WHAT'S GOOD FOR DISMUS; GOOD FOR YOU

The repentant thief was saved, was he not? He was in Paradise that day along with Jesus, not in the flesh, but in Spirit for both of them. There is one Lord and one salvation. There is one Way to be saved, so what was good for the thief is what works for any malefactor, should it not?

Many disagree on what it takes to be saved, and even when the moment of salvation is. To sort things out, salvation must be considered firstly; Jesus said to the repentant sinner (named Dismus according to history), “Today shall you be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). What did the thief do to deserve Paradise? Nothing; it is by grace that you and he are saved’ “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Ephes 2:8)

Dismus received a gift from Jesus even though he did not deserve reprieve. He never pleaded innocent nor made any excuses. Dismus was guilty as charged and trusted Jesus to judge him. So, the first thing toward salvation is admission of guiltiness. To admit wrongdoing requires nothing but humility, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Since everyone has sinned, what is the big deal about confessing your own sins? Are you a god or something and without sin? Obviously not!

Children and immature adults make excuses for their actions. We… none of us, have an excuse for our wrongdoings (Rom 1:20). We sin just because we exist. Our very existence infringes on God’s a priori Existence. To put it simply, we cannot see God, but we infringe upon His space.

The best example of that is that Jesus died so that we need not. The crucifixion was mankind infringing the space of God. We should not have been there, we were, but He took our place. If you and I had been crucified for our own sins, that would have been an infringement on God’s place to do that.

So, Dismus never made any excuses nor made any defense for his innocence; he was guilty as charged. Jesus looked at Dismus, knew that He was guilty and did something remarkable; the sins of Dismus were not only forgotten, but Jesus took Dismus’s sins upon Himself. That is how Dismus infringed upon Jesus. Sin is infringement, better known as ‘trespassing.’

The Cross is the symbol of the Tree of Life, and the way to it is guarded (Gen 3:24). Dismus could not go there himself, so Jesus went there for him. No longer was Dismus trespassing but authorized to go there. Where is the Tree of Life? Paradise.

John wrote the words of God, “To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev 2:7). What did Dismus overcome? The world. He could have made excuses, perhaps, Sorry, Jesus; I was born this way. He did not do that. He looked at Jesus and knew that Jesus had the power to bare him again (John 3:16).

Here, we need to talk about love. Dismus probably did not love Jesus in an emotional sense; he seemed to be empathetic because he figured that Jesus was innocent and was paying the price for Dismus’s own sins. As such, Dismus had goodwill for Jesus; perhaps that Jesus would go to Paradise or escape punishment. Rather than worry about himself, his thoughts were on the unfair agony of Jesus.

Dismus, although dangerous to Judea, was humane to Jesus. He had just enough of the Image of God in Him (grace) that he worried about the condition of Jesus more so than himself. That is ‘goodwill’ and that is essentially the meaning of agape-type love of scripture.

The instant that Dismus believed that Jesus was indeed God and trusted Him for His future was the moment that something drastic happened within his person — Jesus got into him. We don’t understand how, but Jesus sorted it out for us when he said to, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7).

Nicodemus thought of rebirth as entering the womb of the mother again. Not so! It is God reimaging sinners. In the beginning, “God created man in his own Image, in the Image of God created He him” (Gen 1:27). Dismus was a ‘mutant’ version of the first man; time and sin had taken its toll. He was a sinner the moment he was born. Like King David, Dismus was “shapen in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5) — depravity.

God breathed life into Adam to make him, not God, but like God (Gen 2:7). God took the material that He had and breathed — His ‘air’ — from Himself into Adam.

That Image is Selem in the Hebrew — literally a ‘Shadow’ of God but interpreted to be a ‘Phantom.’

I submit that the Phantom of God that God breathed into Adam was the same ‘Phantom’ that He breathed into Dismus. The moment that Jesus breathed His last, He gave up the Ghost (Mark 15:37). I submit that God (Jesus) emanated the Holy Spirit that was in His ‘Cup’ (soul) and breathed it into the soul of Dismus. The mechanism for rebirth is very well explained by the Holy Ghost leaving Jesus and accompanying Dismus to Paradise.

Jesus had said to Dismus, “Today shall you be with Me in Paradise.” The day was about over, and it would be the Sabbath in a few minutes as dusk set in. Jesus in Person never went anywhere, but in Spirit, Jesus was gone. He was in Dismus and entering Paradise the moment that Dismus’s soul was released.

That should answer many questions. Jesus did not save Dismus until Dismus died. Dismus was a believer to the end, and what he had believed all his life was inconsequential. As Jesus promoted with his parable, the one that came to the work last got the same pay as those who had been there all day. Just as in the parable, it was not works that counted but the generosity of the master.  

What did Jesus save? He saved, not the flesh of the man, but the soul. It was not just the mind of Dismus that was saved, but his soul. He was not just saved from sin, but saved from judgment by God, “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mat 10:28), therein limiting Satan’s ability for only the destruction of the body. In other words, salvation is not of the mind, of the will, nor for the requirement for good works; it is the soul that is saved.

Why was Dismus saved and where was he taken? He was taken immediately to Paradise in the realm of heaven. The reason and timing that Dismus was saved was explained quite well, better than I can, in Paul’s letter to Peter: 

Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. (1 Pet 1:8-10)

 Dismus loved God although it was before he saw God. Dismus believed without seeing. He was granted clemency before God showed Himself with the giving up of the Holy Ghost. Jesus, to him, was the evidence that was required that God is real, and with that belief (cognition) rebirth began, but it was completed at the end of his faith. Dismus did not quit believing but endured his cross to the end, trusting that Jesus would take him where He said He would!

Dismus had goodwill for Jesus. If Jesus’s soul could not escape to Paradise, then neither could his! He desired that Jesus no longer suffer, so that the voyage could begin.

When Jesus gave up the Ghost, the Ghost went into Dismus, and it was him that was full of glory. The Holy Spirit of Jesus went to Paradise in the soul of Dismus, taking him not only to safety but to a safe haven.

Before Jesus could enter Dismus, his soul required emptying. Jesus took the demonic spirit within Dismus to Hell along with his sin with Satan cast there as well, to wit: “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” (Ephes 4:8-9). Without proof, I believe that Jesus in the form of the Holy Spirit descended to Hell before He ascended in Spirit tom Paradise. Dismus was full of glory, meaning that he was filled with the Spirit that had just vacated Jesus.

