How We Must All Change

How should God's light affect me? The fact I have been a liar and have hated people when angry with them is the starting point from which I now have to progress as soon as I realise God is saying to stop doing it. First I have to understand that this is indeed what God is saying and a good way to understand this is to read The Gospel of John chapter 8. Now it is a big change to stop lying and angrily hating so I need assurance Jesus is alive as priest to help me change and assurance His death has been a sacrifice for the way I have lived. When I have these assurances I must keep hold of what He said and move forward to put away lying and hating and know that telling the truth is God's way.

Dabela

"The eagle shall instruct them."
This comes from a translation of what might actually be the oldest prophecy in the world apparently describing our time. The eagle is the instructor to the other birds of prey who attack targets including sheep and lambs. Could it not be describing surveillance aircraft passing instructions to drones and other attack aircraft and oppression being metered out on believers in God who are kind and gentle? The prophecy goes on to describe one who is unstoppable who supports the lambs and sheep. God preached through Christ and prophets and others He sent that people should be kind and gentle like these lambs and sheep and not return evil for evil let alone evil for good. The gentle non-violent lambs are not always protected though from ruthless and over-zealous attacks from leading nations equipped with air attack technology and mass surveillance methods to guide such technology. Yet God not only instructed through Christ Jesus His Son to rely on God for help without being violent but He also taught to pray to Him for justice and believe He would give it against an enemy. The prayer of a believer who does not doubt can do more than all of mankind's forces put together. It can even raise the dead. Submitting to authorities except in direct contravention of God's commands then praying to God for justice and vengence rather than taking it upon yourself can make a believer so powerful that authorities will try hard to prevent such faith but like Pharoah up against Moses and his God, the true and living God, mere human leaders can only dig a deeper and deeper pit for themselves. This power in God's help must surely have been prophesied if one does learn to weild it like Moses did and yes it seems it is indeed foretold that it will excel in an individual called the dabela, not to say it does not reside to a lesser extent in others too. The dabela will be alive ehen Jesus Christ returns, if one interpretation of this prophecy is correct in identifying the return of Christ with one who is in heaven comes to the aid of the dabela in full view of all the world. Enoch 89.

Hell

What is Hell? Judging using religious faith from a combination of sources including Sumerian prophecies (taking The Book of Enoch as Sumerian) and testimony of Jesus Christ along with visions such as John related in The Book of Revelation where God gives His word on the matter, there are two physical places described as places of punishment after death. There is one place existing now and it will be replaced with another in the future (centuries from now). The place of punishment existing now is called Hades and it is described as like a huge underground chamber, perhaps an empty magma chamber, where billions of souls or ghosts of the deceased from all time of human existence are held as if they haunt it but are unable to leave it. It can be seen from this place that at least one other similar underground place exists where souls or ghosts of humans are held without punishment but none can go from one place to the other or others. The place that does not yet exist is called Gehenna or Hell or The Lake of Fire and it seems it will be like a huge magma or larva (perhaps even plasma) area that will emerge close by the site of present Jerusalem. This place will receieve people from Hades and from the living too who will be raised from the dead for a little while for their final judgment before they are assigned there permanently. After this Hades will itself be assigned to such fire, perhaps the very same place of fire.

Three Problems in Church Life

Three problems lead to failure in church life after people hear that Jesus is God's lamb who was raised high on a cross to die for them as sacrifice for their wrongdoing. First Jesus said 'unless you believe that I Am you will die in your sins' and that is the first problem - so many church attenders die 'in their sins' tragically still destined for the second death. This first problem makes it so important to understand what Jesus meant by 'before Abraham was, I Am'. (John 8). The second problem is people not being told in terms and logic they understand to stop doing this and that - stop lying, stop hating when angry and wishing ill on people, stop lusting, stop practicing falsehood like having false objects of worship and stop magic arts like astrology, seances and divination. Then they always need to hold to the gospel teachings to be free and fruitful. This is the third problem that so many hear the preaching but fail to keep holding to what Jesus, His apostles and the Holy Spirit and prophets have taught. It needs to be held to in loyal faith all through life.
So the three steps or three problems to overcome once each individual is presented with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are these. (John 8). First to believe Jesus is and was and is to come, the Christ. Do they really get challenged as to whether they believe it. Second to be called to stop doing things that lead to death such as the key ones first that is stop lying and hating and lusting. Third to learn the teachings of Jesus and those He sends and not just accept them but loyally hold to them in faith as being what God has said in truth. Do they get challenged to never think they have outgrown the need to keep hold of these things? Yet so many are immediately introduced to step three but bypass steps one and two. Straight into detail without being called to believe and live as saints and be one with Jesus Christ who is one with God. It has to be in order for each person. Else they will think they have life when they don't.

