OFFENSIVENESS OF THE TRUTH

 About giving good things as the Father does us, Jesus said, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Mat 7:12) (KEY VERSE).

First off, in “all things whatsoever.” There are no exceptions. There is nothing that should be neglected for us to do for others. Secondly, that is not a suggestion nor a rule but the “Law” as presented to the world by the prophets.

The measure of what we are to do for others is our expectation of what they should do for each of us.

What would you desire, my friend? The ultimate thing for a man to do for his friend is to risk his life. Jesus did that, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Again, Jesus did that, not only for His friends, but He enemies. He laid down His life, because of so much love for us, that “whosoever” should not perish (John 3:16).

Recently, I wrote my thoughts about atheism. I knew in advance that it would be rejected by atheists because all their lives, doubts have been sowed in their minds. Without even their awareness, they have accepted falsehood after falsehood. Science even admits that; just this morning the headlines read, “Scientists Say Textbooks Are Wrong About the Origin of Life” (Harrison 2023).

The science changes often. For atheists to know the “truth” they must keep up with the daily news. For Christians to know the truth, they only need to remember the “Good News.”

As expected, my friend responded negatively; even agitated and angry. He let me know that I was no longer his friend. I challenged his thesis and for that I forfeited our friendship. I lost a friend because I had the audacity to reveal to him that he just might be wrong. Why would I do such a thing as that?  Because I loved him so much, even as a sinner, that I desired that he would never perish. I did that for him because I would have wanted him to do that for me if the situation had been turned around.

Each morning I write things that might offend many. However, have I not written the truth? I have written about evil government officials, politicians, and even the entertainment industry, but have I not written the truth?

Some may say that I should not have done that to the man; that I offended him. Well, think about Jesus, “And they were offended in Him” (Mat 13:57). “They” were his friends and neighbors. Jesus, who was thought to be nothing more than a tradesman, offended them because he was neither a High Priest nor royalty, or so they thought.

What had Jesus revealed to them that was so repugnant? 

⁴⁹ So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰ And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:49:50)

 They did not want to hear that! It was the truth, but they did not want to hear that. So, just as I would do much later, Jesus offended them. What had I told my friend? That he would die and suffer the consequences. What was Jesus telling them? The consequences of sin.

What is the most offensive thing that anyone can say? You will go to Hell. Why would Jesus say that to his friends and neighbors? “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). It seems that the most loving thing — saving from Hell — but is the most offensive thing. How dare me warn my neighbors that their houses are on fire. How dare me warn my neighbors that their souls might burn with it! Is that what I desire for them to do for me?

“The adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8). Each day, I write of our “burning Church;” that the structure and its inhabitants are in danger of perishing. How dare that I should do that! That is so offensive that even the preacher seems offended.  

We cannot warn even our brothers, sisters, or friends that the Church is about to erupt in flames. The spirits are already in its foundation, and God is set to ignite the Institution that He founded. He did it with Israel and Judea, yet even Christians are offended that a mere engineer should warn them of their impending doom. The ingredients for the eruption of flames are all around us, yet we can never offend our brothers and sisters.

They think they are secure, but all the while they may die: 

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. ²⁶ Her priests have violated My Law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (Ezek 22:25-26)

 Of course, that means Judah, but applies to the end of times for the Church. Who destroyed Israel? False prophets. The “church” destroyed the “Church.” How did God’s prophets do that? They made no difference between right and wrong. The Church will be destroyed because those who minister the Church will accept the profane before they will the truth.

To be honest, the Church cares more about the building than the Church. Why would the congregation vote on facilities for the building but not about continuation of Sunday night services?

That families are too busy to worship God on the Lord’s Day is flimsy at best. We are to honor God on the Lord’s Day not just in the morning.

Have you heard more sermons about the dangers of the social media than about the souls that are in danger? If you have, you have heard the profane rather than the holy.

Holy things are offensive. Jesus offended his “Church” because He preached an offensive thing: that the penalty of unrepentant sin is death in the fires of Hell.

Now, teachers can teach neither on the fires of Hell nor about the signs of the end at all. Ezekiel would have been cast out of the modern Church by the priests! They would have been ashamed that he taught the truth!

To be honest, we are looking at the wrong adversaries. The priests: the ministers, preachers, elders, and even the deacon boards, are those who are the most danger to the destruction of the Church. Not that they will set the fire but that they will quench the Holy Spirit that is the fire! 

¹⁸ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ¹⁹ Quench not the Spirit. ²⁰ Despise not prophesyings. (1 Thes 5:18-20)

 “In everything,” just as in the key verse at the start. The prophesying was a forewarning of the conspiracy of the prophets. Each day I write of the conspiracies that are orchestrated by Lucifer (Isa 14:12-14) and warned about by Ezekiel. In the Church, I am not allowed to teach about such things because the congregants might be offended. What if Ezekiel had not warned us? What if Jesus had not? Then, the Church would go down just as the Temple did twice.

Who destroyed the Temples? Not the Babylonians nor the Romans. They were mere tools for their destruction. The false prophets, the kings, and those who listened to them destroyed the Temples.

Who will destroy the Church? False teachers and those who teach profane things rather than spiritual things. Preaching against the social media is profane compared to worrying about offending the congregation in things that have been rightly prophesied.

What I write here is certain to offend many. However, be forewarned, the truth offends and if it does not offend some, perhaps it is not the truth!

(picture credit: Foreign Policy)

 

ABOUT THE BRAIN AND REGENERATION

The brain is a mysterious organism. It is a vast array of electrical circuitry that is continually active so long as that organ is alive. The other organs respond to the brain and all that activity is hidden in the unconscious.

If we had to use cognition to cause our hearts to beat or control the glands, we would be nothing more than a dimwitted automaton, which by the way, may look human and do super-intelligent things, but have no organisms to control. They are without a heart and are much like the “Tin Man” of the Wizard of Oz.

Human beings are a chosen and peculiar kind, different than all the other genera. God made us that way and with a complexity well beyond the other animals, and certainly beyond artificial beings with artificial intelligence.

Somehow, there is intelligence in the afterlife. In the story of the rich man and the beggar, there is an afterlife conversation. The text of it follows: 

²³ (The rich man) And in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” ²⁵ But Abraham said, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. ²⁶ And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:23-16)

 Note that both Lazarus and the rich man were dead, and that Abraham was long dead. This encounter was an out-of-body- experience but all three of the people still had awareness, reason, logic, and memories. Abraham said, “remember” to the now dead rich man. He had the capacity to remember things that he had done on Earth.

On the other hand, Lazarus was removed from Hell in the heavens. There was a great gulf that could not be traversed. The thoughts of the rich man could not be received by the thoughts of Lazarus. There was some type of barrier that could not be crossed, and it seems that it was a thought barrier.

