Obedience and Due Process

Obedience and Due Process

12/9/14

There is a great deal of talk and controversy about these two conditions when examining God and His ways.  There are many different accounts as to why things occur in the Bible with many more excuses as to why God allowed them to happen in the first place.  We must remind ourselves just how important it is to obey everyone in authority over us and how important it is to apply this principle when referring to God.  I know all of us stray from this law but when we do intentionally break the obedience rule, God’s due process comes into play not only to remind us of what we need to be doing but also to instill His covenant with us.

Obedience and due process sound like an ominous pair if one strikes a glancing view at the grouping.  But if one stops and takes a moment to study these words they will find that in fact they are synonymous with each other and that both need each other in order to be complete.  It is easy for us to find references to both words in our world today and it is also just as easy to find examples of people not allowing these words to coincide as well.  For many that deny or doubt the authority and the authenticity of the Bible it is easy to place blame and doubt on God, His ways and His Laws that are mentioned within the Bible’s contexts. But if we really take a closer look at the deeper meaning of why God put into play some of these laws it becomes clear of the importance of obedience and if our obedience is not conducted then God’s due process must be enforced to ensure that His promises stay within Kingdom settings.

Most of us have at one time or another been grounded.  I remember that my parents had to do this to me to make sure that I understood to follow the rules that had been established.  It was not that they tried to keep me from some of the things that I wanted to do but it was to teach me that there are reasons that rules are put into place and why that they need to be enforced when violated.  No, I did not like the fact that I missed out on some of the activities that I was looking forward in attending and at the time I really did not fully understand as to why they were being “so hard” on me.  But as time marched along I began to see some of the results of others, who did not have this same due process and consequences as they spent weekends in jail, began a criminal record or just flat broke off any relationships with their families.  All of these processes took a toll in their lives and it soon began to show in these people’s attitudes about many things that concerned them.

It took me a while to figure out that my parents were not punishing me per say but were trying their best to teach me to obey the rules both at that time and after I left their house.  It became clear to me that if I obeyed the rules of the house I could totally skip the rules of due process that would automatically be implemented if I did not obey them.  Oh yes, did I have thoughts about trying to break these rules and I have to be honest I did at times try my best to think about getting around these rules and most of the time I decided that I was better off not breaking them and doing my best to be content with where I was at concerning the obedience department.  But every-once-in-a-while those thoughts of disobedience would win out and most likely would see me into trouble.

There are still times that I place my wants in front of the things that I need to do, especially when it comes to my writing.  God has shown me so many things that the Church needs to hear and at times I shuffle my feet instead of sprinting to the finish line. None of us are exempt from this portion of life.  But we need to be aware of this fault and disobedience and voluntarily correct it before God has to step in and realign our priorities.

I pretty much stay away from the laws and do my best not to break any.  There have been some instances where I have had to stand before judges and give my account as to what happened with the situation at hand or to listen to what has occurred.  In every case the process was in motion because either I or someone else had done something against the law and things had to be made correct.  This is called the due process of laws and it is well known that if someone does something that the nation considers being wrong they have to go through many steps in order to complete the entire process.  God also has His due process procedure and just as the human aspect goes, God will not implement His due process procedures unless it is warranted.  And it is this part of the setting that we humans tend to forget about and instead jump to conclusions and place blame on God for being too harsh.

We have a couple of examples within the contents of the Bible that demonstrate the same type of settings.  At first these examples will seem a bit harsh but if one truly understands the reasoning behind why God has these rules in place.  The first example I am going to use is where the children of Israel are carrying the Ark of the Covenant in the desert.  There were rules about who was able to carry the Ark and there were also rules as to how the Ark was to be carried.  While this does not seem too strict of a rule it does set forth into motion a very basic law that we actually created, not God.  Why was it so important that no one else be allowed to neither carry the Ark nor even touch it?

This law stems back from the time of the Garden of Eden and how God and mankind had a perfect, personal and face to face relationship.  But due to our selfishness and disobedience of God’s one and only established law, our lives changed forever and the result of that disobedience is a separation between our Creator and ourselves and there can be no congruency between the two parties.  It was not God’s desire for us to live in this manner but He knew us enough that He understood that when this division came that He would be able to provide an alternative plan so that this restoration could take place.  But in the meantime these laws that kept the Israelites away from God had to be put into place and enforced accordingly.

Continuing with this biblical example, there was a time when the four men who were carrying the Ark stumbled and to everyone in close proximity believed that the Ark was going to fall.  It was made clear by God that the Ark was never to change its holding and carrying processes and that dire consequences would occur if this change came to pass.  A certain man, when he realized that the Ark was about to fall reached out with his arms and grabbed the Ark and kept it from falling onto the ground. To be honest this would be an action that many people would take without hesitancy simply because of the reverence of the Ark.  Immediately the man was struck dead and had no chance to do anything else on this earth.

I am sure that some people in the caravan questioned this act of God and also questioned about the harshness of the punishment. But if we step back and remember a few things about God we can understand why this event transpired in the manner in which it did.  We must never forget that God is a complete God and that what He sets into motion cannot ever change.  It does not matter what the setting might be, His laws are accurate, true and can never deviate from their existence.  This means that once God establishes something its survival is eternal and can never end.  This means that the total separation from God that mankind chose to create in the Garden of Eden was in full effect during this timeframe.

Once mankind committed the separation act and God fulfilled His laws in the Garden, He had to continue in the same manner in this setting.  Yes, this event took place years later but God’s law of separation was still intact.  I am sure that God and man had some physical contact with each other before the fall but we cannot physically touch God in our state of existence and live.  The Ark of the Covenant represented God and His existence with the Israelites which meant that not even the ones chosen to carry the Ark could touch it, for it represented God.  This did not mean that God did not understand the heart of the man, but even though the intentions of this man was of a good nature his measures were of disobedience and therefore God had no choice but to remand His due process accordingly. 

This story is an excellent example that God’s laws cannot change, no matter how humans try to override them.  The man had no ill intentions through his actions but the laws of God were there as a protective barrier.  Protecting from what you ask?  To our finite minds the man was doing something right, but in God’s view His law of separation from man is greater and eternal.  For if God had allowed the man to touch His presence in a sinful condition Satan would have legal grounds to call God on His eternal law and set back into motion Satan’s claim to being like God once again.

We need to keep in our forebrains that God does not wish to impose the due process portion of the laws that He has established. God’s only wish is for us to study His laws well enough that we may live within these laws and to be protected from the world. There is a reason as to why God has implemented these laws even though we have complete separation from Him, and it all comes down to the fact that we are His pride and joy and we represent His ultimate creation.  We are actually His Kingdom representatives and through this concept (law) it is explained why we need protection from the world; for our enemy rules the world.

There is a reason that we should obey the laws of the land and there is an even more important reason that we need to obey God’s laws.  While the laws of this nation seek to protect the human from harm, danger and deceit, God’s laws are in place for our eternal lives and safety.  God understands that our physical lives are important to us but at the same time we need to understand that God’s eternal laws are vital to us.  The world does not care about you or the condition that you are in when you enter and leave the world.  This is clearly stated yet almost enthusiastically misunderstood my billions of people, even by some who are well versed in the Bible.

