JESUS: THE SON OF ABRAHAM

Continuing in the Book of Matthew, so and so begat so and so, commencing with Abraham to the Diaspora, to David, and then from David to Jesus.

The word, “begat” is from the Greek, “gennao” whose root is “genos” or “genus” in English. Genus is a taxonomical classification in between family and species.

Species are individual creatures that can interbreed whereas a family are those with a common ancestor. So, a genus is a group that are of one family but technically should not breed one with the other, thus incest is forbidden by God because it is unnatural.

As such, those from Abraham to Jesus were of the same family of the species and were so closely related that their genes remained pure, not engaging in parent-child intercourse. Jesus was what we call now, “pure-blooded” — He was a Hebrew in his paternal genome. Jesus had to be pure-blooded to be pure, and also to be the son of David.

Luke added the genealogy of Jesus from His supposed father, Joseph back to God through Adam. Luke indicated that Jesus was pure-bred to God through Adam’s kind.

Note that Jesus was without guile. His mother was not Mary who carried the mitochondrial DNA of Eve, the “mother of all living.” Mary was not His mother… and Jesus verified that (Mat 12:47-49). Mary was the “vessel” that God chose to transport Himself from one realm to another.

Eve was beguiled; Jesus was not, so Eve was not the mother of God at all.

John got it right; Jesus was the Son of God and had no mother. His genome fit the genome of Melchizedek, “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Heb 7:3). “Made like” in that verse is “aphomoioo” — a model image of the Son of God — Jesus.

On the other hand, John gave the lineage of Jesus without the begatting. All those of that genus were supposed ancestors of Joseph and hence the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph was insignificant. However, they do point toward Jesus as the supposed rightful king of Judea as the supposed gens of David.

Matthew 1:1 says, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

“Son of David” is just “yhios,” meaning “descendant” whereas in the Hebrew Jesus was the “ben” of God, meaning family. Therefore, yhios would mean that Jesus is of the family of both Abraham and David, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant — “To make Abraham the father of many nations and of many descendants and give "the whole land of Canaan" to his descendants” (Wikipedia; Gen 17:2-9).

David owned that land of Canaan at one time; all the way from Egypt to the Euphrates River — the “fertile crescent” which is perhaps the “bow” that Noah saw as he looked toward that land in the western horizon from the headwaters of the Euphrates.

That land was the “promised land” and Abraham was king of the promise. He resided in the promised land (Canaan) and was a king according to the Book of Jasher, but his “land” was in the realm of heaven.

Jesus was both heir to the land and the promise, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36), Jesus said.  His kingdom was the kingdom of Abraham which Luke called “Abraham’s Bosom” (Luke 16:22).

Jesus denied the landed kingdom at the crucifixion, but claimed the throne of Abraham who in death was king pro tem (the time being before the crucifixion) of the invisible kingdom where Jesus now reigns.

So, now, if nothing else, the reader should have learned that Abraham’s Bosom is the Kingdom of God in Paradise, but it was only until the time of Jesus’s reign. Those who died before rested in Abraham’s Bosom because he was king of the Promised Land in another realm.

As the son of Abraham and the son of David, Jesus had rights to both kingdoms, but rejected to be a king in this world, preferring to be a servant to mankind in this realm.

That brings us to the conclusion of Matthew’s genealogy of Joseph because Jews always kept their genealogy. It was a very necessary thing to show that they were sons of Abraham and of David.

Most fit the son of Abraham quite well because they were Hebrews. However, only a small fraction were sons of David, and as one of the few through Joseph, Jesus would be heir to the throne of Judea which was without a king during the maturity of Jesus.

That Jesus was the son of David was not significant to Jesus but that He was the son of Abraham would be because Abraham’s kingdom was not of this world. He was rightful heir, and now Christians lie in the Bosom of Christ, and Abraham has fulfilled his purpose — to reign over Paradise until the real King reigned.

The son (ben) of Abraham and Sarah was supposedly Isaac. I have written before that since Sarah was barren and surely by then, Abraham was impotent (she laughed), then Isaac was the son of God and without a mother, just like Jesus as Melchizedek. Not that Isaac was another Jesus but a “placeholder” until Jesus was born, thus as Paul wrote, “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly” with a circumcised heart (Rom 2:29).

A ”Jew” is a native son of Judea whereas a Hebrew is of the family or gens of Abraham, the Hebrew, with incorruptible flesh. Thus, they were peculiar people because God chose them (Deut 14:2), and because Christians are inwardly Jews, they too are God’s chosen and peculiar people (1 Pet 2:9) having the gens of Jesus induced when they are born again (John 3:7).

That means that Jesus the Christ was a chosen and a very peculiar person; one that could raise the dead, walk on water, and share His virtue with all the world! He was a Hebrew outwardly but God inwardly!

So, all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. (Mat 1:17)

 Abraham is believed to have been born ca 1800 BC and Jesus was born in 6 BC; a difference of approximately 1794 years. A biblical generation would be around 45 years. Because of uncertainty of ancient days, theologians use 40 years as one generation.

David wrote, “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways” (Psalm 95:10). What I am getting at, from Abraham to Jesus was a sacred “generation” of 42 generations or 1794 years or so. The next sacred generation would have been about 1788 AD and the next about 3576 AD.

1788 was when the Age of Reason was nearing its climax with the French Revolution and the losing of heads because of it in the manner of John the Baptist.

Perhaps 3576 or so is the second coming of Christ, or possibly the end of His millennial reign. If so, then in 2023 AD, we are in the Age of the Antichrist, and that just happens to coincide closely with both the Age of Pisces (November 2019) and the Great Reset (June 2020) (ibid).

With that said, according to Matthew, generations has great significance in the time of God. His engendering is based on times of about forty-years so for each forty generations (about 1794 calendar years) expect some great thing happening.

(picture credit: iStock)

A Tree of Life

 

 

JESUS SAVES THE CROP

So often, the casual readers glosses over text with intense meaning. The gospel story — the truth — begins this way; “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mat 1:1).  Now, compare that to the Old Testament, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1). God generated all things including Adam. Matthew described the generation of Jesus, or the growing of the Vine that God, the Husbandman, planted.

“Adam” was not just the male of the species but his kind, “male and female created He them” (Gen 1:27) “in His own image.” Thus, the first Adamah were generated as God. They had the same attributes of God. The image of God was without mortal flesh but some sort of glorious flesh (Gen 2) covering their souls that God created first (Gen 1).

That is validated by Paul who wrote,

⁴⁴ “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ And so it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (1 Cor 15:44:45)

 Where it was written was apparently, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). However it appears that the soul was created long before that… “before the foundation of the world” (Ephes 1:4).

What was before the foundation of the world (kosmos)? God created the heaven, then the cosmos. Souls were generated before anything else and were placed in a “storehouse” of sorts to be “elected” (selected) in the process of time to become living souls in the flesh.

What is meant by the “first” and “last Adam”? The first was the species of Adam’s kind. Adam and Eve were both the first Adam because they were one flesh, or one kind distinguished from the other kinds.

