Christian life

 Honesty check. Wonderful people who have no use for idols and have made God, the Father of Jesus, our one God above all gods, how do we realistically live godly, Christian lives? There will always be hours to fill which provide a vacuum which can be a struggle to keep free of vice, even if we do as much evangelism, building up of each other and encouraging as our spare time, opportunity and energy allows, with God’s help. We may read some scriptures, as much as we can take in, perhaps doing so in a shared community context to aid understanding of what we read and provide for spiritual help. All that might fill an hour of spare time. We pray a short prayer (God is in heaven so we keep our prayer short), similar to the Lord’s Prayer, along those lines or maybe using those words, which might take minutes, given time to focus and prepare or a lot less, maybe a couple of times a day. We spend a bit of time kindly reaching out to the poor who ask for our help. We try to get some Christian meeting attendance into our day, perhaps a couple of times a week for a few hours a week. We keep such time free of dishonesty and keep only truth on our lips and in our minds, That is all well and good. We do not want to get ritualistic or to unrealistically overdo it. This is perhaps in addition to caring, spending family time, working full time or part time to provide for needs, keeping our environment civilised, getting sensible hours of sleep, eating, all leaving hours to try to relax. We might be working seven to ten hours a day to have something to give. In the restorative relaxation hours what do we do? It makes sense we still look at maybe some fashion magazines or celebrity gossip TV (if we are female, especially), watch some movies, maybe try to get informed together with being entertained by watching documentaries or reading factual books or browsing interesting subjects online. It might seem worldly, but we do need ways to both relax and gen-up on knowledge with a broad range of interests, perhaps with some hobbies in mind such as gardening or home improvement. We are humans and there are only so many ways we can learn and socialise even if we seek to remain as godly as we can be. What if we were stuck in prison or hospital or on an oil rig or remote lighthouse, with nothing but a TV or computer and only worldly people as colleagues and company. We need to try to avoid extremes of worldliness such as violence, porn, promiscuity, drugs, darker scientific interests, self-harm, alcoholism, hating, trolling, fraud, dishonesty, stealing, idolatry and the many vices thrown towards us by darker sides of society, but it is a battle, depending on circumstances, needing God’s constant help through Jesus Christ, and mutual help of believers by prayer and encouragement. We have not too much control over what we can do in our days, especially if income is low and we are poor. Mainly we keep struggling to eliminate vice from our day and try to include the positive, beneficial things as much as we can. We need to include self-development so we can stay productive and work profitably as we know and obey our Lord, who is Jesus. This might require that we learn from both worldly and godly sources, if we are realistic and honest about it. It depends on circumstances often outside of our control. So it is an ongoing need for wisdom and grace from God, who gives from above only good and perfect things, and we have to trust what God actually gives, not just what we think God might give. Reality is the thing. We should filter out the excessively ungodly, worldly, harmful vice, but we need to accept what is put into our lives from above and accept that God is real and knows what is good for us and that might involve things we do not relish such as hardship, boredom, difficulty and sadness. In all our struggling we can remember that Christ provided for us the crucified sacrifice which affects our behaviour and God raised Jesus Christ from the dead so that we have help at hand forever. God made with us a covenant by that cross. He is in the struggle with us.

Down through time the cross of Christ

The cross of Christ is like a rebuke of our sin that reaches our consciences down through time even to today and forever. Christ provided it for us by that crucifixion. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead once the good was done. God loves us. The cross of Christ crucified affects our behaviour but struggling against sin is still tough. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead so that we have help at hand forever. God made with us a covenant by that cross. He is in the struggle with us. All this love lavished on us by God, the Father of the Lord Jesus. We owe it to God to put effort into building up the believing followers of Jesus and building these together into the united body that is the new Temple for the glory of God’s name. We should openly pass all these things on to our children and write them for ourselves and our close neighbours to read and even make them known widely and loudly. This is how we can love God back.

Time travel

 If we can predict the future, and obviously not everyone believes we can, but given a belief exists that prediction of the future and precognition do exist, it means we can communicate to people in the past by the possibility of some in the past predicting what we communicate today. So since information can travel to the past from the present, maybe that information carries some of ourselves within it. Something of our spirit is conveyed by information travelling back to the past. 

Reason enough for monotheism

 The resurrection of Jesus in real history. It shows the power and love towards us of the God who sent Jesus, with prospect of our resurrection too. This gives us reason, believing it, that God should be our One God to whom we pray. No other god, though they exist, offers such a prospect as we have before us in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Monotheism is misunderstood

Monotheism is misunderstood. We cry to God not because we think no other deities exist. We know there are many who do exist and indeed many have been creators involved in creating from the beginning, even creating life. We cry chiefly to God because God more than anyone should be our God of choice, having sent Lord Jesus to be our Anointed One and die for our sins and having lovingly raised this Lord Jesus from the dead. We cry to God because He is king above all gods. We cry to God because He alone is father over all, under whose authority all things are made to be. We cry to God because no other god can save like our God saves, because He is more mighty than they and none of them can undo what our God does or prevent it succeeding. God has first place and the right to be our God more than other gods. We look to the Lord Jesus for salvation, not because we think no other lords, no other masters, no other saviours exist. We know others do exist. We look to Jesus Christ because He is lord above all lords and because Jesus is alive forever from the dead and has the keys of death and Hell and because He is the one for whose sake His Father has authored the creation of all things. The love extended by God towards us in sending Jesus Christ to give all of us the teachings and truth and provision of sacrifice on the cross for our sins, this love is our reason to make God our god more than any other god when we believe this message and believe in Him and in Jesus His only-begotten Son. 

True Monotheism

Monotheism is mistaught, misunderstood, misconstrued. I am eager to understand it in the way that Elijah understood it: True monotheism as taught by God Himself. In its true form it does not correspond to denial of the existence of gods, of elohim, but it is something else. As far as I can so far understand, it is about the true meaning of the second commandment out of the ten “No לֹֽ֣א shall have (yih- yeh-) יִהְיֶֽה־ You לְךָ֛֩ gods אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים other אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים before (‘al-)  עַל־ Me פָּנָֽ֗יַ .” ‘al- “upon, above, over” and ‘yih- yeh-‘ “come to pass, shall have” seem to be the crucial imperatives. “You shall not allow other gods to come to be before, above, over Me.” It is not a command to deny that other gods exist. It is about not letting any of these other gods come to be over, above, before God, the Most High God, the king above all gods.

Origins of dark science

 In the Middle Ages, as alchemy spread in Europe, when Persian writings were translated by monks, the small groups of leisurely men interested in alchemy started to print their theories and beliefs using the newly invented printing presses. The Church tried to police it. Darker science publications were burnt, especially when ceremonial invocation of spirits was involved, but theories linked to results of scientific studies based on experiments were allowed to circulate. However, the sorcery, when covered by experimentation, was allowed to circulate too. So sciences today still have a dark core of animal experimentation (the sacrifice), weaponisation, medical and eternal life potions and ambitions to discover dark secrets of how create animal life from plants or inanimate matter (the homunculus and golem) and mixing of completely different species (the chimera).

A gospel of encounters

 When people experience Jesus, by an honest response it can lead to confessions which are effectively the substance of the gospel. This happened around the Nativity, played out by Christian school children at Christmas, but in reality, two thousand years ago coming from a collecting together of many religious supernatural experiences concerning the baby Jesus. The epistles of the apostle Paul emanate from his supernatural experience of Jesus on the Damascus road. The others who wrote New Testament scriptures did so because they encountered Jesus risen from the dead and realised it was the one they had all called ‘the Lord’ before the terrible crucifixion took Jesus from them. Whether to call it supernatural is questionable because it was no ghost that they saw, but the flesh risen walking and talking Jesus who still did miracles in front of them. I have met people who claim encounters with Jesus in these times in which we live today. Even I encountered the Lord in a miraculous moment out in a street near my home. The way the voice told me to put down my umbrella in a serious flood torrential rain storm and immediately as I lowered the umbrella the rain stopped dead so not a drop, it seemed, touched me, that made me say to myself in certainty ‘it is the Lord’. The further encounter to help me be even more certain, that night, over night, left me certain this was indeed the same Jesus found in the gospels and that this Jesus is so very much the master, even of my deepest being. We can know these things by testimony of others and even by, some of us, experiencing Jesus for ourselves. The truths we can express from these encounters supplies the content of the gospel message. It all contributes to the gathering of a body of many believers around this risen Lord: the Lord who we can all confess is the Jesus of the gospels risen from the dead. Want to not die in your sins? This is the way.

Jesus’ endorsement of the Book of Enoch

 When Christians decide whether to read the Book of Enoch in their private devotions and in their church services, the chief consideration ought not to be whether their denomination endorses this, but rather that Jesus endorses it. Jesus is after all the risen lord and master over the whole house of God. The gospels provide evidence, which we can take together with historic evidence from the prevalence of the Book of Enoch in those times, that Jesus did endorse the Book of Enoch as essential scriptures to be known, together with knowing the power of God, to keep us from error. Being saved from error is a key part of salvation which is by the truth that is in Jesus. 

The saying to confess with heartfelt belief

 The saying to confess with heartfelt belief: “It is Jesus, risen from the dead, who is the Head over all God’s household, the Lord.”

Stars and the Universe

 It might seem that believers are guessing that maybe all planetary and stellar objects in the universe are made by God and His angels but it is more likely that actually the Holy Spirit, whose knowledge of the universe is true and real and from the very beginning, has made it known to believers by revelation, because the psalmist of some of the scriptural, biblical psalms, was inspired to compose psalms stating that all the stars are God’s handiwork.

