DRAGONS AND DEMONS

  Dragons and demons are silliness to most, but are they really silly? Satan is THE “Dragon.” The only place that, that is clear is from the following vision, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven” (Rev 12:7-8). “The Dragon and his angels therein,” coincides with Job’s encounter with the supernatural: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” The “sons of God” are angels, but in this case, they came with Satan. Rebellious “angels” are demons and the message that they bear is deception.
  Jesus had just encountered Satan in the wilderness for forty days, and Satan was defeated. With that done, the demons, although afraid, confronted Jesus on another battleground.
  Jesus met the demon(s) in the synagogue. They came to the house of God for battle. I would suppose that they thought Satan would win out, so they did not flee as the Devil did. Synagogues were the “church” building for the Jews. It remained uninhabited by God until Jesus entered in on this occasion, obviously to do battle with the demons. The invisible universal “Church” (capital C) was not built until the Holy Ghost came after Jesus arose. However, demons battle God’s children on God’s threshing floor.  Don’t be surprised if the one near you in church has an unclean spirit.
  Jesus cleans His House. Here, he cleaned out the church building, but Jesus, by his death, consecrated all his numerous “temples,” and after His death, Jesus’s Holy Ghost occupied Christians. They were first named that after the reception of the Holy Ghost. It is implied that disciples were not “Christians” until the Holy Ghost entered into them.
  On the other side, Satan has only entered three beings of which I am aware: the Serpent (Dragon), Judas Iscariot, and the Antichrist, or the “Beast.” Demons, however, are Satan’s assistants - part of his legions. They can enter sinful or apathetic people with impunity. In effect, Catholic baptism is an exorcism of demons. They are alleged to be washed away with Holy Water when infants are eight days old. “Confirmation” is a soul-searching and comfirmation that the demons are gone. People are saved from Satan and his demons. If there are no “things” to be saved from, there is no salvation. Belief in Satan is imperative, and the same goes for demons. For true Christians, demons and dragons are far from being a mythology!
  Jesus, weak from fasting and boxing down the Evil Dragon, encountered a demon; where else? In “church.” Mark wrote of that occasion as did Luke:

There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

Saying, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Hold thy peace, and come out of him.”

And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.” (1 Mark 23-27) 

  Jesus’s Words were strong. He did what Christians are to do: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7). Satan seems to honor only as God allows. God had a purpose for the Serpent, Judas, and the Antichrist. They were all to betray Christ, but they were no ordinary demon-possessed but extraordinary. Satan himself entered at least those three beings.
  The demons knew who Jesus was. They had met him many times. They, or some like them, were with Job at his temptations. Mere men are too humble for Satan to devalue his time. Demons assist him. Satan is limited to one place at a time, and I would hope that he is cunning enough to spend time with the Pope than with me! With ultimate humility, even the demons avoid steadfast Christians. The blood and water of Jesus keeps them away, and the true Christians in safety.
  Demons visit churches. Why would they do that? Because they already have pagans but need to go where Christians should be. Demons profile easy prey. The prey may look clean on the outside, but demons know how they live. It makes sense that hypocrites fit the demon profile, and they go where hypocrites go, and if that doesn’t work, to those who devalue their rebirth. It is my firm belief that the third commandment means just that: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord (Jesus) thy God in vain (with apathy, frivolously, or even flippantly).”
  The “man” with the unclean spirit cried out. I believe the man was crying out. The demons need not speak, as Jesus knew that they knew and feared Him: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (Jas 2:19). When Jesus entered the “church,” the demon “devils” trembled because they knew that Jesus IS God – the same Existence Who created them. They knew Jesus’s creating power and knew that he could destroy what He had created! Demons sometimes speak honestly, and always so with Jesus. They know that to lie is meaningless because God is all-knowing: “I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”
  They knew that, at least this demon did, but did the other people in the synagogue. Perhaps not yet. Jesus merely spoke His Words and the demon came out. There were also other demons in God’s House, surely residing in other people. I write that because one demon said, “Let us alone!”
  One demon came out. Apparently, none of the others did. That leads me to believe that people must cooperate with Jesus to be cleansed from demons. Demon-possessed people must be willing to give up their demons. That is a hard task. People can have more than one demon, and perhaps this man did. Jesus Himself said that about legions of demons (Mark 5:9). That indicates that demons move together. The demon in Mark 5:9 (in the man of Gaderenes) indicated that he was multiple demons with one name – Legion. Jesus’s disciples could not cast out demons because some are so many (legions), Jesus said, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).

  This ten-day period, I am praying and fasting. I have spiritual needs for a loved-ones which I am willing to pray out, but keeping with scripture, I also am fasting. My fast is the same fast that Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego ate when they prayed for deliverance, and for the same duration. Apparently, there were many demons in the fiery furnace, and Jesus cast them all out. With prayer and fasting, that shows a willingness of individuals to be cleansed of demons. One man in the synagogue was willing to give up his demons, and my prayer is that my loved ones remove themselves from the temptations of the demons.

After the demon screamed in defeat, the other people were astonished. They asked, “What new doctrine is this?” It was not a new doctrine, it was just practicing the old doctrine, but this time, the demon-possessed people cooperated in the exorcism. The key word is “willingness.” God will never provide grace against one’s will. The doctrine of “irresistible grace” is flawed. Others in the synagogue resisted God’s grace. They didn’t cry out for Jesus to cleanse their soul. All the others resisted, and so do most believers to this day. God’s grace is more often, than not, resisted. Did Jesus know which demon would come out of which man? He knew but waited for the man to cry out. Just like that, Jesus came to him. Like the demon-possessed man, Jesus awaits men to cry out to him. If there is no cry, there is no grace.
  People need to humble themselves and cry out! “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (Jas 4:9-10). I have cried out and was cleansed. Babies cry out but are too young to be willing. Men must cry out to be delivered from demons.
  Are young people demon-possessed? Not until, they are willing to be. A life of sin signals demons of a sinner’s willingness. That’s why, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat 26:41). The man could do nothing but cry out. Jesus touched him and did the rest. Jesus lost his virtue, but the man gave up his pride!

Raging Demon (Credit: Dungeons and Dragons)

