THEN SHALL THE END COME

Jesus was speaking, not just to Jews, but to those who follow Him — His disciples.

They asked Jesus, “What shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?” (Mat 24:3).

Jesus is coming again. This question was about his last coming at the end of the world.

Jesus was speaking of the time when Satan will be bound for one-thousand years and He would rule the world for that millennium, to wit:

And I (John) saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Rev 20:4)

This event is called the ‘second coming of Christ.’ We are assured that after that, “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection” (Rev 20:5).

There is a question concerning the first resurrection. The real ‘first resurrection’ was before the writing of the Revelation of John. The prior resurrection was when the dead saints in Christ arose with Christ, “And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Mat 27:53). That resurrection came before John saw into the future. The first resurrection comes after the Great Tribulation. The subsequent resurrection comes, according to John, after the millennial reign of Jesus.

How many times does Jesus appear, or come to the world? He has already come once, then died and was resurrected. That was His first time coming.

Paul wrote that Jesus would come a second time; for what? Unto salvation. To save those who belonged to Him: “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb 9:28). The second coming of Christ points toward His life as the first coming.

Just when is the second coming of Christ? 

I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (1 Thes 4:13:15)

 Paul wrote of the first coming of the Lord; when He lived, died, and arose to Paradise. Then Paul wrote of Him coming again… “unto the coming of the Lord.” When Jesus comes the second time when the rapture (snatching up) occurs: 

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:16-17)

The rapture of Christians, both dead and alive, when John wrote it about 90 AD or so, was the second coming, and the first resurrection.

Theologians call the ‘second coming of Christ, the ‘millennial reign of Jesus.’ If that is the case, then what is the coming of Christ at the rapture? After all He did come again, did He not?

In a moment of honesty, I am not the final authority about when the rapture of Christians occurs. Theologians recognize three alternatives: (1) pre-tribulation, (2) mid-tribulation, or (3) post tribulation.

The eternal security of Calvinism — the preservation of the saints — depends on the rapture to be pre-tribulation to coincide their doctrine.

Eternal security comes from several verses in the wisdom literature: 

O love the Lord, all you His saints: for the Lord preserves the faithful. (Psalm 31:23)

The Lord loves judgment and forsakes not His saints; they are preserved forever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. (Psalm 37:28)

You that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserves the souls of his saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10)

He keeps the paths of judgment and preserves the way of His saints. (Prov 2:8)

 The Greek (agios) indicates that ‘saints’ are ‘awful things’ that have become pure. They are the holy ones. The Hebrew affirms that; they are the ‘holy ones,’ indubitably those who go the Way of God.

‘Preserves’ are fruits that are sealed. Saints are the ‘fruits,’ and the seal is by God. “Who (God) has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor 1:22).

If any preserve is sealed properly, the fruit should last quite some time. When God seals, the fruit is meant to be sealed until the end.

Like any fruit that is not perfect, the seal can be broken from within… speaking to Christians at Corinth, Paul wrote, “Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor 5:6). If a little leaven is within the sealed vessel, it leavens the whole. Leavening is corruption; it changes what is good inside to make it unpalatable. Oftentimes the vessel may explode, or the seal blows out. God seals but godly saints can still perish if their fruits go bad.

We should never accept a doctrine just because it conforms to the doctines of the individuals or groups. A pre-tribulation rapture does conform to Calvinism’s fifth point — preservation of the saints. It makes sense to them that if they are preserved, then their ‘vessels’ (souls) would be removed from the hazards.

However, true preservation is preserved despite the hazards. Preservation would be during tribulations, or even during great tribulation.

For the Christian who had fornicated, Paul wrote his judgment, “To deliver such an one 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).

Just when is salvation? Many have been told time and again that you are saved. That has been repeated so much, along with security, that repetition has made it true to you.

Where should a disciple of Jesus go to find the time of salvation? To the Word of God; “That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5).

Salvation is of the spirit within the souls of Christians. Fornication is a bad work but that does not condemn a Christian. Only a lack of faith in Christ condemns. A Christian can still fornicate, repent, and still be saved. Nobody can be unsaved. That process is irrational since ‘salvation,’ according to scripture, is in the day of the Lord Jesus, when He comes again.

When Jesus comes again is at the rapture (1 Thes 4:16-17). That is His real second coming, but perhaps it might coincide with the millennial reign of Jesus that theologians call the ‘second coming of Christ.’

Unknown is when great tribulation arrives. It may be now or much later. However, the time of the second coming of Christ at the rapture is unknown as well. How can “The Great Tribulation’ be recognized? “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26).

What happened in the days of Noah? It began with tribulations (Gen 6) when mankind got so evil that they were willing to change their humanity to fornicate with devils from another realm (Gen 6:4). The sacred Books of Adam and Eve even mentioned drunkenness and pedophilia.

Noah, who had found grace (Gen 6:8) lived in a time of tribulation. Then when the storm came, Noah survived even greater tribulation even though He had found grace from God. God had put onto his flesh a ‘life preserver;’ Noah, according to the Book of Jasher, put on the Garment of Adam (Gen 3:21) to make it through the Great Tribulation of the deluge.

Although he had found grace, Noah suffered tribulations while building the ark in the form of mockery and ridicule, and great tribulation from the turbulent waters. Of course, the flood was a prototypical event revealing the end of time, but it would have similar events.

Of course, soon after Noah was safe, he sinned again in several ways: (1) him becoming the ‘husbandman’ rather than God and (2) him drinking of the vine until he was drunk. According to Jasher, Ham stole the Garment of Adam while Noah was naked, and Noah lost his safety. Of course, he was not damned because Jesus had yet to be crucified for his iniquity.

However, because both Noah and Ham sinned, Canaan was cursed. As such, the generations of Canaan were damned (Gen 9:28) because of the sin of his father. It was the original sin all over again and it was through genetics.

Without a question, the coming of the Lord in the sky for those both dead and living saints should be the ‘first resurrection” and comes after the Great Tribulation and before the millennial reign of Christ.

John wrote that the first resurrection was with the coming of Christ for His millennial reign. If that event is the second coming, then the writers of scripture, failed to count His birth at the first coming just as they failed to count the resurrection of Christ nor the rapture as the first resurrection.

The point herein is that the sequence of events is fairly clear in the Bible but what they are called and what we call them is much less clear. As such, I take precaution; although my hope is that the rapture of Christians comes before the tribulation (‘pre-tribulation’), I must be prepared for the worst case, the ‘post tribulation’ rapture. We all will be part of the post-millennial rapture for judgment.

On the other hand, God has grace! The tribulations common to the first 3-1/2 years are much like the goings on this moment. Tribulations have been common since the time of Christ, Paul wrote, “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor 7:4).

The tribulations in the days of Noah were genetic. The genes of mankind were fouled again with miscegenation between men and angels.

Things were to come that were as in the days of Noah. Recently, beginning with the waning of the Christian Era (Pisces), genetics can now change the very identity — the genetics — of mankind through simply cutting out natural DNA, and replacing it with synthetic. We indeed are now the ‘gods’ and we can design an unnatural being.

I believe that is the ultimate sin, and perhaps now is salvation nearer than when we first believed (Rom 13:11). That one verse proves that salvation is not when we first believe, but sometimes after that; it is either at death or the rapture whichever comes first. For most of us, including the saints of past, salvation was at their demise, hence as Paul wrote, “For me to live is Christ; and to die gain’ (Phil 1:21). Death is salvation from the world and the reward for those in Christ. It is then that the soul is saved to an eternal existence in Paradise.