Now consider the brain. Each side of the brain has its function. However, a dysfunctional person can have the brain divided by surgery and the ability for one brain to communicate with the other is totally hampered. Each side of the brain can still perform but there is no communication to perform all things. With the brains separated, there is no longer a sense of connectivity. It would be as if there were two separate people in one mind.

The brain consists of two hemispheres with a bridge-like connection. Wikipedia says, “The median longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum.” The bridge is the “corpus callosum” (a tough body) a flat bundle of nerves wherein the two hemispheres are open to communication.

The lateralizing are things pertaining only to one side of the brain. The bridge between them allows one hemisphere to communicate with the other hemisphere. Ironically, existence — the seen and the unseen — is divided into two hemispheres as well with each appearing to be all there is since there seems that there is little communication between the two.

As such, people are much the same way. It is as if, the “fiery darts” of the Serpent (Ephes 6:16) severed the bridge between the hemispheres of the brain. Ironically, the left brain senses the visual and other sensory fields on the right side, and the right side the converse.

If our right hand offends us, as scripture relates, Jesus provided the recourse, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off” (Mat 5:30). That should not be taken literally. The left brain is the judgmental hemisphere. It evaluates the information it receives and determines its usefulness. The left brain then sends the information to the right brain that basically controls the actions of the individual. What Jesus may have been saying was to ignore the left brain’s poor judgment.

You cannot do that yourselves. Only Jesus can judge rightly, so the right thing to do is to test all things according to the Word, “²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²² Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thes 5:21-22). We can control our “worlds” so to speak but can only do so by heeding divine Thought.

Isaiah was somewhat knowledgeable about the brain functions, just like Jesus because his thoughts were from the Thoughts of God. His “hemisphere” was distant from the “hemisphere” that God was in, but God transmitted His Thoughts through a “firmament” as was related in the beginning, to wit: “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (Gen 1:7).

God created two worlds. I believe the first “hemisphere” was the invisible world (chapter one), and the second “hemisphere” the visible (chapter two) with some degree of overlap just as with the two hemispheres of the brain.

The waters pertain to all things: semen, materiality, genetics, and even thoughts. All things have a counterpart that balances the whole. Even the Cosmos has two parts.

For instance, righteousness is represented by good. We are to “prove,” or test, all things, and retain what is good, then abstain from what is not good. That is the left brain’s function. Thus, heaven would symbolically be the Thoughts of God, and the world the thoughts of man.

Mankind is depraved but not totally depraved. They can still test all things and go with the good. We have retained our thought processes which are so much more advanced than the other genera. We can evaluate good and evil and hang onto what is good. The animals see all things as good, and their judgment is based on instinct, for the most part. Of course, they retain some emotions, but overall, they do what they want to do. (That is mankind’s genetic inclination as well.)

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is included to make a point; that even the heavens have two hemispheres and hence the separation of the waters from the waters as well. All things have two different existences, just like the human brain.

Somehow death was a loosening of the “silver cord” (Eccl 12:6). When Adam and Eve “died” (Gen 3), the silver cord was loosed, then the “golden bowl was broken.” The golden bowl,” or literally, the “brilliant globe” (Strong 2006), was “bruised.” Perhaps, Solomon was referring to death as tampering with the corpus callosum to separate the brain hemispheres… the broken “globe” — the separation of the mind, half worldly and the other half not.

Sin was the introduction of the knowledge of good and evil. Before the separation of the corpus callosum knowledge would not require judgment. All things were “very good.” (Gen 1:31). With sin, things were divided between good and evil, and mankind would require judgment; hence the left brain would dominate whereas before the whole brain of man was dominant (Gen 1:26).

Lucifer became the dominant kind with sin. Something happened to the “silver cord” of mankind, specifically Eve, who was the mother of all living. It was “loosen” which can mean many things but the most applicable is “afar off” (Strong 2006). Cain’s name means “wanderer” in the sense that he was cursed to the land of Nod (“Wandering”).

Implied with Genesis 4:1 is that Eve bare the “creature” Cain, indicating that he was not fully human. (BLB Institure 2023). What was different with Cain? He knew evil and he was likely a giant (Gen 6:1).

Recently a characteristic in the brain of humans was discovered called, “general arousal” (GA). It “is what wakes us up in the morning and keeps us aware and in touch with ourselves and our environment throughout our conscious hours” (Rockefeller University 2018); its “actual name -- the nucleus gigantocellularis (NGC), which is part of a structure called the medullary reticular formation… (NGC) are “large neurons in the NGC with links to virtually the entire nervous system, including the thalamus, where neurons can activate the entire cerebral cortex” (ibid).

Is the giantism spoken of in the Bible NGC and its affect, General Arousal? Perhaps something happened in the person of Adam with sin that could not be seen, so God marked him, somehow. The outward mark would point toward something within! “The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him” (Gen 4:15). I suggest that something happened to the nature of the “beast” (creature) Cain. Perhaps his general arousal was excessive and thereafter that desire was in the genera of all the living thereafter. He had large neurons and now so does everyone!

Is not judgment still dependent on arousal? Aren’t decisions still dependent on emotions? Do not think of just sexual arousal but many other lusts.

Paul wrote, “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephes 2:3). “Times past” in that argument were times from the beginning. Paul was speaking of genetics. He was retelling the story of the creature whose desires were of the flesh and mind. He was speaking of the nature of the children, or gens, of wrath. That implies Cain, whose genome is now within everyone. We are all children of wrath, and it came from him. And now we all have nucleus gigantocellularis (NGO). Is that coincidental, or was the inward mark that God identified in Cain’s genome?

Many things are different in the brains of humans that differ in the other creatures. If mankind was totally depraved, our minds would be identical to the apes. Not so! Our minds are similar but much different, just ask any gorilla and he will have no answer what it is.

Now let’s speculate for a moment. Perhaps, as He said, mankind was created in the Image of God. How many Images is there of God? One true God with one Mind. How is it, then, that mankind has two minds? Because he now serves two masters (Mat 6:24). Those who do are unstable double-minded men (Jas 1:8). As such, all mankind, before rebirth serve two masters. Not the two Images (Selem) — God and (Nahas) — the Serpent, but mankind — Cain.

Adam remained God’s kind because he was protected by the grace of God. Cain was the creature that we now wrongly call “humans.” We are all genetic mutations because of Lucifer. We are no longer “as God” but “as Cain” who is of the Wicked One (1 John 3:12).

Who is the master of the human domain? Or own minds. What is the focus of our minds? General Arousal. That is the “giant” within all mankind. We are our own masters and have the god of self, it is the self that is dominant unless we crucify the flesh; that “ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom 12:1). That would mean to give up the General Arousal (GA) instinct (since it is genetic) in favor of God’s Will.

