Good Morning Mark – I am not sure if this helps, but it did for me. I heard Lance Lambert say in a message the other day, that when the Lord went up on the piece of wood, on that Tree of Death, we either went up with Him, or we chose to stay on the ground thanking and praising Him, trying to explain it all, to appropriate it all (essentially what most of what modern Christian faith represents), but never really committing to hang there ourselves. Yet Paul said he had been crucified there with Christ. Have we? All things in the New Creation rise up out of the rotting ground and decay of the old – it is newness of life, as life out of death, much like a forest bed and all of the abundant, verdant, ever-increasing life there because if it.

It is not so much about the world’s things, but about whether they have been “made safe” or not. Paul teaches us that in one sense things don’t matter (don’t touch this or don’t touch that), but what matters is whether we have died to those things, to all the world’s things, even good and normal things, and that they have died to us. It may be easy relatively to “give up” things that hurt us, but what about things that in themselves are good or very normal, but in an uncrucified believer are dangerous? This is different for each of us, depending on how much the cross has taken from the old man in us. I like the translation Sparks uses – “my interest in this world has been crucified”. In one sense, it is all under water, part of the old creation, all that which is being replaced.

The Lord himself could travel everywhere in this world, and touch many things (He came eating and drinking; even called by some a winebibber), because it had not no spiritual power over Him. He could touch money, any amount of it, or power or pleasure, because He was totally abandoned to the Father’s will and plans. He knew what it represented, the powers in the air behind it all, and that it was all going to be replaced. He was free! And the cross had done that!

As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. (Galatians 6:14 NLT)

A truly crucified people are never in danger of the world. It is only when the Cross has not done its work that the world has a place. The world has no place with a crucified man or woman, or a crucified company of believers. The Cross is a great defensive against the world. If you want to keep the world out, put the Cross in its place. If the Cross is truly in its place in fullness, then everything else will come into order. The Cross is the great defensive against the world. The Cross is the great defensive against evil powers. The Cross makes everything safe; it makes everything safe for the Lord.

You see, the Lord wants to commit Himself. He wants to trust Himself to His people, but if the Cross is not there at work, the Lord cannot trust Himself to them. The Lord says, “It is not safe for Me to give Myself there, or I should be involved in their un-crucified condition.” The Cross makes everything safe for the Lord, and the Cross makes everything safe for the Church. If the Cross is really at work in all of us, we can trust one another. It is quite safe to trust yourself to a crucified man or woman.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Altar (The Cross) Governs Everything

My response:

All of this describes, in so many ways, why I feel so isolated on this planet, and I would venture a guess that this is true with all of you also. Sparks says put the cross in front of the world, but, in my experience, it was the Lord, once I had initially delivered myself to Him as much as I could, Who placed the cross in front of me. It was the Lord Who ruined me for this country and world. He didn’t ruin the world, since it was already ruined, He ruined me to the world. It seems to me we need to ask the Lord, as with everything else, “Please, Father, put the cross in front of the world for me, for I have no [earthly] power to open my eyes to Your truth about this world.”

I find it very hard to exist in this world, since, evidently, the blinders I once had on have been permanently removed by my Lord and Savior. And now I begin to see as He sees, to sense as He senses, to hear, smell, feel and taste as He does; and these new-to-me heavenly-senses are not always easy to process, to deal with! I am always amazed, and confounded, when I hear the Christian religionist, pagan, or atheist, profess a belief that “THINGS ARE ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER,” when all I can see around me is destruction and death coming.

Yes, “my interest in this world has been crucified,” my interest in this world is broken and dead, or being broken and dying, since this is a life-long process. And yet I know I have pockets of resistance in me. I don’t know what most of them are, but I know they are there, because I am still struggling, Spiritually, still being broken and slain by the will and purpose of my Lord and Father, as will be the case, I believe, until the last day I suck wind;-) on this planet!

Could it be, then, that if we sense we’re failing in all Spiritual things, we sense no purpose or good, in ourselves, for our Lord and others, and we’re even flat (we seem to be unconcerned about our state) that this is exactly where the Lord wants us? Maybe He wants us so broken, so malleable, that we can’t even sense any eternal worth in ourselves? Are we, like Christ, to be poured out as a drink offering on that cross, so that we have no control, no immense awareness of the Lord in us, the hope of glory, the Lord in us the Father sees when He looks at us? Could it be that what we’re struggling with, now, is the residue of man’s religious traditions (that make void the word of God), which we were indoctrinated in and which told us we must do this and/or that, that we must be this and/or that, or we’re nothing to the Lord? Paul said, not looking back, I press on…, could it be that not looking back means not even looking back (or even forward, Spiritually, as it applies to our perception of our Spiritual growth) a second ago?

As with all of you, I have given myself as fully as I can to the Lord, and now He is going to have to take me the rest of the way! I can’t get there! I can’t even get through an hour without feeling ungodly! So, Mark, maybe your flatness or unconcern is not flatness or unconcern at all, but the contentment Paul spoke of, a contentment that I find hard to get to also? Could it be that if the Lord now lives in us that we can trust Him, no matter how much we see the fallen nature that remains in our flesh, to take us the rest of the way?

Mark, you quoted Philippians 1: 6 yesterday: For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. So, according to Paul, it is the Lord Who will perfect the good work in us, not ourselves! So, if I’m sensing this scripture rightly, then it is the Lord’s responsibility to complete me (us), and not mine (ours)!

Help us, Father (help me) Father, to come to a place of rest in wherever and whatever state, Spiritually, physically, mentally or emotionally, or financially, you have us in, knowing that we belong to You and that we cannot thwart Your will and Purpose for our lives, the very Will and Purpose we desire more than life itself! Amen!

Let us pray for each other, because we all know things are not going to get better or easier!

I shared this for one reason, and one reason only, so that those of you out there, like us, might know that you are not alone on this planet, and that your isolation and pain is for a purpose, an eternal one! We all struggle, at points, with the Life the Lord has given us: a part-temporal and part-eternal life, depending on where are walk is in Him, that is nothing in comparison to the full and perfected Life we will have when this temporary arrangement is over! Let us all hold to this hope, this truth!

****************************************************************************************

Originally posted on May 28, 2010.

