The Son and the Father

 Is it a problem, scripture addresses, for God the Most High to have a Son, literally called the Son of God? Psalms which addressed it are especially relevant because it was someone, king David, writing the psalms who was himself given promises of having a future son who would be called God’s son. The ancient Israelite king David who wrote many of the psalms wrote how the Most High said to David’s lord “Sit at my right hand” and told this lord that his throne would be forever. This Most High also said to this lord “You are My son”. It might all have been a little ambiguous, though, in the later time of Jesus, so Jesus addressed it diligently, as John’s gospel records. Jesus claimed to actually be this lord who had been spoken of by David centuries earlier in those psalms. So Jesus was clearing up ambiguities about himself. The miracles God gave him to perform were God, the Father’s, way to back up this self-testimony of Jesus, to make it more appropriate for Jesus to be preaching a testimony about himself. Jesus addressed a real problem: This was the problem later described as the problem of two powers in heaven. Scripture ostensibly did not allow for it, unless you dug down into these psalms where it is clear that there is this lord, the lord psalm-writer King David called “my lord” who is addressed by the Most High and thus distinct from the Most High, but nevertheless there at the right hand of this Most High God. It is remarkable that Jesus solved this problem by stated unequivocally that he and the Father are one. It is as if he was going beyond the mere problem of his claim to be Son of God by addressing the even deeper problem that if God did have a son, and this son was given to reign forever at God’s right hand, it would imply two powers in heaven, and make certain scriptures about God saying “I alone am God”, and “there is none apart from Me” rather difficult to reconcile with the existence forever of such a son. Jesus reconciles it by pointing out his unity with the Father, and by emphasising that the Father is still alone the Most High God. Humans can be called gods. Jesus appealed to this to reconcile the further problem of this son being a human. How, one might argue, can there be a human called by God His Son, right there forever reigning with God? Jesus addressed it by showing how it is all right there in the scripture psalms, but clarifies these with other relevant scriptures by pointing out his deep unity with the Father who is forever the Most High God. He, Jesus, is not a second power in that he is fully at one with the one true Most High, and not a challenger to that highest claim. Later he clarified the nature of this unity by praying for the same kind of unity to be given by God to Jesus’ disciples. Being one with the Father in such unity meant he can be forever there beside the Father and the Father still to be the Most High God. It also meant that there can be one who is human in this exalted position with the Most High. And Jesus would forever subject himself to this Most High, as Paul later put it, so this God is still forever the God who is all in all. Then, as John in Revelation later put it, the Son would be forever reigning from the throne of the One seated in heaven: The human Son of God, is seen forever there with the Father, and it is this Father alone who is called “the One”. The Father has the throne and forever it is He who shares it with His human Son. He has it and has power to share it even with a human, who He calls His Son. Jesus clarified it all and reconciled the scriptures which seemed in tension, and he did so first personally and then through apostles he sent out to proclaim him. He testified to the truth of it all, and sent others to do so, and the Father gave testimony too in the miracles given to these to do. 

References

Note that AI was used to list and organise these references, and the text accompanying them and explaining them is AI-generated (by ChatGPT, June 2026). See https://chatgpt.com/share/6a40a3bf-046c-83ed-8668-1bd09a1e78e3 . 

The Most High declares His King to be His Son

Psalms Psalm 2:6–12

"Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance...

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry..."

Relevance: The foundational Psalm declaring God's anointed king to be "My Son."

David's Lord seated at God's right hand

Psalms Psalm 110:1–4

"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool....

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."

Relevance: David distinguishes "the LORD" from "my Lord," yet this Lord sits forever at God's right hand.

David's promised son

2 Samuel 2 Samuel 7:12–16

"I will set up thy seed after thee...

I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son...

Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever."

Relevance: God's covenant with David promises a royal son who is called God's son.

1 Chronicles 1 Chronicles 17:11–14

"I will be his father, and he shall be my son...

I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever."

God's uniqueness

Isaiah Isaiah 43:10–11

"Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour."

Isaiah Isaiah 44:6

"I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."

Isaiah Isaiah 45:5–6

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me."

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 6:4

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."

Jesus identifies David's Lord

Matthew Matthew 22:41–46

"If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"

Relevance: Jesus explicitly identifies himself with Psalm 110.

