Wealth

Is wealth a good goal in life? Lord Jesus told someone to go sell or cash in all their wealth and give it to the poor so they would have treasure in Heaven before following Him. If we treasure Him surely we will respect the way of life He taught. Jesus teaches that the deceitfulness of wealth can weigh our hearts down so we do not bear fruit and get cast aside. This is seen in the parable of the sower but Jesus also mentioned it at other times. Jesus did say many things like this with a little variety each time so we should niot focus on the letter of His words but on the spirit of them and the understanding they give. The letter kills but the spirit gives life. So we should note as we attempt any exegesis that there is a danger of killing the power of life in the sayings by focussing on meanings of words and losing their power to inspire faith. The truth behind the words should be learned and then obeyed and lived by. The truth here in the testimony is that wealth and desire for wealth maginfies greed and envy and these blind the 'light of the soul' which Jesus said is the eye. 'If your eye is good then your whole soul/body will be full of light'. The brother of Jesus, James brought more to this topic in his epistle by reminding that wealthy people often get that wealth by not fully enough recompensing their workers so they lose concern for the rights of the poor. Jesus taught it, hence James writing of it (the Holy Spirit bearing witness in the words of James) - wealth and desire for wealth gives a conflict of interest with righteousness that as Jesus put it blnds or corrupts the eye so it prevents the soul receiving good light. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man Jesus testified importantly that the result of this can have implcations beyond this life - dire ones. 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul and what can he give in exchange for his soul'. So Jesus did the rich young ruler a great act of guidance by stearing him - attempting to - away from this wealth trap into a path of blessing and life. The wealth of the man steered him away from this path of life into the trap of darkness. His heart was overcome. Here are further examples of Jesus' sayings from what is recorded in scripture on this topic. 'He who wants to keep his life will lose it but he who loses his life for My sake will keep it to eternal life' Jesus was not just meaning life of body but life of lifestyle and means too - from the contexts in which He said it. We might hold too tightly to things we have and luxury pleasures we 'hold dear' but losing them deliberately is how to gain life in Jesus. 'Whoever loves his life more than me is not worthy of me' is the kind of thing we know He said often in various ways. Loving things too much makes way for trying to find a way to avoid obedience to His teachings. It is tough. Victory needs to continue throughout life too - each time we let things now matter too much. Treasure comes as well from persecution and rich believers persecute us if we tell it as it is so here too we can get blessed with treasure in Heaven that reduces tte allure of here-and-now wealth. It is far more important to give to the poor, He said, than the common practices of washing-up dishes and washing hands - 'first give what is inside to the poor then what is outside will be clean'. Justice for the poor should be more our concern than whether we are ceremonially clean or whether we tithe and give enough to religious purposes. Giving if wealth in genuine care of the poor Jesus puts above giving tithes and staying religiously outwardly clean and ritually corect. Perhaps it even applies to hygiene and washing dishes. So there are indeed commands here to be obeyed. There is the word of truth from the Father behind these sayings of Jesus to be obeyed. A key word is 'first'. 'First give what is inside to the poor', 'you should first practice justice for the poor and love for the poor then do not neglect tithing to God' and 'first sell all you have and give to the poor then come follow me'. It gets wealth out of the way where it can contaminate the heart with love of it. 'Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself so when it is gone you will have friends to welcome you into Heavenly homes' - I guess we can take it with us to some extent if we do this with it. Or store up treasure in Heaven by giving to the poor and letting wealth be snatched by evildoers knowing we have such treasure instead. 'Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man gives' Jesus' counsels in Revelation 'buy from Me gold refined in the fire' and I think it amounts to letting go of debts and opportunities to be rich and the profits of dubious means and let Him in turn provide opportunities to do as the Good Samaritan did and provide the attitude of heart and freedom from fear, greed and selfishness to do such things when the opportunity comes. I mean letting go of debt collecting, releasing people who owe you and haven't or won't pay. Of course scripture says we are to pay others what we owe them, not leaving it outstanding. Wealth gotten by not paying our debts when we could pay is illgotten gain. If you are journeying to Heaven then send your cases on ahead before you travel rather than trying to take them onboard and risking losing them on the journey. You might be too worried not to be wealthy in that you might not have enough to protect yourself from evil actions or troubles by legal means or insurance or surplus, well going the way Jesus teaches of faith in God instead and kindness to all especially believers will be about prayer to God for justice instead of taking legal action and so you can 'put your hope in God instead of uncertain wealth'. God meters out justice far better than expensive lawyers when we ask Him in faith - and faith is given more richly to us when we are poor. God (Jesus taught) said to the man whose salary increased so he invested all the increase in property "you foolish man, this very day your soul will be required of you so where will your riches go now" and Jesus said 'this is how it will be to anyone who stores up riches for themselves but is not rich towards God'. Against this backdrop we have even more pertinent the words of Jesus to a very successful person who was obeying the ten commandment "if you want to be perfect, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven, then come follow Me". Later to believers in Him Jesus said "if you hold to My teachings you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free". Selling excess wealth and giving to poor can besides providing day to day needs of the needy perhaps even now and then make someone's day with a big gift. Yet do it secretly lest you lose your treasure in Heaven. 'Don't even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing'. 'in everything do unto others as you would have others do unto you' if you were poor wouldn't you long for someone to make your day just once in a while. Your wealth can do that if you obey God in Christ with it. When Jesus the Christ taught all this it was God speaking through His Only Begotten Son. Each of us could set out hearts on possessing wealth and items of beauty or we can give to the poor what we have and set our minds and hearts on treasures in Heaven. Righteousness is about the latter. While looking at crystal pieces of ornamental fashion and how exquisite some works of craftsmen are today, it makes me remember the crystals of the throne of God and the walls of the antechamber of God's throne chamber and with the tremendous light and heat coming from God Himself it must all be such an exquisite marvel. From such a home God and His Son reach out over and over down ages with astounding grace in truthfulness of their revelations to us mortals and before them our humble prayers are made to ascend to their attention as they oversee the government and development of all things. Set you minds on things above and not on earthly things. Do not try to acquire mortal man's creations of treasure but let go and think of what treasures there are at the right hand of God where Christ is now. So Jesus said "if you aren't faithful with worldly wealth who will trust you with heavenly wealth".