2021 Black sciences

 Goodbye 2021, the year we pondered if the black sciences of USA, UK, EU, China, WHO too, give us both pandemics and vaccines.

This same Jesus

 When Christ comes into our world again, the Jesus of the gospels is the same Jesus who will come. He has not changed. He is dependably constant. He comes in smaller ways even now, as a foretaste, and is recognisable as the very same Lord as the apostles and disciples of the first century gospels knew. Best that we get to know those gospel sayings well. Many will not survive that swordlike tongue wielded by Jesus, the same as in ancient times. That time long ago they heard those words and then were allowed to crucify Jesus. This time there will be powerful enemies who will fall to the sword coming from Jesus’ mouth. Some are falling to it  now as a foretaste. Know Jesus’ sayings, and believe that Jesus is, and was dead, and is alive forever.

Conscience

 With baptism I gain the description, CHRISTIAN, and association with the name of Christ, Jesus Christ. But I have to keep to this in good conscience and good faith, with genuine persuasion, holding truly to the full teachings of Christ and hoping in all this for salvation from my sins and from dying in my sins. Conscience is essential in this. Love comes from keeping it clear. Being forced against conscience or forcing other believers to act against conscience or if I or others do things thar wound the good conscience of believers it is not love. It is not loving our neighbours to make people act against their conscience, nor will any love come from it. 

I need the name of Christ

 Christmas. Christianity. Christ. Having association with the name these represent, the name CHRIST comes with baptism. We who have been baptised in order to bear this name, ought to be proud of it: proud of the title CHRISTIAN. Yes, leaders of so-called Christian churches and kingdoms let down that name, giving Christianity a tarnished name. But we are not baptised into the foolishness of worldly leaders. We are baptised to receive Christ because we need another name in addition to our own. I need this name of Christ in addition to my name so I was happily baptised. The name of Christ saves me. I need its salvation. I might happily do without the other things associated with the name and Christianity. I can even live without Christmas, take it or leave it, but I need the salvation that comes with association with Christ and Christ’s teachings, and with fellowship with the one who brought it all into the world, Jesus Christ, and with the God who sent Him and created this way, the Father.

Writings of Noah?

 “1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children’.”

That is from the Book of Enoch chapter 6, first two verses.

This is from Genesis chapter 6, first two verses:

“1. And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2. that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose.”

There is no possibility these are coincidentally so similar. Maybe one is quoting the other or both are quoting a common source. So which came first? Is there another explanation? Those of us who believe the Book of Enoch is genuinely from Enoch, great grandfather of Noah, might say Genesis came later. Yet not necessarily so, since Genesis might be quoting Noah and Noah might be the editor of the Book of Enoch, having written part of it, so maybe Noah simply wrote both passages, and neither quotes the other. They are just written by the same person.

Revelation that is not in need of improvement by dogma

 Peter knew that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”Matthew 16:17

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

We should discern what comes from God the Father because of how good and perfect it is. Jesus discerned the revelation by which Peter knew Him because Jesus discerned its goodness and perfection. You know it was a good and perfect revelation, coming as it did to Peter from the Father. Not some mediocre revelation that would need to be revised later to fix the imperfections and defects. Not a shadow of truth that would change. 

Augmented Intelligence

 If computer augmented intelligence was truly a new stage of human evolution, by now humans would have evolved ploughshare hands or evolved to have horses’ legs from all those centuries working the countryside. A major strength of humans is that we DON’T get too attached to our tools. We can use them then lose them, and move on. The original information revolution people were a little too obsessed by their own importance. Thank you for computers and smartphones and internet but we reserve the human capacity and right to drop it all when changes come along and we need to move on. Shut off the electricity supply and I still remain a complete person. No evolution would stop that.

Dark Science

People ought to distinguish science and dark science, like they distinguish other magic and dark/black magic. The dark science would be science using techniques likely to appeal to dark forces. Dark forms of experiments on animals (or humans, even). Uses of resources gained by dark methods such as human foetus killings and animal experiments (especially deaths of humans for the sake of the studies) should be seen as dark. These dark studies and processes are processes where appealing to evil forces cannot be ruled out, even if they cannot be proven, where there are hallmarks of possible dark magic origins and thinking. Immoral science, unethical science and science which just seems dark, rather than clean, genuine, wholesome experiments, these darker practices should be regarded the same way we regard black magic. There’s dark science and dark medicine which will get its practitioners thrown in the fire of judgement day. We shouldn’t be teaching it to our children. 

Natural vaccination January 2022

In 2022, in the UK, COVID infections seem likely to be rampant after the first week in January increasing to maximum before the end of January. Staffing problems are surely to be expected. If this is one wave, subsiding after mid January, it does look like a natural or God-sent mass vaccination programme. Staffing problems might be completely unprecedented. Worse point mid January. Nobody catching it before Christmas recovering in time to cover for those catching it after first week of January. That is going to lead to all kinds of problems. Forewarned is forearmed. I’m hoping the sickness will be mild for most and not lead to more than usual winter deaths. Yet the effect of lack of staff in nursing homes due to staff sickness could be dire.

Dark

 If the medical mages wanting us all to inject something had really only wanted full acceptance, I wonder why they based that injection on things that would make it seem so dark. It makes it look like they were bound to use dark arts to do it.

The ultimate victory

 God, together with the Christ sent by God, defeated Rome and its gods. The gods worshipped by Ancient Rome, though powerful when invoked, were unable to prevent God raising Jesus Christ from the dead after Rome under its gods crucified Jesus. God showed that He is king above all gods. Now the worship of gods of ancient Romans is in so many countries gone. Now God who is king above them, God the Father, can be known and prayed to and worshipped. Even if not everyone knows God, king above all gods, there is scope and an open chance to know Him and live in service to Him. Centuries earlier the Israelite people had been formed in another similar victory showing that this same God is king above even the gods of Egypt. Coming out of Egypt was not easy for Moses and his people. Gods were invoked against them by Egyptian shamanic magicians. The magicians had huge power by invoking the spirits who were gods to Ancient Egypt who had power even to create life. The gods empowering the priests were real. Are still real. One particular god worshipped by some of the Ancient Egyptians was Seth. He was possibly the same being the Israelites and later their Jewish descendants called Satan. Many characteristics of Seth recorded by Ancient Egypt also apply to characteristics associated with Satan. These gods, these beings, do not cease to exist just because their worship dies out. Some of these gods had even been involved in historic events behind the creating of the Natural world we see today. During the Exodus the One True God above all gods overcame all the gods invoked by those powerful Egyptian shamanic priests and magicians and God sent plagues that even those powerful priests and the gods of creation could not stop. The gods did enable those magicians to mimic some of the plagues but they could not end them. Eventually after the tenth plague, it proved too much and the Pharaoh gave in and let Moses lead out the Israelites, out of his clutches as their overall slave master. Whether Seth was one of the gods or angels invoked by the magicians is not recorded in the Bible scriptures, but centuries later the same or similar being Satan is recorded in the gospels as having sought to cut across the path of obedience of Jesus Christ and was instrumental in the betrayal which led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus said that the betrayal was Satan’s hour. Yet the refusal of Jesus to disobey God or let God down was a beginning of this god of the age, Satan’s defeat. The crucifixion provided for your sins and mine, when we believe and let it turn our consciences away from sin, purifying our consciences. Then the resurrection of Jesus from the dead by God completed this victory over Satan and showed the ultimate power over all gods does indeed belong to God and to His Son, showing Jesus Christ to be the Lord over all, made lord over all by this One True God. 

God the King above all gods

 God, together with the Christ sent by God, defeated Rome and its gods, those gods worshipped by Ancient Rome who, though powerful when invoked, were unable to prevent God raising Jesus Christ from the dead after Rome under its gods crucified Jesus. God showed that He is king above all gods. Now the worship of gods of ancient Romans is in so many countries gone. The king above them, God the Father, can be known and prayed to and worshipped. Even if not everyone knows God, king above all gods, there is scope and an open chance to know Him and live in service to Him. That is the astonishing glory of God through the crucifixion and resurrection of the one who is now shown to be Lord over all, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is the same today as in that ancient time, and is the same forever, alive forever.

Coming out of slavery

The Book of Enoch was clearly read as scripture in the times of Jesus and this is clear from its prevalence among the Dead Sea Scrolls and its influence on New Testament scriptures and Jude quoting it and Jesus alluding to it as scripture. Clearly it was well known to adherents to the Book of Enoch that there are angels which have similarities to gods, controlling Nature and governing mankind according to allotted tasks and positions of governance given them by God, the Lord of Spirits, Lord of Hosts, king above all gods. So we gain an understanding of gods by reading the Book of Enoch which makes the ancient Old Testament scriptures concerning gods make better sense. Coming out of Egypt was not easy for Moses and his people. Gods were invoked against them by Egyptian shamanic magicians who had huge power by invoking the spirits who were gods to Ancient Egypt who had power even to create life. Yet it was not impossible to bypass the will of these magicians and these gods. It was possible by having the spirit who is Lord of spirits, the one great king above all gods to lead the Exodus. Nothing short of this would have succeeded. The gods empowering the magicians were real. Are still real. Only God, the One True God could overcome all this and send plagues that even those powerful priests and the gods of creation could not stop. They mimicked some plagues but could not end them, until it proved too much and the Pharaoh gave in and let Moses lead out the Israelites, out of his clutches as their overall slave master. The New Testament scriptures concerning gods also make better sense with the Book of Enoch explanation of gods and the position of God above them all. It becomes clear that this God has sent Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, to be our master and save us from a worse kind of slavery than that of the Israelites in Egypt: Slavery to our bad actions that lead to judgement and condemnation. This Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in holy conception as unique son to God. This Jesus suffered crucifixion by evil men but this Jesus was raised from death by God, God who is the Father and the God of Lord Jesus. The only way to know this salvation is by the teachings of Jesus and by believing in Him. Holding to the teachings given by Jesus and by the apostles sent by Jesus and by the Holy Spirit who inspires and powerfully influences those who believe. The power of God ministers miracles to testify to us when we believe this message. This is all a cleansing influence on our behaviour to lead us out of our wrong ways. This saves us. Then we can serve this God above all gods. We can do so in a special sovereign freedom only God and His Son and Holy Spirit can give. This leads to hope. Hope grows when we also suffer in this holy way, so we grow in character and become children of God under the covenant God made by Jesus’ blood shed for us and body broken for us. The Christ died for you. The Christ died for us all. The Christ, the Lord Jesus, alive from the dead, very much the same Jesus as in the gospels, lives forever. The Son and the Father are together: To be joined for ever by those they save.

