Because

Christ died for you. Because this is coming: "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." - Revelation 21:8

The 'cowardly' keep losing their moral nerve,

'unbelieving' reject God-given faith,

'the vile' are repulsive in moral character,

'murderers' kill or hate without justification,

'the sexually immoral' sell their purity away,

'those who practice magic' sell illusions,

'idolaters' rent out worship for money,

and 'all liars' knowingly keep misrepresenting.

Academic curiosity takes a back seat when the real Holy Spirit of God starts directly revealing things of God when we individually take it to heart that Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ, really did die on that cross for us. Then sin gets relegated in favour of the righteous sinlessness revealed to be in God and in His Son and in His Holy Spirit. Then the words of Jesus need to be taken on board "Stop sinning". If you want academic confirmation there is the fact there were scrolls around in Jesus of Nazareth's time like the Dead Sea Scrolls among which were passages of ancient Apocalytic scripture such as this translated not too long ago from the Book of Enoch (ch 89:34ff) "... presence, who was one of the seven white ones, saying, Take those seventy shepherds, to whom I delivered up the sheep, and who receiving them killed more of them than I commanded. Behold, I saw them all bound, and all standing before him. First came on the trial of the stars, which, being judged, and found guilty, went to the place of punishment. They thrust them into a place, deep, and full of flaming fire, and full of pillars of fire. Then the seventy shepherds were judged, and being found guilty, were thrust into the flaming abyss. At that time likewise I perceived, that one abyss was thus opened in the midst of the earth, which was full of fire. And to this were brought the blind sheep; which being judged, and found guilty, were all thrust into that abyss of fire on the earth, and burnt. The abyss was on the right of that house. And I saw the sheep burning, and their bones consuming. ..."But these warnings only reach a few and those reached might not have time to escape. Escape if you can. You can seek to put an end to your sin since Christ has provided His body and blood as sacrifice for you.
Revelation is a precious book indeed because it is a testimony of the risen Jesus about the most holy revelation God His Father gave to Him. I have tried to quote it faithfully as it represents God better than any representation coming as it does from the very Son of God with God since before all the creation was created (a very long time) who truly knows God. I said too that Christ died for you and others too. This represents God by the very work God gave to Jesus the Christ His Son to do in dying for our sins we stop doing. This is therefore the representation God has given of Himself as it shows what He is and shows what His Son is, the Lamb of God.

A Great Prayer of Praise to God

"Blessed art thou, O Lord, the King, great and powerful in thy greatness, Lord of all the creatures of heaven, King of kings, God of the whole world, whose reign, whose kingdom, and whose majesty endure for ever and ever.

From generation to generation shall thy dominion exist. All the heavens are thy throne for ever, and all the earth thy footstool for ever and for ever.

For thou hast made them, and over all thou reignest. No act whatsoever exceeds thy power. With thee wisdom is unchangeable; nor from thy throne and from thy presence is it ever averted. Thou knowest all things, seest and hearest them; nor is anything concealed from thee; for thou perceivest all things."

     -- The Book of Enoch, chapter 83 verses 2-4

The Meaning of Life the Universe and Everything

I suggest there is no more meaning in our lives with God than without but I do have a reservation on that. Maybe Solomon didn't mean this when he famously proclaimed "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless!" but life on earth does have a curious mysterious meaning to it as the Spirit who inspires some and inspired Enoch in ancient times reveals. The Enoch passage that shows the meaning that life embodies, I think, is this: "They consider how the trees, when they put forth their green leaves, become covered, and produce fruit; understanding everything, and knowing that He who lives for ever does all these things for you: That the works at the beginning of every existing year, that all his works, are subservient to him, and invariable; yet as God has appointed, so are all things brought to pass." -- Enoch ch 6:1-2
I would say the meaning in life is in how living things show a constancy in submitting to the authority that God puts over them and later Enoch describes revelation given him of what gets translated The Oath which seems to embody that authority and both then and today the Spirit seems to say this is the Name of the Son of Man. This might equate to Laws of Nature and might be what Pythagoras believed he discerned in the logic of the universe describable using maths. The Logos is maybe somehow a discernment of an almost human quality in the Laws of Nature such as in the unexpected reality that they can be discovered by human experiments and expressed by human thought. Hence the person embodying that logic is called The Son of Man and is maybe the reason God has made us in His image, so that this Son of Man could become flesh and blood as the Messiah or Christ. So here if ever is meaning in life itself and all things and that meaning is a rebuke to us that we do not constantly obey and submit to the wisdom of the commands of God and love this Son of Man whom God placed in authority over all things including us.

Why I Speak Out

I was once working in an office during a run up the a bank holiday when most would be leaving early and onto my desk came a card to sign. It was a wedding card for a dear colleague, a great gifted guy, and the card was in a circulation envelope that said the card had to back with a certain person by 4pm sharp. I guess if it was late they might not get it to the recipient in time before everyone would be away and the card would miss their wedding. It was 4pm. This taught me we are not islands but things need to circulate and be taken notice of and that includes things from God too like commands and prophecies from Him that people need on time. The time is short. When God showed all this to me and told me "Israel has sinned and the sign is the eagle over the house" meaning all His people and the eagle of surveillance, I realised the people need to remember His commands and the important one most of all so I was given resoonsibility to shout it from the mountain top. I realised later this eagle sign would not stop with surveillance but without any repentance would follow to worse and worse things worldwide, wherever the people of God are sinning and not stopping. That message came before me and like the card I must pass it on because the time is short and God is speaking. Jesus Christ is alive and is ever the answer and the Holy Spirit God sends in Jesus' name to reveal the things of Jesus which are the things of God.

Who Will Perish

Revelation 21:8  is translated "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
The 'cowardly' keep losing their moral nerve,
'unbelieving' reject God-given faith,
'the vile' are repulsive in moral character,
'murderers' kill or hate without justification,
'the sexually immoral' sell their purity away,
'those who practice magic' sell illusions,
'idolaters' rent out their worship for money,
and 'all liars' knowingly keep misrepresenting.

Reality

The reality of God requires a reality in our love towards Him. The reality of The Lord, Jesus, who came as a human two thousand years ago and lives today and forever, this real man Jesus, died for you, this Jesus who is the Christ who God showed is His Son by raising Him from the dead two thousand years ago.

Covetousness and Greed

Covetousness and Greed: In my understanding covetousness is wanting what is not rightfully ours and giving that want free reign whereas greed is giving free reign to a want of whatever we can get that we feel is rightfully ours so greed is even harder to reign in and guard against because we feel we have a right to what it can gain us. This is where leaders can fall because they feel they have a right to their fair share of the income of those they lead. If they wanted what was not their right that would be covetting and the command of God forbids that. Yet against greed there is no commandment among the ten commandments so it takes devotion to Christ and the word of prophecy to counter it. "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" said Jesus when asked to tell a man's brother to divide an inheritance with him. Leaders beware. Nobody can impose a law upon us telling us to guard against greed and serve reasonably with pure minded reason: That is a yoke of Christ we take upon ourselves as we choose willingly (bond service) to keep and guard His teachings and let the truth that comes from them flow out into our actions and lifestyles. With this yoke we find it is light because there is a teaching of faith too that nothing is impossible to those who believe in God to make good what is asked of Him. This is a victorious yoke.

Unity Truth and Truthfulness

Do not sacrifice honesty for the sake of unity. A lie is a lie, whether you or I or the whole church tells it. The light of Jesus and life of God dispel lies but not necessarily with all people all at once so some have His light in them more than others. We who commit to this gradual dispelling of darkness are committing at the same time to a unity with each other as each is tied to the same Spirit of truth who brings this light. As with marriage, unity is based on commitment and covenant. We commit to God's covenant in Christ. This unites us. If any denominational position prevents repentance from lying this kills unity too because unity depends on keeping united with Christ and Christ commands first of all that followers stop lying (John 8, Ephesians 4-5). If a church forces attenders to lie you cannot attend it and stop lying too. Unity starts with The Door into which all must enter to be in Christ and united with the true Body of Christ.

I just missed a bus today because it was already pulling away and did not stop for me. Church leaders are mostly, probably like that bus driver who probably was not being mean but merely had to weight my need against the need of other passengers. That driver lost a customer because I walked and spent the money on a morning coffee. Churches cannot afford to lose members of Christ though. God wants nobody lost. So a leader cannot force one disciple to lie and stop them entering into life through Christ The Door just to please the rest of the congregation. If you force someone to affirm what they believe is false or do not believe is true then you force them to lie and hinder their unity with Christ for the sake of unity with you.