When we grasp the concept that God’s laws are in place for a reason we can begin to believe that they actually bring us freedom from the world.  God was us to live separate from the world and through these laws of His He has provided a guide in which to do so.  Plus, you add the benefits of the remaining portions of His Word and you get a complete guideline of how our lives are supposed to be and what we can expect to come.  God has not left any details out, it is just our choice or not to follow His directions as He has so divinely written down.  Restoration is a wonderful process and it is a process in which God has provided humanity a real setting of freedom all we need to do is to choose it.

DLB

Trophies

Trophies

12/8/14

We all know that when a formal competition ends the winners of the event usually receives some type of reward or trophy to commemorate the participant’s achievements.  Many of us limit this trophy presentation to the physical realm and some define this ceremony more specifically to the works that humans complete in the form of a lifetime achievement award.  Which ever way we deem the winning trophy to be, the trophy has a significant place on our mantelpiece.  But what if our enemy has the same goal in winning, what does he consider to be his trophies?  Have we ever stopped to consider how much our lives mean to God and to our enemy?  I can honestly tell you that only one of these two immortal enemies of each other cares anything about you, yet it is the other immortal being that we seek to please the majority of the time.

It has been stated in Genesis that God created the earth.  If a person chooses to believe this historical fact then they must concur that at some point in time something went wrong or happened to change this course of perfect creation.  Some large and permanent event must have taken place in order for the current problems within and on the earth to be occurring on a continual basis today.  We also see evidence that when Jesus was tempted by Satan that Satan made the claim that he would give Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world if He would just bow to him.  Yet Jesus did not argue this fact and it is well known that when Jesus was confronted with a non-truth He always set the record straight, but this time He said nothing which means that Satan was actually telling the truth.

I recently wrote an article entitled “Medals” and it was dealing with the fact that we are Jesus’ medals and how we are so precious to Him and His eternal goodness and being.  It has been said that children tend to turn out like their parents.  This is true because shared traits are common within humans and whether or not they intend to follow in the previous footsteps, some traits are well documented in the further generations of families.  So if Jesus did not argue that Satan had control of the world and its kingdoms wouldn’t that mean that we would have the worldly traits within us since we are born into this world?  I believe it would be the same as the physical traits when it comes to the spiritual matters as well, which would enhance the importance of choices in our lives, on every level.

For those who have listened to biblical scholars and ancient history historians, it is known that Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD.  The destruction of Jerusalem was very complete and bloody and it included the total annihilation of the Temple of Jerusalem.  It is difficult for us to really contemplate and to put into perspective exactly what the destruction of the Temple did and what this act symbolized to the Jewish people at that time.  This act still lingers in Jewish hearts today almost 2000 years later, with many still itching to reclaim the territory and to rebuild the Temple once again.

What many people may not know about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was what occurred after the defeat of the city. After the dust had settled and the buildings stopped burning the Jewish people realized that everything that they had to represent their ways was about to be taken away from them for the parading around of their conquerors delight.  The Jews themselves were also going to be taken into captivity once again and be used to construct other buildings that would continually remind them of their defeat to a physically superior enemy.

Over 70,000 Jews were taken prisoner after the destruction of Jerusalem alone and almost 100,000 were taken into captivity during the entire first Jewish – Roman War.  After Jerusalem was destroyed the Jewish prisoners were walked back to Rome and then paraded in front of all the Roman citizens.  All of the possessions of the Jewish inhabitants were also taken into captivity and proudly displayed in front of the captive Jews and the Roman citizens as well.  This must have been a very humiliating experience for the Jewish people and you must know that the thoughts of “why?” were running through many of their minds at this time.  It is true, many of them probably had no real idea as to why God had allowed this event to take place, but some did know and understand why this occurred and yet they were taken into captivity as well.

Titus was a pompous and arrogant man and had an ego the size of the Roman Empire itself and he was proud of this fact about him so he decided to erect many works of architecture to ensure no one would ever forget his name.  One of the more prominent features that he built to himself was the Arch of Titus which still stands today.  It was built in dedication to his triumph over the Jews and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.  The arch is a great monument but he takes things a step further with the artwork that lays engraved on top of the arch.  The artwork depicts the parade of newly taken Jewish slaves and all of the possessions that Rome gained with this overwhelming defeat of Jerusalem.  It is this arch that many of the enslaved Jews had to look at almost every day that they were alive in Rome which surely brought back terrible memories of that event along with the former life that they once enjoyed.

One of the consequences that the Jews had to endure was the next step in their slavery lives.  The majority of the Jews that were taken prisoner during the first Jewish – Roman War had a huge feat to accomplish.  The Roman Coliseum was not built yet and with the new influx of slaves it was seen fit to have them be the workers to be used for building this gigantic monument, and indeed it was through Jewish slave labor that built the exact complex that would later house Christians as they met their death during Roman sporting events.  The physical patterns from slavery to death took their natural course here even though the beliefs of the two nations differed their roots are the same and therefore makes perfect sense as to why this pattern transpired.

It is not hard to find such examples throughout human history as the one that I just described.  This pattern of behavior is well documented from each society known to humanity and will even include some of the modern regimes of today.  Parading captives and booty from conquered enemies is one of the “highlights” of a victory party and has become a national standard in some instances.  However, in many modern societies trophies such as these are placed upon other levels including rewards for doing a job well done.  Many of the international sporting events hand out trophies for the winning participant all of the close runners up with the most famous and the widest participated contest being the World Cup.

It is through these friendly competitions that display the better settings of such trophy presentations but even in some of these events not everything goes smoothly as wanted, thus intensifying the memories of such trophy ceremonies.  I wish I could say that after each Olympic event that the awards ceremony was not marred by either horrid memories or just plain stupid gestures by the winning participants.  I also wish that I could say that my country was not one of these issues, but to this I cannot say.  It is true that not many of these worldwide events come through unscathed or have certain controversies within them that mar the results of the overall competition, and it these inaccuracies that usually dominate the memories instead of the true nature to which the event was constructed to be.

How does this type of marring translate into our lives?  Many of us tend to forget that we have a spiritual and immortal enemy that likes to use us as trophies.  What is the one thing that we humans wish to hide the most?  It is our past that haunts us the most and the stupid choices that we made during this time period.  Most of us still carry the pain and the hurts within us no matter how hard we try and forget about that awful time in our lives.  Yet certain events, places or other people tend to remind us of those decisions and how that time plays a role in our life today.  I have been in many places in my life and have met thousands of people during my tenure here, but as of this moment in my life I have not met one person that has not regretted some certain thing, event or time in their lives.  It is human to err and it is human to suffer from these errors.

It is these events and times throughout our life that our enemy uses against us and it is through these events that our enemy uses as his trophies.  First of all I must remind the reader that our enemy does not care one iota about you or me, in any way.  Satan does not keep these trophies for himself but he sure does proudly display these trophies at opportune times in our life just to remind us of our past and the failures of those times.  Satan is famous for tormenting our lives with our past and the events that led us into placing those events into our past as the stonework for our hesitancy for our future. 

It is the job of our enemy to make sure that we do not live up to what God has planned for our lives.  We find ourselves in jeopardy of not accomplishing these divine when we allow our pasts to dictate our present and our futures.  Many of us do not realize that it our enemy who is placing his trophies on our mantelpiece as a reminder to ourselves of all the stupid things that we did in our past and how we could not be worthy of accomplishing anything for God currently or in the future.  As soon as he has convinced us not to do something, he quickly clears off the mantelpiece of most of the trophies but leaves one or two for a while just to keep us in our place.  Do you understand what this act really means to our lives?