Shining Glory

It is mysterious to me what is the glory of God. The ability to hide and reveal glory was once witnessed while Jesus miniatered in Galilee in Judea when on a mountain top in front of three witnesses His appearance changed and He shone very brightly. Such changes of appearance in saintly disciples has been seen from time to time and I believe I saw it once in a fanous preacher too. Another beside me said they saw it while I saw it and thought maybe the man was a real angel. This angelic appearance can come upon people. Moses had it happen to him after meeting with God. Yet it is so clearly a matter of varying degrees of glory given people because it happened to Jrsus on that mountain top such that His appearance was extremely broght and it happened to Him so much more when He rose from the dead and returned to God. Not all the time because He was mistaken for a gardener after His resurrection but when He showed Saul of Tarsus (who is known now as Apostle Paul) His glory on the road to Damascas from Judea it was so bright Saul was blinded. One time at least a prophet saw the same sort of glory in a vision of God and it was like fire from the waist up and fire from the waist down. The prophet and great Sumerian leader Enoch saw and recorded in writing close up in body this appearance but it was the heat too accompanying God's glorious appearance which is notable such that Enoch had to be specially treated so he would not burn up. Yet these people can have ordinary appearance too so we would think they are very ordinary just by looking at them and Jesus Christ lived all His childhood and early adulthood before His ministry such that many even family members did not think Him more than a regular chap and were slow to believe He is the Son of Man who created and ruled even angels before He was made an embyo and baby by God His Father.

Called and Commanded

Called and commanded. Jesus Christ used to tell people to stop sinning. This is not just a command but also a calling. It is a calling to be a person who is free from constant tendency to sin over and over. This we term a saint. It is a calling to be a saint. Stop sinning. If you do it will be far better for you. If you don't things can go from bad to worse. To stop it might take the freeing of a person from compulsion. This comes when truth from Jesus sets you free from slavish sinfulness. What He meant by sin was lying, hating murderously, lusting immorally. Freedom leads to a better life of speaking truthfully to others in this same calling. Loving such people dearly because of the brotherliness this calling brings. Keeping eachother out of immorality and praying for those who fall into it. The times have changed since Lord Jesus said these things. He died by crucifixion and was held up dead on a cross for all to see. This gave life to many by the death of the perfect man. He rose again but left to return to glory He had before He came together with the God who sent Him. God sent a spitit in Jesus' stead and this is the Holy Spirit. This Spirit teaches still the main lessons of this calling to saintly cessation of sin - turning people to truthfulnrss with cessation of lies. Offering fellowship friendship and partnership with Jesus and Himself to those who obey this teaching. The end of this was foretold to Jesus by God who showed Him a vision recorded in Revelation of the final judgment when all who practice lies and falsehood are thrown into an eternal lake of fire like magma or larva. The ones who fulfil the saintly calling to be fully freed permanently from lying and murderous hating and paganism and immorality and brought together into a new eternal city of God. All through this calling the trachings are preserved in the hearts of those who truly follow these things so they will become the fruit bearers who bring lasting glory to God.