I have written on this particular subject several times, but some new information has come to my attention that will even further serve to show the U.S. of A. was not founded on Christian principles and belief. As I’ve stated before, many or most of the “founding fathers” didn’t believe the bible to be anything other than a poorly-written man-made text; and, thus, they didn’t believe in a God who would be personal and loving enough to send His only begotten Son to die for them or anyone else.

Here, as examples of what I’m referring to, are just a few quotes from clergymen who knew George Washington, personally:

“When Congress sat in Philadelphia, President Washington attended the Episcopal Church. The rector, Dr. Abercrombie, told me that on the days when the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was to be administered, Washington’s custom was to arise just before the ceremony commenced, and walk out of the church. This became a subject of remark in the congregation, as setting a bad example. At length the Doctor undertook to speak of it, with a direct allusion to the President. Washington was heard afterwards to remark that this was the first time a clergyman had thus preached to him, and he should henceforth neither trouble the Doctor or his congregation on such occasions, and ever after that, upon communion days, ‘he absented himself altogether from church.’” [emphasis added]

(– The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, biographer of Bishop White, in his sermon on the “Religion of the Presidents,” published in the Albany Daily Advertiser, in 1831, quoted from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, pp. 26)

“I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges, himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more.” [emphasis added]

(– The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, in an interview with Mr. Robert Dale Owen written on November 13, 1831, which was publlshed in New York two weeks later, quoted from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, pp. 27)

Washington: "A Deist and Nothing More!"

Deism:

Deists typically reject most supernatural events (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God (or “The Supreme Architect”) has a plan for the universe that is not altered either by God intervening in the affairs of human life or by suspending the natural laws of the universe. What organized religions see as divine revelation and holy books, most deists see as interpretations made by other humans, rather than as authoritative sources.

Deism became prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment, especially in what is now the United Kingdom, France, United States and Ireland, mostly among those raised as Christians who found they could not believe in either a triune God, the divinity of Jesus, miracles, or the inerrancy of scriptures, but who did believe in one god. Initially it did not form any congregations, but in time deism strongly influenced other religious groups, such as Unitarianism and Universalism, which developed from it. It continues to this day in the forms of classical deism and modern deism. [emphasis added]

via Deism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Note the use of the words “enlightened” and “liberal” in Washington’s following statement:

Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society. [emphasis added]

(– George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom, also James A Haught, 2000 Years of Disbelief)

“Enlightened and liberal” This doesn’t sound much like a conservative American Christian speaking here, does it? That’s because it wasn’t a conservative Christian speaking. George Washington was an “enlightened” and “liberal-leaning” Deist. A Deist (agnostic), in my estimation, is nothing more than a hypocritical and cowardly atheist seeking to cover his temporal/eternal gluteus-maximus. Deism (agnosticism) is a “JUST IN CASE” religion/philosophy: “JUST IN CASE my atheism turns out to be false, in the end, I’ll claim, right now, to believe in a god of the universe: ‘The Great Architect’. In this way, then, I can do as I please, here and now, and not suffer any wrath and judgment in the next life; that is, if there truly is a next life and a god to judge me!” Atheists, unlike Deists, are at least honest about their hatred of all things pertaining to creation and their Creator.

Here is more proof of Washington’s, and the other “founding father’s”, almost anti-Christian stance?

Wilson: Early Presidents Not Religious

“The founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels, and that of the presidents who had thus far been elected [Washington; Adams; Jefferson; Madison; Monroe; Adams; Jackson] not a one had professed a belief in Christianity….

“Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism.” [emphasis added]

(– The Reverend Doctor Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, in a sermon preached in October, 1831, first sentence quoted in John E Remsberg, Six Historic Americans, second sentence quoted in Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion, pp. 14-15)

Thomas Jefferson

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshiped by many who think themselves Christians.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789 (Richard Price had written to TJ on Oct. 26. about the harm done by religion and wrote “Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?”)

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer [Jesus] of human errors.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814 [emphasis added]

So, was Jefferson a believer in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of all mankind?

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god… if there be one…”

“Such an addiction [faith in Christ] is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.”

“And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter.”

I see nothing in Jefferson’s proclamations, here, to back up any other conclusion than this: Jefferson denied the deity of Jesus the Christ, and, therefore, he could not have been a Christian. The whole basis for Christian belief is Jesus (the Son of God) and His death on the cross and resurrection. Just believing in Jesus as an historical figure is not enough:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19For it is written,
“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23but WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1)

Jefferson’s most revealing statement, on the subject at hand, was this,

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”

English common law was the basis for the American constitution!

Jefferson was not, in any way, shape or form, a Christian. Jefferson, like Washington, Paine and most of the other “founding fathers”, was merely an atheist masquerading as a “man of God” (a deist): his god was “reason” and “freedom”; Jesus was nothing more to Jefferson than a first century Gandhi! Jefferson was just like many of the other “founding fathers” in that he claimed belief in a supernatural being, but the supernatural being would turn out to be the false god of this age (2 Corinthians 4: 4). He was a man who spoke of the need for “enlightened reasoning” and yet could not discern anything beyond that which can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, felt or tripped over. Jefferson, like almost all of the other “enlightened and reasoning founding fathers”, was a spiritually deluded individual, an atheistic narcissist who, in reality, hated all things pertaining to a sovereign, loving, personal, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God.

These so-called “founding fathers” hadn’t, like our tainted history books claimed, left England to escape “religious persecution”, they had left England to escape the rule of an earthly monarch and their heavenly Father. They had left England to pursue their “enlightened” and atheistic/agnostic goals in life: “free moral agency”, which amounts to this, “If it feels good, do it!” Deism was merely the “founding father’s” cover, or disguise, which had helped to hide their atheist/agnostic beliefs and tendencies. Since many of the “New World” folks were devout Christians (Puritans etc), the “founding fathers” had to walk a narrow line between their atheistic and “enlightened” ways of doing business and the ways of the believers and followers of Christ they were about to rule over. The “founding fathers” didn’t want to be ruled by anyone, but they didn’t seem to have any problems with ruling others.

I share some of Washington’s and Jefferson’s dislike for organized Christianity, especially when it comes to Catholicism, but my dislike for organized Christianity, and religion in general, will never keep me from loving and seeking my Lord, Creator and Savior.

