Uncertain Future

We face an uncertain future - uncertain for us but not for God. The times are changing and the planet too. The prayer of Enoch as he prophetically saw ahead a great flood about to sweep civilisation is light for us to live by so we might escape what is coming. Enoch 83:6-8 (Enoch's prayer) "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."

John the Baptist believed Jesus Pre-existed

(John 1:29-31) 'The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”'

John the Baptist believed Jesus his cousin pre-existed. John was concieved before Jesus was concieved yet he is on record saying Jesus existed before he did. So John the Baptist did not pre-exist before Jesus and neither did we. But Jesus did exist even before He, Jesus, was concieved: This is the testimony of John the Baptist.

All About Spirit

It is all about what comes from Spirit from God Himself and since it is only God Himself that existed before anything was created the very beginning of Jesus (before time) was only from God Himself and only by Spirit. The Son of Man was created and begotten only from Spirit and only from and by God Himself so He was entirely spirit since only spirit existed before all things were created. So He more than anyone is the Son of God. Then aeons later in our time and space in this created universe He was made again by being made flesh and again it was by God and by Spirit.

He is

"I am He that lives and was dead and behold I am alive forever"

When you see Jesus after His resurrection as described by John at the end of his gospel - Jesus standing plainly on the shore asking His disciples fishing if they caught anything then giving a sign it is Him by giving them a great catch - Jesus just stood there, risen, calm, victorious, work of the cross done and dusted - He just is - He is truly now simply "I am".

We can even experience Him like this today if we love Him and keep His words - He is the same. The Master.

Reasonable?

It seems reasonable to me that the Son would come forth out of God in some way, before Creation, such that He was first part of God then became an individual being - so at first actually being God then as God produced Him from Himself He becomes the Son. 

Who He is

I feel sure that as recorded in John 8, when Jesus said several times in different ways "I am" He is alluding to the authority He came with to speak to Israel being like that of Moses, except in this case God did not just send Him but was in Him. And as Jesus sends any of us, or simply as we experientially know Him, in turn He is in us. And as we know Jesus experientially, so by proxy we are knowing God because He know God fully. So when Jesus says 'I am' it is because He is full of the experiential knowledge of God, of who God is.

Compare these two scriptures

Compare these two passages of scripture, one (Daniel 10) from centuries BC, the other (Revelation 1) from first century AD.

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Jesus is Lord

Some say Jesus is God. That can be confusing or a sign of confusion. He is Lord. Only God is greater. All Nature obeys Him. He is Lord in the very nature of what He is. He has complete mastery over our innermost being and all the atoms in our bodies and the processes of our minds and physical nature. Yet God is greater than He is.

We Have Testimony

We have testimony from Jesus that disciples can have Him speaking and acting through them so we can believe He Himself was in John as John revealed truths about Jesus so Jesus was revealing truths about Himself through John. Two great truths are revealed by Jesus about Himself through John. Firstly that He is the incarnation of the Logos and here through John Jesus uses a clear reference back to sayings of Heraclitus about the Logos that is effectively the objective truth about all things that might or might not be known or acknowledged by humans but even so is nevertheless true. This is of course found in the prologue of John's gospel. Secondly, Jesus showed John Himself at the start of His revelation recorded in the Book of Revelation as identical with the one like a son of man seen by Daniel and through John, Jesus had it recorded how He looked such that the description is a match with the description Daniel gave of this mysterious being. So Jesus identified Himself through John as a mysterious being who interacted caringly with Daniel hundreds of years before Jesus was born. So we can put these two together and in these verses Jesus is showing Himself to be a mysterious and seldom seen being like a human but angelic who was with God in times long before His birth on earth and was the actual truth about all things manifested as a human-like being. This Jesus still is even though He was born a real actual human and died and rose again to live forever. It is Jesus who reveals all this about Himself through John His beloved disciple.

The Righteous Plant

It is remarkable that Abraham was chosen, foreknown and predestined to be the 'root of the plant of righteousness' when you would expect that Noah had already been that. It seems possible but still problematic that it required a particular course of life which Noah had not taken but Abraham took. There was something about Abraham that was not true of Noah, but I know not what. Mysterious. Abraham was born to a more pagan father perhaps than Noah had been - Terah maybe had a more idolatrous past from which Abraham would make a clean break by the power of pure faith alone. Lamech had not walked in the righteous ways of Enoch like his father Methuselah had done but he is not recorded in history as a pagan idolater. Maybe this clean break from parental pagan tradition is what made Abraham special in God's plan. Establishing the example of righteousness started by faith alone.

Ain't that the truth?!

There is a philosophical insight by an ancient Greek sage named Heraclitus which described a common truth awareness existing in the Universe that is manifest to each of us as a flash inspirational realisation of background truth from time to time that can be transitory in our minds then disappear like a forgotten dream as our thoughts take over - he called it the Logos. Later it was compared to something like a ledger of the universe - a tangible existence of common truth. We could nowadays call it objective truth. Later after Jesus of Nazareth appeared preaching in Galilee and Judea the disciple John seems to have identified Jesus as the physical incarnation in flesh of the Logos. So it seems that irrespective of whether people exist who know a truth, it is still true - because one being always exists who knows all things who strangely enough has created a person in which to embody all He knows - the Logos. Stranger still is that this Logos came in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth.

The Ties that Bind

Our lives are bound together by faith not dogma. It is faith that in each of us finds unity with others as we hold to what we believe - faith and not some organised religious hierarchy and creed. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe064.htm This faith is given by God in specific measures to each of us and is what the Apostle Paul meant by the one who prophesies speaking according to the measure of faith we have each received. Faith is living and edifies the church of God as each one does their work.

The Transfiguration

Who stood with Jesus as He was transfigured - Moses and Elijah. Moses was the one man who had met with God repeatedy such that it made his face shine. Elijah had been with God in heaven in the flesh for centuries (like Enoch too) after he ascended without ever dying. These showed a tremandous potential there is for being with God in the flesh. Jesus had been a kind of angelic human being before becoming flesh and had been like that with God since before time began (pre-existent) long before becoming a flesh and blood normal human by virgin birth. These three show the potential that exists for human fellowship with God and a shining appearance is a sign of it. Nowadays some saintly believers after death can become like angels by God making them that way such that they can do things angels do but yet they are still human - "spirits of just men made perfect". That could be us one day. Then there will be resurrection like Jesus' resurrection too but we haven't got to that bit.

Christ Really Did Die and Rise from the Dead

Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, preached "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life".

Christ is no hypocrite - His mesage could never be "Be faithful unto death" if He Himself had not done that very thing.

Christ has said "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life" so believing this and believing He is no hypocrite is to believe He has died and risen.

Jesus Christ came out to meet me (on Blackswarth Road in Bristol, UK in January 1995) on the basis He died for my sins and yours and I would preach it for Him.

Decades away - or less

From the Book of Enoch chapter 93: "And Enoch began to recount from the books and said: 'I was born the seventh in the first week, While judgement and righteousness still endured. And after me there shall arise in the second week great wickedness, And deceit shall have sprung up; And in it there shall be the first end. ...'"
Enoch was born around 620 Anno Mundi (AM, years from the creation of Adam) - 'seventh in the first week' - can be understood as being born in the seventh part of the first week so a 'week ' = 700 yrs. The account of subsequent week is consistent with this where the close of a 'week' is around 50 years into the last century of the week of seven centuries. Later in the chapter:
"And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, There shall be the great eternal judgement, In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels. And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light. And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever, And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever."
So the Final Judgement at close of tenth week will be around 6950 AM. This means the final Millennium starts around 5900 - 5950 AM. Reckonings of how this translates into years AD vary but it could be as little as one or two decades away or more or less.

