How do we reconcile the final commandments of Christ: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and Love each other (even your enemies) with today’s challenges and threats.

one world religion seeks to wipe us off the face of the earth and another group is pushing a social agenda that is anti-American and steeped in sexual depravity.

The sermon on the mount is one of the most studied and discussed events in the life of Christ.

This sermon is written in great detail in the book of Matthew beginning in chapter 5 through 7.

I want to look at chapter 7 as there are many key (and debated) topics in this part of the sermon.

First up; Judgement of others.

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Matthew 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

It appears that Jesus is telling us that we should not judge others, but is that what he is really saying, for if we do not judge (or assess) another person, how do we know if they are friend or foe (sheep or wolf).

I think Jesus is telling us to be careful in our judgement and the “standard” with which we judge others. For it will be by that standard in which we will be judged.

Christian tend to set unreasonably high standards in others, but fail to live by this standards. That’s how we get to the next verse.

Matthew 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Matthew 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Matthew 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

So often we see what is unjust, unrighteous, or sinful in those around us, but fail to see the same or even more unjust, unrighteous, and sinful in ourselves.

Do not set higher standards for others than you set for yourself, do not point out the failures in others until you have seen and corrected the failing in yourself.

All of us judge, it’s a survival instinct, but be mindful of what and who we are judging and be very clear that the standard your are setting for others, that you yourself have lived up to.

Because that will be the standard by which you are judged.

Go in peace and God bless

Amen.

Change!
What does it mean to pray to God for change.
It means placing your trust in God, that he knows what you must become.

In a discussion with Nicodemus; Jesus says

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

This confused Nicodemus as he could not fathom being born again. He (Nicodemus) was being too literal in trying to understand.

Being born again alludes to allowing your earthy self to die and to be reborn (or changed) into a child of God.

The most power prayer we can make is to request that God change us! That we allow our sinful self to die and to be changed, or reborn as a child of God.

It was not until I place my full trust in God’s hands and honestly and faithfully asked him to change me that I understood.

I wanted to leave behind what and who I was, my selfish, materialistic, sinful self and to be truly changed.

It worked; I continually asked God to change me and little by little (as he deemed that i was ready for) I changed.

Until one day I woke up and I was changed. I had an understanding and an awareness I had not had before.

My sinful self was much less than it once was, not gone, not irradiated, but its voice was much smaller, less noisy, less important.

When that once loud and noisy controlling voice became quieter, I was more able to tune into the voice that matters; the voice of God.

So as you pray, make sure that you ask that you be changed! Ask that the part of you that is of this earth be allowed to die and that you be reborn as a child of God.

Pray to silence the voice of sin and allow you to tune into the voice of God.

Change is beautiful! Amen.

So you may have notice a slight pause in my posting of scripture. It is because I wanted to get a closer look at what we (as western Christians) are being taught in the canonized Bible.

To really challenge and try to understand what we as Christians are being told what the scriptures say, what to do, how to live, and our “reward” for doing so.

In case you don’t know our modern Bible (Let’s consider the KJV), was put together by the council of Nicaea in the 4th century. They chose 66 books (there are many more and all worth a read) which were translated over the centuries from Aramaic and ancient Hebrew into Greek, then Latin, then German, and finally in English.

It is important that we as believers understand what has been lost in translation and even more importantly what was intentionally manipulated.
I am not trying to be heretical or blasphemous here, but with something as important as our immortal souls, it bears investigation.

At the core of Christian belief is sin and that we are all sinners and we must repent of our sins. But, Jesus did not use the word repent. As modern Christians we hear that word and it fills us with shame, guilt, and a lack of self worth. We are burdened by the word and have been told repentance is our only hope for salvation and entry into the kingdom of God.

Well, with such a core concept being at the center of the salvation of our immortal souls; it is important that we know “what did Jesus say!”

In Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Also in Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Then again in Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

As you can see the gospel emphisized repentance. But Jesus spoke Aramaic and there is no word as we perceive in English for repentance, so what did Jesus say?

In the Aramaic Jesus used the word(s) tubwb or tuwbw, which has the core meaning of "to return" or "turn back" to a previous state or to God. It represents a deeper, internal change of returning to one's true self or turning away from incorrect thinking, rather than just guilt.

In Jesus’ vernacular to turn away or to turn back from sin was not the ultimate guilt trip. It was merely for us to recognize when we sin and for us to turn away from our sin or to return back to ourselves before we sinned (easier said than done). It is certainly not the eternal guilt trip of confession, atonement, and repentance; lest we die.