A Theological History of Time

Having studied the arguments for and against regiously gained knowledge compared to scientifically gained knowledge I have the following idea of the history of time and the universe. It is a derivative of the religious Logos Doctrine. It is adjusted for modern scientific knowledge of the universe from advanced telescopes but hinges on faith which is helped and honed by such knowledge. The universe was made through the Lord Jesus Christ back before His life as a human: Back at the start of time and space when He was purely a God called the Word (Logos) and the Son of Man. The Logos Doctrine stated that He came into the Universe as a human being born of a virgin and by the workings of the Holy Spirit (a major mystery). It seems that now the plan is that He will fill the Universe as a Human Being (2.0) raised from the dead and eternal; the universe His powerful logic and honour maintains. This in accordance with God's will and predestining sovereign power in the love God has for Jesus His Son. So God existed before anything else and has from the beginning had this plan all along. There must be a sense in which everything changed when Jesus came to the extent a new phase was begun in the history of time itself.

Science and Religion Paradox

The paradox in Cartesian science is that to keep the Cartesian rules you have done break the Cartesian rules so it fails. Science becomes inherently religious about not being religious if it follows Decartes. Decartes, or his followers anyway, tried to rid science of human influences but by following this you allow his human influence. So I recommend breaking with these 'mere rules taught by men' as Christ taught, in favour of keeping rules taught by Christ. Lo and behold the hyopcrisy goes away. Then mix theology back in with physics but only good theology and only good physics.

Crucifixion of Christ as a Sign

The sign of Christ's crucifixion is a sign of Jesus Christ's washing all who look to Him with a heart to believe. He was lifted on a cross after flogging covered Him in His own blood. The sign is like the Roman practice of putting a natural sponge dipped in vinegar on a stick to wash the body with it. The body being washed by Jesus is the collection of those who believe that 'He is' and who hold to His teachings, wanting Him to wash them and letting Him wash them. He said "Unless you let me wash you, you have no part in me." His body bloodied by scourging and nails and spear raised on a wooden cross became like the sponge dipped in vinegar put on a stick. In short it was a curse on sin and human nature and promise by God of Jesus washing it clean of sin and freeing it by the power of spirit, first in Jesus' words of spirit then in Jesus' blood, holy blood of one with no sin, God's lamb, then in the powerful Holy Spirit sent by God to come alongside believers as a holy advocate.

Anthropomorphic

In a special kind of dream with proof it was a reality beyond a mere dream I certainly with zero doubt saw the 'force' people call God and He exactly has 'human' characteristics. Of course He must be more than He briefly showed me but there is no doubt in my mind He would not 'lie' in what He showed of Himself. I'm sure we have this folk memory of Him as anthropomorphic because He always appears to people like that. It isn't because people were uneducated or primitive. I believe being made in His image is about more than such appearance but it does seem to include such appearance and characteristics. Intelligence of course and language expression and so on although spirit communicates with pictures and forces as well as words and God is spirit. The picture of the Logos prophets like Enoch had was of a Son of Man. The picture we get is that God and the Son of Man are as father and son and together said 'let us make Man in our image'.

Source of Truth

That all things known to man were created as seen in all obeying the same set of rules is a plausible dogma but it is not merely the plausibility that makes some believe it but primarily the source of it and the history of how that source was known in ancient times until today. The source is primarily Christ Jesus and the Spirit inspiring believers in Him. We accredit the source with being trustworthy and true. So when we find that this is a consistent dogma they preach we tend to feel the obligation to accept it. Scientists are historically among those accepting it. Who is then to say this is not science?

Dream Messages

Remember those rulers mentioned in scriptures who had messages given them in dreams from God (not too rare an event for a ruler) and were surrounded by perhaps well meaning but deficient advisors who gave mere opinion interpretations of the dreams which the ruler could not trust. One ruler solved the situation by forgetting the dream so no false interpretation could be given because the interpreter needed also to tell what the dream was. Only a true interpreter could do it. Fortunately one was at hand, gifted by God. Rulers have always had such problems with getting true unadulterated messages from God and filtering out the spin and flattery and cunning but false advice. Ordinary folk have this too when wanting to be saved and truly saved. 

