Where Did it Start?

Want to have faith? Where did it all start? Look back at Abraham. Isaiah 51 starts:
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
and I blessed him and made him many.”
Here is where it all started when a man dared to question the accepted beliefs in idols and started kicking idols over that lined the streets and realised they were weak and incapable of stopping him kicking them and dissing them so they must be unable to help anyone so he dared to ponder whether there was a more real powerful god who could actually save and so God reached out to him as he reached out to God – and the rest is history.

The King James Version?

Some Christian teachers and pastors only believe in reading from one version of the scriptures and it is usually for these people the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible (the 'Thees and Thous' we used to call it). I was not bound to one version when learning to follow the precepts of Jesus - I took them from whatever version I could understand and tried to find an understanding of the original words using an interlinear bible. The important thing was building up a life of practising what He preached and His apostles preached even when it went into the realm of learning to do miracles by faith like He taught. Eventually though He Himself came graciously to me to teach me and show me what He is. This is what/who I cling to now.

The Wise Person Depicted in the Parables of Jesus

Who is the wise person in any of Jesus' parables? The person who hears God's word through Jesus and puts it into practice now if appropriate or if there is no opportunity now they get themself ready to do so when the opportunity comes.

The Letter and the Manager

Some might ask: Is the Bible accurately preserved? Say there is a day when everyone in the company department arrives at work to find a letter from HR on their desks. They find the letter tells them they will each now report to an official overall manager newly designated as line manager for everyone in the department. Some geeky fools might look at the letter closely and notice that the words used show it wasn't the head of HR personally who wrote it even though the head signed the letter. They might think to themselves that the letter probably isn't the original draft and some HR clerk might have changed the wording after it was signed. Some might notice it is not a copy printed from a printer but actually a photocopy of what was printed and they might wonder whether it was cleverly altered before being photocopied. Most of the department however, though they might guess all this is possible, will simply start reporting to the manager. 

Knowledge Puffs Up

"Knowledge puffs up but love builds up" -- we might search the scriptures to try hard to add to our knowledge but if we do not love Lord Jesus the Christ and do not love God the Father who sent Him we will never really understand what He says and we will die in our sins.

Isaiah 59

Isaiah 59. The passage primarily addresses Israel. It ends with the prophecy of Israel (Jacob) again being accepted by God - verse 20. This comes when the nations against Israel will be opposed strongly by the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul in Romans 11 puts it after all the Gentiles who will believe have believed and been accepted when God turns back to Israel to bring Israel into full acceptance and implies that the Resurrection will quickly follow on from Israel's acceptance by God. This is a warning to other nations that the sand within the hourglass will one day all run through for acceptance by God. For the nations now is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Soon it will end and it will be Israel's turn again.

Before we die

The problem I feel we have in our lives is not just that people are ignorant of the pervasiveness of evil practices in everyday life and dependence of society on them day by day (in sanitised form) but the ignorance of the gospel Jesus Himself  preached in its true form since it is so diluted and muddied by misunderstanding among its preachers today. I spent months in my youth trying to go back to it as John  recorded it in his gospel and I recommend that. What we miss is for example in chapter 8, that it is all about not dying in our sin. Major sin can be eradicated from us by Jesus before we die but we need to believe in who Jesus is first and hold to His teachings always. And believing in who He is gets lost in modern Christianity because of historic issues. It is all about Him being a certain being who was with God from the dawn of time and is who He is now and forever still yet alive from the dead - the Son of Man. Believing this and holding to His teachings is essential to having Him free our lives from major sins before we die so we do not 'die in our sins'.

The Ark of the Covenant in Heaven

"Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm." [Revelation 19:11]  "The ark of the covenant... This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant." [Hebrews 9:4] The tablets of stone reminds me of God the Father writing with His finger the commandments on stone. The manna reminds me of the Lord Jesus Christ who is manna from Heaven. The budding staff reminds me of the Holy Spirit who uses the budding of trees to illustrate the authority of Lord Jesus Christ over Nature. All these signs stand ever in Zion before God as constant, enduring reminders to us all.

A Work Ethic

God entrusts heavenly matters to those who have served Him faithfully in worldly matters. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?" -- Jesus Christ

Survive The Fire

Will you survive the fire or be burned up with your dreams? God is fire and eternal spirit and will destroy this world with fire and make all things new. Are your dreams and achievements eternal or all only part of this short-lived world? "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (from Revelation 20)

The Eternal Things

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." "things above ... where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Apostle Paul to the Colossians, c50 AD)
"... and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire. And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent. And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire. And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him. The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him: ten thousand times ten thousand (stood) before Him, yet He needed no counselor. " (Enoch, c2600 BC)

Constancy

Through Enoch, Sumerian Enmendurana, seventh from Adam, the Holy Spirit encourages the constancy seen in Nature. [Enoch 2:1-2] "Observe everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, and the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and transgress not against their appointed order. Behold the earth, and give heed to the things which take place upon it from first to last, how steadfast they are, how none of the things upon earth change, but all the works of God appear to you." ...  [Enoch 5:1-4] "Observe how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give heed and know with regard to all His works, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. And all His works go on thus from year to year for ever, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according as God hath ordained so is it done. And behold how the sea and the rivers in like manner accomplish and change not their tasks from His commandments. But ye -- ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, But ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard words With your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace."

The Resurrection

The Son of Man became a mortal human and in obedience to God the Father He preached to reveal God and truth and then died and rose to become the immortal resurrection human. Without a resurrection other humans cannot be raised and we need resurrection and to be made immortal in order to know  God. Without a resurrection our lives are temporary and not permanent and only permanent people can know God because God is eternal. This is why God sent Jesus.

How God Saves

The salvation of people that God achieves is by the same means as controls first the creation of everything and then the governance of all of nature. This is by the Son of Man as a template - so really that means all He is and stands for and the effect of stability and order and obedience and righteousness and faith it has first on Nature and then, once we believe in it (Him), on us, as we keep a close hold of His teachings - the teachings of this Son of Man who we come to realise is The Christ, The Lord, Jesus.

Enoch's Prayer

Enoch 83:6-8 (Enoch's prayer before The Flood when he foresaw it in a vision)  "Now then, O God, Lord and mighty King, I entreat thee, and beseech thee to grant my prayer, that a posterity may be left to me on earth, and that the whole human race may not perish; that the earth may not be left destitute, and destruction take place for ever. O my Lord, let the race perish from off the earth which has offended thee, but a righteous and upright race establish for a posterity for ever. Hide not thy face, O Lord, from the prayer of thy servant."

Human-Making and Human-Fathering God

The Gospel of John (chapter 8) contains the clear understandng given by Jesus of God being not just human-creating but human-fathering. Jesus explained it as being Himself from Heaven with words from Heaven. The existence of the Son of Man, Jesus explained, shows God as not impersonal but having been in conversations with a human-like being in Heaven since before the dawn of time. This is the human-like Son of Man there as first of God's works. Therefore when God made humans and made them through this Son of Man in likeness of Him, God was not doing this for the first time but was making more people like His Son because He had made the Son of Man His Son to be never forsaken but there with Him always and these humans could be like that too. Then Jesus goes on to explain the relationship between the Son of Man and God and shows this fact about God is that He is Father to the Son of Man. So as Jesus reveals in words what His hearers would later realise in their understanding, once they crucified Jesus and He was raised by God from the dead, that He is this Son of Man now made flesh and blood and mortal, it becomes clear that God can be Father to mortals because they too can be resurrected to be immortal so they can truly know this Father.

An Aside: Flat Earth?

The Book of Proverbs (8:27) probably contains the one proof in the Hebrew scriptures of the understanding existing a thousand years BC that the Earth is a sphere. "...when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep" (Proverbs 8:27) has two words that say it all - horizon and face. 'Horizon' or 'edge', Hebrew chug, indicates they could stand in a boat at sea and in each direction see an edge the same distance from them whichever direction they were and this would be the same in whichever geographical location they were at sea. 'Face' literally human face, Hebrew paneh, clinches it because this is used to describe that circle around the observer at sea formed by the horizon. A face is circular. It clinches the proof because a face on a person's head is curved so the nose is higher than the ears if the face is horizontal and looking from the surface in the centre where the nose is, all that can be seen is as far as the ears and chin and top of head which is here compared to the horizon; and of course the reason for this is that the head is spherical like a ball. So picking these words chuga and paneh to describe the Earth as observed from sea (the deep, Hebrew tehom) shows an understanding of not just a spherical Earth but how the horizon at sea proves that understanding.