Gospel

 The angels, gods, created creation in the beginning, and have God as their king, responsible overall. It is this king who is God. Maybe some can realise the one at the top should be acknowledged above all. The Lord Jesus Christ is His unique begotten Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit. This Jesus is the one crucified who God raised from the dead. Who better to serve and worship and look to than the one God who raised Jesus and made Jesus lord over all, including over all the angels, the gods. Angels can be overcome but God who can overcome all others can never be overcome. Who better to worship. He commands that idolatry cease and that no god be put first over Himself, before Himself when we come to Him as our one true God. The crucified Son, Lord Jesus is alive and very much the same as when the gospels were written of him and will be so forever. His crucifixion death provides for the debt of our sins. Holding to Jesus’ teachings, with belief in Him, alive forever from the dead, leads to cleansing from the sinful behaviour, the kinds of behaviour that will be the death of many who do not believe. We need to stop such behaviour in order to be saved from the destruction that will come at the final judgement when living and dead will all be judged through Jesus.

Alive

 Lord Jesus is alive and very much the same as when the gospels were written of him and will be so forever.

What links Historical Petra and the Arch of Titus?

 You might have seen pictures of the famous ancient city of Petra (found in what is today modern Jordan). Cut into rock cliff faces, there is a great treasury, the picture usually shown, there are tombs cut into similar cliff faces and a temple from around 20AD. You might also have seen pictures of the famous (or infamous) Arch of Titus in Rome, similar in appearance to the Arch de Triumph in Paris and Marble Arch in London. It is a monument to the victories of Roman Emperors Titus and Vespasian in overcoming a rebellion in Roman Judea and destroying Jerusalem around 70AD. How are these related? History might relate them but scripture relates them in a special way, with God in the link between them. Petra was capital of an Arabian kingdom, Nabatea (now Jordan) close to the Roman-ruled kingdom of Judea (now Israel). There was a king of this kingdom, Aretas IV Philopatris, whose daughter, Phasaelis, was married to a Herod, king of Perea and Galilee, bordering Judea. Now this Herod divorced Phasaelis in order to marry his brother’s wife, Herodias. You might have heard of her daughter portrayed in raunchy operas and plays as Salome. So how does this relate to the Arch of Titus and to God? Well Aretas took revenge on Herod for this immoral divorce by waging war on him, but before that, the great prophet known as John the Baptist rebuked Herod for illegally marrying Herodias, because presumably her previous husband was still alive, this Herod’s brother, also called Herod. Hey, Herod was a common name in this dynasty. Even Herodius’ brother was also called Herod. But no matter. Anyway, John the Baptist, who, by the way had baptised Jesus, was beheaded, for rebuking Herod, one of the many Herods (you couldn’t make this stuff up). Now Jesus too was handed over to death by this same Herod who killed John the Baptist. Such an immoral and blood guilty ruler. God is now involved. God, yes, the Almighty, highest over all gods, is direct father to Jesus by holy conception, and John the Baptist was sent as prophet by this One True God, so this was not going to work out well for Herod or his subjects. God sent something pretty bad to avenge John and Jesus. That is where the link is to the Titus Arch. Jesus and prophets before Jesus and John foretold it. God sent Titus as vengeance. Titus destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple to put down a rebellion. He killed many Jews and continued destroying strongholds of rebels. It is commemorate in pictures on the Arch of Titus in Rome.  Of course a different reasoning is given by Jews today, namely that God was punishing not specifically the killing of John the Baptist and Jesus, but that it was punishment for a general murderous tendency of the people of that time. Yet the link to God is still there. This is corroborated history, not just scripture, but it is the explanation of scripture that links it to God.

Asked what I think about Satan

Asked: What I think about Satan

I do not know much about mafia bosses and their networks and whether any have global networks, but I believe they do exist. Likewise in the spirit realm there are such powerful antagonist entities who have existed much longer and whose networks are surely much more highly matured. Do I believe these hidden beings have a big boss? Yes, if Jesus says so, yes. The knowledge of this was peaking in Jesus’ time, with rabbinical teachings about it being advanced. I think ancient Egypt had similar knowledge and called Satan ‘Seth’. The Seth accounts are very similar to biblical Satan descriptions. It all adds up to an angel immense in power, influence, power system globally, who is more at odds with God than other angels and tends to come to different conclusions and approaches to things. An antagonist to God. God tolerates and even uses this being, it seems. It is important to God to be able to work around this being and to deal with the problems this being’s antics present. Eventually God will tire and put the being away, but no being of immortal nature is destructible by death the way humans are, so the being has to be eventually neutralised but in the righteous way God always does things. The ‘lake of fire’ exists for that purpose but what it is and how it will neutralise such an influential and far-reaching spirit is mysterious. Typically a powerful immortal being can be confined. They do not die. They can be confined somewhere geographical. Something maybe like the Mid Atlantic Ridge will exist where there is deep lava and where magma rises close to the surface and it seems this is where Satan will be kept, but the future of Earth includes a total melting of the crust so the future of angels put in this magma has an element of mystery about it, whether the molten crust will be their final home and they will be kept out of a new cosmic centre called the New Jerusalem. That is just how I piece together what information I have within reach. Others might piece the jigsaw together differently. I might piece it together differently later, perhaps as more information becomes available. I believe Jesus has access to excellent information but that he usually shares what we might really need, so this is probably enough for us for now.

We all start off as children of Satan. It is quite normal. We learn to lie and exaggerate our good points from an early age to try to get on better. We all learn to hustle. Nothing very sinister. Just that we are not learning those ways from God. We cannot call God our father, nor our God because another being has influenced us more than God, and we know this being as Satan. No horns. No red pointy tail. More like a church worker who isn’t as good or as godly as they make out. An imposter. Satan can achieve far more by sowing imposters among the servants of God. And almost every child grows up learning Satan’s ways before they learn God’s. So look at an average seminary or bible college and it will be full of young people who have learned to hustle more than they have learned the ways of God. It is natural. So we need a zap of heaven. A taste of something better. A taste of heavenly teaching. Jesus says, come to Him for that. Call on Him. Cry to Him. Get a lesson from Heaven. Get a dose of heavenly honesty and humility. Embrace it and value it above your lying ways. Stop the hustling. Start telling truth the way that dose of Heaven tells truth. This is the key to knowledge. They mock it because they do not have it. They do not have it because they refuse it. They do not come to Jesus for a lesson that would give them life. Then they hinder others from getting it too, by impostering as godly. Christ died for us to have that dose of Heaven.

As to whether I believe it all, I find a lot of people tend to limit our belief to what we can imagine. But it is better to admit our imagination is limited and recognise that truth is sometimes unimaginable. I can imagine antagonistic angels being global in their influence and being able to inflict more evil than we have seen before, but being counteracted by God’s holy angels to prevent it happening. Yet that is to be offset with admission that my imagination is too limited. I know that God knows the full picture and lovingly tailors what He reveals to Jesus to pass on to Jesus’ contacts through the Holy Spirit. We know in part. God knows fully. 

A dose of Heaven

 We all start off as children of Satan. It is quite normal. We learn to lie and exaggerate our good points from an early age to try to get on better. We all learn to hustle. Nothing very sinister. Just that we are not learning those ways from God. We cannot call God our father, nor our God because another being has influenced us more than God, and we know this being as Satan. No horns. No red pointy tail. More like a church worker who isn’t as good or as godly as they make out. An imposter. Satan can achieve far more by sowing imposters among the servants of God. And almost every child grows up learning Satan’s ways before they learn God’s. So look at an average seminary or bible college and it will be full of young people who have learned to hustle more than they have learned the ways of God. It is natural. So we need a zap of heaven. A taste of something better. A taste of heavenly teaching. Jesus says, come to Him for that. Call on Him. Cry to Him. Get a lesson from Heaven. Get a dose of heavenly honesty and humility. Embrace it and value it above your lying ways. Stop the hustling. Start telling truth the way that dose of Heaven tells truth. This is the key to knowledge. They mock it because they do not have it. They do not have it because they refuse it. They do not come to Jesus for a lesson that would give them life. Then they hinder others from getting it too, by impostering as godly. Christ died for us to have that dose of Heaven.

Discussion with an Atheist

 To the objection that knowledge of God is subjective: Is the statement “I think therefore I am” subjective? It becomes the basis of objectivity, yet it is so subjective. Philosophies are usually more flawed than anyone realises until new ones replace them. We all need something more permanent so that we can realise our potential to continue. Knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus Christ whom He sent, this releases us to reach that full potential, freeing us from being highly temporary, facilitating permanence.