FILLED WITH WRATH

 Jesus spoke the words of Isaiah which were His own Words to Isaiah. He read them but knew of what He wrote many years ago using Isaiah’s hand. He merely opened the Torah, went right to the heart of the Word, and read it. The people of the synagogue, His own people, didn’t like what He was proffering: This son of Joseph thinks he is God. That was blasphemy to their ears.
  When Jesus read Holy Scripture – the very words that He had inspired – there were three possible responses: (1) antipathy, (2) apathy, or (3) conformity (acceptance and harmony to what was read).  If they had listened closely, they would have understood; He came to give them liberty from false thinking (Luke 4:18). However, although they knew that He was quoting scripture, His own people rejected His Word. They could have heard and not cared (apathy), or heard and accepted His Words (conformity), but they chose antipathy. They demonstrated wrath (anger) to Jesus for just being the Flesh of God - which they should have believed from the prophet Isaiah.
  Let’s diverge for a moment. Jesus came to share the gospel because disbelieving Jews should be saved. Indeed, they should have believed His Words. Instead, they were angered by His Words. Later, Jesus spoke these Words: “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). He was speaking to a Jewish Pharisee, Nicodemus, who knew Isaiah’s words, and is one of the Jews who should be saved. Not because Jesus was there, but because they knew of His coming. They also knew of His going and why so, as well, because Isaiah wrote about Jesus’s death. The Jews should have been safe already, based on God’s Word in former times, just as Abraham was safe by his faith in the coming Messiah. “Should” is implied, but in the Greek, means “not” and is descriptive of “perish” or destroyed. “Should” is not in that passage. There are at least three different translations: should not, will not, and shall not. The King James Version uses “should not.” It seems to be the correct translations and is not future indicative. “Shall” and “will” point toward the future whereas should is present tense.
  The Jews should not perish. They knew better but would perish because of their unbelief in Jesus’s Words! Neither should Christians perish who know the Words of Jesus, but many will (sometimes in the future). Would is a form of “will” and is future context. Likewise, Christians should be safe from perishing, and in the end, they shall be saved. We are without excuse because God came in the Flesh! The Jews were excused until the end of time. Unbelieving Jews and disbelieving Gentiles are either apathetic of antipathetic. Those who do not want to hear the Word are apathetic. They care less, they think, whether they go to Heaven of Hell because of unbelief.
  The Jews believed in Heaven, Hell, and the Messiah. They were in the synagogue listening to the Word directly. They even heard and understood. They should have believed because God was standing among them! However, they were wrathful. They believed Jesus would come, but didn’t want Him yet, although, if they were true believers, they would have welcome Jesus.  Their choice was wrath, and they were so full of anger that they would have killed their own Savior… the one who they were waiting and supposedly worshiping!
  If Jesus had said, Go on as you are, then things would have been different. But after reading, Jesus chastised them for being like the Jews in Elijah’s day shut up from the Heaven for 3-1/2 years. For 400 years of silence, Jesus had shut up the Heavens for Jews. They didn’t like the idea that they may be shut out of Paradise, and they surely weren’t thinking of Heaven but Israel. The Nazarenes to whom Jesus was speaking, were once part of Samaria, but at the time of Jesus it was in Judea, which was at that time greater than Judah had been. The Jews in old Samarian city of Nazareth had a different temple and a different holy mountain. Perhaps the Jews saw Jesus shutting them out of the holiest land!
  There was always antipathy between the Samaritans and the people of Judah. They surely took Jesus’s message wrong and became angry. They thought they were only killing the messenger, but He Was/IS/and Shall be the Message! The lesson here is that there are different responses people have to truth. With Jesus, they wanted to kill the messenger, but in modern churches they are more civil. If preachers preach the truth, as Jesus did, people according to  Jesus, “will be set free” (Luke 4:18). Free from what? Deception, distress, and eternally perishing (ibid). Like Lot’s wife years before when she was turned to stone, the Nazarenes did not want spiritual freedom and went wild.
  We still see that in many most churches to this day. People stomp out of churches when sin is preached against. They want to be as they want to be, and “TO BE” is what sin is, unless it is TO BE for Christ. Those Jews, who were shut out in Elijah’s day, were out for 3-1/2 years. Elijah returned at the transfiguration of Jesus to straighten that out with the Jews. It did not with most of them! By grace, during the Great Tribulation, the Jews will be shut out for 3-1/2 years, and 144,000 of them then allowed in for refusing to take the mark of the Beast.  The Jews who rejected Jesus did not see the light and represent the Jews who shall finally see the light during the final 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation.
  My suggestion is for angry people not to project wrath onto the preacher or Jesus. Anger is because people cannot obtain what they want. Perhaps they wanted Paradise now, and when they failed to get what they wanted, they became angry, even as they believed in Jesus. Will those same Jews be among the dead who arise first – that they are those who will after the first 3-1/2 years of tribulation? I don’t know, but perhaps when Jesus died, they came around. Only Jesus knows if they turned away from their wrath.

Nancy Pelosi (credit: Common Dreams)

SOCIALISM - THE INSANE IDEOLOGY

  As usual this morning, I was considering scripture as I was writing my latest book about socialism. My book is a comparison of Russian socialism to the American variety using Galina Veshnevskaya’s book as a reference. I am writing of what she experienced comparing it to what America may be about to experience, and even now, we are in its early stages. Now read the words of Jesus:

So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”

He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”

Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

Likewise, the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:10-14; NKJV)

 It is as if Jesus knew that socialism was a coming dogma. Perhaps he saw socialism in the Roman Republic turned oligarchy. Examine what he says, taking charity first: “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” That appears to be the same as the socialist slogan, “From those with ability; to those with need.” Jesus did say to give a basic need (for warmth) from those with two tunics to those without even one tunic.  Utopian socialism was based on that premise. It is called, “charity” and is voluntary. Jesus did not command giving but taught that charity is a fruit of those who love.

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man…

 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. (1 Pet 5:8-9,16; KJV)

  The qualification for relief is for widows in excess of sixty-years old who have been faithful to only one man. If another man steps in, then relief shall not be given. However, giving is premised on the giver providing for his own first. The breadwinners must provide for his own household before giving charity. Provision is sustenance; it is not after buying wine, new chariots, jewelry, and tattoos!  Those things are “wants.” Jesus spoke of having two cloaks and giving one. The second cloak is given to the one who does not have that basic need met. Wanting another cloak was not sufficient grounds for charitable works.

  I think back a few years: A young couple were struggling with medical bills. For Christmas she merely asked for relief of her medical bills which were tremendous. She suggested $25 or $30. That is a pittance for the average American. While I was considering giving them much more than that, she posted a picture of her and her husband’s new tattoos. Tattoos are their business but paying for their tattoos is not mine! Rather than giving anything, in dismay, I retained my charitable gift which I would give to another person truly needy. Essentially, the young lady was asking others to pay for her wants. That is unscriptural. They should provide for their own, and especially for their children before themselves.
  Growing up, our family had the basics - mostly from God’s garden. Sometimes we tired of beans and tomatoes and wanted ice cream. That was not a need, and we realized that. However, when Dad took us to the DQ, I noticed that he only ate the basic ice cream cone, whereas us young ones could have a sundae. Dad provided for his family first before himself. In my job, I worked for my family’s needs and God generously provided for our wants! According to my model – Dad – my children came first! Dad’s model was Jesus Christ.