Truly Being Saved

Truly being saved from the worst outcome of the Final Judgement is the result of God's work in a believing disciple of Jesus Christ. They're saved when the Judgement is over - those who are not hurt by the Second Death - and they are not among the dogs thrown outside the new Jerusalem city into the Lake of Fire because they are not found to have been unrepentant so they are not at that Judgement liars of any kind and nor are they druggers nor sex workers nor idolaters nor murderers nor fearful unbelievers afraid to face up to truth but they are freed from all this in this life by holding to truth and teachings from Jesus Christ and bearing good fruitful works that are written in the Book of Life to be read out on that terrible day.

Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy and the Pharmakoi

Pharmacy and pharmaceuticals - are these practices related to what God the Almighty and Jesus Christ call 'pharmakoi' in Revelation 21 and 22? Pharmakoi is translated sorcery or practising of magic arts in many English Bibles but it is a word more connected to drugs and medicines than the supernatural concepts we nowadays associate with sorcery and magic. Pharmakoi was a word used to translate words in the Hebrew scriptures related to sorcery but it had wider connotations and still has today. One online translation tool I used to translate the same word from modern Greek translated it as 'medic'. Use of roots for drug purposes to carry out abortions for prostitutes and the like seems to be an origin of the art. In general, attempts to undo consequences of immorality, and trying to extend life, using substances such as those extracted from roots. So 'root'  may be the basis of the word 'pharma'. It also forms a basis for the related arabic word used to form the word 'alkaloid' which is an important part of pharmacy and 'alkali' too in chemistry. In fact chemistry and biochemistry too take their names from alchemy, one of the magic arts. However it is drugs and drugs work, legal and illegal, that seems particularly highlighted in words of Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 - a dire warning to us all.
I can understand Christians wanting to wish away the word used by God and by Jesus but the certainty is there in the word God gave because it came with a strong assurance of its veracity in Revelation 21 before mentioning pharmakoi: "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto   me, Write: for these words are true and faithful...." then pharmakoi are listed for the lake of fire and likewise Jesus too said the same in Revelation 22:15 following pharmakoi listing among those to be in the Lake of Fire with assurance that it is He Himself who sent His angel to John to testify to it in Revelation. So certainly pharmakoi is there as one kind of person to be thrown into fire by God at the end Judgment. So many will want to bend it to mean something irrelevant and different to modern medicine and pharmacy and drug research, production and distribution both legal and illegal but God speaks for Himself.

How to be saved from damnation at the Judgment

How to be saved from damnation at the Last Judgement. [John 8:25-32] '... Then they asked him, “Who are you?" Jesus told them, “What have I been telling you all along. I have much to say about you and to condemn you for. But the one who sent me is truthful, and what I’ve heard from him I declare to the world.” They didn’t realize that he was talking to them about the Father. So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority. Instead, I speak only what the Father has taught me. Moreover, the one who sent me is with me. He has never left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.” While he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus told those Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are really my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”'

What does it mean to confess that Jesus is Lord?

There is a verse of scripture which says that "If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved". In modern times most English speaking people use the word 'Lord' differently to how the word from which it is translated was used by scripture writers, and it varies between countries and cultures. So to say it honestly is impacted by this. In the UK it derives common meaning from peerage and feudal systems which have given it bad connotations. What I believe is meant by the verses of scripture calling Jesus 'Lord' is the meaning of one who is both carer and has authority over all. So belief and confession that Jesus is in authority over all creation and over His followers and cares by providing spiritually and justly as God has given Him full authority, authority He had by the nature of what He is from the beginning of Time, and confessing this belief is what saves us, along with believing God has raised Him from the dead to be alive forever. But we might not find the word 'Lord' fits with this because of the different meaning that word honestly has for us.

Things Above

"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." -- Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church, first century AD.
If faith in Christ has spiritually raised you up with Him you ought to focus on a new culture instead of binding your thoughts to this world. The Holy Spirit reveals things from the world God lives in which is not like this. His vicinity is apart from the world surrounding us with its petty delights and enjoyment of base things. God's immediate environment has perfect design and purpose and evils are kept in check and not allowed to rule. Our world is corrupted by evil having a free pass when rulers give way to it because of their desires for the niceties of this world. God is not tempted by such things and evil must be subjected to God's will and subdued before Him and is usually kept at a distance. Mankind loves methods that pervert the world to human purposes while destroying that world little by little in the name of progress. God's lets nature remain natural for Him.

The Life of Christ

"Consider the trees how they put out their leaves and buds. They do this by the authority of the Name of Lord Jesus Christ..."  When we learn about Jesus from the Holy Spirit and from Jesus Himself we discover more than the lifespan of Jesus of Nazareth between virgin birth and crucifixion and resurrection and ascension. We discover a time beyond our understanding of the universe history before He became flesh in which we find Him perceived as Son of Man before He came in flesh and blood form. Also we discover that this Son of Man was with the Creator all that time and before time and throughout all their Creation of all things. Then after returning to God after God raised Him from the dead, He still lives and always will live. Was He the first of all God did, like a creation before The Creation, a blueprint in human likeness called the Son of Man destined from the beginning to be made human flesh and blood and die for the sins of a huge company of human beings ransomed and saved from the future fire? The Logos.

Be Sanctified by God

We want to sanctify ourselves because we are unsure whether God has noticed us sufficiently to sanctify us or Jesus has His eye on us to ask God to do so. But to be part of God's circle of those He sanctifies we can believe through the testimony of the apostles Jesus sent because He prayed for such people forseeing them. And we can persist in doing good because Peter told Cornelius that his kindness to the poor and constant prayers had come up as a remebrance before God so Peter had been sent to him (even though Peter was an apostle to go to Jews but Cornelius was a Gentile) to preach so that Cornelius could be justified and sanctified by God through the Holy Spirit. How will we know God has noticed us? Because like with Cornelius, God lets us not just hear good preaching of the true gospel but opens our hearts to it and lets it do its work in our hearts to sanctify us then gives us ongoing sanctification a growth in faith by giving us the Holy Spirit to seal us. Want God to sanctify you? Keep looking out for the poor and praying and in your praying ask for good preaching and an open heart and the Holy Spirit.

Can God Truly Have a Son?

Throughout history there have been true prophets of the Creator, God, the Most High, and their prophecies have revealed a way God has of making people so saintly and holy that He calls them His children. This is a rare and special thing and some have difficulty accepting it and preach against it, especially in regard to one very special son who came into history as Jesus Christ. It was to King David that a special explanation by God through a prophet revealed how God can regard a specially chosen and sanctified person as His son. God promised to make a descendant of David into a kind of king God would not give up on, even if that person failed; God would correct and restore them and use others to punish them but never give up on them or take the kingdom's throne away from them. This was Solomon but it foretold how God envisaged having a person rule for Him over His Kingdom and not be allowed to lose that throne but keep it by being corrected and treated not as a temporary servant but as a son. So we should not take offence that God sent word to men to tell them Jesus is His Son and Jesus foretold that He would be given the throne of David.