Pre-existence of the Christ

Why and how do I believe that the Son of God existed before His birth? I know with certainty that it is given by the Holy Spirit (who never lies) that "the trees put forth their buds and leaves by the authority of the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ". These words from the Holy Spirit came by tongues and interpretation. I take these words on board because the Holy Spirit does not lie and shuns lies, I know. I therefore cannot think of any reasonable alternative to the name of Lord Jesus Christ preceding the trees as long as there have been trees. Obviously this utterance of the mystery does not only apply to trees but to Nature in general and the utterance went on to include stars and planets in their orbits. So the name of Lord Jesus Christ clearly preceded all of Nature because always it worked by this name's power. So for the name of the Son of God always to have existed in such power the Son of God Himself must have existed since before any Nature existed. This is clear to me.

Who was Enoch?

The Book of Enoch starts: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed." So who was Enoch? Sumerians recorded in their Sumerian King Lists that the seventh king in succession from the first man (who we call Adam) was called Enmenduranki also known as En-men-dur-ana (meaning 'ruler bridging between heaven and earth) and was first king of Sippar in Mesopotamia and was taken into heaven to be taught by angels. In historic terms he ruled Sumeria in what archaeologists call the Early Dynastic Period; more specifically just before the start of the Fara Period (perhaps around 2700 BC). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En-men-dur-ana 

Suffering

Suffering is important in teachings Enoch received from holy angels. (Enoch 108 R H Charles translation) "... those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed by God; and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men: Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things which are in the world, but gave over their bodies to torture. Who, since they came into being, longed not after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tried them much, and their spirits were found pure so that they should bless His name. And all the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And he hath assigned them their recompense, because they have been found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trodden under foot of wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me."

Keep it Real

How real is our well-doing? Looking at Jesus' teachings (Luke 12) we should feel convicted and in the future take steps to keep it real: 'One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”'

A Holy Book for Our Time

Chapter 104 of the Book of Enoch (R H Charles translation) shows how important it will be as the tribulation approaches to keep these words of Enoch

"And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins. Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin. And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practice great deceits, and write books concerning their words. But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully--all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.  And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprightness be recompensed."

and the next chapter promises those who take these words to others this blessing of fellowship with God and His Son

"In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth. For I and My son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and ye shall have peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen."

Why does the Bible exclude the Book of Enoch?

Why is the Book of Enoch not included in the English Bible? Book of Enoch 1:1 reads: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed." So presumably those who put together the list of scriptures that decided which are in the Bible did not get blessing from the Book of Enoch so maybe that was because they either didn't know about it or never read it or simply were not its intended audience: Maybe they were neither righteous nor elect.

The Nature of the Holy Spirit

John 16:12-15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
The Holy Spirit takes from what is the Son's and gives it to believers. All that the Father has is the Son's too. So the Holy Spirit takes from what is the Father's but indirectly by taking it from the Son. Identifying Him only as the Spirit of the Father as if He is simply part of the Father is wrong because makes a nonsense of these words and these words are a light of truth we need to receive about the Spirit of truth.

The Nature of the Unity

In what sense is God one with the Son of God? John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." In what sense are believers to be one? Philippians 2:2 "... make my joy complete by being of one mind, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose" The unity is a unity in spirit and purpose - the same kind of unity as there is between the Father and the Son - not unity of entity and identity - not unity of substance. What did those verses do mean in the minds of the apostles? The apostles considered unity to be about spirit and purpose. Believers should imitate that faith. Believers can have unity with God too as well as with each other - and clearly such unity with God is not a unity of equals.

The Lord Jesus' Sonship

"During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 5). I think the writer of Hebrews describing Jesus learning obedience through experience was possibly applying the 2 Samuel 7 description of sonship God declared to King David, immediately about Solomon but applicable to Jesus too. The application to Jesus requires an issue be handled - that Jesus did not sin. "I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me ; your throne will be established forever.’ "

The God I Know

In 1994 I was told by the Spirit to preach. Preach what? I asked earnestly God to show me Father and Son and Holy Spirit, after searching my soul to be sure I was loving Jesus enough to be obeying Him as far as I could, considering the promise of Jesus of He and the Father showing themselves to the obedient. The answer came quickly over the space of weeks. A dream of God Himself came first where the appearance of God stood there before me saying "I am God" then telling me a sign for the next day and what to do. Weeks or days later, in January 1995 I was learning from scripture that the Lord presides over the floods and these floods come as judgements in the last days and there was a local severe flood in progress and torrential rain was falling. I read "Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has wrought" so I went to a footbridge over the river nearby to see it in flood, standing in awe of God, and on the way back it rained in torrents without relenting. Cars drove past on the road and my huge umbrella kept me dry. A voice came clearly "Put down your umbrella!". I did not hesitate and as soon as I put it down that torrential rain stopped dead and not a spot touched me. "It is the Lord!" I told myself certain it was Jesus. (He came like that on the lake shore to see His disciples after His resurrection.) Later before sleeping I asked for a certain unlikely thing to happen by the morning to show me it was indeed Jesus. Halfway through the night He made it happen and unspeakable peace came over me. Days or weeks later a local preaching leader heard I had asked about any churches where the Holy Spirit was manifested like in the scriptures with gifts of the Spirit. He told me to come with him to an out of town church where I would certainly witness this. The leader there spoke a message in tongues that sounded angelic in beautiful sentences and each sentence became English in my head as I heard it. "Consider the trees how they put forth buds and leaves - they do this by the authority of the name of Lord Jesus Christ" was what I heard. There followed more about planets but I cannot remember it. Then the speaker himself said those very words in English. So now God had shown me Father and Son and Holy Spirit so I can speak to others confidently about what I have seen and heard. Praise God.

The Holy Spirit

Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Acts 2 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesa as the Spirit enabled them."
Confusion comes from oversimplification. The facts are known. How we put them together is our weakest point of failure. We know that the Holy Spirit can divide up so that many many individuals all receive His manifestations simultaneously. We know that He comes to each one of many simultaneously as a person in some cases speaking to them with real words and real personality. If that were God directly speaking then God would speak to one at a time. Yet all hear the person of the Holy Spirit at once. If it were the Son of God then again many, many would have to wait their turn. Yet the Holy Spirit means tens or hundreds of millions of believers can be fed at once by His manifestations.

All you need is God

Love is all you need.
"Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. "" John 8:42-43
If we cannot understand Jesus it is probably because we do not love Him. If we do not love Him it is because we do not love His Father. If we do not love His Father it is because His Father is not truly our God. All we need is love. All we need is God.

Jesus and the Law

The Law of Moses commanded tithing. How did Jesus' teaching relate to this?
Mark 12:41-44 - 'Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.”'
... So in saying this, Jesus was putting the spirit of the Law above the letter of the Law.
Taking this approach - spirit of giving and contributing to temple upkeep according to means and out of love for God (which might exceed what is required and max out your ability) - the Apostle Paul continued in this approach by preaching that each should give to the church according to their income and means without specifying a proportion percent.
The Law of the Spirit.

The Bible

Some believers only believe in scriptures. Narrower than that: Only scriptures from the canon they are familiar with - so for many that would be the Bible. There are some of these who only accept quotes from the Bible in discussion of religious topics or Bible teaching. What if every scriptural book in the Bible that quoted or mirrored sources outside the Bible were removed? Then they would have a more consistent canon for their beliefs. But what would it contain?