  If a woman is able (under sixty) then she must provide for her own family. It is assumed that adult children provide for themselves. The charitable “umbrella” was not all inclusive; it was for those truly in need. For those who were sick, Jesus helped them. He did not provide blanket assistance but made eternal “health” available to all who wanted it. I believe eternal life is a must! Jesus provided for those who “must be born again” (John 3:7). The point is that the disciples depended on Jesus for medical and spiritual care. They went without doctors of the physique and certainly without psychologists! Jesus could have eliminated poverty, but he said, “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always” (Mat 26:11). Jesus was no socialist. He did not come for social justice but divine justice. Those who love him will have eternal health care. For those who do not love him; that’s a shame, for they could have it if they wanted it.
  Christians should, therefore, help elderly widows and their infant children, and perhaps elderly parents who live in the household, but not just anyone who moves in. The number of those with two cloaks are not plentiful enough to provide a cloak for everyone with needs which they could meet themselves, nor with wants. Jesus endorsed charitable giving for those who love him. He put qualifications on to whom to give: to those without a coat, from those with two coats. He never asked that those with no coat give to others with no coat, nor to leave themselves with only a sweater. Jesus defined charity in Luke 3:10-11. Then, he defined how socialism works, and advised the tax collectors to, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
  Tax collectors were to collect for the needs of the state – for the military and government. They abused that by over-taxing those with little income but who were working. If they did not work, they were made to work. How? By others not giving to them. People will work for their needs if they must! The tax collectors taxed those with the ability beyond their means. They over-taxed to provide for their and their family’s own wants. That’s what socialism does! Furthermore, if those with ability refused to pay the outlandish taxes, soldiers enforced that injustice. That’s how Utopian socialism turns out to be communism. Jesus saw it coming; he knew Marx before he was ever born!
  Even Utopian socialism is wrong. Throughout scripture, the Jews were destroyed because they did things on their own. Even kings were unnecessary since God was already THE King! They did it their way, and socialists attempt to create a Utopian paradise without God as King.
  The soldiers asked, “What shall we do?” Jesus replied, be fair to people, and added, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” Socialism is unfair in two respects: (1) It is not charitable, and (2) people do not manage their wages; the government does. Socialists don’t depend on God for fairness, but “Big Brother” – the Devil.
  Socialism, unlike Christianity, is based on discontent. The soldiers, as an example for everyone who was taxed, were to be satisfied with their wages. They should not want others to supplement what they earn but manage their money to supply their own needs as well as their families. Dissatisfaction comes from not having their wants met. Socialism deceives well; it changes needs into wants without even grimacing. Free medical care for all is their first want.  Most people have money for frivolous things, then demand that others who are more frugal pay for their luxuries. Free health care for everyone is not a basic need but a want. If it was a need, then people would budget for that instead of vacations, eating out, or the aforementioned tattoos.
  Added to the list of needs (sic) on the socialist menu is free abortions for all, paid for by those who manage their money well. They expect those with ability, and by the way motivation, to pay to kill their offspring! Imagine the insanity of that! Mr. hardworking taxpayer must pay for the poor ladies’ pleasuring, and add to that, the insult of having to pay for rich ladies’ pleasuring since free medical (sic) care is for all!
  Then Jesus told the soldiers not to intimidate anyone. Socialism turns into full-fledged communism because most people who cherish freedom resent the legalized theft of socialism. It turns out that Utopian socialism is a fantasy since their god does not provide an endless supply of wants like a genie would do. Jesus knew that soldiers would step in and intimidate those with ability to pay for those without the incentive to provide for their own wants. Socialism is foolish people voluntarily allowing the government to take from them and give to others, for a great commission of course, without being good stewards of the tribute they pay.
  “Tribute” is what oligarchies charge those they intimidate to confiscate their land and possessions, gradually of course. Hence, socialism is the pathway, not to a Utopian “paradise,” but to Hell on Earth. The Great Commission is not wasted gain, but to tell others that to die is gain! Free people would rather die than lose their freedom, and that’s why socialist governments confiscate guns. They can intimidate with impunity when there are no wespons! For me and my house, we want to remain free of that devilish ideology… the one Galina Veshnevskaya called, “Our insane ideology.”

THE WISDOM OF JESUS

  Jesus stayed behind from his family at twelve years of age to teach elders in the Temple. His parents thought that Jesus was lost, but it was they who were lost. Soon, they found Jesus. They found Jesus who had called others to hear him. Jesus was instructing the Jews in the meaning of the Word of God. Note that I capitalize and use the singular for “word.” It is known from John 1 that Jesus is the Word of God, and the words that God spoke are his!
  Most Jews, as most Christians, believe the Law is the Ten Commandments. In fact, discerning Jews call them the “Ten Words,” and as such, they are the very words of pre-incarnate Jesus. That means Jesus before he was ever born of flesh. What do you think Jesus was explaining in the Temple? Perhaps it was his Ten Words. That makes sense because by then most Jews took them as Commandments – things Jews MUST DO.
  The only “must do” in the New Testament is to, “Marvel not; ye MUST BE born again.” Ironically, that is a “must do,” but God does it for you when a person’s heart is receptive. If it was something YOU DO, then you would be endeavoring to deliver yourself from the evil one! Our only MUST DO is done by God; hence MUST BE is what people should marvel at.
  The Jews is the Temple marveled as the words of Jesus:

And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. (Luke 2:46-47)

  Astonishment is “marveling.” The doctors at the Temple were marveling at the words of Jesus. Note that Jesus was the Divine Healer, and he was teaching doctors of the physique how to heal. Again, I say, Jesus must have been explaining the Ten Words, not as Ten Commandments, but as the “Ten Prescriptions” for eternal healing! He was teaching the doctors how to fill prescriptions for longevity. Ironically, all Ten Prescriptions are fulfilled by one “dose” for remedy: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Rom 13:8). Love fulfilled the whole Law, and the Ten Ways for eternal life are consummated by loving the Good Doctor!
  Jesus, therefore, had his doctorate at twelve years old. He was so qualified that he tutored doctors of the remedy for eternal life. Why were they astonished? Why were they marveling? Because eternal life could be achieved, not by hard works, but a new beginning. Jesus must have told them to quit their marveling, and humble themselves. Humility is loving God and others more than oneself. Jesus reduced (for the serious doctors) what dosage was effective. Putting it in modern terms, they must cease esteeming themselves, and esteem The Teacher/Doctor – or God Himself!
  It took me years to understand that the Ten Commandments were not commandments at all, but ten ways to love God and others. (The first four – how to love God, and the remaining six – how to love others.) Hence, love fulfills all the Words of Jesus! The Ten Words are the metrics for the Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it. Jesus surely was teaching the doctors about the following:

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment.”

“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat 22:36-40)

  What readers miss much of the time was the clarification of what Jesus just said; “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” I was astonished when I learned that after forty or so years. Jesus knew that at twelve years old! How did he know that?
  Many theologians say that Joseph took time during their reprieve in Egypt to teach Jesus the Law; that the wisdom of Jesus was the wisdom of Joseph. Well, Joseph and Mary did not even understand that it was not Jesus who was lost, but themselves! When they found Jesus, they were “amazed” and were “anxious” (Luke 2:50). They did not at that time understand their brilliant son! Jesus explained to them, “I MUST BE about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).
  What was his Father’s “business?” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye MUST BE born again” (John 3:7). Why so? “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).  Joseph and Mary did not know those things! If they had, they would have merely let Jesus find his own Way home. It seems that Jesus was teaching both the Doctors and his parents the only MUST BE for salvation.
  Where, then, did Jesus obtain such wisdom if not from his father?

