Son of Man/Son of God

      Jesus has two identities: Son of Man and Son of God. As "Son of Man" he is like Adam, from whom he descended through Mary. His flesh was created as Adam's "seed" was planted generation after generation until Mary blossomed. "Son of Man" refers to Jesus's humanity; he experienced all that other men experience. That was necessary for Jesus's temptations by the Devil and his ability to overcome temptation. The Son of Man revealed that men need not sin, and that sin is a resistible choice. Before he was tempted though, God imbued Jesus with the Holy Spirit. The Son of Man was not on his own, but the Son of God was there delivering him from temptation.
     Adam was tempted; Jesus was also and in the same manner. Satan is limited in his bag of temptations. I have written before on the temptations of Christ. Briefly, Jesus was tempted three ways:

1.  Jesus hungered after forty days of fasting: Satan offered to turn the stones into bread.
2.  Challenged to stand on the pinnacle of the temple and cast himself down. That temptation was to trust his angels.
3. Satan offered Jesus all he could see from a mountaintop. Satan would be powerful enough to anoint Jesus as God as King of the Jews.

     Compare the temptations of Christ to the temptations of Adam:

1.  Connived to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree after zero days of fasting.
2. To trust themselves rather than God.
3. Tempted the eyes of them with the qualities of the fruit.

    In both cases, Satan offered substance to mankind (No. 1). In both cases, to trust someone other than God (No. 2; angels and mankind, respectively.) In both cases, offered what was pleasant to the eyes (No. 3).

     The first temptation in both cases was the lust of the flesh. The second temptation in both cases was pride, and the third temptation, in both cases, was lust of the flesh. Satan offers the same things to everyone, as noted in scripture: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16).

     Jesus came into the world to be tempted in the same way all Adam-kind is tempted. He, as the Son of Man, passed the tests of Satan that everyone else would fail, based on two observations: 

1.  Sin is submitting to temptation. Jesus was without sin, even one sin: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15).
2. Everyone else, unlike Jesus have sinned. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).

     Could Jesus have sinned? Yes, because he is the Son of Man. (The story of Job's temptation is of similar nature. Could Job have sinned? Yes. Because Job was Adam's "seed" as was Jesus, either could have sinned but did not.)  Because Jesus had the desires of the flesh, he could have sinned, but because he is the Son of God that kept Jesus from sinning. God gave Jesus the will power to overcome temptation!

     The Sons of God are holy, sanctified with the Holy Spirit of God. The sons of Seth were "sons of God" because they were holy and were set apart on the holy mountain. The Nazarites were born with the Holy Spirit, and were anointed pure and set apart from sin. Samson was the only Nazarite by name, but he failed. Likely, both John the Baptist and Jesus were Nazarites - both sons of God. 

     John was a son of God by anointing. Jesus, by birthright, was the Son of God. Elizabeth, John's mother, had the Holy Spirit make her womb alive again so that John could be anointed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was THE Son of God. Jesus was not born in iniquity, as John was. (All of mankind with the exception of Jesus are born in iniquity as David said in Psalm 51. That is original sin - the sin of Adam. Jesus was not!)

     Jesus was the Son of Man to empathize with our lusts. Jesus was the Son of God, and endowed with power, to overcome temptations. However, that was not the only reason. Jesus came to die for our inability to overcome temptation. He knew how hard Satan tests, empathized with his creatures, cried for us, then died instead of us. He was the true Son of God. John the Baptist knew that his power was a gift, and that Jesus's was the original image of God!

     Because Jesus overcame temptation is proof that Adam could have. Likewise, it is proof that overcoming temptation is a reasonable expectation, as we are to present our bodies to Christ for power to overcome temptation (Rom 12:1). Knowing how profound temptations are, Jesus lowered the bar for mere sons of men. He only looks to see if we are willing to overcome temptation by not entering into it. That is possible only of we become sons of God and depend on Him to deliver us from temptation (Mat 6:13). Jesus was both Son of Man and Son of God, and Christians are both sons of men and sons of God. We are not to be gods, but as God. How is that? Jesus overcame temptation and served his Father in Heaven who gave him the power to overcome temptation. We too are to trust God in all things.

     Christians don't have to sin. Each sin is a choice. Sons of God are willing to avoid temptation, but sons of men enter into it intentionally and sin. 

Too Late to Love

      Love is both a duty and an emotion. We are commanded to love one another, but our fires must be stoked. Somehow, our emotions must be aligned with our responsibilities. There must be harmony in the minds of those who proclaim love. Everyone must proclaim love, then emote it; the first is easy, but the latter difficult to impossible.
     Love is teachable; those with loving parents, friends, or mentors are able to love easily. Love is socially and spiritually contagious. Many fear, for various reasons, loving others, and certainly fear loving God. Why is there a "Greatest Commandment" and a corollary to it - love God and others? Because if anyone can't love others - God's creatures - how could they love the Creator. If they don't love the Creator, how could they love His creatures?
     The introduction on my Facebook page reads, "Victimized by many - maimed by some - destroyed by none!" In retrospect, when that was written, I expected hatred from my "friends." Indeed, some of my friends have "unfriended" me because they don't like some things that I write. For acquaintances, to unfriend can be expected, but when "friends" unfriend, it is devastating. Unfriending means they either never befriended or are no longer are friends. My mantra is, "friends are forever," and that statement is redundant, because friendship cannot come and go, and neither can love!
     Shallow people befriend easily, and unfriend as casually. That type of "love" is faux. That, though, is how shallow people love God. As long as things go their way, God is their Way. When they don't, their way is the only way. As I sit here in my recliner, quite comfortably I must add, some out there have hatred for me. The same for anyone else. I call that, "worlds colliding." People live in their own spaces, with their bodies and personal space surrounding them. That space belongs to them, and when anyone enters that space, they are either welcomed our unwelcome. Some don't want you nor I in their space. If we enter uninvited, worlds collide! I have exploded the personal space of many.
     Children love others easily. Most actually want their spaces infringed upon. They feel wanted and loved when others cuddle and kiss them. Gradually, children begin to protect their space for various reasons: they learn ugliness, learn to detest bad breath and body odor, squirm when screamers scream, and so forth. Their disdain is learned and they are conditioned to dislike it when others enter their space. Gradually, other infringements are added; they may be social, political, or even religious differences. They may even be repulsed by those who they perceive are lesser than themselves or a threat. My religious and political views, for instance, are a threat to those with different viewpoints.
     Often personalities clash; people learn to protect their space merely because another may not behave exactly to the standards set by you.
     Unrequited love is when a paramour's love is rejected because personal standards are not met. When anyone loves someone else, they expect love in return, and it hurts when it is not reciprocated. I love my children, for instance, and it hurts if I am not loved back. I love my wife, and if she doesn't demonstrate love by being the first to love, then withheld love hurts. If I love my perceived friends and they don't love back, then unrequited friend-love even hurts!
      Because others don't love back, does not excuse not loving others. We must even love our enemies! Love is not tolerating others or smiling and waving; love is demonstrated by kindness, grace, charity, and companionship. That is best represented by forgiveness. All have sinned, and deserve damnation in Hell. People condemn each other by harshly judging one another. If someone is wronged, they say, "I will forgive, but never forget." That is not forgiveness. What if God merely forgave but always kept the wrong to Him in mind, and was quick to retrieve it? Would that be love? No, God wipes the slate clean and forgets the wrongdoing! He does that because God so loves us!
     Throughout my life, I have been "victimized by many - maimed by some - destroyed by none!" On the other hand, the feeling that I am unloved, even hated, maims my heart. There is an emptiness where love should be. When friends unfriend, for whatever reason, it is hurtful. (And I'm not speaking of social media unfriending. In fact it should be easy to be Facebook friends, but some cannot even be that!) 
      People sometimes differ, and maybe be at odds. People who once claimed love, may turn against their "loved" one. "Worlds" for some reason collided. I think of the adulterous woman in the Bible being accosted by those with rocks to stone her. Jesus said, "Those without sin, cast the first stone" (John 8:7). Everyone just walked away because they were ashamed. (John 8:8-9). Did the would-be stoners demonstrate love by leaving the scene of the hatred? No, they should have reconciled:

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Mat 5:23-24)

Note several things therein:

1.  You as a Christian are to reconcile without regard to whom was at fault; merely, if anyone has something against you,  whether you have wronged them or not!
2. God doesn't want your sacrifice unless you have sacrificed your own pride or hatred.
3. Reconciliation is what God wills, nay commands. 

     Reconciliation is restoring friendship; it is loving without pre-conditions. It is putting aside the actual or perceived offense because you too have offended someone or maybe many others. No Christian can not love because their little world has been punctured. No one can love another and cast the proverbial first stone, or any stone thereafter.

     People think, I will restore love someday, while in the meantime, I will get even by punishing. That is the big stone cast! By the time you are through with convicting, judging, and inflicting punishment; your heart may have become so hardened that it's too late to love; you have conditioned yourself not to love, and even salivate like Pavlov's dog at the thought of inflicting punishment.

      Those seeking retribution learn to hate. Christians who cannot forgive and forget may become so hardened that they lose the ability to love! By the time they see their error, it may be too late to love because of a hardened heart. Jesus asked, "Are your hearts hardened?" (Mark 8:17), knowing full-well that they had! Those who snub and are snobbish have hardened their hearts. Their attitude is that I don't care what God says; I will get revenge! all the while neglecting to examine their own sinful lives.

     It may be too late for vengeful people. Vengeance belongs to God, and kindness to you, even to make friends of enemies, not enemies of friends! When, and if, it is too late, God will have the last words to hypocrites, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" Mat 7:23).

     There are solutions: remorse, repentance, confession, reconciliation, and loving those that are hard to love because they can again be the most loved! "Which of them (of those who have wronged) will love him (the one who forgives) most?  Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he (Jesus) said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged" (Luke 17:42-43).

The Death of the Adversary

      Isaiah chapter 50 is about Jesus as is most prophetic writings. I selectively picked two verses for commentary today because they contain two personages; examine of whom I write:

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. (Isa 50:10,8)

     The first person is the voice of his servant. His characteristic is that he has no light, and is called God's "adversary".  The specific adversary is the Devil, according to scripture, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). The doctrine of sin is walking in darkness, which of course, is the absence of light.
     The second person is the Name by whom God is called. Scripture identifies God's Name: "(The people) took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him (Jesus), and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (John 12:13). That is Jesus - the Name of the Lord  which was spoken throughout the Old Testament. The Lord was Jesus all the time; he had only yet to be called that (Luke 2:21).
     The world is engaged in a spiritual battle. Two persons vie for our living souls; one of them fighting for your eternal life, and the other that you should perish. One person is gracious and the other adversarial. Christians who fight on the Lord's side are gracious, but those on the Devil's side are adversarial. Everyone must make a decision for whom to serve and how to live; is it serving Jesus in grace, or the Devil adversely?
     "Adversely" is opposed to God's interests; that is God's will or the Law of God. People who willingly sin, are adversaries of the Lord. They are adversaries of Jesus, and as such, helped nail Jesus to the cross (vicariously). They violate the Fifth Commandment by taking the Lord's Name in vain; that Jesus died without a purpose!
     "Gracious" is a spiritual kindness, a person disposed toward loving others. Gracious people love Jesus because of his grace. Christians are to love Jesus because he first loved them.
     Gracious Christians fight fairly, but adversaries use whatever hateful means at hand. Christians use the "sword of the spirit" which is the Word (Ephes 6:17) while adversaries hate others and are murderous (1 John 3:15). When people hate others or the Lord, they vicariously crucify the Lord again (Heb 6:6), and also remove the Serpent from the tree from which he was crucified.
     The Serpent crucified? How can that be? Jesus was in the Tree of Life because he is the "way, truth, and the life" (John 14:16). The Serpent was also in a tree; the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." He used the knowledge of truth to present evil. That is called "deception." The forbidden tree was adversarial to the Tree of Life!
     The Tree of Life died on his tree, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts 5:30). People saw Jesus die, but yet Jesus defined death for the righteous as sleep. (Mat 9:24). Jesus slept for three days; his flesh died, but his Spirit did not, he gave up the Ghost when he fell asleep (Mark 15:37). His flesh had been transfigured - glorified - so that it was incorruptible. In other words, Jesus did not die as people think of dying!
     No one noticed, but the Serpent died on Calvary. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). The law of sin was defeated when Jesus died on the tree. Satan was emasculated when Jesus was crucified. Somewhere, someplace the Serpent was killed as Jesus was crucified. Moses and the righteous Hebrews saw the lifeless brass serpent shining red in the sun on his own "tree" which was a pole. Regeneration is looking at Jesus on his tree, and understanding that it was the Serpent who died that day! (John 3:14). That enlightenment is "born again" which Jesus said not to marvel (John 3:7).
    Was the Serpent actually crucified on Calvary? Jesus Barabbas - "Jesus, the son of the father" - was released. He was symbolic of the beast - the Antichrist. He was the Serpent's "scapegoat" it seems to keep the law of sin alive. However, one malefactor who died on the cross, perhaps represented the Serpent.
     One thief trusted Jesus. He was with Jesus in Paradise that day (Luke 23:43). The other thief failed to trust Jesus, and even scoffed at him. Since the repentant thief was in Paradise that day, it makes sense that the unrepentant thief was in Hell that day!
     The second thief was the vicarious death of the Serpent. The old Snake effectually died that day, waiting only to be cast into Hell, unlike Jesus who went to Paradise and is there to this day.
     When we look at the cross, we don't see Jesus on it. He survived the cross. When we see the empty cross, our mind's eyes should put the Serpent back in his tree for it was the viperous Devil who truly died on Calvary.
      Adam and Eve did not understand death, so they sinned. Mankind still does not understand death. It is not something detectable since we cannot see a dying spirit, but mankind has been dying from the day the Serpent "killed" Adam until the Word redeemed him. Likewise, no one can see the Serpent dead visually, but with the mind's eye, Satan is as dead. Christians are not saved yet, but they are as good as saved because the spirit of the Serpent has indeed been crucified!

On Humanism

     Modern "humanism typically refers to a nontheistic life stance centered on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world" (Wikipedia; "Humanism"). Humanists believe it is not a religion since no "god" is involved in their doctrine, but only the philosophy of men. 

     Humanists, just as "Christians" who believe in evolution, seem to be the religious without a god. Paul referred to the philosophical "god" as "the unknown god" and took issue with the philosophical outlook on life. If humanism is examined closely, their god is clearly identified, and it is a pantheistic religion, not an atheistic one. The gods of humanism are humans. It's not that they are gods, but are as gods (Gen 3:5). Humanism came into existence with the eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I call that one, "The Philosophy Tree." 