This act of torture represents the perfect example of a life in slavery.  Just as the Jews were subjected to a new life of slavery in Rome, so are we to our enemy if we continue to allow our lives to be dictated by the ruler of this world.  This pattern follows the exact same physical one that we acquire if we do not recognize what exactly is at stake and the importance of our choices that we make concerning our lives.  If we stop and take a closer look at the 70 AD captivity, we will see that the current lives of the Jews at that moment was the trophy that the Romans used to humiliate them after the battle was completed. 

It is amazing to think about these people losing all of the memorabilia from their heritage that should have been their guide, to their enemy.  This means that they did not learn from their past and continued in their own wicked ways and when it came time to fight the real enemy, they did not have a chance.  This should tell us something about how the Jews understood and believed in God’s laws and it should scream out to us that we in this present day are sitting in the exact same position as the Jews were back in 70 AD.  Why is this?  It is because the Jews did not live according to their divine plans that God had for tem, which became liabilities to their lives and trophies to their enemy.  The same occurs in our spiritual lives as well and in this concept (truth) we totally ignore.

When our enemy is finished with us, he takes his proverbial arm and in one fluid motion wipes off each trophy onto the floor and then laughs at us after he is completed his slavery session.  The trophies are not destroyed but lying on the floor to our embarrassment, ready to be used against us again when the time comes.  We pick them up and we hold them close to our bodies and cry wanting to rid ourselves of them but continue to hand them right back to our enemy as he sticks his hand out for them. How can this not be a constant reminder of a slave and her / his societal living?

How many times have we allowed our enemy to hold our pasts against us?  It is easy for us to do and hard for us to let go of when the time comes.  While this is the hardest thing to accomplish in our lives and as long as this past of ours stays buried within us, we hope that it will stay there and not be heard from again.  I must inform everyone that this is not the case and at some point in our lives the divine potential that God has for our lives will come into play.  Our enemy knows this about us so he is not going to let go of the trophies he has in order for us to gain an advantage over him.  It is a tragedy that we fail to recognize our pasts as trophies for our spiritual enemy and count only the physical ones as potential surveyors.

The next logical question would be to ask oneself as to why our spiritual enemy would parade such a trophy?  There must be a reason as to why he would wish to do this especially when these displays are circumstantial in nature.  We cannot change our past nor can we change the results of those issues but we do have the opportunity to change our present and our futures and this is the exact reason why our enemy displays these trophies at his convenience.  And contrary to what he tells us, there is a true freedom from this slavery and one that can and gladly will take those past trophies away from his usage. 

All we have to do is to choose God as our eternal father and recognize Him as our Savior.  This gesture of faith and covenant shall turn our lives around and will begin to push back the darkness within our lives and in others as well.  It is for this reason that our enemy tries his best to wave his trophies in our faces.  No matter how much his kingdom tries to tell you differently, Satan does not care for you, all he wants is to lie to you enough and for long enough that he can rob you of what God has in store for your life.  There is hope, true hope in this situation.  God loves you very much and it His desire that you live in freedom and sees your potential for true life as a reward not as a slave.  If we allow God to work through our lives He will take those old trophies from our past and dispose of them into forgetfulness, never to be retrieved again.  This is our hope and the truth that God wishes for our lives.

DLB

"Fiction"

Fiction

11/30/14

I know that there is a purpose for the various genres of reading material throughout the literary world and it is important that each of these genres is well represented.  I also understand that many of us usually stick to one or two of these genre and basically shun the remaining ones due to lack of interest.  But what if crossing into an unknown or unfamiliar genre would help us in understanding how other people write and think?  It is important for us to ensure that we understand how our enemy thinks so that we may effectively combat his attacks when they are thrown at us.  It may be uncomfortable to perform, but this concept is a must if we are going to survive spiritually.

I guess it would be fairly easy to accept or to figure out that I read a lot.  Some of the topics that God shares with me come from passages in books, other articles and sometimes even movies.  But I have recently noticed that the majority of the topics that I have used for my articles have come from areas that I am interested in or studying about at that moment.  The news and information that I receive from other sources do help as well and provide me with another source of valuable information that accompanies the original referenced material.

My reading skills began to emerge when I was a young boy and for the most part I read the normal fairy tales and adventure stories that would occupy and influence a young mind.  As I grew older my tastes varied a bit more and I ventured into the Young Adult world of reading but as my interests turned from books to girls, my sense of adventure took a huge side turn.  With the normal course of a teenager reading became a chore for me and I turned even further away from one of the more true adventures that I could place into my brain.  In high school I placed reading on the same plane as homework and basically did as little as I could for by now I had totally framed reading as a bad influence and not much was of interest to me any longer; looking back now I had really missed so much by not reading.  I kept this ideology and belief about reading and even maintained this concept through parts of my college years, I had slid backwards so much in this area that my literary skills were basically null.

After I grew out of my teenage years I became more interested in reading and everything that it has to offer me.  After a short time reading some general history books a saying that my parents said to me a long time ago came rushing back into my heart and that was when a person reads it opens their mind to many different settings and it brings out the person’s true imagination.  Reading a book can put the reader into that time frame or at that place where the story or event is taking place.  It is a unique feeling and experience and sadly one that is being ripped away from the youth of today.  But while my reading skills have improved over the last few decades I have stayed true to one bad habit and that is reading only one genre and ignoring the rest.  This I have struggled with for many years now and I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to venture out a bit more with my subjects.  History shall always be my “first love” but I am finding out more and more that fiction does pay to read at times.

Why do I offer this example as the one to use for this article?  About five or six years ago I was watching a program on TV called “After Words” and one of the great fictional military history writers by the name of Tom Clancy was giving an interview.  Tom Clancy has written many military novels about Cold War operations and situations in which some of his novels have been turned into very successful movies.  During the interview they had a segment where callers could ask questions to Mr. Clancy and one of the questions that was asked of him was why did he write fiction even though he was a praised historian?  His answer stuck out at me at the time but not as much as it does now.  He said that the reason he wrote fiction was that he liked to eat.  That was it, it was short and to the point and in truth he was correct.

There are not many historians out there who authorship subjects flows from everyday people’s lips.  While there are some researchers out there that do not mind doing years of research, write a book and have only about one hundred copies sell.  But the majority of the people want a vast amount of followers and readers so they do not stick to the textbook information per say.  There is nothing wrong with accurate historical fiction that is published through painstakingly detailed information and it is through this type of thinking that Christians need to have when witnessing to people who do not believe in God.

The Bible is not just a group of words that has been randomly written down by a bunch of people.  It is this concept that we need to have in order for us to witness effectively to those that have no clue about the Bible and what it means for our lives.  Most people in western societies do know what the bible is and they have some idea of what the contents of the Bible says, but how in depth are they about the real content matter of this great directory and Constitution?  For example, in the Old Testament there are numerous passages where it talks about the people of Israel.  Who are the people of Israel and why are they important at that time of the story?  Well, the people of Israel means literally a bunch of folks; right?  Ok, if you have a bunch of folks that means you must have many families, right?  And if you have many families it means you have even more individuals, correct?  And when you have individuals this means that you must have just as many individual settings and conditions to go along with those individuals, families, groups, correct?