To the objection that you lose control of your own life by knowing God and Christ, I have never given up control any more than getting a job lost me control of my life. Getting a guide for the areas where we really know we need one is great. I wish someone would guide me through the architecture of the codebase I have to maintain at work but nobody is willing to do that, perhaps because they ironically think they will lose control by doing so, and they prefer me to stay in the dark in case I compete with them. Well a superb guide is available for our lives who has mastered mortal life to the ultimate degree and is now living it immortally.

To be honest, I must say you do lose everything by seeking to know Jesus and the one who sent Jesus, but control is not something you lose. You lose fancy stuff you can do without like popularity, status, ease, favour with some kinds of people, kudos, maybe a cosy lifestyle and sometimes even family links. Yet you gain permanence of what really matters. It is thrilling to know Jesus who is the ultimate human person to know, and to know the one who sent Jesus, who is the absolutely ultimate being to know, and it is worth losing everything. But I do not think you lose any control. You are, if anything, far more free as a result of it than you can imagine is possible. Like a kind of sovereignty. Nobody controls you anymore because the one with the greatest right to control you, instead gives you ultimate freedom. It is impossible to explain or even to put into words in my head. It is a deep peace. Nobody able to tell you you should be aiming higher.

When I first tasted a full sample mouthful of that knowledge twenty five years ago after decades seeking and after losing so much to get there, I just utterly relaxed, fully knowing I had found the most ultimate thing anyone can ever know. Deep deep peace came up from within. Absolute serenity. And that was just a taster. The best is yet to come, I know it.

Better than conquering Everest.

This is absolutely true. I remember that peace, joy I had, that stillness from the very centre of my innermost being, thinking back on it almost every day of the twenty five years ever since. Nothing takes it away from me. It never fades. That innermost knowledge that Jesus has mastered me in my deepest level of existence and was giving me freedom.

Christmas Miracle

 The real miracle at Christmas is to look at the history of a country such as Britain and see how, because of the coming of Christ sent by God, the idolatry of ancient Britons is gone. Even if not everyone knows God, there is scope and an open chance to know Him and live in service to Him. That is astonishing. That is the glory of God through the work of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel and the pagan idolatry

 In the beginnings of the church, as the gospel bore fruit among the Gentiles, the main difference with believers was that they obeyed the truth and the command of God and therefore stopped worshipping idols. They even started to stop ascribing any reality of divinity to idols. Food sacrificed to idols became a sticking point. As did believers eating with unbelievers. Apostle Paul had to provide some good advice to the first converts to encounter these problems, these converts having been converted from among the pagans. First epistle to the Corinthians has his advice. The two issues were whether to eat food sacrificed to idols and whether to eat with unbelievers. The first he answered in chapter 8 saying not to eat the food sacrificed to idols if doing so caused a brother to be offended, but if no offence is caused and conscience permits, he seems to say go ahead. The second he answered in chapter 10 by saying it is OK to accept an invitation to eat with pagans in their home. Both are odd answers for a Jew to give. Eating food sacrificed to idols is condemned in other parts of NT scriptures. Jewish believers did not condone eating in houses with pagans. Apostle Peter got questioned about doing so when he went to preach to Cornelius. So Paul was dealing with the edge case of current doctrine. Interestingly this was the backdrop for dealing with there being one true God. The truth that there is the one true God, who the converts from pagan idolatry were now worshipping because of the gospel of Christ, is the reason Paul could now break the spell of pagan philosophy and state that idols are nothing. This realisation, this knowledge was an outcome of the effect of the gospel and of witnessing accompanying miracles. In addition, he also admitted there are many gods, but only one Father who is root of responsibility for all creation. And with Him one Lord, Jesus the Christ. This is in contrast to pagan thinking. Interesting that pagan thinking clouded this counsel centuries later with Trinitarian philosophy, bringing back into core Christianity some idolatrous Neoplatonism via their concept of divine hypostasis. Perhaps Trinitarianism is push back from pagan Roman imperialism against Paul’s gospel teaching.

Who warns us to escape the wrath of God?

 We need to ask ourselves ‘If the Holy Spirit speaks today, will our denominational leanings hinder our acceptance of the teachings given?” There is a popular Christian song with the words “The Spirit won’t be hindered by division, in the perfect work which Jesus has begun.” Well the experiences of Jesus speaking to the religious people as recorded in the gospels, they show what happens when Jesus’ teachings and words full of the Holy Spirit meet with denominational and sectarian biases. It gets nasty. Someone gets hurt. Eventually Jesus got hurt. Later they all got hurt when the Romans came and wiped the floor with them, because God didn’t like what they did to His only-begotten Son.

I would not call Trinitarianism a heresy as such

 I would not call Trinitarianism a heresy, more a misunderstanding, like doctrines which Trinitarians have called heresies. Some might have been due to pagan influences such as Neoplatonist hypostasis, which the philosopher Origen applied to divinity (apparently ignoring the command of God not to do so). Trinitarian dogma ended up confounding or occluding the teachings of Jesus Himself about how divinity applied to Him. So today we have Trinitarians telling us confidently that Jesus is God, obscuring the whole truth of Jesus being a man born of holy conception from God by the Holy Spirit and becoming set apart by God to judge Mankind and mediate between Mankind and God. It also hides the true nature of the spirit of Christ being a great influencer of prophets from earliest times, even long before coming in the flesh. Perhaps the sticking point started with Trinitarians trying to use human concepts to understand how Christ shares some kind of special relationship with the Father, God, by the Trinitarian founders trying to apply a Greek concept of shared substance of nature existing between Jesus and God the Father, as if divinity could be reduced down to natural substances like gold or silver elements. Of course, God commands we do not think of Him in that pagan way. We must not use the kind of thinking and philosophy which pagans apply to their idols. This pagan thinking seems to have resulted in Trinitarians bringing to the table their idea that somehow the Son and the Father are composed of some special kind of material. This kind of Trinitarian dogma harms our understanding that Jesus was born with a human body exactly the same as our own human bodies, and has soul and spirit like us. Yes, the spirit of Jesus is immense in influence and power, growing to fill all things, but Jesus is like us, nonetheless, meaning we too can grow immense in influence of our spirits over matter and time and space, once God sets our spirits alive through the sacrifice of Jesus and our faith in Jesus and in God. We can do greater works than Jesus if we believe, now Jesus is with the Father, Jesus said. Some of us see that being fulfilled in our lives now and know this is but a foretaste of what is to come, especially after Jesus has returned. Truth matters. Untrue thinking clouds truth. It clouds understanding of truth. It needs cleaning away. Truth sets us free from the slavery we get from our vices. We need to turn from false thinking and embrace what Jesus taught and those sent by Jesus taught. We need to believe in this and believe in the true Jesus Christ the Lord. 

Angels created the heavens and the Earth and God is their king

 Angels are there in Genesis 1:1, Elohim are the top angels. In the beginning the top angels created the heavens and the earth. That is the meaning we find from other scriptures which mention Elohim. Jews have not taught it that way. They teach it means majestic plurality of God. Yet that translation of Elohim is contradicted  by their own scriptures. Maybe the Jews who translate it this way are Sadducee tradition Jews who disregard these other scriptures but I think even Exodus shows that it means angels or gods. Exodus uses Elohim to say that Elohim could not save Egypt from the plagues of Yahweh. Yahweh is king over the Elohim, over all of them. The Father over the holiest of the Elohim and king over all of them. Genesis says this too. So Genesis 1:1 is not polytheistic because it later calls these angels who created everything ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6. So God is over those who created everything. Therefore God is the over all creator. But angels had a huge part in creating. I think the modern Jewish traditions have battled against this. Obviously this contrary thinking from Judaism has found its way into Christianity too.

The funny thing about believers

Funny how believers only ever believe their own sect or denomination, whatever it happens to be.

Makes me think they don’t actually believe anything. They just want to belong to their group and let the group do the believing for them.

Personally I can’t really not believe. Given what has happened to me. I sometimes think I forget what I believe. Then I remind myself of everything.

I belong to Jesus’ group and most groups would exclude me because I’m not their disciple but Jesus’ and the Father’s and the Holy Spirit’s, and these teach me different things to the groups. 

The lord knows who are His.

That umbrella moment

The reality is that sometimes Jesus speaks in person to somebody. “Put down your umbrella!” Jesus said to me. I put it down. No hesitation. The storm immediately stopped dead. So those few words are frozen into my soul. They revive me. They tell me faith outweighs technology. We need to put spirit above matter. Jesus is more about faith, real active powerful faith, than technology such as umbrellas. 

There was always a favourite hymn I often played on piano in my young days. 

“Jesu lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll. While the tempest still is nigh. Hide me oh my saviour hide, till the toil of life is past. Safe into the haven guide. Still receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on thee; Leave, ah! leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me: All my trust on thee is stayed, All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenceless head With the shadow of thy wing.”

He echoed it all for me in that moment.