The Lord's Prayer

"Our Father who is in Heaven: Hallowed by Thy Name" God's name is more than name in the sense we say 'firstname', 'surname'. It is His reputation - what He is most known for - and His way and manner and teaching and lifestyle. It is the name He has for being ever truthful, right, wholesome in His words and what He stands by and promotes. It is His reputation for kindness and love and indignation against injustice. It is all this that He shows to be the holy way He is. We have a comcept in modern times that is similar - we call it 'brand'. Eastern cultures have a similar ancient concept even closer called 'nomos'.
"Thy Kingdom Come." There are going to be four last empires one after the other and the Kingdom of God is most fulfilled in the fourth one. The third is going to last a thousand years and the fourth will last forever (when the Christ hands over the Kingdom to His Father). Two first empires might be on the point of materialising as seen in Revelation 11 onwards. The first will come out of the sea - out of turmoil of many peoples like tossing waves whipped up by angelic winds (as when it first happened in Babylonian then Persian then Greek times of empire). then a little later the second empire arises out of the land. So the third will overthrow these first two and some will see it and some will not - the coming of Christ. The fourth will come after a thousand years of Christ Jesus' holy rule and after the final judgment when God will be among humans who inhabit a holy city greater than present Jerusalem but focussed over the same site and forever God will reign over it and the Lamb with Him at His side and those happy to live beyond the judgment second death will be blessed forever to live in the fullest fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Let it come!
"Your will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven" -- if we pray it we should also seek to do it - not just live for God, seeking to learn to do His will but learn to do His will the way they do it in Heaven - that is tough but a higher goal than other goals.
"Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors" Praying these things to God honestly and really and truly is a milestone to attain. The sins we sin might captivate us in guilt and slavery to sin yet we walk into that trap when we start to sin (sin is rarely a one-off). Serious sins lead to an ugly end of life - sins like lying and sexually immoral earnings or benefits and religion for gain and drug abuse and drug profiteering and the attitude of living in and spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt and finally hating those who are good to us. So we need God through Christ and the Holy Spirit and prayers of fellow strugglers against sinning to free us from the slavery as we do our bit to depart from sinning as we are able. Yet it comes at a cost. Yes we have to accept we will be indebted to Him if we make it through this struggle and therefore be prepared to forgive others their debts so we can ask Him to forgive us that we needed His help and the truth Jesus gives but have to accept it with no way to repay the indebtedness to Him that results. Then we can let His salvation in.
"Give us this day our daily bread" Jesus used the picture of receiving bread as a picture of being given the Holy Spirit by God the Heavenly Father when disciples ask. The disciple is a person who believes Jesus came from God when born having been sent as the Christ and believes that Jesus is the Son of Man ever with God in heaven before becoming flesh and blood human on earth and the disciple is someone who believing this persists in holding to the teachings God gave Jesus to faithfully pass on to human beings to whom He came. So this is prerequisite to asking but God sees faith and gives the Holy Spirit according to His sovereign will but especially to those who ask single-mindedly and do not doubt. So ask so that you will receive, don't just ask for the sake of asking.
So if God cannot lead us into temptation why do we pray that He won't? "Lead us not into temptation" Just like people say God does not do evil or send evil but that seems contradicted throughout scripture. We just should not assume our understanding is perfect and should not take things for granted but should pray God will not send us things we cannot endure. It is true, given it is recorded in the gospels, that the Holy Spirit thrust Jesus out into the desert after His baptism "to be tempted by the devil" - God didn't do the tempting but His Holy Spirit led Jesus into it. So we should pray "Lead us not into temptation".
"Deliver us from evil" These words prayed as much as any words are prayed but with how much awareness of the implications? Jesus was known by the name 'Jesus' partly because the name was common in those days among the Jews but why this name among many names? It was given by God but why? Jesus' cousin was John the Baptist whose name 'John' was given by God through an angelic vision too. Jesus' name means 'Jehovah (Yahweh) is salvation' and this name was foretold in the eighth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah who shared a form of the same name - both are shortened to 'Isa'. So salvation is what God wants us to know is His primary purpose in sending Jesus "For He shall save His people from their sins". Everyone might hear it said "Jesus saves" but the very name Jesus is to tell us that the God Jehovah (Yahweh, the I Am) is the God who saves His people from their sins as He did by sending Jesus. So in confidence we can believe in this name God gave Jesus and in the teachings of God Jesus told and ask God to deliver us from evil and by believing without doubting we will obtain deliverance because it is God's will to deliver from evil those He saves from their sins.
"For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever" - prayed so often and yet so profound. There is no point asking what authority there is for what God has decreed and how God has created things the way they are because it is all His to do with as He wills by sovereign will and in the end He will reign over all things as King. If He says do it, do it. Yet sometimes it is beyond us to understand what He commands and beyond our power to obey. Of course, the power is all His and always will be however great He makes us. And the glory and wow-factor is all His too. He alone of all people is able to say "I am God who was and is and is to come; the Almighty" (Pantocrat - supreme winner against any competitor who always wins by overwhelming power and physical strength). He eventually will have the one Kingdom over all for ever. So that is why we should pray to Him.
Jesus of Nazareth rarely mentioned Himself in open public preaching except to teach about the mission He had as Son of Man to suffer under evil men and be killed and shortly after that rise again. In the Lord's Prayer He mentions God the Father and God's kingdom. It is part of the future that it will end up eternally that God is eternal King and Jesus is Lord at God's right hand, God having given Him, His Son and firstborn over creation, a thousand year reign and power over all His enemies. Even then after a thousand years this Son of Man will hand over the kingdom lovingly and submissively to God to be God's forever. So the disciples of Jesus, united with Jesus will be submissive eternally to God the Father.

There is More

The living Holy Spirit speaks words coming from the vast time Jesus Christ the Lord and God the Father have been in fellowship and Jesus has learned from God. We cannot use the existence of a recognised selection of scriptures, the Bible, as reason to refuse the Spirit's words as somehow inferior. There are words He speaks today not found in the Bible selection of scriptures but in equally holy scriptures not translated and available to those who decided which books to include in the Bible. Now the Book of Enoch is translated into English and can be read online as can the Book of Jasher and others known to Jesus and regarded by the apostles as reliable so they quoted from them. There are books lost still that are equally scripture so there is always more and the Holy Spirit has much to give us which is not available in scriptures we know and we do well to receive His blessings given through Christ by God. We also learn much from the power and fellowship we find in this Holy Spirit so our faith can rest on all God reveals and much cannot be expressed in human words. Sometimes these lessons teach more than we can learn reading scriptures and can set us free from sins like lying and hating and enable us to know and share in the holy righteousness of God.

Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

There is a phenomenon called fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We find ourselves part of something bigger than us that imparts peace and power into us and frees us when we do certain things where with gel with this Spirit and other things we do jar with this Spirit and with eachother when we are being open to this Holy Spirit. We can tell what jars and what pleases this Spirit because we can tell that what jars with this Spirit reduces the sense of freedom and power and loving kindness and peace but what pleases the Holy Spirit enhances the fellowship and increases the freedom within and the power and the peace and joy. So we learn holiness this way and can believe it is the holiness of God we are learning as His name is sanctified in us. It is a holiness that does not endorse lies and egoistic boasting and hiding of sin but loves and empowers truth telling and confession in truth of sin and admission of weakness. Jesus too learned like this how to please His Father and was disciplned by God to do what is perfect in God's eyes even though He did not ever actually sin. He learned the honesty of His own will but eventually to put God's above His own will, even though insisting on asking for what He earnestly wanted would not have been sin, it just would not have been perfect and God His God and Father is perfect and desires perfection in those who loves as sons (or daughters). Jesus doing this unto death assures us He is now perfect and so all the glory shown to us by Him is God's own glory and perfectly God-like holiness.

With Faith We Can Do As Jesus Did

It stuck me with amazement when I first read in the gospel of John that Jesus said "Whoever believes in me will do what I have been doing". It made me realise He did the wondrous things He did not by being something we are not but by the same kind of faith in God that we too can have. He was just as human and weak as we are. His relationship with God is based on mutual love and is exactly the same relationship of mutual love and faith with God that we too can have and really should have. We can have this same love relationship with God as Jesus has, loving God in the same kind of love Jesus has for God and being loved by God with the very same kind of love God has for Jesus His Son. Even when this is starting to develop in us we can do what Jesus did by that same faith in God's love as Jesus had then it can grow greater still because Jesus is there with God interceding for us and ruling all things for us and for God. So we can have all this precisely because Jesus is now a human just like us having been born like us (though of a virgin mother) and pleased God to the point of ugly death because it was God's will not His will and we can grow to love God like that too. Then God's glory and Christ's whole way of love and faith will be seen in us when others believe. Having this love and seeing all this growing in others we are going to love those others when we see this Spirit work of God developing in them. So then we all extend Christ as being what He too is. He has grown greatly in glory and is resurrected and when He returns those like Him now in love and faith towards Him and towards God are going to made exactly what He is now in resurrection glory.

The Glory of God

Jesus the Christ: Although completely human (yes! and so we can become truly like Him), He does the will of God so perfectly that when we see the glory He shows it is the glory of God His Father we are seeing. "If you believe, you will see the glory of God."

Extra Detail of Noah's Flood

Detail of Noah's Flood is provided in
The Book of Jubilees
 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub19.htm
and The Book of Enoch
 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe092.htm
A basin is surrounded by mountains and into it point seven separate immense conduits bringing geological water from immense resevoirs such that all that water suddenly breaches the mountains and sends out a geological tsunami around the entire world, killing all large animal life. This is why animals had to be saved along with righteous man and his family. After the destruction those same seven openings reopened and took back into the earth the water.