Not to be funny, but to be saved already you must be dead already! However, Christians are not saved but safe from the wiles of the devil whose device is such... “as a roaring lion, walk about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 6:8). To avoid death by deception, Paul wrote to Peter that a Christian must remain ‘sober and vigilant.’

What would be the Devil devouring a Christian? Great Tribulation, or at least tribulation!

The end of days indicates that Christians will not be raptured before the Great Tribulation, the second 3-1/2 years of the Tribulation period. Christians can hope for a rapture soon, but should act as if they must undergo great tribulation to never succumb to the wiles of the Devil themselves — the Antichrist (some man or being with Satan in him.)

Maybe the Antichrist will not even be totally human as we think of humans. Because of the Tree of Knowledge, that tree would be his strength. Myself, I believe that the Antichrist will be some synthetic person, maybe even a female, whose knowledge base contains the knowledge of both good and evil in the world.

I believe that knowledge base has already been created, and the creator of it has already shared that knowledge, to wit: (Wikipedia;  ‘DNA Data Storage’):

In June 2019, scientists reported that all 16 GB of text from the English Wikipedia had been encoded into synthetic DNA. In 2021, scientists reported that a custom DNA data writer had been developed that was capable of writing data into DNA at 18 Mbps.

The question is in whom or what will that synthetic DNA be written? And for what purposes? Perhaps to create an image in the manner of the Serpent; perhaps an Antichrist with the knowledge of both good and evil in a tree-like structure, one subject in Wiki hyperlinked to the next to form branches of a tree.

Have we already been prepared for the tribulation to come? Has the material already been prepared for making a new, synthetic being? I submit that it may have already been done! 

He Jiankui, the Chinese researcher who stunned the world last year by announcing he had helped produce genetically edited babies, has been found guilty of conducting "illegal medical practices" and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

A court in Shenzhen found that He and two collaborators forged ethical review documents and misled doctors into unknowingly implanting gene-edited embryos into two women, according to Xinhua, China's state-run press agency. One mother gave birth to twin girls in November 2018; it has not been made clear when the third baby was born. The court ruled that the three defendants had deliberately violated national regulations on biomedical research and medical ethics, and rashly applied gene-editing technology to human reproductive medicine. (Normile 2019)

 Note that the birth of the three babies, with the gender of the third unknown, was at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius in 2019 — the Age of the Lucifer. Is that third infant the Antichrist? It has been reported that to this day they all are doing well.

Could 2019 be the beginning of the Tribulation period? Is it coincidental that the ‘Great Reset’ coincides with synthetic humans and the Age of Lucifer?

Indeed, many ‘coincidences’ may make one truth!

If we are already in the beginning of tribulation, why are Christians still here? Why have we not been raptured? Is the pre-tribulation rapture a deceptive ploy on the part of the Antichrist to make Christians think that they are already saved and secure from the wiles of the Devil?

Note that Matthew wrote of the ‘beginning of sorrows,’ and names the global evidence of it (Mat 24:1-8). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake… But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mat 24:9, 13).

That is the time of salvation, not when you first believe! “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Mat 24:21).

Jesus broke the end-of-time into eras: (1) the beginning of sorrows, (2) tribulation, and (3) great tribulation. He was speaking to His disciples — Christians — and warning them of things to come; things which they must endure to the end.

How much clearer could Jesus have been. He ended the discourse with what theologians call the ‘rapture:”

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mat 24:29:31)

Hence, after the time of sorrows, after tribulation, and after the great tribulation; Christians who endure all those things shall be saved. ‘The elect’ are not those who precede or enter the tribulation but those who endure it.

Of course, I am not the final authority, and I must admit that if there is a first resurrection, then perhaps there is a second one which I fail to understand. Will Jesus come twice to save the elect, one before the great tribulation and again after it? I just do not know! However, as I write a second time, we must hope for a pre-tribulation rapture, but be ready (sober and vigilant) to endure all that the Devil may plan for us.

Some theologians define two resurrections: (1) before the great tribulation, and (2) another resurrection after the millennial reign of Jesus. Perhaps that is true, or maybe it is our hope!

However, John wrote that the resurrection at the end is the “first resurrection’ and that is after great tribulation. With that said, perhaps the second resurrection is judgment day when everyone will be resurrected from all ages for Jesus to reveal to them why their judgment, and both the damned and the saved will go to their places.

Perhaps you may now understand why so many disagree with the chain of events. We just are not to know the plans and futures that God has for us or then we would wait for the last minute for conversion.

picture credit: Pixabay

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE FLESH

Matthew chapter twenty-three is lengthy about the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Clearly, those who obey the outward laws, but not the inward ones are in mortal danger, as Jesus indicated.

Everyone, before they are born again, have a problem with the flesh — the outward man. Even those who call themselves ‘Christians,’ cherish the flesh, according to Paul, “No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it” (Ephes 5;29).

With that said, even Christians have loved their own flesh, but since rebirth changes the inward person, Christians are to crucify their flesh. “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8).

“They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God” (Rom 9:8).

There is a century of passages about the flesh in the New Testament alone. Cutting off the flesh of the foreskin (circumcision) is not even a good start; the true circumcision is of the heart, to wit: “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:29).

I have had a problem understanding nakedness in the beginning, “They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Gen 2:25). Nakedness implies in the flesh. Both Adam and Eve were literally bare before they sinned. They were transparent and no sin was in them. Perhaps they were without what we think of as flesh which of course would conceal the innermost person.

It could be that the two did have flesh, but with ‘bright eyes’ the flesh did not conceal what was inside. (The concept of Adam and Eve with bright natures and bright eyes comes from the Books of Adam and Eve.)

Just as the resurrected Christian shall be glorified, perhaps within the Garden Paradise, Adam and Eve were glorified. They had flesh but it was not stained by sin. They could see the inward part — the soul — as if the flesh was not even there!

Sin stained their glorious flesh. It hid the inward man and woman. After sinning, Adam and Eve did the next best thing to circumcision, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (Gen 3:7).

They saw things differently. No longer was their flesh transparent, but opaque. The Serpent did something to their flesh which changed it drastically!

Another meaning of ‘naked’ from the Hebrew is cunning, or subtilty. Before sin, the glorious flesh of Adam and Eve was transparent, but after sin, their nakedness was just like the Serpent’s (Gen 3:1).

Nahas, the name translated ‘Serpent,’ has a second meaning as well. It is literally an ‘image.’ If God did provide for them a transparent Image like His own (Selem in the Hebrew), the Wicked One, Lucifer, altered the glorious Image and made it like His own — inglorious, or crafty. David called that stained flesh ‘iniquity’, or depravity (Psalm 51:5).

Not to hurt your precious self-esteem, but you are not to be esteemed for you have been made crafty by your ancestral sin. It is in your kind to be crafty, and the flesh reveals that you are more brutish than godly.

Just as Cain is of the Wicked One (1 John 3;12). Your father, if you have not been reborn, is the Devil, Lucifer, “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do” (John 8:44).

“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). Since Satan is the ‘Prince of the Power of the Air’ (Ephes 2:2), his Spirit works in you.