To be a Pilgrim

If a person ever hopes to enter the new city of God when it comes they will have to accept the need for certain changes in behaviour and accept some hardship. A worthy goal demands a worthy life. The quicker we can adapt to it permanently the better but it does take time for some of us to change our ways and learn God's ways so best to start early. Best to start understanding it now and not putting off change of lifestyle too long. "Sinner get ready there's a train coming..." The inner change we need comes, in my experience and understanding at least, with the powerful preaching of the cross of Christ, the inner cutting to the core of the words of that message when God opens your heart to it, the confession to a real believer that we have a new awareness of our sin and need to change our ways and the prayers of such a believer, then the powerful cleansing as the spirit wells up within in God-given spirit power. For me the message sinks home well about Christ's own example of suffering when God gives me dreams. I learn more in dreams than I ever learn in what people tell me. Nobody can say what Christ endured except the God and Christ and Spirit who witnessed it. They can make it known in their way. Sometimes they use dreams and visions that cut us enough to make us willing to share in those sufferings. It means repent, but it takes faith that certain acts are really bad and others are really good and it takes faith that God does the good but Satan does the bad. Jesus said these things (John 8) but the welling up spirit that is the Holy Spirit given to believers makes it real. I can tell a child it is bad to something but they might not really believe me. Showing us things in our inner being is what the Spirit does and this is grace and truth like Christ had. Notice how no matter how much Christ said openly He still had to deal with people individually and do things to show them what words alone could not fully do. He healed to do this. God acted in Christ and God's actions are what teach our inner being the way we need it most. We need grace. We need action by God and by The Spirit God sends in Christ's name. Power. Not just words. This teaches the way we need to be taught. For  Jesus' message to be on one hand that it is up to you and I as individuals to stop sinning and the onus is very much on us to repent but then to say we need Him to set us free to be able to repent and we need to keep a constant permanent hold on His words for Him to do this; It does sound like a change of message. It is not inconsistent. It is just that life does not work like sentences of simple logic that all form one aet of consistent rules, easy to understand. We have to trust it makes sense to Him before it males sense to us. Truth sets free but it remains true even after truth sets free that the onus is still on us. We still have to do the stopping. 'Stop sinning' is still the command even though a lot happens to stop us sinning when the spirit wells up inside and teaches truth to us. We get faith that truth is good and the truthfulness we find in the Spirit is good so we want to imitate it but the message still holds that we have to stop lying too. Tell truth AND stop lying. This kind of repentence I'm speaking of is a partnership with Jesus. Unless you believe that 'He is' the partnership part will not happen and all you are left with is the repentence part. John the Baptist advocated the repentence part in his baptism for forgiveness but told people at the time to look for Jesus to provide this better righteousness partnership. So without it you could find you repent but then go back to sin. Jesus promises freedom from that in partnership with Himself but only if you really believe 'He is'. As as I write these things I only have the work of waiter in a restuarant working with the Chef, Jesus being Chef and the Holy Spirit bringing the food to me the waiter so I can take it to you the customer. I rely on Him and only in God The Father's timing and say-so as manager of the restuarant and owner does this work. So it is partnership. So this means it only works because Jesus ever lives and is ever Lord and Christ and source of righteousness being served to us. He says repent but only in partnership with Him by holding to His teachings and believing that _He is_ can we hope to be perpetually repentant and persist in putting off the old ways of Satan and putting on the new ways of Christ Jesus. Putting off evil lies and putting on truthful conversation and speaking. Putting off evil hatred of believers and loving one another as brothers in Him. This Christ for ages past had been The Righteous Elect One beside the Father but now He has perfected what it is to be righteous as a fully human person and can pass the fruits of this on to us, ever living to do so. And we know it was in His crucifixion that He perfected fully human righteousness. Hence God raised Him to be forever immortal as The Resurrection and the Life. By raising Him, God shows satisfaction that this sacrificial death fully pays for our sins. So now we are to live as free people and live in freedom God's way in Christ. And so achieve perfection and fullest potential forever. Which is of course, He said, to His Father's glory. He is joyful in being glorified in us just as The Father's name is glorified in Him. God is invested in us and we in Him, hence partnership mediated by Christ. It makes baptism into the name of Christ so glorious and so too the gospel which saves us. 