Genesis chapters one and two are the first creation, perhaps chapter one the generation of the souls and chapter two the generations of the flesh. Only chapter one was in the image of God.

In chapter two, God made another image and in chapter three, Lucifer, as a cunning creature, degenerated mankind from God’s perfect image, and the Adamah were no longer glorious. They came “short of the glory of God” with sin (Rom 3:23).

The world that God created (generated) in Genesis 1:1 was perhaps another world wherein Paradise was made in heaven (another realm) and chapter two the worldly Paradise in its likeness. The latter no longer exists, but the former remains there, and John described it in the Book of Revelation.

The beginning of the gospels is much like the beginning of the Book of Genesis. The latter describes the old heaven and earth and the New Testament, the new heaven and earth, as Peter said, “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (1 Pet 3:13). That is our hope, and John saw it in fulfillment, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away” (Rev 21:1).

Implied within the New Testament is that there shall be two generations or phases of one generation.

Matthew chapter one is about the Old Testament passing away, and the rest of the book is about its regeneration. Just as the generation was done in two stages — souls generated and then bodies, so is the regeneration. Hence, the gospels could have been called “Regenesis” because it is also a process of a new generation of heaven and earth, and this time it too was to be the regeneration of souls in earth, then the regeneration of the flesh in heaven. The regeneration is the same, but the places may be different in order.

Why is Matthew chapter one essential doctrine? It is essentially the degeneration of mankind. Included in that long list of trials and failures (coming short of the glory of God), it begins with the last attempt.

Matthew saw Abraham as a second Adam and began with him. His generations failed in that tertiary creation when his righteous genome slowly faded into history because of disobedience and intermarriage to the unrighteous, much like the Samaritans long before.

On the other hand, Luke (in chapter three) included all the regenerations and degenerations: Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and all the other attempts to restore mankind to the glory of God that ended in corruption. The generations in the New Testament are the regeneration and decay (decadence) of God’s grace over the process of time wherein God gave Adam’s kind chance after chance.

Matthew ends with Jesus. He is the last chance and the last hope. Where all others failed in generating a new heaven and earth, Jesus would succeed.

He was is the invisible Image of God who created and also the visible Image of Adam (the last Adam).

Adam was the first Adam, and in a sense, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, plus David, were subsequent Adams who all came short of the glory of God. Well, Jesus is the Glory of God and He cannot fail! As such, whereas the first Adam failed, the “last Adam,” Jesus, succeeded. None before had died for mankind even though they could have.

Since Abraham sacrificed his own flesh in the fiery furnace of Nimrod in Ur (Book of Jasher), it was only for his own seed. Jesus sacrificed himself for all mankind, hence the total generations in Luke chapter three. Matthew was the penultimate Jew and included his kind only — the Hebrews. Luke included Noah and the ”Table of Nations,” or all of Adam’s kind.

Now re-examine how the gospels begin: ““The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Abraham was glorified while in the fiery furnace because his flesh was made incorruptible. Then, with that incorrupt seed sown, the generations in Matthew reveal how it grew — from Abraham to Jesus.

God had again planted a “Garden” in the Kingdom of David, and it grew… but withered because of ”tares” around God’s “chosen” and “peculiar” people (Deut 14:2). Because the Hebrews intermarried with pagans, primarily the decadent seed of Canaan, the “crop” failed. The generations of Matthew are the generations of failure, even after God “reseeded” the garden in Israel.

The generation of Jesus Christ is about the history when Jesus was planted. Matthew saw Jesus planted with the Covenant of Abraham but Luke saw the planting of Jesus as the Adamic Covenant.

Various theologians use different verses for the Adamic, or Edenic, Covenant. However, I believe the Covenant was alluded to in both Genesis 3:15 and 3:21, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them,” Genesis 3.15 refers to the crucifixion and Genesis 3:21, safety until the Messiah would come. The coats of skin were surely a reference to the putting on the grace of God.

It is written that “Noah found grace” (Gen 6:8). Jasher says that grace was the Garment of Adam. So, grace was put onto Adamah back in the Garden, and the Adamic Covenant was perhaps that they would wear the Spirit of Jesus until the Word was made flesh (John 1:14).

Thus, the gospel is about replacing the old Abrahamic crop with a Jesus crop. Abraham was only a “shield” (in etymology), but Jesus is “Yahweh saves.”

Matthew and Luke wrote about the generation of Jesus throughout time and Luke revealed all the Covenants.

Matthew never took the generations back to the Garden and the Glory of God, but on the other hand, Luke went back to God by the human route — through all the patriarchs back to God.

John saw the generation of Jesus a little differently, to wit:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life; and the life was the light of men… ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ 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 1-4, 13-14).

 Matthew and Luke wrote of Jesus as the “son of man.” John saw Him as the immediate “son of God.” He was thoroughly pure of decadent genes and this Man would work. Even faithful Abraham still sinned and came short of the Glory of God, but Jesus was and still is the Glory of God, or “Light” as John wrote (John 1:4-5).

Did Mark provide the genealogy of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was baptized with the Holy Ghost — the Spirit of God peculiar to Himself. Then He was baptized, “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Mark 1:11).

Of course, the Holy Ghost came on Mary and Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit of God. His baptism was a sort of “Garment of Adam” that Jesus wore to keep Him safe from harm until He too was Glorified after experiencing death (John 7:39). Then after Jesus arose, the Comforter (the Garment of Adam, or better said, “Garment of God”) came and remained here for the safety of Christians.

In the Old Testament, God planted the soul of Adam in heaven and it grew in the world. The gospels are the planting of souls and Revelation about the preview of the crop of Christians when they are glorified — made incorruptible and full of grace.

Matthew started it right. It was about the generation of Jesus throughout the Old Testament and the New about the last Adam full of grace.

The soul of Adam (the image of God) was generated in Genesis one and Adam was planted in the Garden in the world in Genesis two: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Gen 2:8).

Likewise the Word was the Spirit of God who planted the Garden and was the “Vine” that God planted in the souls of the two Adams.

Not forgetting that the Father is the “Husbandman” and Jesus the “Vine” (John 15:1), the human seed of Jesus was planted in the world, and the generations of Abraham was the lineage of that seed until Jesus arose from the loins of God who planted His immaculate seed in Abraham until it became flesh with the birth of Jesus.

Jesus was not “born” in a human sense but always existed, according to John, in the Holy Spirit of the patriarchs. Jesus was revealed (manifested; 1 John 1:2) in the flesh for all to see, touch, feel, hear, taste with the fruit of the vine, and to savor!

Jesus was always with them (Immanuel), but only those with bright eyes with bright natures could sense Jesus through the ages.

Abraham saw Jesus. When he was in the fire, just like Shadrach and his brothers, he knew that Jesus was in there saving him.

Nimrod built a tower to reach the heavens to see God, but Abraham saw God along with himself in the fiery furnace. Jesus was God with him in peril and in faith.

Therefore, just like Genesis one and two, the gospels are all about growing a Garden wherein God has planted the last Adam just as He had the first. The first crop failed miserably but the last crop, after Noah’s, Abraham’s, and David’s, would grow and grow and grow just as God promised Abraham: “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies…” (Gen 22:17).