Christian Children

Christians have children. What do churches teach such children and think of such children as they attend sunday school or equivalent? Scripture says the children of at least one believing parent has holy status before God. What if their parents do not clearly stand out as believers, for instance they might doubt but then so did the Apostle Thomas. I grew up a son of a pastor and grandson of a missionary pastor and was expected to be a believer, which to some extent I was as far as a child can be completely sure of anything. Yet I sinned quite a lot you might say (and I would agree) but in church they thought me above all that and I didn't like to argue about it (well at least not about that, but I argued a lot about most things!). So I was trapped into lying. I hated it and longed to be known as I was and helped to repent. I was forced to pretend to be a saint. Until someone sent me away and while away I got 'saved'. When I say 'saved' I mean I heard a simple gospel message, confessed to the preacher a bit of real truth instead of the usual lying to fit expectations, confessing I realised the truth of Christ dying for me like for the first time and realised I might not really be a Christian, he prayed with me, I prayed, the Spirit came on me powerfully breaking the hold of lying by teaching me with demonstration practically of power within to tell truth and not lie, I confessed to other believers and saw more power, it stopped when I went home but the lesson was learned. Just step one of many to come. Still seeking to break further holds of sins. So sanctification takes time but starts somewhere - the message of Christ crucified. Now I overflow with joy in certainty based on power - certainty Christ died for me. But more sanctification has to happen and that is partly up to me to 'stop sinning'. Thanks be to God. Each Christian parent has to tell the basics to their children and this could be a kind of preaching. The people who make it into the kngdom of God all become a kind of priest and priesthood requires answering questions about God. I found that many preached to me but didn't do so well enough when I was a young man to help me repent. They mixed the gospel with their opinions about me which were too easy on me. I needed a gifted and called stranger away from anyone who knew me to filter out all that noise and tell it as from God so I could receive it as from God. Then the Holy Spirit anointing came and the preacher was familiar enough with it to let it happen. All this took gifting and a true sending to preach. The preaching by well meaning but all too human folk might only have been hardening me. I would say they were relating gospel concepts but not really directly preaching the gospel. The real preacher simply used a board and paper in the street and wrote 'CHRIST DIED FOR YOU'. Perhaps all the preaching people who knew me weren't at all at fault but were not enough for me to believe because they simply had opinions about and I needed someone who had no opinion or knowledge of me to tell me God's message unhindered by personal opinion. So I needed there to be someone with nothing except preaching of the gospel to do. Friends simply could not help, just because faith needed a real preacher.

The Need for Good Advice

If Science and scientists were reliable in advising then maybe we would not feel a need to preserve scriptures down the generations. Too much conflicting so-called scientifice advice surrounds us about how to live and work and especially rulers must find this upsetting so some have enough wisdom to reach beyond it to seek a true message from a true and wise God who we feel is there. These messages are rare enough that we want to preserve the best of them so we preserve and filter (select) them as scripture and God helps this and actually leads it and provides it. The Jews have been supreme in this over the millenia as priests to all the world effectively. Now some who aren't Jews are involved more than in the early civilisations. Before the Jews some like Enoch did it and Egypt and Babylon sought to preserve such wisdom as that which had come through Enoch and others. The coning of The Christ was a crucial moment in all this. 

A Created Universe

There is hardly a verse in scripture of the evangelically accepted canons (66 books of OT and NT) in which to find anything hinting at God creating more than planet Earth and its atmosphere. This is not saying a created universe is not believable doctrine but it does not primarily come from scripture but more from a review of spiritual insight into the Apostolic faith in the light of relatively modern knowledge of the existence of space beyond the Earth. To my mind the only scripural basis of any certainty beyond forced or contrived interpretation is the Logos doctrine. Christ holding all things together with a law of Christ to which all created things adhere. All things obeying these laws must be so created. The maturing of scientific knowledge leads to an understanding of a common set of Laws of Nature or Mathematical Principles behind all things known to natural sciences so it follows that the Logos belief applies to all these things equally and therefore that all were made by God through Christ.
Considering traditional evidence given for creation taken from Genesis chapter 1, I believe there is evidence that even long before the time of Moses the knowledge of the universe may have been quite advanced. Constellations were recognised. Stars seem to have been understood to be very distant. Explanations of seasons and even the comparison between the lunar and solar calendars were known to Sumerians with knowledge on a par with that of ancient Greek philosopher scientists such as Archimedes and later the magi who visited infant Jesus. God could have explained more detail about creation than is given in Genesis and probably did. Genesis chapter 1 seems to be a very brief summary by way of introduction to the history of Abraham.

Gospel Wisdom

When gospel preachers preach to you do you find it offensive if they declare you sinful without even knowing you? Another way of expressing the gospel is to charge people with being human in nature when we should be spiritual in nature. The cross of Christ curses the human nature that leads to the kinds of 'fruits' that lead to death and so by Jesus being raised on a cross and dying there God was using this as a curse (like the bronze snake raised up on a pole by Moses to curse snake bites and so heal people bitten). This curse of the human condition is to cure us of it. The life lived by the human nature with its deeds that bear fruits that kill us spiritually is cursed and therefore cured by the holding up on a cross of wood of the sinless Christ so we can be free to live a spiritually fulfilled life bearing far better life-giving fruit. Gospel preachers have to admit to a kind of magic in what God does sometimes that is not hocus pocus but a real magi-like way of achieving things. It is worth remembering God is like this. Not all wisdom is ungodly wisdom. There's God's wisdom

The Divine Logic

Of course it would all be futile if Jesus was just a great teacher. There would be no virtue in such a sacrifice from God for our sins so why then the resurrection. The resurrection and His testimony demonstrate that Jesus was and is and will be the Son of Man who Enoch Enmendurana in Sumeria described as being there always with God. Jesus is the one through whom God made all things that exist and He was always known for righteousness and lived in a body in Roman times and never sinned and so was a perfect sacrificial lamb for sin and when He died God therefore saw it as enough and raised Him to life again on the third day to be High Priest over God's House.