Becoming Children of God

There is a Holy Spirit and there are spirit words of Jesus and there is a living Lord Jesus and living God who sent Him and all give truth to a follower and true disciple who holds onto what is given. This transforms the disciple making them put aside sins and let the truth free them from the sins they cannot put aside; so this disciple is being made something they were not before and they are being made into it by the real truth of the real living God. As it all takes over and changes them into a saint they are only a saint because God is giving them through Jesus and the Holy Spirit real truth to live by. This saintliness they acquire is conforming to the real holiness of God. So in this sense they are becoming a child of God. One sin will nor undo all that but it undermines what God's truth is doing so those who love God and His works and truth will seek their restoration because God's love keeps increasing His saving influence. God will restore His work in them as disciples pray for them. Jesus too ever lives to pray for them and give more grace.

What is "The Christ"?

It seems wondrously amazing how we all know Jesus Christ appeared as a baby born two thousand years ago in Roman times and there is more evidence appearing for it in our times too (like bones tested and found to be consistent with the belief they are fragments of bones of John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus). Yet very few know who "Christ" actually is and what it really means that He is "Christ" and the history of Him before He became flesh and blood. God hid it in ancient times revealing just to a few chosen people. Maybe He still does so today.
Most of what people in Jesus' time knew about The Christ who was to come came not from the Jewish prophecies and Law but from a book they had and knew called the Book of Enoch which is where I have found an abundance of spiritual understanding of what it means that Jesus is Christ and Son of Man. The Holy Spirit opened that up for me but the book is readable freely online. The second half of it has most about the Son of Man, the Elect One.

Salvation

Christians speak of salvation; being saved. What actually is the salvation we need? Not a status of distinction while we carry on as we did before and live as what Jesus calls 'dogs', eating whatever scraps we find of intellectual food irrespective of where it comes from and drinking water from puddles even if they have been fouled in. The dogs are not choosy about their intake and spiritual dogs happily listen to lies and sorcery and godless theories and their actions are just as godless. We each need to be saved from being the kind of person that will be cast into the Lake of Fire: "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral" (Greek: porno), "those who practice magic arts" (Greek: pharmakoi from which we get pharmacy, i.e. drug makers and sellers), "the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." -- Revelation 21:8.
The 'cowardly' keep losing their moral nerve,
'unbelieving' reject God-given faith,
'the vile' are repulsive in moral character,
'murderers' kill or hate without justification,
'the sexually immoral' sell their purity away,
'those who practice magic' produce drugs or potions,
'idolaters' rent out worship for money,
and 'all liars' knowingly keep misrepresenting.

Salvation by faith and not by works

The thing is, for salvation, to do as we are told not as work for pay but as prerequisite for what is given as free, believing Christ's word about it is true and salvation through Him is possible.

What Temple is Jesus Building?

What is Jesus and God building? What the builders brought in to help this building? What is the Holy Spirit building? It is in answer to prayers of the righteous leaders among the ancient Sumerians before the Flood when wickedness was rife. Enoch and Methuselah and others prayed that God would wipe the wickedness out completely but create a righteous people who would survive. The start was The Flood when Noah was selected to be made righteous by God and survive it and reboot the human race but this was just the preliminary act of God to answer those prayers. He selected Abraham to learn to reason and then live in belief that the idols were nothing and God is real and created all things. From this root the LORD would create a great plant of righteousness, a living temple, metaphorically of course - the people of righteousness that Enoch and the prophet leaders before the Flood had prayed to see as replacement of the wicked so God could eventually destroy the wicked in the Lake of Fire. This people, though, would be made righteous in nature by faith, not righteous in imposed force by Law. Yet to build a root from which to make the plant God used Law and Moses. Yet it was planned even before Enoch's prayers that God would send the Son of Man to build a truly righteous people by faith and spirit and the Holy Spirit and would be for them the "Lamb slain" but God kept this largely quiet until Paul was given it to preach.

The Return of The Christ

Concerning the return of Christ there is abundant prophecy and perhaps most in The Book of Enoch (chapters 49 onwards, this is freely available in online form, this Enoch being the prophet and king of Sumeria seventh from Adam, Alulim) and, because Christ Jesus has come the first time and we live in times in which we know it, we have all the more certainty of these words of prophecy.

The Most High

The Father is the Most High God and that is why we call Him God. The Lord Jesus, the Christ is the most high human being and that is why we call Him The Lord.

Ask God for the Holy Spirit

The living Holy Spirit speaks words coming from the vast time Jesus Christ the Lord and God the Father have been in fellowship and Jesus has learned from God. We cannot use the existence of a canon, the Bible, as reason to refuse the Spirit's words as somehow inferior. God has breathed some things personally and inspired records of other things (like the decree of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3) to be preserved and the words spoken or breathed by the very Father Himself from His mouth are the greatest words of all far outweighing the words of Nebuchadnezzar. So there are degrees of inspiration and authority even among the words of scripture whereas words actually spoken by God like "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" and "Listen to Him" spoken of Lord Jesus Christ outweigh the words of men even those recorded in scripture. Jesus words are, He said, learned by Him from the Father and since it is the Son who delivered them and since He is Faithful and True they carry most weight. The Holy Spirit directly inspires words like interpreted tongues which are from the truth of Jesus received by Him directly from the Father so the weight they carry is commensurate and need to be treated by ourselves as such, not rejected on the basis they are not from a preferred canon of scripture (though they will be entirely consistent with His prophesies of scripture). Jesus did so much and said so much from God in a few years of ministry that "the world would not have room for the books" if it were all written down. He told the disciples at His last supper with them that He had so much more to say too that they were not then ready for and so how would this be solved? The Spirit of Truth would come and take from what God had given to Him and make it known to them. So that is what the Holy Spirit still does now.
Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to Himself calling Him "Another comforter". I'm pretty sure this was the Holy Spirit: I was pondering things of God, perhaps you could call it meditating, and I thought about how often when people tried to bring me down it was as if an angel was guarding me. A verse in a Psalm came to mind that might explain this but I could not think where it came from and wished it were confirmed to me that this was indeed what explained my experiences. "The Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him to deliver them in times of trouble". Moments later a kind of voice of words spoken directly into my mind said simply "Daniel 3". So because it was so clear and striking I went to the lounge to see my Bible to look up Book of Daniel chapter 3. This Bible was one I was not at all familiar with having been given it as a gift. There was no mention in Daniel 3 until right near the end where the word "Angel" has a margin reference next to it. I looked up the reference and what did it say? I guessed already. A reference to the Psalm where it said "The Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him to deliver them". So I knew this was an actual Spirit who gave me the simple words "Daniel 3" and so wisely proved to me that He was not a figment of my imagination. This Spirit is surely the Spirit described in scripture as the Spirit of the fear of the LORD. Surely He has great wisdom how He communicates proving He exists as a reality and not imagination.
Here is some of the teaching of Jesus urging every disciple to ask for the Holy Spirit: "And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Churches Spreading Bad Teachings

Once you eliminate the truth (suppress it) that Jesus is Lord, rather than Most High God, and that God the Father alone is The Most High God with Jesus the Son of Man and human ever with God raised from death, then you have, with it, eliminated the truth that believing, saintly humans are like Lord Jesus the Christ and are not the Most High God yet they can be raised from the dead and, like Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, can live forever with God.

Inner Blindness

Scriptures are not enough unless a person turns to the Most High God who sent the Son of Man and raised Him from the dead - only then does the heavenly light within this Son of Man reach the inner mind and soul and show a person Jesus is from heaven.

Look at the trees

Trees glorious trees. They can look majestic. In ages past and still today the Holy Spirit tells of a great power causing, governing, authorising their growth and their budding and coming into leaf. The ancient Greek sages like Heraclitus understood it as the Logos and an ancient prophetic book called the Book of Enoch taught it too and it was translated into English as being called 'the Oath' and is associated by divine wisdom with the name above all names given to any human which is the name of the Son of Man, called Lord because He is not quite the Most High yet was ever there with God. John the Apostle tells how, becoming flesh, this person we know as Jesus Christ is second only to God and was with God when God the Most High made all things through Him. He is now again with God having died and risen to be alive forever. So struggle to understand it as it must be true because it comes from the Holy Spirit given by the Holy Most High God, that these trees all have their authority to grow each year as an authority of this Lordship which God from before time itself gave Jesus Christ before He became flesh and now anew because He died, killed by humans like us, and is alive again by God's power. Yes all nature works according to the authority of Jesus Christ's name as The Lord.