Why is love towards God put last?

What is most striking in the message of Jesus is that love of neighbours is not top of His command of God priority list; love towards God is. This should be a test of whether we have been listening to God's word or merely our own thoughts. If we listen to Jesus we will find love towards God tops His agenda and if we love Jesus we will love God the Father too. God is not just about love of each other but wants love towards Him to be top priority. We might want to spend all our time finding ways to please each other and friends and family and work colleagues and country but Jesus said love towards God is the first commandment. We have to set aside time, even occassionally perhaps for a little while apart from closest family, to set our compass how best pleases God and to prioritise our love for Him. This leads to life. Then love towards others will be better because it will come from a pure heart and sincere faith and clear conscience.
I so love this God: "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’" (Deuteronomy 32:35)
The same God in scriptures of old and new testaments: "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord." (Romans 12:19).
When He does act it is so decisive and incisive and wise and perfect, you just have to love Him, in awe of Him. 'Love you LORD'. I wait for that day to come around again. Well worth the wait. As Psalm 18 starts: "I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."
Acts 13:8-12 "The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord."
I personally do have very real enemies living near by and the prayer I pray to God when they triumph over me is that God my Saviour will judge them. God is judge. Enemies of the message God gives me that I pass on as faithfully as I can are for God to judge too. I will love this God when He rescues me and even when He delays. This God commands all to love Him who know that He is God and He commands all to know this: 'He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."' (Psalm 46 verse 10). As for judgment of believers: 1 Corinthians 5:10-12 (New American Standard Bible)
"... I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?"
I am reminded that love for God means 'guarding His commands'. That is a great translation: 'guard His commands' of a tricky phrase of scripture to translate, where the translation 'keep His commands' is a bit ambiguous. Love towards God does indeed compel us to do some serious guarding, inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly our sinful ways trick us into downplaying what God has commanded, perhaps when we are too lazy to want to change those ways if it takes a long period of concentrated self-adjustment. We can love God such that we overcome this laziness by reasserting to ourselves those commands and seeking understanding of them. Outwardly the commands and guarding of them results in backlash from believers and unbelievers who either have forgotten them or been overcome in their own battle and object when we still persist in guarding things of God. We have to be ready for this and overcome it too by persistence in our faith.

Key Questions

Have you ever believed? Ever been baptised? Ever received baptism in the Spirit? Ever devoted your life to God? Ever repented? Ever prayed? Ever spoken in tongues or prophesied? Ever sought to build others up?

How I Personally Follow Jesus

Someone asked me: Do I bother looking things up as I try to always follow Jesus? All I 'bother' doing is trying to keep in memory the teachings of Jesus taught me since my mother taught me 'on her knee' as it were and try to obey all the commands within my power and lean on all the promises that seem to apply. I rarely look things up because I think few today do the same who write articles online so online definitions are often unreliable or worldly. I prove the reliability of what I have been taught in church and reading scriptures like interlinear translations over the years because in response God and Lord Jesus keep up their side of the promises such as those in the Gospel of John and Revelation. God one or two times spoke to me in visions and a couple of times the Spirit spoke to me and once even Jesus Himself spoke to me from heaven. They can keep pointing me in the right direction and helping me point others too.

The Anguish on the Cross

"About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)." Matthew 27:46

When a baby looks for his/her mother and cannot find her usual comforting presense, the baby cries. A righteous adult instead of crying like a baby can use words of the holy psalms to express those same feelings toward God as a baby has towards a mother sometimes even of dismay mingled with love. Jesus is the most righteous adult of all and God gives Him as an example to all (even an example to angels) of how to stay holy and stay right with God even when under extreme stress when that relationship gets pushed to the limit. Like Job, Jesus did not accuse the Father of wrong doing and trusted Him still but did not deny the anguish of the absence of God's usually present comfort and salvation in trouble. Sometimes God has to withold it but always for a righteous reason in love for us all. Jesus has been there and can sympathise now with us. He also shows how the scriptures can be a comfort to us even when other comforts are taken away because there was a sense of someone else having been through the same turmoil giving a sense of company and fellowship that Jesus needed and we need at times, and the scripture He quoted kept Him encouraged not to sin, which it can do for us too.

Vice is Vice

The Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse) teaching of the lake of fire has reasons people will be judged with it and they include things we call 'vice' (porn and drugs, lies, theft, murder and the like) but notice that God made no mention of legal or illegal. Laws of the world do not come into it. (ref Revelation 9:21, 21:8, original Koine Greek or interlinear translation recommended here). Some of these vices are tough stains on our clothes not easily removed. The stain remover is truth we get to know by holding to these teachings in Revelation and other such teachings of Jesus. (ref Gospel of John 8:31-34).

Do Not Rush the Truth

God through Christ and the Spirit teaches us at the pace we can handle if we let Him and do not rush ahead of Him. As Jesus said it to His disciples (John 16:12-15) “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Resurrection

The caterpillar does not know what it will become and nor do we but unlike the caterpillar we can have hope by what Jesus has become.

The Son of God

Acts 17:18 -
'And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,” - because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.'   The Word was divine but the Word became flesh.
We only belong to the truth if what we live out is the real truth so the real truth gets seen in us. We need to be of good courage to admit to ourselves and to others what the real truth is - that the Word was divine, the Son of Man and Son of God from before all things were created, but the Word became flesh, Jesus, still the Son of God but now flesh and blood and resurrected in the love and power of God the Father. Such He is still. He who is seen and heard and looked upon and touched by humans such as He has become. Luke did not see it appropriate to call Him a deity because deities were thought of as above such human interaction and neither flesh nor blood but spirit only. Jesus still has flesh and blood. We need to live out this truth. He became like us so we can now live like Him and if we hold to this truth we must live as He lived. "If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth." John's first epistle chapter 1 verse 6.
Once upon a time the followers of Jesus were deemed a cult. I guess it changed when Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Personally I take up the cross of the disgrace of being deemed part of a cult and outside of the official religion of the equivalent today of that Roman Empire if it comes with following Jesus. The alternative is to deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, which is the spirit of antichrist falsehood.
Jesus ceased to be a deity when He was incarnated. He truly became a human like all humans - a sinless one - yet still Son of God loved by God. That is how it is we can copy Him. That is how it is He died when crucified. That is what a marvel it is that He became the resurected firstborn from the dead and lives forever as Great High Priest over God's House and sits on David's Throne.
This Jesus Christ Himself taught a monotheism where only the Father is to be worshipped as God. This Father is the One Jesus proclaimed as indeed His own God and Father and also His disciples' God and Father.
Luke in writing the passage I quoted in Acts did not think regarding Jesus as a deity was correct - I can tell that by his description of the comments of Epicurians and Stoics who he writes 'thought they were preaching a new deity' when they preached Jesus. Clearly he is denying that it would be correct thinking to regard the preaching by the Apostles as preaching Jesus as a new deity. So clearly he too knew that Jesus becoming flesh at His incarnation was leaving behind the divinity to fully become a child and grow to be a genuine flesh and blood man with DNA and the like. They think they might have a bone fragment of Jesus' cousin John the Baptist and if they sequenced it they would see something close to Jesus' DNA sequence being so closely related. That is how human He is. So He can be the way that we too can come to God His Father. Now He is Lord too.
Not everyone is philosophically inclined to split hairs. The truth is for all though that Jesus is the Word made flesh and that before He was made flesh He was divine and known as the Son of Man and this identity He made clear He retained by identifying Himself as the Son of Man repeatedly before His crucifixion and then God raised Him which God did because Jesus is the Son of God. To say He is a deity is to miss or confuse of obscure the truth that He has become flesh and blood. Luke in 'Acts' (Acts 17:18) pointed out that this mistake was being voiced by Stoics and Epicureans after hearing the Apostle Paul preach.
As Christians many perpetuate a lie that Jesus has not fully become a human setting aside His former deity yet remaining The Son of Man. As Muslims many perpetuate a lie that Jesus is not the Son of God. Both know the teaching that liars will perish at the Judgment in the Lake of Fire.
So a third of the world might hate me for turning from other gods to serve One true God and a third might hate me for confessing truth that Jesus is this one God's beloved Son and is alive from the dead having died on the cross and now a third might hate me for confessing truth that Jesus is man and has become fully man though before this He was the divine Word of God and was together with God in the beginning. It is not being shunned by anyone I should fear but the God who can put me in that Lake of Fire on Judgment Day.

Promises Fulfilled

Whenever you experience a promise of Christ fulfilled you can rejoice because you are proving this corrupt world wrong and thus escaping its influence.