And the child grew (and at twelve-years old), and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40) 

  Jesus IS God. It was Jesus who wrote the Ten Words on stone for this very occasion. He came not to replace the law, but to fulfill it (Mat 5:17). Jesus was surely explaining that to the doctors. The Ten Prescriptions would all TEN be fulfilled by the grace of Jesus and his love. Jesus wasn’t taught anything. He wrote his Ten Words directly from his own Mind. The Grace of God was the Holy Spirit guiding Jesus’s finger when he wrote the Ten Prescriptions. The Ten Words have a reason written in the midst of them. It should have been a preamble: “Shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments (Exod 20:6).
  “Mercy” is the act of demonstrating grace, and consequently, is a display of love! The reason for the Ten Words was to demonstrate love to those who demonstrate love to Jesus. The Ten Prescriptions are demonstrative of how to love God! It’s hard to put arms around God, so that is demonstrated by loving others!
  Why was Jesus so wise? Not because of Jesus or Mary, but because of his Father in Heaven. Jesus spoke the words of the Law; they were his thoughts about love! He was teaching the doctors all about love. Love conquers all:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7 NKJV)

  The wisdom of Jesus was and is the wisdom of God. When Jesus spoke, even at that young age, it was the wisdom of God! How did that come about? Jesus became “strong in spirit, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:40). Just as Jesus was not created an adult, he was not created spiritually matured. His flesh was nothing more than an impedance. As his body grew, his wisdom grew. As he got older, the Spirit of God got fuller within his soul. Jesus’s soul was surely empty when he crowned, but because it was consecrated to the Lord, with time, Jesus became more imbued with the Holy Spirit. He was further imbued with the Holy Spirit after he was baptized by John. He as so consecrated, that when John baptized him, he was the ONLY one on whom the Holy Spirit remained (John 1:33)!
  By default, the Holy Spirit consecrated all the others, but only imbued the others after Jesus ascended (Acts 2). Just as Jesus grew in the Spirit, so do Christians. “Filling” requires time. For the first disciples, “filling” started with cleansing, and the imbuement came in Jerusalem during Pentecost. As iniquity was expunged with John’s Baptism, it made the time right for the Spirit to grow within the disciples at Pentecost.
  I have written before that “filling” as in “filled with the Spirit” is a process. Just as Jesus was commenced with the Spirit upon him, the disciples first encounter was the same process: “It (the Spirit) sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3), and only then were, “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:4). “Filled” in this context is “pimplēmi” –  or to “fulfill,” which is time dependent. Strong’s Concordance uses the word “imbued” as well. “Imbuing” is permeating, and is also time dependent. Were they all filled instantaneously? That is not explained. Perhaps, they start of the filling process commenced during Pentecost, but filling progressed as they were sanctified, or ridded of their sinful practices.
  This is commentary, and it should be considered just that. But how else can Christians still sin if they are indeed filled with the Spirit? Christians are a work in progress, finishing whenever endurance is completed. That is why death is gain, for those living according to Christ.