Animals do have two brains. In general, all animals have two brain lobes. The strange thing is that they can function with either one intact although the lobes are asymmetrical (not alike). It is if creatures do have two brains and we all favor one side over the other! Our brains are our “masters,” and we perform according to the dominant side.

In the beginning, Adam had dominion over the other animals (Gen 1:26). That means that Adam would “prevail” over the other animals. He would be the dominant genus among the other genera.

Was He like God? Was Adam a real one brain genus or at least with two lobes that were symmetrical. After all, God (the One Mind) created all things in pairs: material and space, positron and electron, matter and antimatter, and even waters from the waters. Is it not probable that He would have created a single-minded man wherein the hemispheres of the one brain were symmetrical.

I know all this is conjecture, but does it not make sense from a scriptural standpoint? Does not the science align for the most part with scripture? Don’t let the science scare you because God is the “Science” that scientists discover, and usually do not find Him there!

The master we are to serve is which brain lobe. A double-minded man would use judgment (the left lobe) that messages the action hemisphere (the right lobe). They would judge what is right and most often favor their own wills. Everyone tends to do what is right in their own eyes (Deut 12:8). Born-again Christians should do what is right in “God’s Eye.” If the right brain is dominant, then judgment would not be as important, although it remains recessive since we are all humans.

The right brain, given detachment, from the left brain, would not use judgment at all. Perhaps, without the left brain functioning at all, the right brain would always function rightly. Unfortunately, perhaps, the halves of the brain, if they remain attached, function together as one brain. One side messages the other to perform certain functions, and those functions are performed.

Is it a coincidence that angels, including Lucifer, are “messengers” and that the left brain is the messenger side of the brain? That distinction may have been because the “Messenger” got into the mind of the first offspring of Eve.

But what if the left brain is incapacitated? The left brain is alleged to be analytical and the right brain creative. Thus, the left is judgmental, and the right is creative — like their Father in heaven.

In scripture, judgmental is associated with the “Serpent.” God had told Adam not to eat or he would die. The Serpent became the judge of that, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4). Because Lucifer was the “Beast” creature, he judged wrongly. As far as lost men, they too most often judge wrongly because they seem to do what they think is right, but often are doing the wrong choice.

“Born again” (John 3:7) means to be regenned in the Image of God. Of course, with that decision to trust God, humans still have two brains but with God in charge, Christians are regenned to judge rightly. God may do something about the General Arousal (GA) in our minds to make that less general. That seems to be the truth, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

Rather than our minds focusing on the things of the world, the focus is on the Will of God. The left side of the brain relinquishes judgment and trusts God to do the judging. Jesus even said so, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Mat 7:1). He as well have said, Quit using your left brain! Be creative like your Father in heaven, and let Him decide what is right.

Again, this all seems to be a fabricated comparison, but I soon realized that although I have my own “sense of ownership,” I detect that the “Sense of Agency” belongs to God. Consider those two brain functions: 

The sense of agency (SA), or sense of control, is the subjective awareness of initiating, executing, and controlling one's own volitional actions in the world. It is the pre-reflective awareness or implicit sense that it is I who is executing bodily movement(s) or thinking thoughts. In non-pathological experience, the SA is tightly integrated with one's "sense of ownership" (SO), which is the pre-reflective awareness or implicit sense that one is the owner of an action, movement or thought. If someone else were to move your arm (while you remained passive) you would certainly have sensed that it were your arm that moved and thus a sense of ownership (SO) for that movement. However, you would not have felt that you were the author of the movement; you would not have a sense of agency (SA). (Wikipedia 2001-2023)

 I do not have this type of knowledge. God directs me the way that He wants me to go. When I set down to create thought provoking ideas, it is my fingers that hits the keys, sometimes awkwardly, but the Sense of Agency belongs to God. My thoughts are not my thoughts, but His. I am merely the owner of the action of typing, and a haphazard owner at that!

Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5). Translation: You are only to have the sense of ownership (SO) but Jesus the Sense of Agency (SA).

Do you not know yourselves? That it is God that inspires the knowledge of the truth, as Timothy wrote? That He is the “Agent” that presents the ideas into our heads? That we only operationalize what is on His Agenda?

Of course, Jesus is not physically in us. However, His Spirit is, or at least, should be. The Image of God is in the Christian, but not in the “reprobate” (the damned). Christians are no longer to be double-minded but single-minded, having two brains as is the case but the two brains working in harmony with a common cause — to honor God. As such, with the focus on God, then the General Arousal instinct that all the animals have, becomes a General Meekness that Christians need not live for arousal.

“In Christ” means that Christ owns you. It is you that operates, but God is the Agent that motivates you as a Christian. Arousal is not the motivation but glorifying the Creator Agent.

I can only add two and two and hopefully come up with the right answer. God seems to indicate that many of the things that I write are truthful. We are not meant to know everything but to realize that there is a “Mystery of God” that many have tried to solve: 

⁷ We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ⁸ Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor 2:7-8)

 There is a mystery about the generation of the world and its people. That God did so “unto our glory” has great signification. Our glory is the Image of God in which we were generated. It is the way we were before sin changed mankind. Paul was saying that our genera was once like God’s, but mankind behaved as the beasts behave. We degenerated to the point that there is no way we can change back because it is genetic. Hence, only the blood of Jesus is efficacious because every nuclear cell therein bares the Image of God!

Regeneration is single-mindedness in harmony to the perfect Will of God. It is not something that we do to change, but by grace we are regenerated. Grace is essentially changing us back to the way God intended with one mind like the Father.

Is it coincidence that Calvary is the “Place of the Skull”? And that the cranium is the shield from danger to the brain? And is it coincidence that Paul persuaded the multitudes to become Christians, and that persuasion changes the functioning of the brain? Is it coincidence that with Saul’s conversion to Paul took him from “Questioning” to “Humbled” as his entire nature and thoughts were changed? Is it coincidence that the mind goes with the Soul when it dies? None of those things are coincidences!

That adds much meaning to scripture: “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Mat 16:3).

(picture credit: iStock)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAN SEE BUT ARE BLIND

The Bible is the inspired Word of God: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, since Jesus is the “Word” then if you doubt scripture, you doubt Jesus, and His testimony is believed to be unreliable.

However, none of the English Bibles are the Word of God but versions. The same goes for Bibles in any language with one, maybe two, exceptions. The New Testament Greek is the “Textus Receptus” or the “Received Word.” Jesus spoke the Greek, so the Greek is the Word of Jesus.