Matthew knew that and started with Abraham because of the Promise. Luke went indirectly back to God because He promised Adam multiplication of Living Souls. John went directly back to God and skipped all the crops that failed.

You see… the generations of Adam’s kind are important because all of them, but the last Adam failed. Where even King Abraham sinned in Egypt, and David sinned in Jerusalem (The earthly Paradise, Zion), Jesus never fails!

So, most skip over Matthew 1:1 just as so many Christians fail to acknowledge the importance and truth in Genesis 1:1. Who would have ever dreamed that in that one verse so much is inferred?

Never skip the Word because it is there for a reason, and in this case, Matthew described the Garden that God planted with Abraham and Luke described the Garden that God planted in the beginning. God would grow His Image, not just very good, but glorious, and the Edenic Covenant was about growing the Vine that would be manifested as Jesus the Christ.

On the other hand, John saw the Word as the “Vine” and realized that the Word was the “Seed” planted by Jesus that would become flesh despite the human progeny in His supposed father, Joseph.

Now you know why it is there.

 

 

 

 

 

SIMEON THE UNKNOWN: HOPE FLOATS

 This is a tough one, and I chose not to read the thoughts of other but to allow God to reveal to me the purpose of Simeon. I believe He did! Now for Simeon’s short appearance in scripture and its purpose:

There was one man waiting for Jesus to be born so that he could die in peace; albeit little is known about him.  Luke knew about him, but not much, only what is written about the “consolation:”

²⁵ And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. ²⁶ And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him after the custom of the law, ²⁸ Then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, ²⁹ “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: ³⁰ For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, ³¹ which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; ³² A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke 2:25-32)

 Have you ever heard a message about Simeon? Has anyone ever taught about the consolation?

First off, in every case, names should be examined for they reveal much about the person’s purpose in life as is the case so many times in scripture. The name “Simeon” means “to hear” and implies to “understand and obey” (Abarim Pub. 2006-2022). Simeon lifted Jesus in his arms and said, “Now I have seen salvation.”

Now look for a moment at “Salvation.” The meaning of the Name of Jesus which the Christ was called was “Ya(hweh) saves.” Simeon was dedicating, or “Christening” the “vessel” in which God arrived on Earth in much the same way that ships are still Christened to this day.

Christening is a naming ceremony. Simeon Christened Jesus and did so without water. He consolidated “Salvation” unto the name of this divine child and he did so without the use of water albeit did so with “Living Water.” Simeon would have out of his belly flow Living Waters to anoint Jesus the Savior, just as Jesus Himself would say, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Where is that said in scripture?

And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. (Zech 14:8)

 Simeon held onto that passage, knowing that it would come true, and refused to die until it did. God preserved that elderly man to annunciate the Christ!

“Former” and “hinder” in that passage may refer to the East and to the West, respectively. “Sea” is literally a “roaring” therein (Strong 1890). Scripture is not talking about seas of aqua but a roaring sound. Simeon, as his name suggests, listened for the “roaring” Voice of God. Simeon had the “Holy Ghost” upon him — the “hagios pneuma” — that “awful thing” of “a blast of flowing air” (ibid).

Why is the Spirit of God called an “awful thing”? It means to be “rendered breathless” according to some, but more so, it is removing the unholy ghost and imbuing the soul with the very Breath of God — Living Waters from His belly.

Jesus himself was that blast from the past so to speak. The Spirit of God from the days of old (after 400 years of silence) blast forth from the belly of Mary and likewise, the belly of God as the Almighty brought forth an eternal being from ancient days to modern times. After 400 years of silence, God in the Person of Jesus would make the Noise (the gospel) that would awaken the world!

Just who Simeon was is not important. He was the link for “sea” to “sea” or from the past to the future. Luke did not identify Simeon, but perhaps, since he knew Joseph, Simeon could have been the ancestor of Joseph, the supposed father of Jesus (Luke 3:30). If so, then Simeon would have been a sage from very ancient times who passed along the “roar” from sea to sea, or from ancient days to this day.

But that would be really old would it not? With God all things are possible. However, Simeon was the sage that listened to words of Zechariah, understood, and annunciated this is Him.

Simeon “was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.”

Simeon, both righteous and sincere, had the Holy Ghost — the roaring wind (the noise of the sea) — upon him. Like the ark of Noah, Simeon was the “vessel” on which hope floated, or as he said it, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Like Noah long before, after many days, and perhaps many years, he saw the promise — the promise of Zechariah and the vision of Noah.

Jesus was the “bow in the cloud” (Gen 9:13) that Simeon would announce and Christen the “Vessel” on which hope floats, to wit: Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Mat 26:39). Of course, Jesus was not a “cup” per se but a “vessel,” according to the Greek. Not only a vessel but a special one formed of “clay” just like Adam who God molded into human shape.

As such, Jesus was another “Ark” that “sailed” from East to West, from
sea” to “sea,” from ancient times to that time to present hope to the world. His Name is “Hope” in a sense — “Ya Saves” — and the purpose of Jesus was for salvation. Simeon christened Jesus as the “Christ” and therewith was the first “Christening” on record.

So, don’t worry about Simeon… from where he came or who he was. His purpose was not to present Simeon to the world but to share the good news about the Savior that he had heard so long ago and understood just who it would be.

Upon the Christening of the Christ, Simeon had fulfilled his purpose in life. He revealed the true “Ark of God” and the other Ark, wherever it is, would “sail” no more, and to this day, it has disappeared over the horizon of time.

The cup, or vessel, of Jesus is the Holy Grail for which men have been searching for years. It was not the cup from which He drank, because He did not drink of it, but the “vessel” from whose belly righteous men still drink. Simeon revealed the “Cup” to the world and they still do not know who He is!

Note that the Holy Ghost was not in Simeon, but upon him, or better said, supporting him. It was the Holy Ghost that floated Simeon from ancient times to modern. If not that, then it was the Mighty Wind of God’s Pneuma (Spirit) that moved him.

Lastly, for the word “consolation”( paraklesis), meaning “announcement” or “encouragement” (ibid). In other words, the consolation was the Good News of the coming of the Lord to provide salvation to mankind.

And then Jesus came as with a mighty wind in Spirit to Comfort mankind, as is written, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2).

The occasion of Jesus coming again in Spirit (Pneuma) was another case of what Zechariah saw. The coming of Jesus in Spirit was also a change in “seas” so to speak, from one substance of God (flesh) to another (Spirit) and in death, we find Jesus, the Word, still making noise with a mighty sound.

Did I get it right with this commentary? Whether I did or not is inconsequential, but Simeon got it right, and he was the one who identified Christ as the promised Christ!

(Picture credit; Inner Gardens)

SPIRITUAL FORNICATION AND ADULTERY

 INFIDELITY AGAINST GOD

Previously, I wrote about fornication and adultery of the flesh. Essentially, those two are betrayal of yourself, another person, and God Himself in the sense that God forbids sexual activity beyond the auspices of His Law and marriage.

This is a hard one for me to write because I have often flirted myself to appease my flesh without regard to God. Admit it for yourselves as well.