So, if you have this type of setting, people of Israel, it means that you have a society that is overall represented.  If you place this information into today’s societal categories there would not be much difference with the exception that would be far greater numbers of people that one would be talking about if the reference was being used today.  This means that the people of Israel had choices, differences of opinions, codes of conduct, marriages, deaths, births and every other type of possibilities that a modern society would face.  So in reality, besides the addition of modern technology, the people of Israel themselves are just as we are today.  How many of us think about this when we read the Bible?  I have to be honest and say that up until about two years ago I never placed myself, my family, my community or my society into this picture, and that is where our faults and imaginations have been halted.  For you see, if the people of Israel could have thought about protesting, and they did, why did God respond in the manner that He did?  And if the people of Israel obeyed and lived in covenant with God why did God respond in the manner that He did?  So if the people of Israel did these things and they were humans as we are, that would mean that God has the authority to do exactly what He chose to do in biblical times, today.

And why is this subject important to us?  It is evident that the world and all of its modernity is doing its best to take the relationship away from each one of us.  There are so many gadgets that are provided to us each year that we do not even have enough time in a day to play with them or to use them and then have time to complete the necessities that we need to get done.  Our attention spans have become so limited to our immediate surroundings that we deliberately endanger ourselves and others while we are driving down the road.  Our minds do not have time to sit down and read a decent book or article about the day’s events; we would rather listen to small tidbits about opinionated news blurbs and form our conclusions from there.  There lies the fiction that we deem as nonfiction and has allowed our lives and our societies to be subject to destruction.

In order for us to be effective in our witnessing, we must thoroughly understand what is going on in the world today and we cannot do this unless we first know who is actually pulling the strings of the world.  All of the information that we need to know in order to combat the world is located in the Bible and it is our responsibility to know these true words well enough to present to the world in such a manner that they will understand what is going on.  So far we have managed to argue amongst ourselves about who is right and who has the better options as a religious organizations and all this has produced was a bunch of dead people that might have been won over for Christ.  Boy, what a great weapon we have chosen to use in order to fight our enemy.  At the same time that we are advancing this tactic we are failing to realize that we are aiding and abetting the enemy and making his job a whole lot easier, all the while proclaiming victory in the name of God. 

There is no way possible that we can ever use specific and pinpointed examples from the individuals that lived during the Bible unless their names are specifically stated, but we must understand that there are many opinions that were represented when it was referred to “the people of Israel” or the “children of Israel”.  It is through this type of lives that we must keep in mind that actually represent the relative within our societies today.  While we cannot absolutely witness each individual act, we can ascertain the overall mood and depict the actions of that society based upon what is being presented.  While this is picture presents a fictional setting in our lives, we can take it as non-fiction because of the truth in the overall contingency.

It is through this type of setting that we as humans should watch and notice when our attitudes change.  However, we are so busy caught within our own personal wants and rants that we fail to analyze these conditions and then blindly accept them as if they were the opinion of everyone.  This belief is exactly where the western societies are currently at and even though we have so much built up division within ourselves, we must notice exactly what these types of actions are driving us towards.  We as a civilization are in dire straits and we are now at a crossroads within our societies that a choice needs to be made concerning our spiritual infrastructure and from the looks of the matter even the Church is choosing the worldly standards instead of God’s.

As I am about to venture out once again into the historical fiction world we must also try our best to understand the “fictional world” within the Bible.  I am NOT saying that the Bible is fictional in any way, shape or manner for it is 100% true even down to the sentence structure.  But if we study the Word of God with a pure and complete heart, and when we do this God will show us exactly why the people of Israel had the problems that they did and He will show us exactly why He allowed these things to occur as well.  If we just read the Bible that will be the level that God can share with us and as of now, we have read, read, read, and read the Bible some more but we have refused to study its contents and have rejected what God has tried to show us through our reading.  Nor am I saying for anyone to go and read a passage in Scriptures and then make up a scenario to satisfy your selfish wants and rants, for it is this reason as to why Israel suffered so much through their history and it shall be the exact reason as to why our western nations shall suffer as well.

God provided us with a great and awesome gift and that gift is our mind.  It is our mind and our heart that strive to seek out the truth in everything that we encounter.  But if we do not dig deep into these things it is a guarantee that we will only know a portion of the information that is available, and what kind of truth is that?  It is through the heart and mind that we have the ability to understand exactly what occurred in the lives of the Israelites and the reasons why that those things occurred along with how to avoid them from happening.  So why would we not use what God has given us to ensure that bad and terrible things bypass our existence?  It is called choice and the availability of this word within our lives that conducts our lives and it is through this process that directs how God acts towards His children.

I challenge you to take a close look at what is transpiring in our nation today.  Look at how divided our society is and how many different opinions there are about just one single issue.  If we do not realize that we are in a dangerous position, maybe we need to be destroyed in order to get us out of the way from God’s plan for the world.  Oh, wait a minute that is right, we do not want God in our nation so we can forget about His concerns for us.  You know, in my studying of humans for a while now have come to the realization that the each nation that has suffered some sort of disaster, whether internal or external, has suffered in some type of chaos.  Stop and think about this people, and I mean to use the word people here because this is what I am referring to as the topic of this article.

It is God’s true desire to continue His blessings on this nation and every nation that accepts Him as their guide.  But it is very clear as to what occurs when people reject His ways and His laws for their own beliefs.  But if we do not stop and think about the direction that we are going in and how we are choosing to accept the worldly ways, we are sunk people!  The time is now for us to wake up and to notice our spiritual and physical conditions before God has to act upon the disobedience of His people, His creation.  God gives us warnings before He must act and the reason He acts is because eternity without Him is a VERY long time.

DLB

Jesus' Sword

Jesus’ Sword

11/20/14

Most of the people that have read about this title subject immediate think about how Jesus came to divide the good from the bad.  While this belief is accurate there are some other details about this area that need to be addressed.  It is easy to criticize the standards of the world and leave out the Church in this admission of guilt but we need to remember that God is a complete God and that the sword that Jesus was talking about also is meant for the Church as well.  For if God is only one sided then He could not be considered to be the highest authority on all areas of eternity.

It is quite well known that the world and its standards have decreased in the past few decades.  This decline has been very obvious and at the same time it has been widely accepted by the world in terms of equality.  Equality is a good thing and it serves its purpose justly, but what many people fail to understand is that unless we are willing to draw a line at some point with equality, the extensions of this concept can be limitless, thus actually destroying any morality that has ever been established.  As the Church it is easy for us to sit back and to point our fingers at these events and say things are going to hell in a hand-basket, but what we are ignoring is that these same efforts of equality are being promoted within our own personal walls, which pose an even greater danger to our future.  It is this side of the sword that needs to be addressed and just how Jesus will do this when it becomes necessary.

Over the past few days we have witnessed the bloodshed that has occurred in Jerusalem.  It pains me to think that anyone would have the audacity to try and make waves in this city and honestly believe that their actions will not have future consequences, both on their lives personally and within their communities as well.  It is most fascinating to me to remember that the people who do carry out these attacks really do not care what happens to them as long as they accomplish the mission that they have been tasked with.  The question remains of why these events occur on a regular basis with seemingly no lasting consequences coming down.  When all of the dust settles and the boiling points have been dimmed, it will become clear that the Church and those who believe in God have not been doing their duty in praying, really praying for Israel and her protection, which is a huge no-no in God’s eyes, and this lack of responsibility also serves as an open door for our own demise.