Death was the end of the faith of Dismus. He was dead and dead men do not think. Faith is a thought process — mental work — not dynamic work. Paul added to that, “even the salvation of your souls.” It should be clear that salvation comes after the body dies, and the period between the beginning of faith — rebirth — and the reward of faith (death as the gain according to Paul), is an interval of safety so long as the “babe in Christ” remains sober and vigilant (1 Tim 3:2).

Paul ends that passage by acknowledging that it was not by the works of Dismus, but that grace came into him. That ‘grace’ was when the Holy Ghost — the Virtue leaving Jesus — left the Body of Jesus and came into the soul of Dismus.

I believe that these explanations not only explain the state (salvation) and timing, but the mechanism (Dynamis; “virtue”) of Jesus as well.

Virtue left Jesus to make Dismus whole. What was Dismus missing that made him an incomplete, inglorious man? The Invisible Image of God within his person. Jesus was missing, and when Jesus was glorified — released from His Body (John 7:39), He glorified the ‘Phantom’ of Dismus that was within him.

You have the right to disagree but do take the time to consider the meaning of scripture. I hope that I am saved right now! That would be foolish not to wish that, but the Devil is out to get me still, so it makes sense that, providing that I wear it, God has provided for me the ‘Garment of Adam’ (Gen 3:17) for safety against the fiery darts of the Wicked One.

                                                        PICTURE CREDIT; Suzie Shultz

 

 

 

 

 

KING AND LORD OF WHOM

 The first few chapters of Matthew are familiar to most people. Should I gloss over things that almost everybody already knows, or should I dig deeper? Who cares that the Jew Jesus was a Galilean? Who cares that Syrians admired His works? Why are those things prophesied long ago and written about much later? Let is pursue those things.

Today the commentary begins with the healing from Matthew chapter four. Jesus, had said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17) to the people, not just the Jews but to the Galileans.

Repentance is “to change one’s mind” (Strong 1890). The people had to do one specific thing; they were to change their minds. Is that a “work” that they must do? Let it be said that the thief on the cross during the crucifixion was bound and nailed to a “tree” so fast that he could not even move, but he was saved.

What did the thief on the cross do to be saved. He repented, “We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong” (Luke 23:41; NLT). The thief, “Dismus,” had only to think, I did wrong and deserve to die for it. He had a change of mind. He had rationalized his criminal activity but when confronted by death, he could have begged for mercy, but instead he admitted that he was a sinner.

As Paul would say, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Surely the thief was afraid to die; anyone would be. Perhaps as he dreaded to die, he looked forward to having the fear of death removed.

The thief could have justified himself (dikaioo) — thinking of himself as righteous, but, no, he thought of himself as unrighteous. It seems, therefore, that since he was saved to Paradise that day, that true repentance is the Way to salvation. It is a new way of thinking about your own values. The thief valued Jesus over himself… he gave up his flesh for the sake of Jesus, and like Abraham who would not have to give up his own flesh and blood, Dismus did that without any argument with the mob, Pontius Pilate, nor God.

He worked out his own salvation, not to save himself but to redeem the innocent man, Jesus.

“Work out” in the Greek is katergazomai, contrasting with ergon — hard physical work. Working out is easy work, now called “ergonomics.”

 The easiest work is done by thinking the job through. The thief knew his guilt and it would be vain (hard work for nothing) to talk his way innocent. He confessed that he was guilty as charged but that Jesus was innocent.

Jesus was crucified for two reasons: (1) He was next in line to be King of the Jews, but abdicated His throne on Earth, indicating that His Kingdom was not of this world, and (2) He admitted that He is the very Image of God, as the “Son of God.” They thought that He was a crazed lunatic for the latter, but worried that He might claim the throne of Judea.

They all knew better, Herod Antipas claimed Jesus as a fellow Galilean and thus He was called “Jesus of Nazareth” of Galilee. As such, Antipas was not worried about Jesus pursing the throne of Judea (Luke 23:6-7); it was not His territory under Caesar.

So, the first point to be made from Matthew chapter four is that repentance is on the Way to salvation, and that thought is the most ergonomically efficient, requiring no physical work at all! (That is the reason that Paul baptized few but persuaded many.)

The second point is that Jesus was a Galilean (Mat 4:15). The Judean kingship was an ethnarchy because it was an area of ethnic Jews. Matthew wrote about that as a fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus would be from Galilee.

That was significant or it would not have been in earlier or the New Testament scripture.

Jesus of Nazareth was from Lower Galilee. From the time of Isaiah, Galilee was a gentile nation, and not Jewish at all. They worshipped as Jews and thought of themselves as Jewish, but the people of that district were gentiles, not Jewish but outsiders. Galilee was populated by Itruean converts from outside the district during the Hellenistic era. Many of the people there were pagan warriors who were forcibly converted to Judaism, according to Josephus.

Nobody knows the genealogy of the Galileans at all. They could have been from anywhere and everywhere, but amongst them lived many Jews, and the Galileans were Jews, not by genealogy, but by coercion.

That Jesus was of Nazareth was a Galilean has some important implications. He was not just King of the Jews, as the “Son of David,” but King of Galilee in the sense that He was King of Gentiles and Jews. He was not just a contender for the Judean Throne but Herod Antipas’s throne as well, of which Antipas seemed well aware because Jesus was a citizen of his district.

Point two is that Jesus is not just “King of the Jews” as Pilate noted with the sign placed above His head, but “King of the Gentiles” as well. Jesus preached first to the Gentiles, and only secondly to the Jews, as Paul would learn was more effective.

“His fame went throughout all Syria.” Syria was all the districts combined and was the Roman Colony in the Holy Land. It consisted of all the small kingdoms whose kings took the right hand of friendship with each other and with Caesar.

The third point is that Jesus was King of Syria as well. Syria at that time was almost, excepting small areas, was the Kingdom of David whose area was about the same limits. So, Jesus was heir to the Kingdom of David which included all of Syria, but he denied that kingdom for the realm not of this world (John 18:36).

Now, consider the Book of Jasher, mentioned several times in the Bible. Abraham was a king without land. He was promised the Promise Land, but he received no territory. He lived in the land of Canaan as king. With that said, Abraham’s kingdom was not of this world but in another realm and the “Promised Land” was not terrestrial but celestial.