God and Time

What is truly great about the God is how small He can be and how He can dwell within time and even within this tiny world we live in. In Christ He has been the tiniest single cell of the incarnate Christ as well as at the same time being Lord over all the Universe and the mightiest of angels so great we cannot imagine them. He makes Himself our size. He makes Himself in our timescale to speak as He did through an angel in the sky at Christ's baptism and when He said in answer to Christ asking Him to glorify His Name, from the sky, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again". He made Himself known in time and space to the embrionic nation of Israelites by telling them to look into the sky on a certain day at a certain time in a certain direction and there His glory appeared to them in a cloud as a light like the Sun. God can be embrionic in size so too He can be like us in our time. Yet His timescales span beyond the age of all things. So when the time ordained by God for the Word to become flesh arrived there was nothing could stop the right person for that time, Mary, having agreed as God foreknee, finding herself with child though a virgin and so the Word become but a tiny cell and this is what happened. God is what He is and does what He does and both time and His way of expressiion of Himself to us is part of that Sovereignty.

The Bottom Line

I most relate to the message of Jesus before the last supper (some will know I keep going back to John chapter 8). The liars and killers who pervade our society and who we ourselves some of us at least actually are too before we repent, these cannot be called children of God even if they believe. We, they, may go to church and even lead churches and religious groups but while liars and while we, they happily endorse outright murderous acts and sentiments we are in fact in Lord Jesus' eyes and God's teaching children of Satan. So we really do have to repent. We don't want to be caught in that state when He comes to judge. Luckily these are exactly the sort of people He calls to become saints by saying to us all "Stop sinning". After saying it as John 8 records He went to a cross and died for us. Praise God.

Thinking of God

When we think of God it helps to have reliable revelations He has given of Himself. But we have to be ready to bring together revelations spanning thousands of years so we need a reliable guide and criterion to help. This is where we can accept the grace we can find in Christ and the Apostles and prophets and religious teachers and gifted people and if you are from Islamic regions it might be The Prophet Mohammed who is your source of help. There are few scientifically researched facts and findings to help with spirit matters regarding God but some do exist. There is a wealth of knowledge that comes from science and geography and history and plenty of literature with various levels of inspiration. But few have ever matched in light and helpfulness regarding God the Book of Enoch, in my opinion. It presents the God who is accompanied by The Son of Man who He makes known as a true Son to Him. Anthropomorphic and residing somewhere real and He is extremely hot and bright in actuality.

His Joy

When He took those steps with the soldiers of The Temple who arrested Him and did not seek the freedom from death any more that God The Father could have given Him, Jesus was stepping into a future of shame that would always have Him associated for all time with the sacrifice He would become and even now He is alive again we know Him as The Lamb Slain. The shame of His association forever with the crucifixion He endured is worth it to Him from that time in Gethsemane when He told God The Father "Not my will but Yours be done" for one reason we are told of in Scripture: For the joy set before Him. It is an eternal joy that is now His own very great reward from The Father. The joy of being the Christ and the Head of the Church He bought with His blood, the Body that is to be His Bride. Those who are washed in His Holy Blood to be His own. Believe in Him and be part of His eternal supreme joy that makes His sacrifice worth while to this Lord Jesus the Christ.

Fellowship by Christ Jesus' Sacrifice of His Body and Blood

Such is the effect of Jesus shedding His holy blood that it facilitates actual fellowship even with The Father. And fellowship with Jesus is fellowship (being on good terms and in partnership) with the man who lives always who is devoid of sin and always has been. It is quite something! Even those who confess to sin and live by truth but have yet to know in their spirit the spirit of Jesus which reaches out to His fellows, these can still be on good terms with those who have this fellowship with Lord Jesus and can still be in touch with the Holy Spirit who is all about truth and honesty. We can all have some share in this love if we all confess we have missed perfection at times and we love and hold to Jesus Christ's teachings and truth. His blood enables this. 