If a person reads the news about the Church it is very clear that she is currently focused upon social issues rather than completing the mission that she was commanded to do.  Every day the news sites and social media options are filled with reports and stories of how the Church is not accepting this cause or that clause within the laws.  So instead of the Church standing up for her beliefs on these issues and following what she has been taught for centuries, she is cowering to her enemy and placing her knees on the ground to the wrong king.  This action of the Church is not going unnoticed by God; while God will allow this activity to continue for a time it will not be long until we see the benefits of our sowing and it shall not be a pretty site in God’s eyes.  God shall allow this to continue up to a certain point and then He will have to say enough is enough and shall have to step in and remind us once again that He controls the sword of truth, not humanity.

It is also important that we understand that Jesus will use His sword in one of two ways.  The first way is that of involuntary action by those who refuse to understand, believe and follow God’s ways.  This is an example of Jesus pushing back the kingdom of Satan who rules the laws of the earth and is our sworn and immortal enemy.  The second way that Jesus uses His sword is to clean away the sins that we have offered up to Him for taking away.  While both processes are painful in many ways, it is the manner in which He uses His sword that determines the fate of billions on the earth.  Humanity’s problem is that we have failed to recognize the true enemy and at the same time rejected the only way possible for us to rid ourselves of all the hurt and disgust that lies before us.  It is both of these processes that place us in direct contact with Jesus’ sword for all the wrong reasons and our enemy absolutely loves it.

I am reminded of a book entitled “Four Blood Moons” by John Hagee which I am currently reading.  In one of the chapters in this book it deals with how God allowed the destruction of the Temple and how shocking it was to the Jewish people that event was allowed to occur.  Even more devastating was the fact that many of the Jewish people that were scattered abroad had no real definitive clue as to why God allowed this action to occur.  And through this blindness of the Jewish people it defined their state of heart as to why God allowed these horrific events to take place.  Today we the Church are in the exact same position that the Jewish people were in, not only once but twice immediately before the Temple was destroyed and it is time we take the blinders off and do according to what this year represents, Shemitah in order to avert a devastating slash of Jesus’ sword.

A sword was one of the major weapons in Jesus’ time and it was always a sign of battle and strength even when war was not imminent.  Soldiers always proudly displayed and carried their swords with honor when they were in uniform and they knew exactly where their sword was when they were out of uniform as well.  Without their swords soldiers had no immediate defense if attacked and they had to offensive weapon to lead them during a charge.  The sword defined the soldier in such a manner that any enemy understood exactly what they were getting into if they decided to attack.  This is exactly what Jesus meant when He was referring to Him being a sword and while some of the disciples, and today’s Christians, did not understand this, Satan fully understood it.

The passage in which Jesus talks about being a sword is located in Matthew 10:34 and is part of one of the more familiar passages within the New Testament.  We usually associate this passage with Jesus’ abilities to conquer a dying world with His presence and His teachings, but the most important part we deliberately leave out or we just flat have not understood it.  Either way this passage contains one of the more powerful implementations of Kingdom that can be given and the intimate details of the sword that Jesus is talking about here defines His abilities to cut away everything that is not from God, both from the Saint and the sinner.

What Jesus says in these few sentences proclaims that He has a specific mission here on earth and that we should be setting the same example as He did.  It is a common belief supported with numerous examples that Jesus was present in the public and was readily recognized within the crowds of the common folk.  One would expect these types of “sword” sermons to be portrayed to these people, especially since they were deemed common, unfit and unworthy of holding any specific title within their religious communities.

However, there are also examples of when Jesus taught of these same cutting principles to the elite of the community, the religious fathers of Jerusalem and other religious centers.  He did not leave these people out or consider them exempt from this message and it was these people who took great offense to this type of teaching, especially when it was purposefully directed towards their lives.  The message that Jesus spoke to the leaders of the Jewish communities was sharp, pointed and lethal to their ideologies and practices and it would have embarrassed them on a public level for it caught them unprepared for such a scathing report; or did it, for they knew their hearts and so did many of the people that had any dealings with them.

The sword that Jesus was referring to of course was symbolic and yet He used the perfect example to use in order to get the people’s attention in what He was saying.  It is common knowledge that the Scribes and Pharisees continually placed informants within the crowds that Jesus spoke to, and it was their job to pass along information about what Jesus was teaching.  The messages that Jesus spoke were taken to heart my many of the people that listened to His words, but for some, as the religious leaders who believed they knew everything about the Law, were infuriated by these “accusations” that He proclaimed.  While Jesus was no respecter of persons He tried His best to include every individual into the messages and to teach them about the Kingdom of God and what it meant to the world.

We have to keep some historical data in our minds when trying to wrap our minds around this concept.  Jesus understood the hierarchy of the Jewish sects and He also understood their differences as well.  When an enemy knows that you understand their ways and history they will still attack but shall do it with more venom since the truth is already present, this works in our lives as well when we are attacked by Satan.  While the Pharisees and the Sadducees shared a common belief they differed in their interpretations of who se laws were fundamentally correct and which ones spoke doctrinal truths through these laws.  Which laws, interpretations to obey and which ones to believe still haunt humans to this day, so I guess I can safely state that not much has changed since the ancient days of humanity. 

This type of cutting is so sharp that it actually divides this tight knit group of religious leaders.  It also refers to how this sword will divide the family household and when placed into the concept of God’s view on choice it becomes clear as to why this setting will occur.  It also provides us with a before, during and after scenario of what this concept means to humanity.

It was through this blindness that Jesus sought to shed light upon and while many accepted His teachings and ways the religious leaders scoffed at His words and began plotting His demise.  In other words they rejected Jesus’ sword of truth through the dealings with God so they had to physically reap those “benefits” just as few years later when Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans.  In one way or another God will use Jesus’ sword to grab our attention.  In this example Jesus gave the religious leaders many opportunities to see their mistakes and faults before something came along to destroy their selfish ways.

It is well known that God gives His people plenty of opportunity to change their ways before He must say enough is enough. Jesus wants to use His sword in our hearts to cut away what hinders us from living in a complete relationship with Him.  He can do this if we allow this process to occur and even though it will be painful at times and probable that we will have to give up some things in our life that we believe are necessary for our “survival”, this pruning is necessary for our eternal survival.  This is a voluntary cutting by the master and while it may hurt for a while, it will not kill us but make us stronger and spiritually healthier so that we may understand that we have the same power to use this sword not only to defend ourselves from enemy attacks but to advance God’s Kingdom in the same manner as Jesus did with our lives.

Here is the Kingdom principle that is play here.  Whenever Jesus used His sword to cut away the dead and rotten things of the world, He did so by His Father’s Word and through the understanding of the spiritual kingdom that vies for your life.  Through His deeds of kingdom, He pushed back the kingdom of darkness so that those watching could understand what was transpiring. At that moment it was strictly their choice to see what was in play or not.  If they chose to see the darkness around them and accepted the new light that was given to them, then God’s Kingdom was in place and advanced.  If these people did not choose to accept the light that was presented to them, then the hold of Satan’s kingdom took back over and pushed God’s Kingdom back again.  This event explains why it is written that when a demon is cast out and allowed to return into that person, they are allowed to bring more “friends” with it.

Being a complete God comes into play here as well.  God understands that not everyone will see this principle or understand it in the beginning.  God also understands that it is our choice to accept Him at all.  God fortunately knows that we have a huge tendency to take up this sword and swing it without thought and mow down innocent lives in the name of God.  We as the Church have used this sword of Jesus to condemn millions of people, all in the name of the advancement of Christianity.  What we have failed to recognize is that while we were “advancing” our own personal beliefs of Christianity, we were actually advancing the kingdom of darkness.  Let this soak in for a while, because it is a sobering statement.  We have proudly advanced the kingdom of Satan while we were personally advancing our physical beliefs of Christianity.