"Unless you believe that I am ..."

We can have an anointing from God such that God works in us - but the level of sustained working of God in the only-begotten Son of God is such that He can say of Himself 'I am' and we have to believe both the words and their connotations.

The Lamb Slain

"the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world." (Revelation 13:8b)
The plan of the love of God meant from the foundation of the world setting His Heavenly Son on a path to birth as a mortal and death. Then resurrection and eternal life in the power of God. This love meant the Son would one day be flesh and bone and would suffer and die and this would have to be. This Son of Man, as the Son of God in the bosom of God's grace and love would ever be known and, in Heaven among the God's angels, had always been known before time began or stars were born, this Son would be slain one day. This had to be because God so loved the world - even before He made it through His Only-Begotten Son. 

The Apostle Paul and the Law of Moses

When speaking or writing to Jews the Apostles Paul was as a Jew. He persuaded Jews ('The Epistle to the Romans' chapters 1 and 2) that his ministry increased conformance of people to the righteousness found in the Law and did not oppose the Law. When speaking and writing to Gentiles ('The Epistle to the Galatians') he drew lessons from Genesis and historical religious aspects leading up to the Law but hardly mentioned the Law and rebuked judaisation of Gentiles in very strong terms. So he saw a divided attitude to the Law as an essential part of God's plan for salvation - Jews honouring Law and finding the righteousness it proclaims but not imposing Law on Gentiles - and Gentiles honouring the work of God in the patriarchs and Moses and giving of the Law but not trying to become adherents of it other than learning spiritual lessons from it. This is fully in line with the edict of the Jerusalem Apostles of which Paul had been a chief emissary. Peter's warning is that, by misunderstanding this, people distort it to their own agenda but in doing so bring destruction on themselves - yet still people take that risk.

We Need the Book of Enoch

Enoch 48:10b "And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed. The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed."
We need the Book of Enoch prophecies because although we have similar prophetic visions of the Son of Man seen by Daniel recorded in the Book of Daniel it does not have the detailed descriptions of the Son of Man given in Enoch's prophecies. Most of all Daniel does not link the Son of Man with being God's Anointed like Enoch does so from Enoch we have the clarity that the Son of Man "who is born unto righteousness" (70:14) is the Elect One, chosen by God and anointed by God (The Lord of Spirits) and this identifies Him as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
It has to be a man to whom God gives His anointing. The Christ must do anointed things showing all the authority of God but must also bear with human weakness. This was always the plan foreseen by God. His Son would be central to His saving grace. God saves - this name was always going to be bourne by His Son. This human eternal future Jesus would ever have once risen from the dead would be there in all His past showing God's foreknowledge and predestining sovereignty. He was always the Son of Man and will be always and "they will see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven".

Who the Son is

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." -- Jesus' words in Matthew's Gospel. All these groups differ on things we barely know - who the Son is as from before time: Arian Orthodox, Trinitarians, Unitarians, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, Oneness Pentecostals, etc.. What matters is to accept the truth that Daniel saw one like a Son of Man together with God and this human being in spiritual form He saw is Son of God and came in flesh and died for our sins and reveals to some the God who is His Father. To know who this Son of Man is may well be beyond our calling as human beings and maybe that is why there are different groups seeking knowledge we cannot know; not in this life.

Solace for a Human Being

As He grew up nobody doubted for a minute Jesus is a man and over and over He emphasised He is the one Daniel called a Son of Man - the human from God - as well as the truth He emphasised that God is truly His Father. These are His main teachings about Himself so take them to heart because in love they are good teachings for us. We needed a man to be between us and God. The Son of God now is that man - yes now. When He comes it will still be the Son of Man from Heaven who comes. What is so profound then is that from before time began God has been the one who has a human Son - even before the Son became flesh it was determined He would forever be the Son of Man so that destiny was seen in Him even when Daniel personally saw Him there and then. The amazing nature of God has always had this about Him - that His Son would eternally be human.

The Man

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19v10)
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people." (1 Timothy 2v5-6) "And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14v62) "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7v13-14)

Now are we destroyers of worlds

Our very ancient forefathers strongly advised that there is good knowledge and bad knowledge - that not all learning is good for us or good for our survival and our planet's survival. After our more recent forefathers spent centuries since the enlightenment rejecting or suspending belief in this counsel and hoarding every kind of learning possible first from the Arab Moors then empirically then by scientific process - finally before we all get wiped out we are starting to appreciate the wisdom of questioning whether some knowledge is better never known, but too late. The pandora's box is open now and cannot be shut. Now are we destroyers of worlds. But no harm in honouring that ancient wisdom we so long ignored and relearning how Enocb looked at things.

God is not a man. Jesus is a man.

The Fara Period

There is a possibility the Fara Period in achaeology and known history was actually a direct result of the ancient prophet-king Enoch being 'translated' into Heaven and being taught syllabic writing by angels then bringing that writing back to humans in Sippar where he had been king and teaching it and what he had written about Heaven and Earth. The site that gives its name to the Fara Period starting around 2700 BC is Tel Fara in Southern Mesopotamia (Iraq) and this was where Enoch's son and successor ruled the kingdom of Sumer in Sumerian times just before the great flood. A library of books unearthed there shows humans were starting to write down their flow of thoughts using cuneiform adapted for this purpose called syllabic text. Yet an equally important site for books of writing and libraries of books is the ancient city of Sippar. Here Enoch ruled around 2800 BC before what is described as his 'translation' when legends and scripture and ancient Sumerian and Akkadian texts say he was taken into Heaven by angels and told to record what he saw in a book and bring it back to teach those on earth. The place from which this seems to have happened is according to the Sumerian King Lists a city he used as his kingdom's capital, Sippar. So to find so much syllabic text written in Sippar is hugely significant yet it was the next capital Shuruppak that gives us the name of this period in history - the Fara Period, after the modern name of the site, Tel Fara. The Book of Enoch written in many languages and translated several times between languages till this day records these events but may be the actial writings of Enoch using the first syllabic writing system to pass on those lessons from Heaven to humans. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe004.htm   

Could Enoch have written scriptures?

Some are utterly wrong in thinking there was no writing in the days of Adam and Enoch. Cuneiform tablets in museums and pyramid texts in pyramids attest to the existence of writing around 3000 BC. Enoch was probably writing between 3000 and 2850 BC and Adam died around 2900 BC - writing reached quote an advanced form around 3000 BC. Enoch was one of the first to master writing and his descendants kept it going before and after the Flood. One period before the Flood was marked by a change of writing from vertical to horizontal called the Jemdet Nasr period around 3100 to 2900 BC - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemdet_Nasr_period - around the time Enoch was king, around 2900 BC. Enoch was king under the king-name En-men-dur-anna https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En-men-dur-ana . Adam had been king under the name Alulim and died when Enoch was around 300 years old - around 2900 BC. Enoch was translated to Heaven around 60 years after that around 2850 BC and carried on writing and much of the original content of Book of Enoch was written around that time. We have extant texts reporting themselves written by Enoch's grandson Lamech under the king name Shurappak - a city of that name where he ruled is named after him and is very important in archaeology because it still shows the Flood deposits. This writing is for his son Noah - king name Zuisudra - it is found in two museums today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak 

Estimates for Adam's life are from 3800 to 2900 BC: Plus or minus fifty to a hundred years. Writing beginnings are known from archaeology and the archaeology of the Jemdet Nasr period is as good an indicator as any that there was certainly advanced writing by around 2900 BC. Enoch explained writing's introduction by fallen angels especially by Azazel around 3000 BC (in the days of Enoch's father Jared). Enoch was sent by God to inform these fallen angels (sons of God, Watchers) of their impending doom. He wrote about it. Then God sent the angel Uriel a leader in the governance of Nature to instruct Enoch sbout the world and the calendar and Heavenly things, and Enoch saw and learned much about the Son of Man during his learning. Then he was sent back to his subjects and son to teach them all these things and he wrote it down - and his descendants preserved it and the Book of Enoch survives to this day kept in the Geez language by the Ethiopic and Eritrean Orthodox Church. Luckily it is translated by several people into English. Another translation may be coming.

