The Case for Religion

ATHEISTS DEMAND THAT THE RELIGIOUS PROVE THEIR CASE

The religious prove their case but atheists don’t like the proof. Take Jesus’ words in John’s gospel, all those promises are fulfilled if you believe Jesus is Christ and adhere to the commands given in this gospel, so when you see the promises fulfilled you know the gospel is a faithful account and Jesus Christ died for you. It is reproducible proof on which you can depend. But atheists don’t like it that reproducing it requires adherence, which is too big a price to pay, they feel.

The case for atheism, on the other hand, is fundamentally flawed; “I think therefore I am” is subjective nonsense and makes science self-referentially incoherent. Religion is merely an absence of atheism. If atheism is nonsense, that alone is enough of a case for religion. 

Assembling of an Angelic Army

The times we now live in might be evidence of assembling of an army of angelic beings, advancing on mankind. Such times are prophesied. Joel prophesied it. Jude tells us that Enoch prophesied it. Jesus prophesied it. As we see such events unfolding we should look at the prophesies, see how there is worse to come, far worse, and resolve ourselves to humbly pray for mercy, especially the church, whose gifting by the Holy Spirit is for times like these. In Revelation, the Apocalypse of John, Jesus foretold that on the whole mankind won’t repent but will be forced to admit to this time when it comes and will long for death that will not come. This might be just the beginning. The cause might already be the emergence of the angelic army of God, an army not seen in history with might such as might be assembling now. The Kingdom of Heaven is near.

It is written

In John 8, what did Jesus write in the sand? He maybe wrote “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” since now it is indeed written and quoted by many. He did better than the Torah commands. He upheld the commands but seemingly did the impossible in saving the woman without denying the commands. He did so with a new command. That is symbolised by His writing in the sand with His finger like the Father wrote on the stone with His finger. He saved without changing what His Father wrote. That is why God sent Him.

Weapons and Police

Jesus advised His disciples to carry weapons, only in preparation for dealing with police who were planning to arrest Him.

Book of Enoch - Scripture

“Whoever believes in me [Jesus], as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38

Which scripture says this?

Jesus believed in the Book of Enoch being scripture (as evidenced by His teachings, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the writings of Jude)

Book of Enoch 48:1 “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.”

Book of Enoch 49:1 “For wisdom is poured out like water,
And glory faileth not before him for evermore.”

Mesîh hemî lê Xwedê (Kurdish)

Sembolên kevnar * û + nîşan dan ka Xwedê Xwedê çawa ye - sembola stêrk, dema ku Mesîh hemî lê Xwedê ye - sembola plus. Shamans nîşana plus bikar anîn da ku bi xerabiyê şer bikin. Mesîh ji Xwedê tê ba me. Lê ew di kirinên xwe de tarî bûn. Ji ber vê yekê Xwedê şexsî Mesîh şand da ku li ser xaçek sembolîk bimire. Naha ev ji me re hemî eşkere ye.

Standing in the Truth

It takes a long time and lessons through extended hardship to be able to stand in the truth. Through all of that you have to cling to the living Jesus and to His precious teachings. Then you’ll get there. Then you keep clinging in order to stay there.

The Hiding Away

The first half of the Book of Revelation describes a period of frightening ‘apocalyptic’ plague. It starts with warning shots of four horsemen of the apocalypse. Then comes two waves of massive global pandemic, angelic in nature. The first wave kills nobody but the victims wish they were dead because of pain. The second wave kills on a huge scale by three kinds of death at once. During the four horsemen build-up there is sudden panic of awareness of apocalyptic events becoming imminent, preparing the world for these two waves of angelic plague. People rush to hide. The global events we see in 2020 put this in a new perspective not known before to the extent we now know it today. Everyone shutting themselves away on a global scale is something with which we have become familiar now. The panic is not as extreme but we have now received a foretaste. Now we shut ourselves in houses. We never thought such lockdown on a global scale was possible, yet it is real to us today. In this Revelation prophesied event everyone will shut themselves even more away by taking to caves and almost inaccessible hideaways. This has happened before in history. Around 3300 BC there was a time when people sought refuge in caves so hard to reach in mountains that only recently did anyone manage to get to those places and there find items these people left there, such as the Nahal Mishmar horde of ancient magic alloy implements. It was extraordinary the lengths people went to to escape something. They also dug hideaways underground. It was possibly the time of what Genesis 6 and the Book of Enoch call the Nephilim: Rampaging massive sorcerers of partly angelic parentage. So this future apocalyptic, global panic might be like that panic long ago. Suddenly people will realise the apocalyptic prophecies are coming true and imminent. They will hide from God. Then a few signs will follow as angels identify those who are to be protected from the two waves of final pandemic. Then the first wave will be like a pandemic we see today but will be supernatural and only a plague of miserable illness, not death. Then the second wave will be three-fold in its deadliness, colour coded red and blue and yellow: red for fire, blue for smoke, yellow for sulfur. Injuries and deaths will accompany such a plague as you might expect from something like wide-scale, global volcanic cataclysm. All this precludes the geo-political apocalyptic events of the rise of several totalitarian empires called ‘beasts’, last of which is global in its reach and imposes the 666 ‘mark of the Beast’. Then Christ will return.

Next forty years in prophesied light

In scriptures known today as the Book of Enoch, Enoch’s writings foretold seventy reigns of angelic rulers allowed by God in punishment of Israel. This now seems to be the seventieth starting, given that each reign seems to last forty years and the first was at the time of the Ancient Assyrian conquest of Samaria. This in past times saw antisemitic events of worsening scale and Enoch’s prophecy tells us the last will be no different. For governments right now, it’s all about supporting naive, one-size-fits-all rules and minor laws. It’s not about justice for ordinary people. The initiative is moving again to the world’s biggest companies and what they offer governments and large and medium sized companies, irrespective of small companies and of individual rights. This kind of political backdrop has characterised the forty year periods of the last eleven cycles as many believing Jews and other believers have been killed in persecutions. As the beginning of the last forty year cycle of angelic rule unfolds we will probably see similar events to those of Nazi Germany between the wars but this time on a global scale.
It is recorded in the gospels how the Son of Man spoke indirectly of the Book of Enoch when telling the Sadducees about the dead being like the angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage, and that this the Sadducees did not know, the Son of Man said, because they knew neither the scriptures nor the power of God. The only scripture to tell of the angels not marrying is the Book of Enoch. Likewise the Holy Spirit power of God inspired brother and disciple of the Son of Man, Jude, to quote the Book of Enoch as true prophecy. Today the Holy Spirit still speaks mysteries in tongues with interpretation that relate the same words of the Book of Enoch. This too is the power of God we ought to know lest we greatly err.

Second only

Jesus is second only to God.

Mercy

In mercy God sent Christ into the world so we could have some hope despite our past sins - and Christ can lead us out of those sins if we trust Him to do so. That is the mercy of God. And because God’s mercy is eternal, so He has made Christ to be eternal despite being made utterly human for us. God did this by raising Christ from the dead to live forever. So we have eternal mercy available to us by way of Christ.

Scripture

We can get to know God ourselves now by Christ’s mediation, so we shouldn’t have to rely solely on words and their translations. 

Permanent Fixes

What a testing time this is for most people. How are we doing with the test? We might be finding it the undoing of us. We need to be fixed. But if we are to be fixed then the fix needs to be permanent, otherwise a future testing time might undo us again. Permanent fixes aren’t like glue, where you glue the pieces then hope they never come undone again. The only permanent fix we can have needs it permanence to be managed and guaranteed by someone always available to manage it. That means permanent management. Who can fix us but also guarantee such permanent management of the fixes? God raised the Son of Man from the dead for that very purpose. Trusting in Him is the first step to a permanent fixing of what is undone about us. Next step He said (John’s Gospel chapter 8 ) is to follow Him by holding to His teachings. Since He said that He has been crucified to pay for the fixes and been raised from the dead forever by God to guarantee and manage them.

Pure Kindness

It is pure kindness that God raised the Son of Man from the dead because now this Jesus is a human there with God mediating for us humans. Forever.

The Heavenly Vision

Things the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit told me and showed me back in the nineties, after twenty five years, all fit together perfectly and come down to this: Jesus can be touched (He actually let me do so) and is truly human so He can mediate with God and He does so in utter competence. He has unsurpassed unity of trust with God His Father and also has taken our nature fully so the potential for ‘putting in words for us with God’ is immense. Even the wheels of Nature turn upon the power of this mediator calling and potential Jesus has because He never lets people down and God always listens to Him, His Son. This His name, all He is known for, all that He is, can and should be used to overcome sin and in doing this service and building the temple of His body of followers in reverence for God there is utterly powerful angelic protection right on hand when needed. (Daniel 3.) So build that temple by this name of the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. He has received from God and given to the churches the Holy Spirit for this purpose.