Parallel passages:

• Mark Mark 12:35–37
• Luke Luke 20:41–44

Jesus claims unity with the Father

John John 10:24–38

Especially:

"I and my Father are one."

and

"The Father is in me, and I in him."

Relevance: Central passage for the unity of Father and Son.

The Father is greater

John John 14:28

"My Father is greater than I."

The only true God

John John 17:1–3

"...that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Jesus explains "gods"

John John 10:34–36

"Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

If he called them gods...

Say ye of him... Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"

Jesus is quoting:

Psalms Psalm 82:6

"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High."

The Father's testimony through works

John John 5:31–37

"The Father himself... hath borne witness of me."

John John 10:25

"The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me."

Acts Acts 2:22

"Jesus... a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him...."

Unity extended to believers

John John 17:20–23

"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee...

that they may be one, even as we are one."

The Son remains subject to the Father

1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 15:24–28

Especially:

"Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him...

that God may be all in all."

God exalts the Son

Philippians Philippians 2:8–11

"God also hath highly exalted him...

every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Hebrews' use of the Psalms

Hebrews Hebrews 1:1–13

Especially:

"Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son..."

and

"Sit on my right hand..."

This chapter explicitly joins Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.

Stephen sees the Son beside God

Acts Acts 7:55–56

"I see... the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."

Christ at God's right hand

Ephesians Ephesians 1:20–23

"...set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places."

Colossians Colossians 3:1

"Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."

The throne in Revelation

Revelation Revelation 3:21

"I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Revelation Revelation 5:6–13

The One seated on the throne and the Lamb are both present in heavenly worship.

Revelation Revelation 7:10

"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."

Revelation Revelation 22:1–5

"The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it...

and his servants shall serve him."

Supporting passages

• Daniel Daniel 7:13–14 — the Son of Man receives everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days.
• Acts Acts 13:32–39 — Paul applies Psalm 2 to Jesus.
• Romans Romans 1:3–4 — Jesus declared to be the Son of God.
• 1 Timothy 1 Timothy 2:5 — "one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
• Hebrews Hebrews 5:5–10 — Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 brought together again regarding Christ.

Taken together, these passages form a coherent scriptural chain: God's covenant with David (2 Samuel 7), the royal Psalms (especially Psalms 2 and 110), Jesus' own interpretation of those Psalms (Matthew 22; John 10), his teaching on his unity with the Father (John 10; John 17), the Father's testimony through Jesus' works (John 5; Acts 2), Paul's teaching that the Son remains subject to the Father so that "God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15), and John's vision of the Father and the Lamb sharing the divine throne in Revelation. 

Serve Christ and not the Beast

 Boastful threats sometimes grow so great they threaten the gospel and the authority of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer. There is power in Christ to overthrow such threats but only in the good timing of the Father’s will. So we will see looming non-Christ powers grow up and sometimes look like they will occlude the light of Jesus Christ in our lives, and then suddenly divine power overcoming them, until they look likely to resurge again. There are three great powers looking likely to occlude Christ in the coming decades: USA (along with Israel), China, and Russia. There will always be a growth of these powers, in the coming few decades, alongside the dominance ever present from Europe, which is there standing on the sidelines like a supporter at a sports event. From time to time the way of the Father is to remind everyone who it is who will one day overcome them, Jesus Christ. God sends occasional signs of this: Miracles, and judgments, and the kind of events we call ‘acts of God’. Yet we are commanded to be patient and endure if we are among those called to be saints through these times. The hope is the coming of Jesus Christ who will end the growing dystopia. Uppermost in that hope is his great resurrection of his faithful, and along with it the transformation to immortality of the faithful still alive when he comes. Come Lord Jesus. But it is a great challenge in the meantime if you are to be faithful even though you know you are living in the very power system this Christ will overthrow. Do not serve the future dystopian system that power will one day become, if you can avoid it. And stay faithful to the one who will overthrow it at his coming. The next decades will be tough and we must tough it out while we live our lives. Serve Christ and not the Beast. 

John the Baptist

 Who was John the Baptist and why does he matter today?