credit: AmazingFacts.org

CONTRAST: SAVED TO SAFE

  My commentary is in simple English today so that even dummies can understand rebirth! Rational people should not want to die. Everyone will suffer death. There are two highways from that moment in time when the heart and mind are separated. There is a highway to Hell, and a narrow Way to Heaven. Hell is eternal death; that is to say, “forever dying, all the while suffering tribulations.” Heaven, or Paradise, is forever living in bliss. “Bliss” is what the smart guys who make up big words call, “glorification.”
  “Good” is a spiritual condition. The “blessed” on Earth are treated good by God. Upon suffering death, the state of Christians will be wholly good, just as it was in the beginning at the Creation. Adam and Eve were created entirely good. In the Garden, the two were in “Glory,” which means that they were in the Presence of God whose radiance is Glory. God blesses, and the recipient is in a state of bliss. The Garden Paradise was blissful, and the heavenly Paradise is as well. Wise people seek to return to Paradise and live in bliss forever.
  Not only is bliss living in the Presence of God, but with no fear, tribulation, sickness, or death. None of those will be feared because they will no longer exist.
  Because God wanted companionship, mankind was given the ability to either love God or not. Love is nothing more than valuing God and others more than oneself. Love is what’s right, and is called “righteousness.” Not valuing God is hatred. Hatred is not necessarily an intense feeling; it may be just apathy toward God.
  Adam and Eve, when they sinned, didn’t despise God, but were apathetic to God’s Will. Their own “will” superseded God’s Will. That is “sin” because they considered, albeit naively, themselves TO BE Gods. Sin, in simple terms, is mankind wanting TO BE something that he or she is not! What people want TO BE is their own master in apathy to God who IS!
  “Will” is the ability to choose one of two or more choices. “Free will” is doing so without force of coercion. God never forces people to make decisions; they do so freely. Hence, sin is wrongly exercising the decision process, or free will.
  God’s Will is that His Creatures love Him of their own accord without coercion from Him (Acts 2:1). Mankind’s will is to love themselves more than God or others. God did not create them with that idea, or “propensity,” but that came later. In the beginning Adam and Eve, as entirely good, only wanted to please God. That was pure love!
  Because Adam (mankind) was entirely good, God provided them with everything, with no toil on their own. They lived safely inside God’s Garden with no fear, not even from the beasts! God had two trees in the middle of the Garden. They were to test the wills of the two people. One tree offered life, and the other beauty, pleasure, and wisdom. They could freely eat of the Tree of Life, but death was TO BE (sin) the outcome of eating of the forbidden tree. Because they didn’t understand death nor time, Eve ate first, but she was deceived. Deceived Eve confused Adam’s thinking and he ate as well.   Because he knew right but did wrong, he was the one with the greater sin.
Since the two then knew sin, they preferred the beauty, pleasure, and wisdom to God. When they got near the forbidden tree, they entered unto temptation. When they ate, temptation caused them to sin. They wanted more than God offered. They wanted what the Serpent offered. They lusted after beauty and the pleasures of the flesh, and the pride of doing in doing what they wanted to do, seemingly with no consequences!
  However, because they yielded to themselves, God convicted them (from out there somewhere) and they were ashamed. In shame, they tried to cover their sinful condition with the work of their own hands and made aprons of fig leaves. The work of their hands was insufficient so God made them coats from a living animal to cover all their flesh. They finally saw what death meant. God meant that as a preview what He would do for all the “Adams” sometime in the future.
  In the meantime, the coat of flesh kept the two safe until they would be saved. What did they fear? Death itself! Salvation is the time when sinners will be saved from death. Sinners (TO BE’s) WILL BE saved. They also began to understand time. God’s time is not our time. Christians will be saved in God’s time. God’s time is sometime in the future. God blessed the two sinners because they were humbled. It is daunting, but consider what God promised: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). God was saying that someday the serpent will be stepped on, and the “saver” from the Serpent will suffer for that. God was promising a Savior to put the Serpent is his place. With Judas hanging from the tree, and Jesus safe in his tomb, the deed was done thousands of years later!
  Jesus was safe from further peril and humiliation in his tomb. However, at death his Ghost had left him. Perhaps, it was the Ghost of Jesus who delivered all of our sins into Hell. At any rate, Jesus’s Ghost returned to him, he arose into the Glory of his Father back in Paradise, and Jesus was resurrected and was saved from harm in the world.
  We are like Jesus in many ways. The world is the place of sin because it is outside Paradise. The world tries to kill the souls of Christians by tainting the flesh. Those who believe in, depend on, and trust God for their spiritual condition are protected by an invisible barrier. Jesus’s Holy Ghost is that Protector. The Bible calls him the “Comforter.”
  Those who quit trying to save themselves from harm, and particularly spiritual death, depend entirely on God for that, and they are “born again.” Like Adam, they must believe that it is the living flesh of Jesus that keeps them safe from the evil one! The Name, “Jesus,” is God’s Purpose. He fulfilled the promise to Adam when Jesus suffered on the Holy Cross, and when Judas Iscariot; who Satan had entered, was dead on his own tree. Judas, like Adam long before, tried to keep himself from guilt by alleviating his own pain. Jesus death would have done that for him.
  The lesson learned from Adam and Judas is that no person has the power or capability to save themselves from death, and that death is not the flesh dying, but the soul perishing in continual punishment. Those who deny themselves and take up Jesus’s Purpose are “born again.”
  “Born again” is not the condition from the womb; it is the beginning of regeneration; back to the entirely good state in which Adam and Eve were generated. Hence, “born again” is generated again. Full regeneration cannot be done because the world is not good like the Garden was. Hence, full regeneration is done in God’s time. It is consummated at rebirth, but like a baby in the womb, there is a gestation period, culminating in spiritual “crowning.”  In between, all mankind must suffer death just as God did! Thereafter, for some, the suffering is just beginning, and for others the bliss begins. The first stage of bliss is that the soul is safe from harm. It returns to Paradise without the flesh. Stage two is the flesh returning to Paradise. At that time the soul continues its immortality. In new glorified (entirely good) flesh, the person shall never die and are saved from death and the wiles of the Devil. Thus, rebirth is a condition of safety and death the outcome of enduring safely throughout life, until finally saved!
  In many places the scripture says, “shall be saved” in the English. “Shall” indicates a future time. It could be the next moment or the next millennium. Reborn people, much like newborn babies, feel safe because they are in loving, welcoming, outstretched arms. However, just like babies, their very lives are in danger. Reborn people live in a state of alarm all their remaining lives just as babies during growth are always in jeopardy of dying. As long as babies do all that is prescribed, they live in relative security. They may die but feel safe and secure because of their medicine and protection.
  Reborn people are TO LIVE the same way. Their prognosis is that as long as they love God and others, they are safe from the cunning of the Devil. “TO LOVE” are the Words of God, and the Word IS Jesus. Jesus spoke the Ten Words, or the “Ten Prescriptions” of love to keep reborn people from dying spiritually. To fulfill the Ten Prescriptions is to live as Christ. With that done, safety is accomplished and to die is gain – or saved. Death is when the soul is saved from perishing. That’s what we are all waiting for, is it not?
  God is gracious; sin does create a safe space, but it is not saving. Abiding by the “prescriptions” without fail keeps one safe from harm. Missing one “dose” of the prescription will not cause death, but ignoring the Doctor repetitively, draws the wrath of the Good Doctor. He doesn’t insist on you taking His Prescriptions. You, like Judas before you, can die if you wish. However, to please the Doctor, the good patient has a desire to please the Good Doctor so that His treatments are effective. Good patients appreciate Good Doctors, and love Him for caring for them! Thus, the Ten Prescriptions condense to loving the Good Doctor so much that the good patient loves all others who are undergoing the same sicknesses!
  As long as the Ten Prescriptions are a fact of life, the “patient” is safe, but when the “patient” wantonly ignores the Good Doctor’s remedy, then death shall ensue. There’s that word “shall” again. As with Adam, it may not be right now, but soon, death shall come quickly – sometime in the future. Good patients who love as God Wills them to, are saved from death, if they endure to the end. When is the end? Until their will is no longer an issue. When the flesh dies, so does choices. There are no more contests of wills between the dead and Christ. Submission to God’s Will must be made before death. Hence, Christians are “Christians” at the time they are born again. God keeps them safe from Satan by the Holy Spirit upon them, much like the protective “hedge” around Job, and surely around Paradise. Christians are saved when their immortal souls are back in Paradise again. Even their flesh is saved when the living soul becomes one with the newly alive flesh in the Paradise of Heaven.
  How about Adam? God kept him safe in the world, and now because of the Promise he is saved. He as saved before Jesus died because he understood God’s sacrifice of his only Son. However, only Adam’s soul is in Paradise again, just as in the beginning before he was incarnated. In God’s time, we know not when because even Jesus does not know, Adam’s flesh shall be saved. It will be “snatched up” from Mount Calvary, if that is indeed the place of the skull of Adam, and go wherever Paradise is!
  Adam was the foundation of the Christian Church, and he and the other patriarchs will arise first, then those who have yet to die. On the day of that “rapture,” the flesh of the dead and those alive in Christ shall finally be saved! That is when hope is achieved. We don’t hope so, but know so, so much that the prize is as if it is in hand! That profound hope is the “assurance of salvation” … so sure that we shall be saved in God’s time that it is as if we are already saved! Hope is the feeling of safety in Christ until salvation is achieved at death; “to live is Christ; to die is gain!” That is from a condition of safety in Christ to salvation in Paradise.
  A condition of safety means living in peril. Satan’s role is to make us so unsafe that when we die, there is no gain. We, as our own masters, forfeit our eternal lives by doing things according to our own choices. The Way to salvation is living rightly; according the “Ten Prescriptions.” They demonstrate to God the seriousness of our own desires. They are metrics for living the Way of the Good Doctor, and if we love Him and His other “patients,” then he is gracious enough to keep us safe until His time for salvation.
  Rebirth is the time of belief. “Belief” in the sense that it is ultimate trust in God. Jesus said, “Marvel not; ye MUST BE born again” (John 3:7). That is the first time that Christians have been awakened from their sleep, or apathetic condition.  It is the only “must be” in the New Testament.
  Paul said, “…knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11). Regeneration begins at the time Christians first believe - when they come out of their apathy, and are born again with new insights (light). “Now” is this instant in life – the safety in which Christians live. Like Adam who put on flesh provided by God, he puts the Spirit of Jesus on those born again. Adam was born again when he was covered by God with flesh which had experienced death. Christians, when they are born again, have the Comforting Existence of Jesus’s Holy Ghost who experienced death imbued within us, keeping us safe from the harm of the Devil.
  The time that those who are born again really live, is from rebirth to death. Before people are born again, they live in fear of death because they deserve it! That is not truly living. If you remember “salvation” is when all fear is gone!
  “Now” is where the reborn person is at the moment. It is in safe space. Why so? Because salvation comes as time expires. Each day, Christians living in safety get nearer the time of salvation – the day that Satan can no longer do them harm! That day is the day of physical death when the living soul is saved from death. Just as Jesus’s Spirit lived through death, left him when it was finished, then still lived on; that is what happens to our souls when they are filled with Jesus’s Holy Ghost! Just as Jesus gave up the Ghost at his demise, Christians will give up their ghosts at the time of death because the soul (ghost of the Christian) is filled with God’s Spirit!
  When will the time of salvation come? “…he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Mat 10:22). He that is certain of his faith are as if saved right now! What is the assurance of salvation?