The Name of the Son of Man

The most powerful force in Nature made known in the Book of Enoch and by the Holy Spirit is the name of the Son of Man, which together with the Oath was given among angels to hold back ancient evils. The Oath itself is a mysterious entity known to angel chiefs by which Nature fulfils God’s purposes for it. But what is this other entity of mystery? The name of the Son of Man. ‘What is in a name?’ Indeed, everything is in a name, apparently. In terms of meaning, the name of someone is what they are known for, what they are good for, what they are worth, how much risk they can guarantee, their reputation and in some cases fame, the substance of what they represent. No other name commands so much urgency of meeting angelic requirements in governing the universe than the name of one particular person; the Son of Man, as Enoch’s writings relate to us. Peter the Apostle also preached ‘there is no other name made known among men by which to be saved [than the name of Jesus Christ]’, this Son of Man. We must therefore trust what Jesus is good for, represents, is worth, is known for. The teachings, the miracles showing God’s endorsement and testimony of His Son, the commands given, the apostles chosen and how they preached the truth, the faithfulness and the obedience to God His Father and subsequent resurrection vindicating Him. All this is that name, which angels feared and sought in Enoch’s days. Combining this with the Oath of natural order gave them power to hold back the evils of fallen angels and rebellion against God. We too can fend away evils and troubles with it, invoke it to keep even governments in check, straighten our ways, strengthen our commands to our children, build our churches, find a way ahead, receive the Holy Spirit and fulfil the will of God.

For us it isn’t so much fallen angels we have to deal so much as fallen people of God. Sin among us. My sin and yours and sins of priests and sins of disciples and of the flock. These sins cause immense harm in our days amongst us just as fallen angels caused harm in Enoch’s ancient days amongst humans and angels and threatened Nature itself since the Flood was so tragic. Now we, as the angels back then, ought to use the name of the Son of Man, what He does and is good for and known for and push back on the evil of sin with it. We need to save the world and this is how to do it. This Son of Man we know as Jesus. He is known to us as the one who has ultimate sway with God the Father, enough to mediate for us with God while knowing our state having lived it unto death. A human in a living body who can be touched. So He can effectively mediate for us with God. 

2020 Fire Foxes

Fire foxes. Foxes with their tails set alight by the ancient Israelite judge Samson set running through the Philistine crop fields.

Personal Faith

Finding a safe way through this life and having hope for the hereafter, learning the true path and finding a good moral compass is a matter of believing personally. I cannot do that for you. Maybe my faith standing firm might help your growth of faith but my faith cannot replace your need for faith. We each are persuaded individually. So I need to be persuaded well for my faith to grow. You need to be persuaded well for your faith to grow. For me my faith long depended on those around me and how they read and understood each other and scriptures and works God did among them. Then it changed a little to depend on what God did in me personally and on how I understand the scriptures personally, and I started to rely not merely on those who taught me and testified to me but more on what I witnessed personally of Christ. Then twenty five years ago I witnessed Christ in a major way that is now my bedrock. He met me and showed me what He does and who He is and the Father showed that this Jesus who met me is His Son and the Holy Spirit in church sealed it, utterly. You too can become more knowledgeable in this way, with a faith based on works of God like this. Put aside your exaggerated certainty and gain real certainty instead.

My Advice on Hearing God

If you don’t know Christ very well or if you either are not sure you have experienced the Holy Spirit or do not yet recognise the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence then best to stick with what many testify is from God such as scriptures of Bible until you learn the will of God and ways of God or simply go by what you are taught by those you know and trust, since scriptures are easily misunderstood and mistaught. But hope to have faith and grow in knowledge of God and of Christ Jesus God’s true son and you will receive the Holy Spirit who can Himself teach you to recognise His voice and discern His visions. But it might take time. Give it time. But do not think the Holy Spirit will only show you biblical things once you know Him. He will show you new things not known before if He wishes. There is so much yet to be revealed. So for this you will need to trust His ability to make Himself known to you once you know He is glorifying Christ in Christ’s name. Just know He will only take you further into what Christ Jesus learns from the Father, God. 

Motion: the Gyroscope Effect

The universe needs motion. Black holes keep stars and planets and stellar dust moving, sucking them in at points in space but keeping all distant stars pulled in one direction or another, moving. The bicycle rider knows you keep moving to keep order or you fall off. Stability comes from constant motion. The cyclist falls unless they move forward and this is strange and wondrous like the way motion keeps a gyroscope vertical and orderly. The gyroscope is like the stars kept in motion by the black holes. Motion maintains order by giving laws of nature the opportunity to maintain control. In the immediate vicinity of God in heaven, in the place where God is seated on the throne of glory, there are four living heavenly beings (seen by the prophet Ezekiel) which maintain the order of all things by constant motion of a wheel within a wheel, like four gyroscopic chariots, like the orbit of the Moon within the orbit of the Earth. Right in the immediate vicinity of God, the universe is kept in order by laws of Nature determined by God. Here where it is all governed, is the throne too of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, at God’s right hand, and by the Lord, Jesus Christ’s authority it all happens, the authority given Him by God.

The dreaded 666

The dreaded 666: Is that really what this is? Maybe it is heading towards something like that, but technology unknown to us now; a future technology which will make more sense when it happens, perhaps a decade or more from now when I guess those still around might look back at this moment and recognise this as when it all started in earnest. ‘Microsoft published a patent for a "cryptocurrency system using body activity data." This patent is filed under the number WO2020060606A1’ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/microsoft-own-patent-666/ 

Root Causes

In this time of testing let us not forget the root causes of these plagues. The testimony of Jesus is ours to lead us. The shamanism of our ways is one cause. It underpins our medicine. It underpins our cultural customs in the ideas of talisman charms, astrological predictions, pagan festivals, swearing with pagan invocations, drug taking for greater enlightenment and seeking to game the system of the natural world rather than praying to God alone. Then there is the harsh treatment of religious people by those who lack religious conviction. Then there is lying and stealing and shady practices and criminal activities underpinning our systems. Then there is our entranced obsessive ties to ancient systems of Europe going back to the empires of the past and power structures they have bequeathed to us: Babylon the Great, the harlot Rome. These are all the ways we do not repent and turn from. We do not depart fully from dealings with the old empire systems. We do not look into our insistence on use of the old pagan practices of shamanistic past mastering of how to game the natural world in our sciences, so we persist with those practices. We do not change our deception of our minds to turn towards inner and outer honesty. We do not change our criminal ways. So the plagues come upon us and will keep on doing so because on the whole we will not repent. Come out and be separate from the unrepentant and God will be our leader and a father to us, so we can be free of the future plagues to come and liberated from the future testing times that will come, like this one, on all the earth.

Health and the mega-rich

What else can a mega-rich man do? He is at threat from the virus and further pandemics. If he wants to protect himself he needs an effective WHO and vaccines. He’ll obviously think investing in these will help him protect himself while giving him a positive reputation as a philanthropist at the same time. Unfortunately this is very unlikely to provide bulletproof protection for him since medicine might appear to succeed on mass scale but for any individual the success is always limited and side effects or bad effects likely. Yet what else can an extremely rich person hope to achieve? The onus is therefore on society and governments to protect the masses from the private interests of the rich and mega-rich who can afford to make their projects look philanthropic. China has to manage many such mega-rich architects of its new cities and society. The West must do the same.

Porn and Demons

Interesting to look at biographies of Marquis de Sade and Rasputin to see how they handled both demons and porn. They were consumed by both but not necessarily cause and effect, more that the demon caused the porn. Not the other way around. With Marquis de Sade and Rasputin there is another factor too. Both were heavily influenced by false teachings. Sade by his Atheism. Rasputin by the teaching of sinning to defeat sin. Both became teachers of their respective false teachings as well as disciples. Here is the gateway to the demon: discipleship of demonic false teachings. So teachers beware what you teach. You could be opening a demonic gateway. Mental illness could be a side effect of your teachings.

The real problem with de Sade and Rasputin was in how, for different reasons but the same weakness, they gave themselves fully over to porn and fornication. They both had a kind of madness about it, both alluding to a demonic aspect to this citing supernatural visitations which led them deeper into it. To my mind the lesson to learn is that while it is a natural property of being human to delight in sexual stimulation by other people, giving too much of ourselves to that delight is potentially mentally harmful and giving ourselves completely over to it is dangerous to not only our health but the health of society. So keep a lid on it. Restraint. Not suppressing but controlling, limiting: Since giving ourselves over to it completely can lead to us suffering both harm and threat of punishment and anger from those in power who seek to keep society healthy. Plus we ought to keep a clear conscience in living as best we can.