The Future

From Revelation ch 20 "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who takes part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." There is death coming to most of us soon but a second death we would hope in Christ to survive (especially by being in the first resurrection) - because the second death is the future Lake of Fire. The city that comes when the second death comes as alternative to it will be the reason we purify ourselves right now. No false or idolatrous people ever will enter it. If we want to ready ourselves to enter it we cleanse ourselves by putting false practices and idolatry away from our behaviour. We focus on honesty and true worship and throw off the alternatives to truth as evil and like Satan's own ways. We repent as we see that city being a reality of the future, as events clarify and confirm prophecy.

The Sacrifice that Frees

The sacrifice Jesus Christ has provided of His own blood shed on a terrible cross has made it so that as soon as the penny drops and we realise He really does say 'Stop sinning', calling us to live as people who do not sin any more (saints) then the blood deals with the burden of past sin and frees us from that burden so we can concentrate on eradicating sin from our lives and going forward. At this point God's provision of the Holy Spirit can mean He recognises our belief and intention to put away sin like lying and He comes to us as a sign and hopefully to lead us forward in this way of living and learning to live without sins like lying and murderous hating. It bothers me that many do not get this properly taught to them and they do not realise they have to obey the call Christ Jesus gives (by God His Father's word) to actually stop lying, hating murderously, cheating on partners, lusting sinfully, etc. The blood He shed is supposed to free us to live without sinning (and so be 'saints' in the true sense). The lies, the love of others being harmed, the immorality - it all has to be something we stop doing. That is why He died. To prove it God who told Jesus to tell people 'Stop sinning' raised Jesus from the dead after Jesus died on the cross as our sin offering sacrifice to God. The giving of the Holy Spirit shows we who believe this are accepted by God, so vindicating us. Then we follow this Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. Some who have started along this road may not yet have received this Holy Spirit and so may need to ask God to be given this Holy Spirit to help and lead them. They may need to be prayed for by others too in this respect.

Isaiah the Prophet's Name

Isaiah is the anglicised name of the prophet Yeshayah. In Isaiah 8:18 the very name of Yeshayah or Isaiah is a sign of the name they would give the Messiah.
Isaiah (Yeshayah) 8:18 in the Orthodox Jewish Bible reads
“Hinei, I and the yeladim whom Hashem hath given me are for otot and for mofetim in Yisroel from Hashem Tzva’os, which dwelleth in Mt Tziyon.” and anglicised this reads:
“See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” They called His Name ‘Isa’ or ‘Yeshua’ or ‘Jesus’ and this harkens back to the name of ‘Isaiah’ or ‘Yeshayah’ fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 8:18. The names of the children of Isaiah were signs but so was the name of Isaiah himself. Isaiah (Yeshayah) 8:18 ‘Yeshua’ so much like ‘Yeshayah'. Isaiah was saying in chapter 8 that the names he was commanded to give his children were themselves signs and prophesies but not only his children but he too was being made such a sign. So the signs were that despite all the upheavals and troubles there would come a sure certain salvation from The LORD. The name Isaiah is itself a sign of this like the names of his children. The name given Yeshua is showing the fulfilment and that indeed this promised salvation had now come. Islamic name for Yeshua is Isa. The fact if is like the name Isaiah is no coincidence but a sign, like Yeshua is like Yeshayah. Unfortunately the anglicised name Isaiah hides this by being so dissimilar to the anglicised name Jesus. So this salvation is sent as Jesus the Messiah and the way it works is that by what the Messiah did in giving more spirit-filled teaching and dying as a sacrifice for sin, rising and leaving this Messiah opened the way for the Holy Spirit to be sent to each person individually, as Joel prophesied, and this allows a more powerful converting force than the Law which creates saints as each one who receives all this actually does stop sinning.

Having a Healthy Heart

The heart is a set of muscles so absolutely vital to the body. It is also a metaphor for something almost spiritual in nature about our inner being. There is something a bit like a muscle within our psyche which drives our actions. We can talk about it but sometimes we find it hard to agree on words. It is that part of you and I which when faced with a poor stranger such as a beggar and having a bit of money we can give decides to give and not to be hard 'hearted'. That same attitude of heart is vital to faith. With the same muscle we use to decide to help a poor stranger we can decide that Christ's honour is worthy of our support. The honour and the authority of teachings are responded to with a healthy heart by putting such store by this name of Christ Jesus that we would allow ourselves to act or speak to support this honour and authoritative set of teachings and name. This is what we call faith. Such an attitude can result in miracles. If we are supporting this honour of Christ we can tell Nature what to do and it will be that God will make it so.

