher for advice. When he prayed with me in a nearby church there was supernatural power teaching me not to lie and I stopped from then on. That was the Holy Spirit and the power of the Gospel (those words on the board).

The Council of Nicea

THE COUNCIL OF NICEA

Amazing how undecided they were about which philosophical model to choose to explain truth. They should have been adhering to truth but they wanted orthodoxy instead and there were two main candidates and they chose one and then chose the other and back and forth. The silly churches have been doing this ever since. They should just become disciples to learn rather than insisting on becoming teachers before they have been disciples.

Science and Atheism

Science contradicts Atheism. Science makes Atheism look like an impossible fallacy. Evolution and the age of the Cosmos are tenets of Science. Combine the two and the idea that there are no gods becomes infinitessimally likely - virtually impossible. Given how long life took to evolve (Science says) on Earth and given the number of planets in the Cosmos and age of the Cosmos and how advanced humans have become in the past five thousand years, Science forces a conclusion that there must be billions of sentient life forms in existence for much longer than us. Even just ten thousand years of advancement would see humans colonising planets they have terraformed and creating lifeforms there which are well adapted to the planet. With billions of more advanced lifeforms (use Carl Sagan’s theories to work it out) in the Universe there is near certainty this planet was populated like this and zero plausibility scientifically saying it wasn’t. Out of all such advanced beings there would be many scientifically speaking bearing all the characteristics that define gods. If you remove macro-evolution the picture changes and Science and Atheism have more chance of alignment but then so do Science and Religion. Ultimately Science and Atheism have a long way to go before any chance of alignment or complete parting of company. We need a more realistic approach. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ provide the best approach to learning the real truth we need within our actual lifetimes. 

The gods’ God

It is a common misunderstanding of monotheism that it insists on only one god existing. Both Judaism and Christianity have scriptures that insist there are many gods. But only one is The Father over all gods - YHWH. He is the God who higher than all the gods. He is these gods’ God. Their Father. This was in ancient times of the Stone Age how they saw AN. The most high God. DINGIR. Later called EL. Judaism and Christianity took it further but did not contradict the original Dingristic religion. It continues today as Tengrism and as the Chinese ancient religion. This belief in DINGIR (AN, EL) was the religion of Enoch. In genuine Christian truth this God, to prove He is the other gods’ God and their Father, sent the very topmost of these gods, the Son of Man, to us to show obedience to this God, to show if even He the Son of Man regards this God as His God and His Father (to the extent that He would die in obedience to Him) then this God is indeed in truth the God over all gods and Father over all gods.

The Ontological Absolute

Absolutes are needed which do not depend on wisdom and ontology. The Messianic sacrifice is such an absolute. It is wise even to a fool but foolish to the wise.

The Key to All Knowledge

The truth that is knowable is the Messianic sacrifice. Therein is the knowledge of the Creator and the key to knowledge of Creation. When you receive knowledge of the Messianic sacrifice (for you) you receive the key to the knowledge of all things.

The Big Bang

Whatever the Big Bang was (I think it is still theoretical) if it did happen (can something ‘happen’ when there is no time? big question), the Son was there (where? big question) and the Father was ‘there’ ‘then (when? big question if time was yet to exist) and whatever it was, they must have started it and survived it (such must be the nature of spirit).

The Existence of God

It is said that the inability to explain the complexities of the universe is not an argument for a Creator. The ability to explain so much of the universe - that IS an argument for a Creator - that is the main argument. His wisdom in making it makes so much of it explicable. Yet the experiential tacit knowledge that comes because of the Messianic sacrifice when that sacrifice is preached is the perfect way to know the Creator and demonstration of His power is the perfect way to believe in Him. Tacit knowledge cannot be shared so you might be unable to prove what you tacitly know through experience yet this truth can include certainty that the Messiah died for sins and lives today and lived thousands of years before He came, sent by God His Father.