Like Lucifer, “The Bringer of Light,’ outwardly we see ourselves as beautiful and lustrous, but that is a façade; we are depraved inside.

Am I building up your self-esteem? Yes, you do love your own flesh and that is the problem with man. We are not even Adam’s kind (adamah in the Hebrew), but ‘is (pronounced eesh) — another existence, not of God.

Lust is a desire to appease the flesh. In a sense, that makes our flesh the ‘god’ that must be appeased. We see that everyday and take it for granted. The world is all about exalting the flesh.

Witness the cosmetic commercials and fashion trends. Clothes are no longer to cover the flesh, except against the elements, but to accent the flesh. Clothing is now more for concealing our flaws than for comfort. Fashionable clothing even disguises the brutishness within us!

A nudist colony resembles a pig pen. As much as people like pig hams, they lust after women’s butt twerking. What the world sees as beautiful, look more intensely; those women that we lust after have skins like the animals that are for enduring the world. Look closely and you can see twerking women as dangling, non-kosher hams.

God adapted mankind. The flesh that Satan stained with his genetics would not last in the world, so by grace, God made for Adam and Eve “coats of skin” (Gen 3:21). Perhaps that is the naked body that we see so much of today. The flesh was meant to protect our kind from the fiery darts of the Wicked One, but rather than for our comfort in the world, the flesh became our glory!

People even parade around in their flesh as if they are peacocks. The phallus has become the symbol of man, and it is erected like steeples above our own churches.

The woman’s pubic mound — the mons Venus — represents the worship of idols in high places… no wonder false religions worship on mountain tops.

By the time of Noah, the gods of the world had become phalluses and pubic mounds as the new kinds coupled with impunity (Gen 6:4), and even with children, according to sacred literature!

So many regard the flesh so highly that exotic clothing is not enough. They decorate the flesh with all sorts of perfumes, rouges, and ointments. Death does not become the Eve’s of the world, and they will do about anything to appear more alive than they really are; the same goes for many men.

Those hoodies that men wear in the summer heat; they are not for comfort but to project an image. So, it is with pants down to the floor. The image projected is I don’t care, I will do whatever I want to do.

Truth is not in vogue. If you want to make someone angry, point out something about their flesh. Just tell someone that their brightly colored hair or their coiffure is extravagant, and anger will ensue. Just tell them that God’s will is that they not to cut nor stain their fleshes, and their innermost existence will show itself. (We now have a new Crown Law enacted that forbids discrimination due to hair-do’s. How silly is that!)

Some things should not be used to judge the person, but they remain the will of God regardless. Paul wrote about adornment of Christians: 

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (1 Pet 3:3-4)

 So much for the Crown Law!

Certainly, well-manicured hair will not condemn the wearer to Hell, but modesty of hair and apparel remains the will of God. The outward person reveals the inward spirit.

God issued many commands for the good of mankind. He commanded, “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord” (Lev 19:28). Again, cuttings, piercings, and tattoos will not condemn you, but that command remains the very will of God.

What do styles and fads have to do with Christianity? They copy the world and not God!

In effect, styles and fads decorate our fleshes as if they are gods.

Men are as trees walking, so said the blind man (Mark 8:24). We decorate our bodies as if we are trees walking. Those who decorate themselves to the extreme are much like decorated Christmas Trees that are neither ‘trees of Christ’ but for us.

Seldom does any preacher criticize the fleshes of the members of the congregation. Perhaps it is because we hang onto the things of the flesh, making the flesh more precious than the will of God.

Our fleshes are our enemies, but noble Christians are, “they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal 5:24).

Things that make you look good or feel good that are contrary to scripture identifies to whom you really belong. Becoming a Christian does not take away desires of the flesh, but the Word is the shield that removes the temptations of the flesh. Self-restraint belongs to you, but when people fail to demonstrate restraint, then their spirits are exposed to whom they really belong.

The reader may consider this commentary an attack on them. God forbid that the things of the world are attacked, even though they belong to Satan.

I have dressed like a penguin, and at times, even as gawdy as a parrot. I even attempted to tattoo myself when I was seventeen. I am not immune to the desires of the flesh. I have even looked at the fleshes of women with lust in my heart, but the things that I have done are not of God. This commentary is an attack upon myself as I too have come short of the glory of God.

Glory was perhaps translucent flesh so that my soul could be seen by those in the Garden of God; by the angels, other beings and kinds, and God Himself.

With that said, God is Almighty; our flesh is transparent to Him, and it is the soul that He sees. He looks beyond the flesh if we are reborn and examines only the soul within. That is grace, and the ‘coats of skin’ that we wear are grace upon us that is essentially God’s grace (Gen 6:8). God sees beyond the flesh but that is still not a ticket to expose or exalt the flesh.

Now that you know that the flesh is the enemy of us, that you can control it better, as if it is a wild animal roaming the world, just looking for carnal things to do!

picture credit: vectorstock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

THE WAY TO GET THERE

Christian churches, both denominational and not, each have their own criteria for entry into Heaven. Jesus provided three conditions, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him (1) deny himself, and (2) take up His cross, and (3) follow Me” (Mat 16:24).

First off, “man” is literally not in the original Greek; it is “if any.”

Maybe Jesus left the word ‘man’ out intentionally, not because it elevated only the male, but because depraved men and women are not ‘man’ in the sense that Adam was the kind called ‘man.’

Jesus would refer to degenerates for what they are — something less than man as God created him. That he glossed ‘man’ and substituted “any” may have some significance. It includes everyone because “all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Coming short since Adam was made glorious, makes those living in His time less than ‘man.’

It should be humbling to know that you are neither glorious nor the dominant kind, but brutish, even more so than the beasts. How many beasts set off atomic bombs? Only our kind. Hopefully, that should humble you.

The first sin was man against themselves. Both the Adam’s ate forbidden fruit. They died in two senses of death: (1) their souls were emptied of the Image of God and (2) they assumed a very different corruptible type of flesh to replace their incorruptible. The first was immediate and the second a process in time in that they withered away as we still do to this day.

What differentiates man from beast? The value of life. For instance, Cain placed no value on the life of his brother; he challenged God, (Gen 4:9) “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Indeed, he was! As the son of Adam, just as Adam was the keeper of the Garden, so it was for Cain.

Then Cain became the ‘god.’ Rather than wait on Abel to live a full life and die naturally, Cain speeded up the process. He was an ‘Antigod’ in the sense that he could not create but he could take away life.

Cain was marked by God in some manner. Because there were giants in those days, (Gen 6:1), I believe that Cain was a hybrid being of some sort — another kind. As it turned out, inglorious Cain was made a ‘beast’ of some sort so that righteous men would not kill him… Seth’s lineage.

The first thing that the ‘free range’ beast did in his new world was to kill. In one generation, man had become brutish like the Beast. Killing his own flesh caused that degeneration as both Cain and Abel had the same father, Adam, or so it was believed.