It is far deeper than that and certainly far from the apology/forgiveness cycle most Christians find themselves in. Think about an apology, it means we recognize that we did wrong and it is a promise to not do it again.

But repentance is; as Jesus said: “tuwbw” means for us to return to a state before sin, to turn back to God. It is not the sin, confess, atone, repent, guilt cycle that Christian perpetually live in.

It is to be self-aware of your sin and to turn back from it and to return to God.

Christianity should not feel heavy, it should not fill you with guilt or shame, it should feel light and freeing, filling you with the knowledge that you were created by a loving and caring God who provided us with a magnificent teacher and savior in the form of Jesus Christ.

Amen

I may not post these scriptures as frequently as I did before as this study takes time and to avoid the same mistakes (either intentionally or not) it is important to get it right. May the Lord guide me in this pursuit!

If this post moves you to think deeper about how you read scripture, let me know and feel free to question or discuss anything I post as it is only through investigation and research do we find enlightenment.

Prayer. The ultimate chat with the divine

Pay attention the next time you pray (or think about the last time you prayed); who did most of the talking? If you are like most of us then it is likely you did most of the talking.
Often prayer becomes a one sided conversation where we lay out our wants and needs in some expectation of fulfillment.
That is not prayer! Prayer is (or it should be) a chat with the all mighty. It should feel more like a dinner table conversation with a parent (your Heavenly Parent).
If your prayer is nothing but a scripted set of precursor elements, a list of things you hope for and maybe a couple please help so and so, followed by an amen, then when did you give God a chance to be in that conversation.
At any point did you stop talking, take a breath and allow God to respond or do you rush through, do all the talking, and then wonder why He did not respond?
If God is not responding, maybe it’s because you aren’t giving him a chance! Approach prayer as the ultimate chat time with the Heavenly Father!
Pause: think and be still in his presence. I assure you that as soon as you begin with “Our Heavenly Father”, or “Dear God” ( don’t use Dear God, you’re not writing a letter) he Is listening.
Think about the last time you sat down to have a conversation with your mother, or your father, or any other elder worthy of respect; how did you begin?
I address God as “Heavenly Father”, God, or you could even use ABBA (look it up Jesus called him ABBA). I then vocally extoll the wonders of His creation, his boundless Love and never ending Mercy.
Tell him you need to talk to him and as sure as the sun rises, he will be listening. Be clear in your conversation and give opportunities to get a response!
Pause, be still, be silent; for in silence is when God speak to us. He is patient and likely will never interrupt you while you are talking. So if you rush through it give your list of demands and then sign off with amen, what chance have you given him to respond.
Prayer should not feel like letter writing, where you say everything you need to say and then wait for a response. Prayer is a conversation, it is about building a relationship with the Heavenly Father. It’s about you getting to know Him (I assure you he already knows you).
Don’t use prayer like a teenager asking for the car or a few dollars or permission. Do not be one of those children who only go to the Father when you need something.
Treat prayer as the gift it is, a chance to sit, talk with, and get to know your Heavenly Father. Talk less and listen more! Remember God answers all prayers; sometimes Yes, sometimes No, and sometimes Not Now.
But if you do not give the opportunity for an answer how will you know what it is.
Go in peace brothers and sisters!
Amen.

Salvation…Save from what?