John the Baptist was a truly great first century preacher because in effect he announced a new divine Passover. It was the Passover in which God provided Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb. Passover is the feast in which there is a lamb sacrificed by each participating household, originally in divine preparation for the ancient Israelite people leaving slavery in Egypt millennia ago. A few Egyptians who believed also participated. With the later first century Passover the whole thing starts again but this time the household is the household of disciples of Jesus but is for the sins of the whole world too, as many as believe. John the Baptist spent years preaching and foretelling this divine event, before it took place not long after he died a martyr. It prepared everyone for this great new Passover, and many of the disciples of Jesus had started off as disciples of John the Baptist, prepared by him for their life of faith in Jesus and their discipleship as holders to the teachings of Jesus. The inner circle were there to participate in that Passover Last Supper when it happened. Jesus Christ called John the Baptist the greatest of all prophets who came before him and more than a prophet. But Jesus went on to say that anyone included in the kingdom of God is greater still. This is the kingdom created by that Passover in which Jesus was the lamb sacrificed. 

Compare the first Passover with the Passover in the first century AD when the lamb of God was Jesus Christ.

 AI (ChatGPT, June 2026) answers it:

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a3ccdda-d588-83ed-8e8a-bae418cbdfaa

Many Christians see a deliberate parallel between the first Passover in Egypt and the death of Jesus Christ during Passover in the first century AD. The New Testament explicitly identifies Jesus as the Passover lamb, especially in First Epistle to the Corinthians 5:7: "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed."

Here's a comparison:

First Passover (c. 13th century BC, according to biblical chronology)	Passover in the First Century AD (Jesus Christ)
Israel was enslaved in Egypt.	Humanity is portrayed as enslaved to sin and death.
God sent Moses to deliver Israel.	God sent Jesus to bring spiritual salvation.
A spotless male lamb was chosen.	Jesus is presented as sinless and without blemish.
The lamb was sacrificed.	Jesus was crucified.
The lamb's blood was applied to the doorposts.	Jesus' blood is understood by Christians to provide atonement for believers.
The blood protected households from judgment.	Faith in Christ is believed to save from divine judgment.
The firstborn were spared where the blood was present.	Believers receive spiritual life through Christ.
Israel was freed from physical bondage.	Believers are freed from the power of sin.
The Passover meal commemorated deliverance from Egypt.	The Lord's Supper commemorates Christ's sacrificial death.
The event marked the beginning of Israel as a covenant nation.	Christ's sacrifice inaugurated the New Covenant.

Significant Parallels

1. The Lamb

In the original Passover (described in Book of Exodus 12), each family sacrificed an unblemished lamb. In the New Testament, John the Baptist calls Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

2. The Blood

The blood on the doorposts identified those under God's protection. Christians understand Jesus' blood as the means by which believers are reconciled to God.

3. Deliverance

The first Passover resulted in Israel's liberation from Egypt and eventually led to the Exodus. Christians see Jesus' death and resurrection as bringing liberation from sin, death, and separation from God.

4. Timing

All four Gospels place Jesus' final days during the Passover season. The Gospel accounts emphasize that his death occurred in close connection with the Passover observance, reinforcing the symbolism.

Important Differences

First Passover	Jesus' Passover Sacrifice
Repeated annually.	Viewed by Christians as a once-for-all sacrifice.
Animal sacrifice.	Human sacrifice of the Messiah.
Applied to one nation (Israel).	Offered for people of all nations.
Delivered from physical death and slavery.	Delivers from spiritual death and sin.

Theological Summary

From a Christian perspective, the first Passover was both a historical act of deliverance and a foreshadowing of Christ. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb spared Israel and led to freedom from Egypt, Jesus—the "Lamb of God"—shed his blood to bring salvation and freedom from sin. Thus, Christians often view the original Passover as a "type" or prophetic picture that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ during the Passover of the first century AD.