Sign: Huge Scale Earthquake Darkened Sun Then Pause And Then Middle East War Spreading Destruction

Signs of the impending Apocalypse: Huge Scale Earthquake Darkened Sun Then Pause And Then Global Grass and Tree Burning and Huge Middle East War Spreading Destruction. Revelation chapters 6 to 9. Then the Empire you MUST shun will arise. Revelation chapters 11 and 13.

Gospel Truth

Gospel Truth: It is normal to recoil from being told we are enslaved to sin but the words of Jesus Christ ring true about lying and hating. (See 'The Gospel of John' chapter 8.) As I believe in and seek to follow Jesus I find the Spirit making me stop and meditate on the sacrifice Jesus became on the cross and leading me to renounce what the Spirit of Truth showed me is contrary to God and know that the blood of Jesus means I can leave that sin and stop doing it. God provided the Lamb sacrifice of His Son. God being father and God wants us to wash our own clothes in that blood. He might do the first bit for you when you believe but He wants you to do the rest. And the words of God the Father? The Father points out sin ("Israel has sinned" He says) and teaches "In repentance and rest will be your salvation; in quietness and confidence will be your strength". The Father points to Jesus of whom He said "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him." The Father shows Jesus and Jesus leads to the Father.

Apocalypse Now?

We could be seeing democratic US plus Kurds plus Iraq starting a new empire. The leopard might be a democratic force since democracy started with ancient Greece. We might see an alliance with Iran too as time goes on. The sign of it being the beginning of The Beast would be firstly a big apocalyptic catastrophic event including an earthquake darkening the sun with say dust or the like then a pause then an apocalyptic burning of trees and grass by another huge event then a huge scourge from the Iraq and Iran area spreading worldwide killing a third of the world's population including perhaps the Armageddon of prophecy against Israel but failing and leaving Israel intact and hugely encouraged and everyone left in fear of God. The Beast would appear out of this as Satan gives an alliance of western forces plus Iraq and Iran his full power.

Believe the Truth

Lord Jesus the Christ did not come to make it not matter what we do; He came to make us do what matters. The way Lord Jesus (and now the Spirit sent from God) makes us do what matters (and it so matters what we do) is to first get us believing in this Jesus who is same yesterday and today and forever. The belief has to go on always. The next stage as He makes us do what matters is to tell us or show us what is evil and sinful and command that we stop doing that. The next stage is to tell us we might find we are serving sin and therefore need freeing from doing this and He tells us the way to Him freeing us is by our becoming disciples of Him by holding always forever to His teachings and so finding knowledge of truth that sets us free. The teachings then make us into children of God who are always free from being servants of sin. This is forever as we always hold to His teachings and to the things of Jesus now given by the Spirit sent from God in Jesus' name. The freedom and teachings lead us to truth and doing what the truth requires and this is what matters as the truth is God is love.

Do not believe the lie

Lord Jesus the Christ did not come to make it not matter what we do; He came to make us do what matters.
Jesus never lies. I believe that. The lie is when people think and teach that Jesus came so that it does not matter what we do. The truth is that He came so that we do what matters. What matters is to do what accords with the truth: The truth is that God is love.

Lake of Fire and Fear of God

Lord Jesus the Christ said the future existence and purpose of the lake of fire should make us fear God and the Spirit says we are protected by God if we fear Him. The details are for God to explain since this is His word and it is for Jesus to explain because it is His testimony and for the Spirit to explain because He takes from what is Jesus' and makes it known to us who live by the testimony.

How to Stop Sinning

How do we stop sinning? "... in your faith supply moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge, and in knowledge, self-control, and in self-control, perseverance, and in perseverance, godliness, and in godliness, brotherly kindness, and in brotherly kindness, love ..." wrote Peter in 2 Peter chapter 1. We find we believe in Jesus believing He is the Christ sent into this sad world by God. We believe His testimony that there is going to be lake of fire where sinners will go unless we stop sinning (in this life). The faith that Jesus Himself died for our sins leads to holding fast to the hope in His teachings and leads to awareness of true virtue which makes sin appear evil. The command of Jesus is that we put away such evil. The teachings of Jesus make us wise to what is true. We need to follow through with self control which is an inner struggle we each know with our emotions and thoughts and actions and applying wise avoidance of things that might cause us to sin. Jesus guards us but even so it can be that sin crouches at the door desiring to have us and we must conquer it. The promises in Jesus' teachings spur us on and strengthen our minds against desire and habit but we need to learn to control our inner feelings and thoughts and habits. We each have our special situations and weaknesses though these we find are common to all. There is no special trick or unfailing code. We fight and struggle and keep doing so all our lives holding to Jesus' teachings and those of servants He sends. Church life can help but sometimes can hinder. We add the need to pray and respond better to what God does in our lives. We add the kindness of behaving nicely to others as part of the way to the ultimate goal of being loving saints who do to others as we would have them do to us and love the God who sent Jesus to make this way possible by the shedding of His holy blood. As I believe in and seek to follow Jesus I find the Spirit making me stop and meditate on the sacrifice Jesus became on the cross and led me to renounce what He showed me is sin and know that the blood of Jesus means I can leave that sin and stop doing it. God provided the Lamb sacrifice of His Son. God being father and God wants us to wash our own clothes in that blood. He might do the first bit for you when you believe but He wants you to do the washing too.

The Penultimate Empire

Our Lord Jesus, by revelation from His God and our God, has left us in Revelation 13 a powerful sequel to the prophecy given to Daniel in Daniel 7. The angel showed Daniel that the lion in Daniel's prophetic vision was Babylon and the bear was to be Persia and the leopard was to be Greece so when God showed the future Beast empire as a mixture of leopard and the lion and the bear it is quite clear what this means. When the beast empire is shown coming out of the sea this too recalls the same detail in Daniel's prophecy of the lion, Babylon (Neo Babylonian empire led by Nebuchadnezzar), coming out the sea stirred up previously by the four winds of Heaven. The nations around the world were in turmoil as Nebuchadnezzar took power after decades of rebellions and scourges and city sackings all over the world (Scythians, Medes, Egyptians and the like all scourging the earth). In the Revelation vision it is a sea not said to be whipped up like this but with Satan as a dragon newly cast out from Heaven standing there on the shore of the sea. This Revelation beast combines those empires as one combined empire. The terrifying reality worse perhaps than the world-ending turmoil of the decades before Nebuchadnezzar's rise is that the dragon will be furious having been forced down to the earth out of heaven and will vent that fury like never before by how totally he gives his power to this new beast. When? Of course we do not know the timescale but to be sober about it, these empires of lion (Neo) Babylon and bear Media-Persia and leopard Macedon-Greece did not last much more than 50 to 100 years at their height with each having a few successive 'kings of kings' (Persia having four) with reigns of up to a few decades on average. Nor did the appear overnight but took a decade or two for the groundwork to be set down before they gained territory and took their first gains of conquest. So on one hand a brand new combination of such empires would take a decade or two to develop and could last fifty to a hundred years before being defeated at Christ's coming in power. We might have decades before a hint of such an empire's rise appears and that time could be greatly clouded and darkened for unbelievers by the horrendous apocalyptic events preceding it and Satan being cast to the earth from Heaven. Such events occurring along the lines of Revelation's first twelve chapters would enlighten believers who see their redemption drawing near. Revelation 11 is key to knowing whether its apocalyptic events are happening because there is clear reference to the literal city of Jerusalem ("where our Lord was crucified") and there is mention of a literal, physical temple there: It is at this time that the Beast Empire appears; when two martyrs it slays will rise from the dead in full view and ascend before an earthquake splits the city into three. It all seems literal in this passage. If this hasn't happened then the following chapters have yet to happen too. So since a literal, physical Jerusalem Temple is not built with Gentiles trampling its outer court like chapter 11 relates it is pretty clear we are not seeing yet the events of the following chapters and the Beast is still to arise as a world empire of the order of those ancient world empires. I reckon decades of Empire rule have not yet started and will not start until that Jerusalem Temple is built and we will see it rise when the two martyrs rise. The Beast is primarily a leopard. It has a lion's mouth and bear's feet but primarily it is like a leopard. The angel told Daniel (Daniel 7) the leopard is the empire of Greece. Look at how the original leopard grew. The Ancient Greek Empire took shape by alliances between cities (perhaps the leopard's spots?) that happened quickly led by one ruler Philip of Macedon and it may well be that the new Greece Empire will form as alliances are quickly made between cities while maybe Iran (the bear) and Iraq (the lion) are only joined with later. It might be like the first such empires where it took two or three reigns in succession to fully form as other empires are either conquered or united through alliances and marriages by these successive rulers. It might be the leopard's first powerful rising ruler forms alliances as before then fights major battles and later successors bring in the lion as head and the bear as feet. All over decades like before. An indicator it is happening is Rev 11 where there is rule over Israel and Jerusalem has a Temple. Revelation is what Christ says so this applies: (2 John verse 9) "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son." We have to keep reigning in our thoughts and keeping them if they are in line with the teachings of Christ (and the revelation of Him within us and hope of future revelations of Him) and dropping them when they are contrary. (1 Peter 1:13-15: " Wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope perfectly upon the grace that is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance, but according as He who did call you holy, ye also, become holy in all behaviour,") So this Beast will arise when Jerusalem has a Temple and the Beast will reach a pinacle of power where for a short time it has power of all the world. How long it takes to reach this maturity might, I think, be similar to the time the original beasts of Neo Babylon onwards took which was rapid at first but prolonged over decades to reach full power. But what will happen between now and then to indicate the approach of it? I think it is still to come the revelation in Revelation 9. A third of all mankind being killed by forces of evil originating at the Euphrates with the loosing of powerful spirits bound there. Maybe we have it beginning with the Iraq violence we see but it will grow, it seems to be saying, until it affects the whole world enough to kill a third of it - billions. Evil apocalyptic torments will lead up to this but maybe then there will be a high chance of not surviving to see the awful rise of the Beast. Maybe this violence will be the Armageddon foretold by Enoch and Ezekiel. When the third of trees and of all grass on earth gets burned up we will know it is starting soon because of what is written in chapter 8. Maybe Islam is merely incidental and maybe democracy is more characterstic since the beast is like a leopard (like the Ancient Greece Empire) but only has mouth like lion and feet like bear (Iraq and Iran). The leopard seems the main component and with dragon's power (Satan). I think what we see in present IS is a hint at the dragon power it will have but we are not at a stage of seeing it yet but some components might be forming decades before the full manifestation. What we see is chaos and enmity against Israel so this might be chapter 9 prerequisites forming which might put us before chapter 8 or at its start with the four angels at the Euphrates about to be released after a period of natural massive catastrophes some in answer to the prayers of the people of God (chapter 8 beginning). Out of it chapter 9 will grow and might result in Armageddon enemies of Israel attacking but Ezekiel 38 fulfilled with their demise preparing a way for Temple to be built as Jerusalem is strengthened by victory from God, preparing way for chapter 11. So I would conclude Islamic enemies of Israel supported by Russia as in Ezekiel 38 could rise up led by the four spirits released at the Euphrates (after a period of huge disasters burning up trees and grass - sun turning dark in smoke of it - like Joel 2) but war heightened in Megiddo (Enoch and Ezekiel) and all these turned on eachother to their destruction and leaving Israel to rise and Jerusalem to be dominant with a Temple but still so corrupt that saints try to flee it in adversity hence called Egypt spiritually in Rev 11. By this time the Beast will have risen with Satan empowering it so it kills the two witnesses in Jerusalem.