Many believe that pre-incarnate Jesus spoke the Hebrew language, or some ancient form of it. The Old Testament is mostly in Hebrew with a small part of it in Aramaic. I believe the Word in the old scripture spoke some form of archaic Hebrew, just as the Greek of Jesus’s time is not the Greek of modern times.

The English texts, all of them, are English versions of the Hebrew and the Greek. It is the ambiguity in language translations that often introduce doctrinal errors. For instance, “sosos,” in the Greek, means either “safe” or “saved” in the English (Strong 2006). Therefore, are Christians merely safe or they saved. The leading Bible, the King James Version, was translated and interpreted mostly by Calvinists. You expect them to translate sosos as “saved” because it fits their doctrine.

The New Testament Greek should be translated as the literal Word of God. When Jesus asked the multitudes — those of different nationalities, in Matthew 7:3, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” did He expect them to understand that some had motes in one of their eyes and the other beams? Should that be taken literally? Note that is one eye, not “eyes.” The Greek needs to be examined unless this was a metaphor. That it could be, but is it? Metaphors are not to be taken literally!

A metaphor is making an easier to understand activity substitute for something harder to understand. What was Jesus really asking them? What was the point that He was making? The Greek should reveal that because even though some may have a mote in their eye, very few would have a beam in theirs. Jesus was indicating therein that the multitude had a beam in one eye. What material was the beam and which eye?

Let’s first begin with “beholdest” (blepo; Greek). The most fitting interpretation is to “discern” (ibid). Discerning is an activity of the mind. The subject at hand was what? Judging others. Jesus was not saying to not judge but qualifying judgment and who can judge.

Obviously, those whose vision was impeded by a beam could not judge objectively. If it was in one eye, their viewpoint would not be the whole view but with a “scotoma” — the beam.  

A scotoma is “a spot in the visual field in which vision is absent or deficient” (Merriam-Webster 2023). Why did Jesus use a metaphor? Who there would have understood a scotoma? Those with the metaphorical beam were not looking at themselves. The “beam” was their scotoma that hindered them seeing the truth about themselves.

In the Greek, “beam” is “dokos” — It literally means to “hold up” (Strong 2006). The multitude were not holding up a physical beam but a false idea.

That idea is discovered in the story of the harlot; Jesus implored, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7).

Jesus removed the beam from each of their own eyes, and the scotoma was eliminated. That is known, because they all walked off for none of them were without sin. The multitude there, accusing the woman, considered the Words of Jesus, and presto, the beam was removed from the eye of each. It was not the physical eye that had the beam blinding it but a scotoma preventing a true mental picture. The multitude saw her sins but neglected to consider their own!

Both you and I have that problem. Christians may even perceive themselves without sin and accuse others. That perception itself is sinful, to wit: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). Saying, or even thinking, that we are without sin is that “beam” that gets in the way of self-analyzation. Thinking that Christians are perfect, or even secure with a beam in their image of themselves, is making ourselves the God, and reduces Jesus to a liar.

How to remove the scotoma from our image? “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What did the harlot woman do? Confessed her sin. She presented a full image of herself to Jesus, and Jesus forgave her sins.

As a young man, I thought that before I came to Jesus, I must first present myself without sin. I attempted to do the job of Jesus and failed time after time. Because sin is genetic, we cannot change who we are, but Jesus can and will! My “beam” was that I could make myself righteous, all the while God proved that I could not.

The problem with us Christians is that we present ourselves as something that we are not. We are saints, indeed, but “saint” does not mean saintly in the context of good, but “hagios” — from “hagos” an “awful thing.”  We must first rid ourselves of the idea that as Christians, we are good already. Goodness, or glorification, occurs when Christians die and can do no more sin. That is why only the dead saints were resurrected at the time of Jesus.

The “beam” in my own mental eye was that I must make myself righteous. That made me out to be God.

Now examine the English word, “eye.” That Greek word sounds familiar — “ophthalmos.” Of course, that does mean “eye” literally; its root noun is “optanomai” — “the middle voice” (ibid). Our one eye is that middle voice that represents who we think that we are. It is what we are in our “mind’s eye.” So, there is no beam in either of our eyes, but a blindness to who we really are. We are all sinners who are “sosos” by grace. For now, we are safe but at death, we are saved by grace because then we can no longer misrepresent ourselves.

Just when are Christians saved? Is it when the mind is persuaded that it is evil, when the body is resurrected, or when?

 “(The Lord Jesus) to deliver such an one (Christians) unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5). The body perishes by the hand of Satan, but the Spirit, or Soul, is saved with the second coming of the Lord wherein He comes to save both the dead saints and the living Christians (1 Thes 4:16).

Your body will perish and remain destroyed. It is the living soul that shall be saved. The soul is the innermost existence in everyone, but the souls to be saved are those in Christ — with the Spirit of Jesus in them, having the Holy Ghost of Jesus directing their lives… only if we rid ourselves of the false perception that we are without sin.

Now consider the “mote.” Is it a splinter, chaff, or even a floater? In the Textus Receptus that mote is “karphos.” It comes from the root verb, “karpho,” meaning “to wither.” Because it withers, it is taken to mean dead chaff. However, withering is something that is temporary; something that will soon go away without your inspection nor circumcision.

You would have to saw off a beam and a false viewpoint; both would be hard work.  Ridding oneself of a blind-spot in our viewpoint is a terribly difficult thing to do. Have you ever tried changing your false perceptions? You have surely tried to change them in others to no avail. “Beams” are stubborn. They are used in construction because they are so sturdy and endurable.

Motes are not used in construction, but “beams” are used for false constructs of all sorts. Your viewpoint of yourself is indubitably a false construct. That you must love yourself first before coming to Jesus is a false construct. That you can be good and go to heaven is a false construct. That you are without sin is a false construct.

The “mote” was that the harlot had fornicated. She saw that as sinful, and that she had indeed sinned. Because Jesus removed the scotoma from her own view of herself, made the sin of harlotry wither. Jesus removed the mote from her eye, and because of grace, it was Him that also sawed the beams from the eyes of the multitude who had recognized the woman’s sin but not their own sins.

Jesus was the Carpenter. You need not remove the beam from your own mental picture; rely on Him to delicately remove that false foundation from your belief system.

For those who have the mote, what shall they do? Look to Jesus and that mote will wither. The harlot did only that, and then Jesus said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). She would likely sin some more, but Jesus had changed her mindset. She would no longer be yoked to the sin of harlotry. He had withered the mote from her innermost image. She was no longer the “harlot,” but a sinful woman consoled by the Spirit of Jesus.

How about the mob that would stone her? Jesus revealed to them that their viewpoint of themselves required changing, but He knew that they would sin some more because theirs was more than a mote, but a structure of many beams.