     A nontheistic life-stance is living without a god. That's a simple thing to do because then mankind is a free moral agent, doing whatever he wants to do (Jud 17:6)! They are centered on human agency; consider that the supremacy of man over God. They validate that premise themselves as they value science over supernatural revelation in the affairs of the world. They are skeptics who require evidence of physical things while ignoring the possibility of the supra-natural. Their viewpoint toward men is open-minded but slammed shut on God. They claim to fame is open-mindedness while at the same time are the most closed-minded.

     Humanism is not only the religion of the United States but of the entire world. Humanists even place the salvation of the world in the hands of men. True environmentalists would depend on someone with the power to clean the world; God did that one time and will do it again! Humanists, listening to scientists, would question the cleansing in the days of Noah. They fail to take note that whale fossils have been found many places on high mountains. They do not use good reasoning, accepting the narrative that oceans didn't raise the whales to mountains, but that mountains delivered whales from the sea. Which miracle would be the most logical? The one we see everyday - rising waters!

     Humans are against each other more than for! Why war if men are so humane? Faith in the abilities of men usually lead to destruction; even Democrats and Republicans can't get along for the good of America; how could they possibly get along for the good of mankind? 

     Mankind enslaved themselves; God had no part in that. When narcissistic people realized that work is hard, then they forced others to do their work for them. How humane is that? Yet people still have faith in humans! 

     Then men decided that life was better when others work for them. Socialism was born to make the workplace unlevel. Again, how humane was that, that others work hard so that others need not to! Humans merely moved from obvious slavery to concealed slavery which is abetted by the government. How humane is that?

    Humanists condone every type of behavior. They want others to do whatever they want to do. LBGT thought is based in liberty from supernatural restrictions. Those people are slaves to their desires. Should anyone care what others do in the privacy of their bedrooms, now in public? If people truly love LBGT's, then they should want that they not perish. God's love is that He wants that none should perish. "Humane" treatment will cause many who are condoned to perish. Just who is it that truly loves humans? 

     The greatest danger in humanism is that it is a fatalistic belief; that they are not subject to divine judgment since there is no Divine! That is a huge gamble because if they are wrong, then they are in torment forever. True, there is no evidence of Hell but upon death, it will be or will not be. Humanists gamble that they are right, but for Christians, death is no gamble! Are foolish gamblers good examples of the humane? They may not care about their future, but neither do they care about the well-being of others. How humane is that?

     Pharoah, Genghis Kahn, Napoleon, Marx, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zidung, and Islamic terrorists demonstrate the non-humanity of men; how could men have faith in other men? We all know the evil that dwells within us because we all have done awful things. Those horrible thoughts in your minds are the same as the thoughts in others. If you could read minds, you'd scream out loud, yet you depend on these inhumane people for your faith. How foolish humans are!

America in Scripture

     How about us? The Jews are God's chosen people. America is not mentioned at all; or is it? In the Abrahamic Covenant, it was promised, "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Gen 12:2-3). It is as well said, "God Bless America," or "God Curse America!" Which shall it be? That depends on Americans! America must honor Abrahamites - the Hebrew people now called Jews - in order to be honored by God.

     That Covenant, given by grace, is contingent on one thing - honoring the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Long before, God had hinted at that: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant" (Gen 9:27).

     "The tents of Shem" were tabernacles dedicated to the Lord. "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: "That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God" (Lev 23:42-43). Those "booths" were tents and were from where the Jews looked toward God in the Holy Tent. Sukkot - the festival of the tabernacles - was a pilgimage to see God. "Pilgrimage" implies the Great Commission - going unto the world - to do what? Enlarge Japheth, or the Gentile people. 

     How about Canaan as servant? Canaan was the son of Ham and grandson of Noah. It was Ham who dishonored his father Noah (Gen 9:20-27), concluded by, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." That curse has been used to keep the Canaanites enslaved for years, most notably the Cushites or African Nubian people; to be blunt, the black race for the most part. 

     Keep in mind, servanthood is an honor in the eyes of God. The Hebrew Levites were servants in the Temple of God. We are all called to be servants: "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake' (2 Cor 4:5). Meekness is a characeristic of servants, and the Bible says, "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Mat 5:5), obviously referring to the New Earth of the Book of Revelation. By grace, even though they were cursed, Canaan's seed will also be blessed! The intent was always salvation for all through the blood of Jesus and by grace. That is "the mystery of God" of which Paul wrote. (1 Tim 3:16).

     "Servant" as appled to Canaan is "car" in Hebrew. That sounds as if it means "slave," which indeed is one definition. However, there are better ones: "servant (in special sense as prophets, Levites etc), and servant (of Israel)" (Strong's Dictionary; "car"). Canaan's seed were not to be physical slaves but spiritual servants. It was to be Shem's tents - their God - and Japhethites were to worship alongside them as equals. Canaan's offspring got the blessed deal - to serve the Jewish God, not to be some pagan's lackey!

     The actual word, "his" is not in the original Hebrew in Genesis 9:27. It was put there for context. It sounds as if Canaan was to be Shem's servant. More so, "his" should be capitalized as Canaan would be God's servant. Perhaps, with some laxity, that by serving Shem, Canaan was serving God (e.g., foot-washing; John 13:14). Washing the feet of others is an act of humilty, requires meekness, and is serving the seed of Shem and Japheth!

     Americans were mostly Japhethites at the founding of the United States. The foundation was upon the principles of the Semite God - the God of Abraham. Semites are Jews and Arabs. Yahweh is God, Allah, in Arabic, but the real Allah resides in the "tents of Shem." In other words, the word Allah does not make Allah the true God unless Allah came in the flesh. The Islamic Allah did not die on the cross, but according to their belief, Isa (their Jesus) will come back with a vengeance to punish infidels. That means "Christians and Jews" in the Muslim lexicon.

     However, John 3:16 makes it clear, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "The world" is everyone within it, and "whosoever" is all. Just as with the Abrahamic Covenant, there is one and the same contingency: belief or better said, "trust" or "faith." Appreciate it or not, but Shemites, including Arabs; and Gentiles, including Negroes, are candidates for eternal life. They all are equal in one respect: everyone must have the same faith and that is trust in Jesus who is the Way. Now let us examine where America is found in the Bible in another place:

5 And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. 12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. 14 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 22 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 26b all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.(Isaiah 49)

     This chapter seems to be talking about Isaiah and Israel, but as always, Isaiah is describing Jesus and his people. Not just the "chosen" Jews but the "peculiar" Gentiles as well. (1 Pet 2:12). Jesus was to give "light" to the tribes of Jacob (Israel) and to the Gentiles (Japhethites and Canaanites) as well (verse 6).  In other words, Jesus is for everyone just as John 3:16 indicates. That was always the case.
     Salvation is for those "from the end of the earth" (verse 6 as well). That's Americans, people! Can it be more clear? It sure can: "These shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (Verse 12). The "North" is the land of Japheth (Russia, Scandanavia, and the eastern European countries.) The "West" is the Americas and Europe (we think of mostly Japhethites but indigenous Americans are believe to be from the land of Sinim (the orient). What is believed to be China itself is included: Sinim. Some belief that Sinim is northern Africa. Whatever, Isaiah was being spiritually inclusive. 
     Americans, at one time, not only worshiped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but worshiped in His "tent", and also served the offspring of Shem. Some don't like the idea, but America must, to be blessed, support Israel. As long as we do, we too will prosper. Even those of Canaan's offspring are to serve Shem's, but what do they do? Canaanites hurl missiles at the "tent" of Jacob!
    True to His Words to Isaiah, God prospered the Gentiles. The Jews rejected Christ, and Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles who dwell for a time in Shem's vacant "tent" until in the end, they too return home when,  "All flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob."