I tend to think the sixth seal is probably to haapen next and soon: Sun turning to sackcloth because of some massive apocalyptic event (Rev 6). Then perhaps soon after that (after a pause with protective spiritual sealing of the saints) the next seal (seventh, Rev 8) being a burning up of the third of the trees and all of the grass. So the Beast might be forming at early stages but it might be some time before it has its time of power (Rev 11 and 13).

Pankration

In the book 'Revelation' given from God through Jesus Christ to John, there is a word for God which is pantokrat translated Almighty and in ancient Greece there had been an olympic sport called pankration with similar meaning "all of strength". The sport required two contestants to wrestle with all their strength using every way they could by both kicking and heaving at eachother to gain supremacy. This seems to be alluded to in the word for Almighty which shows God is full of such power as to be able to use it against any opponent and win fairly. So it seems God has chosen to make us as worthy competitors to contest with all kinds of strength so as to come out on top fairly. This is seen in how Jacob wrestled all night with what he thought was a man but later found to be God so he was called 'Israel', and the rest is history. We are made in the image of God as those who can wrestle with God fairly as worthy sporting opponents but not enemies. All for God's great joy. Oh the scariness of the thought that here hidden on this planet resides the being who made the entire Universe and we are made so we are like this person enough that we can appreciate and dwell with Him. Such a thought requires us to have the likeness in our minds and souls and spirits in the image of Him just to survive and understand the awareness of it; all so that we can live side by side with Him in a future city like His Son lives side by side with Him now.

Studying Scriptures

If our goal is merely to study and know the Bible scriptural books and letters but not to act regularly and daily on what we read we are deluding ourselves and better off not reading scripture. I had a leader at university who challenged us 'what have you done recently because of something you read in scripture? how have you changed your behaviour because of something you read in scripture?'. This made me try to spend longer making sure I obey than I spend studying scripture. To obey you need more than knowledge, you need understanding. To understand it you need to meditate on it day and night and hope God in time grants you insight. But be warned: reliance on keeping the Law of Moses makes some Bible readers stumble and fall away from reliance on the grace of God that Jesus gives. Some Gentile readers even stumble into having their male children circumcised so they can keep the Old Testament feasts. Just reading it can be hazardous without guidance of grace and proper explanation. Just think - it is a set of thousands of years worth of historic sacred documentation and needs learning to read safely and even many learned have stumbled in reading it, as Saul did even under Gamaliel's guidance before Saul saw Jesus and became Paul.

There is Sin but There is Jesus

The Gospel of John chapter 8 verses 10-32: "... When Jesus had stood up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself. Your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered them, “Though I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet if I do judge, My judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me bears witness of Me.” Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as He taught in the temple. No one arrested Him, for His hour had not yet come. Again, Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself? For He said, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” They said to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “Just who I have been telling you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true. So I tell the world what I heard from Him. They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as My Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you remain in My word, then you are truly My disciples. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”..."

Erratum

Must correct my earlier comments about Revelation with respect to what is signified by the beast. A sister corrected me. The first beast in Rev 13 is clearly signifying a mixture of three beasts in Daniel 7 since it combines the lion and leopard and bear in Daniel 7. It arises out of the sea as in Daniel 7. The angel already interpreted it for Daniel as to which empires were signified and so it is safe to understand the Rev 13 beast in this light: There is no mention of EU or UK or USA here but rather Babylon and Persia and Greece. The Babylon the Great can be regarded as the same Babylon which is the lion in chapter 13. The second beast comes out of the land so maybe this is where the mystery lies.

How Holy Is Your Faith?

How much of a blessing is the real spiritual gift of speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit? What does scripture say? "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification." So wrote the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5. There is more to it that is not in that passage though, such as this in an earlier passage in the same epistle: 1 Corinthians 2:4-6 "and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;" We might well want to have the holiest faith in which to build ourselves up and this kind of faith had best come not from human words of wisdom and cleverness but from demonstration of the Spirit's power, one manifestation of which is the genuine gift of tongues. Then when maturity comes closer as that faith builds us up we need real wisdom from God and one way this comes is through true interpretation of said gift of tongues by the gift of interpretation of tongues. Leaves a question: How holy is your faith? You need to build youraelf up in faith that is truly holy. Even if churches do not encourage such faith, real holy faith is wiser than human wisdom or anything that depends on human wisdom, even wiser than some of the wisdom encouraged in churches who might actively discourage the holiest faith.

Way to Go

There will be a new city of peace with Jesus and God reigning directly and places in it will be going to those whose deeds written from their lives are in the book of life. If we are only ever sinning slaves to sin in this life, typified by the slave of Abraham, we are not children of the promise and our names are not written in the book of life. If we follow the words of Jesus and holding to them we over time put sin away from us as He sets us free then we will fill our lives with deeds that are worthy of being recorded in the book of life and our names will be found in it at the Judgment so the new city of peace will have a place for us. John 8, Galatians, Revelation 21-22.

Due Care and Attention

Although we are to cast our cares upon God He does not want us living and working without due care and attention for our needs and happiness and for the needs and happiness of those we live with and those we work with. To call Him our God and then ignore careful attentiveness is to deny His own care for not just us but others too. This is why Jesus, Son of God, refused to condemn the woman recorded in The Gospel of John chapter 8 caught in adultery - because God cares for sinners too. One caring provision God has made for man is the Sabbath. 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.' Even though enshrined in the Law of Moses, the commands in the ten commandments are to us like executive orders we obey even though not under Law but under Christ. The Sabbath was directed towards the Jews but extended in the prophets towards Gentiles living amongst Jews but here in the words of Christ who is over the Church His Body we have application of it in God's care 'for man'. So in love for God we can obey His commands, His executive orders, and live in the care He has lovingly provided and revealed in the coming and ministry of Jesus His Son. 