As a side note, I think it’s important to mention that baptism of the kind practiced by Baptists involves pledging to keep a clear conscience which in itself tends to lead the baptised believer into keeping a lid on the natural tendency to gravitate towards sexual stimulation of the porn kind. It does not eliminate the natural desire and delight but it teaches us to keep it controlled and not give ourselves fully over to it in a damaging way. So demonic teachings get less of a foothold. This is a saving grace of Christianity. It is not only about punishment by society and anger of God but about the individual conscience being kept clear by doing your best to live right. This does not mean other religions and non-religions do not also need to exercise these restraints and self-governing ways too. It is important for every individual. Yet baptism in Christ’s grace and Christ’s name helps a great deal.

The Folly of Science

Science was started in the mists of time before even the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians when humans smelted lead or copper and other ingredients and poured the molten metal alloys into moulds and started to look at how to combine the metals using magic to try to make alloys good for making weapons. They also sought ways to make potions to cause abortions or cause hallucinations that might open their minds to magical influences and visions. Their theories of what got best results took them into thinking about their potential for doing all this better without hindrance from fear of God. Their foolish hearts were darkened and they started to think the objects they made might be better as objects of worship than God. 

An Angel is in the Fire!

“AN ANGEL IS IN THE FIRE”

This is a quote from the Book of Enoch when Noah complained to God about the origins of alchemy at a time when metal working was starting to become a science but one involving a kind of primitive form of witchcraft, magic. Did such a time happen in history as we know history today? The clearest evidence is in the artefacts found at the archaeological site of Nahal Mishmar which are magical ritual maces, sceptres and the like made around 3000 BC from metal alloys of extreme sophistication unmatched until modern times. 

Faithful and True

People don’t just need to be moral. They need to stay moral. That is no easy thing when people become eternal. Eternal morality requires an Eternal Christ. Enter Jesus. Christ from aeons past till forever future. Keeping His followers eternally moral, eternally sons of God the Father. Dying on a cross for them and rising again to champion their salvation forever. The epitome of true religion. Faithful and true.

Abuse of Religion

What type of person angers me the most? Religious people who use scripture or doctrine to justify injustice and wrongdoing. People often use religion to justify doing nothing about injustice. They “turn the grace of God into a licence for immorality”. They let religion dull their indignation and use religious concepts as a shield against the feelings of shame which would otherwise prompt them to change their sinful ways. People quote scriptures and denominational doctrines when confronted with inconvenient truth. Some leaders have felt that the only way around this, the only way to achieve justice in the face of such religious opposition to justice is to counter this bad use of religion with a suppression of religion per se. Communism is most notable in this regard. I expect God will forgive some such leaders and many of those who follow their ideologies for the greater good. I expect God will condemn many religious leaders and followers of such leaders for using religion to justify oppression of the poor, or using religion and even scriptures to excuse inaction and lack of repentance. And I do not deny it: I am guilty of it too.

Seven percent

only 7 percent of the world are convinced atheists and most of these are in China

Faith

FAITH: Not giving in to fear. Embracing what is real. Putting aside precautions against the unlikely in favour of protection coming from the real. Taking no steps reversing the right path but keeping on a right path as long as is possible just like the rest of nature does and never wavering. All for the purpose of constructive love to a higher glory. An outcome of persuasive words and power from a higher intelligence. Resulting in protective events which will at some point be traced back to realities unseen and unimagined. Nothing can withstand genuine faith.

The Crucifixion

The crucifixion of Christ seems a bizarre way for Jesus to fulfil the meaning of His name: Salvation. Yet there is more to it. He unites believers with Himself spiritually so that they are one with Him. This means Jesus’ crucifixion was effectively their crucifixion. When He, their head, died they were dying too. So their death sentence for grave crimes and sins already has happened. All share in that death who share in Christ by unity with Christ. Likewise they all share in the resurrection which followed that death. Those who share in Christ have special reason to believe in the Father who sent Him to work out this salvation.

The crucifixion message

When someone has faith and calling to tell me assuredly that Christ died for me, and when I have grace to receive that in my inner heart, the outcome is so powerful in changing me for the better into a truthful person that it is clearly not some made up human invention idea. It meets my need so well that I know God is behind it and has my back. Miracles result. The power teaches me honesty and humility. The regime of Heaven fills me. The future opens up with new prospects. To then find Jesus is alive and well takes those prospects to a new level because it means God raised Him from the dead and can raise me too. 

Aliens Question

Q. Atheist Republic (on LinkedIn): If aliens do one day visit us, what do we show them to prove that we are worth something?

A. Aliens of the generally invisible spirit kind are here and there like invisible human beings but stronger and defter generally speaking; in my experience and learning anyway. Only one spirit being is almighty over all and rightly calls Himself God, calling Jesus Christ (yes alive and existing for aeons past and forever future) His Son. Then there is the Holy Spirit abroad everywhere and visiting churches and believers especially. These all know humans, and what we are worth, very well. Yet never hurts to remind an angel that Christ died for us, our worth in God the Father’s eyes.

Pray that you will not fall into temptation

I have an unpopular opinion that requirements of one system can be imposed on followers of another system but only if there is just warrant for it. I’m not at all sure whether WHO shutting churches has just warrant. Nor do I believe a New World Order is an entirely good development. However, I am sure that besides followers, God has subjects and servant-slaves too and they must be helped in carrying out their duties towards God and Christ, so this can cause a coincidence of agendas resulting in imposition of certain global rules and laws. But this New World Order looks awfully like the image of the Beast mentioned in Revelation if the Beast is taken to mean Ancient Greece which started by coming together of previously quarrelling city states and had principles based on Athens and philosophy of Plato and Aristotle as today are enshrined in modern age concepts and in Marxist Communism too. In Enoch’s time there was mainly one civilisation which Enoch ruled for a time but although that allowed his teachings to gain universal traction we are warned in Revelation of the evils that can gain sanction and traction from such a situation too.

Words of the Holy Spirit

The blessed Holy Spirit says to “Build the Temple” and “Consider the trees how they put out buds and leaves. They do so by the authority, power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yet sternly God says “Israel has sinned” and the sign of it is the eagle overhead, the mass surveillance cameras everywhere, heralding of wars and planning of wars. So love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind. And with all your voice!

Years ago I was pondering a question that came to mind about why so often, if people became a serious threat to my life or family, a catastrophe befell them suddenly foiling their threat. Maybe it is this, I thought “the Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him”. Suddenly the Spirit told me “Daniel 3”. It was a crystal-clear voice. I guessed it was a biblical reference so I went into the next room where there was an open Bible that someone had given me and I looked up Daniel chapter three and right at the end was the word “Angel” and it had a reference beside it, a cross reference to that verse in the Psalm “the Angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear Him”. Now I keep that Bible open on that verse now to honour the Holy Spirit.

Oh there is joy in living life to obey the vision from heaven that the Holy Spirit gives some believers. “Build the Temple”, He says. He means the body of believers and the tasks He gives to do will build them up into the Temple of God. That is what I happily spend my life doing. Doing tasks given by God to feed Christ’s people spiritually to build them up into a Temple for God. King Solomon the Wise relished the task. King David his father was bowled over at knowing his son would have this honour. Kings have longed for such a life.

The Lord so small yet becoming all in all

Can God truly care for something as small as a tiny cell? Sure, especially when that cell is His beloved Son in the womb of the virgin Mary.

Children of Satan

Being a child of Satan does not mean you are a Satanist. I used to be a liar when in my teens before getting that fixed by the gospel. John chapter 8 tells that Jesus called liars ‘Satan’s children’. So even though I had been baptised, my compulsive lying characterised me in God’s eyes and in the testimony of Jesus Christ as a child of Satan still, until the gospel message was preached to me effectively that Christ died for me and in subsequent prayer the compulsion was drummed out of me. Lying that God does not exist and that Jesus is neither Christ nor risen from the dead is a compulsion spell that the gospel can break when received with conviction and the Holy Spirit’s power gets to work in the inner being. The child of Satan can become a child of God. You simply have to start somewhere but need not stay there.

Churches during lockdown

In the matter of churches during lockdown it is a matter of focusing on what really constitutes a church meeting, not merely a building and pulpit and pews and people but rather a coming together of two or more just to honour God and Christ, speaking words of God and seeking that God’s will be done in Jesus’ name. Even outdoors is fine. No need for organisation. No need for seminary or ordinations. Even the current lockdown does not prevent two meeting out in public, telling God’s words and contemplating God’s will because even there the will of God and words of God can fill the ones involved with the Holy Spirit as they are built up by God’s words. This stripping away of fabrications of Man to leave what is of God can be the future of churches. I hope so. 