Bombshell

    People are like babies eating Pablum, drooling it on their chins, then sucking it up some more. There "Pablum" is the lie embedded in the "narrative" which means,  "A way of presenting or understanding a situation or series of events that reflects and promotes a particular point of view or set of values" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The National Socialists were more forthright - they called it "propaganda."
     In the Russian Collusion controversy, many times nearly every journalist, newscaster, and commentator all became commentators; one after another would start there program or news article with, "Bombshell! We found out today __________ (whatever)!" In one day, there would be scores of them who used the same metaphor. Was that coincidence, or was it a narrative?
     Discerning people should have noticed. Someone was orchestrating an untruth. They were told by someone to say bombshell. That expression would give the impression that the "smoking gun" or shell-casing in this case, had been found whether there was one or not!
     When I heard the same narrative from the lips of many, it raised suspicion - everyone wants this news to be damning. The deception was so obvious that only a fool would not see it. It was obvious that the left wanted Donald Trump's scalp dead or alive (a metaphor of course). Maybe not his scalp, but the end of his presidency. There, indeed, was a conspiracy to subvert the lawful election of the U.S. President.    
     That activity was organized sedition against the laws of the United States. Sedition is treasonous and the penalty is death ([USC07] 18 USC Ch. 115). Since most Americans are graceful, prison terms would satisfy the law at this time as long as it is lengthy. Unlike the left, sane people are not after blood but justice!
     I used that example to expose what just happened, and is continuing to happen. Democrats still want Trump's scalp whether he is guilty or innocent. It's not the law they care about, but power. They want control of our lives.

     On a personal note, one of my children got in serious trouble with the law. On the way to the police station to report that he had been violently attacked by four men, they beat him to the punch; they called the police station and accused my one son of beating up four grown men one of whom was a four-hundred pound bouncer. My son was arrested; none of those who assaulted him were.
     The commonwealth's attorney was an associate of mine - one I knew was unethical and he knew I knew. He was determined to get my son in prison guilty or innocent because my son was considered to be a troublemaker. I told the man of justice, "You know he's not guilty!" to which he responded, "I don't care whether he is guilty or not; he's a big boy and belongs in prison." (That's a quote.)
     I was dumbfounded as I said, "You would put an innocent man in prison for twenty-five years because he is a big boy?" He not only would be he tried his hardest. If it wasn't for people on the jury who had integrity, my son would still be in prison. Even the judge refused to relent even after the young accuser admitted that they assaulted my son. That was vindictive on the part of the law, and a travesty of justice.

     That personal case is related, not to make anyone look bad, but sometimes those seeking justice do the accused injustices. My own son was the "big boy" they were after and they admitted it because we could do nothing about it. All the news reported that this young man was "brutally beaten;" that was their bombshell. They even had a benefit for the compulsive young man! The truth came out that he was accidentally injured when he made the assault. The narrative was that the young man had been mercilessly beaten by the big boy in town. That lie almost cost my son years in prison!

     In the case of the left vs. Donald Trump, Trump is the big boy! Little people, mostly in the Democrat party, but little man McCain as well, seemed to want to bring the big boy down. The truth finally vindicated my son, and truth has vindicated Donald Trump, not that that will stop the mob, but only impede them for a short time until another narrative is developed. At this moment, the minister of propaganda, Herr Schiff, is constructing a narrative because the big boy must be brought down!

     In an unjust world, and that is the type of "justice" to be expected. On the other hand, there are bombshells heard each day. The big "bombshell" was at one time the Big Bang Theory, then another "bombshell" was Higgs Boson. The conglomerate "bombshell" is that evolution has been proven. It has not been and never will be because scientists are on a witch-hunt. They want to convince the public that creationism is merely a collusion of religions.
     The narrative is that creationism is religious mythology; that it is a fable invented by man because we need a god to comfort us weak people. (Marx wrote that too.) Their version of the truth - or perversion - is that all the complexity, order, and harmony of the universe came into existence without a catalyst; that it happened on its own without a purpose for happening. That is taught in schools, in the media, and entertainment industry as factual; so much so, that it is obviously propaganda.
     People want to believe lies. Life is much easier without a God to dictate how we should live. The Creation is denied because narcissists want God dead so they can do what they will. Scientists want to make a name for themselves, and it is at the expense of God's Name:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 14).

     God's Name (Jesus) is the Word which created everything, even life. By denying the Creation, the world denies Jesus. He is the Big Boy the left is truly after; Donald Trump is merely collateral damage. That's a bold thing to say, but there will always be another person like Donald Trump, but there will never be another Jesus! Isa will claim to be but he is an impostor!
     What the left wants is chaos so that they can have America their way. Their way is Marxism. For discerning people, the Great Tribulation is the crescendo of Marxism, using civil methods for half, and violence and death for the rest. And people will only believe it is Marxism when it is actually Mohammadism.
     The left will believe their own narrative; that Islam is a peaceful religion. Is that not the narrative since 9/11? We must not fear Islamic terrorists but the destruction of American and Christianity from within. Islam will gradually erode the American way, and Christ's Way, until they need only enforce Sharia.
     There will be another bombshell shortly. Mr. Trump will be viciously attacked by the bastard children of Marx. Then there will be bombshell after bombshell until justice is perverted. Only those who prefer truth to lies can stop the destruction.
     Evolution can be dismissed as truthful because natural things move toward disorder because of entropy. The universe is a system, and it should be moving toward chaos, but it is not; it is becoming more ordered. even Christians except the false narrative. There has never been any proof of evolution. Those with motives present evidence, but their evidence, like the Clinton dossier, was created. Ironically, evolutionists deny creationism, then create evidence imaginatively!

Perception

     God made a covenant with Abraham, the Israelites, and even Christians who were to come later. Specifically, because of the covenant, God kept the Hebrews safe. As they were still in the wilderness, they were not yet saved, but like Job long before, God put an invisible hedge of safety about them until they were clear from Satan and his demonic angels. Christians, if truly faithful, to this day are safe from the hand of Satan, although like Job, Moses, and the wandering Hebrews; they were tested.

     I have written before that life is tribulation, not the Great Tribulation, as at the end of days, but it's a time for testing the faithful. The faith of the Hebrews was tested for forty-years while they wandered in the wilderness until death swallowed them up - some in victory - some not. (1 Cor 15:54). "That is why "to live is Christ; to die is gain" (Phil 1:21). Death is escapement from tribulation. Life is safety in Christ.