Soon, many of them would appear again with the beam (The Cross) even more heavy; they would crucify the Savior, or at least remain silent as the others who thought of themselves without sin would crucify and flay the Perfect Sacrifice of God. Later they would “eat of His Flesh unworthily” (1 Cor 11:27), as if they had no part in His death.

Scripture is literal but it also is metaphorical. Great care must be taken because words mean things and in different languages, they might mean something entirely different. For instance, we are not to gouge out our own eyes, but merely allow truth to persuade us of the facts. What is the “fact” of removing the beam? You are not THE CARPENTER, and that you must allow Jesus to remove the beams from your mind’s eye.

 (picture credit: Canyon Springs Church)

 

 

 

FOOD FOR ANGELS NOT FOOD FOR BEASTS

I have written that the substance of original man of the genus of adama was not flesh as we think of it. It was of some glorious substance that would not age, decay, nor die. Implied therein, I wrote that death is not ceasing to exist but being transformed from one substance to another, or from one kind to another, or from incorruptibility to corruptibility.

Scripture says about the purification of souls that “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet 1:23).

That is the process of regeneration; it is just like the original generation, to wit: 

⁷ 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. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Gen 2:7-8)

 Rebirth is God replanting His Garden on Earth but destined for Paradise in Heaven; both begin with God planting His Seed and watching it grow. Life is essentially growth of the Seed of God and death is the withering of the seed. Man withered the first and in subsequent times (Adam, Noah, and Abraham for instance) and it can wither in the end. That withering is “falling away” (Heb 6:6), called “apostasy.” To remain alive requires nourishment. For us, it is the Word of God — Jesus — who is the “Bread of Life.”

“I am the ‘Bread of Life:’ he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

Where, before, was that necessary to keep man alive? In the Garden of Eden. There, God generated man in His Image. What was the Image of God in the beginning? Some Glorious Substance made not of flesh. We call that substance, “Spirit,” and when embodied, so to speak, it is a “living soul.” The human soul looks just like the person, only of a different substance — an incorruptible, or immortal substance, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:53).

When God put “coats of skin” (Gen 3:21) on Adams kind, although some believe it was the skin of lambs, it was not coats which could be removed per se but human flesh that God made for that purpose. The nakedness of which they were ashamed (Gen 3:7), and never before (Gen 2:25), were two: (1) the aprons were to cover their shame in that they now had pudenda. That is the worst part of the flesh; and (2) their flesh was of a different substance. It was no longer glorious and incorruptible but decadent and depraved. Sin transformed them from immortal beings with perfect, or glorious, flesh to flesh that would decay over time.

Imagine your future if you are a Christian. You will be regenerated in the same manner as Adam and be planted by God into the “ground” of Paradise in heaven. Hence, I believe that Genesis chapter one is the planting of souls “before the foundation of the world” (Ephes 1:4) and that chapter two is about planting the Garden in that “foundation” — in the ground (Hebrew; adama).

All the animals in first of the two Gardens, Paradise in Heaven, had for “meat” (food) herbs; for mankind it was the seed of the herb (Gen 1:29) and for animals the green herbs (Gen 1:30) themselves. Note that food was not mentioned in chapter two. They were to experiment like the other animals for what was good to eat, and God advised them what to eat to support their immortal bodies to avoid corruption.

The translators thought “herb” and “green grass” because those are what animals eat. I propose that neither the animals nor the human souls were of the same substance as is thought. They required more than what we think of as “food.” The First Book of Adam and Eve supports that notion, as it relates that glorious man had no digestive tract.

So, what would have they eat in the beginning? Foods from trees were prescribed by God, but those “trees” were not corruptible trees because there was no death theretofore.

It seems that the “Serpent” corrupted one tree of which they could not eat. The “Serpent” was the nature of the angel, Lucifer. He perhaps added some invisible substance to the fruits of that one tree. We call that substance “sin” but since sin is to “come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), it is not having the Glory — Image — of God. God is the Beginning and the Ending and is immortal. Lucifer changed the Image of God (Selem) to his own image (nahas). The Image of God was His Identity. Today we know that the complete identity — physical characteristics and nature — is encoded in the composite DNA of the organisms — their genomes.

Eve had planted into her the seed of the “Serpent” with its DNA in the vessels of mitochondrial DNA. She was the mother of all living, and as such, every person in the world comes short of the glory of God because they have mutated genes from another kind of being. Adam named that being “Nahas.” We call it “Serpent,” “Satan,” and such.

When Cain was born, he came short of the Glory of Selem, having some of the genome of the “Beast,” Nahas — what he named Lucifer since that was the serpentine image of that angel.

Cain would look like Adam and Eve. We know that from Genesis 4:15 because God marked him to reveal his identity that differed from righteous Abel and Seth. It was a physical mark that any could see. As it turns out, his own kind killed Cain; Blind Lamech did the dirty deed, according to the Book of Enoch. Lamech could not see the mark of God because he was blind.

It is supposed that the image of Seth’s line differed from the image of Cain’s line as revealed in the days of Noah. I believe the mark of Cain that God endowed unto him was giantism because there were giants in those days (Gen 6:4). Blind Lamech, like David years later, killed the giant that would harass God’s people.

The point so far is that original man was created much different as the depraved people we think of in modern times. Mankind never evolved from stooped to upright but from upright like Jesus to stooped like the humble beast that God sees.

Original man required special food. It was translated as “herb” but (Gen 1:12) but in the Hebrew it is “eseb” — “from an unused root meaning to glisten” (ibid). That could be grass of course, but more generally, it was some substance that reflected light. What could it be?

Remembering that the setting of the story is Paradise, then it is some heavenly substance that glistens.

Well, consider this, “Then said the Lord unto Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no” (Exod 16:4).  

What was God doing in the beginning? Testing the two! He rained bread from heaven and that would be their food, but He tested them by forbidding them to eat not bread from His Heaven but from the body of Lucifer. What did the “bread” look like? 

¹⁴ And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. ¹⁵ And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, this is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.”^. (Exod 16:14-15)

 Round things (seed) that looked like hoar frost in the morning would certainly glisten. My hypothesis is that God had provided to Adam and Eve in Paradise in heaven, not herbs, but manna. Furthermore, they thought that the fruit of the forbidden tree was better that the manna from heaven, much like the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin were unappreciative of the bread that God gave to them. They were committing the original sin in the desert in the same manner as Adam and Eve had in Paradise.

Any theory must be examined. Has any before me thought that?

In the pseudepigraphic Book of Adam, Adam suggests to Eve that they test God no further. 