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (Jas 1:2)

  Birth starts at conception, goes through the safety of the womb in gestation, and the baby crowns when released from the flesh into the world. Rebirth is the same way! Rebirth – bringing into life – starts at the time one first believes, live in the safety of the womb for a lifetime, then at death they receive the crown of life… immortality. When the crown of life is obtained, that is the time of salvation, and not before then!
  It is unfortunate that the translators chose “saved” for the Greek word, sozos, in “shall be saved.” Because “shall be” is in the future, and “saved” past; that is not the best translation. “Shall” is not in the Greek. I believe that the best context would be, should be safe, because “safe” is another meaning of sozos. In fact, different translations of John 3:16 use both “shall not” and “should not perish.” I propose that they shall be saved when this life is over, and are safe until then!
  It is imperative to understand another thing: Just as Adam was kept safe, he still sinned, but because of grace, God overlooked those sins because Adam surely loved God for his coat of safety, and appreciated the life that was taken that he might live. Did Adam live a perfect life as he did in Paradise? He could not have because of the tribulations in the world, no matter how hard it was! However, because Adam trusted God for the hope of salvation thousands of years later, and endured to the end of 930 years, he was crowned with eternal life when he died, and his flesh will return from the dust to live again, as he is regenerated, as he was generated, entirely good in the beginning!
  The point to this commentary is that most do not understand what they claim TO BE. Even small children are taught the Calvinistic doctrine - I am saved - when they are born again. They are on the Way to salvation if their faith endures to the end, but Satan’s role is to circumvent that endurance.
  In Calvinistic doctrine by election and irresistible grace, Christians are saved before the foundation of the world, and non-Christians die before they are ever born. Compare that to John 3:16: “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.” “Whosoever” are not the eternal life lottery winners, but everyone is elected to live forever… If they believe in Jesus. The unborn know Jesus, but those reborn must believe in Jesus, and that he is God the Creator who generates life!
  When anyone is “born again,” they are reborn, at which time regeneration commences; are converted because of their new way of thinking when they are finally persuaded; and live in safety. However, they have the hope of salvation and shall be saved when they die; and if they live in love, are assured of salvation.

credit:trumpetcall

THE FACE OF THE LORD

  Throughout my many commentaries from the Old Testament (OT), I make a comparison; that “the Face of the Lord” is Jesus Christ. Likewise, “the finger of the Lord,” and the “hand of God.” In the OT, “the Face of the Lord” serves two purposes; to heal (1 Kings 13:6; restoration), and to punish evil ones (Psalm 34:16). Peter actually quoted that psalm when he wrote the following in his letter: “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Pet 3:12). Peter provided the two purposes of Jesus: (1) To protect the righteous (restore their safety), and (2) to punish the evil. “Positive Christianity” likes to think of Jesus as the Restorer, but never the Punisher.

More will be punished (by perishing) than restored by salvation! “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 7:14). Atheists don’t believe that. They are part of the many who will not be restored, and hence perish.

Most think of restoration (aka regeneration) as returning to a babe-like state. David, in Psalm 51, says that he was “shapen in iniquity.” Paul said, that none are without sin (Rom 3:23), hence everyone was born in iniquity since iniquity is “sinful behavior.” That condition is attitudinal; that people are the gods to whom all others, including God, must serve. The pre-condition for restoration is humility – that we must serve God (Luke 1:74), and not ourselves. The original sin was Adam serving himself rather than serving God. Before that time, God served Adam all his needs. 

Restoration is not returning to the innocence of infancy, but to the original generated condition; that being “wholly good” (Gen 1:31). Restoration is not re-consecrating oneself from spiritual contamination, but God doing that for us. Ironically, by serving God, God returns to serving His creatures!

Restoration is a process commencing with repentant people changing their dependence from themselves to God. They quit serving themselves and begin to serve God. That is humility and what meek people do. The process lasts throughout life, and those who endure the wiles of the Devil until the end, are restored, or finally regenerated. The wholly restored person is glorified. They are perfected by God and are worthy to be in His Presence; just as in the Garden Paradise.

Throughout the OT, the faithful loved and feared the Lord. Fear of the Lord is knowing that only He decides our future. Loving the Lord is appreciating Him by obedience to God’s Will. It is submitting our own will to God for His Will be done. The first time that the phrase “face of the Lord” is used in scripture was Lot in Sodom. “For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it” (Gen 19:13). Sodom was the epitome of evil, and represents Hell. God restored Lot and his family to life again outside that evil Hell-hole. Lot’s wife looked back in remembrance of sin, and perished. “The Face of God” restored Lot and caused his wife to perish. The Face of God has always been both Restorer and Punisher. The Face of God is Jesus!

Moses desired to see God’s Face. If he did, he would have died because of the Glory of it (Exod 10:28). Finally, Moses saw the Face of God and to demonstrate to him that Jesus is the Face of God, Jesus’s countenance was transfigured by putting his face on God. The evidence that “the Face of the Lord” is Jesus was at the transfiguration. It was a completion of the Lord after revealing his backside to Moses:

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. (Exod 33:20-22)

Compare that to the transfiguration of Jesus:

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (Mat 17:1-3,5)

Then Jeremiah encouraged the Jews to do as Moses did:

Go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. (Jer 2:21)

Moses saw the Face of the Lord as Restorer/Savior. Jeremiah saw the Face of the Lord as Punisher. Christians must see Christ as both! With one Gate, and two choices, it is either reward or punishment. Positive Christianity has half a gospel. The truth is that Jesus – the Face of God – shall restore a few, but allow most to perish at the hand of Satan. That is a hard-teaching but is truth. That realization is to be set free from deception. 

Zachariah was the first person in the New Testament to realize that the Face of the Lord who he worshiped as priest was the person Jesus! “And thou, child (John the Baptist), shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his (Jesus’s) ways. (Luke 1:76). 

Understanding that “the Face of the Lord” in the OT is pre-incarnate Jesus is imperative to understanding the OT! John said that Jesus was there in the beginning (John 1). If so, where was he? His Face was on God throughout the entire OT; the patriarchs just were not allowed to see Jesus. In a few cases, Jesus appeared to mankind (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar, Jacob, and a few others.) Jacob wrestled with God and said this: “And Jacob called the of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen 32:32). For Jacob (Israel) the Face of the Lord was as Savior!

Note that, that event was before God appeared to Moses. The Law changed things. It made the Hebrews of unworthy of seeing the Face of the Lord. When God showed his Face with the birth of Jesus, the Law was no longer there to shame. The Face of the Lord fulfilled the Law!  No longer was the Law a curse, but a blessing because Jesus would remiss the sins of the faithful (Luke 1:71).

The Law was for punishing, but the Face of the Lord allowed for restoration, starting with the remission of sins, and ending in salvation and ultimate full restoration in the end!

The Transfiguration of Jesus (credit: Franciscan Media)

JESUS IS PROOF OF GOD'S EXISTENCE

KEY VERSES: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom 10:13)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

(All; Rom 3:23) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. (Rom 3:24-25a)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb 9:22)

A young friend of mine who was studying to become a preacher said, “I thought everyone in the Old Testament (OT) was going to Hell.” Because he had yet to understand Jesus, he damned Moses, David, and Abraham to eternal death! That is significant, especially since the prophets; just as the apostles, are the very foundation of the Church (Ephes 2:20). How could people in Hell be the foundation of the Church? They were early apostles in that they too were ardent supporters of Jesus Christ, and many of them were baptized in blood. Baptism in blood is dying the death of a martyr. The prophets, like the apostles, were such ardent supporters of Jesus the Messiah that they died rather than forsake him!

It shall soon be revealed how the prophets and other patriarchs were saved by the blood of a man who had yet to exist. First, consider the key verses. “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” Whosoever includes the patriarchs of the Old Covenant. What must they have done to be saved? “Call upon the Name of the Lord.” That began with Enos, the son of Seth: “Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26). Seth’s line were righteous men (Sons of God), whereas Cain’s were the unrighteous (Daughters of Men).  Enos (Enosh) means “weak socially.” Enos humbled himself to the Lord by calling upon the Name. 

