Just like a political party member, you are a Christian because you favor Christ as your leader. However, Christ was not a politician, people just thought Him so! They believed that Jesus came to be the ‘King of the Jews’ but rather He came to be LORD of all.
Examine a political party. Let’s
call it the ‘Freedom Party’ just for discussion. The Freedom Party would have ideas,
or ‘platforms’ to which those in that party adhere. Obviously, the Freedom
Party would promote freedom, would it not?
Well, Christianity is much like a
Freedom Party might be, “Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, ‘If you
continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed. and you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free’” [i]
First off, any rational person would
want to know the truth, but unfortunately most are blinded by deception. (More on
that later.) The thoughts of mankind are not the Thoughts of God but like our genetic
“father’ the Devil. Jesus would never consider fornicating, for instance, but
most of the world continually thinks on such things.
Jesus was not a king such as
people think.
What is a king? One should be a
born leader whose reign is for the good of the people. As such, Jesus,
as God, and Him alone, is good! “None is good, save one, that is, God. [ii] Therefore, since only God
is good, His ‘platform,’ or doctrine, is goodwill. The English translators
called that goodwill, ‘love.’
Love has different forms; it can
be erotic (eros), familial (storge), neighborly (philio), or
divine (agape). (The words in parenthesis are the Greek lexicon for
those concepts.)
The first three kinds of love are
emotional. They can be sensed, especially erotic love; and anyone that has
children know how emotional the love of the family can be.
Agape love is not
emotional, but people expect it to be. You may not feel like you love others
and God, even though you have goodwill for them!
Christianity is not based on
emotions but thoughts!
Father God’s Will is goodness
for all of us. There is only one expectation of God; that agape love
should be returned to Him — that since He has goodwill for us, that we should
have goodwill toward Him. How should we honor God? Having goodwill for Him
because He has goodwill for us.
Jesus said, “A new commandment I
give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you
also love one another.” [iii] The biggest ‘OTHER’ is
Jesus. Jesus made that clearer, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” [iv]
The original language of Jesus
was Greek. The Greek Word that Jesus spoke can be translated either ‘commandment’
or ‘precepts.’
Commandments are mandates
whereas precepts are sensible rules of order. Order has rules to make people
civil. Civil people have goodwill (agape love) toward others. With the
coming of Jesus, at His birth, “Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” [v]
Peace is the effect. Goodwill is
the cause for the effect. It is more than an effect but an ‘affect.”
Peace on Earth is more than an outcome of goodwill, but it makes the world a
better place to live. Christianity may not make you feel good, and you should
not, but make life much better.
Peace comes about first in the
mind of a Christian. Because a Christian is with Christ, and not against
Him, there is not an adversarial relationship. That is peace. How would
a sinner know that he has become a Christian? How he or she feels about the
precepts of God, whether they are precepts of goodwill or merely commandments
that must be followed!
The Jewish people misunderstand
their own religion. They have not been made free because of misunderstanding.
The ‘Ten Commandments’ are not mandates at all but rules for goodness.
Never misunderstand. You are not
obligated to follow the rules that God set forth in ages past, but are to
relish the idea that you have a choice in the matter.
The list of ten is nothing
more than ways to have goodwill for both God and others; nothing more: “On
these two commandments (Love of God and others) hang all the law and the
prophets.” [vi] It is unfortunate that
the English translators chose ‘commandments’ over ‘precepts,’ but perhaps they
considered them more mandates than rules for longevity which they are.
How to know if you have become a
Christian? Whether you consider the list of ten to be mandates that you
must follow or whether they are things that a good being should consider
privileged to follow.
Sinners, called the ‘lost,’ see
them as mandates. Christians should see them as ways to have goodwill
and peace.
Unfortunately, many that call
themselves ‘Christians,’ still consider them as mandates that they cannot keep.
They cannot keep them because they indeed are beyond keeping. The reason
for that is that they are not things that you do, or do not do, but ten ways of
thinking or not thinking.
Jesus said about one His tenets, “Whosoever
looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in
his heart” [vii] The sin is not the act
but the thought. A person who is found from their lost condition often discovers
that he or she can control actions but not thoughts.
Never sinning, given your own
powers, is impossible but “with God all things are possible” [viii] Christianity is not you
who is doing things, but God changing the way you think.