Then Eve told him, “Arise, let us both seek vegetables” (3.3). And they did not find (anything) tasting like the fruit of the tree which was in paradise.” (4.1) And Eve told him, “God created that for the (wild) beasts to get their food; but our food was that by which the angels live (4.2). Now, come and let us repent in penitence for forty days, so that God might pity us and then give us better food than that of (dumb) animals, lest we should be like them. (4.3)

 Animals were to eat the produce of the seed (ostensibly green grass) but the two people were to eat food like they had in Paradise — “the food by which the angels live.” They were to eat manna from heaven!

That is not to say that the Book of Adam is canon, but it is commentary, if nothing else; commentary which shows that ancient Hebrews thought the “glistening” substance was not herbs like the cattle ate, but the food of angels.

That notion also supports the idea that Adam and Eve were not meant to eat food that animals eat nor kill any living thing. Their dependence was on God alone in all things because they were of the same Genus as God! After they fell, they ate vegetation and soon, in the manner of the real beasts, who like Cain, was said to have drank the blood of Abel; they became carnivores as they degenerated even further. (Gen 9:3).

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO GATES TO TWO PLACES

 According to Jesus, we get what we ask for (Key Verse): 

⁸ For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. ⁹ Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? (Mat 7:8-10)

 Ask, seek, knock >>>  find, receive, open. That sounds like discovering a door to a stairway to somewhere; does it not? Then the next two verses are about the asking portion.

Soon, Jesus identified the “door:” 

¹³ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

 The “door” is a gate, and as it turns out the “somewhere” is to life, and that few will find the gate. The gate is straight, and the way narrow that leads to life. If the narrow way leads to life, its origin must be death. Implied is that the world is a place of death because beyond is a place of life.

Straight implies narrow, but its root verb in the Greek means “standing open” (Strong 2006). The “gate” comes from the Greek verb “to turn.” (ibid). It could be a gate, a turnstile, or even an escalator. Whatever it is, it is for one way; once through the gate, there is no turning back; it turns one way. It could even be a portal that stands open for any who would enter and with no turning back. Somehow it is a one-way entry point from Earth to Heaven. Where is that “portal” to eternal life?

Let’s look in the Old Testament for more about that portal.

Adam and Eve were in Paradise in heaven. How is that known? After sin, “He (God) drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen 3:24).

“Out” in that verse is beyond heavenly Paradise; that is known because the destination is described by God. The consequences of sin were not paradisiacal: enmity, physical harm, sorrow, lustful desire, dominance, cursed ground, thorns, thistles, hard work, and death (Gen 3:15-19). Adam and Eve were the only two humans to go from Paradise to Heaven, excepting Enoch who went in and out of Paradise.

The “gate” to the world was open but guarded by angelic beings (Gen 3:24). Mankind cannot enter unworthily nor can other creatures from another realm live on Earth because the gate is guarded both ways.

“Death” was when Adam and Eve were driven from the heavenly realm wherein they had bright natures and incorruptible flesh to the world wherein there was corruption and a dark nature. God readjusted their image that was like His for their new habitation.

When Jesus was Resurrected, some of the dead in Christ were as well, to wit: “The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His Resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Mat 27:52-53).

Calvary is the “place of Adam’s skull.” That place was for Adam and his kind. It was to redeem them. Reason has it that Adam, representing all mankind, was Resurrected alongside Jesus and all three adama (the man, the woman, and Jesus — the “last Adam”) went through the Portal together, back to their Paradise, as new creatures!

That portal was where Adam and Eve were. The Book of Enoch says that the bones of Adam were taken on the Ark of Noah to the new world by Shem and Melchizedek and buried where he was created — on the Foundation Stone in Jerusalem.

Consequently, for Christians, the portal is where Christ is and where we are… with Him or not!

Now to address the hard things: “If his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?” Jesus is the “Bread of Life” (John 6:35). Remembering that the subject at hand is the “Way,” then Jesus is the Way. Stones were always false images of God — idols. Implied in that narrative is that only Jesus should be asked for; that no other gods will suffice. Who to ask for entry? Jesus alone; no other gods, if they even existed, would suffice.

Next consider, “Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” Both a fish and a serpent are images. The fish represents Jesus and the serpent the devil, Lucifer. There will be many Antichrists, ostensibly not at the same time, but in series. For each purpose of God it seems that there is a counter-purpose: The Serpent for God, Genun for Noah, Nimrod for Abraham, Saul for David, Judas for Jesus, and Nero for Paul, and so on.

Likewise, ages are represented by animals. The Chinese Zodiac even has the Age of the Serpent, and of course, the western Zodiac has the Age of Pisces the fish. The Age of Aquarius is the Age of the Serpent, Lucifer, and now that age is dawning after being in the Christian Era (Pisces) for over 2000 years.

There is a Serpent in this age as well. He or “it” is the one that undermines Christ. We must take great care who our “Fish” is that we are not asking for a “Serpent”! The Antichrist will appear to be a Christ. He cannot allow you to enter that gate! That is what he does.

Jesus knew they would not understand. He knew Enoch would not, so God allowed Enoch to go there himself so that mankind would know just what is on the other side of the door. He found a partitioned heaven with a great barrier between, just as with the rich man and Lazarus. There are two gates… the one is open for all who would enter and the other one leading to death. They are both in another realm but in very different places.

With that said, perhaps the Paradise of Adam in Heaven and on Earth were the same realm beyond the cosmos but two very different places. Not that heaven and hell are on Earth but far away from each other in substances, their economies, and certainly their environments!

(picture credit; deviantart.com)

 

 

 

MARKS INSIDE AND OUT

 This is difficult to write because of my own marks. I see mine but they may be well-hidden from you. I work hard to conceal the marks that I have inwardly, so bear with me while I comment on a hard and widespread subject that may offend about everybody, including myself.

Astute people see what is important to them. God sees it as well! I think of the movie, Death Becomes Her; two beautiful women never want to die. Madeline is married to Earnest, a reconstructive mortician who endeavors to keep her beautiful. That failing, a spa owner gives her the business card of a woman who specializes in rejuvenation.  That too failed.

Soon, a young-looking, but elderly woman, reveals to Madeline a potion that promises eternal life and an everlasting youthful appearance. Madeline purchases and drinks the potion and is rejuvenated, regaining her beauty.  To shorten the story, both Madeline and her friend Helen, although old, look young and beautiful but they began to wither. We are all withering and some deal with it in preposterous ways.

The potion is temporary; the mortician husband must maintain their beauty by heavy makeup that peels off. Soon, those two women look as if they are the walking dead.

Nobody wants to grow old, and because they do, they want to remain attractive until the day they die. So many times, it is heard at a funeral, “He (she) looks so natural and beautiful.” They are dead. They are neither vibrant nor beautiful; the mortician has just done a good job. People hang onto vanity even in death!