The point of this post, and all others I’ve written on this subject, is to exhort my brothers and sisters in Christ to stop mixing their belief and faith in the Lord with “The American Dream:” “love of country”, or patriotism, is idolatry! We cannot serve two masters:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. [Matthew 6: 24]

America is not one nation under God nor has it ever been: the following motto should read, “In God we DO NOT trust!” The U.S. of A., when it comes to the Lord, is no different than any other nation on earth: it’s a Godless political/economic system whose constituents, for the most part, are in desperate need of the Lord’s Truth, Salvation, Peace and Life!

P.S.

Here is just one more example of this government’s constitution-driven and politically-correct disdain for anything pertaining to the Lord, and this is a recent news item:

May 27, 2010

House rejects amendment on chaplains’ prayers

by Ankita Rao
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) The House on Thursday (May 27) rejected a proposed amendment that would have allowed military chaplains to close public events with faith-specific prayers.

The amendment, offered by Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., to the Military Construction Authorization Act, was deemed not relevant to the bill, Bachmann’s office said.

The amendment would have specified that “a chaplain shall have the prerogative to close the prayer according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience.”

Bachmann’s proposed amendment comes after church-state separationists have tussled with military chaplains over the appropriateness of praying “in Jesus’ name.” Secularists say it’s insulting to nonbelievers; Christian clergy say they know no other way to pray. (emphasis added)

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Elohim the Creator

{As with everything else I write on Spiritual matters, the following post is what I sense the Spirit revealing to me now. I am not going to pompously claim, as the clergy, that the Lord has given me all the answers, so I can then give them to you. I am a sojourner, an alien on this planet, seeking the Lord’s Way, Truth, and Life, for me, just like any other child of God. I share what is on my heart, and I know I get carried away sometimes, so I hope all who read these posts will be patient with me!}

ELOHIM: God the Creator of all things.

JEHOVAH: The God of the covenant, the Savior, the Lord.

I’m always cautious of believers, in particular, so-called men-of-God, who speak in terms of God this and God that. I never hear these folks speak “the name that is above every name,” or even suggest that we should be “led by the Spirit of God.” It always makes me wonder if these folks know who the Christ truly is:

10let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of JESUS CHRIST the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. 11“He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. 12“And there is salvation in NO ONE ELSE; for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (JEHOVAH: GOD OF THE COVENANT) (Acts 4)

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, IF indeed WE SUFFER with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (JEHOVAH: GOD OF THE COVENANT) (Romans 8: 14-17)

Jesus the Christ is both Elohim and Jehovah, since everything that exists was, by the will of His (our) Father, created by Him, but He is also the Savior Who has always sought a personal relationship with His children He died to save. The Lord Jehovah is the (Son of) God of the covenant, a personal, relational Son of God, but He is also Elohim, the task oriented Creator of everything that exists; just as the Father, Son and Spirit are Three and One:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (ELOHIM: CREATOR) (John 1)

16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (JEHOVAH: COVENANT) (John 3)

19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (THREE AND ONE)

According to the Word of God, we are called into relationship with Jehovah, He, then, is the basis for our life, since “by no other name can anyone be saved.” If we approach Christ as Elohim, and ONLY speak in terms of “God’s wrath…,” and “God hates…,” etc, etc, then we, according to my Spiritual sense of things, are not in proper relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jehovah, and, therefore, we are also not in proper relationship with His (our) Father, God the Father.

This, in my estimation, is the reason why the political wrangling, between American “evangelists” and Darwinian/feminist/sodomite/atheists (postmodern, constitution-thumping God-haters), over issues such as the Ten Commandments being hung on the walls of government buildings, and government-endorsed phrases like, “One nation under God” and “In God we trust,” mean less than nothing, Spiritually. Our God, according to God the Father, is our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ (Jehovah). Thus, “In God we trust” and “One nation under God” could be referring to Buddha, Mohamed, or any other pagan/human entity. If this country truly knew Elohim/Jehovah, then these phrases would read, “In our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, we trust,” and “One nation under our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ:”

1The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

2The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

3Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power;
In holy array, from the womb of the dawn,
Your youth are to You as the dew.

4The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110)

King David states here, “THE LORD SAYS TO MY LORD…” Who is David’s Lord? Jehovah. Who is Jehovah’s and Elohim’s Lord? God the Father. Who do we pray to? God the Father. And in Whose name do we pray to the Father? Jehovah: the name that is above every name, Jesus the Christ.

23“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. (John 16)

5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2)

And the Ten Commandments were fulfilled by our Lord, so why, then, would we need to hang them anywhere? We would only need to hang the two laws that fulfill all the rest, according to the Christ:

34But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38“This is the great and foremost commandment. 39“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22)

Who is the author and perfecter of our faith, the propitiation for our sins?

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12)

14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. 17Therefore, 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. 18For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2)

We were created by the will of God the Father through the work of our Lord (Elohim), Who then became man so He could die for our sins (Jehovah); thus fulfilling the righteous requirements of God the Father for salvation and eternal life. Therefore, it is now Jehovah, the God of the covenant, Whom we should worship and seek with all of our heart and mind.

When all has been prophetically accomplished through Christ (the reconciliation of all things), according to the will of God the Father, then Christ will return all of creation back to the Father:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5)

All of this may sound rather petty to some, but, to me, it is anything but petty. The real question should be, Do we love our Lord and Savior enough to consider every aspect of our relationship with Him, or are we content just being religious: not cussing, going to “church,” tithing, etc? On this subject, please consider the following short-article’s message:

The Question That Changed My Life, by David Ryser

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; IT CAME TO AMERICA AND BECAME AN ENTERPRISE.

Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old–barely out of diapers–and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

… I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God–much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don’t care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ–that’s pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don’t even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes? (emphasis added)

“Christianity started in Palestine as a FELLOWSHIP; it moved to Greece and became a PHILOSOPHY; it moved to Italy and became an INSTITUTION; it moved to Europe and became a CULTURE; IT CAME TO AMERICA AND BECAME AN ENTERPRISE.”

This really spells out the downward spiral of the true Church and Body of Jesus the Christ, over the last two-thousand years:

The Church, which the gates of hades could not withstand, began as a

FELLOWSHIP (ecclesia: a gathering).

And then the teachings and doctrines shared in the fellowship became a

PHILOSOPHY, as opposed to the Way, Truth and Life of our Lord (“sound doctrine”).