A quick biblical, Kingdom and related historical example here to illustrate this point.  In the Bible there is a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Peter cuts off the ear of a man.  To accomplish this feat he uses a sword.  Jesus does not rebuke him for his action but quickly turns and heals the man in which Peter had attacked.  Some centuries later the Roman Catholic Church initiated a series of wars called The Crusades.  If one takes into account as to the reasons why both of these acts were committed, then they must come to the conclusion of my previous paragraph.  Clearly Peter was upset with the situation at hand and tried to take matters into his own hands.  It is obvious that the powerful Catholic Church did the same in order to advance their beliefs in their “Christianity”.  Yet while these intentions are of good nature, they set into motion the spiritual kingdom of Satan instead of God’s Kingdom.

The people who listened to these words of Jesus did not fully understand that He was trying to explain that it was the spirit world that controlled the things that humans do and it was His job and our job to fight through this realm and not through the physical world.  The writings within the New Testament make it very clear that we are not fighting against other humans but the spirit that controls them.  This concept is not understood by millions of Christians and it is now being used against us when trying to make sense of our current surroundings.  Today we have an example of this in the issue of gay marriage and even prominent people are now saying that “loving the person and hating the sin” will no longer work on them.  This is a Kingdom principle and battle at its utmost.

Jesus’ sword is an active process and it will complete its job when called upon.  It has been called upon and is doing its job as we speak.  The only option that we have is whether or not we accept His sword voluntarily and allow His truth and love cut away our decayed flesh or will we have to see its destructive cutting authority through our rebellious activities.  It is strictly up to us and it is strictly our choice as to which we shall witness.

Over the past few years I have written many things concerning the Church and her status within the world and in God.  I must say once again that I love the Church and I love everything that she stands for, but it is the things that she stands against or the lack of things that she stands again that concerns God.  It has become evident that she has accepted worldly ways within her heart and has taken these standards to heart as well.  God is trying to show us that what she is doing is not right and it will have dire consequences upon her vitality and life itself.  God wishes to restore her vitality and vigor once again but in order for Him to be allowed to complete this He must have her permission. 

His sword is sharp and effective in cutting away what is dead and allowing restoration to occur.  However, if she refuses to allow God to accomplish this pruning, He will at some point in the near future have to deal with these issues Himself.  It is far better to allow Him to address these now and under supervised conditions rather it being harsh enough to scatter His Church in multiple directions in order to draw her attention back to Him.  God asks that His Church heed His message and return back to Him so that we may become one in Him once again, before devastation occurs through our land.

DLB

The Struggle for Institutional Continuity

The Struggle for Institutional Continuity

11/18/14

Wouldn’t it be grand if everyone had the exact same philosophy when it came to life?  What about the concept of religions coexisting with each other without the slightest hint of animosity towards another brother or sister?  Being humans we all know that this type of physical togetherness probably will never see much fruit, but it is good to believe that we may come to some unified solutions.  Do we really understand the reasons why that these concepts cannot link together and to form an impenetrable bond that would only serve and operate in one positive direction?  Actually, there is a process that succeeds in obtaining this type of goal but it does not originate from the physical aspect of our lives but through the spiritual aspects of our lives, and it plays more of a part in our lives than one might believe.  Humanity’s only problem with this truth is that in order to achieve this unity, humans would have to give up self and turn their lives completely over to God.

One of my favorite past times is to watch a debate between two or more opposing sides concerning “hot topics”, and I can include cold topics for that matter also.  It is fascinating to me to sit back and watch how humans become defensive and then within a few moments time be on the prowl again to make another point.  Accusations, rumors and supposed knowledge fly left and right during these times and it amazing how we react to the mud that is present on everyone involved egos.  We all have fallen into this category and I must freely and formally admit that I have been a huge offender of this practice and even until and including this day some of my actions towards other believers have severely crippled any relationships that I might have had with these people.  So I am placing myself into this category right up front and I pray that I may act and live like Jesus more and less of what I want to be.

In the religious communities this question must be asked: if our beliefs are subjected to personal feelings and ideas or do they originate from the Word of God?  This is the basis for all understanding as to why no denomination shall ever completely agree with other denominations simply because the root of such entity is bound by a personal belief that they know more than the other, or that the way that we believe is holier than anyone else’s; that is the bottom line and if you are honest with yourself you could not argue this point.  Now, I am not saying that every person within each denomination is bad and holds entirely true to the beliefs of said denominations, but in general this fact rings loud enough to divide the Church and allows our enemy to widen the gap between believers in Christ.

This ideology was present even before Jesus told us about how we are the Church, and if one reads the New Testament with this concept in mind they will understand just what Jesus was trying to get across to both the Jewish leaders and to the everyday citizens of that time.  Not once did Jesus preach to any type of denomination, He only taught Kingdom principles.  Jesus understood completely how Kingdom worked and how it operated through our lives and what it meant to have a relationship with God.  It was this purpose that Jesus was on earth, not only to establish a final sacrifice for our restoration with God but to teach us how to tell others about this process and what it means for all humanity.  Without Jesus’ life here on earth we would still be in the confines of sacrificial institutions on a yearly schedule with absolutely no hope of direct relations with God.

I am reading a book called “The Early Church” by Henry Chadwick and it contains some eye-opening information about how the Jewish community reacted to Jesus, Christians and the establishment of Christianity.  What is more amazing is that this book refers to so many internal settings from both Jewish and Christian authorities that it forces the reader to take a new look at how things have developed throughout the religious world, and how lucky we are not to have destroyed ourselves in the process. The early portions of the book even brings into light how divided the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians were and how through these differences divisions were formed which proved to be the foundations of denominational separations that we recognize today.  I am going to present a fairly decent sized section of the book to give examples of general ideologies within denominations have controlled our thinking over the centuries and millennia.  I did not write this passage nor do I have any holdings with regards to this passage.  It was strictly written by Henry Chadwick and I have no claim to its material.

One of the portions that struck me most is where the author is beginning to describe the Essenes, which is a separate Jewish sect from the Sadducees and Pharisees.  Every word that is within quotations comes from the author of the book and everything within the parentheses is my general comparisons of denominations that some of us are familiar with today. 

“Their life was frugal, and any member who had two coats gave one away to his needy brother and wore his remaining coat until it was threadbare.  (Mennonite, Amish)  They were a close-knit body which practiced property sharing and distributed money to each other according to his need.  They appear to have been divided among themselves about the question of passive resistance.  Most of them rejected the carrying of arms (Amish), but some of them were Zealots dedicated to the nationalist cause of resistance to the occupying Roman power.  (Many Protestant denominations, Muslims)  The site at Qumran became the scene of bloody fighting in the Jewish War of 66-70.  They rejected slavery in principle as incompatible with the equality of all men before their Creator; and though they did not condemn marriage as wrong, they expected full members of the community to be celibate. (Catholic priests)  Entrance into the community was hedged about with tests and solemn vows preceded by a novitiate, and any delinquency led to expulsion.” (Many denominations)

“They practiced very frequent washings, and had a sacred common meal to which the uninitiated were not admitted.  (Mormons and non Mormons into the Temple)  They rejected the use of oaths. (Jehovah’s Witness)  They were particularly precise about keeping the Sabbath day, and exercised extreme care to avoid ceremonial pollution.  (7th Day Adventists and Jewish)  They devoted much attention to the exegesis of the inner meaning of scripture, and made predictions of the future.”  (7th Day Adventists and many other Protestant denominations)

The above paragraphs are not designed to offend or even upset anyone, but if they do then the person that is offended needs to stop and take a harder look at their beliefs, because being offended by these remarks can only mean that you value your denomination more than you do your relationship with God.  Jesus did NOT come to this planet to establish a denomination or an organized and contained religion.  He had one purpose and one purpose only and that was for Him to live, die and be resurrected by the Father as a living sacrifice that humanity missed for thousands of years in order for us to be the Church that shines into the dark world by exposing our enemy for who he is.  This is a Kingdom principle and Jesus spoke only about Kingdom and did His best to get it through our pig-headed blindness and pious lifestyles of why He was here in the first place. 