How I Know Jesus Is God's Son

After decades trying to simply follow the apostles teachings with Jesus' teachings I asked God over and over to do what it seemed Jesus promised He would do for those obedient - I asked that instead of me having to convince myself about God all the time, instead of that God would show Himself to me (in a dream say) as Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Then one night I saw in a dream God standing there in a long gown like you see in pictures and He said "I am God" before telling me things that would happen the next day and what I must do. They happened like He said and I was astounded it was indeed God. Then days or weeks later (Jan 1995 I think) I was going to a river near home in a torrential rainstorm with a huge umbrella up and as I came back a voice clearly said "Put down your umbrella" and as soon as I did that torrential downpour stopped dead. I just remembered the miracle of Jesus giving a great catch of fish and how the disciples said "It is the Lord" and I said the same. I asked that night that if it was indeed Jesus He would do such and such by the morning and amazingly He did and I was stunned. Weeks or months later the Holy Spirit showed Himself to me in an Assemblies of God church when tongues were spoken and an interpretation of the angelic words given me describing how by the authority of Lord Jesus' name all creation persists. To me this proves that Jesus is truly the Son of God, or more precisely, it is God proving in action to me that Jesus is His Son. I was asking God to show me God the Father and God's Son and it was God and Jesus who showed themselves. The Holy Spirit sealed it all by His manifestation too. The fact it verifies teachings like John's shows me too that Jesus died like John says and the fact it verifies Jesus is alive now verifies He is raised by God, and that again shows He is God's Son. This is important since many and even the Muslim interpretation of their scriptures, deny this. Seeing Jesus Son of God need not be with the eyes. A blind man can 'see' a person by perceiving them. Jesus can reveal His power and glory with a miracle and a whisper. He said 'blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe' so when I asked God that God's Son would show Himself to me I was troubled by the loss of blessing it might be so (probably misunderstanding Jesus' saying) I asked not to see Him visibly. He was careful to show me so my inner soul could perceive Him but not my eyes. I 'saw' an awful lot though. Wonderful! I saw Him like a blind man would see Him. I perceived Him because He made me perceive Him.  God, Son of God, Spirit all three (yes, united as one, it is true) showed absolute wisdom in the ways each showed Himself to little old me by overcoming so wisely my obstacles and defenses and proving things I had no idea could be proven like that. This was not me imagining things. They each made that clear. Very very wise and with absolute power but gentleness too. These guys do not mess around! Why not go the way to seeing Him for yourself: Jesus at the last supper was sayingbthese things John 14:20-23 New American Bible (Revised Edition) "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him."   When I asked Jesus to confirm it was Him I was back indoors. I was about to go to sleep. I saw a dressing gown hanging on a nail in the wall which I had never used because I never got up in the night. I asked that if it is Him who was appearing to me that the dressing gown would be off that wall by the morning. In the night something inside me forced me to wake up and get up. It was like it got past my mental defenses. Like the outer door of my mind was ignored and the inner door knocked on without opening the outer door. I got up immediately and took the dressing gown off the wall and suddenly remembered my request for confirmation. How clever He is. I knew He knew my mind better than I did as having the Master keys. He is the Master of me. Jesus in Revelation 3:20-22 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Who Else Could It Be

A voice came out of heaven, out of the sky, at Jesus of Nazareth's baptism. "This is my beloved Son". We know who spoke. Who else could it be.
A voice came out of heaven, out of the sky, as Saul of Tarsus rode to Damascus. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul had to ask who was speaking but who else could it be.
A voice whispers into our minds teaching us about the fear of God and glorifying Lord Jesus' name but does not introduce Himself and merely speaks out of the blue. Who else could it be but the Holy Spirit sent from God.
God needs no introduction. Jesus needs no introduction. The Holy Spirit needs no introduction. Who else could it be.

Look at Jesus

When God said at Lord Jesus Christ's baptism and later transfiguration that Jesus is His only begotten Son He said to listen to Him. Now Jesus has been crucified as Lamb of God for the sins of the world and is risen, raised from death by God, God shows us still that Jesus is His Son and that we are to look at Jesus. And as Jesus the Son of God was from beginning, and with the first, so He will be to the end and with the last. This the Spirit shows us.

The New Worship

The Passover was only allowed in one specific place of God's appointing because it involved sacrificial killing of lambs. Now we have no such specific place for Gentile believers but Gentiles are included in Christ nonetheless. We have no enduring site for sacrifices. Even the Jews have had centuries without a Temple for sacrifices such as Passover sacrifices. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, has had blood flow from hands and feet and head and side. This Lamb of God was chosen for this by God as the only worthy pure sacrifice. So no need exists for Passover lambs sacrificed yearly nor any yearly feast requiring male participants to have been circumcised in their body. Hebrews 2:17 "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Yet He could say to them "Before Abraham was, I am" and now He has again the glory He had before the world began. Jesus has taught that the way to live to please God is to worship or serve God in Spirit and truth or as it is written in Philippians 3:3, to worship by the Spirit of God. Does the Spirit teach we who are Gentiles by birth but brought into Christ by faith to keep yearly feasts? No but He teaches the wonder of Jesus' Lordship and Authority and teaches the fear of God the Father of our Lord Jesus. Jesus said in John 4 that worshippers God wants will worship in spirit and truth. At that time the Holy Spirit was not yet given. Now the Holy Spirit is given but not to all. But as then and so too now those without the Holy Spirit given to them can if they believe still worship or serve God in spirit and truth. Jesus' words are spirit and truth. Jesus testified of God's word " Your word is truth". God spoke in the hearing of a few as recorded in the Gospels about Jesus "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him." This then is truth to live and worship by. The words of Jesus in the Gospels and spoken these days too are all for us spirit and truth to worship and live by. The Holy Spirit brings it closer to home as He manifests Himself to believers. All this is truth and spirit by which to worship God, to serve God and to live to please God. Feasts year on year are not part of it for Gentiles but only spirit and truth. Feasts were only for Gentiles whose male family members were circumcised. This is not the way Jesus teaches to Gentiles. So rather than worshipping God with feasts which for Gentiles and Jews requires circumcision of male family members (Exodus states this) the way for us to worship is by the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the words of Jesus and what God says through Him and by glorying in Jesus. Philippians 3:3 "For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh". This was surely written to both Jews and Gentiles who were believers living in the vicinity of Roman times Philippi. So believing is now so important and vital because it is to believers in the message of God that God gives the Spirit. Through following this way of Christ Jesus we find the truth in which to glory, that God Himself shows to us and demonstrates to us that Jesus is His Son, the Son of God. Then the Holy Spirit leads us into more truth about Jesus being made by God the Lord in whose name all creation fulfils God's purposes and is sustaimed and by this sustenance we too are sustained. And so we glory in Jesus. This is the way to please God in faith as our worshipful service to God whether Jew or Gentile. God makes things sometimes happen in our lives making us exclaim 'It is the Lord' and by the Spirit we then understand and say that it is Jesus who is the Lord. We say 'surely this is the Son of God' and again it is by the Spirit. So we continue and again our continuing is because we hang on the Spirit. All this and feasts not a part of it nor anything requiring anyone to be circumcised in their body but we have the Spirit instead who is all we need to fit us to God's new covenant requirement for this new way of worship that God gives us. 

What to do

The God we call our God is real. Find out lovingly what He wants us to do, how He says to live our lives (bought by Christ's blood) and stick to that.
What it seems to me God wants is our loving responsiveness to what we see: First when we see God and His deeds and words; then when we see His Son and His God-given deeds; then when we see the deeds and needs of His disciples. This is what matters to God.

Stop Sinning

A true perception of Jesus Christ (by faith in Him) is the perception that He is, from God,  a message to you 'Stop sinning'. 

Tell It

The Holy Spirit comes to us in Jesus Christ's holy name and tells us things to shout out so all can hear. 'Shout from the rooftops what is whispered in your ear.' Yet how much of His revelations and the Revelation of Jesus Christ that all the people and governments need to hear is shouted like this? Still there are major things we need all to hear but do not tell like Jesus tells. The ancient sins of humans continue because few acknowledge or know they are sins. Jesus told us all but do we pass it on. If they don't listen then we are blameless but if we hear but do not say we have to accept blame if God intended us to tell it to them. Let us not be blamed merely because we are afraid to tell what Jesus told and the Holy Spirit confirms. 'Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

United With Christ and Separate From the World

Fully united with Christ we are not separated from other followers of Christ spiritually but to be fully united with Him does involve separation from the world and the world may include close friends and maybe even family and some we thought were Christians. That is the pain of separation that comes with knowing Christ but knowing Christ more than makes up for it and God comforts us.