So, why the lineage of Abraham in Matthew chapter one? Jesus was of the lineage of Abraham. He was the “Son of Abraham” as well as the “Son of David,” not in the sense of father/son, but of the gens (genetic family) of both Abraham and David. Jesus was heir to the kingdom of Abraham as well as David. They occupied the same “space,” but one kingdom was in the world and the other not of this world.

That is not to say that the world is “Paradise” at all but that there is an unseen kingdom in another realm whose entryway is by Jesus — the “Pathway” and the “Gate” (Mat 7:14).

With that said, “Abraham’s Bosom,” of Luke chapter sixteen is the Kingdom of Abraham that awaited his gen (the Promise of the Abrahamic Covenant.) Jesus was heir to the Paradisical throne of Abraham whose territory is Abraham’s Bosom… where he rests.

Syria was representative of that land during the Roman era as well as the Greek times. The Kingdom of Jesus was not Syria where Caesar was King of kings, but in the Heavenly Paradise where He is the “Caesar” as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:16).

Albeit Caesar was King of kings over Syria, he was also Lord of lords as Pontificus Maximus over the Roman Empire. He claimed to be God in the flesh as well as King of kings. As Pontificus Maximus, Caesar claimed to be “Lord of lords.” Jesus recognized Caesar’s authority on Earth but claimed the same titles in His own realm.

The last point is that all things are in scripture for a purpose and should not be glossed over. That Jesus was a Galilean implies many things. The genealogy of chapter one does as well. They all identify Jesus to be who He claimed to be and who He claimed not to be. He did not come to be King of the Jews but King of All! The question is, Is He your Lord and King?

(picture credit; Bang Blogs)

 

 

 

 

PENALTY FOR TOLERANCE OF SIN

  Recently, I ridiculed two construction workers who were in public, holding hands. I should have prayed for them, but I worried that staying silent was tacit approval of their behavior that would seem as if it is acceptable and thus be a wrong behavior model for children.

  For a moment, I despised them because their behavior was so unnatural; not for my sake, but for their open rebellion to God and the way they were created. According to Paul, those two men were doing “what is shameful” (Rom 1:27), “leaving the natural use of the woman” (Rom 1:27), and lusted men for men.

  Ironically, the “natural man” is one that is of the world. “Natural man” is a genetic predisposition toward sin that was inherited from Adam’s “original sin.” Mankind was not created with original sin but their namesake, Adam, chose it. Henceforth, “natural man,” when given two choices, chooses wrongly. In the case of homosexuality, given the choice of man or woman, men choose men and women choose women.

  On the other hand, “natural use” is using what God created for mankind the way it was designed to be used. The reproductive “tools” of men and women are complementary in that they are designed for reproduction. The pleasure provided by those same tools transform tools designed for urinating into tools designed for reproduction. “Pleasure” causes their transformation, and hence pleasure is for a purpose and should not be misused.

  Natural man, as created, would use their “tools” appropriately. “Unnatural man” uses them mosly for pleasure. Scripture hints at misuse of the “tools” as the original sin in that the man and woman covered their “shame” (Gen 3:7,10). Of course, since that time, God has been graceful by allowing man and woman to pleasure with each other so long as the pleasure does not interfere with communion with God. “It is better to marry than burn,” (with lust) as Paul said. (1 Cor 7:9). God knew that sex for pleasure had become very natural for men and women.

  “Become” is the key word. God created mankind natural. “Natural” was meant to be one man, one woman, and One God; everything done for His purposes. Eating of forbidden fruit changed things; rather than the joy of having mini-Adams and Eves, the joy was for Adam and Eve ad God was left out. There was no joy under the forbidden tree for God because He was alone in the Tree of Life.

  “Marriage” is man and woman in unity. “Holy Matrimony” is man and woman in unity with each other and God. They stand under the Tree of Life (Jesus). There is nothing “holy” about men and women in unity without God, nor is there men with men and women with women, because those perversions isolate God.

  “Perversion” is deviation form the natural. Men and women have emotions that complement each other and used for right purposes complement God. To be straight forward, the tools of men are designed for the tools of women, and together they become one in purpose. Men with men and women with women have unnatural uses for their tools. They defy God by using their natural tools for unnatural purposes. They were not “born this way” but became that way. In other words, heterosexuality is natural, Adam and Eve were created that way, and everyone else was born that way.

  “Original sin” was being “reborn” in an unnatural manner. Natural man has God as their Father, and unnatural man has the Devil: “Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). The Devil would have you do things unnatural, or unholy, since God created things natural, or with good intentions (Gen 1:31). Anything less than natural use is evil.

  Think now in the context that “natural man” is doing things the way they are intended, and Satan blurred the distinction; he coaxes men and women do things unnaturally. Doing the Serpent’s will changes the natural to the unnatural, and even today, that would be called the “new natural.” Hence, sinful man is now the “natural man” who does things against God and nature.

  Man was neither created that way nor born that way; they became that way. Just as reaching for the forbidden fruit, eating it, and enjoying what God had forbidden; homosexuals reach for what is forbidden, partake of it, and pleasure in the enticement that Satan encourages. As such, homosexuality is not genetic but behavioral and originally, even psychologists, called it “abnormal,” meaning “unnatural” in that they were not born that way.

  Then Satan and the demons entered the mob. Homosexuals and their supporters protested the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and they changed their designation. Homosexuality became the “new normal” and those against it became “abnormal.” The Serpent twisted truth and the unnatural became the natural, and the natural, the unnatural. As I write this, the world considers me the one who is sick. They call my sickness “homophobia” when, truly, homosexuality is the sickness of sin.

  What about the APA? What about those who are not homosexuals but support them in their sin? In the case of the two men exhibiting unnatural lust (not love), one woman whose brother is a homosexual wrote, “They deserve to have someone to love too!”

  All sinners, according to scripture, deserve one thing and that is death. Because their sin is peculiar does not give them a pass on judgment. They too deserve death for unholy, unnatural behavior. (And I also deserve death because all have sinned, but I repent of my sins. With repentance, God has mercy and provides the remedy for sin – His grace.)