And then the philosophy became an excuse for an

INSTITUTION, which Constantine began at Rome (a politically-expedient institution, which has everything to do with paganism and nothing to do with Christ).

This institution, then, became what we see dispersed throughout Europe and the rest of the world today,

the CULTURAL, religious entities, Catholicism & Protestantism, which have done more to serve their own worldly agendas than they ever did to serve the Christ and His true Church and Body!

But, lastly, it is this worshiping-at-the-alter-of-capitalism country (America) that has managed to turn the Church and Body of Christ into nothing more than an apostate-lover-of-the-world corporate-venture: an American ENTERPRISE!

Going to “church” on Sunday and acting pious is not an example of the FELLOWSHIP, the ecclesia, that began at Jerusalem two-thousand years ago. That gathering was made up of people who loved the Lord (Jehovah) and devoted themselves to Him and each other. This gathering wasn’t about tithing, a “church” board, the eradication of sin, and being a pious, upstanding member of the business community. No, these folks, two-thousand years ago, were living the Way, Truth and Abundant Life the Lord had come to give everyone of His called-out and chosen ones. These folks didn’t have to be reminded of Who they should have their eyes, minds and hearts set on, they knew, without question, their Lord was Jehovah, and He was the ALL in ALL they needed.

I believe it is important for all of us to comprehend the importance of this Spiritual issue, since none of us, I believe, would want to hear our Lord and Savior, on that day in the near future, say to us what he says in the following scripture:

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.” (Matthew 7)

Have any of us, while reading the first three chapters of The Book of Acts (if we have ever bothered to read the Word for ourselves), considered why the Lord had allowed His initial true Church, His Body, to be persecuted by the heathens, to be broken up and scattered throughout the known world at that time? And going even further, have any of us considered why the major city churches mentioned throughout the new testament (Antioch, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Smurna, etc) had all disintegrated by the end of the 1st century? If the Lord had wanted His Church, His Body, to remain as large city churches, then why did he allow them to be broken up and scattered? Is our Lord weaker than his enemy, Satan? Of course not! The Lord allowed His Church, His Body, to be scattered throughout the known world so the Gospel might be spread to all nations of the world.

But I also believe that the true Church, the true Body of Christ, was never intended to become a worldly organization that resembles fallen man’s corrupt way of doing business! The “church,” today, amounts to nothing more than 3000 + small businesses and corporations that don’t pay taxes (come to think of it, the “church” is truly like American corporations, since American corporations pay no taxes also!) The false “church” the world knows today began almost two-hundred years after the true Church of Christ (the ecclesias: the gatherings), which Paul had established, deserted the Lord, and Paul, and fell apart:

15You are aware of the fact that ALL WHO ARE IN ASIA turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. (2 Timothy 1)

Note that many of the city churches, beyond the Greek, were in Asia!

The “church” the world knows today began in Rome and was founded by a pagan, Roman emperor, Constantine. This “church” was the work of Satan, and it was accomplished through the fallen nature of man, which drives his need for political/social control and power. This “church” had and still has nothing whatsoever to do with the first-century ecclesias the Lord had established through the Apostle Paul. Read the first three chapters of The Book of Acts, and see how the true Church, the true Body of Christ, is described, and then tell me I’m wrong:

42They were (believers) continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

44And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;

45and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

46Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2)

How often do you, or anyone else in your “church,” devote yourself to the Word of God, fellowship, in its true sense, and prayer, not just for you and family but for others also? Do you even know the person sitting next to you in that pagan pew? Would you sell all you own so that none of the people in your “church” would be homeless, without food and clothing, or without proper medical care? You know the answer! The combined wealth of this dead religion you call “Christianity,” and its ungodly denominations and non-denominations (FACTIONS), the things you refer to as “church,” could, but never will, make sure that no person in this country, and probably the entire world, would ever be homeless, without food and clothing, or without proper health care again. But, instead of this happening, most of you are “far-right-conservatives” who cry out, when confronted with the financial crisis the peoples of this world are experiencing, “Let them die!” or “Get a job, ya lazy bum!”

Woe to you, HYPOCRITES, liars and frauds! Woe to you who seek after man’s religion about God on Sunday morning, for 45 minutes, and walk around the rest of the week as though you are pious and righteous men and women. Hypocrites! Fools!

If this offends you, then I am beside myself with joy! You need to be offended, and you need to repent, to turn away, from your religious/political stupor and seek the forgiveness and counsel of the Lord and His Spirit! Come out of the deadness of this false religion about God and begin to live His Way, His Truth, His Life! But I digress.

Satan counterfeits everything the Lord brings into existence. But Satan’s greatest counterfeit of all is the religion referred to as Christianity, the religion born out of Roman paganism. A religion that is now divided into 3000 + denominations and non-denominations throughout the world, none of which truly represent the Father and His Christ!

So, if you go to a building on Sunday mornings where there is a steeple, an alter, an American flag (idolatry), candles and candle sticks (idolatry), a crucifix (more idolatry), and a man or woman wearing robes and “teaching and/or preaching the word of God,” then you are taking part in nothing more than pagan ritualism and idolatry, the pagan traditions of Christianity that make void the Word of God. What you are taking part in is anything but the Way, Truth and Life of our Lord. As was the case with the temple in Jerusalem, after the Hebrew leaders had blasphemed the Spirit of God, the Lord nor His Spirit is in this pagan, ritualistic building (“church”) you have been indoctrinated into believing is the true Church, the true Body of Christ!

Here's the real fruit of the Christian Religion!

1Then God spoke all these words, saying,

2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3“YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

4“You shall not make for yourself AN IDOL, or ANY LIKENESS (crucifixes, crosses, statues of “saints” = idolatry) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth (flags, patriotic oaths, etc). 5“YOU SHALL NOT WORSHIP THEM OR SERVE THEM; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20)

22Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

25And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26“If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27“If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin

30“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

31“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12)

1Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4“For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ 5“But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 6he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ AND BY THIS INVALIDATED THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR TRADITION. 7“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

8‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

9‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’” (Matthew 15)

For the sake of your denominational or non-denominational TRADITIONS, you have invalidated the Word of God. In vain, you worship God, since you teach and preach the precepts (the doctrines, theology and dogma) of your particular brand of the Christian religion: your “church,” your denomination or non-denomination, your social and business club!