Sponge Dipped in Vinegar on a Stick

The Romans putting sponges dipped in vinegar and put on the ends of sticks to clean 'themselves' after the lavatory means it is no accident they put a sponge on a stick and raised it up for Christ on the cross to drink and no accident John recorded it in his crucifixion account (the one disciple to be there at the cross and see it). The raising of that embarrassing cleaning sponge paralleled what God had had His Son become then be put on a pole or stick, the cross, so our embarrassing dirtiness could be cleansed and healed. A while ago I kept getting a message in spirit 'the state of the toilets' which I took to mean God is concerned with the state of filthiness in our lives and now I recognise this is true that The Spirit does say this - that the cleaning of us needed is like the cleaning of lavatories or our bodies after visiting lavatories (rest rooms) and Jesus had to become like that cleaning brush on that awful cross to cleanse us in real dirtiness we have. He has done the dirty job. Now He can help us be clean and deal with living real lives with His Mastery over us. So Christ Jesus became a depiction of a body cleanser for the dirtiest parts and disinfector like the vinegar raised on such an object to His pure lips made dirty for us. Now we owe Him our lives. Now He is Master over us by rights as well as by true nature. Such love that did this for us. Becoming like that sponge on that stick. Dying. But of course it had to be that God would raise from the dead the Son He loves once this work for love of us was completed to perfection.
Just as reporting for a royal family doesn't make one part of it, so reporting this doesn't make me part of it. Faithfulness to it makes me part of it. We hold to it and then have to remain ever faithful to it, or if like Peter we fall we have to be restored and continue to be faithful after that.
You and I have to choose. Either the eternity that you get from what you hsve done till now and will do before you die, or the eternity Lord Jesus the Christ has bought you by dying on a cross whereby He rose from the dead to the new life of resurrection He has now. You choose for yourself. I choose the latter even though it was bought for me by another and not my own doing. I hope He gives you grace to choose the same. God bless you either way but blessings can be yours that last forever if you choose right.

Embarrassing Reality

The real trouble with truth is that it is so dirty some of it. Our lives have muck in them which we have to deal with. We want the truth to be clean and tidy. We want Laws of physics to be so too. But our lives tell us things are messy, embarassing, sometimes or even often downright shameful and any real answers have to be as real as our actual lives. Jesus took all that and had to live a human life in a human body to be a real priest for us. They offered Him wine on the cross but they put it not as wine but as effectively disinfectant (vinegar was used to mask smells by Romans and maybe kill germs even before they knew what germs were) on what was normally used as a lavatory brush or butt cleaner after the lavatory (a sponge on a stick) and raised it to His lips on the cross. Love is real and gets messy when necessary for those loved. God in Jesus did that for your sake. God is prepared to meet us where we are. Jesus was like us and can come to us in our real lives to really help us.
You see, God's magic was that making His Son and human with the filthiness that entails and shame of real human life and putting it (Him, Christ Jesus) on effectively a pole of wood and having it be raised up God was providing a cure to look at and be healed of guilty shame. Now Jesus can truly mediate. You and I have to choose. Either the eternity that you get from what you hsve done till now and will do before you die, or the eternity Lord Jesus the Christ has bought you by dying on a cross whereby He rose from the dead to the new life of resurrection He has now. You choose for yourself. I choose the latter even though it was bought for me by another and not my own doing. I hope He gives you grace to choose the same. God bless you either way but blessings can be yours that last forever if you choose right.

How to Live Forever

I recommend an in depth look at what Jesus taught in public just before His awful but sacrificial crucifixion. It is recorded for all to read in John 8. The answer lies not in guesses or trying not to contradict scripture but in believing that Jesus is first and foremost for all time ('believe that I AM') just like The Father, then holding firmly to His teachings. 'Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.' You need to be set free from lying and angrilly hating and any immorality in this life through holding all your life to the spirit words of Jesus. He said so. You have to have a real inner knowledge of truthfulness that is found in the real spirit called The Holy Spirit in order to realise the virtue of truthfulness and to let belief in its virtue set you free from lying. The truthful speech you will be able to practice with other believers will set you free and you will realise that being like Satan is unsavoury and unnecessary and in fact all you speech can be devoted to being truthful and then angry fearful hatred can go out of the window too because it is of Satan. The freedom will be a first step towards surviving the Second Death (Revelation 19-22) and toward sanctification while you believe that Jesus truly was and is and is to come who died and truly, truly is alive. You will see Him and He and the Father will come to you and make their home with you and give the Holy Spirit to accompany you in life while you hold to Jesus' words of truth and God's words of truth. 