 Family members condone the sin of homosexuality out of love. God condemns it the for the same reason! True love is grace for any sin, but the grace must be accepted to be efficacious. Homosexuals are those with a particular sin, and that sin is a “stronghold.” Others may have other strongholds, but God can take care of those strongholds if the “door” is opened for Him to come in. Sinners must welcome God to change them, not continue doing what they know is wrong both naturally and spiritually. No sin is beyond God even though modern psychiatry has changed their view on that.

  If my son was a drug addict, if I condone that, what will eventually happen? The addicted son will likely die before his time. I do not condone drug usage for three reasons: (1) I want my son alive physically, (2) I want my son alive spiritually, and (3) I want that my son never should perish. Those are because I love my son so immensely!

  Why would a parent want their son to abandon homosexuality? (1) They would want their son alive physically, (2) spiritually, and (3) eternally — the same three reasons. Homosexuality kills. It is a sin against oneself. Stress and depression can kill, as well as the aids virus. Like it or not, but aids is God’s warning to change, and those who do not heed that “hint” may die. God always provides a Way out, but it must be taken!

  Adam and Eve died when they ate the forbidden fruit, but it went unnoticed. Eve died but Adam failed to see it. She was drained of God’s Spirit within her, and it began to assume the spirit of Satan. Homosexuality does likewise. An empty soul readily assumes any spirit around. God does not consort with the unnatural unless those who deviate welcome Him to come in for change. Homosexuals are dying but it goes unnoticed. Those who condone sin, condemn their loved ones. (I would reject any of my family’s drug use because I love them so, and that is the situation for any sin.) Rejecting sin is hard work but rewarding as some might be saved from perishing!

  Now for those who condone sin, and in particular homosexuality: “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom 1:32). Who is “who?” The reprobate (Rom 1:29). What is “reprobate?” Paul provided a list of sins that belong to them (Rom 1:29-30), but the “reprobate” are those who never turn over their sin, whatever it is, to God; to depend on and trust God to tear down the walls of those strongholds!

  Psychiatry gave up on you. Not only will they not attempt to fix that abnormality, but now laws even prevent preachers from converting homosexuals. And it is deemed intolerant by society if Christians fail to accept unnatural behaviors as natural. God will never give up on you unless you give up on yourself. Psychiatry is the Devil’s cunning way to convince unnatural people that they can never return to normalcy… the way God intended. If you have given up on your identity, God can change you into a new person. That is what “born again” means (John 3:7). New creatures behave and think differently. They behave and think, according to the way they were created, not the way they were deviated!

  Homosexuals are dying and neither do they nor their loved ones realize it. There are two main points in Romans 1:32: (1) Those who “commit such things are worthy of death.” I do not condemn them; by their behaviors, they condemn themselves. I do not condemn them because I do not tolerate sin in people that I love, according to the pattern of God. God has the grace to offer the alternative, and nobody should stand in the Way. There is a second point: (2) God condemns them who, “have pleasure in them that do them.” Those who enjoy sin or even tolerate it are in danger of damnation. They are two types of people: (1) Those who engage in same-sex pornography, weddings, and associations, or (2) those who tolerate homosexuality.

  The woman who tolerates her brother’s homosexuality out of brotherly love, is condemning him and herself to damnation. It is a sin to engage in or tolerate homosexuality, and ironically, those who tolerate the deviation as the normative out of love, condemn those who they say they love.

  Herein, I was hard on homosexuality, but it applies to any sin because all sin is “unnatural” since it is a deviation from God’s standards for us. Paul was specifically bold in his condemnation of sexual sins as they are extremely grievous to God. I, as many theologians, examine scripture and conclude that just maybe the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was “carnal knowledge” or sexual sin — using the “tools” for other than their design intent.

  After all, the two had not “multiplied” while in Paradise, but they had pleasured. They did not obey the command to multiply until they were cast out of the Garden. Perhaps they pleasured with sex rather than reproduced with sexual intercourse. Regardless of that speculation, God finds sexual sins abominable. The Law lists abominable sins, and they are usually sexual sins, and specifically homosexuality.

  “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), and homosexuality and its acceptance leads to the wages that they deserve — eternally perishing.

  With that said, our government now tolerates homosexuality and even same-sex marriage, and for that, America, unless it changes gods; it too will perish just as the “harlot” Jerusalem and the “harlots” Sodom and Gomorrah before that.

 (picture credit: Pinterest; “Like the Marriage of Adam and Eve”)

 

 

HARD BUT HONORABLE LOVE

  Sons and daughters often get angry with their siblings and parents. We all know those who have, and have done so ourselves.  The perception is often that parents or siblings do not care much about the sons, daughters, or other family members.  
  “Perceptions” are abstract mental pictures which are not founded on actual events. Now if the truth was known, parents have things of which to be ashamed that are actual events where anger is due.  It seems paradoxical that often blame is for something not done. Everyone deserves responsibility for their actions, and to suffer the consequences.
  The parent may feel abandoned. He (or she) knows that he is not wrong in this instance, and knows no one else is either. Most anger is a result of two things: (1) misunderstanding the motives of others, or (2) feeling under attack by others. Both reactions are based on perceptions. Anger because of misperceptions are called “presumptuous sins.” Jesus was killed by an angry mob because they presumed that he had sinned. He was accused of claiming that He is God, and that was disrespectful to the Father in Heaven.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. (Psalm19:30).

  “Presumptuous sins” are those which take liberties with the facts. The sinner “presumes” wrong on the part of another. In other words, it’s anger which is not fact-based and that makes it irrational! “Anger” is an irrational response to a reasonable action of another. The angry person feels as if he or she is under attack even when that’s not the case.
  The presumptuous sin of the angry Jewish mob was unknowingly killing their own Father in Heaven. Of course, God did not die, but He experienced death on the Cross with His Flesh. Right before Jesus died because of presumptuous sin, he was in agony for God’s children. Jesus wept on behalf of the Father for rebellious and unloving children who had dishonored Him.
  The Father was on the Holy Cross as well - still loving his many sons and daughters, even as his firstborn Son died on the Cross. Presumptuous sin killed the Father’s Spirit:

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree. (Deut 21:18-22)