Freedom to Stop Sinning

Freedom to stop sinning is a wonderful thing. Staying in that freedom requires holding still to the teachings God gave Jesus to give to us. But it was the blood Lord Jesus shed on that cross that made it possible and makes it possible still. What He accomplished by taking such a cup and drinking it all!

The Nomos

If we live by Jesus' teachings and name we can invoke the name of Jesus to ask God to uphold the honour of Jesus' promises to us. It is our road to receiving help and power from God to overcome any evil around us.

Magma

Comparison with the miracles of Jesus Christ (Isa al-Masih) means this is pretty certainly the true Word of God from the Book of Revelation: Rev 21:6 onwards '6 He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the spring of the water of life to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.[c] 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.”' So we see there will be a lake of fire in the future. Enoch said the same (Book of Enoch chapter 89) adding that it will appear for the final judgment. It looks like God will use magma chambers again but this time not void and this time connected to Earth's surface. Why 'magma'? - because it looks to me that God uses magma chambers underground not connected to the surface but empty as housing for spirits of dead and for His Throne Room and its antechamber. This I read in the Book of Enoch which I believe is given by inspiration of God. Many would fervently disagree, I know, but it looks like Jude agreed. This mentions the places where are held the dead but the righteous separate from the evildoers and the victims of murder separate again (one ancient manuscript adds a fourth place it seems). Then the place of God's throne is similar but more maginficent. Yet it looks like the description Enoch received in an inspired dream vision of the end time judgment lake of fire follows on as magma chamber but this one connecting to the surface at a particular place. It appears when needed for judgment at the end. It fits with the Revelation 21 Lake of Fire. 

Repent

The kind of repentance God seeks today is like we see in the prophecy of the Bible Book of Hosea. There you have Judah in the South behaving as God intended while Samaria in the North had become disloyal to God and focussed on earthly worship of false gods and were even calling God Himself 'Baal' in confusion and disloyalty. God wants people like the old time Samaritans to become like those of Judah. I see two groups today like those two groups of old with one manifestation being in how people pray and women in particular in one of the two cultures pray with heads uncovered while women in the other risk persecution to deliberately resist such ungodly practices and always cover their heads no matter what. Some are in between and cover mainly in places of worship and services. It must have counterparts among the men but not so easily noticed. God knows there are the loyal obedient religious people but also the disloyal flouters. He wants all to be like Judah, according to what He said through Hosea and says today.

The Crystal Throne

We could set out hearts on possessing wealth and items of beauty or we can give to the poor what we have and set our minds and hearts on treasures in Heaven. Righteousness is about the latter. While looking at crystal pieces of ornamental fashion and how exquisite some works of craftsmen are today, it makes me remember the crystals of the throne of God and the walls of the antechamber of God's throne chamber and with the tremendous light and heat coming from God Himself it must all be such an exquisite marvel. From such a home God and His Son reach out over and over down ages with astounding grace in truthfulness of their revelations to us mortals and before them our humble prayers are made to ascend to their attention as they oversee the government and development of all things. Set you minds on things above and not on earthly things. Do not try to acquire mortal man's creations of treasure but let go and think of what treasures there are at the right hand of God where Christ is now.

Outcomes Determined By God

A little demo God gave me. Try a normally random event like a coin flip or in my case choosing a chess pawn from another's two hands. A still small voice whispers 'Choose the whitest looking hand' and I do so thirty times in a row and it turns up white pawn (the other hand having black pawn and even my friend shuffling the pawns behind his back doesn't know which is white and does not know about the whisper). After thirty two times getting it right we borh get scared and stop. The lesson was learned. God might not throw dice but He sure can determine the outcome over and over again. Quantum scientist take note. He surely can create using such determinations and I reckon that might be how He has done it as Christ worked with Him from before all things and from the time He made Christ firstborn over all Creation.

God's Concern About Sin

We have to remember that God is just as much concerned about sin now as He was when He inspired the prophets of old; concerned with the sins of those He would call His own. 'Love God' is the command Christ gave first priority out of all God's commands. If we obey this command and do love God who first loved us we will want to be done with sin - first our own then, once we are children of God, praying for others like us to be freed from their sins too.