I understand that this concept and topic might be hard for some to understand and to accept but we need to be clear upon the reason why Jesus came to this earth, understand what He was trying to say into our lives, and comprehend as much as possible of what it means to be under the blood of Jesus in order for us to have direct access to God the Father once again.  If Jesus had come to establish a religion here on earth, He would have been here in vein and His mission would be flawed from its origins.  I am going to step on some of my Catholic friends’ toes here but it something that needs to be addressed and thought about; it deals with Peter and the establishment of the Catholic Church.  Please remember that I am not into religious organizations as being better than the other, but concerned that everyone who reads this article understands the reasons why Jesus came to this earth.

If the Catholic Church believes that it is the one and only Church then I have a couple of biblical and historical facts that one needs to take into consideration.  Do we understand and then acknowledge that Jesus intended for the Catholic Church to be in charge then He would have promoted violence?  We all know that Jesus never did this, nor did He promote it in any way.  Many people proclaim that when Jesus told Peter about being the rock that it meant that what Peter established was going to be the foundation of Jesus’ Church.  But it is the verses and setting that Jesus presented that establishes the meaning of Jesus’ Church, not the physical acts of a human being. 

There are countless examples that I could share with you that the Bible gives that illustrates the topic of this article.  But that is not God wants to put into our hearts; if one chooses to see for themselves then study the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John or any other book in the Bible and if they truly study it and wish to understand they will not have to read very far and they will have the proof that they are seeking.  The Bible is about humans and how they choose to deal with God and His ways.  It is a wonderful history book that will shed light onto many of our current problems of today, which are basically the same as the ones that the Bible gives.

God already has His embassy set up on this earth and His embassy was established when He created mankind.  It was our deeds that set into motion the separation between God and humanity and through the love of God He provided another chance for us to be placed back into relationship with Him.  We cannot accomplish this feat through a denomination or group of church buildings, the only way that relationship with God can be achieved is if we lose the denominational spirits and focus our lives, hearts, and spirit back to God.  God is not directly saying to leave your church or to start another denomination, but God is saying that it is time that we understand exactly who we are in Him and once again focus on the mission that Jesus told us to complete.  And as long as our hearts and spirit is focused upon who is right and wrong, greater than any other, or any other self righteous garbage theology, we will accomplish nothing for the Kingdom of God.

God has no desire to keep any information about our lives whether it is our past, present or our future from us.  If this was the case then He would not have provided us with His Word as a guide to help us live more abundantly.  There is no possible way for us to understand this concept as long as we believe that I am better than you are.  The quest for institutional continuity shall always be a struggle if we continue to birth, nurture, develop and grow this mentality.  I challenge you to take a look back throughout history and locate the examples of what this denominational struggle has accomplished for the Kingdom of God, if one does this objectively and honestly it will totally break your heart.

God loves His Church but we need to understand what Church He is referring to when He is talks about her.  It is time that we put away our denominational differences and come together through Christ and work together as one body in order to push back the kingdom of Satan.  It is evident that our denominational prides have concreted us in our places and has stagnated the mission that is before us.  We have even turned to the world to try and solve this problem which shall prove more disastrous if we continue this path.  God wants us to turn back to Him before He has to remind us of why He has placed His laws into place; this INCLUDES the Church as well.  Remember when God judged Israel the righteous were included in the scattering after the fact. God loves us, it is time to repent and turn back to God.  Restoration into relationship is a good thing and nothing to be ashamed about.  Let us lose our pride and seek His heart once again.

If we complete this task I guarantee that our hearts will turn away from this world and all of the denominational fortitudes that only bring division within the Church.  Jesus came to teach us about Kingdom and how it can only be advanced through you; whether it is God’s Kingdom or Satan’s kingdom.  The struggle for institutional continuity is blur and it needs to fade away quickly.  It is God’s Kingdom that needs to be advanced and until this occurs our lives are in constant danger.

DLB

The Relationship of No

The Relationship of No

11/8/14

We all have hear this word used from countless people that we are associated with and we have heard this word used in other circumstances that even make us angry at times.  Many times we ignore the circumstances surrounding the usage of this word and react according to our wants instead of our needs.  The word “no” is a powerful word and it draws a line in the proverbial sand when used, but it is the importance of the relationship between the parties that makes this word effective and protective at the same time to which both sides understand the reasoning behind its usage.  If, no relationship is present or if one is damaged in any way, then problems set in and distance will eventually creep into play which will quickly demonstrate and then dominate the setting.

Many times in my younger life I had my parents tell me that I could not go somewhere, do something I wanted or attend certain events.  While I did not truly understand the complete reasoning as to why I could not do these things, I did know that they had their reasons for not allowing me to participate in said activities.  Most of the time when I heard about the events that I did not attend, all had a good time and nothing went wrong.  However, there were a few occasions when the news of these events was not so tidy and after everything was said and done, come court cases were pending.  But even with this type of activity and potential disastrous results it still did not keep me from asking to go to those events in the future and receiving the varied answers from my parents. 

The question remains and many times we do not immediately think about it but do we really comprehend the reasons why our parents or those in authority above us say “no” at times.  I understand completely that there are those in these positions just say this word without even taking into consideration of the consequences and they use it as a power control word in order to reign supreme over the ones that are under their tutelage.  It is this type of repeated occurrences that form the opinions of animosity and division between the parties involved; knowingly or not.

At one point in time in our country’s history we had a decent relationship with God.  It was our desire to keep as many of His ways close to our hearts and our status within the world reflected this attitude.  Over time we have gradually lost this covenant decision and have drifted off onto our own path.  This process has taken quite some time to achieve but if one looks back it will not be too hard to find our variances and how they have affected our voices throughout world history.  This country and every other country who have tried to pattern their governments after our standards have done quite well within the world community. Of course there are those who have no wish or desire to align themselves with our belief system but that is their choice and we should respect that choice as much as possible.

I remember when I was young watching some of the debates on TV that pitted one political party against another for hours at a time.  Of course when lines have been set and drawn publicly those who stand on opposite ends must defend their stance accordingly.  I also recall that when the debates were over and the issues had been properly placed into their folders for the day that all opponents left together, ate dinner together, conversed together and were actually friends and they had no problems displaying this fact.  They held their ground yet the camaraderie of the overall goal of the country was still intact and respected by all parties involved.  When heated words turned to anger and hateful speeches the entire country was TRULY shocked and appalled at such behavior, simply because presence of the established relationship between the opposing sides.