  Note that Jesus did none of those things but he was accused of them all! Those false accusations – irrational thoughts – killed Jesus, but God in three “substances” was on that Cross. Angry people struck at God through the flesh of His Son. Those accusations, since Jesus Is God, were against the Father. Jesus’s flesh bore the pain of his Father.
  The Father should have been angry at the angry irrational mob, but he wasn’t. “For the Father so loved all His children, that He gave His own Flesh, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.” (John 3:16 rephrased). That’s how much God loves His children even though they were angry and hung him on a “tree” to die for presumed sins!  That’s also how much Christian fathers love their sons and daughters!
  Christian fathers, when faced with angry rebellious children, still love them so! However, Christian fathers agonize at their alien thinking. Even when they believe the one who loves them so much is a jerk, the “Jerk” still loves them with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength!
  Why should children respect their parents? Because most parents love them intensely! Good parenting is tolerating the childhood insolence, rebelliousness, and apathy which most children have, and still maintain their intense love!
  Look at God’s notion of parental respect: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exod 20:12). There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Honoring parents is expected behavior for entering into Heaven. The promise therein is eternal life in the heavenly promised land.
  Why did the angry mob hang Jesus on the Holy Tree and murder him? They presumed that He was a liar; that he was really not the Father. The angry mob dishonored their spiritual Father, and where are they now? There is no record that any repented, and if that’s the case, they are spiritually dead and in torment this moment.
  Unresolved anger not only will cause spiritual death in the end, but angry people are not having a full-life when alive. Anger is living in a self-created Hell. The mind torments angry people by making them feel justified with their anger but missing out on contentment and brotherly, fatherly, and motherly love.  Angry people are not joyful, and can only be content for the moment.
  No one is immune to anger! Recently, I argued with a confessed communist and atheist. I thought I had won the discussion because the man was quite angry and called me names. I had a right to be angry, and I became angry! However,  I lost the case because as a godly man, I should have been long-suffering, kind, and compassionate. I was not! Because I became angry, that ungodly man “won” the argument (Actually we both lost it because the sinner and the saint responded the same way. God could not distinguish the difference between the two of us.)
  When any Christian becomes angry for presumptuous notions, God cannot tell the difference between them and the sinners.
  For myself, two weeks have gone by, and I still feel bad with the anger I had. That lack of joy will be gone until I meet that man again and make amends. According to scripture, it does not matter who was right or wrong; a godly man has a responsibility to reconcile:

But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother (father, mother, or anyone) without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, “Raca” (no longer of value), shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, “Thou fool,” shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother (father, mother, brother, sister, or anyone), and then come and offer thy gift. (Mat 5:22-24)

  Note that it did not matter who did the wrong. Let alone presumed to do the wrong. Reconciliation is required to serve the Lord regardless of fault! Those who killed the Father’s Flesh, killed the Father’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit was on the “tree” as well, and when God’s Flesh died, Jesus “gave up the Ghost.” The Father agonized for His Son, and Christian father’s agonize for theirs when their sons or daughters are wrong!
  You are probably thinking, Well, Jesus did no wrong! That is right; he was presumed to be a sinner. The angry mob would not listen to reason. As Jews, the Father had told them in advance, that the Messiah would come and die for them. Jesus took on the sins of the world on their behalf. For a few hours, God sinned, not for the pleasure of it, but for the agony of his misled children.

Good fathers agonize for the wrongs of their children because they too, as God, love them so! Even right children are wrong if they cannot forgive and forget – be compassionate and kind to one another.
  Good Christian father’s think of the hereafter. Will his children be loving and forgiving, or will they go the way of the mob?
  Christian mothers do that as well. The commandment says to “honour your father and mother,” without any pre-conditions. It does not say, “honour if they are always perfect, don’t do wrong things, make poor decision, or get angry themselves;” it just says to “honour.”
  On behalf of mothers, I might add, they deserve a double-portion of understanding. They undergo so much agony at birth that they should be relieved of any more agony. The mother of my firstborn was in agonizing labor for 36 hours just to birth my son. That should have been enough, and she deserves honor!
  Any agony that I caused my mother, I still regret. Sometimes I cannot live with the thoughts of the mental abuse, even once, which I caused my wonderful imperfect mother. I wish that she was here so that I could tell of my love for her, but I cannot. However, those with living parents still have that opportunity!
  I dishonored my father one time. I still remember the time of my discontent. I regret that I ever did that to my hard-working father, but it can’t be undone. I would give anything to hear his gentle voice again!
  I was often ashamed of my Mom’s hillbilly accent. Sometimes, I wished that she would just be silent and save me embarrassment. Well, God did that for my selfish reasons; my Mom had a stroke and could not talk at all.  I got what I wanted, but now I merely want my Mom back, talking or not. I have regrets and so will you! I can’t altar my poor performance as a son, but you sons and daughters with living brothers, sisters, parents, friends, and even enemies can! You must for God to give you a long life in Heaven.
  Sometimes good parents must correct those they love. My own Dad did that and my Father in Heaven still does? Why? Because it hurts to see the love gone.

Plan of Salvation In One Verse

KEY VERSE: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chron 7:14)