In Short

In short: Our lives are messed up; and Lord Jesus is the High Priest; and we have to be His disciples to be set free.

Religion and the Cross of Christ

Religion is primarily about putting up with something that runs counter to pleasure and self-interest such as by fasting or endurance of the restrictions of a feast by not working and by setting aside personal common day practices and activities. When a person identifies with Christ Jesus they endure a share in the suffering He endured when He was crucified. This supercedes all other religious feasts and fasts because it is the day after day suffering that satisfies the demands religious duty imposes to set aside self-interest for the sake of higher duty. We can allow the suffering endured by the Righteous Christ to affect us too as we have become bound spiritually to Christ so what affected Him affects us too. This takes the place of any feasts and fasts in the religious requirement of self denial.

Butterfly Set Free

BC = caterpillar and cocoon  AD = butterfly set free

A Real Child of God

There are over-simplifications given to describe a child of God. Three aspects are to be called and chosen and faithful in following Jesus Christ. Called to stop sinning and learn to do right is first and that means belief in what Chist says: "Stop sinning". Those believing it find they are given the Holy Spirit and miracles by God Himself. The calling is to many but the grace of receiving the calling is given to far fewer people. Having received the calling to be a saint with Holy Spirit leadership it is vital to continue to the end of life, holding fast to the calling and teachings of Christ and truth of the Spirit and if we do we know we are really what God describes as children of His. Of course other aspects of real faith are rewarded or recognised by God by His giving miracles and the Holy Spirit: Simply believing that He is the Creator is a starting point of faith. Believing that Christ died for you is another instance of faith that God rewards. Still the faithfulness is required to continue such a progress into faith through all of life. That is being called and chosen and faithful. And letting it lead how you live. The example we are given is Abraham and in Galatians Paul taught that such as these who live by faith are children of Abraham. I also find a good description of living by faith is John Bunyan's "A Pilgrim's Progress" allegory and the hymn of his "Who would true valour see" or "To be a pilgrim". This is an individual Christian but the body of local believers which is a church or assembly (or some other term depending on culture) is something again when the individuals believe themselves to be joined spiritually in Christ. Yet it does not substitute the need for the individuals to walk the eternal life of faith as children of Abraham and become transformed and sanctified as children of God. When travelling with a coach party in foreign countries each individual still needs their own passport. Finding you were mistakenly relying on the group for your passport is a nightmare scenario, like the man in the parable who finds himself at a banquet in the wrong clothes.

The Faith of the Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul left us a legacy of Christian Churches and scriptural letters and from the letter to the Galatian Church we find evidence of his belief that the God who is Father of Jesus Christ gives the presence of the Holy Spirit that comes from Him to people when they believe the testimony of the message from Jesus Christ and the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Today the same seems true, that God still rewards faith by giving the presence of the Holy Spirit. Manifestations of this Holy Spirit are recognisable by their inherent holiness and purity and by acknowledgment of the truth that Jesus is the Christ and that God the Father calls Jesus His own beloved Son. The Spirit who is aligned with such truth is clearly sent by God. This Spirit comes to lead the believer in the way of knowing the truth that comes from God the Father. What faith is rewarded this way? The certainty within that Jesus wants each one to turn from lies and other such unethical behaviour and only behave ethically in a way that will not be judged by the future Lake of Fire which will burn up forever those who refuse to stop such unethical practices that God the Father hates and refuse to learn to please God by learning to do what God regards as right. And the death Jesus died was to free people from they unethical ways to be free to please God. They resurrected Jesus lives forever to keep people living in this way of pleasing God. So the giving of the Holy Spirit is the way God confirms people in this faith. Here is an extract from a modern translation of Paul's letter to Galatians (chapter 5) showing this faith "Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham."
So who is this man, Abraham? A mysterious figure from the very distant past, in very ancient times he was famous but known mainly for being the biological ancestor to the modern Jews. He might be the person who invented a seed drill found by archaeology in ancient Babylon and now known for his departure from ancient long popular religious concepts such as sun worship who believed there must be a creator spirit we nowadays call God. Back in ancient times there was so much false religion based around idol worship and much wickedness associated with such lack of faith in a single true creator God yet Abraham sought out a true creator God and was chosen to find this God and learn to love Him and worship Him in truth.

Real Grace and Faith

The Apostle Paul wrote to a church: "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith". This seems to imply a corporate collaborative element as we jointly test ourselves, you testing me and I testing you, 'to see if [we] are in the faith'. "For none of us lives to himself alone" - or to quote the secular saying "no man is an island". We each have individual conscience such that one might eat meat and another believe only in eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. So we must "to yourself be true". But we should each seek to be "able to discern a brother". It is not easy. This kind of discussion helps. Yes we must discern a brother so then we can pray for the brother who sins but if we seldom meet folk we are sure are true brothers we might get little practice. I only think a handful of people I have met are such that I have anything near certainty that they are in the faith and usually it is by signs I believe to be from God. In his first letter to believers in Thessalonika Paul indicated how he discerned them as believers "For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction." If we find God works miracles when we are someone's company it hints that they are loved by God and maybe Christ is speaking to us through eachother. A wonderful Jeremiah passage in chapter 31 verses 31 to 34 to me describes how grace of Christ works among real believers loved by God. It is a work in the heart. The grace of workings of Christ through us in miracles and spirit does more than words alone. It teaches not just the intellect but the heart through actions and feelings God gives. The end result is that eventually each gets to hear the message beyond merely words as God impresses on each the knowledge of Himself and of His Christ.
Jeremiah 31:31-34  "“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”"
The scriptures do guide us on this and it is obvious really what blessing is just intervention by God by the Spirit and what is actually to bless and build up but all the same we need to be not so dead as those who merely read about it scripture but never get given this wonderful Spirit who is from God. This is similar to what happened when Jesus walked the Earth physically before God sent the Spirit to each believer. People read about the Christ in scriptures like Isaiah but sadly did not go to Jesus Himself for life so all they had was Bible knowledge but not life the Bible speaks of. John 5:39 "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." So many today are content to study scripture but never seek out what scripture speaks of. Life is from seeking the Spirit today.
Many churches witness wonderfully unusual phenomena like what is called Toronto Blessing and 'Slaying in the Spirit'. The Spirit acted on King Saul in a similar way to 'slaying in the spirit' to keep him from killing David. Maybe that is what this action of spirit or Spirit is about: keeping those forsaken by God from interfering with those chosen by God. Maybe. It certainly seems to distract. What I consider 'live' churches full of evidence of grace is the building up work of the Spirit seen in gifts like real prophecy and real xenoglossia with interpretation. One place I attended had so many young men all gifted with prophecy whose combined words could all coincide with what I asked God to say privately before the meeting. My most emphatic clear experience of the 'word of The Lord' coming to me was as I prepared for one of their services. All these workings are like those in the narrative of the life of David and life of Saul and here too we find one losing grace having gained it and one ever growing in it from glory to glory. King Saul and his army all had the Spirit of God come upon them and cause them to prophesy and cause Saul to remain on his face all night but by it they were being prevented from doing serious wrong to David out of the jealousy of Saul who knew David  was being chosen by God and not himself. The greater blessing is to have controlled utterance from the same Spirit to speak inspired words to build up the corporate body of believers who are the body of Christ with Christ as head and to do so as manifesting not just Spirit from God but love for Christ rather than jealousy.
1 Samuel 19:18-24 "When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said. So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”"

Time to Come Clean

The times are changing again. Things are hotting up with propaganda 'wars'. The old art of Satan's is starting to dominate like in the Garden of Eden through the mouth of a serpent. Isn't it time for believers to concentrate all the more on being truthful before God? Isn't it time to look at how the truth itself is presented by believers and root out any deceptive methods. Lax methods in terms of honesty have sometimes been tolerated in favour of winning battles on worse lies but God does not support deceptive methods the way He favours honesty and we need God's support as truth is neglecting in favour of short term victories. This is no times for lies.

BC or AD?