Wake up, sleeper! Come out of this religious deadness and into the Life the Lord has prepared for you! Don’t be like the Hebrews of Jesus’ day, who stood by while listening to their apostate, evil religious leaders, and not be ready for the second return of Christ in great power and glory. This time, neither man’s religion nor government will overcome the judgment and wrath that this evil world rightly has coming to it! This is still the age of grace, the age of God’s favor, but I believe His patience is wearing thin, and this will be the last time that His wrath will be poured out. If you doubt this, then look around you and consider the natural disasters that have plagued humanity for the last 5 or 6 years: the tsunami in Asia (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the tsunami in Japan and the earthquakes, floods, and fires that have ravaged the US of A this year.

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1)

14“Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. (Deuteronomy 10)

Wake up out of your democratic-capitalist/religious and idolatrous stupor and recognize that the Lord is warning us of impending disaster. Wake up or be unprepared for what is coming!

Is this Guy the Spirit of God? Then why be led by him?

7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT ABUNDANTLY. (John 10)

These chosen-out-of-the-many people evidently have not, as of yet, experienced the Spirit saying to them, “Come out from among them. Come out from the deadness of religion and into the life and purpose you have been called to. There is no need, nor has there been, for almost two-thousand years now, for a mere man or woman to teach any other mere man or woman about the Father, Son and Me:”

“As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

It is the Spirit that will lead us, not a mere man or woman with a degree in knowing about God (theology) or “religious studies”!

But if these folks are the chosen, then they will, sooner or later, follow the leading of the Spirit in them and come out from the deadness of the religion referred to as Christianity. They will come out and be led and taught by the Spirit, since, as Jeremiah and 1 John point out, there is no need for true seekers (the chosen) of the Lord and His life to be led and taught by a mere man or woman:

31“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34“They will NOT TEACH AGAIN, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ FOR THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” DECLARES THE LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31)

This is an old testament prophecy. The following is from the Apostle John in the new testament:

15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

25This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

26These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, AND YOU HAVE NO NEED FOR ANYONE TO TEACH YOU; but as HIS ANOINTING TEACHES YOU ABOUT ALL THINGS, and is true and is not a lie, AND JUST AS IT HAS TAUGHT YOU, you abide in Him.

28Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2)

Jesus Himself foretold of this truth:

25“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26“But the Helper, THE HOLY SPIRIT, whom the Father will send in My name, HE WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (John 14)

So why do we, if we believe the scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, go to “church” every Sunday morning and listen to the priests, popes, ministers, pastors, reverends, etc? And, based on the Word of God, why would we even take part in these denominations and non-denominations that spawn these contrary-to-the-Word-of-God religious careers? If we thump the bible, then why can’t we read it, believe it, and then act on what it is telling us to do, through the Spirit that indwells us; that is, if we have the Spirit of our Lord?

Christianity is a religion that is divided into over 3000 FACTIONS, which are all at odds with each other. How does this divided religion of man resemble in any way the Body, the Church, the Bride, of Christ described in scripture?

16But I say, walk [BE LED] by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, FACTIONS, 21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5)

Factions: 1) A group of persons forming a cohesive, usually contentious minority within a larger group

Does this definition of factions, in any way, shape or form, portray the unity of the Spirit spoken of in other scriptures?

1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3BEING DILIGENT TO PRESERVE THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE. 4There is ONE BODY and ONE SPIRIT, just as also you were called in ONE HOPE of your calling; 5ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, 6ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4)

The Word of God states there is ONE SPIRIT, ONE LORD, ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, not 3000 + factions that, over the past 6 or 700 years, have been at odds with each other over man-made and manipulated theology and doctrines. Christianity is a man-made, inspired and manipulated religious farce that smacks our Lord and Savior in the face every day of the week! Where is the unity of the Spirit, the ONENESS IN CHRIST, in the 3000 + denominations and non-denominations that make up the Christian religion. The Christian religion is just like every other religion invented by man: it is for man and his desires, his need for control and power and nothing more.

So why be led by any human being who serves this Godless, dead religious system? When the Word of God tells us there is no longer any need for a man to teach another man about the Lord, why do most of us still refuse to listen and thus continue to be misled Spiritually every Sunday morning and the rest of the week?

10Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be NO DIVISIONS AMONG YOU (FACTIONS), but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 13HAS CHRIST BEEN DIVIDED? (1 Corinthians)

The practice of religion is not a Spirit led life in Christ! We must make the decision on whom we will listen to, follow and serve, either man or the Lord. It is our responsibility!

P.S.

Satan will use scripture in order to confuse the chosen, just like he attempted to do with Jesus in the desert. “Do not forsake the gathering together” has nothing at all to do with what most of you call “church.” The gathering, the ecclesia, can be two or more coming together to live the life the Lord came and died to give them. The gathering has nothing at all to do with religion, it has to do with the abundant life that we have been offered, here and now!

19“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18: 19-20)

Paul exhorts the Ephesians (and us) to,

…walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4)

Where in this scripture can we find validity for the divided and corrupted version of Christianity which exists today? What is put forth as “church”, today, has nothing to do with the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that Paul speaks of, but is merely a mixture of Gnostic and ancient pagan ritualism and worship.

I believe Paul’s message of UNITY, of ONENESS in Christ, here, goes far beyond the “not forsaking the gathering together” sermons of the nominal “church”. I believe Paul is speaking of a unity that, perhaps, most of us have never experienced in the tradition-of-man laden religiosity that surrounds us: “Christian fellowship”, “church services”, “conferences”, “revivals”, and “bible studies”. I believe firmly that Paul is exhorting us, here, to a unity which will only occur when every individual in the lord’s gathering (ecclesia), every member of the Body, comes to know, experience and rest personally in the presence of the indwelling Christ and Spirit: a unity which has solely to do with a Spiritual and heavenly vision, a True knowledge of the Lord Who abides in all of us who belong to Him:

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in ONE BODY and ALL the MEMBERS do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are ONE BODY IN CHRIST, and INDIVIDUALLY MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 BE DEVOTED TO ONE ANOTHER IN BROTHERLY LOVE; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. (Romans 12)

