If it were not so

When Thomas exclaimed “my lord and my god!” Jesus could have said “blessed are you Thomas for you have discovered the Trinity!” But He didn’t. He had already assured them He would not keep from them anything important for them to know “if it were not so I would have told you”. So this would have been a perfect opportunity to tell them about the Trinity. Obviously Jesus knew the Trinity was not so.  So He did not tell them about it.

Misconceptions about the Bible

It is a misconception that the Bible comprehensively describes the faith of Christianity. There are important aspects of this faith which are only very briefly mentioned and only believing itself provides the clarity of what those verses mean to make them unambiguous to the believer. For more comprehensive descriptions of the Christian faith it is necessary to look at books of scripture such as the Book of Enoch excluded from the sixty-six book Bible and included in less known canons such as the Ethiopian Orthodox greater canon and other sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. On certain matters of belief it is necessary to refer to later Christian writings. Indeed much of the modern norm of Christian doctrine is not found in scripture at all. So scripture has only ever provided a springboard and reference for major Christian beliefs. Many believers claim their beliefs come as much from the work of the Holy Spirit among them as they do from the Bible. Of course there are questions as to how much other influences have crafted doctrines, and limits of a sixty-six Book Bible might account for divisions over debated doctrines and dogmas.

Faith is Persuasion

If you are persuaded to trust the veracity of something then you have a belief, but who or what persuaded you? If your persuasion, your faith, is from human argument and reasoning, will you be persuaded later that those arguments were wrong and then have to change your practices based on those persuasions? If your persuasion comes from miracles you have witnessed or which those you trust have witnessed, and from works the Holy Spirit has done in you or those around you, perhaps in church or meditation, then the persuasion is from God and is religious faith. This is more rock steady than faith based on scientific arguments.

Washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb

We consider that His blood absolves us from the guilt of what we sinfully used to do so we do such things no more, once we are sure they are wrong but also sure that the sacrificial covering of His blood is for past sins and sure that to continue wantonly to repeat those sins mocks that sacrifice. Sins we later learn are sinful as time goes on, we set aside too, as and when we recognise them, understanding and believing that the blood pays for the guilt of these as well.

How old is Jesus?

It is extremely remarkable (and therefore hard to believe because it is rare for things to be so remarkable) that Jesus actually is, right now. Even those who believe this because of the resurrection, yet deny the existence Jesus had before conception,  have to concede this means extreme longevity, and never dying or ceasing to exist in the future means such longevity only increases. Personally I find the evidence compelling that Jesus existed an extremely long time even before conception as a being similar to angels yet far more like a human than they are and in a more special sense the Son of God the Father. John the Baptist is recorded in gospel of Apostle John as having said Jesus is greater than him because Jesus existed before him, despite John having been born before Jesus, and Jesus said “Before Abraham was born, I am”. Daniel the prophet saw one exactly matching Apostle John’s Revelation description of Jesus. The Book of Enoch said Enoch went up to the Son of Man and gives descriptions of the Son of Man which match Jesus. The name power and authority over all Nature ascribed to Jesus by the Holy Spirit only makes sense for a person, a being, existing from before the beginning of Nature. Apostolic statements affirm this.

How to follow Jesus

Many teach the way of Jesus and you might know teachers commended to you in some way by miracles and loving care. Teachings of Jesus Himself I find are best suited for me because I don’t really know very much about others who serve Him. Jesus Himself always helped me even when teachers and leaders failed me. You have to find the best teachings of Christ’s way that are available to you. I use the Bible to tell me Jesus’s teachings and this works for me because I have learned gospels such as John’s gospel all my life. Alright so how do we practice these teachings? If it were me (suggesting otherwise would be hypocrisy) I would go through all His teachings and see which are clear enough to me to practice, then keep practicing them, while aiming to bring on board His other teachings and teachings of those He sent (Paul and other apostles and maybe modern teachers we know are ultimately from Him) as soon as I can understand how they apply. All this while holding to the belief that He exists and is always there to help and intercede for us with God and that His blood seals it. Then God does miracles and gives signs by the Holy Spirit in our lives to seal it for us individually and together.

The New Covenant

The Gospel of John chapter 8 is like the terms and conditions for God’s covenant through Christ, while the covenant itself came later - the crucifixion. The woman caught in adultery is like the definition of terms for you and I. The “he who is without sin cast the first stone” is the sample of what Christ, the Son of Man has on offer - able to negotiate a way out even for a convicted felon on death row - on condition they go sin no more and trust His continuing support forever. Details come later - terms are as follows: You believe He exists, then you hold to His way, His rules, His sayings, His teachings. He leads you to truth. Truth sets you free from the sinning that could get you killed, that could lead to a fatal demise. That means lying too. Lying is prime example of what you, I, need freeing from to become a permanent child of God (only kind there is). Then soon after giving this formal statement of intent, the covenant is sealed and put into force by His crucifixion. God shows good faith by the resurrection, a promising turn of events for us all raising our prospects anew as a kind of rebirth coming directly from God Himself, the Father Himself. Now the Holy Spirit has been given us because Jesus took His completed victory back to heaven, to God, mission accomplished. Not bad at all.