My heartfelt lesson from heaven

 It is important to be clear about heavenly things, when sharing heaven-given experiences and what we learn in them. It was when I was a young man that I heard the message preached by the evangelist “CHRIST DIED FOR YOU”. He wrote it on a white board preaching in the public square outside a large church or cathedral. It was as though he had spoken it to me. It sunk in. My heart was ready for it. I had felt wretched at being trapped into bad behaviour of being so boastful as a young man trying to always impress peers, and dishonestly boasting in that habitual attitude. I knew I was pretty unworthy of real holy things, but people expected me to be religious and to become a church worker. I had heard another preacher preaching what had filled me with awe at the glory of God and His Son. Now the message was a firm hope for redemption, given this direct message to me of Christ having died for me. Indeed, for you too: It is such a very general and open message. My hope clung to this. When the preacher took me inside that church or cathedral to pray with me I experienced the power of God resting on me, but only when I prayed humbly and honestly. When I reverted momentarily to proud boasting, exalting myself, dishonestly, it went. It came back when I stopped that nonsense and humbled myself candidly in my prayer. Others witnessing it waiting for mass or communion were happy to let me take bread and wine body and blood of Christ with them. It went on for days like that, as the power only rested on me when I humbly confessed my real self, abandoning boastful dishonest self-exaltation. So I made it my deliberate aim to always live such that the power of God would rest on me, and dedicated myself to speaking truthfully, especially when among brothers in Christ. This was transforming, and set the course of my subsequent life and later career, so I could serve the living Lord Jesus Christ this way.  Over time but very slowly at my own pace I gained some scripture knowledge to back this up and understand it. 

By blood and spirit

 Jesus is so filled with acceptance of all the fulness of all the teachings and wisdom and knowledge of the One who sent him that if you see him you see this One who sent him. He is one with the Father in this sense. It would be great if we were too. This comes from having a spirit of revelation from God. It makes the one filled this way so much like the Father. Just as Jesus is so much like the Father. I get much of my gospel message from the gospel of John. I find my life has been blessed with fulfilment of promises I find in John’s gospel. So it rings true for me, and I boldly confess that to all. But note that most of the entire second half of his gospel John dedicated to the narrative of Jesus preparing his disciples for his crucifixion and resurrection, and then a full account of how that crucifixion and resurrection came about. This is the divine means by which the spirit of revelation can be given you by God, if you believe Jesus died for you, as the gospel says. It had to be by blood, not just by spirit. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a395132-199c-83eb-bc8a-452559d9a1c0

Filled

 A sponge soaks up, absorbs, water in which it is placed. If you squeeze it first before placing it in the water, then loosen it when it is fully submerged, it soaks up so much water that it is utterly full of it. Jesus is so filled with acceptance of all the fulness of all the teachings and wisdom and knowledge of the One who sent him. He is so full of all this from God that if you see him you see this One who sent him. He is one with the Father in this sense. It would be great if we were too. This comes from having a spirit of revelation from God. It makes the one filled this way so much like the Father. Just as Jesus is so much like the Father. Jesus is full of the teachings of the Father who shows it all so much to Jesus, who holds to these teachings, that it conveys on Jesus the very way of thinking of things that the Father has.  Holding to his teachings we can become like Jesus, if we truly believe in him. This gives us unity with each other, just like the unity Jesus has with God. 

Ashurbanipal and King Lists

 “There is evidence that scribes in the library of Ashurbanipal regarded some very ancient texts as difficult to understand. In several colophons and royal inscriptions, Ashurbanipal boasted that he had studied obscure writings, including texts "from before the Flood" or from the distant past. These statements suggest that by the 7th century BCE, some ancient Sumerian traditions were already archaic and challenging to interpret.” ChatGPT June 2026

“The pre-Flood section of the Sumerian King List contains reign lengths that are far beyond anything considered historically possible.

For example, the first king, Alulim, is said to have reigned for 28,800 years, while other antediluvian kings are assigned reigns ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of years. In some versions of the list, the eight kings before the Flood rule for a combined total of 241,200 years.

After the Flood, the reign lengths drop dramatically. Early post-Flood kings may still be credited with hundreds or even over a thousand years, but the numbers steadily decrease until they become more comparable to realistic human lifespans and reigns.” ChatGPT June 2026

“While there is no direct evidence that misunderstanding produced the huge reign lengths, the fact that ancient scholars themselves regarded antediluvian texts as exceptionally ancient and challenging does fit with the broader distinction the King List makes between pre- and post-Flood history.” ChatGPT June 2026

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a37d3f4-26cc-83ed-9c04-08a40d1998d5 