Cain was killed by his own kind — blind Lamech. Lamech snuffed out the life of his own flesh and soon after, war was brought into existence with Genun who invented it. Note that Gen-un made death and murder genetic. [1]

As a general rule, only a few of the other species destroy their young. They may prevent the birthing process by destroying their own eggs (ovicide) but not with killing their own flesh and blood (infanticide). Any of the kinds known to do that was almost unheard of until recently, but now even many animals kill their young for various reasons. (I remember our mother cat eating several of her young and at five years old found that abhorrent.) About zoological infanticide, Wikipedia writes: 

Infanticide only came to be seen as a significant occurrence in nature quite recently. At the time it was first seriously treated by Yukimaru Sugiyama, infanticide was attributed to stress causing factors like overcrowding and captivity, and was considered pathological and maladaptive. Classical ethology held that conspecifics (members of the same species) rarely killed each other. By the 1980s it had gained much greater acceptance. Possible reasons it was not treated as a prevalent natural phenomenon include its abhorrence to people…

Now even so called ‘humane’ women destroy their young and often with the consent of the men, not for stressful reasons, but because babies are inconvenient.

Although this commentary is not about abortion nor infanticide, since 1980 points toward infanticide as one indication that the end is near. Killing your own flesh was the worst sin against another being and still is.

Remembering that the modus operandi of the Wicked One is deception, claiming “My body; my choice” is the Big Lie. It is another body and not another creature. Ironically, “believe the science’ is also in vogue, all the while people say irrational things.

Note that science says that infanticide has gained much acceptance and that it is no longer abhorrent to people. People have become conditioned to death. Killing their own children makes them more like the beasts.

Cain’s own progeny, blind Lamech, killed the aged Cain. That was the first case of euthanasia (geronticide).

People kill elderly people because the aged and infirmed are inconvenient. I winced when I realized that even Hospice kills people by starvation and drugging them in the most ‘humane’ way so that they will die humanely. Henrich Himmler would be pleased with both the humane method and lack of awareness that they were dying.

The recent killing of ‘non-human’ Jews by Hamas reveals that many are no longer humane nor even human. They are beasts and those who support such genocide on the part of Hamas are merely herds of beasts following their natural instincts to accept any new thing that denigrates others.

In short, perhaps Jesus did not use the word ‘man’ because mankind was glorious, and now they are brutish.

Jesus went onto say, if any “come after Me.” Note that on Palm Sunday, many praised Him but only a week later, many of the same people, even the elite, came after Jesus, not to follow Him but to kill Him.

Jesus had to clarify what He meant by coming after. The first step in coming after Jesus, is denying oneself. Peter denied Jesus, but he was humbled; then he followed Jesus all the Way to the Cross on which Nero hung him.

The first step in denying oneself is a pragmatic self-examination; you are not God nor any god and therefore you can neither create nor save. You will die, die as “surely die” literally means (Gen 1:31). “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27).

The first death is certain; we all have an appointment with the angel of death. Then comes judgment. We need not die the second death — the death of the soul.

So how can anyone deny themselves? By having right perspectives about who or what we are. Even Christians are sinners that are saved by grace, meaning that we do not deserve salvation but can be saved, not by following Jesus part of the Way, but all the Way to the crucifixion. Peter, at first in denial, in the process of time, followed Jesus all the Way to the Cross. No longer did Peter deny Jesus but denied Peter. He had no power over Caesar, and he was then killed in the same manner as Jesus.

Peter gave up his life long before he gave up his life, so to speak. That may sound confusing, but professing Jesus to the world and to Nero was exchanging his former life for a new one.

Peter went from fishing for fish to fishing for men. He also gave up his name, Simeon for Peter. His nature changed gradually. No longer was Peter the ‘Pebble’ as that name means, but Jesus renamed him Cephas, the ‘Rock.’

Jesus did a makeover with Simon, but people since the beginning of time make themselves over in various pagan images, the most horrible image of them all was Jezebel.

Denying yourself is ceasing to pay so much attention to the world and the things of the flesh. In this age, nearly everything is about you. You are not even satisfied with your flesh but often create new flesh that is more pleasing to you.

Marking the flesh is the most obvious, but to have a presentable image, John wore rudimentary clothes. He never needed a preacher’s suit to preach nor even the best suit to baptize. He could have baptized naked, as early Catholic priests soon did, but John wore a suit of camel’s hair much like the Garment of Adam in the beginning.

Being in the flesh is presenting yourself for what you are not. You are not a snake and to make the skin as beautiful as a snake’s is quite a strong statement who it is that you follow.

Wearing an arrogant suit to church or to preach, is play-acting royalty. It reveals the things that are important to you.

I am not any different. At times I proudly place a high-dollar fountain pen in my short pocket to be noticed. That also is in the flesh. We all are in the flesh and Christians often conceal the Holy Spirit behind our dramatic faces as if in a play.

Denying the flesh is walking as Jesus walked. He never ever would have dressed like media preachers today, nor would He overly magnify Himself, albeit He had a right to. (God did that at the transfiguration.)

Jesus is known for his meekness. He put no stock in His Flesh, but it was the Spirit of God that He was to manifest. Nowadays so many people manifest the demonic spirit of the Wicked One, and wear garments made in the manner of him.

Denying yourself is admitting that you are no god at all. Even the Serpent knew that! (Gen 3:5), so quit acting as if you are. The world is not all about you, albeit we all have inclinations to make it self-centric with over self-estimation. (Christ esteem is what is lacking in people.)

Finally, we are to “take up His Cross, and follow Me,” so said Jesus.

The most obvious two that did were the repentant thief and Simon who carried the Cross of Jesus.

The less obvious was Judas whose ‘cross’ was a tree. He took it up to follow Jesus in death (by suicide), but it was not for Jesus but to redeem himself.

Ironically, salvation is for self-exaltation. Even that humble state that it is for each of us, to provide for us room in the mansion of God, and forever.

Salvation allows us to squat on the Estate of God to be realistic, but those who trust Jesus see it as the way to glorify God. In other words, salvation is not all about you but all about God. If you only want to go to Paradise for your sake, then that makes you ‘God.’ Taking up the Cross is to do so, not for your preservation per se but to please God. His expectation is that you will glorify Him and not yourselves.

Denying yourself is having right reasons, and those reasons are not to escape Hell nor for life in Paradise, but to honor God.

For those reasons, God expects those who will abide with Him forever to begin denying themselves now; we must not wait until we get there to glorify God for glorifying God is the Way to get there. Hence, our ‘crosses’ that we are to bear is to deny our fleshly desires. It is not so easy to take off our flesh, so the next best thing is not to let it burden us.

Jesus carried a weighty Cross. Our ‘crosses’ are much different. We need only to shed the flesh that the Serpent gave us so that the flesh that God created for us can carry the burden.

In that process, the work is made easy just like in the beginning when God did it all. Taking up our crosses is trusting Jesus to get us where He was going!

(Picture credit; Alamy)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] References to Genun come from the Books of Adam and Eve.

ABOUT MODESTY

Most people think of modesty as properly attired; with enough clothing on to adequately cover the flesh. Adam and Eve sought modesty for after they had sinned; they made aprons of fig leaves (Gen 3:7).

The two had been naked all the time but had no knowledge of nudity because they were innocent. Of course, aprons do cover the genitalia, but they literally made for themselves rudimentary armor because that part of them had been vulnerable. The implication is that they had used their ‘utilities’ for doing wrong. Maybe so, maybe not, but what is, is that ‘nakedness’ therein is from a root word, meaning ‘craftiness.’ They may have had glorious flesh created by God, but after sin, their flesh was crafty like the Wicked One.

It was the same flesh on the same people but its ‘fabric’ changed. The flesh before, strong for God, became weak. Something happened to their flesh.