Saint Peter’s Dream

The dream of Peter recorded in the Bible, in the Book of Acts, is perhaps the most groundbreaking scripture of all scriptures. It happened in the first stages of the spread of Christianity, not long after the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension of Christ and initial growth of the church before it spread to include Romans or Greeks. Peter would possibly never have preached to Romans or Greeks directly or allowed the church to include such people if it had not been for this dream. It was while he was praying that he fell into a kind of trance sleep and saw a vision. Now move forward two thousand years to today when Christians tend to insist no dream can ever change Christian doctrine or add anything to Christian mainstream beliefs and teachings which is contrary to what is found in scripture. Yet this ignores the dream of Peter. He saw in his vision dream a cloth full of unclean animals the eating of which is explicitly forbidden in scripture. Yet despite the scriptures and in direct contradiction to them, Peter was told by the vision from Heaven to “kill and eat” these animals. In spite of his protests the heavenly vision told him not to regard as unclean what God called clean. Peter accepted it. Yes Peter always tested visions so as never to be deceived by misleading spiritual experiences, and taught doing so. Yet Peter did not use scripture to rule out accepting this vision or reject it as phoney. He accepted it as coming from God and accepted that God may overturn scripture. Wow! Eat that!

Mediation

The idea of living nowadays by the Torah, the Old Testament Law, is not understood by those who teach it. The Law imposed a slavery system on Israelites by requiring the execution of family members or even entire villages who stopped worshipping God and starting worshipping gods of other nations instead. This harshness is little known even though it is hidden away in the Old Testament. The answer was the coming of a mediator who would stand between humans and the Father who commanded this harsh imposition of Law. The alternative these days is to imply there is a distinction between the God seen in the Law and the Father worshipped in Christianity. That is not the way Christ taught. Rather we can acknowledge this God is the Father and is one throughout history but the mediation of Christ mitigates this harsh scenario by providing a once-and-for-all crucifixion sacrifice of His blood and pleading for mercy on our behalf, just as is recorded in the beginning of John chapter 8 regarding the way Jesus mediated for a woman about to be legally stoned for adultery according to the harsh Law, the Torah. He is alive forever now to continually mediate this way, setting before God the sacrifice He has made by God’s loving will.

Inaccurate Doctrine

Saying Jesus is God is a prevalent religious tendency these days but God is the Father and is not human. Jesus existed before coming in the flesh. He was even a kind of human, hence called the Son of Man. Becoming flesh did not mean He had not already been a kind of human; angelic but human as distinct from other angels. His preexistence was called Son of Man. That is what He meant in John 8 and 9. So insisting Jesus is God is too inaccurate and prone to misinterpretation.

How reliable are the gospels?

How reliable are the gospels, since they are by far the greatest source of information about Jesus’ ministry in the first century? That depends what kind of person you are, whether you take them on trust, because those who do so find the promises within them are fulfilled in their lives, which proves for these people the gospels’ veracity. Believing in the veracity means believing in the Christ. Believing the Christ leads to understanding that these gospel writers influenced by Christ were influenced to hate lies and lying and learned veracity of word, which in turn would mean they would write truthful accounts about their trusted Master. Those who trust the gospels discover their trustworthiness. 

The Ultimate Reputation

Underpinning natural entities there is authority. This powerful authority is determined by a name, a reputation, the essence of a person. It is not merely a set of physical laws. It is a person whose very essence has power to underpin and drive all natural entities, right back to the beginning of all things. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But is this ‘name’ all about power of reliability of reputation or is it the teaching and what He stands for; or is it what He is good for, His credibility? What is the primary meaning of ‘name of the Lord Jesus Christ’? It is important to know because it is by this name that we are saved.

A name authorises. It backs promises. It sometimes empowers such as when it motivates students to learn from a good teacher because of that teacher’s name. A good family name can motivate a marriage.

Now thinking of those first disciples who followed Jesus around, watching His actions, hearing His sayings, sharing His food and even places He stayed in sometimes, saw His crucifixion and saw Him resurrected - they were learning one thing - His entire name. The Holy Spirit took them further as they later learned what He represents in Heaven among angels and next to the Father, learning that all creation is held together by His name, His teachings, His word of power.

The English concept of name is usually thought of in church circles as a monicker identifying and differentiating someone. However, the eastern or ancient concept is as much about Nomos as about name monicker. Nomos is an eastern concept of the teachings and customs and rules by which a family lives and is known. I think that is the concept in the Hebrew Hashem. Reputation and fame of God, not just monicker used for identification and differentiation.

You only get a decent, resolved, sensible picture of Jesus when you learn to trust in His reputation and fame (His name) as you consider any particular aspect of His life and teachings.

Islam and Christianity compared

In Jesus terms in Christianity (and my understanding of them which feels inadequate) my behaviour is matching the description ‘wicked’ not ‘righteous’. I hold to His teachings, while ever trying to kerb that wickedness, in hope He will make me righteous and keep me righteous. But that wicked lack of righteous behaviour needs paying for and His blood on the cross, His death on the cross pays for that. Islam offers some of this information about this way of salvation but leaves out how that payment by the cross has happened. So it leaves you feeling something is missing. 