Owned

You know there is that feeling you get on being “owned”. Yet the feeling is so profoundly deep when it is direct from the Son of God. It goes deepest and is utterly permanent. More adoption by God than being used by God. Being used is a matter of temporary service. Permanently owned is a matter of adoption as sons. Jesus does that. He utterly owned me such that I am permanently His for your sake and your benefit. That is sonship.

What I Think About Jesus

The key thing I think about Jesus is the importance of self-identification Jesus used “the Son of Man”. It links in with the same term often used in writings called the Book of Enoch, written back in the Fara Period apparently (3000-2500 BC). Enoch who wrote it testified to being taken into the place where the Son of Man is together with God [1]. This identifies Jesus as “pre-existent”, which seems short of meaning but captures what is necessary to grasp and maintain as a matter of faith: “Except you believe that I am you will die in your sins” and “Before Abraham was born I am” says Jesus in John’s gospel (chapter 8). There is more,m to who this Son of Man but this pre-existence is part of it. Ongoing existence is a major part of it too, as is historical crucifixion (sacrifice to pay humans’ debt of ethical shortfall) and resurrection and future eternal existence. The word “pre-existent” is confusing. It does not mean existing before existing. It refers to His existence before becoming a fully flesh-and-blood human. It is a well-known, often-used term so it is useful. Yet it merely states that He is a being, not what sort of being. It misses “heavenly being” existing together with the Lord of Spirits, a heavenly being to whom Enoch was taken up. It misses “uniquely human heavenly being”, hence “THE Son of Man”. 

Ref [1]: The Book of Enoch chapter 70: 

“1. And it came to pass after this that his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth. 2. And he was raised aloft on the chariots of the spirit and his name vanished among them. 3. And from that day I was no longer numbered amongst them: and he set me between the two winds, between the North and the West, where the angels took the cords to measure for me the place for the elect and righteous. 4. And there I saw the first fathers and the righteous who from the beginning dwell in that place.”

Walking in the Light of The Christ

At its simplest level “walking in the light of Christ” can amount to merely reading the sayings of Jesus recorded in the gospels and dwelling on them seeking to understand some of them and find a way to practice it properly in life. I would say even doing this with just one or two sayings of Jesus will not be regretted. Much will come of it. Yet it can go further when you realise Jesus is still alive and teaching today and coming under His training program is possible and hugely beneficial. Essential even. He teaches both directly and via the agency of the Holy Spirit and His modern day disciples. This is why it is described broadly as “the light”. 2 John 1:9 is evidence that years after His resurrection the teaching ministry of the Christ was still being followed personally by individuals “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” Just the same it can be followed today by seeking His true teaching ministry and finding that narrow way into learning on His personal teaching course. Then letting Him be teacher in life and not shrugging off His training program and rushing off on a course of our own but rather letting Him apply His teaching at the pace He personally knows suits our abilities to learn well.