 Fornication even ruins the quality of the bride or groom and the impending partner gets tainted “meat” so to speak, rather than the pure flesh of a virgin.

A virgin is sealed. The seal is hymen — a natural elastic or rigid mucosal tissue that protects the vagina from penetration. Although it is not entirely a tell-tale sign of sexual intercourse, it is somewhat reliable.

Historically, the intact hymen has been used as a test of virginity since penetration scores the hymen, as is often the case. The hymen was once a “chastity” device of sorts, and few now even know that it exists. Ironically, it is called in the vulgar, a “cherry” ripe for the picking. It is the “fruit” that Lucifer surely partook, if evil, carnal knowledge was obtained with the first sin.

The man is not sealed, but left up to his own integrity. His sin was accounted to him… however, he would be given a “coat of skin” over his pudenda like Eve to protect him from diseases. Knowing their “coats of skin” were nearly useless being only over their pudenda, God made a coat of skin (Gen 3:21) to cover their entire flesh.

Their natural “coats” would protect them from their own prowess but the overall coat of skin would protect both their bodies and their souls.

Essentially, God supplied His own flesh that He killed and the triune marriage — Holy Matrimony — was ordained. Adam, Eve, and God would become one flesh.

Prior to sin, Adam and Eve had been one in Spirit (helpmates) with God. Sin changed that; it is implied that Eve acquired a new “lord,” causing Adam and Eve to be in the flesh with the “image” (Serpent) of Lucifer.

Think not that the “Serpent” was a viper but another beastly flesh as scripture clarifies (Rev 13:2). The “Beast” in that passage is a combination of animal kinds, and because of sin, Eve took on the flesh of another kind.

Sacred literature indicates that Adam and Eve before had no digestive tracts, and maybe not reproductive systems, but after sin, they would procreate as the animals do and eat whatever animals eat.

It is implied in scripture that the nature of mankind is as the Beast — the “old creature” according to Paul, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). Paul went on to add that the cutting off the flesh of the genitalia (circumcision) would not do, but only by becoming a “new creature” (Gal 6:15).

A new creature has different genetics than the old. As such, Jesus said, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7), or literally, from the Greek, “engendered from above” (Strong’s Dictionary).

The old creature is the child of the Devil (John 8:44). Child and father are not literal, but imply that natural born creatures (us) are the progeny of their progenitor, the “Serpent” as Eve was the “mother of all living” (Gen 3:20).

Hence, the “new creature” is a glorious being remade in the image of God in the process of regeneration, redoing what Lucifer had undone.

Rebirth removes Lucifer from the triad and replaces God as the third “Person” (Jesus) in Holy Matrrimony. Marriage is when a man and woman are of the same flesh because of sin and are united in a genetic “coupling” with Lucifer (Satan). Marriage is nothing to brag about unless done for right reasons: righteousness; then it is holy. Therefore, most marriages, whether done by a minister or not, is fornication because God is left out.

Isaiah identified Holy Matrimony quiet well with his usual descriptive phrases, “He (God/Jesus) has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isa 61:10). Rebirth is one person joining God in a divine union, wherein He is the Groom and the person (male or female) is the bride (Mat 25:6).

Marriage is when two people of the opposite gender couple to make a composite being (babies). The little one is as corrupt as the two parents. King David, himself “shaped in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5), was and so is everyone else. As both parents are depraved, so are the little ones until they are born again.

Like beasts, they are depraved and do whatever they want to do; that is depravity. Since it is genetic, there is nothing that they can do in themselves to change that, at least until CRISPR-Cas9 was developed this decade. However, God from above can regen in the twinkling of the eye; Him doing all the work by grace.

Rebirth is likened unto a marriage with God. First Him and you alone as one flesh, to be joined later by a helpmate of the same flesh — him or her and God. So, there it is: him, her, and God together is Holy Matrimony and the twain are coupled (married) with God in Spirit; both people having the Genome of God. It is not their flesh that is coupled but their Spirit already in common along with God’s.

Before (the last commentary), I discussed fornication and adultery of the flesh. Now, it is the fornication and adultery of the Spirit.

Fornication of the Spirit, I believe, is flirting with other gods. Jews were noted for that. They usually never abandoned the true God but most often added another — a Baal, and then another, Baals. In the days of old, “Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” (Num 25:3)… they “bowed down to their gods” (Num 25:2).

Bowing down is taking a knee to other gods, or as the Greek indicates, blessing other gods. That bowing down was fornication with alien spirits, “alien” in the sense that they were not the Divine Spirit of God. They did not leave their “first-love” (Rev 2:4) but took on a pantheon of lovers, thus their love was in a spiritual “whore house” wherein they could pick and choose.

Today, the “church” has become a spiritual “whorehouse” wherein Christians do not abandon Jesus but are in union (Yoga) with other spirits and see nothing wrong with it. Also, they profess Christ in Spirit but appease Buddha with their chants and memes. Worse yet, even Christians flirt with the “god” that they cannot seem to shed — their own flesh. They can do anything they will to do, and Calvinism makes it okay.

Thus, fornication seems to be flirting with other gods, not going all the way with them, but still “married” to Jesus as they adore other gods and even themselves. They have never “crucified” their flesh as implied in Hebrew 6:6. The flesh — pleasure and pride, remains their god in syncretism with the one true God. Like Eve, whose name means “Symbiosis” (ibid), even Christians are “Eve’s” in that they do not abandon God, but remain “lovers of their own selves” (2 Tim 3:2).

Symbiosis is “the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship” (Merriam-Webster). The Christian lives with both Christ and a sinful self, dissimilar in nature, but beneficial, they think, to both God and themselves. Jesus cares little for your flesh and commands that it be cut off. It is just you and Him in union and the flesh is no part of it!

That symbiotic relationship, having two lovers, is spiritual fornication, but what is spiritual adultery? Let us check scripture: 

⁴ For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Heb 6:4-6)

 Spiritual adultery is a divorcement from Jesus, the “Bridegroom.” It goes beyond having other lovers, but abandoning God for another, whether the other is another god or yourself. Doing what you want to do rather than the Will of God is symptomatic of spiritual divorce.

Divorce is one party, maybe both, falling away from each other. But spiritually, it is the same for Jesus said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5). Jesus has fidelity but people can be fickle because we are not Jesus!

Well, the “divorce” is final when the bride (the Christian or the Church) falls away from Jesus, preferring to do whatever it is that they want to do. Falling away is a gradual process, even going unnoticed until it is too late.

Paul used the word “apostasia” which is translated in the English as “falling away.” A literal translation would have been “apostasy,” but the translators surely wanted to pin-point that it may be, and usually is, a slow process like in a mortal marriage.

“Apostasy” just means “defection” (ibid). Divorce in the world is apostasy because one or the other loses the affection he or she once had for their partner.

Divorcement from Jesus is the same but only one of the two “partners” (not Jesus) who shared mutual love abandons the Mate and falls in love with another. Usually, the lover is themselves because they want to be emancipated from the Will of their divine Partner.