What scripture means by “God’s word”

 The Bible is not what scripture means by ‘the word of God’. Also, when people say that God speaks to us, it is not the same as what scripture means by ‘the word of God’. The words are not literally coming from the mouth of God except rarely it might be that someone, somewhere actually hears the words that come from God’s own mouth - the very Father’s own actual mouth. It is very rare for humans to hear such words, except Jesus and the Holy Spirit and angels do often hear such things. Often what people might say is God speaking to them might be their hearts being opened to something in their spirit, or still rarely, the Holy Spirit speaking. Sometimes an angel speaks to someone like when Mary and Joseph were told about Jesus before Jesus was born, as we see portrayed in Nativity plays. That is rare too. Sometimes people have a heavenly dream, like that Nativity dream when the wise men were spoken to about escaping the plot of Herod: That is not so rare. A minister preparing a sermon might feel led to say something particular ‘laid on their heart’. That is not at all rare. Think of all the millions of anointed sermons preached each week. The Holy Spirit awakens spirits of ministers to lead them in how to speak. Yet the word of the LORD coming to someone like to the young prophet Samuel in the Temple one night: That is very rare. In these cases it is what scripture calls the word of God. It is rare, which is why Samuel didn’t recognise what was happening. We need to be clear what we mean by the word of God. Scripture usually means literally things the Father has spoken from His actual mouth when it says ‘the word of God’. And almost never does scripture call a book of collected scriptures such as the Bible ‘the word of God’ or ‘God’s word’. That concept only started when Protestants started printing and selling and promoting bibles.

Nothing completely eradicates the past

We might find forgiveness but we should not think anything can make what we do be as if it was never done. Even heavenly forgiveness does not erase what was done. If, for example, we go away and torture someone for what they owe us, having ourselves just found forgiveness, that forgiveness can be undone. Nothing erases the past. What was done was done. The best we can hope for, if we turn from the wrong doing and learn to do right, is to have our misdeeds corrected for future well doing and right living, while the blood of Jesus is there to cover the past misdeeds with mercy. But the misdeeds are still there done. No longer held against, when we find forgiveness, but still there in the past. We need to become changed people to find a way past judgement day. Even death is only a temporary delay to judgement day. Jesus offers hope, if we believe in Him and hold to His teachings. He fully knows what judgement day will entail and how to save us as we hold to His powerful words of life. His death and resurrection are part of the plan of God to help us. But if we die in our sins, that day brings no hope. Only if we believe who Jesus is and keep Jesus’ sayings and teachings faithfully given us in Jesus’ name full of Jesus’ truth can we hope to be free of the wrong doings now that allow hope in that terrible day. So go easy on those who wrong you. You do not want God to go looking up in His books what you yourself have done and change His mind about having forgiven you.

God’s word

 It is very Protestant to think ‘word of God’ means the Bible. No. It doesn’t. God speaks and what God says goes out into space and space keeps and persists it in the heavens, among angels who hear it. That is presumably how the laws of Nature came into existence. 

https://biblehub.com/psalms/119-89.htm

When God said “let there be light” there was no Bible at that time, nor was it spoken in English or Hebrew, or Welsh. Yet it changed everything and the word forever rings around the heavens and lies on the hearts of the angels. And not because of the Bible.

Biblical science

 Science and magic are a spectrum but there are indications in the biblical scriptures of innocent, more holy positions on the spectrum. Noah in Genesis and the Book of Enoch, backed up by records of him in contemporary writings of his time, Epic of Gilgamesh, Sumerian King List, etcetera, is a man who while objecting to the more supernatural magic end of the spectrum, the part of angels in Chalcolithic metallurgical techniques, took pains to run tests we would recognise as early scientific tests, without resorting to the supernatural. He ran a famous experiment. The Flood rain had subsided and the water had not yet gone down. He let loose successive birds to see what would happen, to provide indication of the status of the floodwater out of sight. The first bird came back quickly so he knew the water was probably still at a high flood level. Later another bird, famously a dove, returned with an olive twig in its mouth, the image of which has stayed with us ever since, so Noah knew there were trees appearing above the subsiding flood water. Finally, later still, the bird he released did not come back, and because he chose a carrion bird, this implied the dead bodies from the Flood were now exposed and accessible as food for the bird so it could stay away. None of this required angels. Noah, writing part of the Book of Enoch before the Flood occurred, had lamented the inclusion of angels, invoked by metallurgist alchemists, to help with alloy making. “An angel is in the fire!” Noah was famous for practicing and preaching perfected right behaviour. So we find in the beginnings of modern Western civilisation a similar move, compelled by the Church, away from alchemy magic arts invoking spirits and the supernatural towards natural magic arts with experimentation without invoking spirits in those experiments. This was later known as modern science. Yet it is misunderstood. Just because it carefully has to avoid invocations, does not mean it has to hold to the materialistic and atheistic views that spirits do not exist. Perhaps those who succeed in convincing themselves that spirits do not exist find it easier to practice this art of modern experimental science, but that does not have to be so. Noah is an example. He believed in God and knew about spirits and even interacted with holy spirits at a high level, more than most, but he did not invoke them in his experiments. He did not try forcing the hand of any spirit. He was righteous enough to recognise the invocation of spirits, forcing them to engage with alchemist techniques, as fleshly, unholy, and unworthy. He kept his experiments materialistic but his lifestyle spiritual.

2021 ends with a new virus variant

So here we are again. Another variant outbreak. This time resulting from government policy to allow travel, justifying this by using a vaccine programme. Vaccinated people must have spread the new variant because only vaccinated people are allowed to travel. But my, perhaps naive outlook, is positive. It might be so mild that it could be a natural vaccine. Better that than ephemeral medical varieties based on dark practices. It could displace the previous variants. It could be mild. It could reach everyone very fast. It could leave us immune. This could end the pandemic, in my optimistic view. If my post is still around a few months from now: Dear Reader, Did it work out like I said? Is anyone still around? Or maybe some other plague or war has made it all immaterial.

Our depravity today

 Quotes from God and Jesus in the Apocalypse:

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

If the real meanings of words here translated as sorcerers (pharmakoi), immoral (porno), idolaters, liars are considered, it looks like we mostly all of us, or nearly all of us, probably fit the bill. Mostly the world around us brings us down to this level with its devices. But those are our doing too. Our actions perpetuate this whole depraved and evil kind of system. From the technologies of medicine to the ways porn is produced to the lying ways of the media telling what is literally true but told in a way which misleads, to collective actions which look justified on the surface but their outcomes cause misery and deaths, then more besides, we most of us get caught up in it all, and even government programmes, ostensibly for our public health, help to make sure of it. These passages of scripture tell us where it leads. We really must trust Jesus to lead us in the way which fixes our depravity soon, before we die in these ways, before we have that against us on judgement day.

The greatest influencers

 There are maybe a few dozen greatest influencers in history who influence us all. We do well to try to limit that list. Among the influencers are both worldly and godly people. Some are influenced by the Greatest, God. Others knew not God. If we limit ourselves to following those influenced by God, those who knew God, we could find it saves us. To do this does not mean we utterly reject anything which comes from the ungodly. That would require living in isolation. The ungodly did have some good influence and we use their devices when we communicate online or just about in every aspect of our daily lives. Yet we can prioritise and give most weight to influences from those who knew God. This can save us. 

Unreasonable Science today

If laws of Nature exist now, they must have had existence originally. Chance cannot do anything without those laws. Gravity and chance alone could not result in the eventual existence of complex living things. Another factor must have existed from the beginning to result in life existing today. The one we know as God accounts for life existing. God accounts for life existing better than gravity and chance alone. Denial of this is unreasonable. For Science to be reasonable it must have a better explanation before it can discount God as explanation. Otherwise scientists are basing their explanations on subjective feelings and not on reason. If Science today requires that we discount God in favour of gravity and chance as explanations for life existing then Science itself is not reasonable today. Maybe one day Science will correct this flaw. Science as it exists today is unreasonable because it is unreasonable to insist on material substance being the only thing that exists, when you consider that life exists. Matter alone cannot account for life. Therefore if Science insists matter alone accounts for life, Science is unreasonable and therefore flawed, in its present state. The existence of living things requires the existence of information. Storing information requires information. So information must start with a finite amount and therefore a finite storage system. Information therefore must have existed from the beginning and to have been stored. The existence of the being we call God would account for this. The existence of God is a better explanation than current mainstream Science is offering. There needs to have been some impetus for information to be stored and to grow, from the beginning, to account for complex life existing today. For the process to be put into motion which results in life, it would require knowledge of what information is worth storing that could eventually produce an information storing, information requiring system, which could eventually become complex life. Only a highly complex living being could have such knowledge. A being with foresight and very great wisdom. (Credit to my medical physicist friend, Dr Paul M, for help with thinking this through, also writer Mathematician John C Lennox for thoughts on information and complex life.)

Heavenly promotion

 Jobs typically require an application or some kind of approach to an employer or receiving of an approach from an employer or recruiter. Promotions sometimes have similar requirements. Heavenly standing has become, by Jesus Christ, like a promotion for which you need to apply having received an approach. The approach is the gospel message from Heaven. The application is faith in Jesus Christ and identification with Jesus Christ through baptism into Jesus’ name and teachings, like enrolment into discipleship to Jesus, Lord and Saviour. This unites a person with Jesus. This in turn confers a share in the same heavenly status Jesus has, with angels as servants. No longer are angels beings only to be feared and worshipped as gods. They are servants to administer to those united with Jesus. The systems of traditions of civilisation revolved around beliefs that angelic spirits were lords over humans, requiring priesthoods and shamans as mediators with humans and sacrificial subservience by humans lest crops fail and wars be lost and potential partners be lost to rivals. Now the One Topmost God who is Father and God of the Lord Jesus Christ is alone the God to be worshipped in awe and homage and angels merely provide administration of the things God sends to His own who belong to Jesus, the one Lord over all God’s house. 