T. Austin Sparks says of Ephesians 4,

Now Ephesians four is the great New Testament exposition of Psalm one hundred and thirty-three: “There is one body….” Read the passage without the italicized words: “…Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace… one body, and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all” (verses 3-6). Oneness in Christ as a body fitly framed together is what is portrayed. How is this perfect unity reached? By all that is individual and personal being left, by the Lord being the focal centre, and by our giving diligence to maintain the unity in that way; keeping all personal things out, and keeping Christ and His interests always in view: “…till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man….” (verse 13). Dwelling together in unity in that way, is the result of His being the sole and central object of all our concerns. (emphasis mine)

(The Stewardship of the Mystery – Volume 1: Chapter 8)

The Lord’s true Church will never be found in an elaborate building with a steeple, nor will it be found in a pagan city in Southern Italy. The Lord’s true Church consists of individual men and women who have given up all they have in this temporal life to gain the Lord Himself: “By all that is individual and personal being left, by the Lord being the focal centre, and by our giving diligence to maintain the unity in that way; keeping all personal things out, and keeping Christ and His interests always in view: ‘…till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man….’”

For almost eighteen hundred years, believers and seekers of our Lord’s Way, Truth, and Life in abundance, have allowed themselves to be divided and cheated out of their Spiritual inheritance, as Christ’s brethren and heirs, by the manipulations of a pagan-oriented “religious” system: Christendom.

Can any of us who know, love, and seek, the Lord truly believe that the Christ divides Himself up and blesses each of hundreds of denominational and non-denominational doctrines, which all contradict, or even deny, each other? Can we truly believe, and continue to take part in, a “religious” system which makes a mockery of Paul’s statement that there is One God, One Christ, One Body, One Church, One Baptism, One Life in Christ? How can we take part in a “religious” system which stands in stark contrast to the very book (the Word of God) it claims to uphold as absolute truth?

How long will those of us, who sense the error and deadness in our denominations and non-denominations (mere religiosity), continue to take part in something the Lord withdrew from almost eighteen hundred years ago? For those of us who long to sense the power and presence of the Lord’s life in us, as well as others around us, how long are we going to remain in what we know is nothing more than apostate Spiritual deadness, scriptural ignorance, and pagan idolatry? How much longer are we going to abide with the “religious”/political entity (with a steeple), which has nothing whatsoever in common with the One Who purchased His true Church on the cross? How much longer will it be before we finally walk away from the worldly loving clergy and willing laity who hypocritically “praise God” every Sunday morning and then go about living their worldly (carnal) lives the rest of the week? How long will it take before we finally come to listen to and obey the leading of the Spirit, which is exhorting and commanding us to, “Come out from among them!”

Lastly, we should look around us at the state of this decaying and dying world system of Satan, and then consider how much longer it will be before the Lord returns and finds us asleep in our pews:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25)

{11/29/11

I wrote this post almost two years ago, and I notice people have been reading it again. So I thought I would post it anew. The other reason for posting it again is that I am horribly convicted by what I wrote in faith then. I must admit that, at the moment, I have fallen horribly short of this truth from the Lord! Father, help me to turn and see your Truth here, in all of its fullness, once again. Amen.}

This is the follow-up post to Suffering, Enduring & Overcoming: “…Some Strange Thing Happening…”. So you might want to read that post first, if you so choose.

The Apostle Paul speaks of his life-altering revelations from the Lord: the first of which was on the road to Damascus (Acts 22: 1-21), and the second when Paul was caught up to the third heaven.

Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ (Paul himself) who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. 5 On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to MY WEAKNESSES. 6 For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, A MESSENGER (angel) OF SATAN to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord THREE TIMES that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for POWER IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12)

Most theologians, and “churches”, teach that the “thorn in the flesh” was some form of illness which effected either Paul’s eyesight, or caused him to have seizures (epilepsy). But in reading a book by G.H. Pember, I have come to believe that most theologians, and “churches”, are mistaken, since they seem to ignore the last part of this verse: …a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exulting myself. Here is what Pember has to say about Paul’s thorn in the flesh:

…We shall then see that the thorn in the flesh was no mere disease or infirmity, but precisely what it is said to have been, that is, an angel of Satan sent to buffet the Apostle. This ever active foe would be perpetually assailing him with the many hindrances and annoyances, which are so well known to the true servant of Christ; would often be whispering in his ear incongruent, evil, and even foul thoughts, certain, should he fail to cast them off before they became his own, to check the inflow of spiritual power from the Holy Ghost; would sometimes draw over him a feeling of nervous lassitude, a weakness and feebleness of body and mind, just at the critical moment when it was necessary that he should be strong; would bring about disconcerting incidents, craftily devised to shake his faith, or to irritate his temper; and, in short, would baffle and thwart him at every turn, taking the fullest advantage of any circumstance that could be used for his discomfort and discouragement. Henceforth, then, this dread spirit would be ever hovering near the Apostle, who would be able to do the work for which he had been sent forth, only by dint of ceaseless prayer and a humble walk before his God–a life of peril and danger, of creeping ever, as it were, along the brink of a precipice, which must have powerfully counteracted any tendency to undue elation.

Thus a comprehension of this instructive incident throws much light upon the hindering and damaging influence which Satan is able to exercise against true believers…

(The Great Prophecies of the Centuries Concerning the Church: pages 175-76)

Lucifer: The Fallen "Morning Star" (Isaiah 14: 12)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle IS NOT against flesh and blood, BUT AGAINST the RULERS, against the POWERS, against the WORLD FORCES OF THIS DARKNESS, against THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF WICKEDNESS IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES. (Ephesians 6)

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5)

So it isn’t surprising that the clergy would ignore, or stay away from, the “messenger of Satan” portion of this scripture: after all, the “church” can’t afford to alienate the apostate “Christian” who supports her.

I believe that Pember’s description of Paul’s thorn, the messenger, is probably much closer to the truth than these other, more accepted, theological explanations. Whatever this thorn was, it had to be beyond the normal suffering that comes from some form of illness; since Paul suffered many things that most human beings will never experience:

But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? (2 Corinthians 11)

It seems to me, with all of this constant turmoil, danger, and pain, in the Apostle’s life, that bad eyesight, or even an occasional seizure (as bad as that might have been), would not have been enough to make Paul plead (implore) with the Lord, three times, that IT might leave him.