Holy Matrimony is two, one of each gender, joining in Spirit with God for a marital “trinity.” The two may divorce each other, or one of the two, or both, may divorce Jesus. Marriages fail because somebody divorces Jesus, or if they never knew him from the start. Not knowing Jesus when marrying is not Holy Matrimony but the legalization of fornication.

Apostasy, meaning “defection,” implies that the lover once had affection for Jesus. Defection is impossible without first loving Him! It is irrational.

Hence, apostasy, is defection from God and it is more than flirting or dilly-dallying with another god but abandoning Jesus in favor of another lover whether it be a person, a thing, or even the self.

Self-love is the worst of the lovers to deal with because the others can go away, but the self always remains.

If anyone says that Jesus cannot be divorced, then he or she denies scripture where it is written, not just to “fall away” and maybe come back, but to commit apostasy and deny Jesus as even a lover any longer. I believe that apostasy is Spiritual “adultery.”

The problem is that if anyone moves easily between mortal lovers; they can easily exchange Jesus for another lover, and that they do. When there is no fidelity in marriage — either fornication or adultery — then there is no fidelity in the Holy Matrimony with Jesus at the Head. Infidelity conditions people to abandon Jesus; it becomes easy with repetition!

Sinning is doing whatever it is you want to do without regard to the Will of God. One sin is flirting, or fornication, but continual sin leads to adultery against either the spouse or Jesus.

Christians need to take things seriously. For instance, the original sin should be a pattern for them all.

Eve flirted with her new knowledge and fornicated with Lucifer who was just another “lord” (Gen 4:1). She did not defect from God who she loved and adored, and neither did she deny Adam, but added another lover. She “died” in the sense that the Spirit of God in her changed. God still loved her so much that He wanted to keep her safe (John 3:16), so much that He put onto her and Adam impenetrable coats to protect them from the fiery darts of the Wicked One.

That coat, the Book of Jasher says, was passed down to Noah who took it off and became naked and sin evolved again.

To stay in grace requires to always “wear” grace as if it is your own flesh. If not, it will be devoured by a beast of some sort (1 Pet 5:8). Removing the coat of grace, the “Garment of Adam,” is separation from God and may lead to apostasy, or a total divorcement from the sacrament of Marriage to Jesus. The Holy Ghost of Jesus is always present but whether we “wear” that Comforter or not is up to us, just as with Noah who became unsober.

(picture credit: IGI Global)

 

 

 

 

 

 

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

 

On Fornication and Adultery

 

In general, we have been taught that fornication is illicit sexual activity — coitus — between a man and a woman who are not married, and that adultery is a coupling between those of whom one or the other is married. That does pertain to many people but not to all, perhaps some require no mate at all!

So where should we look? Scripture uses those terms in the English, so to better understand the English version of those two sins, we should look at scripture.

First off, most people know what sin is since the conscience tells most  people what sin is. The body reveals sin by guilt.

The conscience is a faculty of the body. Whether people are born with a conscious, or not, is ambiguous. Perhaps the conscious is a faculty of the soul that cannot be seen as well. Just as the will is a faculty of the mind within the brain, the conscious is the protector of the soul just as the human will is the protector of the body.

Psychology — the subjective “study of the soul” — has tested the function of the brain. As it turns out, they believe that the left side of the brain is the decision-making, or judgment, half of the brain; and that the right side is the performance side of the brain.

(I believe that the human nervous system is a type of “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” and that Adam and Eve, knowing only goodness, had never had to judge their thoughts and actions before the “first decision” — to eat or not, or to obey God or not.)

Whatever “fruit” they ate, made their minds lose its sobriety as Peter pointed out, “Be sober; be vigilant, because your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8). That was the devil’s plan for Job and the plan he had for Adam and Eve. The latter too died, so in a sense, the Devil (the “Image”) would have devoured Adam and Eve if God had not intervened and put onto them a “Comforter” to withstand the wiles and “fiery darts” of the “Serpent.”

With the first wrong decision, mankind became “drunken,” in a sense. They were overwhelmed by new knowledge and sought to use it!

Eve demonstrated it first: she said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord…” (Gen 4:1), not the LORD GOD, but just “lord.” She had become the “god” because God Himself had got the first man, Adam, but somehow, she had gotten the second man, Cain.

Perhaps sin caused the left brain to acquire judgment so that God could be fair to mankind, and right then free will and persuasion was the way to salvation, and it provided by the grace of God. Judgment, as everything else, is of God, and free will is a free gift for their protection.

Although everyone is “shapen in inquity” (Psalm 51:5), according to King David, everyone is also shaped with a free will. Paul wrote about the exercise of free will, “And he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath and persuaded the Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4) to become Christians.

What must a man do to be saved? Trust God for salvation! That’s it. It is not physical work, but absence of work; trusting God rather than yourselves so that you are not the “Savior” (God).

Eve began to trust herself before God, and as such, became the “god.” She was no longer “sober” in the sense that she was deceived and had wrong thoughts. Most people today are “drunk,” thinking that their own minds are supreme to God, and as such, have no vigilance against impending danger.

Now back to the difference between fornication and adultery. The Old Testament uses “fornication” (zana) as a relationship gone sour between man, or peoples, and God. Zana is best described as “to follow a paramour” in a more general sense. When Eve got for Adam a man, her “lord” was no longer God but her lord, Lucifer. (Plan “A” of Lucifer’s conspiracy was in place; Isa 14:12-14).

Thus, a “paramour” is another god or another person. Eve, ignoring even Lucifer, had herself become the god. It was her own flesh that provided Cain and even Lucifer was not “god,” but just her new lord, or master.

Her flesh had become the image rather than the image of Lucifer, not a snake by any means, but a cunning alien “beast” from another realm who appeared to her as real in a worldly sense.

In other words, the “Serpent” was an inner personality who I believe was Lilith, the “screech owl” within (Isa 34:14). The cunning beast called the “Serpent” was inside of her and since that time, mankind, since she is the “mother of all living,” may have had their left brain impeded. Their judgment became as faulty as Eve and that cunningness is perhaps transmitted in the mitochondrial DNA that only women can pass down.

Sin, therefore is “coming short of the glory of god,” and failing to perform to the image of God in which mankind was created. Sin, therefore is genetic and the consequence is that people have the animal nature within. Foremost, the call to breed is eminent in beasts, also the desire to exist given the threat of extinction. Thus, pride is the nature of not only self-preservation, but self-estimation; that we deserve to live for pleasure. Some say, “Learn to love myself.” That is our problem!

Therefore, the nature of the beast is within mankind. Lucifer had Eve, now because we all are of Eve, we must have flesh as well. Because of that first sin (original sin) our natures are to follow our paramours.

So, what are paramours? It is our flesh; it is that which must be cut-off (Gen 17:11). It was circumcision of the foreskin in pre-Christian times, but now all the flesh must be cut-off; those “who walk not after the flesh” Rom 8:4).

Before Christ, who was the “god” of sinners? Themselves; their gods are their fleshes, and Eve’s new “lord” was her own flesh — the image of Lucifer. She, by fornication had made for Adam another “man” but Cain came short of the glorious image in which Adam was made.