The Book of Jasher records that Cainan was writing on tablets of stone (clay? cuneiform) in his lifetime too - religious writings inspired by God - and he died around 2600 BC. He lived almost a thousand years so he might have started writing at the same time as Enoch around 3000 BC. Noah too was writing centuries before the Flood so around 2500 BC. He was born a couple of centuries before Cainan died and his grandfather was Methuselah to son of Enoch so of course Noah would have been well prepared to write scriptural texts (in cuneiform and on stone). The archaeology shows the main school for writing skills after the Flood was a main institution in the city from which Noah is recorded as having ruled. It was named 'city of the book' if I remember correctly - writing was a major part of these first patriarchs' lives even from within the lifetime of Adam - all attested and enlightened by archaeology in the last few centuries. And ancient historians tecord

it too like Josephus and of course the writers of Jasher. Even China has records of this time.

A good checksum to test the chronology is the Book of Jubilees which bacause of the cunning way it is written (reportedly by Moses with a angel dictating it) is very hard or impossible to corrupt with regard to its dates so an excellent verification on this chronology.
The successors of Enoch moved the kingdom capital to Shuruppak - what is Shurappak famous for - a clue is Tel Fara - this is the modern name of the archaeological site of Shuruppak city of Methuselah and Lamech and begore the Flood Noah - what do we find at Tel Fara - clue - a period of this time in history gets named after it - the Fara Period https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sumer - why give it a special name - because this is the time (around 2700 to 2600 BC) and place when writing first captured the full flow of human thought.

Sippar, the capital city when Enoch was king (under the name Enmendurana) is the city in two parts - probably the city mentioned in scripture from much later in its history as Sepharvaim - but see its significance in Enoch's time (Sumerian periods ED I and ED II) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sippar 

So there is a possibility the Fara Period in achaeology and known history was actually a direct result of Enoch being 'translated' into Heaven and being taught syllabic writing by angels then bringing that writing back to humans in Sippar where he had been king and teaching it and what he had written about Heaven and Earth.

The oldest books known today include the Instructions of Shuruppak a copy (extant) of which is in a museum near where I work so I'd love to see it. It is a copy of earlier works and dates to around 2100 BC. An older copy still is in a museum in Chicago. This was after the Flood but the earlier work was from before the Flood and is a book of proverbs passed on father to son from Lamech to Noah (known by their Sumerian names). translation: http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm

Fulness of Divinity

I believe there are characteristics of God the Father which a human can have and these are what are called divinity. Jesus came to show this. He has these characteristics fully. We if we believe can have them too. The key three are faith and hope and love, surprisingly. You would think they would be power but power is made perfect in weakness and power exists best in faith and hope and love of which Christ is the fulness and yet forever a man. These characteristics in the Son of Man survived whatever were the forces and upheavals in creation and can survive the end of creation and the making of all things new as well. Eternal life.

One God One Son

Jesus glorifies God in that even though Jesus has amazing qualifications and glory to not be underestimated in that He commanded nature into existence by God's will and love for Him and all nature carries out all its natural processes according to His authority and name, yet He the true Son of God has commanded us to make the Father alone our one God and worship the Father as God above all others. This is the express will of The Father, who says "I am God". Effectively God says "I am God, and this is My Son".

Who the Son of Man is

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine goldfrom Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Excerpts from John's Gospel
So Jesus said, "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 but speak just what the Father has taught me."

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins."

'"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Jesus asked. "Who is He Lord? Tell me so I can believe in Him," replied the man. "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you," answered Jesus.

Daniel 7v9-10 “As I looked thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." ... v13-14: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

Excerpt from Book of Enoch "There I beheld the Ancient of days, whose head was like white wool, and with him another, whose countenance resembled that of man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angels. Then I inquired of one of the angels, who went with me, and who showed me every secret thing, concerning this Son of man; who he was; whence he was; and why he accompanied the Ancient of days. He answered and said to me, This is the Son of man, to whom righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the Lord of spirits in everlasting uprightness."

Those passages show the pre-existent Son of Man and that John believed this (see how he used the same way of describing Him in Revelation as Daniel had used to describe Him). And it shows how Godlike this Son of Man is because Enoch described Him in a similar way to how he described God. In the flesh Jesus referred to Himself in such a way as identifies Himself with this Godlike being seen by Enoch and Daniel in centuries past but still there Jesus is in flesh and blood like any other human (even His closest family did not think Him anything other than a normal family member, a normal man). "The mystery of godliness is great."

All Born Again

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" -- Saint Peter (1 Peter 1:3)
Thanks to the work of God, the Father, there is a glorious sense in which we have all, together, been born again, because all our prospects have been improved by the work God Himself personally did (without our help or anyone's help) by raising His Son from the dead - a work of hope is worked in all of us - individually and collectively - by God Himself.

How I Know the Book of Enoch is True Scripture

The Holy Spirit spoke through someone in tongues and gave me to hear it in English "Consider the trees how they put forth buds and leaves; they do so by the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" then a little later I saw the same spirit had inspired by Book of Enoch and I knew it - I saw words so similar there to what the message in tongues had said - in Enoch chapters 1-5 "Observe ye how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed and know with regard to all His works, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so"

Sons of God

Jesus in John chapter 5:35 "A slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever." There is an understanding of sonship to God that is as preached by the only-begotten Son of God. He preached that God makes sons by remaking people by the spirit of His teachings and by obedient following of those teachings and that the Holy Spirit would also indwell and well up within such people and their lives would then become devoid of their previous characteristics (lies, murder, other major sins characteristic of Satan) and take on characteristics of God (truthfullness, love, faithfulness and opposites to sin). When this is permanent it can be really regarded as being born of God. God treats such people as sons by disciplining without ever forsaking them, as God through prophet Nathan told King David about his future son typified by Solomon who would build the Temple. This is the kind of sonship that The Son of God came to bring about in many.
2 Samuel 7:14-15 "I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you."

The Son of Man before He became flesh and after He rose from the dead

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine goldfrom Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Some think that Daniel writing centuries before Christ came saw archangel Gabriel looking like a son of man or Michael. John writing his vision from Jesus called The Book of Revelation so firmly believed Daniel had seen Jesus the Son of Man the same person he, John, had seen and knew so well that when describing Jesus he matched his description of Him to the description given by Daniel in Daniel chapter 10.  Some think and say that Daniel saw a vision of the future Jesus after Jesus became flesh but the account by Daniel proves the Son of Man he saw was not merely a vision because those men with Daniel fled in a feeling of sheer terror and this Son of Man spoke of fighting the Prince of Persia with Michael's help and touched Daniel to assure him. 