Opinion: Archangel Names

How did the archangel names come to be aligned across scriptures written thousands of years apart in different languages? I theorise that maybe Daniel had the Book of Enoch and knew Babylonian languages well enough to translate it. He might have referred to it in his writings when spelling archangel names Gabriel and Michael. If he translated the Book of Enoch from Babylonian languages into Hebrew and Aramaic others such have Tobit and Esdras might have referred to it in their spellings of archangel names which though possibly having variety of spellings (standardising spellings is a modern phenomenon not so common in ancient times) would be closely aligned enough to enable later translators and scholars to recognise the correspondences. 

Ezekiel and Daniel, Babylon and the Book of Enoch

The Hebrew prophets of scripture living in exile in Babylon several centuries BC are exceptional because they give details other scriptures do not give about heavenly beings, archangels. The names of archangels are mentioned in Daniel: Michael and Gabriel. The distinctly manlike heavenly being who has direct access to God is mentioned by Daniel. Did these two prophets have access to the Book of Enoch and was it hidden from other prophets? The names of angels are found in the Book of Enoch: Gabriel, Michael and five others. The Son of Man is much mentioned too, having special access to God and being called by God “My Son”. Was God starting with this book and clarifying the Son of Man’s human nature when He repeatedly started calling Ezekiel Son of Man? Showing that Son of Man means a real human like Ezekiel. Centuries later both Jesus and His brother Jude mention this book too. Was it all preparation for Jesus showing He is human and is this Son of Man?
 Once we get to believing that the Son of Man is, we can get to keep in mind His teachings. That is the way to salvation He taught.

Way of Salvation

Once we get to believing that the Son of Man is, we can get to keep in mind His teachings. That is the way to salvation He taught.

What kind of evidence do I find most compelling?

I tend to deep down believe my human nature is ready-made to be able to discern reality in this universe around me. So when evidence manifests to that nature I tend to think that nature is a compass to tell me that the evidence has a certain reality behind it. However there is some evidence which utterly bypasses that sensory human nature and instead manifests directly to my inner immaterial being, my spirit and soul if you like. That is utterly compelling in a way material evidence cannot be. 

Stop the world, I want to get off? See it is stopped. Get off now.

Stop the world, I want to get off? See it is stopped. Get off now.

The Circle of Life

If you believe Jesus is, you tend to obey Jesus’ teachings more. As you do so you find Jesus’ promises are fulfilled. So you tend to believe the teachings are truly and faithfully recorded. And you tend to then believe Jesus’ saying that they are teachings from the Father. So I have found.

Magna Carta

Not sure about other countries but for Britain at least I hope and pray something like a new Magna Carta will come into this to protect churches in future, to list valid reasons for closures, to limit or curb government and police powers, as a document of the people by the people for the people. England does not even have a written constitution. I pray that from this trouble will come not zero churches like now but just one Church, the head of it Christ Jesus and the churches all united as one body of this head.

What about the airports?

Are any measures anywhere actually working at all? The authorities seem to run scared when faced with two major factors in this thing: airports and the rich. Rich people flee one country to holiday homes in others. They use airports. Shut airports and they cannot travel quickly to the second, third, fourth homes, some risking taking the virus with them. Ignoring this makes failure of other severe measures seem inevitable. 

JOEL THE PROPHET AND THE MANDATE FOR CHURCH MEETINGS

At a time when we are prudent to stay at home and especially not attend meetings, what is the actual reason Christians and Messianics want to meet? The Book of Joel is a mysterious book in the Bible whose time of writing is unknown. It contains a prophecy (chapter 2) which provides the heavenly mandate for meeting as churches and synagogues and being led by the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts. The backdrop to this mandate is veiled in mystery too. An army not of Earth but the army of heaven is about to march like a swarm of locusts destroying but unhindered by anything physical: unstoppable. The only hope is prayer and to be replenished when it has passed. For readiness and prayer God counsels gatherings for prayer blessed by gifts of the Holy Spirit. The army will turn the sky black in dreadful destruction. It will happen in the time of Jesus Christ’s return. For this time which needs to be over quickly or all are doomed, we need to have meetings and build one another up as the spiritual gifts work in us in love.

The mysterious unity with Jesus Christ

Jesus is. Believe it. He can turn it around for you. Believing is first step to following. By believing that Jesus is, and then keeping the teachings of Jesus, His crucifixion becomes yours. He died for sins once and for all. Believers who follow Him and hold to the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of those Jesus sends are beneficiaries of the death Jesus died on a cross for sins. His death effectively becomes your own death because you become part of Him. He shares Himself with His followers, His disciples who keep His teachings. They become united with Him spiritually so the crucifixion He suffered and death He died is theirs too. It is then as if they themselves died that death for their sins. The death sentence for any serious sins is something that already happened for them. It is as though they have already been executed for their sins. This is how He turns it around for them so even though God requires a death sentence, that death sentence has happened in the past. They are executed. Now they can live to obey Jesus. Jesus says “Go and sin no more”.

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

There is, right now, a springboarding of a global joined up society akin to the Roman Empire of the first millennium.  Asked where the end times signs will appear, Jesus answered “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather”. It might have been a common idiom of the time but it might be foretelling that as end times appear and their signs are seen, it will happen at a time when location is no longer important or significant. That might be now. The vultures gather where there is a body, irrespective of locality or man made boundaries. Boundaries and locations are irrelevant to vultures. What matters is the dead body. So, today, we see the first times when you can be anywhere in the world and the same principles apply to you as anywhere else. Global singularity. The signs could appear anywhere right now and the location would be irrelevant. It would appear on globalised media wherever it happens. 

Religion or Hope

Religion is one reason people lose all hope. Religion tells us our deeds warrant death. Religious zealots even condemn us for enjoying our bodies. Religion even condemns us for our thoughts. Extreme religion could even condemn us to death for our dreams given the chance. Even our tastes in music get condemned. Then we find condemning texts are written in scripture too so it is set in stone and sanctioned. Much of it gets twisted but who is there to say whether it is twisted or whether we are squirming against it. Some argue for moderation but their voices do not reach remote areas such as Northern Nigeria and Afghanistan and remote parts of Pakistan and cut-off regions. So extreme views get enacted in actual executions and maimings in the name of God. What hope does religion provide us if we are habitual in our failings? Instead of condemnation we need a wise saviour. Who on earth can counter such sanctioned and empowered religion which condemns us. One man. Jesus Christ. He is. Believe it. He turns things around. He even died to do so. And rose to keep doing so - forever. Hold to this.

Why do people become atheists?

Our failure to live up to moral/ethical standards is a path to atheism because we give up hope of what religion promises and fear what religion warns about, so we lose faith, and for some atheism looks like the only alternative. Jesus knew that and opened a doorway to being with God, and eternally living without death, not only by teaching better religion but by dying the crucifixion death which took the place of the death religion dictates for ethical failure. So Jesus turned it around that way and can turn it around for us over and over in all our trials when we believe that Jesus lives risen from the dead and is alive now and we hold to Jesus’ teachings. Eternity will always be with Jesus and that crucifixion will always forever in eternity pay for life instead of death. So we can and should stop falling short.

Why Christians use Hardships like this one to Convert

People are controlled by beings too big for them to understand but one being controlling many, many people is a liar and murderer and leads its victims to destruction. To release its many, many victims you have to overcome and eventually bind this being. Hardships like the current measures can be part of that. Once the being is restricted then you have to convert the victims. There is no point wasting the opportunity. These masses need to be released and put under control of the highest being who does not lie and is always faithful: The true father being whose control through the Holy Spirit leads to eternal life. To do this takes preaching of the truth that Christ turns things around and has died on a cross and risen to live for ever.

Jesus is. Believe that. He can turn it around.

Jesus is. Believe that. He can turn it around. In Jesus’ teaching of the Rich Man and Lazarus the rich man died and asked to be sent back to warn his brothers about Hades torments lest they do as he did in life and end up there too - he prayed to Abraham - so Jesus shows us that the dead are in some ways like the living - but the ones with God who are not physically deceased such as Jesus and Enoch and Elijah and maybe others we do not know - these can pray for all of us - and of these Jesus is greatest and in majesty as God’s right hand man He presides even now over judgments such as this and has right having died as sacrifice for our sins and all people to be Great High Priest and intercede effectively - most effectively of all.

Time for a sharp exit

‘And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”’
Revelation 18:4
The British have always since 40 AD been ruled by the Roman Empire in one form or another: first Rome then the Holy Roman Empire under Rome then the Habsurgs and other royal houses including Saxe-Coburg (now House of Windsor in UK) forming modern Europe and now the EU. So to get free of Rome and Europe will be a truly historic and momentous event. Countries around the world have longed and fought bitterly for such freedom. To gain it without a war will be astonishing: A miracle of God on the lines of Book of Revelation 18.