His nature was that of the old creature, Lucifer, whose cunning image was inside. Eve apparently conned Adam that Cain was his, even though he knew that Eve had consummated an affair with the “Beast” that was alien to the “Garden of Goodness.”

Our flesh is the god, and it must be appeased! The world appeases the flesh, all that is in the world is “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). That is the nature within everyone that was inherited from Eve’s close encounter with that alien being!

So, fornication is both of the spirit and the flesh. Even for “the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat 26:41), according to Jesus.

People think of their flesh as strong. Some women even wear tee-shirts that expresses the power of women. Not so; the flesh is weak but out of pride, women think they are strong!

Eve thought that when she believed that she had made a man. She had developed pride and no longer was Adam and Eve one flesh but two. Lucifer had divided man and woman from one gen of man to two gens, and thereafter man and woman would be the creators and have the instinctual drive to pro-create… not really to reproduce but to pleasure. Hence, following the paramour is defection from God, even for those who once, like Adam and Eve, had affection for God.

Hence, fornication is apostasy (apostasia; Heb 6:6) — falling away from God — into the arms of another. The closest arms are yourselves and “he (or she) that commits fornication sins against his (or her) own body” (1 Cor 6:18).

That says so much; it means that our body is our own god and by following the paramour it is even defection from yourself; that you abandon your spirit-filled soul for the love of yourself.

The word, “fornication” of which Paul wrote is “porneia” in the Greek. “Pornography” is basically images of prostitutes, or literally to “indulge unlawful lust” (Strong’s Dictionary). So, fornication is not so much coupling, but to lust after the flesh, even of images as it turns out.

In general, therefore, pornography in general is fornication. “Whosover looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart,” meaning his nature, having a willingness to follow the paramour. Hence, fornication would be the lust for the flesh of another, but adultery would be to perform that lustful thought.

Theologians make fornication as things men do and adultery as what a partner does against his or her mate, but pornography in general applies more to fornication and the performance of coitus (sexual intercourse), or even the self-pleasuring of any sort, as adultery because adultery seems to be the satisfying of the flesh whereas fornication is the satisfaction of the mind.

With that said, adultery includes lascivious thoughts because the person thinks what he or she would like to do; they have virtual sexual intercourse within their minds… that is virtual adultery and fornication is the cause. Hence, fornication is the cause and adultery the affect.

Jimmy Carter was made a fool by the public because he said that he had committed adultery in his heart. What he meant by that is that he was tempted and had virtual sexual intercourse with women other than his wife.

James wrote, “¹⁴ Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (Jas 1:14-15). Therefore, fornication is the pursuit of pleasure — to follow the paramour — and adultery the desire conceived; the performance of the act of the flesh in the heart, or the will of the person.

The “warning” is vigilance — to refrain from temptation because temptation leads to conception, or the actual act.

Why drugs or alcohol? They inebriate and remove inhibitions. The left brain does not perform its duties, and insobriety is the judgment free zone much like Planet Fitness where you can be anything you want to be without repercussions or even judgment. Others may not judge you but God will soon judge everybody!

Now, admit it… everyone has fornicated because everyone has followed the desires of the flesh. Likewise, everyone, according to James and others, have committed adultery, vicariously, and that is coming short of the glory of God who made us. Who made us not by coitus but by Thought from His Supreme Mind.

Dad, at eighty years of age, told me that, that nature does not go away on its own. He had the urge until he died, and knowing so, he was a righteous man. However, dad would not even hug a woman to refrain from temptation. As such, he may have fornicated but never conceived, or consummated, the fornication. We still come short of the glory of God and Christians still sin, but by grace, God credits us for avoiding trespassing into territory that should be avoided.

What was the first sin in reality? Was it eating the fruit or was it entering the space where the image of Lucifer appeared? If Eve had not gone there, neither she nor Adam would have sinned. She sinned by fornication and Adam sinned because he listened to the delusion of Eve. Eve did not even need to touch the Tree (with Lucifer within it) because sin was conceived when she went there, and that may have been the first occasion of sexual knowledge because God had theretofore multiplied only in Spirit, and so had Adam when the Spirit in him was breathed unto Eve. They exchanged flesh by a sort of spiritual “cloning” rather than by pleasuring.

Remembering that fornication is the pursuit of pornography, therefore, when viewing habits of even first-run movies include sexual scenes, then we go where we should not go, just as Eve. Watching performances laced with sex or much exposed skin is fornication, as God might define it. Watching any of the shades of gray may be the trespass that conceives the sin of adultery in our minds. They are not gray but darkness!

We might all deny it, but we all fornicate sometime during the day. You too were shaped in iniquity just like David who fornicated with Bathsheba as he watched the “porno show” and the sin of adultery was conceived in his heart.

David was not immune from natural desires, and neither are you and me. David had no business on the roof watching and Bathsheba for showing. David desired her beauty and she revealed it to David. Oftentimes, we focus on the sin of David but miss the sin of Bathsheba — knowing the possibility that others, even David, might get a glimpse of her beautiful flesh.

So, the prayer to forgive us our trespasses means to forgive our going where we should not goal Rather than sin, Eve should have asked God to forgive her trespassing and there would have been no sin. Going, even virtually (pornography) is trespassing where we should not go. Pornography is not just in the media but in the flesh everywhere in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANCE OF CORNERSTONE

 

 

THE CORNERSTONE

Larry R. Herrin

 

Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, according to scripture, “The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner…” (Mark 12:10).

The Jews rejected Jesus, and as such rejected the “Cornerstone” to the Christian Church. That New Testament saying came from King David, and both the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste’” (Isa 28:16).

The cornerstone was laid in Zion. We think of Jesus as the “Cornerstone” for making a new creature, but “Zion” has much significance. Zion was the stronghold of David in his city (2 Sam 5:7).

The Herodian Tower in the City of David was long before that the Tower of David where the Citadel was located since ancient times. The Tower of David may have been the structure that was built from the cornerstone of Psalm 118:22.

The Jews rebuilt the Citadel there long after Jesus but not with Jesus as the “Cornerstone” but perhaps Herod who fulfills the prophecies. That is for the building, but Jesus, as the Messiah, was the intended “Cornerstone” that the Jews rejected.

Now for some information on cornerstones in general. Often public buildings have cornerstones such as the one in the picture below (figure #2) that is part of the structure of the South Dakota Courthouse. A Cornerstone makes a structure true to design intent. Even homes have a type of “cornerstone” which is the first corner laid for the foundation. All overall measurements are taken from the truest, and usually the first corner laid on a building.

 

 Figure 1: The Foundation Stone; Wikipedia

 

 

Why would a technician — carpenter, mason, or roofer — do that? When using any type of instrumentation, there is “measurement error” either due to the instrument, the process, or the technician.

Let’s say that a home in process is to be three rooms wide. If measuring from the corner to room one, then from room two to room three; that introduces up to three times the measurement error compared to one error if the technician always measures back to the corner. So, to get a true structure requires a corner reference.

In buildings, the reference is the corner stone whether it is wood, brick, composites, or stone. Cornerstones are used to make the structure as perfect as can be.