Resurrection Logistics

 When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead there was an avoidance of a certain problem by choosing Lazarus. Lazarus had no wife. It was for two days that Lazarus was dead in a tomb. Legally, if he had been married, he would have risen after a legal end to his marriage by his death. Jesus avoided some serious problems by raising a single man. Maybe the same issues were avoided with others raised from the dead by Jesus and later by his apostles too. There was much intelligent judgment going on in the logistics of such power. It could get problematic if many were raised this way. Best keep a lid on it, once it was established that God gives this power to a few. One day the many will be raised, when Jesus returns in ultimate fullness of such power. The logistics of it will be another matter, by its huge scale and consequences. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a36b359-2d40-83eb-b613-d438e287636b

Crossing boundaries

 There are various kinds of border. There is a border between one nation and another. This is usually a border you can cross. There is a border between the natural realm and the spiritual realm, which might be crossed by dream visions, or when someone interacts with a ghost. There is a border between the realm of the Most High spirit or His angels and humans such as ourselves. He might allow us to meet Him in a dream vision, and interact with Him. There is another interaction which is something for which we might yearn, which is to interact with a human who has crossed what for us humans is the ultimate border, even beyond the human-ghost border; the border from mortal to immortal. Jesus crossed this. To interact with Jesus is when mortal meets immortal. One way is direct contact. He allows it for some. Here the mortal human touches the immortal human, and the mortal finds it possible to identify with him, with Jesus, as truly human, although immortal and resurrected from the dead to live in that state forever. It becomes a living reality to have this interaction and know this identification. But then there is another more indirect means for this reality to come alive which is when the Holy Spirit becomes manifested. This Holy Spirit can impart things of immortal Jesus Christ and render them part of our living experience. It is this kind of interaction which has given us the Book of Revelation, some of it dictated to John by the resurrected, immortal Jesus Christ. Also there are other writings of apostles who learned things directly from Jesus after he was resurrected. They wrote such things down. We have some of these things in the New Testament today. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a36b043-be94-83eb-839b-2fbf1423a709 

The wrath to come

 Ghost versus the next generation? A heaven-led court case. The departed who are the more saintly among the ghosts, are petitioning the Almighty from their ghostly place in heaven, pleading to be avenged against those who put them there, and being granted this vengeance by God, not against the people of yesterday, but against the entire human population of the next generation, the last generation before Christ returns. Why the delay? Because there is a clock ticking, counting the number of victims being added to those departed, and it must reach a certain threshold. Then the departed will be granted their petition, and wrath will be unleashed, in the future, perhaps against people only young today. We have opportunity, to gather to pray, to seek mercy, and maybe God will soften that coming blow, at least for those who pray for mercy. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a36715a-926c-83eb-ae36-4c822448dab0

A priceless treasure worth owning

 A spirit of revelation is like the treasure a man found buried in a field. He reburies the treasure, then goes and buys the field. (Jesus describes such action and treasure in his parable.) The interesting thing is how the nan wants to hide it from anyone else who might grab the treasure, or drive up the price of that field. The church councils of the Roman Empire drove up the price of buying the field, because they could not grab the treasure. Those who received a spirit of revelation were told the treasure could not be used with any attribution to it of authority. The councils drove down the value of it. They drove up the price of owning it, by claiming it had no authority above the doctrinal decisions of their councils. Still today this lingers in church doctrines. But whatever! If you find the revelation of God, go buy that field and own it, no matter what they say. It is beyond price. 

Live by Jesus’ life

 I find it sad that many who sit in churches and partake in mass or communion there, still refuse to be corrected by the teachings of Lord Jesus himself, or by the testimonies of the gospel writers of the New Testament gospels. Sin continues. Despite truth being made known in Jesus. This is a kind of renewed crucifixion of Jesus. The mass or communion holds little benefit if sin continues despite truth being made known. This is a very sad aspect of life in Christ. To live fully we need to not just embrace the truth revealed in Jesus by God, but also to be corrected by it, and uphold that correction, living according to its righteousness. Only then can mass or communion have benefit, and the cross of Jesus Christ have its way in purifying us from sin. Do not be those who crucify Jesus Christ all over again. Live by the life he gives. 