Today we do not see this type of relationship occurring and it has become commonplace to spite anyone with an opposing opinion instead of trying to understand why they differ.  I mentioned a while back about an example of this playing out at the State of the Union Address that commenced this past year.  It serves as the perfect example because most of us know that at this event all of Congress, all of the Supreme Court Justices, Vice President, leaders of the Joint Chiefs of the military and other high ranking officials congregate in one room for the words of the President of the United States, so one would believe that this opportunity would prove to be a kind of friendly environment but at this last year’s address it was plainly and painfully obvious that each side had members that did not want anything to do with the other; which only provided a visual proof of what we all knew was brewing within the ranks of our country.

Hateful words that include a “violent” no within the context now rule our land and if one does not like your opinion, way of life, or belief then you have subjected yourself to a lawsuit or at least a damning and public ridicule of your opposition.  How is this effective in bringing into place or trying to establish or reestablish a relationship that is needed in order to understand our differences?  The usage of the word “no” is not always a bad setting, but if we cannot understand the reasoning of why others use that word how can we come together in order to get things done properly?

The same questions and settings apply to our spiritual lives where God is concerned.  There are many out in the world that believe that God does not exist, that they have no need for God or flat just create their own god in order to cope with everyday life.  If we truly do our best to try and to establish and maintain a relationship with God it will be so much easier to accept His answers and laws within His Constitution.  It is so very common to try and to do things on our own and God knows and understands this, but if we return to His ways our lives and lifestyles will be so much healthier, both physically and spiritually.

A word of note that we need to place into our hearts and remember at all times: as long as we continue our separation from God there shall be NO opportunity for peace and comfort between our fellow man.  It is physically impossible to have any peaceful relationship with anyone else while we verbally and publicly commit to run our lives on our own.  A wishy-washy relationship with God or no relationship at all will only cause an internal crumbling that if not corrected shall lead to a complete destruction. You want evidence of this you will not have to look any further than the condition of the Church internal.  And all of this is due to the fact that someone else, in the spiritual case God, tells us no?

A good example of the relationship status between God and man is present in the story of Abraham and the issue with Sodom and Gomorrah.  I am not going to deal with the popular Sodom and Gomorrah issue at all in this article but the relationship status will take precedence.  There is a lot of information we can take from this setting about how God works, how He listens and the reasons as to why He has set His plans into motion through our lives.  All of these conditions would increase our trust in His will for our lives and further our understanding that He wants only the best for our lives, no matter if the issues directly reflect upon us or not.

One of the more fascinating examples that we have that gives us relationship between God and man is when God was speaking to Abraham and informing him of His plans for these two cities.  This brings up an interesting scenario because the relationship status for both sides is brought up in this setting and it tells us a great deal about the two cities at the same time.  God had sent His messengers to complete a couple of missions at once one was a fulfillment of a promise and the other was a fulfillment of a promise, both promises by God.

After God had spoken the words of life to Abraham, His messengers had to leave to complete another task.  Abraham had the guts enough to ask where they were going and then go even further and try to change God’s plans.  The first portion of the relationship issue was the physical in that Abraham was familiar with the cities that were being the subject of the punishment of their choices.  Abraham understood and had been associated with those cities that he knew about the spiritual conditions of them, both at an earlier time and at that moment when the conversation was occurring.  If Abraham did not understand this about the two cities then what he was trying to suggest to God would be considered a lie and God would have mentioned this fact for God cannot withstand lies being directed towards Him at any time.

This action by Abraham concludes that at one time the two cities did not share the same views as they did at that time, which means that over a certain period of time those current opinions and desires had grown within the community enough to warrant such action by God.  Just as Abraham counted down the amount of righteous within the walls of those cities, so did it represent the past and present conditions of the cities, to which Abraham tried his best to delay the actions of God.  At a certain point God had had enough of Abraham’s arguments and said no to any further communication about the subject, because both God and Abraham both understood that the last number that they agreed upon was still not low enough to save the cities.

This setting represents both the physical and spiritual relationships that Abraham and God had between each other.  If Abraham did not understand his Heavenly Father well enough to know His heart, he would have not had a leg to stand on when trying to spare the cities from total destruction.  It also provides us an account of how willing God is to talk with us about anything if we wish to have communion with Him on a continual basis.  If Abraham did not have any type of relationship with God it would have been surprising if Abraham would have been outraged at the information that God had provided, but Abraham understood God, sin and the consequences of both the physical and spiritual relationships of each.  It also supports the reason why Abraham did not throw himself into a fit and pity party after God said no more.

What we also must keep in mind is that if we fail to establish and then continually develop a relationship with our fellow man, both parties will eventually become enemies.  Read history and one shall see this come to pass.  It may not be on an individual level but as a group or even national level it most certainly can grow into this state; conflicts and small wars have been started over families; remember that there have been wars fought over goats and who did what to another’s herd.  This also provides evidence and facts that even though people are similar in beliefs they can and will differ but it is still the choice of the human to develop relationships or not.

I gave a single example about how our country is falling into the internal isolation policy that has destroyed many people’s lives along with hundreds of countries and nations existences over the millennia.  It is difficult for me to see this pattern emerging and progressing on an hourly basis throughout this land and I am here to inform you that if we do not change our ways and turn our desires and hearts back to God our country is in for a huge awakening in the form of a great shaking, and I am not referring to a happy one either. 

It breaks my heart that the Church has aligned herself with the world and has begun her rejection process of God.  She has fallen suit with our nation and with western ideological pitfalls which can lead to only one conclusion, destruction.  Over the past few decades the Church has fallen into a dark compass and has refused to admit and then repent of her sins against God.  Until this act of repentance is shown and followed, she shall never be as great as she was meant to be; in fact, she shall only dwindle in strength until her existence will be seriously jeopardized.

It is time that we realize that our relationship with God has been compromised so much that it is about to be formally cut in the name of secularization.  God has called His people to be separate from the world and to set an example of how to live, act, and believe.  Still, we divulge in worldly pleasures and seek out earthly treasures and lay God’s aside for someone else to pick up. How dangerous of a game we are playing since our normal state within our human thinking is to progress in the manner to which we are accustomed.

It is clear that we do not have the type of relationship with God that Abraham had and right at this moment we care nothing about having such a relationship with Him.  In our past troubles, we have always turned back to Him for protection when things have gone astray, but will He respond accordingly with the next disaster that strikes?  I cannot say for sure that He will for this time we have deliberately snubbed our noses and fingers towards Him in total defiance like never before.  So, the question still remains, will God finally say “no” to our pleas for help because of the choices we have made to separate ourselves from His ways?  I pray that this is not the case but I cannot guarantee that His blessing will be upon our lives when this next great tragedy occurs.

There is a small window of opportunity to curb our arrogance and to return back to God’s ways and repent of our sins.  This window of opportunity is growing shorter and cannot be stopped unless we ask for forgiveness.  We cannot maintain this status that we currently employ for very much longer; the weight is tremendous and shall crush us through other earthly mannerisms, which can only be birthed from our enemy.  Never ever underestimate the human mind and spirit when it is guided by our spiritual enemy, the consequences and results are dire and endless.

There is only one way for us to avoid the word “no” from God and that is to voluntarily choose His ways once again.  The action is called repentance and the His results are known as restoration.  Restoration is a promise if we only choose to accept Him in our lives.  It is well known that God’s ways are not the ways of the human and some paths have already been taken with their results coming into light, but we can still minimize or even nullify some of the future consequences if we just place our lives at His feet.  God is watching us and understands the condition of our hearts.  And like a great parent would, He must pull in the reigns of our freedoms and choices at some certain point.

DLB