The Book of Enoch

Wikipedia:
“Ubara-tutu (or Ubartutu) of Shuruppak was the last antediluvian king of Sumer. He was said to have reigned for 18,600 years (5 sars and 1 ner). He was the son of En-men-dur-ana, a Sumerian mythological figure often compared to Enoch, as he entered heaven without dying. Ubara-Tutu was the king of Sumer until a flood swept over his land, like Emperor Yao and Methuselah.”
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubara-Tutu

Texts found near Sharappak mention Ubara-tutu and also his grandson Utnapishtim (Noah). These are the oldest extant prose texts translated into English. This is consistent with the possibility of the original texts later comprising the Book of Enoch being written at the time of earliest prose writing by En-men-dur-ana (Enoch), Ubara-tutu (Methuselah) and Utnapishtim (Noah).

Pandemic 2.0

March 2020: The UK government is taking measures, on controversial scientific advice, to increase ‘herd immunity’. This might have a side-effect or creating millions of potential carriers just when elsewhere the disease is dying down (like in China). Then if the Brits start travelling again it could start a far, far bigger pandemic. Part of this for example would be Chinese students returning to China, some taking active coronavirus with them. Possibly students from China will not be allowed back to China, or similar measures may be taken.

Silent Prayerful Communication

In the scriptures there was Hannah who prayed asking for a child, because she was barren, and she asked without saying the words out loud because she was in the public temple and was praying her innermost private thoughts. God still heard her. I guess when I heard this as a child I realised prayer could be silent. I expect my mother told me God hears your thoughts. So I always prayed in my thoughts. Hardly ever in uttered words. Always I received what I asked. Only later in life did I even question this thought praying method. Then years later in my thirties Jesus spoke to me and later He woke me in the night to prove something I had asked about. The method was to bypass my senses and speak directly to me - beyond even my conscious mind. To my spirit or soul, not sure what you’d properly call it. An analogy would be a computer system writing words directly on the hard disk, by passing processors and peripheral devices like keyboard. Astonishing. So you just have to believe what is said or reject it. I received it. Then both times simply acted on it immediately without question, it was so certain it needed no question. Spirit communicates with spirit.

The Ordered Universe

“Observe 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.
And His works go on from year to year for ever, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according as hath ordained so is it done.”

— Book of Enoch

Pythagoras realised the universe is mathematically ordered and it is one small step to go from there to the Heraclitus view that an entity makes it that way and keeps it that way and calling that entity the Logos leaves Christianity to complete the last step and recognise that Logos made flesh is Christ and the Holy Spirit says it is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ which is that by which all nature stays in predetermined order. So that first observation was possible for Pythagoras although some argue he was helped by the Zoroastrian religion, but it takes the Holy Spirit to lead to the true conclusion, and the Christ dying on a cross and rising from the dead makes it more certain.

 “Consider the trees, they put forth buds and leaves. They do so by the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
— Holy Spirit

Real Baptism

To be real, the person is not merely agreeing with the baptism, they are obediently walking eyes open into it and then continuing to walk in that same obedience ever after. It is induction into the perpetual course of the teachings and salvation provisions of the Christ. They need to first believe that Jesus is indeed the Christ or else this baptism is not real. Part of the saving provisions of the Christ is the real Holy Spirit as seen in manifestations such as real genuine speaking in tongues (not glossalia babbling but genuine spiritual language enunciation often with interpretation to benefit the hearers) and God only gives this when the baptism and belief is real and sincere. Hence it is baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit. It sets a person apart and unites them with the living Jesus Christ. 

Greta Thunberg in Bristol, UK

Has anyone ever gathered 30000 people to College Green in Bristol before? I used to work in top right corner office of Council House overlooking it years ago and once saw the Queen from the window balcony. But she only drew a crowd of hundreds. Tony Blair later spoke down at the other end of the green and drew a crowd of dozens. Greta Thunberg drew together 30000! Must have something to say and something to offer - other than imperialism.

Coronavirus

Here is God’s healing olive branch:

“Flee from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the Lord’s vengeance;
he will repay her what she deserves.
Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
“We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.”

“Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
For her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
Give her as much torment and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;
I will never mourn.’
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Sin that leads to death

Corporal punishment is not the sole domain of religion nor of the commands of God and laws of God. Mankind started writing laws even before Moses. Hammurabi and others wrote laws. Later towards Moses’ time the laws started to carry death sentences in some cases. It was already happening before Moses and is ever happening since that nations make laws for which breach of them can carry death sentence, and not really for breach of them alone since the action would carry a death sentence in society even if there were no law being broken. Parents trying to handle a devilishly violent or vicious son might resort to local judges and magistrates even if no law were broken, rather than just keep enduring an impossible situation. These magistrates might take drastic fatal action to deal with it. This is not just a religious issue. It is extremely tragic but part of life. Unfortunately. It always will be part of life. Christ coming and making Himself an atonement did not change this aspect of life. He wants to stop death sentences being inevitable by helping the sinner get sorted out before the worse can happen. It sometimes involves death though.

God with a capital G

There are several components to the ancient historic concept of God. One is singularity. God is the One God. None other besides is God the way the Father is God. Another is topmost status. Only one Father is father of all beings and Lord of all and maker of all and highest over all. Topmost Creator. The tree-like status hierarchy of all beings has just one at the top. (Note that even Christ Jesus, the Son called God His own God, the Father.) Then there is blessedness. Only one Father deserves all praise because He of all beings is so praiseworthy. God is good and great and is dearly loved by many and first loved many. Another is prayer. God receives prayers. God is the one who answers prayers and saves those who trust in Him and call on Him. Then there are key attributes ascribed to this God such as that His righteous blessedness is eternally constant and that God is almighty in power to save.

Saint Lazarus

I was in Cyprus, in Larnaka, last week and was astonished to see that the orthodox Saint Lazarus church is built over the former tomb of Lazarus who Jesus raised after Lazarus was dead for four days. How can any Greek Cypriots not believe? I suppose if not believing is your normal disposition and coping mechanism you just get used to ignoring invisible implications of what is visible right in front of you. The Orthodox Church still meet in that building over the sarcophagus that held the ‘man twice buried’ (now three or more times buried since the Crusaders moved the body long ago) and perhaps this makes it one of the oldest churches. I stood watching a service take place but could not understand the Greek. Greek Orthodox are so fortunate to have such history plus the best chance of correctly understanding scriptures which were preserved in Greek better than they had been in Hebrew.

Proofs

To a Westerner like myself with religious ideologies all around, the possibility of proving the existence of God has always been instilled into me as like discovering cold fusion or the Holy Grail. Nobody told me it had already been done many times, such as the proof by Leibniz. Proof, though, is a Greek idea. It is not primarily for convincing people but more for starting a dialogue and maybe even a school of thought, as with Zeno’s proof that movement is impossible. There is also the Hebrew concept of proof which is more about giving sanction to what already has traction, such as when early Christians ‘proved from scriptures’ that Jesus is the Christ. None of this is for persuading. Persuading might depend on factors such as social pressure and government laws. Mafia use violence to ‘persuade’. China and North Korea use imprisonments. West uses media. God uses His words and the power of His Spirit.

Upgrade on the Law of Moses

The old ancient ways of God which God introduced through Moses which still stand today are yet superseded in favour of the way of God introduced though His Son Jesus which comes by the giving of Holy Spirit and gifts like tongues with interpretation which I witnessed in church in the nineties and never end completely even though for centuries it became a rarity. This Spirit giving manifestations in churches and individuals brings grace which feeds right living and understanding. This is greater than that old way. It is trustworthy even though opening the door of trust means having to guard that door to keep out false pretences. This new way involves a wider view of life that encompasses the hereafter in which a balance exists where if great good is all that this life holds and evil judgments are exercised in this life oppressing others such as the poor then the next life will have balancing evils. So we best look at the long term and love the poor and avoid excessive luxury in this life and have hope then for the next, the hereafter. This is the law of Christ. As is love for one another within a framework of believing in Christ. This is the upgrade on the law tablets.

Imagining God?

“What is the difference between imagining God and knowing God” That is the eternal life question. I do at last know the difference between imagining God and knowing God. For decades I wasn’t sure. I knew God from His constant answers to my prayers and from the sending of Jesus to be crucified for me for purification of sins, which showed His love (since I believed this), yet like many I probably did constantly imagine God too. This is why I asked over and over to see Him (to see Father and Son and Holy Spirit).

After much asking, finally God came, appearing in a vision to me as I slept one night at the end of 1994. It seems His visit was such so as to be evidence convincing me but only me personally. God does that, showing Himself to one but not others. It seems to require qualification of love towards Him before He shows Himself personally. So in this dream said “I am God” then He told me there was something I would get put on my desk tomorrow and I must look at it carefully. I never normally got things put on my desk because I was always the person at work distributing post to others. Then the next day an envelope arrived and you I looked at it and saw I must forward it by 4pm and it was five to four when I saw it so I rushed it to the person concerned, remembering their name had been mentioned in the dream, even though I had never met them before. I did it just in time. I realised that dream could not possibly have been a mere dream but had actually been God, as He had said. I immediately told my colleague and word got around. This is the Father, God.