Cornerstones are used, not just for one dimension but three dimensions. Cornerstones are “datums” from which data is used.  The data are the measurements in all directions back to the one datum.

 

Figure 2: State House Cornerstone

 Not only do builders use datums but so does the designer who dimensions to locations referenced to the datum.

Datums are now used in making tools, machines, parts, and other products because the consumers do not want to buy sloppily built junk! Datums prevent low-quality produce because datums prevent error accumulation.

A common and simple datum block is shown in figure #3.

Figure 3: Datum Block; Enventive

The simplest of datum blocks are just a flat block with a top flat surface and two orthogonal edges that are exactly at right angles to each other. A datum such as that allows true measurements from three surfaces A, B, and C in the figure.

However, datums can have one flat surface with one hole that will suffice for two directional measurements. Vertical dimensions in such a scheme can be measured from the true flat surface of the block (surface “A”). Rather than using edges B and C, the hole could be the corner datum for measuring width and length.

Surely, the Tower of David (Zion) used a plain block as was the custom. However, that doesn’t work so well for circular structures. A hole works much better for spherical coordinates, so to the corner stone is added a hole for complex structures.

God — Jesus Himself (John 1-14) — was the “Technician” that built the cosmos (Greek; kosmos). Jesus was not only a “carpenter” but a mason, an astrophysicist,  astronomer, and such; scripture uses the Greek word, “Tekton” rather than a mere “carpenter.” Jesus knows all things and is a skilled craftsman in all the professions. He made all things, by Him all things were made! Said John.

How did Jesus do that? Knowledgeably and professionally. The photo in figure #1 is the “Foundation Stone” which lies beneath the present-day Dome of the Rock. Compare the Foundation Stone in figure #1 to the datum block in figure #3. Neglecting the chipped off edges that many generations of builders removed, essentially, the Foundation Stone is the datum of not only the world, but the cosmic universe, and even Adam himself.

Jewish philosophers and theologians believe that the Foundation Stone is the “celestial axis” of the universe, as well as the “navel of the world.” They also believe that that stone is the very one on which Adam was created, so it may represent the datum of Adam’s kind (us) as well!

Because it is the celestial axis, it is the datum — the corner stone — from which all things in the perfect universe were measured by the “Technician” Jesus!

Because it is the navel of the world, and Adam means “ground,” then it is both Adam’s navel and the navel of the world.

Because the cosmos was measured from that stone, if that is true, would mean the universe is true to God’s measurement and that all those bodies in space were placed exactly where God wanted them to be for mankind.

The Foundation Stone has a hole just like the datum block. Archeologists have no idea how it was drilled or for what reason. It makes sense that the Foundation Stone is the cornerstone of Zion and by now, Zion includes all of Jerusalem which is in the “midst of the Garden” of Eden (Gen 2:9). That hole was cut in rock by God, most certainly, to be the cornerstone from which He measured the universe.

Isaiah comes to the rescue of archeologists again, Speaking of God he asked,  “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” (Isa 40:12).

Who? God! Who was his Tekton that did that? Jesus. The Father was the Intelligent Designer and Jesus the Builder whose corner building stone the builders reject.

Jesus constructed the universe and life from that “cornerstone.” If Jesus can generate all things from that stone, He can regenerate all things, again without error, and with true measurements!

If Jesus can make all things, according to John, what would hinder him from making a new you, a new Jerusalem, a new heaven, and a new Earth? He did it once and He can do it again!

The invisible Church is a true structure, to wit: 

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:5) 

¹⁹ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; ²⁰ And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹ In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²² In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephes 2:19-22)

 The second Temple of God never got finished as the grandeur of Solomon’s Temple was never achieved.

Then Herod, to placate the Jews, built a grand temple atop the foundation of the first. Josephus said that Herod’s workers used the original foundation to build a Temple for the Jews.

Herod may have thought that his temple was tried and true but it was not built on a solid and true foundation. Herod’s Temple was essentially for Moses because he left out the chief Stone” — Jesus the “Cornerstone” and in 70 A.D. the sicarii, the seditious, and the thieves banded together and destroyed Herod’s Temple. (The Roman general, Titus, tried to stop the destruction).

As Jesus was glorified in death, “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent…” (Mat 27:51), and then the Church was released from the rubble (Mat 27:52).

Jesus initiated the destruction of the Temple. His Holy Ghost tore the curtain from the Holy of Holies, and quaked the foundation so that the Temple would fall down. Then the Jews just followed suit in 69 and 70 A.D.

Jesus forewarned of impending doom for Israel and their Temple:

¹ And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him, “Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” ² And Jesus answering said unto him, “Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Mark 13:1-2)

 Jesus was the Cornerstone of the Temple. When He died the Cornerstone gave way and the earth quaked. The material Temple began to fall, and in 70 A.D., Titus finished it off, leaving only the Citadel that was on the foundation that David built.

But a new temple was in the making. Immediately the Gentiles took the “Stone” that the builders rejected and built an invisible Church that will never perish because it is made up of Christians as the lively stones in the pillars that hold the Church up.

Jesus said to Peter about Himself, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18).

Ironically, the Stone for the Church is Jesus, but Peter may be buried beneath the Roman Church in St. Peter’s Basilica. That place is not the true Church; Peter may be its “cornerstone” but not the Cornerstone of the living Church.

The building is not the Church. The Church has structure, and its foundation was the prophets and apostles, both set to the Cornerstone, Jesus. Christians are the spiritual substances of the pillars, and the “roof” is the heavens whereto the Cross points.

So, “Cornerstone” is more than a building or an assembly; it is the tried and true “Foundation” and built in Jesus.

 

 

THE TREE OF DEATH - Part 3 of 3

 Part 3 

In review of the body in figure #1, the nervous system resembles a tree. At the crown of the tree, therein lies the brain, and within the brain is the faculty of the mind.

Minds are the capacity of the brain to process information that is received from the nervous system, which in turn, processes information from all the sensory nerves throughout the body.

The nervous system collects knowledge of all kinds from the environment. The information can be categorized as pleasurable, precautionary, hurtful, or responsive. The senses, of course, are touch, smell, taste, vision, and hearing. Some add many other senses, savory as an example, and perhaps up to twenty-nine in total.

The information from all those “sensors” is conducted to the brain via neurons that transmit electrical signals to target cells — the synapses — which are located throughout the nervous system and especially the brain. To pass information along requires the synapses to fire to pass along the information. They are like electrical switches triggered much like a diode would be in an electrical system, or even triggered by chemical signals.

The nervous system, therefore, is a sort of “tree of life,” but at the same time, “a tree of impending doom.” It passes all types of information to the high-capacity processer of the mind inside the brain. The brain is the vessel of the mind, and the mind is its contents, the former is material, and the latter is merely thoughts made up of electrical and chemical transactions.

To add evidence to that, synapses contain mitochondria which are the vessels for DNA that are passed along from the mother only. Hence, Eve as the “mother of all living” and the genesis of sin passed along her synapses to everyone, even subsequent “Adams” (men). Is it coincidence that mitochondria are the vessels for genetic sin and synapses pass along that information? You be the judge.