God created mankind beautiful — in His Image. God is glorious, so mankind were created glorious. That God is glorious is a thread throughout the Bible, and example is, “Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us His Glory and His greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire…” (Deut 5:24). Because of sin, mankind has “come short of the Glory of God” (Rom 3:23).

Narcissistic people think of themselves as beautiful but since the original sin, mankind is brutish and grow more brutish with time. Speaking of ungodly men, Jude wrote, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves” (Jude 10).

In the days before the flood, “God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth” (Gen 6:12). In the end, it will be as in the days of Noah, all flesh will be corrupted. What mankind sees as “beautiful,” God sees as corrupt!

In the end, Christians — those who are like Christ in death — will be made “incorruptible” again, and without corrupt flesh. When Jesus comes again, even the dead shall live again, those living in Christ will join them, as it is written, “The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:52). Even the dead shall be glorious again as Adam (mankind) was in the beginning. The Image of God will be restored in the faithful as they are completely regenerated at the rapture. They shall be regenned again in the Image of God’s Genome.

Now consider the word, “glory,” in the Hebrew it is “kaḇoḏ.” Glorious is thought of as “beautiful” but the root word means “heaviness” or “dullness.” (Strong 2006). God is not beautiful in a natural sense but of a substance much different than man’s. Do not think of heaviness as fatness, but Holy. Joshua said to the Hebrews, “He is an ‘Holy God’…” (Jos 24:19). He is a “clean” God set apart and consecrated. In other words, God is different than humans.

We are told to, “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I AM the Lord your God” (Lev 20:17). We are to set ourselves apart to be dull like God is dull. The point therein is that beauty, or glory, is on the inside. Christians are to be different than the brutes of the world. God sums that up this way: 

³ “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: ⁴ That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; ⁵ Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God… (1 Thes 4:3-5)

 First off “fornication” in the Greek is “porneio” — porn, or idolatry. Fornication is thought of as engaging in sexual intercourse; it is much more than that. It is looking at images of others and lusting after them. That generally commences with children looking at themselves.

Early in childhood development, they cherish their flesh, “…no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it” (Ephes 5:29). In fact, the rest of the passage reveals that mankind makes their flesh as cherished as God’s Image.

We are to abstain from worshipping our own image. “Porn” is satisfying our own flesh as we lust after the flesh of others. It is not the glorification of the flesh of others but a sad attempt to glorify ourselves.

What is the lust of Lucifer? “I will be like the most High (God)” (Isa 14:14). His “flesh” is corrupt. He wants the Glorious Image of God, no matter how dull it is to the world. Humans are the same way because, we like Cain, our progenitor, are of the Wicked One. (1 John 3:12)… the spiritually diseased one.

What glorifies mankind? Death! Are you surprised?

Jesus was glorified at death (John 7:39) and our gain, like the death of Jesus and for Paul, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). Living set apart as Christ was set apart delivers a reward. That reward is glorification. What happens at death? The person gives up the flesh while retaining the mind and soul. Christians relinquish their image that they adore all their lives.

Hence, self-adoration is mankind’s problem and how better to adore oneself than magnifying the flesh. Is that not what Death Becomes Her was all about? They refused to relinquish their fleshes at all costs, even to the point of adorning their flesh with cuttings and cosmetics!

Yesterday my granddaughter said forthrightly to grandma, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos.” Indeed, I would never again tattoo my body. It isn’t for me because in the spiritual realm no Christian will be tattooed. The only Person there who will be pierced in Paradise is Jesus, and that is because it is His Mark to show that He paid the price for our sins. Our old flesh will be of no concern there.

Many Christians, especially Calvinists, are “antinominalists.” They minimize, even trivialize, the Law of God.  Obedience to the Laws of God is not the Way to Paradise because Jesus fulfilled that requirement. Jesus, and Him alone, is the Way. However, the Law remains the written “Will and Testament of God.” Hence, the burdensome Law remains the Will of God.

If you remember, “glorious” means “Heavy” or “Burdensome;” that describes the Glory of Jesus (John 7:39). 

³ Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: ⁵ To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Gal 1:3-5)

 Remember what my granddaughter said, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos.” Well, she is right. PAPA does not like tattoos! Our Father in heaven disdains tattoos or any thing that would mar our image, at least of what Image of His that we have left after millennia of degeneration!

The Law, I repeat, remains the Will of God. Like a good Papa, we will not be condemned for writing and cutting on the “coats of skin” (Gen 3:21) that God made especially for His children. We are to cherish the grace that he gave our kind by giving us even inglorious skin!

The Lord Jesus Christ gave up His Flesh and became “Heavy” — He “gave Himself for our sins,” as the Word says. Jesus revealed His innermost self when He gave up his marked flesh. His “flesh” was much different than ours; it was glorious! The Identity of Jesus still looked like Jesus as He gave up His innermost feature — the Holy Ghost — the invisible God that carried all our sins to Hell. Was the Holy Ghost a beautiful Thing?

The “Holy Ghost” is from the Greek, “Hagio Pneuma.” The root word is hagos — “an awful thing.” The Innermost Jesus was indeed uncomely as Isaiah saw Him: 

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. (Isa 53:3; RSV)

 We make ourselves “beautiful” for ourselves, but Jesus made Himself ugly for us! The Apocryphal account of the crucifixion describes a dire scene that agrees with canon: 

Two young men also appeared to Him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on each side of Him and scourged Him continuously, inflicting many blows on Him (2 Mac 3:26)

 Note that the writers of history saw “beautiful” and “splendid” men scourge Jesus. They thought they made Jesus a hideous Person but then Jesus gave up the (Holy) Ghost. They revealed the Person inside, one from whom men would hide their faces. Apparently, neither the repentant thief nor the centurion turned away in horror but saw the Ghost of Jesus as a beautiful Thing. Truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Who were the ugly beings at the crucifixion?

I believe Satan was there, after he had gone out of Judas. Perhaps the chief priest, Caiaphas became the Antichrist. He would be the ugliest of the ugly without regard to his robes or status.

Those “beautiful” people who scourged Jesus were two more of the ugly ones. They would have been decked out in the finest Roman centurion apparel and would have looked grand to the crowd… but inside their innermost person — their souls — they were ugly men.

Jesus was not hideous enough for those who mocked Him, so they scourged Jesus of His flesh. The Romans were noted for applying forty minus one flogs on people. Jesus surely suffered thirty-nine strokes from the scourging device: 

A scourge (Latin: flagrum) consists of a rope with metal balls, bones, and metal spikes. The scourge, or flail, and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination… A flail's intended use was to thresh wheat, not to implement corporal punishment. (Wikipedia 2001-2023)

 Thirty-nine stokes of a flail would rip the flesh off the bone. When Jesus gave up the Holy Ghost, He did that by giving up His worldly flesh. They flogged the phantom right out of Jesus, and revealed the Holy Thing inside His Flesh.