Before the Beginning

It was always enough in ages past to consider time in terms of the history of the material universe. The beginning of time is not before the beginning of nature. In going beyond this to what happened before time began there are few revelations in scripture. Only if you include the Book of Enoch do you get written prophecy speaking of holy things before time began and The Son of Man is there mentioned along with God the Lord of Spirits as it is translated from the Ge'ez sacred language of the Ethiopic Orthodox Church. It speaks of the name of the Son of Man being invoked before God even back then before time began and creation was created. "In that hour was this Son of man invoked before the Lord of spirits, and his name in the presence of the Ancient of days." "Before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were formed, his name was invoked in the presence of the Lord of spirits. A support shall he be for the righteous and the holy to lean upon, without falling; and he shall be the light of nations. He shall be the hope of those whose hearts are troubled. All, who dwell on earth, shall fall down and worship before him; shall bless and glorify him, and sing praises to the name of the Lord of spirits. Therefore the Elect and the Concealed One existed in his presence, before the world was created, and for ever. And his name before the Head of Days.Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, Before the stars of the heaven were made," So too Paul wrote "His is before all things and in Him all things hold together" speaking of the Son. Otherwise we can only deduce the things before Creation from what is inspired by the Holy Spirit. A word I heard in tongues interpreted said "Consider the trees how they bud and put out leaves; they do so by the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" and likewise I found it was written in the writing of Enoch thousands of years ago "Behold ye 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. Behold the summer and the winter, how the whole earth is filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it.  Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the new comes.  And again, observe ye the days of summer how the sun is above the earth over against it. And you seek shade and shelter by reason of the heat of the sun, and the earth also burns with growing heat, and so you cannot tread on the earth, or on a rock by reason of its heat.  Observe ye how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed and know with regard to all His works, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so." So the whole works of creation operate to the authority that must have existed before creation existed.

Then You Will Realise

John 8:28 'So Jesus said, "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 but speak just what the Father has taught me.'
It is my belief that Jesus taught in this saying that He is the Son of Man and that it would be a major milestone for His hearers that they would realise this when He was crucified (by them) along with a realisation of the existence of the God He called the Father with whom the Son of Man was and is and will be always working and of the relationship that exists between Himself and the Father through all of time. They saw only Jesus as they argued with Him and plotted to kill Him and attenuate His ministry and fame. Yet as they headed unstoppably into crucifying Him, even those who believed in Him but still hated Him, they were about to see more than just Jesus at work because even with Jesus dead the Father was waiting the perfect time to step in and would resurrect His Son. Then it became apparent that Jesus did not act alone but the Father of Jesus, God, worked with Him. This is the truth He came to show the world. The ancients had understood about a son of man greater than angels whose authority held together the Universe and this authority had even been called the Logos, the Word. Yet now it would be clear to anyone believing Jesus is this Word, this Logos, this Son of Man that another greater than He is ever with Him in all He does and even in death to raise Him from the dead because only God could raise Him and only if God regarded Him as His Son and no liar.

Faith is Substance

Some say The Son of Man only existed in the mind of God as foreknowledge before He was made flesh. Faith is substance. Even if all that existed of Jesus before His birth (and I don't believe that given what is in Daniel) was foreknowledge of Him then still that knowledge was as certain as faith can ever be. As such even then it was substance - real existence having real effects not just in God's mind because God had made Him known to a chosen few, including angels and prophets. Yet that is not enough to explain conversations between the Son of Man and the Father and between the Son of Man and archangels. Those happened centuries before He came. So you would have to say they were conversing with foreknowledge - which is conceivable but pushing it because it would then be a bit of a false impression Psalmist and Daniel and Enoch were giving - leading us to believe He actually existed not just as foreknowledge. Yet there is a mystery in this that foreknowledge with certain faith is indeed existence in its own right that transcends space and time and matter and energy in such a way it hints at what God is like - in one aspect, and the Son of Man before He came, and the Holy Spirit. So to sum it up as The Word, the Logos, makes more sense considering this. After all whatever the Son of Man is over time from before time, it had to survive the chaos of creation - big bang or whatever - so could not itself be matter as we know it.

"Who do you say that I am?"

Jude wrote in his epistle (Jude 1:14-15 quoting Enoch 1:9) "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'"  Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth's brothers and sisters grew up with Him and did not believe He was any different from anyone else but somewhere down the line one of them - Jude (Yehuda) - ended up quoting Enoch about Him which showed he believed at last that His brother is the Son of Man alive since before creation began since this Son of Man is the one of whom Enoch wrote so much. 

My Favourite Passage of Scripture

Enoch Chapter 48 verses 1-5

[1] In that place I beheld a fountain of righteousness, which never failed, encircled by many springs of wisdom. Of these all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy.

[2] In that hour was this Son of man invoked before the Lord of spirits, and his name in the presence of the Ancient of days.

[3] Before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were formed, his name was invoked in the presence of the Lord of spirits. A support shall he be for the righteous and the holy to lean upon, without falling; and he shall be the light of nations.

[4] He shall be the hope of those whose hearts are troubled. All, who dwell on earth, shall fall down and worship before him; shall bless and glorify him, and sing praises to the name of the Lord of spirits.

[5] Therefore the Elect and the Concealed One existed in his presence, before the world was created, and for ever.

Doing the Works of Jesus

We too can do as Jesus/Yeshua did on earth. He did the raising of Lazarus by like He said in His prayer, knowing the love God had for Him was enough to give Lazarus back his life when the tomb was opened at Jesus/Yeshua's command. We might believe God enough to see answers to our prayers but in line with the Son's teaching about the Father we can go to the next level in knowing God loves us where we command something of nature like "Lazarus come forth" and God in His love for us makes it so. Then we will be doing the works of Jesus/Yeshua. He will be happy to see us do it.

What We Most Need To Know

It is written: There is one God and one mediator between God and man - the man Christ Jesus (Yeshua ha-Mashiach). Notice that was not written "the God Christ Jesus" but "the man Christ Jesus". He is proclaimed as man. He is a man. That is so important for our hope. Unless we ascribe to Jesus, Lord Jesus, that He is a man, The Son of Man, and believe it, we will die in our sins. (John 8.) We humans tend to get ourselves caught in a sin that is a sin causing deadly wrath from God so we need freedom from such sins and believing Jesus (Yeshua) is the Son of Man then holding to His teachings is our escape route. Denying such sin is no escape route. Son of Man means was and is and will be like us and has become human for us. This means able to understand our state and how we can be freed from gravely serious sin so we do not die in it. We cannot afford to die in our sins because that leaves us only to face the Judgement as grievous sinners. Plus it can be a sooner death if the sin grieves and angers God too much as serious sins tend to do. We need this Son of Man as our mediator with God. He really is human so He knows our state but He really knows God too. The truth is what He knows we need to know to be set free. Believe in this man and follow His teachings and teachings from Him the Holy Spirit brings.

Against Calling The Son of God 'God'

If the Son is truly God it would have been nonsensical to call Himself the Son and to call the Father God. He could just call Himself God and say there is another God too. The Jews killed Him for saying He is the Son of God so what would there have been to lose, if He was and is God, just to say so. Or just to proclaim a Godhead and identify Himself as part of that Godhead of equals. So it is very significant that He repeatedly called Himself the Son and proclaimed the Father as both God and Father - His God and His Father - and was crucified for doing so. He preached truth so it must simply be because this is true and what God Himself was proclaiming through Him, like He said.
In ancient prophecy the same applies - in Enoch's very ancient prophecy he did not speak of two Gods but always presented one Lord of Spirits - Ancient of Days - and one accompanying Him called the Son of Man with appearance of a human being. Daniel might have known these prophecies and he prophesied the same - an Ancient of Days and one like a Son of Man. The Son of Man was seen in visions being led into the presence of the enthroned Ancient of Days. Not the other way around. Why did they prophesy such things? Because they are the truth.