Now at the moment, in February 2020, the UK River Severn is flooding badly. Last time it flooded as badly was probably the 1995 storm. This was just days after the dream vision of God in which the Father appeared to me. I was living next to a river near the Severn (Avon in Bristol) with similar flooding. I read in scripture that the Lord presides over such things as judge so I decided to walk to the river and see the flooding and try to think how it might be it is God judging and Jesus presiding over it. On the way back a voice shouted at me inside my head “Put down your umbrella!” I was carrying a huge umbrella like golfers use which kept me dry despite the downpour but I sensed such authority in the ‘voice’ that I folded it immediately and as I did so the rain stopped so abruptly I just knew that voice was Jesus. To be really sure I later asked for a sign and as I went to bed I saw a dressing gown never used hung on a peg. I asked that if it was really Jesus may that come down off the peg before the morning. I slept but halfway through the night I felt suddenly deeply compelled to wake up and get up. I took the dressing gown off the peg and suddenly remembered the sign request. That is Jesus.

A while later a local lay preacher heard I wanted to witness gifts of the Holy Spirit in church. He took me where he said I was sure to witness it. I felt heaviness keeping me in a vice grip of awe as we went and during the worship service. The leader spoke at a microphone in a wondrous and eloquent angelic language. The words entered my mind triggering English equivalent words. “Consider the trees, they put forth buds and leaves. They do so by the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and some more about orbits of planets I think. Within seconds the speaker himself gave the interpretation of his angelic words and they were just those same words that came to me in my head. That’s the Holy Spirit. 

Primary Sources

The inability to draw certainty from history due to ever inadequate knowledge is why I try to learn not from concocted ideas of God such as consensus dogma of ancient Romans or more recent Muslims and Protestants and Babylonian Jewish Geniuses (Talmud teachers) but rather from the real being who appeared to me as God and showed Jesus to me personally as His Son and whose Holy Spirit proclaimed to me this Jesus. I know all this was no concoction. I know personally. I do not believe quotes of verses as primary sources of truth (because they are often misapplied and misunderstood) but my primary sources are the one who told me He is God, the one He showed me (and who showed Himself to me) as Son, and the Spirit speaking through others and directly telling me who Jesus is, Lord, Christ, owner of the brand of Nature and living things. This God I fear: Who gives His angel charge over me. This is where my lessons come from. Those I learn and those I teach.  I believe in the Father who visited me, the Lord Jesus who came showing Himself Son of this Father, the Holy Spirit who sealed it through gifts of tongues and interpretation and later in speaking directly and giving me the word to prophesy. All this. Not the limitations imposed by others” preconceptions and misconceptions. 

Grisly Religion

Figure out God and religion. We might figure out someone called God is top God but understanding the history of how He created a people with just Himself as their only God can be helped by hearing or reading what is said or written by those who object to it all, at least, object to His methods involving a lot of deaths. Very grisly. Part of that method included His Son dying on a cross to purify the falling short of His people. That makes this Son worthy. Everyone should know this, grisly though it is.

The Brand of Nature

Life has a brand. ‘Jesus’ is that brand. The name that is the brand of Nature. Take that brand upon yourself in baptism, believing in it and in Him.

Lord and Christ

Of all the heavenly beings, it was the Son of Man who was chosen to provide sin purification for the humans. This surely sets Him apart and above all the others except the Father Himself. This awareness is an awareness of glory which makes all the difference to priorities and proportion. It means a human being is at top place over all things, bested only by the most supreme of all. We humans matter. We should make an effort to ever live up to that. There is someone human to help too. He has our backs. He has it covered. The Father is rooting for the human race, especially those He has chosen and determined to know His beloved, precious Son.

Smart Cities, Digital Cities Programmes

Do the authorities really not think we Bristol citizens will realise these ‘digital cities’, ‘smart cities’ technologies and their supposed much heralded ‘benefits’ are merely excuses to spy on us? Do we look like we are that blind? Blind maybe but blind and demented too? And all this pretence that it is to help us in old age. Spying in sinister ways on us even in our homes ‘for our own good’. Adult social ‘care’. Really sinister. Sneaky. I guess it might happen like 1984 but do we look like we won’t notice? Or twig? Yes. We wrong-doing Brits indeed deserve to be spied on by the eagle in the sky with the big white eye. But we can’t be expected to welcome that eagle into our homes. No not even us sinners here in Bristol, UK. But don’t worry everyone; it will be coming to you too. And when that eagle is up above, all hell down here below. Just like the prophets prophesied.

Climate Awareness

The last five or six thousand years of human history have seen two spurts of increased self-awareness. There is a recent growing sense (awareness) that humans as a whole are a problem for this planet. There was a long time past awareness around the first and second millennia BC that the universe has a balancing mechanism which is quite human-like. Zoroaster recognised it (or his followers did later). Then Pythagoras and Heraclitus, sages of Ancient Greece recognised it. Put these two together and you might easily recognise the likelihood of an imminent balance redress being about to happen. Christianity is starting to change its own doctrines about this and rebelieve in a coming Millennium of Christ.

Of the devil

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:8-9‬ ‭KJV‬

If you look for the fuller meaning of this in Jesus’ sermon recorded in John chapter 8 you see that the reasoning is that lies are not God’s way, but are the norm for Satan, so lies are a clear example of sin where those who lie as their norm are seen as bearing the makings of Satan rather than God. He goes on to include murderous hatred - hatred without due cause and hatred manifesting in enjoyment of harm and causing death - as the kind of sin which characterises Satan and those whose behaviour is outcome of Satan’s doing.

Obviously the true meaning of this passage is not a lie, coming as it does from the Son of Man who received His teachings from the Father who is only light with no darkness - but how you understand it and think about it might not itself be true. Some tend to twist its meaning to seek to accuse believers of being evil.

These ferocious, yet outwardly religious students of scripture should be careful how they explain the passage because it is easy to misinterpret it as saying that any wrong-doing at all means you are not a child of God.

We need to understand how people like John were writing, that it was not how people of western cultures write. It was more rhetorical: More about setting one viewpoint against another, less about being definitive.

John in the same epistle stated how to deal with children of God sinning so he was not saying children of God who sin are children of Satan. It is important to learn (from God) how to see it the way John saw it (John had learned it from Jesus and the Holy Spirit).

God does not approve of His children sinning. He does not endorse it. He is not accepting of it. He sees the devil’s influence in causing it. If all you do is sin then you are totally under Satan’s influence and control, like the world is. If you are born of God that level of sin will be gone from you. It is not to say it is so complete that you never sin. Jesus said about how bad it is if someone causes a child of God, a true disciple to sin. You can be caused to sin. It is possible. But sin is not permissible for you and must not be allowed to characterise you and if it does you are slave to that sin and need to be freed. The Son of Man sets people who believe free if they hold to His teachings which are liberating.

There are some who use this passage as accusers of the brethren, like their father the devil, but if they believe that Jesus is the Christ and hold to His teachings, they too will be set free by Him.

Afterlife

Do you doubt there is an afterlife?

Consider the kinds of animal which become inanimate but can reanimate - some kinds of frogs, some species of caterpillars, etc - and consider those kinds of grubs and caterpillars that turn into a cocoon state of a virtually inanimate pool of chemicals without organs or any form and then reanimate as a completely different animal form. These all have a period in which their body is inanimate. Yet they as individuals still exist. They can exist for months in that state of their body being inanimate yet somehow their essence as individuals, their identities persisting. How can you doubt that there is a more general science to this which applies to humans after death?

Happy New Britain!

You shall go out with joy
And be let forth with peace,
And the mountains and the hills
Will break forth before you.
There'll be shouts of joy
And the trees of the fields
Will clap, will clap their hands.

The One True God

Really the concept of “the One True God” is about the future final state which will then continue constantly, in which one god will become utterly dominant and solely worshipped, in the prophecies it will be the Father as God together with His Son as Lord. 

Utmost Importance

Extremely important: you think about it, there is a possibility, deep down, you might some day do something that makes you so guilty it would be only right for you to die for doing it. And furthermore, think about it, you might not be able to stop yourself doing it repeatedly. You would likely get caught. It is not really possible to say it won’t ever happen in your life. It might have already started. Dealing with this is of utmost importance. Read Gospel of John chapter 8. Jesus has it covered.

“Fires of Hell”

Hell seems, in the first instance, to be for those who have escaped justice in this life. It catches up. Karma and all that. Justice is like fire. Recompense owed stays around like any debt that is not forgiven. Fire symbolises this in ancient religions such as Mosaic Law and Zoroastrianism. So the fire of hell need not only be interpreted literally but symbolically too. Fire comes out from the offended towards to offender, says the Law of Moses. Trial by fire comes to all says Zoroastrianism. Not literal fire but spiritual recompense debt attribution manifesting in all kinds of ways. The hell teaching says something of you survives death and this fire can follow you into that further existence if justice is not satisfied in this life. There is then, later, an ultimate settling up beyond this hell season in the Final Judgement (or judgements, since there may be several stages of this - see Book of Enoch).