Death

Surely the fearful thing about death is its inevitability, its relentless progress towards us as life goes on, the loss of function as each gets wrenched away. We might not fear a choice involving risk of death because we feel in control. But if we survive it we still have to face a greater enemy which always threatens to ruthlessly take more and more from us irrespective of our own will to live. It is at enmity with us. It hates us. It will not even stop when we pray. Our prayers do not prevent its advance against us. God alone can truly save us from it. This does not stop death being an enemy. It is always our enemy. We can overcome it by trusting God. This will not make it a friend but it makes it a toothless enemy. Resurrection is the only weapon against it. If you or I want to overcome the enmity of death we have to first overcome its chief weapon, guilt. Denial of guilt does not work. It still remains along with the extra guilt of denying it. The ways to kill guilt are twofold; first overcoming the cause - wrongdoing and shameful practices, then overcoming the effects of the guilt we already have. Getting rid of existing guilt while eradicating the causes that might create future guilt or add to what is there already. We need good priests for this, not bad scientists. Not all science is bad and not all priestliness is good. Bad scientists destroy good priestliness. Bad scientists side with death against us (and against themselves) by hindering priesthood from helping us overcome guilt, the chief weapon of death. Thus they side with the devil. Then there is the Second Death, God's great judgement of the living and the dead to come when the time is complete. Resurrection by Christ will be the answer to this too for those worthy to be raised and those who are worthy but still alive when Jesus Christ returns.

Science

Einstein made it his own decision to introduce the cosmological constant. Later the Hubble telescope showed it was wrong. If he had not had this happen in his lifetime he would have died in a world which thought the cosmological constant was a scientific fact. Some would have thought it was a true fact. But we know it was just a choice of human decision, just that it was a revered human who decided on it. Science is very much about prevailing human decisions. In this sense it is designed by clever fallible humans. The same is true in all times until perfect knowledge replaces it. The Hubble telescope forced humans including Einstein to revise the science. This happens all the time. Science of today may be abandoned tomorrow as more is discovered. Science is never known with certainty. Only God's word and Jesus' testimonies combined plus Holy Spirit enlightenment bring real truth to us. Even these are further expanded over time but do not change, being true.

Believe

 We should not focus on imagination to be religious but on reality and we can see bad reality in our lives like false thinking and hateful anger. These are our real enemy. These are where we need to eliminate what is of the devil. Reality regarding God is glimpsed when God chooses to make it known to us. We need to have a believing heart in such times and as we look back on them. There is a scientific instrument we all have - our inner being. God is made known to it. God is recognised by truthfulness and adherence to truthful words. Believe them when you have these glimpses. Hold onto them as a compass. If you doubt, Science cannot help you believe. You have to believe from these glimpses and truthful words.

Finding the Logos

 'The Logos was with God and the Logos was Divine.' The nature of God is that from before all things He had the 'Logos' with Him and through the Logos God made all things. Pythagoras recognised a logic behind all things. The Apostles of Jesus were inspired to use the word Logos with all its manestic meaning to describe how everything was made. This Logos was in the making of everything from the start and Pythagoras wanted to discover understand it in all things. Science could focus on that instead of money then thank God and glorify Him for it. Jesus embodied it but the Universe runs on rules which come from the Way of this Logos. The faith from God says by Spirit that this is Jesus' Way, His Name (nomos). So religion has already found it in Jesus where Science despite Pythagoras has failed.

What Happens After Death?

Wish there were someone to tell us about what happens after death? Two living people know about life after death but we might not like how they tell. Jesus and Enoch. Enoch has never died as such but he visited the realms (huge underground chambers) where the spirits of the dead are and to tell, he wrote the books we have surviving in The Book of Enoch. Jesus told even before dying because He had been Son of Man before He came and because even after the weakness of be a baby and learning like we do He still had the Holy Spirit to teach Him before He in turn taught the whole world. Then He died on a cross and was dead three days while He too went to visit the ancient dead from Enoch's time. Now He is back in charge of angels including the archangels who rule the dead. So He knows. Since this rise back to glory and power He had instructed believers and has written through John the Book of Revelation too. It tells of future Second Death more the thing to be scared of than the first death we all think about with curiosity. Fear God who gives Second Death.

More to Reality

There is more (much much more) to reality than science tells us. But we have to remember some of it is scary. A baby seeing the reality of the world we see gets scared by it and cries bitterly from time to time. It needs comforting and help as it learns this world by experience. So reality hidden from science but still around us is scary too and we need to be helped and comforted as we learn it by experience (and to some extent by other people's accounts like mine here).

Chess Miracle

First time I was ever given a miracle (God working it in me) was sat with a friend now a respected scientist married to the daughter of one of the world top highly awarded scientists and he saw what I saw and knew the fear I knew. We had just been discussing Einstein's theories of relativity and Genesis, age of Universe, light from stars, etc What he and I saw that made us fear was direct evidence of God. Telling it might not be enough to be evidence for you to make you fear so you might despise it and wonder why it would make myself and an intelligent budding scientist fear. It was quite simple and I probably related it in the thread about heaven so you might have already had the details so no need to give them all. I hope my friend will not object as I have not given enough to identify him. The voice (I never told anyone for years and never told my friend lest people think me some kind of sorcerer and judge me but now other events have assured me it was divine like Holy Spirit and not magic) the voice told me to choose something when we were doing that thing you do when playing chrss to determine who is white and plays first. It said 'choose the hand that looks whitest' when my friend held the white pawn out in one closed hand and the black pawn out in the other after shuffling them behind his back so even he... evn he didn't know which was white. I did this thirty two times in a row and every time I chose the white pawn. We stopped because enough was enough and it proved to us there is a hidden God. The outcomes were clearly being determined by God who alone can determine such things, I realise now. At the time I was more ignorant than today (!) and was scared to tell in case this was seen as magic but niw I have more confidence only God can work in chance to determine an outcome so it was God working in me to show us His power as we considered what to believe about science and creation. It was in no way planned by me that this would happen. It was out of the blue - literally.