Ancient of Days and The One Like A Son Of Man

In Daniel's prophecies he saw in visions the two main exalted glorious people of heaven - the Ancient of Days and the one like a son of man. The most prominent and highest is the Ancient of Days. This is who we should call God. Daniel 3:17 - "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence." Yet to believe that the one Daniel saw like a son of man is truly Jesus is essential to being set free from sins so as not to die in them. John 8:21, 27-29 "But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” ... 'They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “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 but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ' So when He preached the essential importance to not dying in sins of believing "I am he" it was most obvious that He meant believing both 1, that He is and 2, that He is the Son of Man.

The Father and the Son

The Father is unseen spirit and certainly not flesh. The Son certainly is flesh (interestingly He said after His resurrection He is flesh and bone rather than saying flesh and blood - maybe flesh and blood is just an English expression though). The Son is flesh forever now - resurrected flesh. God is certainly not resurrected flesh. Flesh is weak. Because He is flesh, the Son is forever dependant on God's power for eternal life. Yet He has life in Himself too and can give life to whomsoever He wills so by God's power He is both flesh and life-giving spirit too. While on earth the Son was mortal until His resurrection. He even had to descend into Sheol because of His death. The Father is spirit only and is dependant on nobody. The Father cannot possibly die. The Father is greater than the Son and is God to the Son.

Only Reasonable

All things are under the authority of the Lordship of the Son of Man so surely this means He existed from before the start of creation, otherwise the whole universe would have had to have a transfer of power which clearly hasn't happened. So it must be that the Son of Man, Son of God was in authority over creation by the power of His name before creation was created. So He was begotten before creation - firstborn over all creation.

The Word of the LORD

The word of the LORD that came to me: "Israel has sinned" The eagle watching overhead has been a sign of it; the eagle of military, police and government surveillance. Surely the LORD wants His people to become His children, by putting away sin and falsehood and violence and learning to do right and speak truth and love eachother. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind" and all your VOICE!

What Does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?

We call Jesus 'Christ' but what does that mean? Christ means God's anointed but why is anointed so significant? It means God has sealed Jesus with this anointing. The Son of Man, known historically as Jesus, is the source of true life sealed by God. Jesus said it: "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed" It also means the One God sends to save His people. Save His people from what? From their ethical failures: their sins. 

The One God has Sealed

The Son of Man is the Son of God. There are very ancient prophetic writings from times predating the Bible scriptures that show that even long before Jesus Christ came in the flesh, God already regarded and acknowledged the Son of Man as His true Son. The Book of Enoch says (chapter 105): "In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth. For I and My son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and ye shall have peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen." This person spoken of in the Book of Enoch as being called by God Himself "My son"  is usually called in these prophecies the Son of Man. Jesus Christ often spoke of The Son of Man too and He taught that the Son of Man is the Son of God. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." So the Son of Man prophetically written about in the Book of Enoch, (Jesus' brother Jude who quoted from Enoch in his own writings attesting to its authenticity and inspiration by the Holy Spirit) this Son of Man is the Son of God loved as such most dearly by God. "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Jesus asked a man He had healed. "Who is He Lord? Tell me so I can believe in Him," replied the man. "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you," answered Jesus. The thought that this Son of Man seen with God by Enoch in ancient times is the person wickedly crucified though He did no wrong ever, this thought is encouraged by many of the sayings of Jesus. The Son of Man is the source of life to many from ancient times. "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed" and "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you". He is from heaven itself "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before" and "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man" yet this very Son of Man is the one wicked men crucified - "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things" and "the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified" because blood of this Lamb of God had to be shed so it is painted on our lives like the blood of the Exodus Passover painted on the doorposts. "The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again." "All will see the Son of Man coming in clouds of heaven." God has sealed this Son of Man. Listen to Him.

How God Confirms His Truth

With so many messages and doctrines flying around today God confirms His true message by giving the Holy Spirit and miracles to those who read or hear it and believe it.

The Truth of Jesus and His Apostles

Unless we ascribe to Jesus, Lord Jesus, that He is a man, The Son of Man, and believe it, we will die in our sins. (See John 8.) The Apostle Paul: "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live." (1 Corinthians 8:6) Surely Paul, as evidenced in this sentence and others like it, believed God is one on His own and it is the Father who is God. Surely Paul, as seen in this sentence, believed that Jesus is on a par with God and is called the Lord but is not God. Surely Paul believed that God is the creator and Jesus is the creator but in a slightly different way to God, hence a difference in prepositions 'from', 'through' in 'from whom all things came' and 'through whom all things came'. The same use of difference of prepositions in relation to creation is seen elsewhere in the apostolic writings to distinguish God and Lord. So prepositions regarding creations distinguished but also title distinguished God and Lord. The Father is God. Jesus is Lord. This is consistent in apostolic writings. Jesus is made flesh forever, always a man, even now that He is resurrected, so God the Father's power is His life-source and we can live by imitating His faith and His apostles' faith.

Key Teaching of Jesus

The apostles of Jesus conveyed Jesus' teachings to the world. John has captured key teachings of Jesus in his Gospel. Chapter 8 shows that, for a life that does not end with dying in your sin, the thing is to be sure in your own heart that Jesus (The Son of Man) existed for the ages before He came and was with God who always planned for Jesus to be made completely human; then to realise too that He is going to be around forever and still human but resurrected. Why so important? So you have assurance He will be there for you eternally to transform you into the kind of person who is enough like God that God always keeps you in His household and treats you as a son, punishing sin but never destroying completely and never forsaking. Then carrying Jesus' teachings close to your heart until He replaces what is not of God with what is - and you do too in partnership with Him.