Rebirth from God

I find a growing awareness exists that the sayings of the Son of Man, such as those found in John’s Gospel (chapter 3 and chapter 8, for example), teach that basic humans are lying and hating children of Satan, religious or not, but rebirth can take place to change all that and then a child of God is formed by God Himself. The Son of Man taught this and taught that since He Himself is from God and speaks the teachings of God by the Spirit of God this means He is centrally instrumental in God making such children of God. In fact the Son of Man constantly referred to God as the Father and Himself as the Son. The awareness of this work of the Messiah seems to be growing even among those who seem to be hateful towards children born of God this way and scornful about these sayings. Yet what does this rebirth entail? We each only know in part and the depth of the nature of this rebirth is profound. Yet it seems to be there are several important factors to understand about it. Firstly it is only a work of God Himself at root so the child of God is truly a child of the Father. Secondly it is a work primarily wrought in the events of God’s dealings with the Messiah Himself. Thirdly it is a rebirth taking shape in the individual by their being given by God a hope and faith and love that washes away in stages their natural former nature of being hateful and lying as a child of Satan and instead they become characterised by new improved prospects of being purged of ethical failure of immoral and hateful and lying ways. They believe instead in the veracity of the teachings of the Messiah and His messengers and they believe in the true nature of the Messiah. They love anyone else who shares in this transformation. The central way this comes about was wrought by God’s action of raising His Son from the dead and His Son living eternally to keep these believers in Him purified forever. Being at the Father’s right hand and having these believers always in His prayers and dealings this Son is central to the constant wellbeing and salvation and ongoing purification of these believers whose lives are inextricably intertwined with this Messiah’s life and God’s purpose and eternally loving embrace. The blood shed by the Son on that cross those centuries ago is effective in dealing with their guilt even if they fall from time to time, learning to confess such failings. All these things bring about this rebirth as children not of Satan, not of the world, not of natural human failing tendencies and morally substandard nature but of God. Of course this is just a part of what is the unseen fuller picture. Add to this the giving to these believers of the invisible but ever efficacious Holy Spirit as His mysterious but wondrous ways transform a believer ever more fully into a child of God; a true saint who puts off Satan’s ways and rises above their former ways. Add to this the incorporation into a mystical union spiritually with all other such believers as a Body of the Son of Man and a family of God. Add the involvement of the individual in putting off the hating and lying but with mysterious teachings from heaven to do so exercising the heart. Add the joint partnership and mutual support of all believers in keeping each other in their prayers for purification and their rebukes and gentle restoration from waywardness as and when needed. Add the future of better and better purification from sin that results. Add the need to believe the Messiah truly is. Add the need to follow this Messiah’s teachings by keeping them as adherent disciples along with teachings from the Holy Spirit and true servants of Messiah. Add the promise of the Messiah to bring each believer out of their sinful state into true nature as a child of God so they do not “die in their sins”. Add the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer which by the message that the Messiah died for them and follow-up powerful lessons imparted by this Holy Spirit sets them on the path to ever greater purification of their ways. Add that this must continue through all eternity if it is to be a true work of God because only eternally permanent children of God are true children of God. No children of God are ever temporary. They remain in His family forever or else they are mere servants or slaves.  It all adds up to this rebirth by God Himself working in the believing follower of His Son.

Isa

The name of the Son of Man is much disputed in social media forums today. Many try to derive its original spelling but it might not have been written in the first languages of those who known the original name. Perhaps the best preserved form is that used by speakers of Aramaic-like languages today and the related language, Arabic. An anglicised form is Isa. The beginning of the prophet Isaiah‘s anglicised name is not by accident a good rendering of the Son of Man’s human name. Isaiah in chapter 8 of his book had hinted by prophecy that he himself, Isaiah, was a sign just as his children were signs: and how were his children signs? By their names. So Isaiah was a sign by his name. His name Isaiah started with Isa. Isa means ‘delivers’ or ‘saves’. Isaiah means Yahweh saves. So the sign of Isaiah’s name is that the Son of Man would come to save, as salvation coming from God. Much of Isaiah’s prophecies were about this Son of Man, the Messiah: Isa al-Masih, as it is written in anglicised Arabic form today.

Atheism and Dishonesty

We probably all of us start life as atheists. After a while we experience nature and experience discipline from peers. Out of animal instinct we learn from nature and peer discipline and parents. We make basic deductions. We start to reason. This reasoning makes us ask ‘why’? about everything and expect answers. The answers become our first taste of wisdom. Why do things happen in nature the way they do. When a wise answer is given we get a taste for wisdom and ask ‘why?’ even more. At some point we realise it all adds up to wise reasons being a result of Someone wise. If we are all too human we get scared at this point and fearfully reject such theism. We thus get scared into rejecting the lines of reasoning that lead to such theism. (Perhaps we are scared of where the reasoning leads in terms of duty it implies and guilt it proves.) This is a matter of being dishonest to ourselves so we get habitually dishonest. 