The nervous system is the entire body of nerves along with the brain.

Now, consider the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Speaking to Adam, God said, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17). The Hebrew translated “eat” and “eatest” is specifically used for partaking of things by mouth, but in general it is to consume anything, even tasting or sensing the things of the world.

With that said, perhaps Adam and Eve never ate from the tree, but consumed something, perhaps knowledge that they had not known before. It was a “Tree of Knowledge” for certain, but not an apple tree (which was a mistranslation) nor even a fig tree per se, but a tree of knowledge.

Perhaps it was not that they ate, whether it was a physical tree or not, but that they bought into and consumed false information from the cunning Beast who presented its version of the truth.

Even if it was a fig tree, as sacred literature indicates, that tree may have also been symbolic of an invisible tree from an invisible creature — Lucifer. As related before, both the fleshes and minds of Adam and Eve were altered; their fleshes and minds degenerated, both from only good to an admixture of good and evil.

First off, they were never totally depraved, and sinners still are not. However, they were iniquitous, meaning that they had depravity within their fleshes and minds.

The “flesh” is paramount in scripture. Righteousness is fulfilled by those who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”  (Rom 8:4), and also regarding the two substances of humans, Jesus said, “The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” so we are not to enter into temptation (Mark 14:38).

Eve entered into temptation; she trespassed wherein Adam was told not to go. Where she went, there was new information beyond what she had before.

Lucifer, cleverly disguised as a friendly beast, provided to her both truth and lies and blended them to fabricate a new doctrine. The new doctrine: Because you are a creature of God, you can do anything and not die. Lucifer uses that same doctrine to deceive Christians to this day! You are secure and can do whatever you will do. The Satanist, Anton LeVey uses that same law for the same behavior, “Do what thou wilt; that is the whole law.”

Perhaps rather than eating fruit from the tree, they consumed the lie. The lie was for them to do what they wilt and not die. The Law was that they were not to consume anything from that tree. It was the whole Law of God. Lucifer abridged that law and made the one new law — do what thou wilt.

Their minds were changed as well as their genomes. Sin became genetic and all are born in sin, and are said to be “in the flesh” compared to “in the Spirit.”

It may be that they ate when they were not designed to eat. That makes sense because their image was as God. The Book of Adam and Eve indicates that they had no digestive tracks until after they had sinned, so consuming manna from heaven makes sense, rather than herbs.

It should be obvious that the fleshes of the two changed as well; they were no longer glorious, but gullible and ugly inside. The nervous system is the ugliness inside people, but perhaps the cunning one convinced Eve that flesh was all pleasure. As such, Eve may have thought, If I change, then I can enjoy the things of God more so, and have more pleasure! Perhaps Eve consumed the lie that the nervous system would provide only good things that were pleasurable because the cunning one failed to mention that it would sense all things, both good and bad!

“Unto the woman He (God) said, ‘I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee’” (Gen 3:16). Eve would feel pleasure in conception, but pleasure would turn to agony at delivery. That was the good and bad of the nervous system and points to that as the “Tree of Knowledge.”

For Adam, it was a little different; “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen 3:19). Don’t count on pleasure Adam, for you it will be toil. The nervous system senses toil; itself perhaps a sixth sense.

Because the nervous system is within all the flesh, and even the bones and brain, then the flesh is the weakest link in what was once a glorious creature. The flesh is the “missing link” between the glorious soul and the inglorious person. Evolution missed that, but God did not!

The nervous system conducts whatever the sensory system consumes. The destination of all that input, or knowledge, is the brain for it to process all the knowledge. The left brain does that!

Some people have had, for various reasons, one side or the other of the brain, destroyed. They can still function somewhat normally even though half their minds have perished, but they function differently.

The left brain is the “judge” of sorts. It gets all the knowledge that is received via the nervous system and decides (cognition) whether it is good or bad information. If it is bad for survival, it is not passed along to the right brain to use to function, but stored away in long-term memory, perhaps even in the sub-conscience. As Seinfeld would say, “I put it in the vault.”

Pain is allowed through because it protects both the flesh and mind from harm. It can judge based on safety, and that is good!

On the other hand, the left brain can allow temptation to trespass its convolutions and allow it to enter the right brain to perform. So, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation” (Luke 22:40) because, like Eve, temptation leads to sin if the left side of the brain judges wrongly. Eve looked at the “fruit” and decided to her chagrin that consuming it would be admissible, and that God had lied to her.

“Praying” in that passage is asking God to forbid the trespass of information never to enter.

The problem with the left brain is that it can be conned. The “Image” of Lucifer conned Eve.

She rationalized that she was not trespassing on God’s property but it was hers just for the taking; then Eve stole God’s fruit and ate it. Upon ingesting whatever “fruit” or “seeds” that they were, Eve changed genetically, and her flesh became her master as she did what she willed to do.

She, herself, soon willed Cain into being. Adam had nothing to do with it. Either Satan was her new lord or herself (Gen 4:1). (I believe that she lied to Adam and the “Wicked One,” Satan, conceived Cain within her and she thought that she had done so herself. She had become the “god.”)

The flesh became the enemy but the world still provides ways to allow misjudgment of the left brain, to wit: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

What happens with insobriety? Vigilance is gone. People drink to excess to reduce inhibitions, and with God’s prohibitions disallowed, then judgment is impeded.

Take for instance alcohol and drug usage. They change who you are!  Without prohibitions inhibiting, then those who consume mind-altering drugs do whatever they want to do. The faculty of the will is deluded, and the left brain allows about anything into the right brain for it to transmit performance to the nervous system for the flesh to do.

The flesh is the enemy because it is essentially the other “unknown god” that must be appeased. The nervous system transmits pleasurable impulses to the left brain and when the left brain is unvigilant for whatever reason, then the right brain signals the body to perform unrightly according to God’s standards.

Vigilance is not only destroyed by things put into the mouth and the body in general, but the things put into the mind. If the mind is off God, then all things are allowed through the left brain, and then the right side of the brain enjoys pleasure.

If the sensor passes along thoughts of pleasure and forbids thoughts of God to enter in, then the left brain passes pleasurable things to the right brain, and the body with its flesh gets confused and does things that feel good while not receiving the information that it might be hurtful.

Many who have engaged in one night stands may be in agony or worry the next morning because of the thoughts of venereal disease, or even guilt.

My conclusion, therefore, is that even if there was a fruit tree of some sorts… that the nervous system is the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” and is inside each person. My hope is that you see it the same way; the reason being, that you must have the Word to control your flesh, and that there are painful consequences of faulty thinking and bad behaviors; and that Adam and Eve exhibited those consequences in their nervous systems until God put coats on them to cover their fleshes.

The fiery darts of the wicked one would thence never enter their fleshes, but be shielded by the flesh that God provided. That “flesh” is now the Holy Ghost of Jesus that Comforts the Christian from the wiles of the Devil.

Why else would a sinner require persuasion to become a Christian; it is in the mind in the left side of the brain. Why else would Calvary — “The Cranium” — be imperative as the “shield”?

(Photo credit Quiz Expo)