There is an inheritance shared by most that we have enough difference between years Before Christ and years Anno Dominus (Years of Our Lord) that years of history can be numbered by this demarcation. Yet for so many the lifestyle lived is more appropriate for years Before Christ. The difference between BC and AD should be that humans acknowledge there is now reason to accept we should acknowledge we belong to a person The Christ ('al-Massih', if you are Muslim) who has come as Christ and now is Lord over us. Some Muslims might be led to object to the reason given by Christians for this Lordship which is that Jesus died by crucifixion and rose again having bought believers with the blood He shed and body broken, but it is still so widely known that it demarcates years BC and years AD. So why do so many all around the world live like it never happened. Why not live as those now completely owned by this Lord and Christ? Why, for one thing, live like that ownership only warrants occassional religious festivals, as if He, the Christ had never come and we were still living in years BC? 

Inappropriateness of Feasts

The feasts believers keep seem so inappropriate in view of the death on a cross of Christ which buys our entirety and not just one day or week here and there each year. His death on a cross buys me entirely and because God raised Him to eternally live He owns me entirely and this is every day. God made it so to save me. As it was without The Cross the right to command me in all aspects and at all levels of life were not so clear as they are now Christ Jesus has bought me with His own body and blood which God gave Jesus when He brought Jesus into the world. Now the authority right of Jesus over me as my Lord is clear and indeed He is Lord even over my deepest being and all parts of life mind soul spirit and body, because it is all bought by His body broken and blood shed on that cross.

From A Conversation Today About God

[December 3rd and 4th 2016 in conversation in a group on LinkedIn: Asked about a time meeting God in a dream twenty years ago and why I had not met Him since and then being invited to think about the wonder of a butterfly and what it says about God] ...The butterfly body amplifies life in that the movement of a tiny body acting on those large wings is amplified so it is visible to us and we see a gentleness and resilience there which speaks of 'life'. The life in the butterfly is the same life as in all living things and in us but is amplified in the butterfly. We connect mentally with it and it speaks to us of God. There is a Holy Spirit who would point out that the power or rules manifested in this life we see in a butterfly is a person - the person ancient Sumerian teacher-prophet-king Enoch (Enmendurana) called The Son of Man. Jesus said effetively 'yes I am the Son of Man' and is our hint from God to help us know God better now that this life has appeared as Jesus the Christ. Of course we need to let it sink in what Jesus was and is and will be now He has been born to die as a sacrificial lamb and risen to be Lord and Carer over all. It's more thrlling than a rollercoaster ride and healthy too and it's all true; Gott sei dank. 

Jesus' words are the very source of life. 

I remember the only time I ever saw the Milky Way lying on my back at night in the North African desert with no polluting lights to obscure it. Until that time I had never seen anything so wondrous. That was about thirty years ago. Seeing the glory of the power of Jesus (twenty two years ago) first hand was much more wondrous.

I really don't mind if I never see the Milky Way again because the wonder of it is still there in me and it never fades and seeing it again might harden me to it with over familiarity. With the wonder of God's visits back when they happened I have them still with me and they never fade completely but I want to rest in the arms of His love over and over and always see His wondrous glory and Son of Man for all eternity so much more than to see the Milky Way of this galaxy. I just want it to be in His right time. Like romance really but romance is just a pale reflection of this spirit life. 

Meanwhile there is the groaning inwardly of suffering patiently the darkness of this world and the long wait of God's perfect timing.

But that endurance is to the glory of God. 'Amen' True. So be it.

It sounds bizarre but "Put down your umbrella!" I could live forever on those words. Words from Jesus Christ, living, into my mind in a torrential rain storm twenty two years ago just weeks after that dream when God the Father appeared and spoke to me. The things that followed the words were a precious gift from God to me showing me so much. 

"Look at the trees how they bud and put forth leaves. They do so by the authority of the Name of Lord Jesus Christ. The planets ..." and it went on to make similar statements of mystery. These were the manifestaion of the Holy Spirit just weeks again after the visit from Jesus Christ and the visit before that from God the Father. All because I asked (after decades of asking and longing) to see God: The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

It was all combined recently with a visit in which a spirit told me to look up a certain chapter (Daniel 3) and in a margin reference in that chapter was a reference to a verse I had been pondering curiously and the chapter answered my curiosity perfectly and this visit confirmed the faith In had just that hour come to.

But perhaps greatest was an unexpected visit when I was having a bath a time after my initial visits and preparing for church where I might be required to speak. Out of the blue came words like words in the Bible and a vision which came true and has been coming true ever since. God said (His words coming to me said) "Israel has sinned" and the vision showed me the eagle of surveiilance overhead. It was before the survelliance events leading ultimately to Operation Desert Fox bombings in 1998, and immediately before the start of police surveillance using helicopters in the UK county of Avon called Operation Vulture in, I think, 1995. So it was fulfilled these following years but starting just days after this prophecy came to me. God is dealing with sins of His people and like the word came to me in the bath so He is dealing with it by washing clean. This is by Jesus Christ the Great High Priest over the House of God. This is God's very own message. I must shout it from the mountain top. 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
When you see those operations by military and civilian forces they manifest all sorts of discussions by officials and generals but when in contrast you see manifestations of the Spirit like the message about looking at trees putting out buds and leaves by Lord Jesus' name and authority then it is a pure manifestation of but one source that is the God over all in conversation only with His Son Jesus. [See, even today I receive the dew of my youth as spirit words given me in my youth I could barely discern materialise today decades later in real words of spirit conveying what back then was hidden.]

How To Follow Jesus Christ

To a believer reading John's gospel chapter 8 and the account of Lord Jesus Christ final public preaching in days before His crucifixion it makes sense to grasp what His message was and follow Him by holding fast to it and putting away lies from day to day conversation because He taught that lying is of Satan. This preaching says that doing so is to be combined with believing that the fact that He truly is puts hope in sight. The promise is there in that preaching that truth from Him will set such followers free from the main binding sins that keep us in slavery while slaves are not children of God. So sin by sin the follower finds truth is freeing them and making them more and more children of God under the safeguards and protection of Jesus like a baby back in the womb again.

The Protector

Jesus so protects a believer disciple from the wrathful judgment He also presides over that He is like an umbrella so effective it puts the disciple in what is like a protective womb before birth. He stands effectively between a believer disciple and the wrath of God and intercedes so the believer need not fear when so protected. My recollection of scripture suggest to me that only He mediates this way. 'One Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.' It is what is called His 'Angel' (Angel of the Lord) which does this as was done for Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego who Babylonian King of kings Nebuchadnezza (as recorded in Daniel 3) had them put into a furnace of fire and there was with them in the fire seen one like a son of man protecting them by standing there with them. So fearing God and following and trusting God leads to such protection from the jusgments by men and kings too. And Lord Jesus Christ is king of all such kings.

What is Real Faith?

What is real faith? Many are misled by doctrines of religious history leading away from the work God is doing in their lives. They hear these doctrines and are afraid to simply let God teach them through grace from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I find God teaches me and others to stop sinning (stop lying, murderously hating, lusting and stop following the pleasure-loving ways of the world which is controlled by Satan) and learn from the truth He teaches and especially His truth about Jesus His Son, looking to Him. Anything else contrary to this or providing an alternative way of looking at things should be ignored and avoided: Our souls are at stake.

What God Says

In Isaiah chapter, God starts by saying (v4) "Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him."
...
but goes on to say
(vs25,26)
"I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.
I will restore your leaders as in days of old,
your rulers as at the beginning.
Afterwards you will be called
the City of Righteousness,
the Faithful City."
I God pretty much speaks to His own today as He spoke back then. How will He make the changes happen? The cure He gives is Jesus.

Meeting God

Years ago I got a brief dream vision meeting with God and saw His appearance and heard His voice, at least insofar as He wanted me to know it, so I know what I'm saying. Later met Jesus after asking to see the Son of God. Later (weeks) the Holy Spirit having asked, after years of asking, to meet Father and Son and Holy Spirit. It was the Father who introduced Himself "I am God". In each case they gave me proof (undoubtable proof). Later I heard His message about His people having failed ethically. It nearly matches the start of Isaiah and came with a sign about surveillance signifying that He wants His people to stop doing wrong and learn to do right.

Eye in the Sky and Snoopers' Charter

Here in the UK a so-called "snoopers' charter" is being introduced to give the government here more powers to keep records of our online activity. This is a reminder that God is alive and real and wants a people morally clean by His own cleansing who learn to do what is truly right and give justice to the under-privileged.

To Atheists

We humans got to thinking of developing Mars for human habitation and maybe one day to make animals to give humans company too and how long did it take us as civilised humans to get there? A few thousand years. And you cannot think that some being somewhere would be able to get well beyond that stage even over millions of years to be able to create a home on this planet and while hidden away be able to produce life like us and the rest of our planet occupants for their pleasure and ultimately their company (once we are rwady for it)?