Morality

Morality is common in most higher animals. Look at Jungle Book or Lion King. No seriously. Animals which are social have ways to ensure young ones grow up to keep the rules of normality. The older males correct the younger ones which behave in ways these older males consider out of order. Good behaviour is possibly rewarded with social inclusion, service (such as feeding, grooming and mating), progression (such as to leadership) and loyalty. Bad behaviour is punished with aggression or even, in the extreme, social exclusion which might result in death. The difference between norms of what is rewarded and what is punished is constantly studied by biologists and well recorded. Calling this scale of behaviour ‘morality’ is not unreasonable. Of course humans have all this built in. Reasoning is built in too. We might call this reasoning by philosophical names such as Ocham’s Razor but it is built in. We apply it just like animals do when we are punished having just overstepped a moral line - we realise what that line was by naturally and morally applying Ocham’s Razor: If that action we last took, which was abnormal,  seemed to be the trigger of the punishment, then probably it was. It is the same reasoning we apply when we deduce that if all these wise things of nature have pleasantly wise reasons to be part of nature then we reason that it is because there is a wise One making it so. Morality is not part of religion but it leads naturally to religion.

Ocham’s Razor

Scientists keep looking for why nature is like it is and they keep finding answers. We like this because there is so often wisdom in those answers: Those wise why’s. Ocham’s razor encourages us to extrapolate these wise why’s back to a wise One behind it all.

The Apostle Paul and Torah

The Apostle  Paul  did  not  write  saying  people  should  stop  keeping  Torah (the Law of Moses).  He  simply  pointed  out  that  it  is  no  simple  matter  to  simply  keep  Torah.  You  get  problems  like  reverse-psychology.  Like  dieting,  when  focusing  on  food  and  counting  calories  actually  increases  the  appetite.  You  get  misunderstandings  and  mishandling  of Torah  with  heresies  and  schisms.  In  the  end  it  does  not  make  you  a  permanently  righteous  person  because  it  leads  to  pride  and  self-righteousness.  Paul  had  kept  it  to  the  letter  from  childhood.  He  excelled  in  it  with  ultimate  understanding  of  it  beyond  that  of  most  who  have  less  ability  to  keep  it  and  keep  on  keeping  it.  But  it  did  not  stop  him  hating  followers  of  the  Messiah.  It  made  him  more  keen  to  stamp  them  out  and  kill  them.  Then  he  met  the  Messiah, the Son of Man.  Suddenly  he  saw  a  way  to  permanently  remain  righteous  no  matter  what  happened:  A  trustworthy  rabbi  living righteously  for  aeons  past  before  Abraham  and  forever  into  the  future.  The  Messiah  Himself.  

Following Him, keeping His teachings; and being kept by Him in return. This  was  a  more  certain  and  viable  long  term  eternal  prospect  of  righteousness. This Messiah is ever righteous and ever lives and He cleanses from wrongdoing and heals. He makes righteous and keeps righteous those who believe in Him and keep His teachings. Paul knew that in keeping Torah he was having to do so as an individual struggling against his natural tendencies. Keeping the teachings of Messiah, on the other hand, meant having the eternally living, ever righteous, utterly competent teaching and healing master of righteousness, the Messiah Himself, to ever help him: This Messiah who is there with God at God’s right hand.

By the time Paul was doing this it was the Holy Spirit who was imparting the Messiah so Paul in following the Holy Spirit was thereby following the Messiah. The same applies today. 

Paul stated explicitly in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 4: “... That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” 

This corresponds to teachings of the Messiah such as recorded in John 8 where we see how strongly the Messiah condemned lying and hating and giving the devil a foothold: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But this Ephesians passage aside, Paul usually focused on the Holy Spirit as teacher, since the Holy Spirit applied the Messiah’s teachings and way - as seen in Galatians and Romans 8. This is still the same today and forever - Messiah is forever and leads into righteousness forever. Forever cinsistent. 