     Examine the Abrahamic Covenant - the deal God made with Moses to keep the Hebrews in safety:

And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. (Deut 29:2-5)

     First off, "temptations" in the that passage is an archaic term. The better definition is "testing" (Strong's Dictionary). God tests in various ways; the most obvious are trials and the other - miracles. He allows Satan to do the trying, and He does the miracles.
     The dictionary meaning of "miracle" is not exact enough; it is a natural effect without an obvious natural cause, although nature can be used for the miracle. Science refers to effects without causes as "discontinuities" - physical processes which are not continuous (i.e., do not adhere to the physical laws.) The Big Bang was a "discontinuity," for instance - its effect (bang) occurred without a cause (catalyst).
     Thus, the Big Bang was a miracle, and its "catalyst" was the intervention of God. (John 1:3). Satan is allowed to test faithful people - tribulation - and God tests them by annulling tribulation - miracles. Tests are natural causes, and miracles supra-natural. For instance, when Pharaoah pursued the Hebrews, the Israelites fled toward obvious peril to the Red Sea. The pursuit was a cause for what followed. Waters don't part at the whim of mankind. Just at the right time, the wind parted the sea and the Israelites passed unharmed as the Egyptians were trapped and died. Safety for the Hebrews and destruction of the Egyptians were the effects of a miracle. God was the catalyst which caused the sea to part and recede at specifically appropriate times.
     In today's passage, God recounted all the trials which the Hebrews had encountered and all the miracles they had seen, but they still did not believe. Moses pointed out that their clothing and shoes had not even worn out! Notwithstanding the parting of the Red Sea which some attributed to nature, Moses was asking, What about your like-new clothing and shoes after forty years of use? Use your heads, people, are these not miracles?
     Moses accused them of not believing their own eyes. They could see their good apparel but never perceived why they had not worn out! Nobody even questioned why; Moses had to point it out!
     A portion of the Covenant was "prosperity" for the Hebrew people. They looked at acquisition of and safety in the promised land as that prosperity. They failed to understand, except for Moses, that the prosperity that God promised was the Messiah. "Prosperity" is Jesus's salvation of mankind.
     When the time came, God attained flesh without a natural catalyst. The Holy Spirit came down on Mary and later a child was born called Jesus. There was a discontinuity with that conception; there was no natural intercourse. The conception of Jesus was the most important but next greatest miracle in which God was the "Intervener." The greatest miracle God ever did is from the first verse in the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1). The "heaven" is the void of space, and the "earth" is all the matter within that void. God generated the material and the void in which it was placed.
     Generation is a process. At the start, there was nothing with the exception of a "Catalyst" who is called "God." Everything, void and all, occurred spontaneously - the effect, seemingly without a cause. In evolution theory, no one was there in the beginning, but there was a "thing". Somehow the Higgs Boson pre-existed existence. From where did the boson originate?
    Explaining natural phenomena for the origin of the universe always ends up creating a new origin. In my lifetime, the origin was once the Big Bang, and now is a boson. The mystery keeps getting more mysterious with each level of human reasoning! Einstein quit pursuing an explanation for the discontinuity and attributed it to God. Just recently, a world renowned scientists came to the same conclusion - Michio Kaku. Although God and now Kaku credits God, many Christians do not!
     Yesterday, I wrote of Christianity as the religion without a God. That is just as the Jews before them, Christians do not perceive miracles. Many Christians know of the discontinuity of the Big Bang, yet fail to realize it was caused by the same miracle as the parting of the Red Sea and forty-years old shoes on doubters' feet! 
    What is the "temptation" or testing in the origin of the universe? Scienctists attempt to provide natural explanations for supra-natural causes. They conceal their explanation with words like "discontinuity." Scripture uses the word "miracle" in its stead. The origin of the universe was a miracle, which have not been satisfactorily explained by human minds. Many Christians still do not perceive the origin of the universe to be a miracle worked by God, yet even non-Christians such as Einstein and Kaku do! Where is the faith that generates a Christian. If God did not generate the earth, He certainly cannot regenerate it nor you! To be born again requires belief in the Creator God and Re-Creator God; that there was a genesis and hence there can be a re-genesis.
     God scoffs at false perceptions. The Hebrews looked at their feet and body and saw clothing still in great condtion, despite forty-years of wear. The did not perceive that a miracle or even the parting of the Red Sea. Many Jews and Chrisitians to this day look at the Creation and still do not perceive that it was a miracle. God scoffs at their lack of perception! Just as the safe Jews who all eventually died in the wilderness, safe Christians can still die while wandering in the world. Nobody is saved until they are in the real promised land - Heaven!

A Religion Without A God

     Historically, before the 12th century, the word "god" referred only to the divine presence; "The Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The word is capitalized out of respect, but "God" is not His name. God is the eternal and everlasting Existence, without name, because there is only one God. He need not be identified from others because there are no others.

     All religions must have a god to be a religion as "religion" is the worship of god(s). Judeo-Christianity is the worship of one particular God who made certain claims for Himself; that He created the heaven and Earth (Gen 1:1), and all life on Earth. (Gen 1-2). That is God's claim to fame and why people believe that He is God. In other words, the evidence that there is a god is the Creation. It is so self-evident because of the complexity, order, and harmony of the universe; that it must have been intelligently designed. Thus, a "god" of some type is the Supreme Mind that planned the universe and the life within it. 

     Mind is not enough to create. There must be power to generate anything. Mind is one attribute of any god, and Power is another. Processes occur for reasons. In thermodynamics, there is a law of conservation of energy. Thermodynamic processes occur to balance thermal energy. Those processes have at least one purpose. What purpose did the origin of physical existence have? One need only to look at what is the most important aspect of existence. It is to support life. For instance, space exploration is the quest for other living creatures. A god's purpose for creating things was for the benefit of living things. An origin without a purpose is irrational.

     This is written as if there are other gods. All religions have different gods. Ultimately, all religions believe the universe and life was created; they merely differ on who did the creating. Jews and Christians believe one particular God (now using the capital G) created. From the definition, there is only one God and one Ruler of the universe. That makes Judeo-Christianity a monotheistic religion (one God). If truly a "god," then only one God is necessary. Polytheism is oxymoronic, and defies the definition. According to the definition for God, there is only one Being who is God.

     There is only one God without a name. He refers to Himself as "Being." (I AM THAT I AM; Exod 3:14). For the convenience of His worshippers, the Hebrew letters transliteration into English are either (your choice) YHWH or YHVH, from which Yahweh and Jehovah are derived. Those are not God's name, but who God IS. God is called by several names, but only by one of them can anyone be saved. God in the Flesh is called Jesus (Mat 1:25) and his anointed title was called Christ (Mat 1:16). 

     How can the one true God be recognized? By His Flesh. No others who claim godhood put on flesh; either they were always flesh or they were always invisible. Because God dealt with humankind in person, He is a personal God as well as Creator. He was so personal that he had empathy for people who wrong Him. So much "love" that His Flesh - Jesus - died to redeem them, Yahweh is the only God who sacrificed Himself for mankind's wrongs. 

     It is important that worshippers understand that Jesus is God. He said "I AM" forty-eight times and claimed to be God. The apostle John said that everything was created by Jesus's hand (John 1:1-2) and gave the time - in the beginning. Without a Creator there is no God and no Jesus! Without a Creator there certainly is no Hell to be saved from, and no Heaven as a haven of safety. In other words, Christianity falls without a Creator. With that said, your loved ones are at best annihilated and you have no hope. Neither will other religions suffice because their gods claim to be creators as well.