Speaking in Tongues

If the gift of tongues or xenoglossia has been a sign in times past of judgment by God, it makes you wonder then, regarding sign of judgment, what judgment it tells of now because it does indeed happen today. God is wise in ways we cannot fully understand. He was wise when His Son whom He loved was put by His will up on a cross of wood to cure the believers of the effects of sin and guilt of sin and power of sin but can we fathom that wisdom? No. It seems foolish. Yet love for us prompted it in God. Why a cross? Why such a cure? Why the similar snake on a pole in the desert with Moses? Why Jacob setting up poles with stripes in by his sheep where they drank and so increasing his share of sheep with stripes? All weird and wonderful but wisdom from God. So too is tongues weird and wonderful and wisdom unfathomable. A sign yes but a sign that God will have us speak even to those who cannot believe. "Mene mene teckel upharsim" If judgment has started with Israel and with the house of God what then will it be when it comes to all the world. "Weighed in the balance and found wanting" For unbelievers it is a sign their unbelief is sin. We need to think about the judgment implicit in tongues. It warns us that God could harden us and others as an extreme punishment. If He speaks incomprehensibly we would get hardened in our hearts unless He gave interpretation, like Moses' Pharaoh was herdened by God as a deliberate act of wrath by God. We would end up ever hearing but never understanding and would harden our own hearts against God. This gift is like a message at gunpoint. You have reminded of this. If God withdraws it with a people and speaks clearly or if He always includes interpretation it is like Him putting away the wrath and only showing the mercy. But the wrath is still there as a reminder to listen while we can.

True or False

How to discern true or false when someone claims to be a prophet or presents what they say as it being as if God Himself had spoken it. If God Himself speaks we need signs to know it is Him speaking else we probably would doubt it is God Himself. This is natural and how we are conditioned. Our defense mechanisms. So we have difficulty telling when someone speaks whether it is their own thoughts they speak or whether God Himself or Christ or the Holy Spirit has spoken to them and they are passing it on. The voice of God or Christ or the Holy Spirit always comes to me with a sign. Ask for signs but beware your inner greed and selfish ambitions might make you tend to label them false or true without faith being given prominence. The eye, said Jesus, can be misleading and give false light to you when it is bad and corrupted by greed and other evils. Be sure your light within is good when you want to use that light to discern another. Even how we use scripture can get corrupted by our selfishness and greed. The Pharisees were experts in scripture but still being lovers of money and human praise they labelled Jesus false. The sign can be important as part of a message of prophecy. A manger was the sign for the shepherds at Jesus' birth and pondering it I would think of a lamb (especially being a shepherd) that this baby is a lamb - the lamb for sacrifice for the temple. A  false prophet might try to trump a sign, like one did with Jeremiah's yoke by breaking it. The profundity of God's wisdom is found by pondering a true sign, as the spirit within finds the sign life-giving. I never really doubt true signs given me because they speak to me so well and show how wise God is. The sign of the manger given the shepherds about baby Jesus shows God knew exactly what He was doing when He provided Jesus' birth as His lamb, and in announcing it to shepherds. They say the main business of shepherds in Bethlehem so near Jerusalem was lambs for sacrifice.

Healing Human Nature

The cross of Christ brought healing "he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes healing was provided for us." but indeed the message of the cross brings healing too. Just as pharmaceutical companies do the work to create medicines but it still needs that doctors administer those nedicines else the work would not benefit the sick. The Holy Spirit testifies, yes, but "You also must testify". Christ builds the temple but the Holy Spirit commands in Jesus Christ's name "Build the temple". We can build and heal by preaching prophecies of the word of God and especially the word through Christ that "Christ died for all, the just for the unjust to bring you to God". This heals people of the sickness of the human condition and mortaility. But yes, God willing for Christ to be put up high on a cross where He bled died so all can consider Him there and live - this brings the healing. God raising Him from the dead brings life hope to all too. 

The Cure

Jesus Christ taught that our greatest enemy from which we need saving is our own sin or as the apostle Paul put it, deeds of our own human nature. The cure God sent is the Lord Jesus Christ born a human and even having John the Baptist baptise Him to show His willingness to follow the teachings John was preaching. He was made human so He could be put up on a cross of wood and bleed and die and those who look to Him now are saved from their greatest enemy, that human form Jesus had taken. Receiving this new way of life is about holding to what Jesus taught as God His Father gave Him to teach and being given knowledge of truth and a Holy Spirit to live by, safe from the tyranny of our own human nature.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, centuries before Christ came,  "He is despised and rejected among men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with weakness; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our sicknesses and suffered our pain: and we considered him stricken, smitten of God, and cast down. But he was wounded for our rebellions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes healing was provided for us."