Enoch’s Central Message

ENOCH’S CENTRAL MESSAGE

The Book of Enoch has much to say about the best way to live and the centrality in that of the Son of Man but it begins with a look at nature and the need for unending, unwavering consistency. Not many ways can enable such consitency as is seen in nature. Only one way can enable it. It occurs to me that we live our lives by standards and moral influences of those around us or of some group to which we seek to adhere. In troubled times that group might not be our best of guides and we might find it is actualy no longer trustworthy. The Son of Man is however unwaveringly trustworthy having been righteous and faithful from times before Enoch and on into the prophesied future as far as prophecy has ever seen. This is the central theme of Enoch’s prophetic message to all, especially to those who live in troubled times when wicked people are being removed and righteousness is essential for survival. 

Falling Babylon the Great

The apocalyptic Beast empire foretold by God to His Son (Book of Revelation) arises out of instability in the Middle East centred perhaps on Syria (the raging sea) but what seems to hold it back, keeping Macedonian regions apart from Iran and Iraq, (leopard apart from bear and lion) might be Balkan Muslim countries being members of the EU. It seems a likely possible trigger of the formation of the Beast empire for the EU to collapse as part of the fall of Babylon the Great (Rome rooted in Ancient Rome). Watch this space.

He is

HE IS

The Book of Enoch is a real marvel. Most marvellous is its age. Archaeology is consistent with it predating the Bible and Torah. It shows us the Son of Man was telling the truth when He said “Before Abraham was born, I am”. In ancient times of Enoch this Son of Man existed. Enoch knew He is, way back then. Still today we need to believe He is - so we will be released from our sinfulness by Him.

A Question for Enoch

Question for Enoch

Since the prophet Enoch must now be still alive and at least five thousand years old I would love to ask him if I meet him: Do you remember writing the Book of Enoch? It is a curious matter whether human memory functions after thousands of years or whether the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of truth takes over in perpetuating knowledge from that long ago. Of course a greater question is whether the Son of Man who was incarnated two thousand years ago has actual memory of creating all things or whether persisting such truth needs more than human faculties can provide and the Holy Spirit reveals such things instead.

Father Time, the Son of Man and the Oath

The Book of Enoch is mankind’s springboard into the understanding of the origins of the cosmos because it introduced our forfathers to the main participants in the creation of all things and over time the thinking of the wise continued the theme but on the whole scarcely took it futher. 

First we have the person who started all things - the Head of Days. El. Today called simply God in English by many. The Ancient Greeks’ name for this author of time itself and lord of the calendar was Chronos and later they got a bit confused and called El by the name Cronos too (because Cronos was similar a word to Chronos). Enoch must have called Him An or El depending whether his original work was in Sumerian or Akkadian but sometimes used a term or title later translated Head of Days and Daniel reflected this in the title Ancient of Days. On the whole the concept of time having a chief who is greatest of all divinities continued through history since Enoch. 

Then we have a person who came from this Head of Days and in whose name all things of nature came into being, the Son of Man. Later the Orphic teachings of the Greeks called this being Phanes. From chaos this being created order and the Cosmos took shape. Enoch showed how this Son of Man and the Head of Days were always together before the beginning and ever since have worked on all things together governing creation behind the scenes and bringing all the divinity angels into being and assigning responsibilities.

Then we have the oath. The angels knew a great oath by which all of nature takes shape and functions in an ordered way. Angels were later believed in Roman times to swear an oath of office. There might be a relationship there. One monstrous divinity punished breakers of the oath. Orcus. Enoch revealed that an angel Kasbeel is in charge of the oath that governs all things. Wikipedia explains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbeel) that there were two oaths in the Book of Enoch passage; one that binds the watchers and the other that binds nature. So the first of these oaths might be the oath of office sworn by every senior angel on pain of punishment.