This discussion will be about salvation, in the context of Christianity.
This is written to try and make sense of what the true purpose of Christianity is and why we believe what we believeve.
I am not trying to be heretical or blasphemous, I am reconciling what we have been taught within the context of what can be read and studied in scripture in the context of when it was written and returning to the actual words and languages used when these scriptures were written or spoken.
Now about salvation, this is a cornerstone of Christianity. We are taught that Jesus was made flesh, was crucified dead and buried, arose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty and through our belief and faith we are saved.
This was done as a sacrifice for our sins and that our faith in him is the pathway to salvation.
But; saved from what?
To answer this we must understand the three powers or authorities at work in our world. Obviously there is the kingdom of light, which is the authority of God.
There is the Mosaic authority under the Mosaic laws otherwise known as the old covenant.
To understand the third power, the power of darkness or the earthly kingdom we must go back to Genesis and the pre-Adamic (remeber the serpent or Satan was already here when Adam and Eve were created) earth.
In Genesis the creation story is laid out, but there are parts that are missing, mainly the struggle of angles in heaven. This is where the angel Lucifer was given domain over the earth, but Lucifer (also now known as Satan) wanted more, he felt equal to God and along with a third of the angles of heaven they were cast out of heavan (following a great battle in heaven) and reigned over the Earth.
There is much to digest in this story and a deep dive on the subject of Satan, darkness, and demons is warranted; later on.
Now back to salvation. When we are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ we are given divine mercy and grace for our sins. Sin is the power and authority of Satan but, Jesus through his crucifixion takes over that power over sin and the authority to forgive us of our sin and that forgivens through grace and mercy is giving to us.
Under Mosaic law sin is not necessarily forgiven, but washed away (cleansed or to be made clean) through sacrifice; a blood sacrifice. Usually a 1st year lamb of purity and high quality is brought to the temple and offered up as a sacrifie to cleanse the law breaker.
Breaking the law of Moses was serious and absent mercy or forgiveness (salvation) the ultimate judgement from God is death; spiritual death. Mosaic law is strict and the path to redemption is difficult at best and mostly unattainable.
Satan using his authority over the Earth uses sin as a trap, a snare to engulf us into his realm of darkness.
Salvation; or being saved is the gift of the sacrifice Jesus Christ (the lamb of God) made for us so that we as believers in Christ through our faith have been saved from the judgment of God for our sins.
That’s salvation in a nutshell, our belief and faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice is the gift of grace and mercy feom God to forgive us of our sins.
Now there a whole other argument about once saved always saved, and good works and the like, but that is a discussion for another day.
Suffice it to say; that we live on the earth; Satan has power and dominion over the earth and in the form of sin and he is constantly trying to separate us from God.
Mosaic law is strict and nearly impossible to follow without sin because of Satan’s desire to trap and ensnare us
This is why faith and belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, repentance (turning away from sin), and daily renewal in the Holy Spirit is so vitally important.
Salvation is part of the armor of God; shielding us from the onslaught of sin. If we keep faith at the forefront of our daily lives, salvation is sure.
Amen

If this message resonates with you let me know,. Please feel free to question or challenge anything I have written as for me this is a journey of enlightenment and learning and expanding my knowledge of scripture and our relationship with God is an ongoing pursuit!

Please pray for Jamaica and the islands as Melissa makes her way through. This will be a recasting disaster and we pray for minimal loss of life.

Yesterday I discussed

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

But I failed to make a significant distinction.
Too many of us confuse kindness with being nice.

Too often we think the nice guy is being kind but that is not always the case.

Being kind also requires being real and authentic. Nice usually means no rocking the boat and to “go along to get along.”

Sometimes kindness requires honesty and truth and oftentimes this can require being critical and open. Not to be mean or judgemental, but lay boundaries.

If you blur the lines between right and wrong as to not risk upsetting someone; that is not being kind, that is being nice and dishonest at the same time.

Remember Christ I. The temple with the money changers, he certainly wasn’t being nice, but he was in anger trying to be kind and honest.

Let the Holy Spirit be your guide in whether you are being kind or just nice as to not rock the boat.

Be kind to one another, but also be strong in your faith.

A not so quick story of the Leper Lazarus and the Rich man from the Gospel of Luke 16, 19 through 32.
Lazarus a leper; being poor, hungary, and full of sores begged the rich man for food, even the crumbs from his table.
The rich man scoffed and rebuked the leper and his dogs licked his sores.
It came to pass that the leper died from his hunger and disease and was taken to heaven and greeted by Abraham.
The rich man also died and was thrown into hades.
The rich man in his agony could see Lazarus in heaven and could not understand how a leper could be in paradise while he was cast into hell.
“In his agony” he cried out to Abraham and Lazarus to allow Lazarus to dip his fingers into water and then place it on his lips to relieve his unrelenting thirst.

Think about that for a moment. The rich man’s body was dead yet he felt the pain of fire and thirst. His thirst would never be satisfied. His gluttony of life was now the torture he bore in eternity.

Think about the things in your life that you strive for yet never feel full or fulfilled of. Those things without the salvation of Jesus Christ you will suffer for in eternity in the fire of hell.

In heaven all your spiritual needs will be met and you will never thirst.
In hell you will be empty, never satisfied and always thirsty.

Choose wisely in this life so that you do not suffer as the rich man in this story suffered.

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