Where the Old Testament reads “Name,” for now take that to be pre-incarnate Jesus. First off, if anyone have seen Jesus they have seen God:  

Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:8-9)

Jesus is the “Face of God” which was concealed from Moses. He saw Jesus as a burning bush, but not God’s “Face” – Jesus. However, the Burning Bush was Jesus for it spoke the Word of the Lord. Philip, unlike Moses, saw the Face of God in Jesus. Reverse that now; he that hath seen the Father hath seen me! Jesus was the very Face of God whose Word all the patriarchs heard. It means as well, he that hath heard the Word hath heard me. The “Word” accompanies the Face and Jesus’s tongue spoke the Logos (Word). Finally, at the transfiguration of Jesus, Moses saw God face to Face! He saw what he had only envisioned before.

“Saved” from the key verse is safe from the Devil and Hell. It was the Word of the Lord, and belief in the Name of the Lord that kept Israelites safe through the centuries. For the Jews that endure to the end, they too shall be saved. (The 144,000 in Revelation). The patriarchs were saved because they endured to their end: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Aaron, and all the others. Take Moses, for instance; he endured until the Jews got to safety, then his purpose for God was complete:

Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (Heb 9:18-20)

Suffice it to say, that the blood and water in Moses’s sacrifices were symbolic of the blood and water which Jesus was to sacrifice for him alike: “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his (Jesus’s) side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34).

In like manner, Abraham was faithful; willing to sacrifice his only remaining son; just as God would do with His, and Abraham was rewarded with eternal prosperity. 

It is to be concluded that Abraham, Moses, et al had more faith than those who saw Jesus! In fact, the epitome of faith was Abraham whose willingness to please God was through faith, and not of the Law (Rom 4:13). Abraham was like those, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” from the key verses. In fact, Moses shed blood as a propitiation for redemption, and Abraham was willing to shed his own blood as a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do!

Would you shed your own blood? Would you shed your child’s blood to demonstrate your faith? Moses shed the blood of his firstfruits, and Abraham was willing to do the same with Isaac. They both had greater faith than most Christians who won’t even tithe their dollars!

Jesus said that he is the Way, and the only Way by the way, to be saved; “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” God’s Bosom is Jesus. Moses’s safety was in Abraham’s Bosom. Believers are safe in the Lord’s “Bosom” until Paradise is prepared for the habitation of the saints who will be snatched-up from the grave. What is “Abraham’s Bosom?” Examine Genesis: Abraham’s Bosom was his seed. His seed was Jesus Christ! Abraham is safe in his own bosom since Jesus IS his “bosom” so to speak.

God took on flesh Himself to become the sacrifice, not at each year as of old, nor on special occasions, but once for all time and for all (Heb 10:10), according to the key verses: “Propitiation through faith in his blood.” Redemption is by the act of God shedding His own blood instead of the ones who should have died for causing God’s wrath. As my book, Killing God, testifies to; all sinners killed God!

In the OT, the priests redeemed the Hebrews by sacrificing the blood of their firstfuits – their unblemished animals, especially their lambs. They did that with the anticipation that it was a temporary sacrifice until the time of the Covenant of Grace. Paul explained the difference when he wrote, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (from the last of the key verses).

The yearly sacrifices in the OT were for the remission of sins, and it took the shedding of blood. It was not the blood of animals that were efficacious, but that bloodshed would appease the wrath of God. Although the sacrifices were acceptable, it was the faith in the coming Messiah that was efficacious, and the shedding of blood was for redemption – which is the remission of sins. When the lambs were killed, the patriarchs saw the Face of God dying; they saw Jesus on the Cross. 

We look back at the past, and are redeemed by the event. The patriarchs looked forward to the future and were redeemed by the anticipation of the event. It took them more faith to see into the future than it does for those under the New Covenant to believe what happened in the past.

The apostle John understood Jesus. He is the “Beloved” for a reason. He not only loved God’s Flesh, but understood that he loved God’s Word. John saw God face to Face, but Moses only heard His Word. How is that? “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him’ (John 1:18). Just as Jesus was in Abraham’s “bosom” through King David as the Son of David, he was from God’s “bosom’ Yahweh was/IS his Father. John knew that God’s Face (Jesus) was the declaration of His Existence. How did they know Jesus IS God? Because God’s Existence in the Flesh declared it so! Jesus is the “declaration” of God, or the proof that God Exists!

Why write this commentary? It is a declaration that Jesus and God are one – that Jesus is the Person of God with a Personality, and a face.  No other gods have declared themselves with other than wood, gold, or stone. They were gods that people Created. John chapter one confirmed that Jesus was never created, but always existed; therefore, as the Existence, Jesus IS God! 

The image of Jesus the signet from Caesar's Ring

WALLS - THE WALL THAT BERNIE IS BUILDING

  Since middle school and earlier, kids are taught that there must be a "wall between the Church and State."  Church is the first estate and the nobility the second estate. That leaves the people as the third estate. "Estates" are assemblies of people of common purposes who represent their constituents. The "Church" is the body of believers. At the time when estates were important, the Church were the Christians. At that time, the nobility governed, and thus the government was the second estate. The people were those with allegiance to the Church, the State, or both. Allegiance to the government would detract from God and allegiance to God, from the state.
  In feudal times, however, the State was secondary to the Church, specifically to Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations of the Church. Many of the colonies in America had "state" churches. The Church's power was eliminated in the foundation of America. Baptists, for instance, were arrested in Virginia for preaching a doctrine other than Anglican. At their behest, Thomas Jefferson sought protection for the Baptist denomination against the state church. That separation of Church and State was never in the U.S. Constitution, but people quote it as if it is! That is Big Lie!
  Big Lie? What does that mean? Those are lies so preposterous that no one could make them up! Hitler's "Big Lie" was that the Jews were entirely responsible for the troubles of the German people. They repeated it often enough that almost everyone believed it. That the "Church and State" has a wall between them is America's Big Lie. Liberals love that non-existent wall. They have built an ideological wall between God and the people, and the government is that "wall."
  "Stone walls do not a prison make" according to Richard Lovelace is familiar to most of us. Physical walls are not nearly as repressive to people than invisible walls. Many have been persecuted by the State because of the invisible ideological wall of separation of Church and State.
  Walls are usually for one purpose - to keep threatening people outside. They are built for safety reasons. Repressive governments build walls for another reason - to keep captive people in! The first wall on record kept two faithful people safe within, and when they went rebel, to keep dangerous people outside (Adam and Eve). Thus walls are situational, or better yet, attitudianl.
  For instance, Christians have a wall between them and the world. It too is ideological. It is the Wall of Attitude referred to as "sanctification." For Christians, the wall is made of love, but to non-Christians, it is a wall of hatred.  Evil people persecute for God's Name sake... because of Jesus. Jesus rules in true Christians' lives, and if he does, the government does not rule. How can the government maintain power? By building an ideological wall between Jesus and Lady Liberty. The goddess Libertas is allowed in, but God kept outside. In America, Liberty is worshiped more than Jesus., who  weeps for our naivete. The cunning Serpent is still cunning, and most Americans put more importance on liberty than spiritual freedom!
  That walls are one-way in most cases has great significance. It turns out that the wall between Church and State keeps God from crossing, but the government can cross at will. God is kept out of government, but the government encroaches on the Church whenever they wish! Even Thomas Jefferson, as well as the Baptists, were naive about that wall! Who would have ever dreamed that liberals would have created the Big Lie about that wall! They did though, and it still stands. Liberals love walls, but only their walls; ones that they can cross but conservatives cannot.
   God tore down the wall of Jericho. It was a fortress to keep God's people out. Ironically, it also kept the people of Jericho from knowing the One True God. Again, walls are how one looks at them. What if the Canaanites in Jericho had been hospitable to the Hebrews and had welcomed them in? It's obvious that there would have been accordance between those two groups. The hospitality of the Jews, coupled with their strength, would have been extraordinary for the people of Jericho. Perhaps they would have become God's people as well! However, they took the path of rebellion, and God knocked that wall down, much as he did with the Berlin Wall of Russia. That wall kept Christians out so that East Germans could not see the benevolence of God, but it was a stone wall that did a prison make.
  That wall was an ideological wall as well. The stone (bricks an mortar) only maintained the ideologues inside - in a virtual prison. "Stones do not a prison make," but socialism does a prison make! When people discover they have been duped by Marxism, they always want out! Socialism does indeed imprison people, but if they do not know what is outside, they seem to be content inside. Those outside socialist walls see them imprisoned and pity them for believing the Big Lie. Why fear socialism? The Berlin Wall stood in Berlin, making the West feel they were safe. But all the while, socialism was expanding their wall to encircle naive liberals in the West. Today, the Berlin Wall not only encircles Germany, but the Scandinavian countries and Russia. Now the "Berlin Wall" is coming to America; brought to you by Bernie Sanders and his competitors.
  Bernie has good intentions. The wall he is building allows people in with ease. However, once in, clueless people will never be let out. Can't you see the wall that he is building? I can! Kyle Jurek, Bernie Sanders's field operative responded to a question about Trump, if elected: “F–ing cities burn" ... “I mean, we don’t have a lot of time left, we have to save f–ing human civilization.” He added, “We’re going to make 1978 (meaning 1968) look like a f–ing Girl Scout f–ing cookout,” and “The cops are going to be the ones that are getting f–ing beaten in Milwaukee. They’re going to call out the National Guard for that s–t. I promise you that.” To make his point, Jurek added, “If Bernie doesn’t get the nomination, or it goes to the second round at the DNC convention, f–ing Milwaukee will burn" ... “It’ll start in Milwaukee, and then when the police push back on that, other cities will just f–ing burn.”
  Another Bernie Supporter, feeling the Bern, has already indicted that the violent revolutionis in in the planning stages:

Project Veritas has apparently snared another pro-Soviet, pro-gulag Bernie Sanders campaign staffer, this one saying in a hidden-camera video released Tuesday that he was ready to “get armed” for the “revolution” and musing about sending Republicans to “reeducation camps.”   The footage featured a man identified as “paid” South Carolina field organizer Martin Weissgerber was posted a week after the release of video featuring radical Iowa field organizer Kyle Jurek, part of the undercover journalism outfit’s #Expose2020 series.  In the video, Mr. Weissgerber described himself as a communist and said that he was in contact with groups that planned to hold mass “yellow-vest” protests like those that have roiled France if Mr. Sanders loses... “I’m telling you. Guillotine the rich.” (Washington Times; Valerie Richardson; Jan 21, 2020).

  As you can see, Bernie is the mild-mannered man building the wall, but people like Jurek and Weissgerber are part of the evil empire who will keep deceived people inside the ideological wall once it is built! It should be clear to reasonable people of the ease of getting in, but the difficulty it will be getting out! Because voters are stupid (liberal Jonathan Gruber's words), they are helping Bernie build the wall, but when they want out, Jurek-types will demand them stay in and use force to keep them in!
  That wall will keep God out, and indeed, Jurek-types will endeavor to "kill" God by keeping Him outside the Marxist wall.
    Socialism is voluntary Marxism. When the façade is exposed, and the people tire of the evil empire, then communism evolves from socialism. The only difference is that under socialism the masses will go to the "gas chambers" much as zombies from their graves, but communism uses "cattle prods" for the same end result.
  Bernie Sanders is not evil, but a mere useful "tool" and "fool" for those like Jurek and Weissgerber. Once Bernie is in power, if it ever came to that, like Leon Trostsky long before him, his "friends" will surely assassinate him, or at a minimum, his character!  Sanders is a secular Jew just as Trotsky. Much like Trotsky, both are more moderate than the Bolsheviks. I would consider Sanders to be a Menshevik just as Trotsky. Likewise, the "Bolshevik" faction - those like Jurek - will have their own "Stalin." Like the tzars before them, Jewish heads will roll. Perhaps Bernie's will be the first to suffer the ideological guillotine!
  I write this from the heart! Socialism destroys countries, and the souls of men. For them, according to the words of Marx, religion (Christianity) is merely the opiate of the people to keep themselves satisfied with what they have. In the end, socialism is the true opiate, and like the National Socialist invention, - crystal meth - it will kill you!
  Capitalists have a dream. It is a dream already come true; it is the American Dream. Socialism wants to replace that heritage with the Marxist nightmare. The U.S.S.R. was the real nightmare as was National Socialism. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (Einstein).  That is thematic of socialism. Galina Veshnevskaya called that nightmare, "Our insane ideology!"
  Those voting for the outright socialist are ideologically "insane," They go with open eyes and willingness to the gulag. The problem is that Buttigeig, Warren, Klobuchar, Sestak, Biden, and Bloomberg are less transparent. They pose as "progressives," but anyone in the "basket of deplorables" should be able to see that each one endeavors to out-socialist Bernie! They are all "Stalins," but only Sanders admits to that!
  Wake up, America. Just as Sharia Law is out to destroy Christianity and capitalism in America, so is Socialist ideology! In the end, communism (Marxism) and Islam have the same antipathy for us "devil" Christians, and in the end both have been known to behead! Build that wall! Keep America American!
  John the Revelator summed up the Brave New World's religion and government with irony,  no walls between them:

And he (the Antichrist) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (Rev 13L16-18)

  The Beast will be a world leader in a brave newer evil world. His economy will be Marxist. Proper credentials will be required to buy and sell. That, my friends, is Russian and German socialism. That Beast will proclaim himself a "god." That Beast from the Middle East will usher in communism. There is little difference between communism and Sharia Law. The Islamic Beast - Isa (the Antichrist) - will ride in on a pale horse, representing death by the guillotine.
  When naïve Americans vote for socialists, (i.e, Democrats) they shall eventually receive spiritual death! You may not understand that, just as Adam and Eve did not, but death comes with the pale horse of the apocalypse. The rider of that horse is a Muslim person. Preceding the pale horse is a rider on a red horse. That horse's rider is some tzar-like Stalin who precedes death. I believe those two horses represent Islamic Marxism, and their plan is to introduce communistic Sharia Law through peaceful means before the booby trap is sprung! Beware the riders of all but One on the White Horse. He will ride to save the damned!
  Oh, did I forget the black horse of the apocalypse? The rider of that horse is famine. Socialism promises all types of free stuff to the masses, but time after time, the stupid voters only receive famine and starvation!
  The modern-day "Big Lies" are two: (1) Islam is a peaceful religion, and (2) socialism is for the common good of the masses.

The Berlin Wall (Bernie's Wall)