Paul states,

Concerning this I implored the Lord THREE TIMES that IT (the THORN, the MESSENGER OF SATAN) might leave me…

Why would we assume that Paul has implored the Lord to remove an illness, when no illness is described (poor eyesight and epilepsy are conjecture) or even mentioned? Wouldn’t the Apostle have, in the case of sickness, implored the Lord to HEAL his illness, if “IT” truly was an illness plaguing him, as opposed to requesting “IT” might leave him? In other words, it seems that Paul is referring to an evil entity that is attacking him, an evil entity much like the one Pember describes!

{Yes, I know that because Paul used the term “thorn” to describe this particular misery, that “IT” refers to the “thorn”. But that still doesn’t explain the second part of the verse: “a messenger of Satan”, or “an Angel of Satan”. A messenger, or angel, in the word of God, is always a spiritual entity!}

Also, Paul ends the verse with this statement:

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul says, then, that he is well content with Weaknesses, Insults, Distresses, Persecutions, Difficulties: these afflictions seem to be pointing at more than just suffering from a single form of disease. It seems to me that these afflictions are describing what the THORN, the MESSENGER, was delivering, almost constantly, to the Apostle.

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you..." (John 14: 27)

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16: 33)

“Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him. (Job 13: 15)

So whether we believe Paul’s thorn was an angel of Satan assigned to him or merely a disease, we should, at the least, discern that suffering and enduring will be a portion of our walk with the Lord. Suffering and enduring are an essential portion of our sojourn in this life, because our WEAKNESSES (our brokenness, our contrite heart) can help keep us from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life: an idolatrous love for this world system of Satan, which will ultimately drive the Spirit away from us (grieving the Spirit). In our utter WEAKNESS (dependence on Him), then, the Lord can work His perfect will and purpose in, and through, our lives: His Power is Perfected In Our WEAKNESS, not our fleshly strength!

Yes indeed, “WHAT IF” there is an eternal purpose for our pain and suffering, right here and right now?

Joe Paterno: The latest victim of the Godless and greed-driven media!

{Note: by traditional icons, I mean men and women who have and will stand for the good, those who will stand for something other than their own self interests and gratification. By traditional icons, I mean those who still hold to the notion that the wellbeing of others is more important than their own, whether they be of Christ or not. Sadly, the few people left in the world like this are becoming more and more the targets of the low-life and self-absorbed (“self-actualized”) multitudes who slither about on this earth, and who make life a living hell for everyone but themselves! You know who you are!}

Does anyone out there ever notice how worthless idiots like Lindsay Lohan can break the law time after time and no one in the x and y generations is appalled at all? Lohan even thumbs her nose at the California judges and all she gets for her blatant disregard for “the law” is another legal pat on the wrist, while Hollywood, mindless and moral deviates make apologies for poor little, drunk and stoned Lindsay.

And have you ever noticed how molestation of children by gays is almost totally ignored: The Man-Boy Association, for instance, while heterosexual men, in particular, are tried, found guilty, and executed by the press and public opinion? And all of this travesty of justice happens before the first court date has even been set. Then the judges, who are elected (not appointed, as they should be), and, therefore, must kowtow to the voters like any other politician, are forced to make judgments based on their reelection strategies, as opposed to the evidence, their judgment and true justice!

Yes, sir, just let anyone who doesn’t partake of this Hollywood/Darwinian/atheist/feminist/sodomite culture make a mistake, and the media crap will immediately hit the politically-correct fan. Such is the case with Coach Joe Paterno of Penn State University. Coach Paterno has been teaching and coaching at Penn State since I have been sucking wind, and I am almost 62 years old.

Yesterday, my reason for writing this post became even more evident. Bur first, let me give the background of what is really troubling me. As you’ve probably heard, since it is on every sports and news broadcast, a former coach at Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, has been arrested and charged with sexual assault on a number of young boys. It seems that a graduate assistant even witnessed one of these attacks, some years back (2002, I believe?), and reported it to Coach Paterno the next day. Coach Paterno then turned the matter over to his immediate supervisor, the athletic director, which was Paterno’s only real responsibility in the matter.

I worked in a school system and at a major corporation, and, in both cases, there was a “chain of command,” a “chain of responsibility.” If I witnessed a wrong doing, I was to report it to my superior, and then it was their responsibility to get it to the right people in the chain of command, not mine. And, in particular, I was never to go to anyone else, in particular, the police or any other form of authority. That was the responsibility of those higher up in the chain of command. My only duty was to report what I had seen or heard, if there was any wrongdoing of any kind. This is exactly what Coach Paterno did in this situation! When the graduate assistant reported to him, Coach Paterno reported to his athletic director immediately. It was then the responsibility of the athletic director and those above him to handle the situation, not Coach Paterno. Coach Paterno’s responsibility, after reporting the incident, was to do what he was being paid to do, coach the football team!

This is what administrators are paid for, they are there to handle these kinds of situations. That is why there is a “chain of command” to begin with. But in Penn State’s case, the chain of command failed miserably, and Coach Paterno has taken the fall for Sandusky and the administration at Penn State!

Yesterday, November 9th, 2011, the board of trustees at Penn State University fired Coach Joe Paterno. They openly admitted, during a press conference last night, that they didn’t have all the information on the “sex-abuse scandal.” But their lack of information wasn’t enough to stop them from offering up Coach Paterno as a sacrifice, a scapegoat!

Coach Paterno has dedicated his life to this university, and what did Coach Paterno get for his sixty years of dedicated service to the students of Penn State University? A telephone call telling him he was fired! And the coach had even tendered his resignation. All Coach Paterno wanted was to finish the season (3 games, and post-season), and retire, but that wouldn’t have taken the heat off of the board of directors and administration, who, by the way, are the ones totally accountable for this mess, beyond Jerry Sandusky.

If I hadn’t known what had happened at Penn State over the past thirteen years, I would have believed, from what I heard on the news and sports shows yesterday, that Coach Paterno had been arrested on sexual assault charges. Jerry Sandusky, the ALLEGED (not convicted) perpetrator of these crimes against children, was only mentioned in passing, as was the administration, athletic director and student assistant. It was evident the media machine was out to do away with Coach Paterno, and the media machine, as usual, had its way!