     Did the universe merely originate on its own without a plan, no provider of power, and without a reason; or was it created by Someone with the Plan, the Power, and the Reason? Atheism is the first course, and theism the second. There is no middle position; either there is a God or there is not.

     Christians always believed in the Creation until The Enlightenment. That was the era was when the philosophy of men became paramount to the Doctrine of God. Satan's M.O. is to use much truth to present falsehoods. That is the process of deception. Because the world is round, the earth is heliocentric, and there is gravity; does not dismiss the reality of God. He already knew all that before the enlightenment because He created them. The only method by which God could be killed was to gather evidence, legitimate or not, to kill the idea of God. Evolution is the smoking gun, although Darwin never proved anything, but made observations about life. Evolution of the universe evolved from evolutionary adaptation of the different species. Not natural hybridization but adaptation. 

     Evolution from one species to another is fantasy with no actual evidence for it. If "evidence" is found, oftentimes, it is men who created the evidence. It's much like the dossier which was created to make the president traitorous. People do things like that for various reasons. Scripture hits that dead on; to make a name for themselves (Gen 11:4). Some had legitimate prestige, and others want it as well. If they can't discover new laws of natures, they manufacture them. Who are the ignorant masses who can dispute their cunningness? Few people even attempt to and those who do are ridiculed and ostracized. To them, it is ridiculous to believe in divine intelligence, particularly one, but not so ridiculous that chance originated the universe - something from nothing with not even a mind behind it all. Even Satanists believe in God and the Creation, so some Christians are further gone than they are!

     Many Christians accept evolution by faith. There is no defining evidence - no proof - but even Christians accept evolution by having faith in science. They have the "unknown god" of which Paul spoke. He is the magical, alchemist god who makes something from nothing. He is an aggregate god - polytheism - and "its" name is "Science.: He is a handsome bastard child of the Serpent, but as cunning as his father the Devil. Christians who believe in evolution have abandoned God who emancipated them, and returned to their father the Devil. They are Christians without a real God but have given Satan what he wants - he is their god.

Heaven Is For Real

     It is difficult to comprehend that Jesus existed before he was born. That is because Jesus is God, and his appearance is whenever God manifests Himself. Christians must forget the notion of "three persons" of the Holy Trinity; there are three substances but only one Person. The Old Testament is all about Jesus. The one - Jesus - who came after John the Baptist was before him (John 1:30). Not only was Jesus before the Baptist but was eternally before him:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.(John 1:1-3, 14).

     Jesus was there in the beginning. Where was he? He was, is, and always will be God.  The New Testament refers to Stephen's vision of God:

Hath not my (God's) hand made all these things? ... But he (Stephen), being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (Acts 7:50, 55-56).

     The "right hand of God" is not a physical position; it is a metaphor for "a place of honour or authority" (Strong's Dictionary; dexioj.) Jesus was always representative of God's authority. God's "hand" was His will. When God's will be done, it was recognition of the authority of Jesus. Isaiah the prophet understood Jesus. Like Stephen, Isaiah saw Jesus! The Holy Ghost - the Ghost of Jesus - allowed Stephen to see clearly into Heaven, and the Holy Spirit - the Power of God - allowed Isaiah to see, not the Ghost of Jesus, but Jesus very clearly before he was born.
     For those who read my commentary regularly, you should know that the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost is the same "substance" of God. The King James Version only, in context, used the Greek word, pneuma, interchangeably for "spirit" and "ghost." The difference seems to be a matter of experience:

(But this spake he of the Spirit (pneuma), which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost (pneuma) was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39).

    Jesus's transition from life to death was also the experience of the Holy Spirit: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46). Isaiah, again, saw the person Jesus before Jesus was ever born! Read what Isaiah saw:

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. (Isaiah 48:16-17)

     Jesus is who Isaiah saw in the past laying the foundation of the Earth, and teaching the Way to salvation in his ministry at Jerusalem. Did Isaiah see Jesus's hand? He surely did. Did he see Jesus's right hand? Likewise, according to scripture. He saw more than a metaphor. Although, Isaiah saw God's honor and authority in Jesus, he also saw Jesus physically. Isaiah saw both the Son of God and Son of Man.
     What aspect of Jesus was the "Son of Man?" He is the physical man Jesus - God's Flesh born of mankind in Mary's womb. Jesus has the same senses and emotions that everyone has. He and man have the same image! God knew what appearance that He would assume and gave mankind the same appearance, as is written: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom 8:29). It is no coincidence that Jesus looks the same as men, and men look the same as Jesus.
    Jesus's character or spiritual "nature" - the Spirit of God - looked like God's because Jesus was, is, and always will be God! The "Son of God" is God's spiritual image in Jesus: "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor 15:49). We all, including Jesus, have two images; one for the Earth and the other for Heaven. The body is the soul's physical image, and the Spirit, the soul's Heavenly image.
     It is the soul which is immortal. It was there before the foundation of the world (Ephes 1:4) and will be thereafter, embodied in incorruptible glorious flesh (1 Cor 15:52). The soul is mankind's constant. God breathed life unto man and he became "a living soul (Gen 2:7). In that context, living is here on Earth, because the soul pre-existed the beginning.
     That Stephen saw Jesus after he was resurrected and taken to Heaven validates that Jesus was real and is still alive. Corroborating evidence for Stephen's deposition is Isaiah's deposition. Isaiah saw a vision of Jesus creating the universe, and another of Jesus ministering to mankind in Israel. Perhaps Isaiah saw Jesus in Heaven as well because he saw the way men should go.
     Someone that Paul knew "fourteen years ago" went up into the third heaven in either body or spirit. Paul did not know. (2 Cor 12:2). That letter was written circa 56 A.D. (Biblehub). Stephen was stoned circa 36 A.D. (Wikipedia; St. Stephen). Paul was converted sometime between 33-36 A.D. (Wikipedia; Conversion of Paul). Simple subtraction is that it may have been neither Paul nor Stephen who went up to the third heaven. However, if it was one or the other, since circa means "around those dates," Stephen was a likely candidate as was Paul. Perhaps both Stephen and Paul went to the third heaven spiritually because they both saw Jesus in Heaven. Maybe Paul was recounting his experience much as the account of Stephen. However, if the dates are right, then Paul must have been the one who visited the third heaven because Stephen was dead and was there, whereas Paul was still alive and could have went there after his conversion.
     In one of my earlier commentaries, I dismissed the idea that it was Paul, because of dates. Because Paul could have visited the third heaven subsequent to his conversion, that leaves Paul as the likely person who saw heaven and testified to it. Isaiah, Stephen, and Paul vaidated that Heaven is for real!