Time and Chance

It is easy to understand chance in terms of random events expressible in terms of probability and statistics which mathematics can express and calculate. Yet life events are not governed by chance only but by what is called time. This is time, not as a dimension, but time as in 'your time has come' and the saying 'every dog has his day'. Not everyone lives a random life. There are times ordained. We can perform a supposedly random activity over and over like a gambling game or a sport or a pastime without ever having success while others who science says are as likely to succeed as us keep succeeding over and over. The chances seem so unlikely if it were chance alone at work but surprisingly and debatably yet profoundly it is not only chance at work but time and chance. Your time has not yet come. It will come because there is hidden justice in the Lord over time and chance who determines chance outcomes and gives a time to everyone. Lucky the one whose time will be not so much in this life but in the next.

Living the Eternal Life

Christ did say to stop sinning: He said if anyone doesn't do so they are still a slave and not a child of God yet. To be a child of God it has to be you or I stop sinning and stay that way. The truth wil allow us to do it once we know it by holding to all this teaching. The blood of Jesus brings about a covenant whereby God through Christ sends liberation if we get stuck again in sin as long as we confess our sin and in answer to payers of brothers and sisters in Christ. This stops us becomng slaves completely again and keeps us free and keeps us therefore childen of God - who only has permanently free children. So we are to put off sin (fruit of flesh) and keep putting it off while putting on the Spirit-led opposites of sin like truthful speech instead of lies.

Resurrection Body of Lord Jesus and Spirit Power of God

 It is not always understood that before Jesus went back to where He was from He was made into a resurrected physical flesh and blood human and life-giving spirit. The spirit endures death, it seems. Yet Jesus became more than spirit alone - not a mere ghost. He became a spirit with a flesh and blood body and to prove it He ate physical food in front of His disciples. So He returned in that body and must surely have it now, we can believe, though we do not see it. So the place He lives now is suitable for flesh and blood Jesus who is spirit and all powerful by God's power and can communicate, I found, with us here and now in our normal places of living. The place is suitable for spirits that are angelic and spirits that are divine like the Father we call God and the Holy Spirit who comes to us from there. The angelic spirits can go to and fro and take messages and service to us. The Father who we call God has a real actual throne there Enoch described as either crystal or the like. When Enoch in ancient times saw the Son of Man (Jesus before He came) it was one like a human he described. How do I believe Jesus took flesh and blood resurrection body before going back to God after the crucifixion? All my life people said it to me so I followed what they said and prayed along those lines and followed new testament scriptures including the account of John the Apostle and it led to fulfilment of all the things spoken in that account. So I believe it must also be true what John wrote of Jesus physically dying, like Jesus and scriptures foretold, and rising a resurrected human. The power seems to be beyond energy. Like power of humans as we see in politics or when a human can command service as an employer of a company or ruler of a company. Influence is a better fit than energy. A star can influence other stars and exert influence over stellar dust, as we see with the nebulae like those that look very ghostly as telescopes like Hubble show us. God must surely influence and have power over the natural things like a spirit can influence the dust and stars of a nebula but also God can influence the events of our lives like a monarch or employer or politician or business mogul can so it is not just energy involved but authority and what many cultures call honor or 'nomos'. I called on Jesus' 'nomos' to calm a bus I was on just now so I could write. God calmed it. 

Spirits Exist

There I was considering that spirits exist which protected me many times. I thought it tied in with a scripture. I didn't know the reference of chapter and verse but I knew the words: I repeated the words to myself. Suddenly out of the blue words clearly came to mind I never thought myself "Daniel 3". I hurried to a particular Bible open in my living room. I looked up Daniel chapter 3. No it didn't have those words I had been thinking about spirits. Agh. Why this reference? I kept reading that chapter and near the end in verse 28 there is mention of 'Angel'. I has a little 'a' next to it. A note referenced in the margin. I looked at the margin reference. It says Ps 34:7-8. Only this Bible version probably has that reference and I haven't read this version much at all (gift from a house church I attended). I looked it up and there was the verse I had been thinking about. Clever way this spirit had to show me it is real and sees all things and even my thoughts. QED. 