Jesus was there under the fig tree. He witnessed what happened without their knowledge. Jesus was Spirit, and not of the flesh. Jesus revealed what went wrong in the Garden of Eden when He said, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat 26:41).

The Image of God within them had been Spirit because that ‘Image’ was a ‘shadow,’ or ‘phantom’ (ibid). Adam and Eve were created with the willingness of God within them, and to be honest, their flesh had been inert — without guile.

Eve was ‘beguiled’ (Hebrew, nasa) by the Serpent (Gen 3:13). She was seduced by the Wicked One; perhaps with physical seduction, maybe not, but the image, called the ‘Serpent’ persuaded her to be disloyal to God.

Before, her Image had been of God (Selem) and afterward it was the image of Lucifer (Nahas). Before sin, Eve was a spiritual being willing to be like God and afterward she was a non-spiritual being that was deceptive like the Serpent. She surely had the same flesh, but it became different. She very soon showed her flesh. Before, it was the Spirit that had dominion in her (Gen 1:26), but afterward the flesh dominated her spirit.

As soon as they were cast out of the Garden, obviously Eve removed her coat of skin that God had provided (Gen 3:21) and forthwith there was a problem, to wit: “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord.’” (Gen 4:1). A man had theretofore been an ‘adam’ in the Hebrew. That was not the man’s name but his kind. He had the gens of God in him.

Adam had not known Eve in a carnal manner, but he saw her, and she appeared to conceive his child. He was still innocent and suspected nothing nefarious. How is that a reasonable assumption? The ‘creature’ that Eve made was not an adam but an is, both in the Hebrew. The man that she had gotten for the lord was just another extant being — a being of a different kind, or a mutation of herself. As such, Eve, as the ‘mother of all living’ (Gen 3:20) became the progenitor of that kind and henceforth all her kind came short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

Most people rattle that off without understanding it in depth. However, that coming short is iniquity (Psalm 51:5), or depravity, losing the identity of God within. It is relinquishing of the Spirit of God in favor of the flesh of the Wicked One. The flesh never changed, but the nature within did. Before allegiant to God; afterwards allegiant to Lucifer.

Unlike God, Lucifer is confined by time and space. As such, he left his nature within Eve’s kind that is called ‘original sin’ and which is genetic and part of the identification of every person (i.e., it is encoded in the DNA of all the living).

The flesh, since the first sin is the enemy of mankind, so was the ‘apron’ of fig leaves to shield their genitals from the world or possibly to preserve them for future use? You be the judge!

With sin came a new kind. Although we still think of ourselves as mankind; that is a façade. We are Eve’s kind. Before, she too was an Adam, but because she chose flesh over Spirit, she was inclined to sin more than be upright. Ironically, the natural mode of intercourse is on the belly or back, so this new kind was both morally debased as well as spiritually. On her belly she would go, just like the Serpent (Gen 3:14).

Just as adam was not the male’s name, neither was eve the female’s name. She had become another progenitor due to sin… she herself made the new type of man — Is.

Note that the woman was an adam before sin and once she had been beguiled, only then did the word eve come into the picture. (I intentionally dropped the capitalization to distinguish the kinds from the names.)

Eve (haua) means not only ‘life-giver’ but as the wife (issa) of man, she originated the new kind of man ‘Is.’

Before sin, ‘woman’ was issa and also ‘wife’ was issa. The wife was of one flesh with Adam (Gen 2:24). After sin that one flesh — Adam’s kind — became another flesh — Eve’s kind with the genetics of the Wicked One. Is came from Issa, so man was of the female and she became the dominant gender.

Because of miscegenation with the ‘Beast,’ God made for both Adam and Eve coats of another kind of skin. No longer were only the pudenda covered but from the shoulders down. They were to wear a coverlet over their entire bodies, perhaps a figurative “whole armor of God”  for them to “stand against the wiles of the Devil” (Ephes 6:11).

The point is that the flesh is to remain covered to ward off temptation. Note that Cain’s kind — the wicked ones — did not wear coats of skin and his ‘daughters,’ or female progeny, were vulnerable to even more wicked ones… “The sons of God came in unto the daughters of men” (Gen 6:4). “Men” in that context is adam. So, now, not only were Cain’s new kind evil but Adam’s kind as well. The Book of Jasher reveals that the ‘sons of God’ were Grigori angels (giants) and that there would be giantism as a result of miscegenation of what remained of Adam’s kind and increased the number of the wicked ones.

What went wrong? “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Gen 6:2). They apparently saw their beautiful skin because they were clothed immodestly. The demon angels transgressed their fair Spirit from Adam and desired their beautiful flesh. The result was that mankind became so depraved that God destroyed them all with a symbolic washing away of their beautiful flesh. (The flood of Noah’s day.)

With that said, the end of days will be the same as in the days of Noah (Luke 17:26). Perhaps those days will be when women expose their flesh without shame, wearing nothing. I submit that those days are here. Not only are women exposing most of their flesh but so are men pretending to be women. As it turned out, according to Jasher, those ‘giants’ were demon angels pretending to be men. Now, everyone pretends to be what they are not, and even Christian women show their flesh. Not only that, but men have found exposing themselves to serve the purpose of lust.

Love is not love! Love is goodwill (agape). How can anyone have goodwill for another by lusting only after their flesh.

I suppose that with the woman, Eve, she saw the “Bringer of Light” (Lucifer). He was pretending to be God and she fell for his devices. She only saw the luster of the Shining One but failed to see the inner being, the Serpent. She saw its flesh and fawned over that interesting being. According to the Book of Adam and Eve and their Conflicts with Satan, Lucifer continued to use that ruse. Thereafter, the two fell for the ploy and looked only at the outside. Numerous times they sinned again because they looked only at the flesh that demons manifested to them.

The flesh is not mankind’s problem. It is what they do because of their twisted nature. “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).

So, what is done to this day? People not only decorate their flesh to the extreme but pretend their flesh is of different genders. It does not stop at that. The fleshes of people have becomes their ‘gods.’ They must satisfy the flesh with all sorts of things, from Epicurean foods, to drugs, to body art, and piercings. We are not as trees walking (like blind Bartimaeus might see) but as ‘Un-Christ Trees Stalking’ one another!

But it gets worse! Now, not only is the flesh made to lust after, but the spirit as well.

I believe the ‘spirit’ of Eve was Lilith. She was the ‘screech owl’ of which Isaiah wrote (Isa 34:14). Perhaps that woman was the nature of Eve, her spirit within. She is manifested in a nocturnal competitive dual between herself and the flesh in her belly. As the mother of all living, Eve fit that description, but Lilith, as it turns out, was the mother of all the dying. She seems to be the abortive nature within most women that their own flesh has dominion over the little being inside!

Note that not only did the woman adam beget new flesh but introduced a new spirit into her creature. That nature is the “pride of life.” No longer was the Spirit of God their focus but themselves. Mankind became prideful that they existed; that God was not their Image but Eve, the one who showed her flesh to the Serpent and changed mankind into ‘beasts.’

Her nakedness did that. She was so ignorant of knowledge that she failed to know that Lucifer, just as it lusted to be God, would lust after her!

So it goes, women are no longer women but adulteresses that created adulterers, and it was all caused by one naked woman with her naked man watching!

If Adam was watching, as it seems, then it was the first occasion of voyeurism, and to this day that is the strongest stronghold on men.