Family

      We think about God and others. Some of the "others" most forgotten are family. Families are special. Marriages are not to be "put asunder" (Mark 10:19). Oftentimes with divorce, families are also put asunder. Marriage is symbolic of  men's and women's relationship with God in that Jesus is the groom and the Church is his bride. In that case, the family is the children of Jesus and the Church.
     This morning I had a dream: My children were young again and we three were close together, embracing and showing love. My oldest, always aloof, was not there. The dream was lucid; I dreamed that I loved my children, and in my dream I showed love. I still feel close to my dream-children. They were real to me. Perhaps I was reliving a memory; I don't know, but it was almost real!
     When my love and content was at a crescendo, I suddenly awakened, My dream was lost to reality, and it seemed that my loving children had died. I had not quite recovered from sleep, and it appeared that I had lost my children. It was almost as if I had went to the funeral of my own children, or perhaps they to mine. My oldest son's missing caused great anxiety. Where was he?
     All day long I mourned the "loss" of my children. I wished that I could relive with them their childhood and do it right. They are still alive; maybe it's not too late to love with more profundity. As I told my daughter, "I wish I could rewind life!" She said, "Me too!" Most people would have done things differently. The time I spent elsewhere was time lost with my children. The years I lost migrating to other jobs in other states was unfair to my children and parents.
     The time that I lost with my children was also time they lost with me. Time loss is double-time because loss with others doubles the loss. That means that when I didn't give my parents time, I robbed the same time from them! When I quit feeling sorry for my own lost time, was when I empathized with my parents' lost time. I never considered that when I moved away, they missed me, but only thought how much I missed them. There is no second-chances for my parents because they are gone. I did take time for their funerals, but that did not recover lost time, but only aggravated it. I could have added those last two days with the dead bodies to the last two days with their living souls.
    My vision at this moment is the smile on Dad's face as my glorified body stands besides his with one thing in common - we're there with Jesus so we're okay; no "very good" (Gen 1:31). My vision is my Mom with her wet cheek kisses. (She thought they did not "take" unless her lips were wet.)
     We can't rewind, but we can move forward. Take time for those who count, and if they don't count, include them. No one ever seems sorry until it's too late to rectify. This commentary is fair warning; don't do things differently next time; just cease the indifference this time!

Pitiful Sayings

     People ridicule those who quote scripture, and those who find church a must. There is some laziness and jealousy on the part of those who criticize the most. For the record, I am poor at quoting scripture but admire those who can. It takes effort, much effort, to memorize and remember. Going to church is not necessary for salvation, but is church attendance not a characteristic of Christians? What is the purpose of Church? To commune corporately with God. He pleasures when people gather together to worship Him (Mat 8:20). Church is to please God, not us. He doesn't even want people there who don't want to be there.
     Is it important to know scripture? Sure it is. Scripture is lessons in living so as to live eternally. If people believe in God, why would they not want to commune with Him. After all, He is God! People flock to concerts and theatres to see their latest entertainment idol. Why would they not want to flock to hear about the person who created everything? Hint: perhaps they don't really believe that! Perhaps they merely want insurance in case there is a Hell!
     A person doesn't have to be a theologian to be a Christian, albeit Christians should want to know about God. That's all theology is; learning the precepts (doctrine) of Christ. I am a self-taught theologian; maybe not even in the top one-million, but I want to know and teach others about God. Why waste my time? Because people are destined for Hell, and I must stop some of them. That's our jobs; we are royal priests (1 Pet 2:9). As such, my time is God's time. Think not? Challenge God and see how long you live. Theology is nothing more than attempting to understand who created you, why, and that you can be re-created. Are not those things important? Surely, but maybe not as important to you as the next concert or movie.
     I'm a Christian but I believe in evolution. That's not what I say but many people believe that way. You may be a Christian only because you don't want to go to Hell. That's a starting point, but God must be lifted up as you diminish yourselves. Denying God as Creator minimizes God; no it is the perception that He is not God! God's create. That's why they are gods. If truly a god, it only takes one to be God. The very idea of polytheism is oxymoronic; if God, then there need be only one.
     The Creation was the generation of the heaven, earth, and life on Earth. Born again is regeneration. Christians expect God to regenerate to save them from Hell, but do not credit Him for generating them in the first place. How could God do a re-genesis if He did not do the genesis?
     Before anyone can truly believe that God saves, they must believe that God gave life in the beginning. Salvation is creating a new incorruptible person. Creation was creating the original incorruptible person. But you say, Adam was corrupted! Yes he was, but he chose corruption, but by grace God corrected Adam's error. Sorrow and repentance restores to the original condition; not just as at birth, but back to the beginning of time. Regeneration returns those who repent back to the "very good" things in the Garden.
     Christians should never try to justify their laxity in Christian life by defending spiritual laziness. When they post silly things on social media, it makes them seem as poor examples of Christians; rationalizing their lack of performance to Christian standards.
     Christians have defended movies; There was just one F-word, as they condemn the preacher for merely expressing God's will: Why does he preach about sin and Hell so often? Salvation is from sin and Hell; that's why!
     The silliest remark that I've heard is, Before God will forgive you, you must forgive yourself. That is exactly wrong doctrine. The only part of salvation that people have is contrition and repentance. Roman Catholic priests have the perception that they can forgive sins. They cannot, and you cannot. If those who think such silly things knew scripture better, perhaps God's children would not say the silliest things! Know God? They don't even know scripture!
     So often I hear this about a theological idea: I think such and such. That's okay if there is a scriptural reason for thing that way. Most people's thoughts are based on nothing more than what pops into their heads. People have profound thoughts about the Doctrine of God without even knowing or studying that doctrine. They have their own person religion; "The Gospel According to Mable, Henry, and Butthead."
     Theology is important - it teaches how to live forever, but most would rather read about how to be entertained for the duration of life. Study scripture, and become an amateur theologian, and then you will know the truth.

Apathy

      HEADLINE: I know how to live longer! Learn my secret to a longer life.

     The word "apathy" is from the Latin apathes -  a means "without" and pathos "without feeling or emotion." How do you feel about God? (Shoulder shrug.) How do you feel about Hell? (Another should shrug.) Those responses are apathetic, and apathetic people are pathetic!
     The Bible aside, if I had the secret to longevity, non-caring people may even ask, What is longevity? They might even care more so if they know it means a long life. Once they understand longevity, maybe their interest might be peaked. I do know the secret to a longer life! Do you want to know how to extend your years? Respect authority!
     Indeed, if people respect authority, stress would be reduced, conflict prevented, no rage, no overeating, and less heart trouble. It's that simple. Add to that, exercise regularly, and life will be lengthened. Who made that rule? God, when it was written,  "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise" (Prov 6:6). The ways of the ant are busy and productive. When they work, they aren't eating. The number of obese people indicate that they are apathetic about the length of their lives.
    There are several commands for respecting authority. One in particular promises to lengthen lives: "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exod 20:12). Omit "and thy mother" and the idea becomes more apparent; "Honour thy Father." The preceding Ten Commandments are about honoring your Holy Father in Heaven. Why would not the Fifth Commandment follow suit? It has a double meaning as scripture often has.
     Honoring your parents, if you care, according to scripture, provides a longer number of days on earth. God didn't shift spiritual gears from Him to about others. The Fifth Commandment is a transition from Him to us! Do you want to live longer? Honor your parents; honor God! By doing the first helps with the latter. Both ways, it is respecting authority. Thus, the secret to a longer life on earth is respecting all those in authority.
     To live forever requires (not optional) respect for God's authority. He is your Heavenly Father, and to live forever, it is necessary to lift God up - to elevate His authority, as is written:

³ Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: ¹⁵ That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:3,7,14-15).

     To live forever is lifting-up God. How is that done? By showing what God did; His blood was on the lifeless serpent on his own "tree." The brass serpent, shing red in the sun, resembled blood on a dead serpent. That lifeless snake was THE Serpent dead on his Tree of Knowledge, which I call "The Philosophy Tree." The brazen Serpent was Satan and him crucified on his own cross (tree).
     A longer life is determined by how much we love others. An eternal life is determined by how much we love our Father, demonstrated by loving others. Extended life is simple, but eternal life is simpler. But most people just don't care about living longer until nearer the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). - which is death. The time to care is now; later the apathy may be so imbedded that even death cannot change it. Someday, everyone will care and to God all knees will bow and everyone will confess Him as Lord. (Rom 14:11).