Bible Translation Choices

What is the best Bible translation to read? If you read the 'Koine' Greek of Revelation it is so coloqial it is unlikely any translation will ever do it justice. There are barely sentences used but rather a few words which evoke tremendous meaning. You would need to have Koine Greek as a first or second language to grasp the full meaning. Best to read it in Koine and try to learn it if you can. Same with other books of John. Look at that last sentence I wrote - grammar missing but the meaning is clear if my coloquial English is well understood. I should have worded it 'it is best to read it...' This skipping of grammar and leaning on how words are combined to evoke meaning is how Revelation seems to be worded. I therefore think you are best reading scriptures in 'Interlinear' because translating into sentences results in words being added to introduce grammar which isn't really there. If you rely on translations into grammatically correct sentences you risk taking to heart words added for grammar that are not in the 'original'. On the other hand I learned a lesson from the Holy Spirit Himself (I believe it was Him) about Bible versions that means I take whatever translation is at hand (but wary to put over reliance on words and grammar). My lesson was that during some meditation on a verse pondering its relevance to my situation but needing assurance, the still small voice gave me a Bible reference. Just book and chapter. Sure it was the Spirit I hurried to the other room where a Bible was open which was given me not too long before by a church and this Bible not a version I have heard about before. I leafed to the chapter and could not see the relevance but I persevered and saw a word related to the verse I had pondered. There in the margin was a cross reference to that very verse. So I was sure the Spirit knew this very Bible had that reference and was showing me this. Plus the cross reference itself had the assurance I needed of how it applied to me. I now recognise the Spirit will use whatever is at hand. It seems traditions of doctrinal positions exagerated can distort whatever version we read so once we are sure of a good understanding of a text we should cling to what it teaches us rather than cling to the translation of words. The letter kills. If we cling to the faith and certainty rather than the letter of the text the Holy Spirit can confirm our faith and so strengthen it. So I find to be true anyway. Not to detract from the supreme importance of keeping, say, the words of Jesus in our hearts. They do a mighty job within us to transform us. Yet as I let the words and teachings and sayings do their work as I live my life they do it no matter what version I ponder. It isn't the text I ponder but the spirit in the words. This is what kicks me the way I need kicking inside. This is their power, not the text of the words but the spirit of them - their affect and influence within me. To prepare the heart for these effective spirit words it is important to have understanding and for that the translations can help. To understand that Jesus is the Christ I found the Septuagint a big help because in its rendering of Daniel's vision of the weeks it uses the word Christ and this woke me up to see it actually does prove Jesus to be the Christ. http://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstudybible%2Einfo%2Finterlinear%2FDaniel%25209%3A25-26 . Here the fact it is the Septuagint is very important because it predates the coming of Jesus. Other OT texts are from centuries following Jesus' coming. 

To Save Me From Myself

Thousands of years ago when the new Israelite people were leaving Egypt they were at one point afflicted with a deadly plague of snakes while camping on their journey through desert lands. It was so deadly it might have wiped them out had their leader, the famous Moses, pleaded with God their God for their salvation. The God to save them commanded Moses to have bronze snake crafted and put on a pole and held high for all afflicted with snake bites to look at and this healed them and saved them from the deadly snakes. Over a thousand years later a great teacher, Jesus Christ, came and taught that our one greatest enemy from which we need saving is our own sin or as the apostle Paul put it alter, our own human nature. The cure God sent is the Lord Jesus Christ born a human and being so human as to even have John the Baptist baptise Him to show His willingness to follow the teachings John was preaching. He was made human so He could be put up, not on a pole, but on a cross of wood and those who look to Him now are to be saved from their greatest enemy, that human form Jesus had taken. Receiving this new way of life is about holding to what Jesus taught as God His Father gave Him to teach and being given knowledge of truth and a Holy Spirit to live by to save from the tyranny of the human nature we all share.