What the problem might be with Pharma

 It is becoming better known that the Biblical scripture called the Book of Revelation, or The Apocalypse contains dire warnings about what in its early language, Koine Greek, it calls PHARMAKOI, in uppercase Greek chatacters, ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ. The similarity to pharmacist is obvious. Clearly the connection is there. Ask online translation tools to translate it to English and you sometimes get ‘medic’. Now the warnings in the scripture book are so dire it warrants some investigation into what it originally meant to the author, to Jesus, to God. The warning is of being thrown into the lake of fire on judgment day. (Chapter 20 verse 8, repeated in 22 verse 15.) What kind of person, then, is actually indicated by this warning? A pharmacist? A medic? A druggist? Or like translations into English traditionally say, a sorcerer or a practitioner of magic arts? There are two explanations prevalent. First kinds of explanations say that the Greek translators of Hebrew scriptures in the centuries before Christ tried to translate the words used in Hebrew law scriptures for witches, diviners, discerners of omens, supernatural shamanic gifted workers (root workers in some cultures), magical or miracle healers, witch doctors, clairvoyants, spell casters, invokers of spirits, masters of the occult and esoteric wisdom, those seeking wisdom of the spirit world, these kinds of workers, the translators decided to use the Greek word PHARMAKOI, ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ, as closest in meaning even though this Greek word focussed as much (or more) on drug and poison administration as it did on dealings with the supernatural and spirits. This explanation then assumes that the readers of Hebrew origin scriptures translated into Greek (The Septuagint) were familiar with this word ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ and associated it with its use for condemnation of the supernatural kinds of workers found in the law and prophets (the Old Testament). So the writer of Revelation, or the inspirer the Holy Spirit conveying words of God, selected this word, despite its usage by secular Greeks for druggers and poisoners. This, if true, might mean it does not necessarily point at pharmacists, Big Pharma, pharmacology scientists, medical scientists, medics and drug dealers. That is not to say the law discounted the use of drugs for supernatural shamanic purposes. Oracles were sought through drug use from ancient times by shamans, priests, witches, miracle healers and the like. But the idea is that this is not the primary meaning. The second explanation is not so convenient for modern legal medical professionals and illegitimate drug dealers. This looks instead at more modern history, long after the scriptures were written. The word ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ always did mean both drug workers and supernatural workers, but in the fifteen hundreds the Church was outlawing the supernatural side of such practices but being lenient towards the research into drugs and administration of drugs developed as long as spirits were not invoked to discover them but as long as they were found by experimentation. This spawned modern sciences and modern medicine. Formerly condemned sorcerers, alchemists, medics, were given a chance to survive and avoid condemnation by joining the search for natural magic knowledge by experimentation in the Enlightenment. That did not mean they did not still practice magic. But they could only openly publish findings found by experimentation, by empiricism. So Revelation’s ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ still applied, but this was hushed up. Maybe there is a mixture of both of these explanations which has led to where we are today. Every reason to be very careful when it comes to trust, with medicine, drugs, public sector organisations pushing these drugs and medicines, and media trying to assure us to behave as if these medical ‘miracles’ are trustworthy.

A fuller picture of Jesus the Christ

Could it be that the Parables sections of the Book of Enoch are truly part of the whole book of writings of ancient prophet Enoch writing before the Flood and that the Son of Man documented there really is the spirit of the Christ, thousands of years later named by an angel and given the name we know today as, in English form, Jesus? Jesus was not born until three thousand years after the times of prophet Enoch. Here is a clue to this: In the Gospel of John chapter 8 it is recorded that Jesus said:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” Later the apostle Peter’s first epistle records the faith of Peter that the Spirit of Christ inspired the ancient prophets. He wrote: “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.” So it seems that by saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”, Jesus is saying that His spirit transcends time, the spirit of Jesus as Christ. His Christness transcends time. Spiritually, in all times, there is Christ. There is Christness which is beyond limits to a particular time period. Jesus is that. By believing that Jesus is this Christ, you believe the truth in His saying “I am”. So it is totally consistent with this that Enoch did write of this Son of Man from prophetic experience of this spirit of Christ. The passages of the Parables in the Book of Enoch as we have it today are richly informative about this spirit of the Christ, even calling Him the Anointed One. In one the final chapters God even speaks of “My Son”, perhaps the first occurance of such a statement, predating the Hebrew ancient scriptures. Jesus even strengthens this line of reasoning by frequently referring to Himself (in the third person) as the Son of Man. The human flesh life of Jesus Christ is not questioned, yet in terms of Spirit we find Jesus transcending the limits of mere human life. We can believe in this Jesus’ ability to save and eternally keep on saving us, even bringing us back from death if we believe and hold to His teachings. It is wonderful saving Jesus that we find by knowing the gospels and epistles but also the Book of Enoch. Beyond the limits of physical, Jesus is the helper for us as spirit. Helper spiritual reaching beyond the limits of human physical capabilities, even beyond time and space. 

Death does not put a believer beyond the reach of the Christ’s salvation

  “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 

— Jesus Christ (Gospel of John, chapter 8 )

The spirit of Jesus Christ transcends time. The spirit of Jesus as Christ, Jesus’ Christness transcends time. Spiritually, in all times, there is Christ. There is Christness which is beyond limits to a particular time period. Jesus is that. By believing that Jesus is this Christ, you believe the truth in His saying “I am”. Otherwise, you limit Jesus too much and do not believe in Him enough. If you believe He is limited to the period of His earthly ministry, like the Jews did by objecting that Abraham lived outside of Jesus’ timeframe, you do not believe in Him as being the Christ, in spirit being beyond those limits. If you believe He is limited by timeframe then you will not believe He can carry on saving you eternally. Then you die in your sins, by thinking yourself outside of Jesus’ reach and by that kind of thinking you are stopping Him saving you. We should imitate the faith Peter and John had, as their writings reveal. Peter spoke of Christ being manifested in Peter’s own time but of the Spirit of Christ having influenced prophets centuries before that time. The writer of Hebrews in scripture wrote of Jesus Christ being the same yesterday and today, and so on forever. The context of this saying is the teaching Jesus gave that His believers would not see death. Jesus transcends death. He reaches beyond death. He saves beyond death. He saves in death. He saves from death. He brings believers back from death. Death is no limit to the life of a believer in Jesus who holds to Jesus’ teachings. 

The better kind of faith

In my opinion the kind of divinity many so-called Christians ascribe to God and to Jesus is the kind of worldly concept of divinity from which God commands repentance. Greek theological philosophers such as Origen and church fathers after him, in my opinion, displayed this kind of thinking in their Neoplatonist concept of hypostasis which they extended to the divinity they ascribed to God and to Jesus. Your faith needs to avoid depending on philosophies like Neoplatonism because these philosophies (such as hypostasis of divinity) depend on pagans who thought in terms of idols and spirits of hypostases, elemental spirits, spirits of things (even spirits behind things like viruses and pandemics), and slavery to them. The best faith to have is that which depends on experience of miracles of the power of God. I hope God Himself stretches out His hand in miracles to accompany His own teachings, which came to us through Christ and come to us still.

The belief in Jesus which saves the believer

 It takes a lot to believe the true meaning of “Before Abraham was born, I am.” See John’s Gospel chapter 8. It takes truth. It takes the kind of faith the apostles had. A true feeling for what Jesus is saying by this. He is. His spirit transcends time, the spirit of Jesus as Christ”. Christness transcends time. Spiritually, in all times, there is Christness. There is a kind of Christ which is beyond limits to a particular time period. Jesus is that. By believing that Jesus is this Christ, you believe the truth in His saying “I am”. Otherwise, you limit Jesus too much and do not believe in Him enough. If you believe He is limited to the period of His earthly ministry, like the Jews did by objecting that Abraham lived outside of Jesus’ timeframe, you do not believe in Him as being the Christ, in spirit being beyond those limits. If you believe He is limited by timeframe then you will not believe He can carry on saving you eternally. Then you die in your sins, by thinking yourself outside of Jesus’ reach and by that kind of thinking you are stopping Him saving you. We should imitate the faith Peter and John had, as their writings reveal. Peter spoke of Christ being manifested in Peter’s own time but of the Spirit of Christ having influenced prophets centuries before that time. The writer of Hebrews in scripture wrote of Jesus Christ being the same yesterday and today, and so on forever. 

Nobody is born a Trinitarian

 Nobody is born Trinitarian, and most who eventually identify with Jesus Christ, start to do so long before they hear about Neoplatonist philosophies such as divine hypostasis and hypostatic union. So there may not even need to be repentance from such ideas because the pagan ideas never even get embraced. The mantra still stands: The Lord knows who are His own and everyone who confesses the Lord Jesus must turn away from evil. In the meantime, we face an unfortunate situation in our knowledge of the truth - that truth to which Jesus holds. The problem is that God does know who are His own, and He knows that many of them sin. The rebukes have gone unheeded by so many. And yet God still wants us to find blessing by association with those He knows to be His own, like Naaman only finding blessing by washing in the river Jordan, despite having nice rivers back in Syria.

Heaven

 Heaven is both a place and a system. It is a seat of power. Heaven is a literal location and it is the power system which is run from that place. The supreme Ruler of that system we call God. Yet there is a central way in which the will of this God holds sway. It is way of enforcing honesty, humility, right-doing, run ultimately by God but including the Lord Jesus, the righteous holy angels, the saints, the Holy Spirit and all who adhere to their ways. So collectively this way is called Heaven. Jesus interchangeably spoke of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Heaven. Both are pretty much the same thing. God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Not everyone who is located in Heaven adheres to this way of Heaven. Satan and the like have sometimes been found there trying to exert a different kind of influence but it does not represent Heaven the way God’s will represents it. Entering into this kingdom of Heaven does not mean the place so much as the way of doing things found in overall control in this place.  Taking Jesus’ yoke upon us brings us ultimately into conformance to the highest ways of Heaven, those ways ultimately represented by God Himself. 