The ‘heart’ of which Jesus spoke
is not the organ, but the innermost person. It is not the outward man or woman
who flesh is nothing more than an obstacle, but the willingness of the person
to think like Jesus.
It is written:
Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the
Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon. “For My Thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways,
saith the Lord. [ix]
Remember the cause and effect? Thinking
wrong thoughts is the cause and actions, or ways, the effects. The person is under
control by his or her own thoughts! People act, or behave, the way they think. The
solution to the problem is new ways of thinking. People are to think the
Thoughts of God and their actions will obey. The way to think differently is to
be in the Word.
Christians are made free from their
own thoughts. It is the truth that makes them free! [x] The truth is that you are
unable to control your own thoughts but the truth spoken by Jesus will free the
Christian of thinking wicked thoughts.
Paul said it this way, “Let him
that is taught in the Word communicate unto Him that teaches in all good things”
[xi] The way to communicate
with God (Jesus) is to be taught in the Word. From where does the Word come?
Scripture.
Scripture is both the New
and Old Testaments, both of which are the ‘Last Will and Testament of God’ so
to speak. Thus, the Bible is not about commandments at all but the Will of God
and that if people are like God they are ‘fellow heirs’ with Jesus [xii] to the Kingdom of God.
Thus, there is a reward for being like God, having a will in the Image of God.
Therefore, with thoughts afterward
as the Thoughts of God, those who are converted have more so the Thoughts
of God; that which Jesus called ‘born again.’ [xiii]
Just like a newborn baby has total
dependance on the way of the mother, so goes the Christian. The new dependence
is on God rather than oneself or a parent.
It is as if returning to the
womb, but not of the mother, but to nourish oneself from the fountains of living
water provided by God, and in the end, God will lead and they will follow, “For
the Lamb (Jesus the ‘Lamb of God’) which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes.”[xiv]
The Bible is nothing more than
whichever medium the Word is written. It could be skins, papyrus, vellum,
paper, or even electronic medium. Thus, the Bible is not so much the technology,
but the Word of God that is spoken, written, or demonstrated.
Jesus spoke the Word and demonstrated
that it was possible to overcome the world, to wit: “Be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus did that for us!
Because people who think like the
Devil and attempt to follow Jesus “are unstable in all their ways.” [xv] Indeed, those who are not
stable in Christ will stumble because it is impossible to walk upright without Jesus
there to stabilize. For a Christian, Jesus is always there in Spirit; depend on
that!
Sometimes, your voice is the medium of exchange,
and you become the walking, talking ‘Bible’ that others hear and see. Better
than the spoken or written Word, actions speak better than them. Therefore, you
become the ‘Bible” and the Word depends on how you think and act. You cannot be
a rebel and spread goodwill at the same time. Goodwill is only from God and not
from those who rebel from Him. Each Christian must therefore live the Word to
be considered ‘Christian.’
A newborn baby is clumsy and so
is a person who is reborn. Because Christians are like little children, they
stumble like little children. They ‘lean’ on their parents for quite some time,
some more than others.
It is parents who holds them up! Soon
their parents will not be present, but if they are taught upright things, they
can depend on Jesus!
Their theretofore ‘spiritual
father,’ the Devil, would laugh at their stumbling, but God understands that
new Christians are not fully developed to walk the Way of Jesus. Jesus would
rather have us like stumbling little children than lost children in the
world!
Never give up when you stumble because
even the apostles stumbled.
“Except you be converted, and
become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [xvi] How are the lost any different
than little children? They go their own way, and often end up totally lost. Children
may stumble and fall, but if they follow a Good Leader, they make it all the
way.
Conversion includes the
willingness to follow Jesus. Even the apostles, especially Peter, stumbled, but
he went all the Way with Jesus, even to his own death. The Way to follow Jesus
is in His footsteps. The ‘Ten Words’ by the ‘finger’ of God — Jesus — are ways
to follow well in His Footsteps.
As a Christian, you too will
stumble. It is genetic. If you walk on your own two feet, indeed that is
unstable. You must lean on Jesus for He, if you are a Christian, is always
there for you to lean upon. (Again, that invisible Spirit on which you are to
lean is the innermost person of Jesus as you shall see. The Holy Ghost of Jesus
is God as much as the Father is God. Even when Jesus is not there, in Spirit He
is. Jesus is merely the Spirit of God objectified so that doubters could
believe.)
Next, consider God Himself.
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