Heraclitus

Heraclitus was a Greek sage five hundred years before Christ came. He taught of the great Logos in the universe that is 'the account which governs all things'. This is extremely scary, when you grasp it as reality, but to allay our fears this Logos became a human, flesh and blood breathing man we know as Jesus Christ so we could know the truth without being overwhelmed by it. When this Christ died on a cross and rose in three days it showed all people the existence of an even greater person than Jesus because someone raised Jesus from the dead and this is the person Jesus called The Father, God.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

It was scriptures that first convinced me the Holy Spirit is a person, such as when Jesus compared Him to Himself calling Him "Another comforter". But recently experience I'm pretty sure was the Holy Spirit convinced me all the more. I was pondering things of God, perhaps you could call it meditating, and I thought about how often when people tried to bring me down it was as if an angel was guarding me. A verse in a Psalm came to mind that might explain this but I could not think where it came from and wished it were confirmed to me that this was indeed what explained my experiences. "The Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him to deliver them in times of trouble". Moments later a kind of voice of words spoken directly into my mind said simply "Daniel 3". So because it was so clear and striking I went to the lounge to see my Bible to look up Book of Daniel chapter 3. This Bible was one I was not at all familiar with having been given it as a gift. There was no mention in Daniel 3 until right near the end where the word "Angel" has a margin reference next to it. I looked up the reference and what did it say? I guessed already. A reference to the Psalm where it said "The Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him to deliver them". So I knew this was an actual Spirit who gave me the simple words "Daniel 3" and so wisely proved to me that He was not a figment of my imagination. This Spirit is surely the Spirit described in scripture as the Spirit of the fear of the LORD. Surely He has great wisdom how He communicates proving He exists as a reality and not imagination. To me that is what a person does.

Do not die in your sins

The Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth came preaching to the Jews who knew well the prophetic visions of a Son of Man in the Book of Enoch and Book of Daniel. Then just before they crucified Jesus who they hated, Jesus told them: "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He [the Son of Man], and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as My Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." He told them that they would die still with their sins left in them unless they believed this: He is this Son of Man. He then told those who did believe that to be freed from their slavery to their lying and hating and other such sins they had to keep Jesus' teachings given by The Father. He said "Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." [Reference Gospel of John chapter 8] After God raised Jesus from the dead, showing Jesus is His Son, Jesus revealed that God will eternally commit those who persist in lying and murderous attitudes and clever wizardry and filthy living to an eternal lake of fire to come and those who believe and are set free by the truth in Jesus will live forever. [Reference: Book of Revelation]

The Bible

The Bible scriptures mostly came about by dreams and visions seen only by one person - the creation of the ancient nation of Israel, The Exodus, the Law of Moses, the anointing of Saul, David, the building of the Temple by Solomon, Solomon given a dream in which he asked for wisdom, the Prophets and parts of Psalms. Jesus is called Christ because Joseph and Mary had dreams and visions and John the Baptist was told "The one on whom you see the Spirit descend is He who will baptise with the Holy Spirit" so he recognised what looked like a dove descending onto Jesus as the Holy Spirit. Peter took the Gospel to Gentiles on the basis of a dream vision only he saw but other disciples believed. Paul (Saul) did the same on the basis of a dream Ananias saw in which God appeared to him and told him to go and appoint Saul a light to the Gentiles. But the dreams and visions were followed up by actions and events ordained by God as seen most of all in the miracles and resurrection of Jesus Christ and then manifestations of the Holy Spirit to us in churches and outside them too prove it all, sealing it and authenticating all those visions so they are more certain. "We have the word of the prophets made more certain and you do well to pay attention to them as to a light in a dark place."

How I came to believe that Jesus is The Son of Man

I reckon God sanctifies Himself to some - proves Himself righteous and holy: He proves that directly to some people. Then they know His Spirit is truthful by nature. That happened to me. Then I came across the Holy Spirit manifested in a church meeting and was so convinced to certainty that an uttering was of the Holy Spirit that although I had trouble believing what was actually said, I still knew it must be truthful coming from the same holiness as is in God. So then to come across the Book of Enoch and see that same utterance there while not found in other scriptures, I knew this book is of the Holy Spirit too so I bought a copy and was hugely blessed delving into it. There I found all about the Son of Man and all the historic proof I needed to know the book is authentic predating Noah's Flood. So clear was it to me that I was really and truly reading about Jesus. I had to believe with certainty that Jesus is this Son of Man and this proved what Jesus meant by "Before Abraham was, I am". Son of Man means or strongly implies human although He had not in the time Enoch wrote of Him been made flesh but He was and is and will be what He is, so humanity was always there in Him from before time but all the more now He is made flesh and resurrected to live as human forever.

The Mystery of God

God is not a human. Jesus Christ is a human. Yet what God does, Jesus Christ does.

Hope

You are a human being: Christ is a human being. Here is the hope that God will give you the Holy Spirit: Christ died for you.

"The Eye is the Lamp of the Body"

So many of the main highlights of the life lived following Jesus radiate out from heightened inner states with which we are blessed from time to time as we consider things we had too cloudy or cluttered or worried a mind to rightly contemplate before. This makes it worth it. Often factors seem to be involved that have something special about them and significance that we cannot quite put a finger on but we find they are likely there described very wisely in sayings of Jesus (if only we could understand them). So even if we don't understand a particular saying of Jesus it is important to remember and ponder it because likely later we will exeperience blessing or chastisement and realise what the saying meant. He was, by God's words given Him, describing things He Himself knew (having been made a human like us but without the sin) and knew deep goings on in the human mind and things the Holy Spirit does to inspire and bless. Greatest of all is that we ultimately need to have real genuine faith that Jesus is Lord and the Son of Man and be clear minded enough (as the veil is taken away from our hearts) to be able to perceive His glory and ponder it and become glorious too.

Live out the certianty given by God

When God gave the Law to Moses it produced a kind of sanctimonious cockiness in many 'I'm OK, I keep the Law' but when God followed it up by sending the Christ it produced more certainty about what is right to do in changing our ways and learning a new way (like quitting our lying because it is evil and speaking only truthfully as much as we can like learning a new language and ditching our old language). So we need to keep at it with living by this certainty Jesus gives; just because many do not share this certainty it does not mean we should neglect to live it out in our lives. We have a duty to God to let our actions live out the certainty God has placed within us regarding what is true and right.

Jesus Christ Preached Hellfire to Urge Repentance

What did Jesus Christ say about Hades and about Gehenna and the Lake of Fire and did He 'preach hellfire' in order to urge repentance? A teaching of Jesus recorded in the Gospels warns of Hades immediately after death and before the Judgment for the selfish rich who neglect those in direst ill-health and poverty. Another saying warned the hometown of Jesus about a Hades destination for rejecting His teachings and divine calling. Then there are a few Gehenna teachings of Jesus Christ that are recorded in the Gospels. Four teachings recorded concerned Gehenna as distinct from Hades - one in Matthew chapter 5 and again in Matthew 18, another in Matthew 5, one in Matthew 10 and one in Matthew 23. The Gehenna sayings are all about ceasing from sin because of the awfulness of being cast into Gehenna. The awfulness of it is used by Jesus as all that is necessary to justify drastic action to prevent further sin. It is motivation Pharisees need to desist from hypocrisy (although virtually impossible given how hypocritical they were). It is the motivation advocated by Jesus for desisting from hating a brother even merely vocally. Plus it is reason sufficient on its own for fearing God who can consign us there. In Revelation Jesus, after His resurrection and ascension, switched to teaching about the Lake of Fire and again used it to teach the awful  folly and wickedness of those who will not repent and will be thrown into it at the Judgment as a result.

"Where there is a body, there the vultures will gather"

"Where there is a body, there the vultures will gather"
The works and signs of these times before the outfolding apocalypse will not be confined to one country or region or territory. The vulture does not care where the carcass lies, whether in this territory or that; it will go to that carcass gathering with other vultures wherever that body is. We are going to see more of the signs of God and terrible times no matter where we live. The signs of today and yesterday are monitoring of daily activities by authorities who act in good faith but pry into every part of our lives and find out our wrongdoing and follow up with punishment because of that wrongdoing. Like vultures the press amplify and publish abroad all our faults but this is only the beginning of troubles to come as God starts to visit on us wrath for the persecutions and destructiveness and clever but wicked and amoral progress we all make. Wherever that carvass is, there the vultures will gather.