Against God-Denial

Champions of God-denial have used the argument that you can look everywhere in space with modern technology and not find God. God is a spirit and it seems from the ancient Book of Enoch He is enthroned in immense chambers deep in the heart of a very high mountain, so it is acceptable to say He is 'on high' physically and spiritually. It seems He is not out somewhere in space (except when He goes there), so looking into space will not find Him. Yes His throne is visible physical crystal (from Enoch's description) hidden from sight in a void magma chamber and inaccessible to normal humans without spirit help to get to it.  Instead of trying to tamper with truth to make it fit our thoughts we need to change - renew - our thoughts to make them fit truth. Quantum physics requires physicists to change their thoughts to fit facts, why cannot the creator of quantum laws of Nature require the same of those of us He created and sustains. I recommend deniers of God read and take to heart scriptural passages like John 8:20-32 and Quran 3:45 and the verses around those references (always good to keep the context too). In fact I recommend it to all. We all need to be free in our minds to have truth and light within us to guide us. The first passage there is relevant where Jesus says He will go where others cannot come. He was going back to God to where God is. It is an actual place, it seems to me from what Enoch wrote.  The thing is that Jesus, Isa al-Masih, did come from somewhere as well as coming sent by some One (sent as the Christ, al-Mashir). He did return there to that Someone. He is there now. 

True Freedom

It is wonderful how the hold telling lies and ill-managing anger has on us gets broken when the truth of the blood of Jesus having been shed for us finds a place in our hearts by believing. It has to be permanent release to be rebirth because God the Father only has permanent children. We got to keep on living in the light of the blood of Jesus and not just believe in truthfulness and love but renounce the opposite and keep lies and hatefulness and lust out of our lives long term. Then the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit as a sign. So the very news of the shed blood of Christ is liberating. The deeper power of liberation is in the way the Lord Jesus took the care on Himself before He died of those who would believe in Him through the apostles' testimony (such as in the gospels and epistles and in the preaching of this testimony ever since) and prayed for all these at the last supper. So when He died we were in His thoughts and He died for us too there on that cross and mysteriously we were there 'in' Him as He died so we too died. This directed the life His death and blood gives to us and blesses us all our lives with God giving grace upon grace to help us be cleansed of sin and keep being cleansed as we confess our sins.

Live by the Spirit

Believers in Christ Jesus need to understand that it is by God mysteriously putting a spirit of holiness in their minds that they are to become what God wants them to be. They should know that this spirit teaches by powerful action and not words alone, and that the lesson taught is the way to live to please God. Such lessons are moments not easily erased by time. How is this spirit given? By receiving with faith the message of Christ dying on the cross for you and Christ having risen to live forever, then by prayer. Then sometimes there needs to be prayer by a gospel servant and sometimes even 'laying on of hands' by one designated by God to perform this ministry.

Groups Set Aside For God

Some treat assemblies of God as though they were like any other establishment and as if they were secular organisations but although they are human entities they are set apart for God and need God's ways to be applied to them. What is right for secular groups is not necessarily right for holy groups. Those who disregard the holiness of a holy group, a group set aside for God or for the Christ of God, and try to apply unholy or secular principles to such groups are liable to God's judgment. Better not to judge than judge wrongly and receieve judgment for it from God.

Hidden Son of Man

What a mystery that God hid away the Son of Man all those centuries since He revealed Him to Stone  Age ruler Enoch and mentioned Him to Iron Age prophet Isaiah but did not let the many see Him till He sent Him as a baby to be named Isa, Jesus, at the appointed time. Now known as Jesus Christ who died on a cross and rose again, He is hidden again except seen by a few now and then over centuries but will come to be seen by many when soon He raises the sleeping faithful. Blessed Som of Man; son of the Blessed  Almighty Father. Surely the Father has been making His Son an all time message now a coherent sentence that says Jesus the Christ who was with Him from the beginning was dead, crucified for us each one, and, see, is alive forever and has obeyed His Father and His God even to the laying down of His life in this way. Hiding Him has shone the spotlight on these moments in His life story and highlighted His true righteousness, faithfulness, obedience and unique worthiness. God has taken all hman history to reveal this message to us.

Sin and Sin Lists

When the Law and Prophets written as scripture were guides to Israel before Christ came the concept of sin seems to have revolved around Law. So a list of laws would equate to a list of sins as breaches of those laws. When Christ came and when the words of God were delivered with more certainty by the testimony of Christ the emphasis seems to shift to sin as being likeness to the behaviour of Satan so even without law breaking there can still be sin. Hence 'vile' joins the list in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. So whereas the list of sins as breaches of laws applied before Christ the list is, now Christ has come and established the new covenant in His blood, a list of what Christ testified that God has personally said He regards as characteristics of Satan. These mean a person like Satan is seen by God and Christ as child of Satan and therefore heading for the same judgment as Satan, the future Lake of Fire. John 8, Revelation 21, 22.