Mankind is just about, if not the only kind, that relishes the viewing of intercourse. If I have interpreted that correctly, then Adam was the first when he saw Eve do her thing in her reproduction of Cain, not to be blunt.

Where am I heading with this? The flesh is mankind’s problem. It titillates and tempts. Reacting to the wiles of the flesh is the Greek word, porneia, which is translated, ‘fornication.’ In fact, pornography is what voyeurs do (the effect) and the flesh the cause.

Like it or not, showing your flesh immodestly is pornographic. Hence, modesty prevents others from sinning as well as you from sinning.

The best known case of immodesty was Bathsheba:

² And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. ³ And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. ⁵ And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said,” I am with child.” (2 Sam 11:2-5)

 Glossed over is Bathsheba’s sin. It was the flesh of Bathsheba that attracted David. Whether it was accidental or planned is not mentioned, but regardless, Bathsheba was not a modest woman. She was not bathing in private and was certainly not modestly covered. Bathsheba was the temptress, accidental or not, that tempted David.

Bathsheba could have rejected David. She went voluntarily. We often forget the sin of Bathsheba was immodesty. The consequence of that sin was a child; thus the sin of Bathsheba was the sin of Eve. She could have well said about herself, “I have gotten a man from the lord,” for David was lord to her. He was her man and her his adulteress just as the case of Adam and Eve. In a sense, the Devil impregnated Bathsheba because he was watching as well!

So far, immodesty that has been discussed is about the flesh. However, there is also immodest dress. Adam and Eve used the most natural thing and made a revealing garment. In modern times, that is the normative, not the exception.

But modesty has significantly more to it than dress; it includes decorations as well, to wit:

¹⁶ Moreover the Lord saith, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: ¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.”

¹⁸ “In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, ¹⁹ the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, ²⁰ The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, ²¹ the rings, and nose jewels, ²² the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, ²³ the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. (Isa 3:16-23)

 That list is not exhaustive. Added to that are tattoos and piercings. (Lev 19:28).

Why not decorate your flesh? God is to be adored, but people adorn themselves as if they are the gods! You are the fake god, narcissuses and the true God, Jesus is uncomely to the eye.

Isaiah, referring to the coming Savior, revealed how to identify Jesus, “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa 53:2).

Jesus was not to be desired. He showed His flesh on the Cross and although it was being glorified (John 7:39), it was horrible flesh that had been shredded. The Jews removed the splendor from Him, and nobody desired Him.

All the while Jesus was as if a hideous monster due to the crown of thorns and the whips, even Christians worry more about their appearances than anything, “I will not leave the house looking like this,” they say, but Jesus left the world unrecognizable because of the brutality of those who loved themselves more than God.

Before you buy that new swimsuit, put on fake eyelashes, get that nose ring and such, ask yourselves, “Is that what Jesus would do?” No, He was decorated in His own blood and that sufficed, so that you need never decorate yourselves!

(picture credit; British Museum," Queen of Night:)

 

THE LOST TRUTH ABOUT JESUS

 As it turns out, King Herod did not seek Jesus to worship Him as is written (Mat 2:7, but to destroy Him (Mat 2:13). Herod truly believed that Jesus was God in the flesh, or it would not have been that imperative to have Him dead.

Of course, Herod saw Jesus as a threat to the Herodian throne because He was of the family of King David, but he also understood that Jesus was God.

Wise men believed that Jesus was who He was, and perhaps Herod was wise as well. Herod, according to Josephus, although not a Jew had bought favor from the Jews by making Judaea great again. Likewise with his sponsor, Marc Antony dead, he turned to Octavian as the legitimate Caesar, and as a result, expanded his little country into a much larger kingdom.

Herod was not an idiot. He was pragmatic and did what he had to do to live his fantasy. Jesus, whether king or LORD would not be a part of that plan! Herod believed in Jesus, or he would have been satisfied with having him imprisoned or rendered powerless. By Roman Law, Herod had to will that Jesus be king for Caesar to approve of it.

Herod feared that Jesus just might be THE High Priest and King, on the order of John Hyrcanus II who could depose him. Hyrcanus was still their model king in their theocracy.

Now consider, the threat that Herod was: 

¹⁴ When he (Joseph) arose (from his dream), he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son (Hos 11:1).” (Mat 2:14-15) 

Jesus had to be called out of Egypt for the Jews to accept Him. If Jesus had not been called out of Egypt Hosea, the Hebrew prophet, would have been a false prophet. True prophets are right all the time, not just men with a good record of accuracy. God arranged for Jesus to come out of Egypt.

The importance of the birth of Jesus was that He was, and still is, God in the flesh of a man. Joseph’s supposed son, Jesus, at that time after remaining silent for 400 years, spoke to Joseph in the same manner He spoke to Hosea long before: 

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. (Hos 1:1) 

Jesus — the Word of God (John 1:1-14) — spoke to the Judean and Israelite kings in those days, and now the Word in the flesh of an infant spoke to the rightful heir to the throne of David — Joseph the “son of David.” The little man was the majestic God of ancient days, and the Word spoke to Joseph in the same manner as He spoke to the Davidian kings.

Jesus did not learn the Law of Moses and scripture from Joseph while in Egypt but the infant imparted divine wisdom into Joseph! The Son taught His “father” the ways of God. He taught Joseph the Ways of the Lord by divine inspiration.

Jesus was unteachable because even as a child, He knew it all already, having experienced all things since the Edenic Covenant. He supplied the coat of skins for the Garment of Adam to keep him safe (Gen 3:21) and the “Little Man” warned Joseph to go to Egypt for safety.

That Jesus came out of Egypt was a fulfilling of the Law. Moses came out of Egypt and the Word wrote the Law on Tablets of Stone, out of Egypt on Sinai. To fulfill the Law, Jesus also must have come out of Egypt. Later, as an adult, Jesus would explain that: 

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (Mat 5:17) 

Jesus did not come to destroy by undermining Moses but to supplement and complement him. Jesus is the same Word that wrote on the tablets of stone that Moses carried and the same Word that would write the Law of Love on the hearts of men… “Love is the fulfillment of the law,” as Paul said it (Heb 14:14).

Jesus had to come out of Egypt to walk the same way as Moses walked. Moses walked the Way for forty years, wandering in the wilderness, but Jesus walked the straight Way, perhaps in only forty days because it was revealed shortly that Herod was dead when the edict of the slaughter was issued in his will.

Joseph followed his son wherever he went. Joseph did not go the way that he would go, but the Way the Word told him to go. Joseph, as always, followed the Voice of Jesus whether in the Spirit or in the Flesh of God.

So, what happened to Joseph? He was mentioned last when he and Mary thought that Jesus was lost when Jesus was twelve years of age, “So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously” (Luke 2:47).

The purpose of Joseph, it seems, was to protect and nourish Jesus until He was of age and could be king by his own right. Since Joseph never appeared at important events during the ministry of Jesus, it is safe to say that Joseph died and Jesus was the sole heir to the Judaean Kingdom and it would be Jesus that the protagonists would seek to kill, not the prime heir, Joseph, who had paid taxes on the House of David (Luke 2:4).

During the ministry of Jesus, Joseph, like Lazarus, would be safe from harm in “Abraham’s Bosom” (Luke 16). Jesus, because Joseph was dead would be the legitimate heir to the throne of David. The people asked, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?” (Mat 13:55).