  “My people” are the “nation” of Christ; those known as “Christians.” The next phrase, “Called by my Name,” identifies God’s people. His people are those who are addressed by God by His Name. The “address” is the Way of Christ as Christians belong to him.
  John begged that the nation of Judah, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” (Mark 1:23) which was also prophesied by Isaiah (Mat 3:3); to “make his paths straight” (Mat 3:3). Matthew identified how that should be done when he wrote, “John came unto you in the way of righteousness” (Mat 21:32).
  Righteousness is an internal quality of right-living people. Right-living is doing things the way of Christ, or better said – the Doctrine of Christ; condensed to loving Him intensely and fellow men as well. Intensely is with the heart, mind, soul, and strength! (Mark 12:30). What more is there left?
  It turns out that Christ’s path has a “straight gate.” That gate is with a steadfast mind on God’s Will. His Will is that His people love Him and others. “Steadfast” implies strength, fortitude, and longevity. The Way is not brief, but for the duration of Christians’ existences. Perhaps the identification as a Christian also requires steadfastness since regeneration is not at one cross-section in time, but for the duration of life (Matt 10:22).
  Of course, those who are “born again” obtain a regenerated heart in that, if efficacious, it would have been “circumcised.” The Calvinistic viewpoint on regeneration is a moment in time (John 3:5-8). That event commences the regeneration, but the flesh is not regenerated until the rapture – when the dust is caught up and the “silver cord” (Ecc 12:6) renewed with the soul. Of course, that means a regenerated existence back to the Designer’s intention; just as it was in the Garden.
  Sinners live with congestive spiritual hearts. Their spiritual hearts don’t “pump” well as their spiritual strength is not there. Within the spiritual arteries are blockages. Sin blocks God’s Holy Spirit from what should be healthy hearts. Cutting off the foreskin of the heart (Deut 10:16) is removing the blockage of sin with right-living to obtain a healthy spiritual life in preparation for an eternal life.
Circumcision of the heart keeps “the silver cord” from being loosened. That strength is steadfast faith, which is associated with endurance to the end. Full regeneration is at the resurrection, but the regeneration of the soul, as it was “before the foundation of the world,” occurs at death (John 17:23-25).
  That means that the soul is made perfect in Christ. That’s what Paul meant with, “To live is Christ; to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). Thus, the Way of Christ – his path – leads from imperfection to perfection. Its Way is not at the starting gate but the finish line! In between the two should by spiritual growth. A perfect body is one of the entire body, not just the heart, that is cut off.
  The flesh is the receptor for pleasure. Illicit or unrighteous pleasure will be cut-off when perfection is obtained at full regeneration. Until that time, the circumcision of the heart suffices!
  The keyword in the key verse is “name.” Not just any name, but by the Name which God was called when he came in the flesh. The Name, “Jesus,” is the password through the straight gate which leads to the path of God.
  If you remember, Paradise was walled, had one gate to get in, one access to the gate, and it was guarded by cherubim. Not just saying “Jesus” is enough, but dedication to Jesus. God looks at the heart and tells the cherubim that the Christian is worthy of entering in.
  Ironically, “worthiness” is not what Christians do, but are willing to do. They crucify themselves, at least their hearts, and God looks for those regenerated hearts before he regenerates the flesh, as the soul will be already regenerated.
  Resurrection is important. The flesh is the “land” in the key verse. The Jews thought it was their little part of the Earth. On the other hand, Abraham knew the true identity of the Promise Land; it was abiding in New Jerusalem, or Heaven in new flesh! The real identity of the “land” goes back to the dust from which mankind was created. That dust will be regenerated at the Resurrection back into the flesh it was once generated – back to the image of God!
  We know God’s “name”. It is not “God” or even “Jehovah” nor “Yahweh.” God’s “Name” is “Jesus” (in English). The key verse says that His people are to “seek my face.” The Face of God goes along with His Name; God’s “Face” is the face of Jesus. Of course, it is not merely God’s Face who Christians are to seek, but His Mind, Heart, Soul, and Strength which is identified by The Name and Face. For God to recognize Christians on His throne, Christians must recognize God by His Person – Jesus.  Recognition by God at the gate to Heaven is imperative:

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Mat 7:22-23).

  Christians will recognize God by His Face and Name. How will He recognize you? He will look, not for the circumcised foreskin of the penis, but the circumcised heart (Rom 2:29). It is imperative, consequently, to understand what it takes to have the heart circumcised! That merely consists of diminishing yourself and elevating God as implied in John 3:14.
  “Sin” is your wanting “TO BE” rather than accepting God Who already “IS” in that He is “I AM;” that self-esteem must be transformed into Christ-esteem. As the key verse says, His people, “shall humble themselves.” God does the humbling, but His people become meek in His Presence. Their reward? Inheriting the earth, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Mat 5:5).
  That seems to mean some type of inheritance on this planet, does it not? Note that the translators did not capitalize it. The meek will get their “dust” back – their elemental particles from which God created them. In other words, they will be regenerated back to their original state, and in the Presence of God. That is “glorification” – as it was in the beginning – you and God, and God and you in perfection!
  “Blessed” in Matthew 5:5 means “blissed.” Those humbled by the Presence of God (Jesus) will be blissed. Bliss can only be obtained from existence in Paradise.
  Calvinism espouses “by grace alone” (sola gratia in the Latin.) It is true that God, all alone, died on the cross on our behalf and He is the One who propitiated His Own blood, but there are things we must do in gratitude for that. The key verse answers the doing things: “Pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.”
  Praying is magnifying God and seeking forgiveness. Seeking His Face is looking to Jesus for the sacrifice. The hard part is “turning from wicked ways.” That’s what His people can do in gratitude for God’s sacrifice on their behalf. The old creature commences the path to a new creature:

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:37).

  The new circumcised heart comes first! The entire new creature is a renewal (regeneration) of the original creature. The big difference is that in the end, Satan will not be there to re-corrupt, neither the hearts nor souls of God’s people! The “silver cord” will be retied, and Christians will be at one with God.
  Lastly, the key verse indicates that He will hear from heaven. We think of “hearing” as audible sound. Of course, God knows our thoughts. What will He “hear?” His people’s attitudes (humility), their prayers (repentance), to whom they pray (Jesus), and their allegiance (them turning their backs on Lucifer).
  Never take crucial words shallowly. Each of God’s Words has extreme impact on our eternal well-being. The plan to save our wretched selves from the evil one and perishing is contained in that one verse. It is the prescription for healing the soul, and it must be followed!

THE DEPARTING SPIRIT

  Mankind are living souls. “Soul” is from the Greek “psyche” and it means “to breath”. Scripture says that “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). Adam (man) was material, and God breathed spirit into him, and he was made alive. “Living” is the soul containing God’s Spirit. And people think living is nearly breathing! Those with souls without God’s Spirit, then, are the waling dead. That’s what Adam and Eve failed to comprehend!

  It appears, then, that the body is the vessel for the spirit, but it is material. Matter is not holy but Spirit is. Therefore, there must be a container for God’s Spirit to separate “it” from the body.

Think of the soul as similar to the uterus in certain ways. The uterus is basically an incubator for the developing fetus. It’s the nursing home for the unborn child until it can live on its own. It is a sanctuary from the world until old enough to adapt to the world. Another word for uterus is “womb.” Therein, the placenta provides oxygen and nutrition to the gestating baby. The uterus accepts life and grows it. Growing indicates a living organism. The placenta isolates the child’s blood from the mother’s. They are two separate entities as far as life-blood is concerned. They are two separate beings, one living in the sanctuary of the other. If the mother’s blood was allowed to mix with the developing child’s, it could be deadly for both of them!