Coach Jim Tressel: One More Scapegoat!

It’s the lowlife scum at ESPN, Fox Sports Ohio (The Dan Patrick Show), and the major cable news-channels, who set out to destroy both of these fine coaches, and they had their way! They knew if they went after Jerry Sandusky that no viewer, after a few days, would pay any attention, since few people even know who Jerry Sandusky is. But Joe Paterno (and Jim Tressel) is a well known name in college sports, so, needless to say, Paterno was their target, even though he was not the perpetrator of the crimes against children, and fulfilled his responsibly by reporting what he had heard to his superior.

These modern-day sportscasters are mindless, thick-necked idiots who would sell their own children for a juicy story that might just bring them some more notoriety and a few more bucks. These men, for the most part, were failures in college and pro sports, so they now take out their warped revenge on those who have been successful, like Coach Paterno and Coach tressel! These sportscasters are the type of “men” (vermin) who now make this sick world go around every day. We can see them in the state, local and federal government, and on Wall Street, and in corporate headquarters, and on the pulpits on Sunday mornings. But, thank the Lord, there will be a day, sometime, when this type of man will be held accountable for his actions! I long for that day!

Whatever happened to loyalty? Where are the true men in this world? If there are any true men of God in this world, then where are they? I watched the Penn State board members last night and I was sickened: a bunch of nerdy, self-actualized, girly-men afraid of bad press. Gutless wonders, every last one!!

What happened to Coach Paterno and Coach Tressel is just a symptom of a much larger disease. And that disease is the Lack of the Lord in this world, which is leading to there being no men of character, integrity and guts to run this country or the world! There ain’t much hope, except in the Lord and the next life!

P.S.

11/12/2011

Finally, after the feeding frenzy of the mass-media, which has been going on now for the last three days, I heard an official from the State of Pennsylvania state what I had stated above.

According to this official, Joe Paterno, by reporting what he had heard to his superior (the athletic director), was not only following the right procedure according to Penn State University, but was also adhering to a Pennsylvania law!

But was there any apology coming from CNN, the channel where I heard this report? Absolutely NONE! Nor will there be! We live in a world where those in the wrong never have to backtrack and apologize for being wrong, especially in the warped world of broadcast and print journalists. Joe Paterno was suppose to grovel, and for no less than doing the right thing and even obeying the law of his state, but “reporters”, sports and news, are evidently above reproach, above an apology and admitting to rushing to judgment?

Does anyone but me, and Franco Harris, a former football player at Penn State (Pittsburgh Steeler), see that the Penn State board of trustees used the press to prosecute, judge, sentence and execute Joe Paterno’s character as a coach, teacher and human being? And many of us, the largest majority, allowed them to do this.

Why are most Americans so anxious to see a person who does good in this evil world brought down? Why has this kind of character assassination become such a perverted form of entertainment in the “good old US of A?

Here is what the Word has to say about man’s (not the Lord’s) judgment on others:

1“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5“YOU HYPOCRITE, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7)

The Truth Hurt?

The Lord said to the self-righteous, and blood guilt ravaged, hypocrites who led Israel,

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES…”

Perhaps the Lord is now saying to Americans, “Woe to you, hypocrites!”
Why would the Lord be saying this to the new chosen people on earth (what a joke)?

Well let’s see, Americans are appalled at anyone having sex with a child, as they should be. And yet, Americans (American women, in particular) not only turn a blind eye to other atrocities American’s commit against children, but they even openly support these atrocities; just like the feminists are doing in the jpeg above.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, BUT ALSO GIVE HEARTY APPROVAL TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM. (Romans 1)

These people speak of the stolen innocence of children who have been molested, and that this loss of innocence will last a lifetime. But at least a molested child has a life to live, even with lost innocence, whereas an aborted baby has neither life nor innocence. Thank the Lord that these murdered-in-their-mother’s-womb babies are with the Lord in heaven. But they were still robbed of this life, and by their own mothers. And life, unless I’m totally confused, is more precious than innocence; which will be lost, over time, by a child living in this world anyway. This hypocritical notion that innocence is more precious than life can be attributed to one thing, and one thing only, evolution/natural-selection, which devalues human life.

Hitler is alive and well! He has returned as the American Feminist Movement!

Do you find this jpeg horrible and nauseating? So do I! You know why it is horrible and nauseating to us? Because these babies (children) were alive and well in their mother’s wombs, until they were brutally murdered! But the constitution and the “law of the land” come before the Law of our Lord and the right to LIFE of an unborn child!!
American men and women have sex like animals, and when the woman gets pregnant (another life in her womb), then, by law, she can commit murder (genocide), and on her own unborn child. I find this to be much more appalling than molestation of a child. In other words, when a woman becomes inconvenienced (because of her, and her partner’s, harlotry), by an “unwanted pregnancy,” then she simply has a “hit” put out on her own child! She, and her partner, if he is even made aware, become murderers in the eyes of our Lord. “Woe to you, Hypocrites!”

A mother murdering her own child is more perverse and demented than any act of sodomy or pedophilia, in my opinion. You talk about “unnatural” and “betrayal”, there is nothing so unnatural as a mother who not only doesn’t protect her child, but murders him or her in her own womb. There is no betrayal a human being can perpetrate on another that is worse than abortion! NONE!!!

Lastly, America is a warring nation. A nation that cares little for the civilian populations it destroys in the name of freedom (democracy), not God! So I guess Americans have no problem with blowing up children, just as long as their genitalia wasn’t touched. “Woe to you, Hypocrites!”

I despise injustice and hypocrisy, and this country is filled with hypocrites, and most Americans wouldn’t know justice if they were smacked in the head with it. And when American feminists go on and on about pedophilia, I literally have daggers in my mind and heart. Most, not all, pedophiles are mentally and emotionally ill. These sick people, men and women, have little control over themselves, they aren’t committing these horrendous acts because it’s their right. They, unlike American feminists, are not in control of their faculties. The American feminist and their Nazi-like doctors know exactly what they are perpetrating on alive children in the womb, so they are without any excuse! “Woe to you, Hypocrites!”

I heard a song the other day, and it was referring to this country as “God’s country.” If I were this songwriter, I would sit down, take a good look around, and reconsider the words I had written! This country is a hypocritical mess that is on its way out! It is anything but God’s country!!