Jesus may have been a “carpenter,” or He may not have been! A carpenter is thought to be an inglorious trade and that Jesus was born in a manger made Him seem poor. All that showed is that Joseph and Mary were not prideful, and they were humble enough, as expected, to stay in a stable which was often under the main house.

What trade was Jesus’s? From the Greek it is learned that both Jesus and Joseph were “tektons;” they were “craftsmen” in some or many trades. Today, they would be called “technicians.”

The two were creative and wise. Joseph revealed his wisdom when He listened to the Voice of God speaking and obeyed. The propensity of the evidence is that Joseph and Jesus were not “poor carpenters,” but that Joseph was a wealthy and skilled craftsman who paid taxes because they were nobility in the House of David. Joseph was required to pay estate taxes because he was heir to the throne of David, and everybody, even Cyrenius, the governor, knew that, to wit: “Because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4).

Everybody knew that royal family. Everybody knew that they were of the House of David. In other words, Jesus was born a king and many thought of Him as a newborn king. Most certainly Herod knew that! So, why was Jesus considered to be poor?

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Phil 2:5-7) 

Jesus was born a “king” but identified Himself as a “servant” like He wanted everybody else to be. He was made in the likeness of men. He made Himself poor that we could be rich! Richness and poverty are not degrees of wealth but how we think of ourselves. “The Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mat 20:28).

Jesus paid for our lives by ransoming His own. He forsook money and paid for our sins with the very blood of God. His blood became precious because it was the exclusive blood of the King of kings and LORD of lords. He indeed was King of the Jews and High Priest of priests.

He, for a time, since Judaea was without a king and Rome was without an active Caesar, was truly the “Caesar” (King of kings) and High Priest on the order, not of Annas nor Caiaphas, but on the order of Melchizedek — the Prince and Lord of Peace (Heb 5:6).

Jesus was born of a wealthy and noble family who made Himself poor for our sakes. His wealth would not have been sufficient if he had lived as a king. He gave all He had; He gave His blood. We should treasure every drop of blood that He shed because it is only by His blood that any can be saved (Rom 3:25).

(picture credit: MedicalXpress)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAKING A NAME FOR OURSELVES

  Science has much ado about making a name for themselves. Politics has much ado about making a name for themselves. Entertainment has much ado about making a name for themselves. I worry about writing; is it for God or to make a “name” for myself?

Of course, everyone wants to leave a legacy to be remembered in days gone by. Jesus even said to take the bread and wine in remembrance of Him. [i]

  The people after the flood began to cover the world, desired to be creative, and said,  “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen 11:4).

  What did God desire for Adam’s kind? “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (Gen 1:22). What did God desire for Noah’s kind? “God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.’” (Gen 9:1). What is the Great Commission commanded by Jesus? “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Mat 24:14).

  Jesus even made it clearer, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mat 28:19). However, the people of Shinar wanted to stay home and gloat about what they could accomplish.

  What were the seed of Shem, Japheth, and Ham to do? Go ye and teach all nations. They were to go unto the world and tell the world about the grace that Noah found, [ii] the grace that they had observed; the grace that kept them safe from the Wicked One. God put grace on Adam in the form of a coat of skin and on Noah in the form of a wooden Ark.  God put grace on Adam’s and Noah’s kinds (the “whosoever” in John 3:16) by a coat made from His own Skin. The flesh and soul of Jesus was ruptured for Jesus to rapture us. He was snatched down [iii] so that Christians can be snatched up! [iv] (The opposite of what Lucifer desires.) The “coat” that Jesus provide for our Comfort IS the Holy Ghost. [v]

  After the flood, only Shem and Japheth found grace. The seed of Shem would relinquish it and the seed of Japheth would not find grace until the “Coat of the Lamb of God” was put on them. The seed of Ham saw grace firsthand but denied the grace of Jesus in favor of the desperation of Judas Iscariot. God, in the Face of Jesus, is dead to Canaanites to this day, but Judas still lives in remembrance of him betraying Jesus. Judas thought of two things: (1) to make money, and (2) to make a name for himself ro impress the wicked chief priests.

  Jesus said that the elements of the last supper was in remembrance of Him, but the Last Supper for Him had already been eaten. Jesus did not come to make a Name for Himself, because God gave Him that Name, to wit: “(Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name ‘Jesus:” for he shall save his people from their sins.

  When the Name was called to the world by God, that Name was to be “Jesus.” God made a Name for His Son and named Him after Himself. “Jesus” (Yəhôšuaʿ). There is great debate on what that Name means, but it should be clear from the last passage… “He shall save His people from their sins.” Only God can do that, and His shorted name is “Yah” in the Hebrew from “Yahweh.” The Name above all names is “Ya Saves” Yahweh’s people from their sins. That is the Name to be remembered. Jesus is the true Son of God, the Man of renown!

  Now remember the people before the flood: the sons of God and the daughters of men. They carnally coupled and their fleshes became one flesh. “When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men (giants) which were of old, men of renown.” (Gen 6:4). The flood was for one purpose: to destroy the identities of those mutated beings. When they coupled in the Flesh, the seed of righteous Seth entered the pudenda of the daughters of Cain and “giants” were created.

  Those in Babel were to remember the Creator and the Re-Creator. It had not been long since the sinful world was destroyed, and new clean world provided. They should have done something in remembrance of Yahweh, but instead, they desired to make a name for themselves!

  It was the “original sin” of Adam all over again. Satan rightfully accused Adam, to wit: “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods” (Gen 3:5). The men of renown of Noah’s time were “giants” in their own eyes. Even if they were 30 cubits tall as some claim; they were not giants in the viewpoint of God. They were decadent flesh that God would flush down the abyss to Gehenna — the garbage dump.

  But here it goes again: Mankind was making a name for themselves. When they saw the rainbow in the sky, they should have wanted to see Jesus, like the Greeks long after who asked of Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21).

  From the ground they could not see Jesus for three reasons: (1) God had not taken on flesh,  (2) they were blind to Him. and (3) they saw themselves as gods. God was right there, but where did they look? Loftily. God was with them all the time but went unnoticed. They built a city for themselves and a tower. Was the tower truly to see God or was it to see just who it was up there.

  They worked hard to build the tower. They were as gods! Read it in context:

They found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11-2:3)

  Just what were they doing? Building for themselves a tower and a name. They were not building for God a house but a place for them. God would have taken care of them if they had been meek, for “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth” (Mat 5:5). God would prepare a place for them, not on Earth but in Heaven. [vi] They tried to build to the heavens. They were beings as God.

  Remember Jacob’s ladder? It was the access to heaven. God fabricated Jacob’s ladder. Jacob did nothing. God also provided the wood for “Jesus’s Ladder” — the Cross. Men hewed the wood, but God was the Maker of it.

  At Shinar, the people, on the foundation that God provided which they found, made stones of brick and slime. In other words, they did not use stones that God had made; and read that as Jesus is the Stone that the builders rejected, [vii] but “stone” of their own making. They rejected God just as the Jews rejected God’s Son who IS the Flesh of God.

  God IS the True Rock of Salvation. [viii] They rejected Jesus before He was ever born. They built their own god, or at least their “image” of Him. Perhaps this was truly the first Image of God that was ever made, and God did what? He scattered them all over the world and their handiwork went unfinished! (Gen 11:8).