Words and Experience

There are two ways God uses to give knowledge - through words and through experience. He sends Holy Spirit to those who believe and the Spirit from God imparts words of inspiration and visions and power which lead a believer towards more truth from God. There are also experiences God gives such as miracles and encounters with Jesus (like the Apostle Paul's Damacus Road Experience) which impart more knowledge that can be cherished and pondered and lovingly leads towards more truth from God. Don't miss out.

The Afterlife

[Enoch 22] "And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the west another great and high mountain of hard rock. And there were four hollow places in it, deep and very smooth: three of them were dark and one bright; and there was a fountain of water in its midst. And I said: 'How smooth are these hollow places, and deep and dark to view.' Then Raphael answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirits of the souls of the dead should assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here. And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement and till their appointed period till the period appointed, till the great judgement (comes) upon them.'" ... (except missed about the ghost of Abel) ... "Then I asked regarding all the hollow places: 'Why is one separated from the other?' And he answered me saying: 'These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated.

And this division has been made for the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of water.

And this has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed upon them in their lifetime. Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain, till the great day of judgement, scourgings, and torments of the accursed for ever, so that (there maybe) retribution for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever.

And this division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days of the sinners.

And this has been made for the spirits of men who shall not be righteous but sinners, who are godless, and of the lawless they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be punished in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence. Then I blessed the Lord of Glory and said: 'Blessed art Thou, Lord of righteousness, who rulest over the world.'"

[Enoch 89:33ff] "... And he spoke to the man who wrote in his presence, who was one of the seven white ones, saying, Take those seventy shepherds, to whom I delivered up the sheep, and who receiving them killed more of them than I commanded. Behold, I saw them all bound, and all standing before him. First came on the trial of the stars, which, being judged, and found guilty, went to the place of punishment. They thrust them into a place, deep, and full of flaming fire, and full of pillars of fire. Then the seventy shepherds were judged, and being found guilty, were thrust into the flaming abyss. At that time likewise I perceived, that one abyss was thus opened in the midst of the earth, which was full of fire. And to this were brought the blind sheep; which being judged, and found guilty, were all thrust into that abyss of fire on the earth, and burnt. The abyss was on the right of that house. And I saw the sheep burning, and their bones consuming. I stood beholding him immerge that ancient house, while they brought out its pillars, every plant in it, and the ivory infolding it. They brought it out, and deposited it in a place on the right side of the earth. I also saw, that the Lord of the sheep produced a new house, great, and loftier than the former, which he bounded by the former circular spot. All its pillars were new, and its ivory new, as well as more abundant than the former ancient ivory, which he had brought out. And while all the sheep which were left were in the midst of it, all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds of heaven, fell down and worshipped them, petitioning them, and obeying them in everything."

Jesus Christ ended His lesson about the afterlife: "Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’"

Why the Book of Enoch?

Why do I quote so often from The Book of Enoch as scripture? It has had centuries of wicked suppression by the churches which needs redressing since it is the work of the Holy Spirit. I also love to quote from The Gospel of John and The Book of Revelation; Revelation has been suppressed like Enoch too. So few believers know Enoch's writings exist so I want to give people a joyful surprise of scriptural water of life, unadulterated by liberal theologians and higher criticism unlike the other scriptures. Most of all there is a sacred history in my life that led to me finding and recognising it that has made it one of the three most sacred and blessed scriptures to me personally (via an interpretation of xenoglossia that was certainly the Holy Spirit) so my being led by the Holy Spirit Himself to it makes it a gift from God and makes me remember God did this Himself through His Spirit in my life. Now, note how John 9:35-39 tells of a man Jesus of Nazareth healed from blindness who was thrown out of the synagogue for confessing Jesus is the Christ: 'Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”'  Notice that last saying Jesus proclaimed and how it ties back to the prophecy from Enoch of what the Son of Man would do: [1 Enoch.46.1-4] And there I saw the One to Whom belongs the time before time, and His head was white like wool. With Him was another being, whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. I asked the angel who went with me [...] concerning that son of man and who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the One to Whom belongs the time before time. He answered and said to me: 'This is the son of man who has righteousness, with whom dwells righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of the spirits has chosen him, and whose lot has the pre-eminence before the Lord of the spirits in uprightness for ever. This son of man whom you have seen shall raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats and the strong from their thrones, and shall loosen the reins of the strong and break the teeth of the sinners.' We need Enoch to properly improve our understanding of Jesus' sayings like this. It enlarges our knowledge and understanding of Jesus and His sayings which is what is needed to make us "good soil" that hears and understands and produces a hundredfold crop.   When we read the book of Enoch we find authoritative answers to many questions we might have about curious matters unexplained in 'Bible' (the 66 book canon) scriptures. I was always as a child reading the 'Bible' wondering what the Nephilim were, what demons are, why God is called the Ancient of Days (or Head of Days), who Jesus meant by Son of Man and why He used that phrase. Nobody in churches seemed to know. Even the Internet remains disappointingly unable to give authoritative answers. The book of Enoch has such answers and had them all along but it was hidden from us. Oh that churches would read from it. I'm glad in one sense they don't because so many pastors and preachers and theologians would muddy this precious water of life. So here we see that God the Father is called the Head of Days or Ancient of Days or One to Whom belongs the time before time: a head of days is a white haired person who was in their prime before you were born so you should honour them - a hoary head - a person with white hair from old age - and God existed when time did not yet exist and in this time before time He was with His Son - the Son of Man. Yet it is God the Father who is Head of Days being owner of that time before time - while The Son of God is Son of Man from the time before time whose name is that in which God made the universe obey right from the start.

Do you believe in the Son of Man?

"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

[1 Enoch.46.1-4] And there I saw the One to Whom belongs the time before time, and His head was white like wool. With Him was another being, whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. I asked the angel who went with me [...] concerning that son of man and who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the One to Whom belongs the time before time. He answered and said to me: 'This is the son of man who has righteousness, with whom dwells righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of the spirits has chosen him, and whose lot has the pre-eminence before the Lord of the spirits in uprightness for ever. This son of man whom you have seen shall raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats and the strong from their thrones, and shall loosen the reins of the strong and break the teeth of the sinners.'

John 9:35-39 tells of a man Jesus of Nazareth healed from blindness who was thrown out of the synagogue for confessing Jesus is the Christ: 'Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”'

Trinity Dogma a Misunderstanding

The trinity dogma is so strongly taught by churches that it is hard to avoid 'reading it in' to the scriptures. Clearly being 'one' with God is meant the same way disciples are 'one' with each other so it is mistaken to overload the  meaning of Jesus' saying "I and the Father are one" with a trinity dogma. "Let them be one, even as you and I are one", prayed Jesus. Clearly unity of believers with God and Christ and each other through the Spirit does not constitute believers being part of the 'godhead'. Otherwise the trinity dogma concept of 'godhead' would have to be extended to include everyone united with Christ. It all comes from the third and fourth century churches systematising their concepts of doctrine in order to canonise what was taught while at the same time their canonising of scripture excluded important scriptures pertinent to realising the truth, books such as Revelation and the Book of Enoch. These were supressed and so their doctrine was incomplete and partly in error but they canonised it in their councils and thus persisted their faults while hindering essential beliefs such as what Jesus meant that He is the Son of Man (mainly explained by the Book of Enoch which they suppressed).

The Identity of Jesus of Nazareth

Look at these words of Jesus to the Jews soon to crucify Him, from John 8,  "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as My Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." - it was not clear to me till last week but now it is clear that Jesus was saying that to avoid dying in their sins they needed to believe "I am He" meaning not "I am God" as trinity dogmatists teach but "I am He [the Son of Man]" since in context Jesus had referred to The Son of Man being lifted up (crucified). To paraphrase "when you have lifted up the Son of Man you will then know that I am this Son of Man" - they would crucify Jesus and then realise that actually they had crucified to Lord of Life known to ancient prophets Enoch and Daniel as the Son of Man through whom God had created all things. I confess having been confused by this until recently. I was debating using these verses and trinity dogmatists were saying Jesus was identifying Himself with Jehovah by saying "unless you believe that I AM" and even some translations capitalise the "I AM" to support it. But it is clear Jesus was anonymising the Son of Man by using the third person as He often did to refer to the Son of Man before saying they would come to believe that Jesus is Himself this same Son of Man and they needed to believe this to be saved from their sins. The mystery about Jesus is astounding. I had a friend who I had worked with for over a year or so in online international collaboration where we became friends but one day I met him and had no idea I had been working with the son of a founder of a huge well-known international company and I remember the truth sinking in as I met his father and gradually realised who he was over the course of the day. It was similar to realise who Jesus is and realise there was this being like a human known to prophets like Daniel and Enoch called The Son of Man who was with God before creation and through whom God made everything - the Universe, human beings and all life - and by whose name and authority the trees grow and planets orbit stars. This son of man became flesh and blood and obeyed God His Father as any of us should. The servant nature of Jesus is astounding when you realise who He is: The Lord over all things beside the Creator God.