The Way of Salvation

In Jesus terms  (and my understanding of them which feels inadequate) my behaviour is matching the description ‘wicked’ not ‘righteous’. I hold to His teachings, while ever trying to kerb that wickedness, in hope He will make me righteous and keep me righteous. But that wicked lack of righteous behaviour needs paying for and His blood on the cross, His death on the cross pays for that.

Authority versus Ego

It cuts across our ego and self-interests to be told someone outranks us in authority. Nobody would invent such outranking. It must exist. Lord Jesus Christ is an authority. He exists. No one’s ego would let a person invent Him.

The Cross turns lives pure

The cross turns people’s lives pure by paying for their impure past and persuading them to do better with help from the ever-living one who died on it and rose.

Fulfilling the Law

Not many people can erase a person’s poor ethical rating then persuade them to do better and help them achieve an acceptable rating permanently. That is how Jesus fulfils the Law and Prophets. 

Being Human

My philosophy? Being human. Human plus. I look at Jesus Christ in the gospels and I see a man very similar to any human in behaviour, mannerisms, human condition, yet not falling short ethically. This is the ultimate any of us can be. Son of Man. He only walked on water when God gave the ability and only because of faith and because of God’s love. The truth is this Jesus is not so different from God so although God is not human and Jesus is human, human is cool with God. So I cannot beat being human. Lucky since that is what I am. So I am almost there; almost at the pinnacle of what life can be: the ultimate. God will not despise it so why should anyone else. I just have to focus on that failing ethically I tend to do and that is where Jesus comes into the picture, and stays there perpetually, eternally. Thank God. 

Lake of Fire Judgements

Comparing the Book of Enoch and the Apocalypse of John (Book of Revelation) we find several future uses of lakes of fire for judgement and doing away with grievous offenders. First Enoch tells us about angels who oversee persecutions of Israel, twelve angels in particular. These are thrown into a special lake of fire in one place on Earth. Then a second lake of fire will appear (which is figuratively called Gehenna in some teachings). Enoch and the Apocalypse each describe how judgment will be passed to sentence people to this lake of fire. Enoch tells us it will be by whether people have spiritual sight or not. Those who don’t (“blind sheep’ as the prophecy puts it) will be done away with in the fire. The Apocalypse of John has the Son of Man’s description of this, the one who will exercise this judgement, and a key factor to determine this fate is the 666 ‘mark of the Beast’ as it is known. Comparing these two descriptions it seems plausible to me that the mark is a test of spiritual sight. Those who are spiritual blind (even though religious’sheep’) will receive the mark but not those who are righteous and whose spiritual eyes are open and alert and discerning enough will refuse it even though threatened by the Beast system with death. So the eyes opened sheep will escape this lake of fire. In the gospels there is further clarification saying that spiritual ‘goats’ are distinguished from ‘sheep’ by how they ignore the needs of disciples of the Son of Man and these goats too will suffer the lake of fire (“weeping and gnashing of teeth”). The last lake of fire judgement is mostly described in the Apocalypse of John (but alluded to in the Book of Enoch) when after a thousand years of Christ’s rule all the dead and living people who were characterised in life by deeds of lying, murder, idol worship, druggery, and other such acts are cast into the lake of fire too. There is much description in the Book of Enoch of how the sighted spiritual sheep and other sighted spiritual ones who are not judged so severely are going to gather willingly to God’s house and have fellowship with God and His Son forever. 

Creationism

Underpinning natural entities there is authority. This powerful authority is determined by a name, a reputation, the essence of a person. It is not merely a set of physical laws, like the Standard Model. It is a person whose very essence has power to underpin and drive all natural entities, right back to the beginning of all things. At the beginning and before all natural entities this person existed and was produced from the essence of another person, His Father. We call the Father God and we call the person whose name is the power driving natural things the Son of God.

Evaluating Jesus

It does take time (in my case decades) to assess Jesus’ reliability to be trusted with your future. Is Jesus wise enough to save you? Does Jesus truly have God’s ear? It all takes time like evaluating a new product except here it is so personal and utterly vital. Eternal. So give it time but speed it along.

The Right to Bear Arms

In Gethsemane Jesus did not swing a sword but accomplished more than any other person in history as a result. Perhaps that was the point of telling the disciples to carry swords then telling them to cease using them. Jesus was acting agent for God so what Jesus achieved was achieved on behalf of the Father, God. After telling the disciples to carry swords, Jesus then told the police to let the disciples go since Jesus was the one they sought. This ensured there were disciples alive to witness the crucifixion and carry that news around the World. These later witnessed the resurrection of Jesus too, proving Jesus is the Christ chosen by God to save us.

Comforter

There is a spirit who speaks with an absence of hatred, absence of malice, absence of vice, absence of opposition to God. That is why He is called the Holy Spirit. 

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.