Judgments Inevitably Will Come

Serious judgments to come from God are inevitable, it seems to me, first apocalyptic events like massive numbers of city buildings collapsing all at once around the world by a global earthquaking event and the atmospheric consequences before Christ returns and after the thosand year reign of Christ the removal of many of all spirits or souls of all humans to have ever lived into a place where a large lake of magma or lava or the like opens up near Jerusalem which was long foretold by the name matching the ancient rubblish dumps there called 'Gehenna'. Who is judged like this and why? Science will probably, it seems to me, be seen to have played a major role due to its associations and inclusions of sorcery which is opposed to the truth of God, along with all other kinds of lying fabrications and testimonies and persecutions against those who attest to truth and God's word of truth.

My Lord

You can look out away from yourself to think the power of Christ is there but miss that in your deepest being in the core of you it is there because all space and things are subject to Him and He can tell your brain and heart and inner being what He wants it to do such that it will obey. This is the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. And it is God Himself who calls this Lord Jesus 'The Son of God. I know this because God made it known to me directly and through Jesus Christ and confirmed by the Holy Spirit all within a time of weeks back in the mid nineties.

Al-Massih

Al Massih does mean more than major prophet. It is only one person of all who God made who is The Christ. It is unique to be the Christ of God. This is the one out of all beings who God sent to bear His name and build His house for that name. Descended from David yet creator and Lord of David. Only those to whom God or Allah gives ability can digest what and who The Christ is and the fact He came from God becoming flesh and shedding His blood and living again even now and forever. Lord Jesus the Christ. Isa al-Massih.

Science Versus Religion

From religion comes the idea of solemnly devoting oneself to adherence to principles from God even to the extent that you suffer the setting aside of your own tendencies by which you would otherwise live. Science tends to try to get you to devote yourself to science. Religion is the devotion to God instead. Religion is self denial. Science tries to get you to spoil yourself and indulge in benefits science offers. Religion says only on God's terms. Religion says you have to be willing to set aside time you would otherwise perhaps devote to science and devote it to God instead. But belief is not quite the same because it is about adherence to truth. Not just to duty. To be an adherent to truth means to let truth change you. Religious truth and adherence to it is denial of human testimony in favour of the greater more truthful testimony of God which makes a person good. Religion does not necessarily make a person good. Truth from God shows up science for what it is and this improves us. Without Christ's testimony, science would lead away from truth more and more as lie supports lie and nobody who decries the lies is believed. Christ's testimony made truth accessible and shone a light on the sorcery side of science but still that side has persisted and today we need to re-examine the truth Jesus Christ brought into the world before we destroy the world with technology.

Word of God

When we see a person who has a son or daughter they have raised and we see a son or daughter well cared for and wise, it is a credit to this person in our eyes. So with God. We see a son of God raised from the dead and alive forever and the reputation this son has which is above every reputation and it is a supreme credit to God, so this Son is the word God gives us of Himself.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Really joining into Christ comes with baptism of the Spirit being given on reaching true faith in Jesus who is the Christ. Until then scriptures are the teacher as primary source of 'God's word'. Then after being given the baptism of the Holy Spirit (in other words an introduction to Him as primary teacher), and you find Him real to you, if you are willing to follow Him, He can become that primary teacher and the scriptures are there to support and encourage and confirm His lessons to you, while He forever leads and teaches. God speaks in heaven and His word is applied to His followers through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and prophets who hear. God's word was specially written over the years in scripture along with words of holy people and other relevant words. Scriptures suffice to bring you to Christ and are a source of words to which to adhere always but have weaknesses of ambiguity. These are limits which powerful direct lessons from the Holy Spirit do not have.

The Most Important Truth

Obviously in believing our Lord and Master Jesus Christ is now and will be forever, we will be concerned with what He Himself preaches and Holy Spirit preaches in His name. I find His work is to teach the value and God-associated quality of truthfulness and the other such qualities of God Himself that we ought to have in our lives. Paul pointed this out in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20 onwards but for me it has simply come by power of the Holy Spirit on receiving the gospel truth of Christ dying for me. 

It is The Lord

"Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus." The Gospel of John chapter 21 verse 4.
The event was the third appearance of risen Jesus Christ to the disciples of His after His resurrection from the dead. The place was the Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee). Here it is that Jesus is known by a miracle again as He tells His fishermen disciples to let down their nets on the other side of the boat. This is Jesus after His task has been completed of dying and rising again. The only thing left is to reveal Himself as He was and now is and ever will be; the Resurrection and the Life. This is how He lovingly makes Himself known to disciples even to this day so they suddenly exclaim "It is The Lord!"

Judge Not

I wouldn't see the command to 'judge not' as restrictive but rather as liberating. Like the great command 'put away your sword' to Peter at Jesus' arrest. It allows us to pursue a life of peace rather than one of trouble and trouble making. In ancient times it was the Law of Moses (given Moses by God) that eyes had to be put out and teeth extracted ('eye for eye and tooth for tooth') with many requirements of fierce judgment. Jesus alone could override this with confidence God was doing it through Him. A mere teacher and leader could not override such laws. The Son alone had the authority and position as Son of Man from God's right hand to whom God through Moses had commaned all to listen when He come. 'You have heard eye for eye and tooth for tooth - BUT I SAY TO YOU...' Now the heavy yoke could be lifted from weary shoulders and a light yoke taken on the shoulders freely.
Even though we do not need to inflict judgment as people had to do under the yoke of Moses, we still need to explain right and wrong and that gets conflated by many with judging. If we say to someone we have knowledge of the wrongness of something we so often get accused of 'being judgmental'. Yet it is for the Lord to teach people who believe in a way we cannot do. It should not be forgotten that the Lord teaches people in their dreams in a way no mere human words and arguments can do. Is it not oversimplfying it to say right and wrong can be learned from God's word? God's word and Christ's testimony in Revelation in Rev 21:8 has the greek word for sorcery being 'pharmakoi' but who could say, from that, that they are completely confident the word of God is that 'pharmacy' is a kind of sorcery, a sin that leads to hellfire. Likewise lustfulness which has to be punished by churches but who can say from that word in scripture where libido ends and lust begins. Even looking lustfully at the opposite sex is said in scripture by Jesus to be equivalent to fornication but do we understand whether a person doing it is to be punished as a fornicator? Scripture helps convict but is not enough to be rid of all these and other sins. Do we all know from scripture whether lustful dreams are sin (who does not have them) and whether keeping in our thoughts a memory of what hateful people have said of others is harbouring hateful lies? Although there are absolute sins like a robber who can give up robbing and do an honest job, most sins are relative like when you sell goods but overcharge for them. There are mostly grey areas. A saint does not sin as much as a sinner but might still do things dishonest at times. They might not lie pathologically but might allow themselves to think things of others they know might not be true or they might think through a way of saying something deceitful without ever allowing themselves to say it. When one person refrains from a sin they efrectively condemn others who do not resist the temptation. Is it OK NOT to judge? The happy answer is YES. Jesus is including the welfare of the person who might have to judge by saying you can opt out on the grounds you would then be less prone to being judged. Just as you can opt out of shedding blood by fighting on the grounds you would be less prone to dying by the sword. He is providing for 'conscientious objection' This is grace triumphing where Law did not take those under it. Grace provides for the need of the one subject to it. Jesus became like us to give grace according to our need. Our need is to not have to bear the pressure of being subject to harsh judgment because of having been a judge of others. Harsher judgment comes on those who have been harsh in judgment. What is more: This is Jesus giving instructions to builders of the new temple of the body of Christ to keep us all, like Him, free from having bloodied hands that have shed blood. King David was not permitted to build a temple because as a powerful judge for God he had blood on his hands. The promise was given of a descendant of David who would build as one having less bloodied hands holier for the work. Solomon was the immediate answer but the promise was stronger than Solomon alone would fulfill and looked ahead to Jesus the Christ and from Him to those who build with Him who cannot have hands full of blood. Praise God. This is the Kingdom of God with its King on David's throne for ever, Jesus and His disciples who overcome and do His will to the end.
When God Himself judges the judgment acts of God can be so harsh as to make the harshest of other judges shudder and complain. And God sometimes uses human instruments for judgment and sometimes angelic instruments in such service. So to be able to avoid being the instrument of judgment is a gracious dispensation from God through Christ to those who take on themselves Christ's yoke and hope to participate in building up the House of God while keeping clean hands free of bloodshed.