The Son of Man

In ancient times, many centuries before Christ came the ancient prophets were made aware in their prophetic visions of the existence together with God of a being like a human called The Son of Man. Jesus of Nazareth came preaching to the Jews who themselves knew these prophesies well and just before they crucified Jesus, Jesus told them: "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as My Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." He told them that they would die still with their sins left in them unless they believed this: He is this Son of Man. He then told those who did believe that to be freed from their slavery to their lying and hating and other such sins they had to keep Jesus' teachings given by The Father. He said "Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." After God raised Jesus from the dead, showing Jesus is His Son, Jesus revealed that God will eternally commit those who persist in lying and murderous attitudes and clever wizardry and filthy living to an eternal lake of fire to come and those who believe and are set free by the truth in Jesus will live forever.

How to Discern The Master's Voice

To know God's voice you love His Son and get to know God's will by following His Son in step with His Spirit - and then by praying in line with His will and seeing His answers - "God is love" - and by loving each other and seeing how He helps in it - "he/she who lives in love lives in God" - then you'll know His voice by the love in it - love for you and for others like you - and by how what He says to you supports you in loving others whom He loves - and Jesus' voice is like the Father's voice in its full alignment with the Father's will and Jesus' support for you as you do the Father's will by doing what Lord Jesus taught - He practices what He preached.

Children of God

For people prepared to believe it happened, the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ shows the existence of a higher power who is fatherly to Jesus: The Father, God. Then for these people something called spirit, someone called Holy Spirit, reveals truth about Jesus and His identity as the Logos known to the ancients, whose name is in authority over all things, fully become a human being. These people then have power by this Holy Spirit and this name over all things to become children of God.

The Logos of Whom The Ancients Spoke

Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher five hundred years before Christ came. He taught of the great Logos in the universe that is 'the account which governs all things'. This is extremely scary, when you grasp it as reality, but to allay our fears this Logos became a human, flesh and blood breathing man we know as Jesus Christ so we could know the truth without being overwhelmed by it. When this Christ died on a cross and rose in three days it showed all people the existence of an even greater person than Jesus because someone raised Jesus from the dead and this is the person Jesus called The Father, God.

Theology in the Sun and Moon

Surely you were told when young that the light of the Moon is actually the light of the Sun reflected off the Moon. God made the Sun and made the Moon and did so through Jesus the Son of God. Genesis tells us the Moon was put as a ruler of the night and the Sun as ruler of the day. God had the opportunity here to teach us some theology and surely God, with His Son, made the most of it. The Moon is a lesser light to rule the night because the light needed at night needs to be lesser to be gentle on the living things that walk in this nightly light or sleep beneath it. The day is bright already so a Moon would barely be visible as a ruler and the Sun can fill the sky with awesome rays. When God spoke directly to Moses and Moses spoke to Israel the awesome glory was too much and the people grew weary of awe. They pleaded to Moses to  ask God to stop speaking to them this way. So God told them He would send One who would come, Jesus. This Jesus is like the Moon with lesser light and the light is reflected greater light of God in the face of Jesus the Son of God. So the Moon and Sun are pictures of The Son of God and of God respectively to help us understand.

The Wisdom of Honesty and Honesty of Wisdom

Is it wise to be truthful? Yes, if wisdom is about having the mental skills to enable living a long, full and best kind of life, extending that to include others where possible. Regard for others is going to be part of that - doing to others as we would that they do to us - so since we need people to be truthful in their communicating with us then we too would be wise to be truthful in communicating with others. Another factor is the power others, if they are in authority over us, have to curtail our happiness and even shorten our lives, so wisdom will avoid displeasing those with such authority and power over us. Of course that is most pertinent to the most authoritative of all who many call God who can curtail this life and the next and curtail our happiness and fullness of life even while letting us live now or in any afterlife. So pleasing God is key in wisdom for those believing in God or gods. This too entails truthfulness as do all matters pertaining to those with power over us who usually look poorly on our dishonesty. When we are made wise enough by God to realise God is truthful and hates lying we get to desire strongly to be truthful somehow. In John's gospel (chapter 8) we find a hugely wise discourse in which Jesus Christ describes God's primary focus on truthfulness and the wise counsel that lying and truthfulness are like opposing languages, lying being native to Satan and children of Satan but God only owning as children those who speak the language of truth and desist permanently from lying.

God's Nightmare

Does God have nightmares to endure? His are real and ongoing. Sometimes it is us. We can be a nightmare for God and for Christ. Here is how God put it through Isaiah the Prophet:
     (from Isaiah 5)
       A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.
            My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

     And He dug it all around, removed its stones,
            And planted it with the choicest vine.
            And He built a tower in the middle of it,
            And hewed out a wine vat in it;
            Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
            But it produced only worthless ones.

     “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
            Judge between Me and My vineyard.

     “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
            Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?

     “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
            I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
            I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.

     “And I will lay it waste;
            It will not be pruned or hoed,
            But briars and thorns will come up.
            I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

Bones of John the Baptist

Why, if a person were fictitious, would anyone try to preserve their bones? Bone fragments supposed to be of John the Baptist were tested for authenticity by scientists fairly recently. See National Geographic article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120618-john-the-baptist-bones-jesus-christ-bible-bulgaria-science-higham/ Rather than finding them spurious, the evidence of testing, even DNA testing, is consistent with the likelihood they really are from the body of John the Baptist. So it is plausible that John the Baptist is historical. This leads to the likelihood this DNA is from a very close relative of Jesus of Nazareth, his cousin, and therefore close to Jesus' own DNA, there beyond our world's reach, resurrected.

Reality

John the Baptist; Saint Peter; Caesar Augustus. Real people? More ancient: Alulim; Enmendurana; Abraham; King Hezekiah. We each have been convinced by experience and factual knowledge differently , having been to different places, met different people, read different things. I have been convinced all those people are real. Even Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas of Roman times. How about Jesus Christ, God the Father, spirits such as the Holy Spirit, real angels, a real devil? We might be convinced of these when reading scripture and hearing preaching. The Holy Spirit becomes known as real to some when reading about the crucifixion and resurrection and true spiritual identity of Jesus of Nazareth; how the lifeless form of Jesus Christ, Son of God, nailed to a cross of wood hung there dead with its blood on the ground below and the water and blood from the puncturing of His side by a soldier washed the cross; how such death brought life for those who believe and let the spirit words Jesus Christ spoke change them into children for God; how Jesus, ever alive having risen, has only the purest form of God-given life within and creates a flock for whom He ever lives  as Shepherd.

The Spirit Gives Life

Not just bones but even stones can live when prophecy from God is breathed on them. John the Baptist, the famous religious leader from the first century AD Roman occupied Province of Judea, preached: "God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham". He was cousin to the even more famous Jesus of Nazareth who said: "The Spirit gives life - the flesh counts for nothing." This means we need not think it matters whether our biological heritage is good or bad; the word of Jesus is spirit and life and raises us from biological advantage or disadvantage to all that His blood has bought for us. When the lifeless form of Jesus Christ, nailed to a cross of wood, hung there dead with its blood on the ground below and the water and blood from the puncturing of His side by a soldier washed the cross, this body of death brought the beginnings of eternal life for those who believe and let the spirit words Jesus Christ spoke change them into children for God. This same Jesus, who is now alive having risen, has only the purest form of God-given life within Him and He creates a flock for whom He ever lives as Shepherd.

Testimony

My own testimony is that as a teen I habitually lied and could not speak without adding lies to make it sound better. The church thought me a true believer and yes I had accepted Christ and believed that Jesus Christ is from God but the lying showed I was still not fully His. The church saw me as evangelist material and a kind lady sent me for a George Verwer OM weekend of evangelising in Birmingham UK. God opened my heart to Himself there and then a real evangelist spoke in the 'bull ring' shopping area with words written on a white board 'CHRIST DIED FOR YOU' and it sank home for once. I went and told him the words had sunk in for the first time even though I was meant to be already 'saved' so he took me into a nearby church and at the front he prayed with me and I prayed. As I prayed when my prayer was honest a holy power made my voice surge with unworldly stength but as soon as I wandered from honesty it stopped. I tried to keep my honesty to keep this power. I went and prayed and sang with the evangelist believers and over the whole weekend this power thing continued till I learned that truth sits well with God who is true and lies do not get His support because He hates them. I learned by this Holy Spirit.