  Although the soul is much like the uterus, it is not material. It is without physical body, presence or form (incorporeal) and is an “essence” that has an identity. It is a “substance” but a supernatural substance in that it cannot be detected with the senses or instrumentation. Therefore, because it is incorporeal, science disqualifies itself from its study. To them, the soul does not exist because they have no way to understand it.

  The soul can be understood although it is incorporeal. It is an invisible “womb” which incubates the Holy Spirit breathed unto it. Unlike the uterus which has shape, mass, and properties, the soul itself does not. It is what is inside of it. There are three “things” which can live in the soul: (1) Nothing, (2) Goodness, and (3) Evil. If God is “good” and only God Is (Mat 19:7), then it is God who lives in the soul. The person is merely material, and has no spiritual goodness. Adam was created in the image of God, and that was “very good.” (Gen 1:310). That was because God breathed His Spirit into Adam, not that Adam was good.

  The soul can also contain evil, although not at the same time as good. Theologians have difficulty with God not “looking” upon sin, then consorting with Satan as in the Book of Job. Let’s examine that single passage: “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…” (Hab 1:13). First off, some say that God does not have eyes. Jesus Is God’s eyes, flesh, speech, hearing, and even tasting; and no telling what other senses! However, does that passage mean exactly “eyes?” I believe in this context that it is His countenance which cannot “experience” iniquity (sin). His “eyes” in that case is His countenance (Strong’s Dictionary). Thusly, Holy Spirit cannot co-exist with unholy evil within the soul. Like the uterus, the soul is a place for sanctuary from the evil of the world if it is imbued with the Spirit. Like the uterus, the Spirit grows within the soul. That is the process of sanctification, or cleansing the soul of waste.

I use the word “imbued” rather than “filled” because pletho in the Greek (Acts 2:4) also means “supplied.” Just as the placenta supplies the needs to the gestating baby, protects it, and expels waste, the soul does the same for its contents. Christians can still sin, but since it is covered by Jesus’s blood, then the Spirit of God expels the sin and keeps the soul clean! That is by grace as God does not want to behold sin.

  Jesus is THE person of God with senses and personality. Jesus’s Mind is a substance of God and the Holy Spirit is the Power of God. Spirit is a supernatural (beyond natural ) essence (ultimate nature, i.e., belonging to God). That leaves the Holy Ghost. That is a disembodied soul. Specifically, The Holy Ghost is Jesus’s disembodied soul whose essence is his Spirit which experienced the pangs of death with God’s Flesh on the cross (Mark 15:37). The transition from Spirit to Ghost occurred at Jesus’s death (John 7:39; KJV specifically).

  Jesus has a soul, and the Spirit of God resides in his soul. Inside God’s Flesh, somewhere inside Jesus was his soul. Within his soul, God’s Spirit resided. As God is omnipresent, then with His Flesh in Heaven, Jesus’s Holy Ghost resides within the souls of Christians. Regeneration is the soul returning to its original generated condition, just as it was in Paradise before sin entered into it.

The other “thing” that can be in the soul is “nothing.” Before a child is conceived the contents of the placenta is nothing. Just as the void in which living souls were incubated, the soul can be empty. When Adam was created, his soul was empty until God breathed His Spirit into it! Life fills inner space, the placenta, and empty souls. God authors the contents of space, the womb, and the soul.

God is ultimate good. Jesus’s soul was filled with the Spirit of God. Not just supplied or imbued, but filled all the way because he is without sin. On the other hand, Satan is the ultimate evil. Satan imbued or supplied the soul of Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:3) just as he did to the Serpent back under his tree in the Garden of Eden. Satan, however, unlike God, cannot reside in the souls of men. However, evil can!

  Satan has a spirit as well, and it is evil and unholy. Those who he masters has the spirit of evil within their souls. For some, demons reside within their souls. Don’t forget, the soul is not holy or unholy; but its contents are (Mark 5:8-9). It seems that demons within the souls of men are reserved for those who have cognitive dissonance and cannot decide which master to serve! Demons seem to be used for persuading those under conviction that they are helpless because of the power of Satan. Demons cannot enter people with faith in God because there is a hedge of safety about them, but they can taunt holy men and women, and apparently enter the souls of unrighteous people who God calls.

Now for the key verses:

But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him (1 Sam 16:14)… And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (1 Samuel 16:23)… And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. (1 Sam 18:22). And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? (1 Sam 28:15-16)

  The Holy Spirit departed from Saul, of course not because God forsook him (Heb 13:5), but Saul forsook God! Afterwards the Holy Spirit departed, and an evil spirit entered. Saul was “refreshed” which surely meant the evil spirit departed, but it seems that God did not re-enter Saul because that would bring shame to God: “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb 6:6). It appears that Saul was left with an empty soul. Indeed, he was “troubled.” Many seemingly “good” people are troubled although they may no have an evil spirit. Of course, they still sin, as children are wont to do, but they are not yet inherently evil because God protects for a time those he calls, obviously to provide time for them to be persuaded.

  After a period, evil again entered Saul although he had moments of contrition wherein God was giving him multiple chances. His evil showed when he killed all the prophets but one! Saul seemed to repent, but many believe it was a false repentance. He actually delved into sin more deeply when he had the false spirit of Samuel conjured. Saul only “perceived” that it was Samuel. Any contrition made was to a demon. Some believe that the apparition was actually Samuel, but God had forbidden that. I contend that it was a demon to whom Saul turned for contrition! (I have written before on that topic in this blog.)

  People are in danger in the uterus unless protected. They are naturally protected by the Lord via the placenta. If the unborn child is killed by intrusion, the placenta is expelled. If the child is born it is also expelled. Likewise, if the soul is emptied when someone is reborn but aborts God’s Will, then the soul has no utility, and there is danger that evil will enter into the vacancy. Reprobate is when the soul becomes so filled with evil that life is forfeited. Unfortunately, that is eternal life which is forfeited.

Unsaved

  When God picked Saul to be king, he selected a humble man (1 Sam 9:21). Saul was so meek that when Samuel went through the selection process, Saul hid behind the farm implements. Obviously, he did not feel worthy to be king. David eventually wrote, and Jesus repeated it when he said, “The meek shall inherit the Earth” (Psalm 37:11; Mat 5:5). Spiritually, the meek shall inherit the Kingdom of God, and also New Jerusalem when it returns to Earth.