As a young man, my son was beaten about a dozen times on the head with a crowbar. I saw him the day after. His head was alien in appearance; it was puffed twice the size as usual. My handsome son had been diminished to a beaten creature. I hardly recognized him. That’s what they did to Jesus only many times worse.

Those beautiful and grand men thought they were making Him ugly, but His Soul showed through. Jesus left His haggardly flesh and was glorified as He showed to those who would look His Glory!

Jesus was cut and pierced as they mocked and killed Him. That was God’s Will for Himself because they were inflicting defects on the Glorious fleshly Image — the skin of God that was the “coat of flesh” of God.

So why would God say, “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord” (Lev 19:28).

My granddaughter said it rightly just as children do, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos,” she said. God said that first, Papa said to not make cuttings in your flesh nor tattoo any marks upon you. Was it Papa who said that? He added, “I AM the Lord.”

You are not the Lord, the LORD GOD, Jesus, is the LORD. His glorious flesh would be marked so yours need not!

Marking the flesh was a “Gentile” or pagan thing to do. God marked Cain already and as the progeny of Cain, we are already marked. The flesh of Cain was the problem; it differed from the righteous flesh of Abel, so God marked it.

You are not God, so it is presumptive for you to do the marking. Yes, sins of presuming to be what you are not, are still sins — “presumptive sins.” It is written, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:13).

Jesus was accused of presumptive sin; He claimed to be God, and He was marked for it! His flesh was torn off bit by bit. He had thorns placed on His head that ripped His flesh, so why would so many today pierce the beautiful faces that God made for them?

This “papa” doesn’t care what you do with your own flesh, but God still cares; it remains His Will that your flesh is not degenerated more than it already is. Why not do whatever you will to do? Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Agape love is to honor the Will of the Father. The Law is still “His Will to be done” as we are said to pray.

This seems to be an attack on modern customs. Many of us would never mark ourselves, or would we?

To glorify God is to love and adore Him. Love, as said before, is having goodwill for God, to honor Him and His precepts, or commandments.

How to adore God? Worship His Image, and that “Image” is Jesus. To magnify the very Flesh of God that replaced yours to redeem your sins.

In the Old Testament, the sacrifice was to be unblemished (Exod 12:5) and your own flesh as the perfect sacrifice should be without blemish, at least the best that can be had; God fully realizing that mankind is already terribly blemished.

That Christians are to glorify God is best done by unglorifying themselves. Paul wrote to the pagan Romans, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1). You are to present your flesh to God as the sacrifice to glorify God. Your gift should not be repackaged nor reused. It should be as new and pristine as possible.

You cannot clean what is on the inside with rebirth, but you can present your bodies with some degree of decency. Then, God will clean the inside, or perhaps the inward you, until it is as clean as the outward you. However, He cannot be fooled.

For myself, I am presentable outwardly but know that I am haggardly inwardly. My hope is that God regards that well — recognizing how unclean that I am and to continue cleaning me up.

Outward appearance reflects the inner person. Why would anyone mar themselves? Because their flesh may very well represent their inner person. Of course, some use a clean image to conceal the dirty inside, but that is problematic as well. Indeed, even us “clean” folks are marked inwardly; we just conceal it better.

Many of us who are straight and clean, even clean ourselves up more than usual to appear cleaner. For instance, those who think they are preachers may wear a preacher’s suit but that does not make them holy at all. Spit-shined shoes and carefully applied aromas and cosmetics do not make the preacher more real!

There is a problem of overdoing anything. Even if something is a good thing, overdoing it may be harmful.

So, you like candy? So do I, but too much candy will make you ill. The same goes for too much preparation; a little makeup may be good, but a lot may be detestable to the Lord. Take for instance, Jezebel; Jehu was anointed king and to appear to him more glorious than she was, “she painted her eyes and adorned her head.” (2 Kings 9:30).

Jezebel wanted to be noticed beyond the noticeability of other women. She made herself out to be the ideal, the idol of something she was not. She presented a false image to Jehu.

Many of our own careers were presenting a false image. Mine was a country boy made up in a three-piece suit and presented to customers as a businessman. When I realized that in my black suits, I looked more like a penguin than a success, I ceased wearing my “penguin suit,” and still avoid wearing suits to church.

We are to wear our best for God, and the best for Jesus was an undergarment with a robe. John wore a suit of camel’s hair for a reason; perhaps not to look more glorious than Jesus, and even with that, they thought him the Messiah!

Speaking of Jesus, John said, “He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” (Mat 3:11). His role was to magnify God by minimizing himself, and it worked!

The high priests were lucky men. If anyone was dressed to be king and thought of themselves as rightful heirs of Herod and of God; it was the priestly realm. Pilate should have been wary of the chief priests who dressed like and acted like gods and kings. They were the real pretenders to the throne, not Jesus. They were acting the part that they were not!

Makeup is making oneself out to be what one is not. Some makeup may be good, but excessive makeup is for the stage. It is not much different than marking oneself. It is not so much how you mark but that you find it important to mark.

Beasts mark their trails with urine or excrement. The reason they mark is for territory and dominance. Even small puppies mark their territory as if they are Dobermans. They act as kingly beasts, all the while they are just pets. It is instinctive to mark ourselves to preserve our fiction, just as Cain was marked to preserve his fiction (Gen 4:15).

In previous times, tribes marked themselves wildly to appear more vicious. The Picts of England were noted for their tattoos that they used to frighten their enemies. The Romans were so afraid of those vicious “beasts” that they retreated with their Roman tales lagging them. Soon after, the Picts were lost to history. Somehow the Vikings, Anglos, Saxons, and other invaders diminished them because the tattoos failed to scare them.

Tattoos were always used to exert tribalism. Indeed, today, those marked with rings and ink are a “tribe,” so to speak. They announce their existence — their inner self — that they have souls of warriors. They use pagan artwork to make themselves seem different. Their flesh to them is more valuable than gold to silver. That is known because they pay good money for them in lieu of things that they need just to exist.

With that said, I admit that when I was young and foolish, I marked my flesh. It failed and I was glad! My flesh would not have been adorned but simply marked as “foolish.”

God helped me not to fool myself. He erased the ink, and now my tattoo is gone. I am as guilty of adorning my flesh as the next person, but still struggle with the mark of the beast inside, and that is to do what I want to do, and that is to satisfy my flesh.

I could go on, but marks, just as bad, can be on the inner self as well. That is pride and that is for another day.