Alpha and Omega

The peace we can have from knowing we have found the topmost apex and the very last one standing, so to speak, all in one person and knowing that this Father has a unique Son who is over all, this means we are never going to have any other person come along and tell us we should be worshipping anyone higher. We have peace in knowing we have found the very topmost God and the Messiah sent by this God. We can rest from our searching. We know who to trust and rely upon and there is nobody greater to take away that rest, or challenge that peace. Knowledge and peace which is eternal life and the end of the tyranny of death.

End times according to Enoch

 The things to come shortly, foreseen by the prophet Enoch, are especially glimpsed in chapters near the end of the Book of Enoch.

The Dream of the Beasts, as it is sometimes known, shows a time after the sequence of seventy shepherd reigns. There is good reason the last of these reigns is beginning now and will complete forty years from now. The period following is first marked by the rise of a he-goat figure who revives the righteous and defends the righteous oppressed from oppression and cannot be defeated even by a globally united opposition. There is what appears to be a kind of inquisition as the righteous are given a sword by which to strike out against wickedness. Then there is a time of judgement of the shepherds, these angels being thrown into fire for failing to protect the oppressed righteous. The righteous are also judged like this if found to be spiritually blind. Then an interesting thing happens. The whole organised structure of true religion is dismantled and replaced with something better. Then there is a period in which there is widespread turning of people towards this new structure, this house. Then there is great peace. All is well at last. The world obeys the righteous. The lord rises in power. The timing of this is clarified by comparing it with the prophecy of the ten weeks in the same part of the Book of Enoch near the end. There seems to have been a previous sword given to the righteous which might coincide with the Inquisition of the sixteenth century onwards. There is a turning to righteousness after centuries of apostasy and a following a period of growth of learning which might be around now. The coming judgement times seem to be coming soon. Within a century. Then a time of righteousness until the final judgement in around a thousand years from now. For now we seem to be facing rising oppression of the righteous for the next forty years until the he-goat appears as champion leader of the righteous, a sword is given to the righteous and then maybe a decade or more later when what seems to be the return of Christ happens and there is a judgment of both the righteous and the angelic shepherds who have invisibly ruled them. So the second half of this century seems to when so much that is apocalyptic will happen. Till then, oppression of the righteous. 

Those who hinder salvation

If people do not believe the veracity of the testimony of Jesus, and of apostles sent by Jesus, they cannot enter into holding to the testimony and teachings of Jesus, the teachings which set us free. John 8: believing in Jesus then holding to Jesus’ teachings is the path to saving knowledge of truth which saves by setting those who have it free from their sins. The ones who refuse to believe are doomed to die in their sins, but they also hinder others from believing in Jesus and holding to His teachings. They take away the key, as well as not opening the door and entering. They do not believe in Jesus or hold to His teachings and they then hinder those who would. If it wasn’t for this hindrance, others would believe, hold to Jesus’ teachings, know the truth in Jesus and be freed from slavery to sin.

Spirit and Time

Since the spirit of prophecy can foresee the distant future, then by spiritual power a person can speak to people in the distant past, because they, the people in the distant past, can be made by the spirit of prophecy, to foresee what that person is saying, in the distant future, to them. Then in that spirit of prophecy they can write scriptures which can be later read by that person and to fellows of that person. This might be how the Son of Man interacted with Enoch and how the Parables in the Book of Enoch were written. Enoch was taken up to heaven to that Son of Man and to God. That could be again a phenomenon of the spiritual power of Jesus to effectively have an existence by such spiritual influence in the distant past. It also might explain the ‘existence’ of Jesus before that holy conception in Mary. Jude and Peter in their epistles seem to show this kind of thinking in their influence from the risen Jesus and their knowledge of the Book of Enoch. 

Next level discipleship

 In holding to the teachings of Jesus Christ, at some point it becomes necessary to accept the miraculous side of Jesus’ teachings. It is part of discipleship to do an equivalent of walking on water, exercising miraculous faith in God. Then things starts to get very real. Words alone do not change the surroundings but words of faith inspired to faith by Jesus’ words, this does affect the natural world in which God has placed us. Let faith in God take discipleship up a level. Jesus Christ taught all this. The results can provide a basis for belief in Jesus continuing throughout life. Then incorporating such faith into daily work too affects outcomes and increases wealth according to God’s will in service to God according to the Master Jesus. This can really increase what God provides, and the outcome is that of being a faithful steward. Service in worldly wealth services is rewarded with spiritual service and greater responsibility. Being faithful with worldly wealth leads to being faithful in spiritual things. It is quite a career in itself to follow Jesus: Not a church worker career like a hired hand; a voluntary whole life commitment that never stops. 

The resilience of what God has ordained

 Trees are mysterious examples of the resilience of Nature. They defy the odds by half dying every year then coming back into full leaf in spring. The Book of Enoch is like this too. So is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When God through the authority given Jesus brings things to life they can live even though they appear to die. They come back. This is God’s doing so often in the things around us. Who would have thought leaving the Book of Enoch out of printed Bibles from the Reformation early years till today would fail to kill off faith that it is truly holy scripture. Likewise after centuries of Western Christianity thinking that the Holy Spirit manifestations and dominion in church life had been only for the first two centuries of the Early Church, now these manifestations are back in some church meetings here and there. These buds of new life all consistently tell the power of God in Nature and the way that such power is tied so closely to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. See Enoch chapter 5.

“Observe how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed with regard to all, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. And His works go on from year to year for ever, and all the tasks they accomplish for Him, and change not, but according as hath ordained so is it done.”

“Israel has sinned”

 There is syncretism. That is the problem. Syncretism and sin. Essentially, believers have sinned by including pagan sinful teachings in their doctrine. They should have thrown out such things in repentance. They didn’t. Like Achan son of Karmi (Joshua ch 7) they kept back some paganism in their doctrines, hiding it away. Islam kept its Kaaba. Christianity kept Neoplatonism. So today you get a mixture. We need to wash each others’ feet.

Your light has come

 There we all were, waiting for Him to come on stage, and then waiting in a state like pregnancy for Him to open His mouth and speak. It was as though the whole universe went on hold, looking for that moment. And He did, He spoke. The Son was conceived in holiness by the overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit. The existence of the author and authority of life was now here. All time and space had been forever pulled toward that moment from aeons past and would remember it for aeons to come. The Word became flesh and dwelt with the disciples in the dysfunctional world. Hope had come. Salvation had come. God is with us. God is for us. We only need to move forward with this Son of God, walking in Lord Jesus’ light, growing with Jesus to fill the universe with that light.

Life and its origins

 Life requires information for life to exist in the universe. Life stores information. For life to have formed during the development of the universe it would have to start with an infinitesimal supply of information, then something happen to store that information in a way contrary to entropy and in a direction towards something living. Some force would have to have existed to cause that information to keep growing and keep pushing the information store towards life. That force would have to exist through all time of the universe developing. As the information storage capacity is caused to grow so the information stored in it grows. There would need to be a driver towards this, a driver which existed from the start. The force would either push information storage towards life in the future or pull it from the future or both. “In the beginning was the Word ... In Him was life and that life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not comprehended it” (John, chapter 1)

Natural witchcraft

 Witchcraft originally sought secret knowledge and power of Nature by the help of spirits, in communities of elite, leisurely people of special esoteric knowledge. In the Middle Ages it syncretised with religion but became outlawed if it crossed the lines set by the Church. Modern science was originally, around 1500, called natural witchcraft as it sought to find similar secret knowledge of Nature, and power, but without seeking help from spirits (now, indeed: it even denies existence of spirits), and instead using experiments in similar experimental communities. It was often esoteric, like witchcraft or sorcery previously, and it focussed specifically on areas of secret knowledge taught in times before Enoch by fallen angels: Cosmetics and other coloured chemicals and metallurgy and medical drugs and interbreeding of animals. The Book of Enoch warns how such things angered God so much that He sent the Flood because it resulted in increased sin, promiscuity, immorality, violence which caused people to cry in anguish to Him. The Church had mostly lost the knowledge of the Book of Enoch and, without the scriptural warnings of Enoch, it permitted the tremendous spread of such technologies and sciences. Eventually these communities of leisurely experimentation, unhindered by the Church, (now a Catholic and Protestant split Church), opened the way to the pollution and destruction of the Earth by petrochemical industries and plastic production and global introduction of motor cars and planes.