Lord Jesus and War

 Lord Jesus and War

Living by the sword typically means dying by the sword, Jesus said. Jesus seems to give full credence to the Book of Enoch as holy writ. His views on this are clear in several records of his sayings in the sacred gospel books. The Holy Spirit who is given in Jesus’ name, bringing things from Jesus to his disciples today, speaks words so closely aligned with sayings unique to the Book of Enoch that this verifies the upholding of the book as holy scripture. This figures, in that it is in this book where we find the same attitudes and moral viewpoint about key matters as are found in the views of Jesus Christ. One key matter is on warfare. Here we find how the Book of Enoch attributes the introduction of warfare to the human race as a dastardly deed of angels who were judged heavily by God for doing this. Enoch taught his son, as something to teach all humans, that judgments by God on humans in future necessitate a turning away from violence. Jesus shows this same moral leaning in how he educated his disciples to put away their swords, lest they die by the sword. He did not forbid them taking up the sword in times of grave danger, or using it, but as soon as possible they should put it down again. The Book of Enoch foretells a time when as a whole the disciples of righteousness would put down a mighty sword given to them. This shows that though God does arm the righteous, His righteousness entails as soon as is practical putting down such armaments, much preferring instead to embrace peaceful ways of living, as much as possible. 

Consider

 Consider all the very powerful people who have had subjects and servants and who have been in a position to be able to not have to deal with these people directly but instead to have emissaries they can send. They might be like god to these people, and their emissaries like prophets. Indeed, that god quality can be there in these emissaries too. Consider one of these emissaries turning up at the door, collecting the dues for the big guy. The emissary might convey the importance of the one sending them. To ignore them is like ignoring the big guy, the god. Well these emissaries and gods are all alike not really gods in the fullest sense of what it would truly be to be a god. They eventually fail and eventually die just like anyone else. You could see the emissary in a hospital bed alongside the very people to whom they were sent. The big guy sending them might end up in a grave next to the mere mortals who had during their lives been their subjects and servants. But there is one big guy who really is truly a god. Eventually this one is the only one like that. Even his topmost emissary is more of a god than any of these other so-called gods. Yes, that emissary did die as mortals die, one on one side of him in death, one on the other side. On crosses. But the one true God who sent him, also within days raised him from the dead, making him immortal forever. These are the Son, Jesus who is the Christ, and the Father who is the one true God, who sent this Christ. Your failings to meet this God’s moral standards have necessitated Him sending this Christ to die on that cross, for you. 

A miraculous path to follow

 So what is really involved in following the teachings of Jesus Christ? His teachings are to a great extent focussed on obeying the ten commandments, and believing in his sonship of God, but that is not all. Following him involves belief in who he is in relation to God, and on keeping those ten commandments God commanded. Then his teachings are not only about such belief in him and about social behaviour stemming from these commandments from God. They are also about believing in God and doing the miraculous. Exciting indeed. He definitely teaches that by belief in God, with resistance of worldly temptations to doubt, the miraculous can be a reality. This is to be part of the discipleship experience. Following Jesus is a miraculous path. He set the pattern to follow in his own miracles. God gives these miracles as God’s own testimony, confirming the testimony of His beloved Son, in whom God is well pleased. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a2d6ec7-cbcc-83eb-a886-9bc2a3e8267e 