The Mystery of Children of God and Prayer

God wants servants with the potential to be friends and sons. This means growing to know His will and learning to do it. He will have others alongside Him and His Son. The family will be huge. He loves the potential children He raises to be adopted as His own. To be His own means learning to pray in line with His will within the teachings and name of His Son. The Lord’s Prayer is an example. So He will share ongoing life in His great kingdom with many. These will always have a say.

The Rise of Culture

A lot of people, I think, are baffled by time and space and matter and energy around them and how it works. Not on a scientific level but a more metaphysical and spiritual level of chance and outcomes of the vying of hidden wills. Seeing how chance is not enough to explain order and grace the feeling is that patterns control outcomes and patterns significant to outcomes might be reproducible. The baffling but compelling curiosity is to try and guess what constitutes a significant pattern conducive to an either positive or negative outcome, irrespective of the complexity of hidden factors determining such an outcome. Can outcomes be influenced? When outside forces offer advice on how to determine such complexities the natural human reaction is to lap it up and play along and so cultures are formed and are surprisingly persistent. Cultures include divination, charm tokens, totems, beguiling alluring techniques, idolatry, metallurgy, weaponry, martial arts, medical procedures, expertise in herbal poisons and remedies, esoteric knowledge of the spiritual realm, enchantments, invocations, shamanism and the like. These things have diminished morality but raised hopes of elevated prowess of humanity and have matured into the sciences.

The Real Thing

You hear it said “Believe in God or go to Hell”
That oversimplification falls a bit short. Many believe in God existing but still go to Hell. Satan believes in God’s existence. The thing is to believe about Jesus that He is and was (even much much longer ago than when He came) and died and lives forever because that will colour how you take His teachings such as His qualifications for what He says. Then holding to those teachings in the light of this.

Don’t Trivialise Baptism

Actually using baptism correctly to identify with Jesus Christ and indicate commitment to His teachings is powerfully beneficial in uniting the person so baptised with Jesus Christ. If that person then continues permanently to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ this unity is completed and the person so identified with Jesus is made part of Jesus. Now since Jesus is with the Father and spiritually in unity with the Father, blessed by the Father, pleasing to the Father, eternally living in the Father’s power, having purified sin by His death and having been raised to life once and for all by the Father, happily considered permanently Son of this Father, then yes, that is a blessed state of love to live with permanently and the Son continues that state by keeping you in good standing with the Father by corrected sins.

The Ongoing Gospel

Let the ongoing gospel story record what happens today in Jesus’ ongoing eternal life. How there are many He meets and how He teaches us miracle-working and faith. How He is still in the Father and the Father in Him and He in those of us who have Him as our teacher and we in Him. How the Holy Spirit builds us up and brings to us the mysteries Jesus knows and tells us the power of Lord Jesus Christ’s name in Nature. Have it include the workings of the Father in all this and His appearing to those of us who believe and His rebuking of sin and ongoing command to love Him with all our hearts and souls and strength and mind - and Voice. Have it include the ongoing judgments of the Father, God, in this world where His own people still sin despite all this and have to be monitored by the world’s surveillance systems. Yet those who know Him and fear Him are daily protected like in a fiery furnace by His angelic messenger so we are not destroyed. The gospel that began in the first century goes on and on forever.

The Almighty

Atheism is labelled so because Atheists do not have Almighty God, the Theos, as their God. Hindus believe in many gods but not the Almighty God, the Theos, from which we get Theism. They are without this Theos in their religion but do not call themselves Atheists because they identify with their gods, not with their absence of God Almighty. Strictly speaking, polytheism is not belief in many gods existing but putting many of them in top spot. Monotheism is not belief in only one god existing (not in it’s truest original sense) but belief that only one is Father and Almighty Supreme God. So strictly speaking Trinitarianism is polytheistic since Father and Son and Spirit are regarded as Almighty God. In contrast to Trinitarians, the Apostle Paul admitted there are many gods but confessed the monotheistic faith that only one God and Father exists who is over all these many gods and Father to them. He confessed the faith that Jesus is Son of this Father and is Lord over all gods and all of the rest of us too. Trinitarianism gets around the charge of polytheism by its insistence on unity between Father and Son and Spirit even though they somewhat polytheistically regard all as Almighty God. So in this sense they differ from Paul who is truly monotheistic by only believing the Father is the Almighty God. I have suspicions that Trinitarian dogma was introduced like Sunday rest day, to distance Christianity from Judaism and keep Jews out of it on pretext the Jews were Judaizers. A strict Jew obeying the Ten Commandments would be unable to embrace Trinity God because it puts God Father and Son together as the Almighty God. Similarly they could not stop keeping their Sabbath just to obey the Gentile church councils such as Council of Laodicea. Paul, however, did not hate his own people like that nor God and God’s truth and God’s commands. Paul did not in any way believe in any multiplicity of God Almighty. Only the Father is God Almighty in Paul’s beliefs and dogmas. Trinitarian dogma that Jesus is both Almighty God and man in the same body was invented, I think, to force Jews to break the commandment not to have other gods before God. Just like the Council of Laodicea tried to force Jews wanting to join the church to break the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy for rest. They do not have to persist anti-Semitic dogma any more. Laodiceans used Judaization as lame excuse but the threat is no reason to force anyone to break commandments of God. Forcing people to sin only brings the word of Christ that it is better to have a stone tied around the neck and cast into the sea. Jews, likewise, need not break any commandments of God to be acceptors of their Messiah, their Salvation. It is the Father who is Jesus’ God and Father, the Father who is Almighty God, the Most High. 

A message to Atheists

ATHEISTS ASK: WHY DOESN’T GOD PROVE HIMSELF TO EVERYONE?

The wisdom of God seems to me to be to focus on those who believe from the testimony they have received and miracles they have seen and God seems to put to one side for a bit the needs of hardened unbelievers. God loves the inner circle of believers who are becoming a family around Him. Others take time to get to this position of believing but God does provide space and some help in which they can take their time to work things out. It is a balance. At the moment the believers are sinning badly, perhaps too much influenced by Atheist dogma. This is uppermost in God’s mind it seems. The command to love God supremely needs to be put up high in view of these believers. But if your Atheism is a condition you want addressed by God then try showing willingness to cooperate and try all you can to get a glimpse of what God has sent so far to help faith, then reach out to the unknown God and maybe He will make Himself known to you too. Christ died for you.

Placeholders

The concept of a ‘placeholder’ applies well to religion. I grew up in religion with a lot of mental placeholders in my head, like scaffolding keeping my brain intact until some real believable facts could be put in place. I longed for the day the placeholders could go and hard facts replace them. It made me search and search for truth and assurance of truth. I wanted to stop having to convert myself to believing God exists before getting up each morning. I thought nobody understood this about me in my religious circles. I started hunting down facts related to God and Christ so I could be sure I had real faith, not pretend beliefs. John the Baptist was a great fact to help belief in Jesus being the Christ. His historic existence dawned on me. The facts of the mentions he gets in the New Testament gospels and how those refer back to Old Testament prophecies about someone levelling things to prepare for a Messiah did convince me genuinely of Jesus being this Messiah. The facts stacked up. Still I needed more. The NT foretold the Holy Spirit being given to believers. Why not to me? Perhaps God did not think me a real believer. The beliefs I thought I had might be still those placeholders and God is no fool. Then I saw Him.

To Find Meaning in Life

Be like Nature. Keep doing over and over, ever and ever, what you are given to do. Without wavering. Even dying like you are given to die in hope of living again like you are given to live again if you are worthy of resurrection. Believing that the goal is to be children of the Creator of it all, ever lovingly serving Him, together with the Father and the Son. Becoming the next creation. 

Missing the Point

Theists and Atheists debate whether logic in nature shows God really must exist, yet all these debates about the existence of God are missing the point a bit. It is like debating the existence of the mobile phone company when the mobile phone bills are going unpaid and you about to get your phone cut off. Better to debate the duty to love God and believe in His teachings: The teachings of God coming to us through the likes of Jesus Christ and others. Like doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Like being like the ‘Good Samaritan’ when people nearby need emergency kindness. Like being so loving towards beloved friends that you lay down your life for them. Like asking over and over for justice from God against enemies rather than taking vengeance into your own hands. These teachings fill the social psyche around us and inside us. We need to believe into these teachings instead of getting hung up on logic and existence and what is real or imaginary. 