The Age of Treason

    A zealot is, "a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Most think of compromise as beneficial and positive. The most uncompromising person in the Bible was Jesus Christ. Not one time did he ever compromise his doctrine for the world's. Second to Jesus was Saul - later renamed Paul,. Saul was legalistic and pursued Christians fanatically because Jesus claimed that he is God. Jesus wanted such a fanatical and uncompromising person to spread the gospel - the uncompromised gospel. Thus, zealot Saul against Christ was transformed into zealot Paul for Christ!
     Since the time of Paul, with few exceptions, the Holy Scriptures have been compromised. Catholicism, at the same time, was the offender and defender of the faith. They did quite well with Gnosticism and other heresies, and the Nicene Creed is certainly the Apostles Creed, then something went wrong; the Word of God was compromised until this day it is hardly recognizable. Likewise, the reformers straightened the crooked stick with Luther's Ninety-five Theses, then added the heresy of Calvinism. (I mean no offense to either Catholics or the Reformers, but that's just how it is!) It would be a tough thing to do to write about zealotry for truth, then compromise with doctrines not supported by scripture.   
     Twisting the Word is commonplace in modern times. Our antecedents actually did a fair job of keeping the faith. Since the advent of the Age of Reason, the deceived people of the enlightenment have believed that biblical truth was impossible. God's Law was replaced by the laws of science; as always, mostly truthful, but tempered with deception. Christians bought into the deception because it made sense. Miracles are irrational to be truthful, but that's why they are miracles!
    Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlets, The Age of Reason, between 1790 and 1800 which helped drive both the American and French Revolutions. Not only did he motivate political revolutions but a religious one as well. America mostly escaped the latter, but the French people had both a political and religious revolution. With compromise on religion, heads fell to the guillotine. Christians had been the main proponents respecting life. With Jesus seemingly killed again, France could behead its citizens with impunity. Not only did the church compromise its principles but abandoned them entirely. France traded their souls, in a Faustian manner, for their socialistic "republic", and ever since their church institution has declined with the rise of socialism.
     Everyday people trade-off their Christian beliefs for secular promises. Socialism is again in vogue in the United States. A young fanatic, Alexandra Ortega-Cortez, is the modern-era Hitler - just as zealous and uncompromising as Herr Hitler. The latter was such zealot for socialism that he nearly destroyed the world for Socialism and Theosophy. 
     Hitler meant to throw off the ideological and Christian yokes for the good of the German people. Fräulein Ortega-Cortez, a virtual unknown, just as her instigator, has shed first blood in the modern-era American Revolution. America will never be the same. I predict that it can end only in bloodshed!
     Alexandra is a zealot. All the socialists are zealots. Bernie Sanders has been a zealot all of his life. Socialists with their uncompromising attitudes are determined to overthrow the legitimate election of Donald Trump. Trump won't abdicate by resigning, they can't have him assassinated because that is more "uncivilized" than abortion, so they seek to impeach him, and if that doesn't work to minimize the president. They were even willing to deny him the presidency by declaring him mentally unfit by invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment. The government of the United States is on the verge of collapse aided by corrupt bureaucracies and zealot socialist judges. The three branches of government, finally, after all these years are out-of-balance. 
      In Nazi Gemany, it was reported that Christians heard the crying of Jews in the train cars as they passed by churches. What did they do? They sang a little louder (Penny Lea; "Sing A Little Louder"):

I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I  considered my-self a Christian.  I attended Church since I was a small boy.  We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place.  What could anyone do to stop it?

"A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from the distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track.  We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carry-ing Jews.  They were like cattle in those cars!

"Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing!  We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns.  By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices.  If some of the screams reached our ears, we'd just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep.  I can still hear them crying out for help.  G-d forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene."

     The German Christians compromised their religion, had a Nazi in the leadership of the church, and allowed Jews to die because they were not zealots for Christ. The Nazis were! Political ideologues are always zealots. Hitler was determined to complete the "Final Solution" of the Jews, and Christianity as collateral damage. Just as the French before him, the socialist Hitler through Heinrich Himmler, endeavored to kill God as well. Christianity is always diminished by socialism! That's just a fact because their Mein Kampf is the Communist/Socialist Manifesto. In the Marxist creed, God must die!
     Europe is already standing back from the Cross as Jesus's tears drip to the soiled ground. The Middle East fell to the Islamic brand of socialism over 1500 years ago. They even dirtied the ground on which Jews and Christians worshiped forever. In socialism, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. The West and Judeo-Christianity are the enemies of socialism and Islam. The alliance between Islam and Socialism seeks to destroy America. That was the same situation as when the Muslims supported the Nazi brand of socialism!
     Socialism always has a "final solution." Everyone but nth generation Aryans were exempt in Germany but even they became an endangered species if they disagreed with the Reich. German socialists picked on Jews and Christians, but their enemy was anyone who stood in the way of a thousand-year reign. They wanted to be as gods, and were zealots for godhood. Other than Winston Churchill, there were few zealots in the world to stand in their way! Neville Chamberlain - Naïve Neville - nearly compromised the British into extinction.
     Churchill took an uncompromising position; there was to be no mercy and no settlement with the evil socialist regime. At all costs, Germany had to be mercilessly defeated. If not for Churchill, we would all be Nazis today! World War II was won because it took zealotry to defeat zealots. Churchill converted the world to zealotry. That has all but died-out now.
      We can hear the silent scream of dying babies and the political train takes them to their graves. We cannot hear the voice of reason as socialist zealots scream their propaganda through the megaphones of the media. "Truth" is no longer truth; it is what the socialists say. Disagree with their dogma and the haters will knock at your door. But I am not a conservative but a moderate, you scream with pride. They are coming to take you away regardless. Russian socialism had their Bolsheviks (zealot majority) and Mensheviks (moderate minority). Bolsheviks did not compromise. Most now have never even heard of the moderate branch. Moderation is the enemy of zealots and although they think alike, the weaker must be eliminated.
    The French also had their Jacobians on the left and Girondins on the right with moderates sitting in the middle of the National Assembly. The Girondins were the first to suffer the guillotine, followed shortly by the moderates. It wasn't long before even the radical Jacobians were guillotined in the power struggle. Take my word for it from history, the progressive left of the Democrat Party will vicariously behead the moderate's wing of the party as the world just sings a little louder. The Democrat right was long ago beheaded from the party and Pelosi and Schumer are scheduled for the political guillotine!
    What won't work? Singing a little louder! They won't go away as the German Christians found out unless zealot Christians have a D-Day of their own. We must quit compromising with the world or we will be destroyed. Christians will again be beheaded for Jesus's name (Rev 20:4). Socialists everywhere have the guillotines ready; they only await the crisis to enable that. Perhaps America will have their own Reichstag fire. Perhaps the capitol will burn and the socialists will blame it on the Christians. Perhaps their Nero will burn Washington and blame it on the Christians. Are you understanding the tactics of totalitarianism? You better learn them. Visit your local history library and the Bible; then you may understand how the unseen war is waged.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephes 6;12).