The top of the pyramid

 For some people an important symbol is found on the American dollar bill: The top of a pyramid. It is seen by many as a poignant and profound symbol of the need to bring back into our lives that missing pinnacle. Some in the past have told me they saw me as one who would bring back that missing top of the pyramid. Now, to do so, I must proclaim two truths. The first is that the Father is actually the one true God, even over and above Jesus Christ His Son. Indeed His Son is by those very words shown to be up there with Him, but His Son, who many of us know to be Jesus Christ, is also one who calls this Father his God, his head, his ultimate authority figure, to whom he will forever subject himself. Secondly, I must proclaim in this same spirit of truth, the true message from God that Jesus Christ died for you. The top of the pyramid symbol is actually a synonym, or should be, of the higher symbol of the cross atop a hill. It was on a hill that there stood a cross and on that cross, between two crucified thieves, was this Son of God, with whom we can identify because he is human like we are, and there he died for the purification of your sins, and my sins, for your moral failings and mine. That sacrifice is the pinnacle of God’s own personal solution for our biggest problem, our moral tendency to do wrong, and for our personal histories of wrong doing, which must be atoned in God’s eyes, or else we could not improve, and could not confidently approach God for help. Jesus helped us by that death. God raised him a few days later, to physically live again, now given immortality in both his flesh together with his spirit. So he does still live, having still that resurrected flesh and bones, and will live forever like that. We can still look to him and can identify with him forever. But that cross of his death of atonement for us must be kept atop that hill, ever raised up in our estimation, like a symbol of the price paid for our having morally fallen short. Because of it, and when we believe in it, God gives the Holy Spirit as a mark, a sign, of our acceptance into His peace and His family of believers like us. It makes us one. As one, under the cross on that hill, we have no cause to lie to each other or to let anger turn to hatred of each other. Truth and love should rule our behaviour toward each other, with acceptance and forgiveness as we too have been accepted and forgiven by God. The commandments of God now apply to us, as those for whom God is our God. It can now lead to eternal life, because Jesus died and is risen, and we hold to his teachings, as his disciples, believing in him. Whoever, wherever we are. It is for all who receive it. Christ died for you. 

The one with whom we can all identify

 One with whom you can identify. A human being. But there in the presence of the holy Most High being: There where otherwise it has to be holiest angels who stand. Enoch the ancient world prophet saw this human. Daniel a later ancient world prophet saw this human. They delighted in this one who was human so they could identify with him, yet holy enough, acceptable to God enough, that he could stand before this Most High God, this God who alone is utterly wise, and utterly holy. Isaiah the later ancient world prophet saw this holy human. Now we have the blessing of seeing this very same human, with whom as humans we can identify, because he became flesh and is known in history, Jesus who is raised by God from the dead as Lord and Christ. The Son of Man, as Enoch called him. The apostles sent by Jesus saw him, even after his resurrection. Believe in him. Hold to his teachings. Be his disciple. And he will save you. To the glory of the Father who sent him as the light into the world. Christ died for you.

Overhead sign

 The eagle is overhead. It is the sign. Because God says, “Israel has sinned”. 

Hurricane Milton 2024

 I will remember Hurricane Milton with great affection. It was commanded, and it obeyed. From Cat 5 to Cat 4, then to Cat 3. The wind and waves obeyed. Greater things, if someone believes when commanding. But here it was a group who commanded it, live on a social media public live stream comment list. Shared faith in God, the Higher Power, nay, the Highest power. As Jesus taught, as Jesus does, and teaches disciples of his sayings so to do. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6a254f0d-df8c-83ed-a74a-ad9e70a62e4d 

Living by the spirit and not the mere letter

 The letter or the spirit? Which one is the one to live by? The Apostle Paul wrote about this in a way quite difficult to understand. The ten commandments are a big part of his writings, as they were a major part of Jesus Christ’s teachings. Paul very much followed Jesus. Paul seems to be highlighting the way of approaching the ten commandments he had taken before his conversion by the resurrected Jesus Christ. His approach was a typical approach to the commandments and the Law given to Moses. He characterises it as legalistic righteousness of adherence to the letter without adherence to the spirit of these commandments. It focusses on knowing the wording, while ignoring the underlying intentions of the commandments, and he seems to criticise it as side-stepping the life of righteousness implied in the commandments. What then does he mean by living by the spirit? In practice it is a life intended to actually fulfil the will of God in giving those commandments, living the life God intended by His giving of them, by actually making the necessary changes in behaviour these commandments require. So in order to comply with the commandment not to commit false testimony, it is necessary to recognise the wrongness of falsehood in a context of brotherliness and oneness in Christ, and then to practice truthful speech in that context instead. Likewise, to obey the commandment not to kill, it is necessary to block the tendencies within us that might lead to wrongful killing, such as by managing our anger, and giving no room for evil intentions to influence our thoughts, words, and actions. To keep us from greed, and stealing, and coveting, we must devote ourselves to the opposite of these, by working hard to provide for needs, both our own needs and our social responsibilities to others, remembering especially our families and the poor among us. It is an overall commitment to live fully the way the commandments suggest, in the will of God in commanding those commandments. The nobility of such thinking and such an approach to our lives is what elevates us above our ignoble fleshly side, as we live by spirit, not by flesh.