Normalised Miracles

Just look at galaxies. Their arms defy science. Their arms move around the outside of the galaxy at the same speed as the galaxy turns. This is miraculous because it runs counter to scientific reasoning. It is happening every day so it is unusual to call it a miracle but God must be involved for it to happen. A hidden power makes it happen. It defies the Standard Model. A normalised miracle. Then consider that these normalised miracles happening day after day are everywhere in Nature. The growth of plants. The movement of planets. A hidden name drives it all. A hidden God’s power. We just struggle to acknowledge it. We need to change our thinking.  Once we realise there is truth like this which we just need to accept into our thinking then we can behold the wonder of Nature like in the workings of living cells and think how God has made it so. These natural things such as living cells are normalised miracles. In their daily workings they display miraculous power granted to all things which obey the teachings of the Son of Man in their daily behaviour. So it is normal for healings to happen too in the name of this Son of Man.

Paid Worship of God

The word for idolatry in Revelation 21:8 means idol worship which is paid for - worship for money - idolatrous = idol + latris where latris means a hired worker. People, you would think, should not be encouraged to worship God the way they worship idols - as hired and paid staff. On the other hand the word latris does occur many times in scripture in reference to the worship of God. https://biblehub.com/str/greek/3000.htm So worshipping God as a hireling is still acceptable enough. Over time servants progress to friends as they learn the Master’s will and willingly do as He wills.

Ongoing Creation

God does work mysteriously. Overall the outcomes tell us the ways of God are predominantly good but there is some “nature red in tooth and claw” evidence of a scary, darker component to what God does. Even though we might intelligently dismiss the idea of random events creating us, the concept of God creating us is itself hard to grasp correctly, truthfully. We might think God just dove in one day and made us then got out of there quick. That seems to be how Genesis implies it happened. Yet there is truth to learn about God that tempers this understanding. He can work in chance events like the proverb says “the dice is cast but God determines the outcome”. So making us might have been by a series of tailorings of events and might not yet be finished. God might be constantly adding touches to the creative work. Jesus turning water into wine is the closest miracle to a demonstration of God’s creative work as He did it through Jesus. Plus it shows He still creates. We lose our skin and hair and even shed our bones repeatedly and constantly through our lives without noticing and they are replaced many times over and God has plenty of constant opportunity in all that to work in chance events creatively. So we see Creator in creations.

The Meaning of Life

I never thought I could find meaning in life and in the natural living world until the Holy Spirit of God found in churches started teaching me to do so. Over decades I started learning the meaning of living things. They start minuscule, microscopic, and very gradually grow without any leaps or jumps, gradually doing their bit of growth for each day on that day, none in advance, none in arrears, just a day’s growth for a day’s life, until they fill the space around them with wondrous living matter. The Lord of life grew this way and will fill the universe having become a tiny cell and baby and having even died but then arisen to live and grow and fill and master all things forever and with His way we can be like that to some extent too.

Before the Advent

I recommend a look at the Parables section (middle chapters) of the Book of Enoch for an understanding of the Son before the advent. Throughout those chapters He was called the Son of Man, the Elect One, the Anointed. The chapters were not added by Christians as some suppose. Many scholars agree the chapters predate Christianity and personally I accept they are original work of the prophet Enoch. Then in chapter 105 (R H Charles translation chapter numbering) God calls the Anointed one His Son “I and My Son ...”. Daniel follows closely on from Enoch (even though, in my belief written thousands of years later but in prophetic continuity) and parallels passages such as the one where the man (actually this Son of Man before the advent) is led into the presence of the Ancient of Days. Ancient of Days or Head of Days is the phrase for the Father in both prophecies. Revelation likewise follows on from Daniel. Closely like Daniel follows from Enoch. The passage in Rev 1 describing the appearance of the Son of Man after the advent exactly follows the wording of Daniel’s description of Him before the advent. So the continuity is there from beginning of prophetic scripture to the end.

The Name of the Lord Jesus the Christ

God the Father fills the universe and was before the universe and is forever and ever and ever and ever, ever blessed. His Son became flesh and then grew from an embryo to a young adult, to a dead, sacrificed young adult to a resurrected adult to the Lord who will go on forever to fill the Universe together with His Father, His God. This is why we call the Christ, Jesus, ‘Lord’. He is not only the lord of what is very big but what is very small too, having Himself become the very microscopic perfection of the small in the perfect will of God the Father and grown in full view of Mankind to become a perfect young adult. Then in that perfection He died on a wooden cross like a tree, as a sacrifice raised up in front of all to purify all those who regard Him and keep His teachings. The Son of Man. The Christ. Ha Mashiach. ‘Mash’ in old Sumerian meaning a sacrifice that settles debts, Mash being the Sumerian symbol written as a cross. Then He rose from death to become a perfect, living resurrected human, growing to become so great that He will fill heaven and earth. Master over all things. The Lord. Lord being translation of the Greek word kyrios, the root of which means one like a cloud who starting very small grows to fill the whole vessel, and is normally used of the head of the household, growing from a child as son to become master of the house. The son who becomes the Lord. His personal name Jesus means salvation, deliverance. He became all this in full view of mankind so that mankind can see it because it is this name Lord Jesus Christ that is given among human beings by which we are perfected and purified from sin as we see this example of perfection and He purifies us who see Him and believe in Him. This is to save us and He ever lives to perfect that salvation of us. Nature adheres to this lordship quality of His name in how a tree grows what starts as a tiny bud and grows to become a fully grown leaf or branch. He grows to fullness organically. He does not jump ahead but does it the long way, the hard way, that adheres to the will of God. He does it obediently and shows us this obedience that we would live this way too and so be saved. As we do so, meanwhile behind the scenes He has endured crucifixion so as to purify our state before God in terms of the sacrifice our failings needed to bring us into the right standing with God, His Father, our Father, His God, our God. So we too can be sons of God. 

Can good education coexist with faith in God?

Understanding the evidence for the existence of God and gods requires a certain amount of good quality education. One of the greatest proofs or matters of evidence for God’s existence is the calendar but understanding this is an education in itself. Children can be taught it by parents but only with clarity of thought and good grasp of reality. The Moon can be explained to children with regard to its four phases of a week each all completing a 28 day cycle. This explains why there is a week and a weekend break. A 28 day lunar cycle happening thirteen times approximates to a year but is not quite accurate. If people had only used the Moon to determine the year the seasons would gradually shift in timing in that 364-day year. This too could be explained as part of educating children or adults well. The harvest times require a better year understanding. Only the Sun can enable it. This explains the importance of the Sun to the proper functioning of any society. The solar and lunar calendars can be combined and both Sun and Moon used to keep farming in sync with nature. Otherwise you start life with a year beginning in spring and end it with a year beginning in autumn. Evidence of God: How on Earth did humans work it out? Who helped?

Is Jesus a historical person?

ATHEISTS ASK WHETHER JESUS IS HISTORICAL
There are two possibilities. Either time travellers took artificial intelligence back to the first or second century and used it to generate a clever set of fake news stories and distributed these stories by smartphones handed out and later destroyed a century later. Or He is the Son of God who became flesh just before the first century AD and grew from an embryo to a young adult, to a dead, sacrificed young adult to a resurrected adult to the Lord who will go on forever to fill the Universe together with His Father, His God. If it is the second possibility which is true it would explain why He is called the Christ, Jesus, ‘the Lord’. The first century Greek word for Lord has roots in something that starts small then grows like a cloud to fill everything. 

Adapa and the Whereabouts of God

THE ANCIENT TEXTS OF ADAPA

There are ancient texts of an account copied either from an oral account or perhaps even an originally written account from the lifetime of Adapa (biblical Adam) called Adapa and the South Wind which might come from the time of the writings of Enoch. They were discovered twice in archaeology from separate times so appear to have been preserved for many centuries. They might provide evidence corresponding to passages in Enoch about the whereabouts of the Throne of God. The account tells how Adapa (Adam), one of the seven sages, a line of patriarchs possibly those listed in Genesis and elsewhere as being the first seven in Adam’s genealogy up till Enoch, was able to enter some kind of tunnel into a mountain guarded by two contemporary sages, leading to the Throne of God where he went to give account of his actions. This corroborates the Book of Enoch and possibly the Epic of Gilgamesh on the whereabouts of God’s dwelling place and court. This would place it within a mountain in the Middle East accessible to Adapa who lived in Eridu, now Southern Iraq.

In a world torn apart by religion, hope remains

Not all of the world is torn apart by religion. Becoming part of the bit that isn’t is your best hope. It is not called the world though. It is called the body of Christ. Within this body its members are united by a Holy Spirit which is like a web extending from the throne of God to every believer keeping us all united to one body. Christ is the head of this body which belongs to Him. He owns it because His blood was shed for its sins. The baptism into His teachings keeps its members in this body, receiving the Holy Spirit with signs, miracles and gifts of grace, because they believe.