The Secret of Life

Not only heeding the teachings of God through Jesus (and the Apostles) but firmly holding to them all our lives sets us on the road to complete freedom from the tyranny of the human nature and keeps us on a road to life of longlasting fruitfulness to achieve our greatest potential to the glory of God. We might not understand or be able to accept all their teachings but we should accept what we can and hold to it. To heed these teachings should be easy now Christ has died for sins as God's sacrificial lamb so we know God is love. Love towards God who loves us so much should smooth the process of accepting Christ's teachings. It should be a simple matter to love God in obedience to what Christ calls the greatest commandment. You might merely be uncertain that the death He died was for you personally and just need assurance of it. Then it will be a change of things as you let yourself be assured that is was for you as well as for others that He died. Then the teachings may be so much more acceptable and comprehensible. Gifted gospel preaching with genuine faith may be all it takes to give you the assurance you need that it is for you that Christ died. Then a simple seeking of His teachings can set you firmly on the path to the best way to live. So given this need of personal assurance, is there a message to meet the need? Fortunately there is a teaching of Christ which points to such a teaching: That it is 'as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness' that the Son of Man was to be lifted up. This applies the crucifixion of Christ as widely to individuals as when Moses lifted up a bronze snake on a pole for anyone who was bitten by a snake like the lifted one to look at it to be healed. A peculiar wisdom of God easily mistaken for folly unless we have better faith in God. Jesus Christ taught too that our greatest enemy from which we need saving is our own sin or as the apostle Paul put it, deeds of our own human nature. The cure God sent is the Lord Jesus Christ born a human and even having John the Baptist baptise Him to show His willingness to follow the teachings John was preaching. He was made human so He could be put up on a cross of wood and bleed and die and those who look to Him now are saved. The Lord Jesus, the Son of Man made human and mortal, was on that cross as God's cure from deeds done according to human nature which lead to mortality and death. Both the sinful tendency of human nature and death itself are lifted up on that cross as emblem and sacrifice provided by God in His love for whoever will look to Christ crucified and believe.

Is it your Time?

The apostle accounts of Jesus' work report a miracle at a wedding party in Canaan, Galilee where Jesus turned large quantities of water into wine and very good wine at that: It was the best wine the master of the banquet had tasted all evening. The time, though, Jesus had said, was not even the right time for Him to do His first great miracle; Mary His mother made Him do it, really, despite His objections. In our lives we can do all we can over years to keep the sayings of Jesus and the Apostles and we can be baptised and attend church yet never see let alone do a miracle. The time has to come for us because miracles are works of God The Father who is the Lord of Times. Yet it can be forced. Mary forced it and only got a mild rebuke for that. When the time is not full for it to happen it can still be urged to happen by loving fellow humans, apart from divine plans and actions. It is OK. But if we wait for God's fullness of time it is better.

God's Son

Once, when trying to be a lay gospel preacher, twenty or so years ago, I earnestly asked in prayer to see God and to see the Son of God and to witness the Holy Spirit so I could preach what I really knew. In showing me over the following months what was granting me the answer to my prayer, God was very effectively acknowledging to me that Jesus is His Son. The sign Jesus did was commendation of Him to me as His Son by God the Father. The coming to me in church of the Holy Spirit soon after confirms it. So now to know that God commended Jesus as His Son those days when two thousand years back Jesus mnistered in Judea and Galilee and to know that God showed Enoch more than four or maybe five thiusand years ago that Jesus known then as the Son of Man is His chosen designated Son by preincarnate Jesus' righteousness and faith, knowing all this makes for a poignant meditation on truth. Having witnessed Jesus myself I know it to be true that Jesus truly is God's own real Son.

The Humbling and Exaltation of The Christ

Why did Jesus, the Christ, die in the manner of execution by crucifixion? Why was He baptised by John the Baptist's baptism? Born an ordinary baby and placed in a manger in a stable? Why such identification with the commonest of human beings? This Jesus is what was known to ancient Sumerian prophet Enoch, long before pyramids were built, at the end of the Stone Age, as the Son of Man who the prophet saw beside the God who is Lord over all spirits. This Son of Man is the One this God over all gods called His very own Son. The sacrifice was more than death of His Son for you and I to pay our past sin's price when we repent and believe in Jesus the Christ, it was for this Son of Man in status and very nature second only to God, it was, I believe surely that He become like the very least and unworthiest of us sinners by being first born a humble birth then being obediently baptised a repentant sinner's baptism then dying a worst of sinners' death. So that worst of us could be atoned for. The sacrifice was a sacrifice of His heavenly glory and status to the very fullest extent in having only the life of a sinner in baptism under John the Baptist and sentencing under Pontius Pilate and death by crucifixion. All heavenly honour and status removed. All for us. So it was such loss that is now so fully been repaid to Him by God whom He so pleased and now He is truly made Lord over all and Christ for all to look up to. Exalted to the highest degree. Placed on a seat beside God Himself. Soon to come as King of kings over all. This is the true righteousness and faith of Jesus the only worthy sacrificial lamb of God. Years ago I got to have a great answer to prayer when asking to know by experience the God who is The Father, The Son of God and The Holy Spirit. God granted it over the following months so this proved to me that He Himself still acknowledges and commends trithfully the Jesus who died and rose as His very own Son. Having witnessed Jesus myself I know it to be true that Jesus truly is God's own real Son. The fact God sent the Holy Spirit who is, I know myself, a spirit of only truthfulness, and witnessing first hand this Spirit in a local church within weeks of these visitations to me, this confirmed it all the more that it is Jesus as written of in scripture who is Son of God. So I have to testify of it and this is the right thing to do from what God has given me to know. For me it took a message in tongues (xenoglossia) in one church and a prayer by someone in another church to lead me to realise that before all things (all the Universe, not just this planet) Jesus was with God and is completely like God so the sonship of Jesus to God goes back to the very start of things.

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.