Will there ever be time travel? No. How can I say that? One of the greatest achievements of the medicinal science wizardry of our time was surely the eradication of smallpox. Efforts to do the same with other diseases might prove equally successful over time. Yet the eradication would surely become a terrible failure if somewhere in the future humans could ever travel in time. Humans are inherently unruly and tell a wannabe time travelling human of the future to never use it to go into a time and place where there was smallpox and they might just do it just because they can. Intrepid humans spread smallpox around the world nearly wiping out a large percentage of it a few hundred years ago and the spread carries on until recent times when the vaccination against it was made to succeed by global concerted effort. All would be spoiled if a time traveller went to a time before its eradication and picked it up and carried to a time since its eradication still in our past. Clearly it has not happened which leads to only one conclusion which is that time travel will never be possible.

Rome

What makes the city of Rome so bad that it is judged separately with attention drawn to its demise in Revelation in scripture even before it will happen? Clearly Jesus who said 'shake the dust off as you leave' of cities and towns who persecuted and rejected those He sent out to preach, to Jesus the record of the city of Rome is that it has killed Peter and Paul in the time of Nero and many Christians then and since then. Yet it is renown for the luxury fashion clothes it sells and the allure it has to the wealthy world rulers when they visit even to this day - no sackcloth and ashes to repent of its crimes and sordid past. The religion is not the factor here. And this is surely the same with the revived empires that once preceded it and will arise to support it again - not their religion but their persecution of believers in Jesus and the anger of God they arouse and the use God will have for them as tools of His wrath on the earth's destroyers and the sorcerer scientists and medical wizrds and witches and their followers and idolaters and all who lie and all who live according to instinctive human nature rather than His Spirit of truth.

For Posterity

Having been a believer in Christ, what would I pass on for posterity - for those who come after? That there is a real Holy Spirit we have found to come into our churches. There are poor imitations of the manifestation of this spirit yet despite these decoys and distractions there is a real way we find He makes Himself known in real and beneficial spritual gifts that reveal the mysterious wonders of God and the marvellous name of Jesus Christ and how it is that Jesus is Lord. The simple truth of how He is given us from God is that we must first believe the message God has given through His Son and must let the fact of the crucifixion of Christ for us turn our hearts in hope towards God.
It is real - this I saw for myself - and it was foretold hundreds of years BC in prophecies of the Prophet Joel as starting to happen after one apocalyptic time (the centuries until Christ came) and continuing up until another apocalyptic time still to come soon "After all of this
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have revelatory dreams;
your young men will see prophetic visions.
Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days."

Not sure anything about the prophecy in Revelation of the Beast and Babylon the Great ponts to a religious element, perhaps more likely atheist. The Beast might not exist yet. Iraq and Iran and Albania/Macedonia/Greece are separate nations still (leopard with lion head and bear feet - the modern or future version of those three pre-Roman empires). While two parts are currently Shiite and Albania/Macedonia partly Sufi there is nothing in the vision to say their religion will be significant. Note how close the Greek literal characters translated 666 (symbol of one head of the Beast that revives after a mortal wound) are to the name of the tyrannical dictator of Albania who made it the first ATHEIST state and made religions a criminal offence with years of imprisonment as punishment - those letters are HXS. So maybe atheism will pervade this Beast Empire to come. And when it comes it will be out of chaos like the beasts before it. They arose out of stirred up sea and this comes out of Abyss too (Daniel 7) - metaphorically signifying anarchice consitions preceding it. Maybe it is this chaos we start to see appearing.

A Nuclear World War?

Is Revelation 8 describing a nuclear world war? Some clues
- previous chapter implies a finality about it
- as such all believers are first sealed by God
- preceded by much prayer yet it goes ahead
- thunder lightning and blood symbolise it
- mystery symbolised by seven thumders
- with it comes hail fire blood
- burning of a third of trees, all grass
- worldwide poisoning of a third of all sea fish
- third of all ships at sea destroyed
- mention of a star called Wormwood falling and opening the abyss is reminiscent of Chernobyl (meaning Wormwood) nuclear disaster - perhaps a clue to us now to warn us of nuclear nature of what is coming in a way only we will understand today (so maybe this is very near in our lifetimes)
- the final result is darkening of sun and moon by extreme global atmospheric effects (as foretold first by the prophet Joel then reiterated by Jesus Christ

The Death Problem

in various ways death is a real very serious and complex problem for humans - you get used to life and how best to live it and it suddenly gets snatched away - even if you try passing on lessons still death curtails that endeavour - you get a great teacher but then they die - you need a permanent help but God who is most suitable choice is upset with you for your blunders - you could have a mediator or priest but they die - you need a long living teacher mediator priest but even then you both die  eventually and then you have to see what happens about being judged - you ideally need God to provide something eternal so you eventually learn to live but when you know the life of excellence can keep going - only a God who understands and loves and is real and eternal can help - and a mediator priest teacher needs to be just as eternal to keep that relationship with this God going forever - and death needs to be temporary - and survivable spiritually so you need the priest to have endured it - solved but a complex problem required a complex and costly solution

What Mankind Needed

what Mankind needed was a high priest of God and not one who would last but a few decades but one who would be unceasing so the people can live forever with God as their God - so God gave this man - the Son of Man - the one who God would never cease to love and keep alive - the one who is forever the firstborn to God - so Jesus is ever the high priest mankind needs to have God as the one God - and the sacrificial death provided for us by this highest ever priest is that of His own body and blood - and the resurrection back to life - eternal life - proved that He is most precious Son to God who raised Him - Isa al-Masih, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach - Lord

Getting it Right

Bible Scripture nowhere calls Jesus 'God the Son' and this is because scripture writers focused on the truth that all things were made THROUGH Jesus but were made BY God. So Jesus is Lord and the Father is God. Since there is a real Jesus and a real God we should get this right and beware lest we be found to be false teachers in the eyes of God. 

Finding Truth

Search for truth: In the end of my own search I find there is a Son of Man in history appearing first in known history (the true history I find to be part of this truth I found) in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age seen in Sumer (before it was known as Babylon and lately as Iraq) seen in prophetic visions by Enoch who saw this Son of Man together with God the Lord of Spirits. Then later this Son of Man appears to another prophet, Daniel, in the  same part of the world. Later again the Son of Man fully made flesh appears preaching in the Holy Land and known to us now as Jesus. So this Jesus is what I find in searching for truth and holds the power to make a person truthful and giving such people knowledge of truth that makes them ever truthful. And at last I find this Son of Man still is, now, despite having been crucified, so is resurrected and ever sustained by God and able to continue to set free those who hold to the teachings God gives this Jesus to pass on to us and there is a Holy Spirit who does this in the Name of this Lord Jesus the Christ. This Jesus knows truth and knows truthfulness and imparts it to the true followers.

Va ye û daran bibînin, ew derxistin derve sêvik û pelên; bibînin, ku ew vê yekê ji aliyê hêza, desthilatiya Name ji Xudan Îsa Mesîh.

Isa Kurê * Mirov. Îsa Mesîh. Serokkahîn mezin. Mesîh ji bo me mir.   Va ye û daran bibînin, ew derxistin derve sêvik û pelên; bibînin, ku ew vê yekê ji aliyê hêza, desthilatiya Name ji Xudan Îsa Mesîh.

He Had Come

Even after he was a fully grown adult even his natural  brothers still took him to be ordinary - all until things people had longed for for centuries were starting to be seen in him as he turned water into wine and spoke words like nobody else could speak and commanded human-possessing spirits to leave their victims and they conceded. This was the long expected person appearing before their eyes in someone they all thought a nobody. Yet it was some time yet before they would realise fully who he was, the Son of Man known of from Sumerian times who had always been with God and was now there with men.

Ultimate Judgment

People don't like it that there is judgment. There has to be someone who judges all things and everyone. There is just so much wickedness. Fortunately the creator of all things does it and does it justly. He expects all things to adhere to what is commanded of it the Son of Man's name. If it will not by the time of judgment then the judgment will fall on it. Everything in nature has to abide by this physically but humans have to obey spiritually and in mind and heart too. That is why it was so bad that they crucified this Son of Man. That is why it means so much that God resurrected Him.