Right-ness

 Right angles cannot be avoided without consequences. Plumb lines, (weights on a string, held up to show the true vertical in relation to horizontal ground), were important in building since ancient times because building at right angles to the horizontal ground was important and building vertically was and is important even if the ground is a slope. There is a more general concept of ‘right’. A right weight measurement helps fair trade by ensuring what is paid matches what is bought with that payment. The right price only has meaning if we know the right measure of what is bought. Rightness extends into our social lives. Right behaviour towards others can be determined because we have a level playing field and all of us people, with person qualities, are very similar. I can understand how to rightly adjust my intentions and behaviour towards you because I can assume you are similar enough to me for me to know what best suits you, because I know it would best suit me too. Differences can then be factored in such as our differences in age, so I do not address you as an adult like myself if I know you are a child. I can even assume if you are a child and are starving from lack of food and I know it, I can send you food but not necessarily money if you are too young to know how to spend it, and I can assume this is right for you and right for me if you are similar to me at the basic human level. If I know the situation warrants it, I can instead send the food or money to your parents. It all depends on knowing you are similar to me even if you are a child, despite me being an adult, and the general concept of right and wrong applies even though it needs adjustments to match the situation better. Right is best. Once it is adjusted. Wisdom is needed to adjust it well. My tendency to do right or wrong depends on influences within me. Empathy is a factor. Habitual behaviour is another. If I am an addict or gambler or selfish luxury hoarder I might be hindered from doing what is best for me and for you. My inner state impacts on my behaviour even if I know right from wrong and have empathy and compassion and love. If my love is cold I might care little about my addicted habits and never try to sober up, quit being intoxicated, or keep money aside for helping others. What can help the best way of living? The only way that I am confident helps with this in all situations is to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and believe in the God who sent Jesus and therefore dwell lovingly on the teachings of Jesus. The message of the Good Samaritan is a great example of these teachings. Keeping them at the back of our minds ready to come to the fore when their influence is needed and supplementing this with time spent with those teachings in focus and in direct view, this is how to add those teachings to our beliefs in Jesus’ veracity and fame in right living and teaching. Persistence and practical outworking of the teachings when possible, it all helps embed the influence within. Good company with like-minded people is important too. Being part of a community of practice of these things is great. It all helps. Eventually it leads to a sense of fellowship as we find such good company all set in our minds on such behaviour, honest about failings, genuine in intentions to improve. It all culminates eventually in a sense of fellowship with God who fosters all this and fellowship with Jesus who commands it in God’s name. This leads to genuine hope for a bright and loving future, with resilience to resist times of deterioration in social norms. Bad times are bound to come so setting this target and persisting towards it with full, whole-hearted determination is vital now in advance before the worst times come around. The return of Christ will deal with the worst times to come so there is always that hope to wait for as we seek to be steadfast about preserving what is right and eliminating our tendencies to fall short. 

Jesus-ness

 Sin is a matter of falling short of standards. It is possible to be the kind of person who is up to standard in all ways, never falling short. Really? Hard to believe. But Jesus is that sort of person. Filling our lives with Jesus-ness results eventually in not falling short. For this, lofty goal, Jesus provides His words, His sayings, which convey His spirit, His way of doing things starting from the inside and extending out to actions. Imbibing, absorbing, dwelling on, recollecting, responding positively to sayings of Jesus, augmented by ongoing work by the Holy Spirit, gets us more and more towards that goal. Let’s not call it sinlessness. Let’s call it Jesus-ness.

Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ

Live according to the truth revealed by Jesus; this is called walking in the light. Hold to Jesus’ teachings.

Practice continuous self-improvement based on faith entrusted to us by God; this is a teaching to keep us productive.

You have heard of talents and development of our talents. The main talent is faith. Build your self-development on that.

Stay calm and focussed on today: this is a teaching of Jesus. Pray away troubles without worry, leaving tomorrow till tomorrow.

Keep hypocrisy out of your actions and words as much as possible: this is a teaching of Jesus. Otherwise you will lead others astray.

Control anger so it does not unjustly harm others: this is a teaching of Jesus. Otherwise you will be mirroring the devil.

Be persistently kind to the poor: this is a teaching of Jesus. Otherwise the tables will be turned on you in the hereafter.

Treat others the way you want to be treated: this is a teaching of Jesus. In doing so you will be obeying the counsel of God.

Primarily love God: this is a teaching of Jesus. Keep God’s words visible at home; teach them to others. Love God with all your voice.

Work hard and honestly to provide for needs instead of leeching off others or stealing: this is a teaching of Jesus and the apostles.

Stay content and never greedy: this is teaching of Jesus. Life is no more abundant with more possessions.

Reflect often on the teachings of Jesus and welcome them when they come back to mind. They are spirit. They are life.

Pray short prayers: that is a teaching of Jesus. God won’t tolerate worldly wordiness, and in church it is showy and out of place. 

Pray humble, candid prayers: that is a teaching of Jesus. God won’t tolerate boastful prayers, even if it sounds impressive.

Pray with thanks for answered prayers: that is a teaching of Jesus. It is shameful to forget to praise God when God heals or grants justice.

Pray privately: that is a teaching of Jesus. God rewards prayers not seen by others, prayed only for the approval of God.

When praying in church, keep it humble: that is a teaching of Jesus. Asking forgiveness as a sinner gets God’s respect.

Pray humbly in truth. Truthful humility is the language of the throne-room of Heaven. It can be endorsed with heavenly power.

Let God’s power teach and lead your manner of praying, by Heaven influencing you when you believe Christ died for you. 

Take the language of Heaven into your prayers and from there into your daily speech. Truthful humility is that language. Never lie.

Ask God for justice; that is a teaching of Jesus. This avoids taking matters into our own hands and avoids violence.

Pray what you believe God will lovingly answer; that is a teaching of Jesus. Otherwise unbelief will contradict your prayer.

In your prayers, take a moment to forgive others; that is a teaching of Jesus. Then God will find no barrier to forgiving you.

In your prayers, ask for the Holy Sprit like a child would ask for bread; this is a teaching of Jesus. God gives freely.

Avoiding medication and, instead, asking God for healing; this is a teaching of Jesus. The medical ways have a shady past.

Following Christ requires a particular pattern of behaviour, both privately and in relation to others. Truth is central to this. Truth is real. There is the Holy Spirit who searches out truth and testifies to it. If everyone lies about an event there is still the event itself. The lies do not negate the reality that happened. The Holy Spirit searches out the truth of events and can bear witness in full accordance with that truth. When we receive the testimony of Jesus we receive spirit truth and can live by this testimony. This is called walking in the light. When we believe in Jesus and hold to the testimony and sayings of Jesus we become a child of truth and of light. We also become joined to a body of other children of truth and light and we must speak truthfully among ourselves. We are all one body with Jesus Christ as the head, the lord of this household of God. 

Baptism is an important step of obedience, once we realise following Jesus is for us. We let others correct us or tell us how to be a better person more pleasing to God and acceptable to Jesus the Master, letting them educate our minds to be more truthful, knowledgable about Jesus and the Father and everything in the truth. 

The truthful testimony we give to each other orientates us to be spiritual and ready for an eternity with Jesus, the Father and the other believers and even the holy angels. We let others guide us in the true teachings of Jesus to make big adjustments in our lives to accommodate eternal goals. There is all this that we should learn which comes from holding to Jesus’ teachings. 

The ways to be integrated with a church make keeping further teachings of Jesus and apostles of Jesus necessary. Our minds need to learn to reject dishonest thoughts so they do not come out of our mouths or pollute our attitudes. 

It is not always possible to stop our dishonesty and it can require miracles to convince us of the ways of heaven and the Holy Spirit to persuade us to be truthful, influencing us to see the virtue of honest, candid humility and the unworthiness of lying and exalting our egos. The power of Christ and of the message of His dying for you on the cross can open you to this heavenly influence. This comes as a free gift of God as you hold to Jesus’ teachings and the truth that is in Jesus sets you free. In turn, freely encourage and build up the other believers with sound doctrine and kindness, helping believers adjust their behaviour obediently, not causing them to stumble by yours, keeping hypocrisy out of the culture of the circle of believers with whom you associate. 

Worldly influences often threaten to overpower our minds and sully our associations and meetings. Meditation helps to put these aside and give precedence to truth and the influences of Heaven, preparing our minds for prayer and making room for spirit to well up from within as God gives us the Holy Spirit as Comforter. Meditate to acquire calm inner hopeful joy and peace, thinking on true and wholesome things. It helps in overcoming the world by giving room to the persuasions which come from the God and Father of Jesus Christ. 

Singing is another great help too and can be a sacrificial offering of praise to God. Good works can be an offering to God as well. Loving wholesome actions towards those in need and to share encouragement is vital, essential in life in the body of Christ. Christ commands it. Church can sometimes be difficult to attend for various reasons. Things we know we receive from God might be unacceptable to some churches who have become convinced of philosophies that make them resistant to other ways of thinking. Worldliness can have a strong influence on churches and their principles. This has been a historic problem along with divisions and schisms. Sometimes the problem might be our own behaviour being unacceptable to church folk and it might be for good reason taught them by God and good conscience. 

Accept rebukes if given honestly and wisely. Sometimes more than a rebuke is needed and we must even accept being asked to leave until we can clean up our ways. Lately lockdowns prohibit some kinds of church meetings too. If you find attending church too difficult or if it discourages your sincere faith, there may be online services to which you can give attention, and even communion is sometimes celebrated online, a memorial of Jesus in bread and wine showing the body and blood shed by Jesus on the cross. It is good to be able to celebrate this memorial in actual meetings with other believers. It is good to see that others too partake this body and this blood of Jesus and share the covenant status it gives us permanently with God who raised Jesus from the dead. The risen Jesus shares the fellowship and brings fellowship with God to us too if we perpetually hold to His teachings and commands. We can look forward in hope to the resurrection Lord Jesus will bring us when He comes in glory to judge us and lead us. 

In holding to the teachings of Jesus Christ, at some point it becomes necessary to accept the miraculous side of Jesus’ teachings. It is part of discipleship to do an equivalent of walking on water, exercising miraculous faith in God. Then things starts to get very real. Words alone do not change the surroundings but words of faith inspired to faith by Jesus’ words, this does affect the natural world in which God has placed us. Let faith in God take discipleship up a level. Jesus Christ taught all this. The results can provide a basis for belief in Jesus continuing throughout life. Then incorporating such faith into daily work too affects outcomes and increases wealth according to God’s will in service to God according to the Master Jesus. This can really increase what God provides, and the outcome is that of being a faithful steward. Service in worldly wealth services is rewarded with spiritual service and greater responsibility. Being faithful with worldly wealth leads to being faithful in spiritual things. It is quite a career in itself to follow Jesus: Not a church worker career like a hired hand; a voluntary whole life commitment that never stops.