  Of what had they feared? They built the city and tower, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen 11:4). What did God do? Scatter them abroad! [ix] They got what they feared.

  They were endeavoring to make their names known worldwide by building a tower for the world to see. Men still do that! Skyscrapers make names for their owners, architects, and builders. That is what God did when he fabricated the heaven and the earth. He made Himself THE NAME (Yahweh; Existence). Why were the people trying to reach the heaven with their tower? Likely not to find EXISTENCE as I said before, but “to be” God. I put that in quotations because “making a name” for oneself is “to be” God.

  What did God do? He made a foundation whereas they only found it. Then the people took what God had made (earth in the form of clay) and made an image. Their image was never animated. God animated the image that He had made by “breathing life” unto the clay. [x] The clay tower had no life breathed unto it, because God found the works of their hands insufficient and disgusting. That was what Abraham came to believe. This tower was a prelude to why God chose Abraham.

  As such, God scattered them and confounded their language. (I call that “encryption”). Their language before had been an ancient form of Hebrew, as some believe. After their unsuccessful attempt to be God, God would not allow them to speak His language because they had become a world-wide conspiracy much like Lucifer’s in the beginning: “Thou hast said in thine heart (Lucifer), ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God’” (Isa 14:13). They allied with Satan to ascend into the heaven, not to find God there, but Lucifer on the throne of God.

  Like Satan long before, what did God do? Scattered them abroad. “O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground” (Isa 14:12). What happened to Lucifer in Judas? He climbed the “tower” that God built (The Judas Tree), and God cut him down: Satan was in Judas, and “falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:28).

  “Satan” hung himself after climbing God’s tree; then who cut Judas down from his “tower?” He fell! Not that he was careless and slipped, but God cut Satan down from His tree.

  Jacob’s ladder was for angels to ascend and descend. On the plain of Shinar, those were no angels. They were all children of the Wicked One by that time, just like Cain, their “father.”

  The Cross was the “tree” and “tower” to heaven, and it was built by God. He provided the wood. It is believed that the “old wooden cross” as it is called was made from acacia wood that righteous men converted into poles for carrying the Ark of God, and were poles that God designed. Two persons went to Paradise the day that God died — only Jesus and the repentant thief. However, those with bright eyes would see themselves ascending as well if only they follow Jesus.

  The work of sinful men’s hands would not suffice to enter unto heaven, neither then, nor now! God had wrath on them because they were of one accord to build a tower to reach unto the heaven. They were one under the auspices of Satan, the Prince of the Power of the Air.

  Now look what happened when all the people of the world were represented in Jerusalem. “They were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1) but not in Shinar, the realm of the “Satan” Nimrod, but in Jerusalem, “the foundation of peace.”

  And then what happened? “The multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:6). God decrypted their language so that they all understood. Their tongues remained the same, but they understood to decipher God’s Plan for building the Church. Why did God do that? To allow the people of different nations from all over the world to build a “tower” to God.

  “Another tower?” you ask. Not an obelisk nor a ziggurat as in Shinar, but a Church. Not one made of fake stone, but one built of Solid Rock and Lively Stones with Jesus, not Nimrod, as the Cornerstone. The tower of Babel was built by confused people by their own hands, and the Church was to be built by God using the will of the people.

  Perhaps the Tower of Babel had the assistance of slave labor or that Satan deceived them. They seemed to be of on accord, but accordance is not possible without harmonizing with God.

  When the “tower to the heaven” was built by all those of other nations in Jerusalem, the tower stands today, although it is not seen by any but those who see the Light.

  I have seen the “tower!” It is the Cross that Jesus translated to and fro upon. The Cross is a short tower to the “third heaven.” Paul knew a man who went there. Paul wrote that ca 55 AD. Jesus was crucified in 33 AD. Just who did Paul see climbing the tower to heaven even before Jesus went there?

  Surely not Paul as he was a sinful Pharisee — a “viper” as Jesus called them. Maybe he saw Jesus in the Third Heaven as that “Man.” Then Paul would deny Jesus.

  His name “Saul” means “questioning.” Perhaps when Paul questioned, “Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth” (2 Cor 12:2), he saw Jesus! When Jesus found Saul, he was no longer “Questioning” (the meaning of the name Saul), but “humbled” (the meaning of the name, Paul).

  Paul would inherit Paradise because his humbling brought on meekness. Why did Paul say that “to die is gain?” [xi] Because the Cross of Jesus would transport him across the “Sea of Glass” unto the heavens and even beyond the Third to where God IS.[xii]

  Why is the Noah’s Ark so important? Eight people crossed the sea of water and were in a new Paradise on Earth. Those who see the Cross of Jesus as another of God’s Arks (Noah’s Ark, Moses’s basket, The Ark of the Covenant, Jacob’s Ladder, and so on) will discover the Way to the Heaven. It is not by things built by Noah’s hands, nor the hands of Moses’s family, or even the Levities. It is by transportation by the Hand of God. It was Jesus all the time that carried His Father in the world and will carry His “images” (Christians) there as well.

  By the way, the Tower of Babel was the first use of idols. It represented their “god,” the “mighty hunter, Nimrod — the father of all the false gods. Nimrod built the cities of Shinar and is still remembered for that. He did make a name for himself, but no gods are called by his name to this time. The Babylonians named him other names, as did the Canaanites who generalized him as “Baals” and then the Greeks and Romans gave Nimrod many other names. Never forget that all false gods are Nimrod, and that the real God abandoned him and his cities.

  Who else built the city and tower in Babel? Provide a list of their names if you can. They are not men of renown who would make a name for themselves but a bunch of unknowns who were scattered and their names even unpronounceable.

  When they built their invisible “tower” to God— the Church — in Jerusalem they were in one accord with God’s Plan for them. He gave them instructions on how to build a Church with Words that they could understand. The Church was built in Jerusalem and named in Antioch as, not Nimrod’s nor Judas’s church, but the “Christian Church.” (Both Nimrod and Judas had Satan in them.) And like Noah, it was not the water that saved them, but the wood that God provided — the same organism as the Cross. But do remember that wood, nor towers, nor even water is saving, but only the blood of Jesus that God pours His Holy Ghost on those who follow Him. It was not the water nor the Ark that saved Noah’s kind, but Jesus who was onboard, stowed away, that did the miracle.

  The tower of Babel was not torn down, but the people were scattered. That tower still exists to this day but cannot be seen unless one has seen unto the heaven. The Tower of Babel lives in the doctrine of works, and believe it or not, people still to this day try reaching the heaven by the works of their own hands. That they do so in remembrance of Nimrod who failed to make a name for himself!

  Self-esteem is our poor way for building “towers” for ourselves; to feel as if our names are so important. Only one Name merits that, and that Name is Jesus. Only Christ-esteem can transport to Heaven, “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it” (Ephes 5:29). That is what the builders of the tower to the heavens were doing; all to build their own esteem rather than esteem God for what He had done. 

(picture credit: Voice of America: "HBO Produces Documentary")

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[i] Luke 22:19

[ii] Gen 6:8

[iii] John 19:34

[iv] 1 Thes 4:16

[v] John 14:16

[vi] John 14:3

[vii] Mat 21:42

[viii] 2 Sam 22:47

[ix] Gen 11:9

[x] Gen 2:7

[xi] Phil 1:21

[xii] Rev 4:6