1994/95 Two Thousand Years On

1994/1995 was a time of great spiritual significance for me, besides it being about 2000 years since Christ came in flesh and blood. Some background: My grandparents were leaders in Pentecostal Church not long after the churches started with revivals. Welsh pentecostal. My parents switched to baptist and I was raised in baptist. There I was baptised. There were few believers in the Holy Spirit gifts or manifestation or miracles there and some taught cessationism (that gifts were not for now) so not much chance I would learn about the Holy Spirit. I got challenged at University. Then after years of desolation I earnestly kept seeking God asking for real knowledge of Him so I could preach properly: by 1994 I was being challenged to preach and later became a methodist lay preacher; and I asked for the Holy Spirit in my private prayers. After earnest prayer one day in 1994 I suddenly got a vision of a building sand bucket being tipped out and the words "Build the temple!". I asked for confirmation three-fold and went to a church that evening where three girls in sunday school sang a song they wrote "build build build the temple; build build build the temple" then two speakers in turn spoke about building the temple - one about David being told his son would do it and David was gobsmacked and said to God "What am I and what is my family that You would give me this honor!". Much followed this.
Later at the end of 1994, at the end of December I think, I asked to see God to preach Father and Son and Holy Spirit with real knowledge. Jesus had taught that God and He would come show themselves to those whose love for Lord Jesus makes them obey. I invoked it after checking myself that as far as my conscience could tell, I was obeying, then I asked earmestly. At night in a dream God stood in front of me and said "I am God" then gave me a task to do with a sign that would happen the next day and it happened as He said and I was so overjoyed to know it was really God I almost forgot to do what He said. Days later Jesus spoke to me and gave me proof it was Him (it was invisibly because I asked not to actually see Him because He had said to Thomas "blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe"). It was Jan 1995, I think. I was going to a river near home in a torrential rainstorm with a huge umbrella up and as I came back a voice clearly said "Put down your umbrella" and as soon as I did that torrential downpour stopped dead. I just remembered the miracle of Jesus giving a great catch of fish and how the disciples said "It is the Lord" and I said the same. I felt it must be Jesus. I asked that night that if it was indeed Jesus He would do such and such by the morning and amazingly He did and I was stunned. The way He did it showed He is my completely powerful Master: Master of my innermost being. I had such calm within. Weeks later the methodist lay preachers supervisor heard I had told people in church I wanted to see real gifts of the Spirit and he took me to the Pentecostal church and I was given interpretation when the man there gave a message in an angelic language (I didn't say it aloud but kept it quiet but the speaker said the same interpretation exactly after I received it).
It went: "Look at the trees how they bud and produce leaves; they do this it by the name of Lord Jesus Christ." It continued about planets or the like but I cannot remember that part. I'd never heard such things. Then the speaker stopped and started speaking in English and his words were the very words I had heard as a translation of the message. I'm certain this was a manifestation the Holy Spirit. A little later I saw a book, The Book of Enoch translated by R H Charles, in an SPCK bookshop and opened it and flicking through saw words almost matching the words I heard in tongues with interpretation so I knew I must accept that this book was a work of this same Holy Spirit. In reading it I might have had that faith sorely tested though were it not for the archeology I had studied. Here is the kind of thing I read in it that first look: "Observe how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed with regard to all, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. And His works go on from year to year for ever, and all the tasks they accomplish for Him, and change not, but according as hath ordained so is it done."
A little later, maybe this was still in 1995 but I'm not certain, I was having a bath preparing for church and keen to obey the heavenly vision I was given to build the church. I thought prophecy was how God taught to do it. I knew the church I was attending allowed people to speak in some services. I considered what would I say, would God give me a prophecy. Suddenly words came strongly into my mind "Israel has sinned" and I was told the sign of it would be an eagle overhead. I saw in a vision an eagle with a great white eye flying in the sky. Then there were visions of wars and generals talking. The same day a police helicopter service started and flew later over my local church. It had a search light and camera like that eagle. They called it Operation Vulture. The same day the news showed spy planes black like the eagle. The wars that followed were shown in my vision.
I had started researching the timeline of the scriptures and the copy of The Book of Enoch proved useful over the coming years. Most blessed of all it gave me, though, was its visions of The Son of Man who I understood to be Lord Jesus Christ before He came in the flesh. Believing this book to be authentic it was showing me that the Son of Man, Jesus, had been there from the time of Enoch more than two thousand years BC (before He came in flesh and blood). It made sense of the John 8 "Before Abraham was I am" words of Jesus. The interpretation of tongues about the trees growing by His authority as Lord showed me that even before Creation He is.

Living by the Spirit

I have found my life easily gets filled with worldly things even when trying to follow Christ. It seems there are two ways - two wisdoms - one appeals to our desires but is not from God - then there is another wisdom that comes into our lives at times from God that comes in the form of spirit and appeals not really to our desires but appeals to what seems to be some part of us called spirit that only wakes up when our hearts respond to the gospel that Christ died for us. This wisdom or way of living from God is such that it can get swamped by worldly wisdom not from God because our desires are strong - so we have to spend time filling ourselves with it deliberately to give it power and top spot in our lives and that means acting on it whenever we can and never letting it get forgotten. We can help eachother do this but if nobody is there to help we can still do it ourselves. There were hardly any things I could say were workings of the Spirit from God in my life but sometimes there have been so I keep focussing on them and they seem to surge back to life when I do. Scriptures are hard to understand but sometimes the Holy Spirit helps so the our hearts are sometimes opened to understand the scriptures and we can reflect on such understanding over and over whenever we can. Doing what God teaches is sometimes possible if we are ready so staying ready is important but often we have no opportunity so when one comes along we should make it count.

My Personal Testimony About Jesus

I got to know Jesus gradually throughout my life; starting when Jesus' words were read to me as a small child - from a children's Bible by my wise mother. When bullied at school I would see Jesus in my dreams come and stand in the presence of my enemies and give me peace. I got to love this Jesus who would come in dreams at night and assure me He is there for me, just by standing there without a word but in the time of need showing He knows. At university I went to a great church in London and learned the words of Jesus taught in great depth by a lovely preacher (RTK) and another great preacher visited our University Christian group and taught actual obedience to what Jesus taught. These two concepts - learning Jesus' teachings in depth of understanding and obedience to them - made me study all Jesus' words intensely in private when I finished University. I was so chuffed to find miracles were possible with the kind of faith Jesus taught. I did bigger and bigger works of faith. Especially I found I could command extremes of weather with faith in God and it obeyed me (God made it do so when it was within His will and His love for me). Jesus had taught that God and He would come show themselves to those whose love for Lord Jesus makes them obey. I invoked it and God appeared in a dream to speak to me and days later Jesus met me out in the street in a torrential rain storm and said "Put down your umbrella!" and immediately I did so and the rain stopped so quick not a drop fell on me. Jesus was showing me He too does what I had been doing and He affirmed it. I asked proof it was Him and He gave it - masterfully showing Himself to be supremely my Lord, Master of my whole being, incapable of failing for any lack of power. I was all so calm within that I felt everything was solved there and then. The Holy Spirit sealed it all later when I found His power in church undoubtably. I had asked God before all this to show me Father and Son and Holy Spirit so I know Jesus is the Son of God by this answer I was given. Hallelujah.

Heaven and Hell

The place of the dead was called Sheol in Jesus' time and Jesus confirmed it by speaking of it in His teachings - it is a place of all spirits of people while awaiting judgement at the end - the place is divided into separate places for people deemed wicked and people deemed righteous and is full of light for the righteous but places of wicked or other places are dark and some endure punishment there but all are as if in some kind of sleep but conscious - the Greeks called the place of punishment Hades and Jesus reflected this in some teachings. When Jesus died He too went to Sheol and preached in spirit there to ancient people who had been there since the time of Noah (2500 BC) and then Jesus was raised back to life but eternal immortal life so He will one day raise saints to immortal life to reign over the Earth with Him. The place of Jesus now is called Heaven but is hidden and there is not much prophecy to tell us where it is. It might be a place of light but similar to Sheol but where the throne of God is with God actually enthroned there and Jesus ruling with Him over spirits who are not human who we call angels. To say we go to Heaven when we die means we believe we will go to the Sheol place of light or even closer still to Jesus if blessed with that perhaps because of martyrdom. Those spirits of those beheaded for their faithfulness to Jesus are beneath the throne of God and Jesus. When God judges everyone through Jesus after Jesus has reigned a thousand years there will be no more Hades but instead there will be a lake of fire and a city of light whose light is God. It is not usually called Heaven in scripture but usually called the New Jerusalem.

Are You Tare or Wheat?

'Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”' said The Christ Jesus in The Parable of the Tares. Are you a tare or are you wheat? What is the difference? The Prophet Enoch spoke of the righteous or Elect and the sinners or wicked. The Apostle Paul preached of the elect or saints and the unbelievers or the world. It is God who sees the difference and can foresee an entire life of a person. We might sin but later quit sinning - quit doing wrong actions - or we might never quit. We might not know ourselves or sometimes consider ourselves righteous and sometimes consider ourselves sinners. God sees all of the life of someone He regards as Elect and whether they will hold onto the faith He make cause to grow within them until that faith blossoms in repentance from wrongdoing and learning of His righteous ways. Just as in The Parable of the Tares, it may be that nobody except God with foreknowledge will be sure how each plant in the crop will turn out, whether it is a tare or wheat but by the time of harvest it will become manifest. Yet God can encourage us to believe we are elect by giving us the Holy Spirit and miraclulous signs and love in our hearts towards others He treats this way.

Times Ahead

The Book of Enoch (combined with faith and the Holy Spirit from God) assures me that these times, just as in times before The Flood, will soon be times of massive global removal of the wicked from among mankind in preparation for a time of judgement under the feet of Jesus Christ before the final judgement under God. If we are wicked we need the build-up towards this time to be gradual to give us time to repent. Once the momentum of disasters really builds up (far worse than hurricanes and forest fires) there will be no going back and more and more wicked will perish as the Earth is cleansed. We need books like The Book of Enoch for comfort and assurance and warning against remaining unrepentant as the times exponentially get worse. Dates will matter little except to confirm there is no reversal of God’s plan. Revelation warns of times being dire for the righteous too as the wicked sense their imminent irreversible demise. That means standing firm is so necessary and will be greatly challenged as rarely ever before (except in the times like those spoken of in 1 Maccabees). The end result will be few surviving of the righteous and even fewer of the most wicked so that Christ can abolish violence and wickedness completely from Earth under His rule when He comes like that Flood.
[The Book of Enoch 1:1  "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed."]

Get to Know God

Get to genuinely know God first-hand by obeying the teachings of His Son:
Jesus taught (see Gospel of John 14:23-24) “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

The Son of Man was always the Son of God

There are very ancient prophetic writings that show that even long before Jesus Christ came in the flesh, God already regarded and acknowledged the Son of Man as His true Son (The Book of Enoch chapter 105) "In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth. For I and My son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and ye shall have peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen."

The Power of Baptism in Christ

Baptism unites a person with Christ because by it they are identifying with Him. This is very powerful because Christ pleased God His Father: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." ... "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

The Power of the Cross of Christ

The power of the Cross of Christ makes the Law and Old Covenant look weak. Using a topical analogy from recent news, a hydrogen bomb is so much more powerful than an atomic bomb we might say there is little place left for atomic bombs now the newer hydrogen bombs are here. Atomic bombs still exist though; they just have to stand aside now hydrogen bombs are here. Why focus on such devastating power? There is a mighty weapon in God's arsenal that outweighs the power of the Law He gave to Moses on tablets of stone - it is what gives God supreme power to be both merciful and just - the power of His Son's shed blood - the blood of the Son of Man from Heaven shed for sins. It makes the Law and Old Covenant look weak. He always planned it and now it is unleashed. Thank God or else we might all die when a plague like Ebola comes along. Its power I believe halted that disease's path from going global. It makes mercy real and viable despite what humans do worldwide in hating and destroying all God has made. It has effect on delaying damnation long enough to give time for a true Church of God, People of God to grow. It can save each of us who believes from the power of sin in our lives. Thank God He brought about this power. Invoke it in intercession for everyone when terrible times threaten us all.

An Answer to Quranic teachings

Jesus said (John 3): "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever blelieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The Quran nowhere records that Isa (Jesus) is Son of Allah (God). Yet it is everywhere in the testimony of Jesus and His miracles given Him by God for Him to do. The Quran records a different version of events about the crucifixion saying Jesus did not actually die (4:157). Yet many believe that this Son of God was sacrificed in death on a cross so His blood shed as sacrificial Lamb of God would take effect in establishing a new covenant to take away sin as John the Baptist foretold. Jesus is the Lord alive today having died on that cross and been resurrected by the One True God, The Father, to whom Jesus was and is and ever will be His beloved Son - and God testifies verbally to this and testified in powerful action of love by raising Him from the dead. The Holy Spirit seals this truth.

The New Covenant

The blood of the Lamb of God made a huge impact on the way things are by creating a whole new covenant - it was so effective - yet the error of men and women who know this is to think God, The LORD, has changed - God is ever the same - past, present and eternal future and does not change - yet the efficacy of the blood shed when Jesus of Nazareth - Lamb of God - Son of Man - Son of God - now risen Lord  and Christ - the power of that blood sacrificed and the new covenant it creates does set aside the old covenant needed before God provided the Lamb - so the old covenant is indeed now old. What people who believe in the blood of the Lamb of God to create a new covenant should now do is to set aside old ways and embrace and adhere to the testimony of the apostles who told of Jesus and of what this Lamb of God accomplished by enduring the cross and to be united with this Christ, Messiah, they should be baptised into Jesus Christ's teachings and then follow the Holy Spirit sent to us by God when we believe. This is the new covenant leading to salvation from eternal damnation. And God's and Jesus' grace and peace be with you.

Jesus Did Say He is the Son of God

Jesus' statement about Himself being the Son of God is perhaps best recorded in John 3 where His words said to Nicodemus a Jewish major teacher are recorded: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." The Quran nowhere records that Isa - Jesus - Yeshua (pbuh) is Son of Allah - God - Jehovah - Yahweh (pbuh). Yet it is everywhere in testimony of Jesus and miracles given by God.

Analysing Our Traditions

It seems good to me to place the testimony of God and commands of God over and above traditions - traditions are a huge part of most denominations (take Sunday observance over Sabbath observance as an example to see how powerful traditions have become - even more so than scriptures). Some distrust traditions but find our lives dictated by them as we analyse our ways - so it is loving towards God to dig down and discover what among those influences is truly the command of God and what is influenced by traditions that do not come from God - so out of love for God and true wisdom we can shift our loyalty towards ways God commands and let our lives be built on these. Why do people do this, trying to downplay tradition if it is found to be merely human and emphasise the commands and teachings coming from God? I believe the scriptures and the Holy Spirit lead this way.

Prophet Enoch's Encouragement to do Right

(Enoch 94:1-5)

"And now I say unto you, my sons, love righteousness and walk therein; For the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptation, But the paths of unrighteousness shall suddenly be destroyed and vanish. And to certain men of a generation shall the paths of violence and of death be revealed, And they shall hold themselves afar from them, And shall not follow them. And now I say unto you the righteous: Walk not in the paths of wickedness, nor in the paths of death, And draw not nigh to them, lest ye be destroyed. But seek and choose for yourselves righteousness and an elect life, And walk in the paths of peace, And ye shall live and prosper. And hold fast my words in the thoughts of your hearts, And suffer them not to be effaced from your hearts; For I know that sinners will tempt men to evilly-entreat wisdom, So that no place may be found for her, And no manner of temptation may minish."

Prophet Enoch's Warning to the Rich

(Enoch 94:6-11)
"Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression And lay deceit as a foundation; For they shall be suddenly overthrown, And they shall have no peace. Woe to those who build their houses with sin; For from all their foundations shall they be overthrown, And by the sword shall they fall. [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgement suddenly shall perish.] Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, And from your riches shall ye depart, Because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches. Ye have committed blasphemy and unrighteousness. And have become ready for the day of slaughter, And the day of darkness and the day of the great judgement. Thus I speak and declare unto you; He who hath created you will overthrow you, And for your fall there shall be no compassion, And your Creator will rejoice at your destruction. And your righteous ones in those days shall be a reproach to the sinners and the godless."