  Meek Saul inherited kingship over Israel. God blessed him with the entire country. Originally, Saul was only a Benjamite, the smallest of the twelve tribes, but under him Israel became a nation in spite of Saul! Before long, Saul elevated himself from king to royal priest in Samuel’s absence. God had elevated Saul to king (step 1), then shortly Saul elevated himself to priest (step 2). When Saul began to rout the enemies of Israel, he failed to credit God, and had a monument made of himself (step 3 in his elevation of himself.) Like Dr. Frankenstein who created a monster who turned on him, Saul became a “beast” who turned on God!

  Saul was somewhat humbled and contrite, but it seemed that his humble nature had changed. He went from meekness to prideful over just a few years. We must remember that God changed Saul: “And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man” (1 Sam 10:6). God would rebirth Saul and make him a new creature. Shortly, “The Spirit of God” came upon Saul (1 Sam 11:6). People would say today, “Saul got saved!”

  That is a misconception. Theologically speaking, neither was Saul regenerated. Saul’s attitude had changed from one not confident even in himself to trusting the Lord. It would have been better for Saul if he had remained meek than king! If Saul had been regenerated, his attitude would have been like Adam’s before his sin which was “very good” (Gen 1:31), in the image of God. Saul, according to scripture, surely was “born again” (John 3:7), but he was not “saved.” Even Arminian preachers use the term “saved” too loosely. Salvation is for those whose faith endures to their end: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Mat 10:22).

  Firstly, Saul’s faith reverted to his own actions. He failed to follow orders in two significant blunders. He was hated, but not for God’s Name sake, but because of Saul’s name. Likewise, although a believer in the Lord, he failed to trust God and do God’s Will. King Saul was typical of many “Christians” today, and throughout history. If it could be, Saul was half-saved, but that is not possible. Christians are entirely saved if they endure to the end. Saul failed the endurance test.

Saul had contrition and confessed to Samuel, “I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam 15:24). Saul even sacrificed animals to the Lord, but at his own initiative, although he was told to destroy everything after the battle with Agag. Samuel told him:

Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Sam 15:22-23).

  Some would say that Saul only disappointed God and was rejected as king. However, Samuel pointed out that Saul’s sin was as witchcraft and his refusal to do God’s will as iniquity and idolatry. If Saul had been saved, then it seems that he became unsaved! Actually, unsaved is oxymoronic although Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as, “not absolved from eternal punishment,” and “not regenerated.” You may see the ambiguity here.

  “Regenerated” is a return to the generated or created state. Scripturally, no one can be regenerated but once: “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb 6:6). If regeneration equals salvation, then it would be impossible to be saved, unsaved, and saved again since salvation is only at death when steadfast Christians are saved from eternal punishment: “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb 3:14). Saul did not remain steadfast. It seems that Saul was not saved in the end!

  After God forbade it, Saul finally went to a medium to consult with a spirit posing as Samuel. Saul ended up trusting the medium and an apparition. (Note: I have explained before that the siting could not be Samuel, but an evil spirit posing as Samuel.) Obviously, King Saul elevated himself over God and was not saved from either the Philistines (representing the principalities of Satan) or from Satan himself! Although Saul had been “born again” by the grace of God, he still did not trust God for victory either in this life or into the next. Saul even died of his own initiative whether it was by the spear or sword.

  The point is that the Calvinistic doctrine of “preservation of the saints” (eternal security) does not fit this narrative. Some may say, “Well, that was in the Old Testament.” God’s Will is unchanging; what the Word, Jesus, said in the patriarchal days remains true in apostolic times and even until today. God did a work of grace with Saul. He changed him and stood by him. However, gradually Saul began to elevate himself over God. It was a slow process, perhaps forty-years, but in the end his narcissism was his demise, both physically and spiritually. Unlike David, Saul was not a man after God’s own heart, but a man after his own heart’s desire.

The Real Pollutant: Carbon or Blood?

     Life has value; enough that God forbade the taking of innocent life. Life is when dormant souls have the Spirit of God breathed into them (Gen 2:7), not that the soul breathes, but life. What characteristic has life? It grows! The fastest growing time of life is between conception and birth. Gestation (from the Latin; gerere) means "carrry." Gestation, then, is the period of time when both the mother-to-be and God carry the unborn person. Person? Yes, God had plans for the child's soul and flesh before the foundation of the world (Ephes 1:4). God wants that no living so shall perish (John 3:16). Since God had plans for the living souls, and that was not to die, God's will is circumvented when they die by wrong-doing hands. 

     "Personhood" implies "personality" and that is a system like all the others. All systems within the pre-born develop together to complement each other. The infant child has a personality, and it was there all along. Personalities are not magical, as they do not develop merely along the four-inch birth canal crawl.  Gestating little humans are persons with personalities. To kill them as God and mothers carry them, thwart the plans of God for them, and is murder. The mother may not have a plan for them but God does (Jer 29:11) - to give an expected end. And that is not to die in the womb as He carries them! Now examine Holy Scripture:

The first man Adam was made a living soul (1 Cor 15:45). And if he (anyone) smite him (a living soul) with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death (Num 35:16). So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell. (Num 35:33-34).

     Abortions are done mostly how? By striking with steel (iron and carbon) forceps as their little skulls are crushed and their body parts extracted. That is after severing them with scalpels of iron! Would you not say that Holy Scripture applies to killing an unborn child?
     But wait! The unborn are not persons, according the those who believe the deception of Satan.  Satan lies! Only a fool would deny that the unborn are not stages of growth of life! If not living, what are they, then, since they are growing? False teachers would have you believe that they have no souls, and are no more than an egg or animal. Strangely though, those same people will protect eagle's eggs and eagles! How ignorant can foolish people get?
    The one who kills "is a murderer" and "shall surely be put to death." Death, according to Christ, is eternal damnation and isolation from God. No, we don't kill the mothers and "doctors" who abort, but their soul is no more valuable than the one they have killed. Their penalty is Hell if they die without repentance. If either the mother or doctor repent, God is gracious. Hence, pro-life Christians have mercy on the unborn and his murderers because God does.
     "Blood (i.e., murder) defiles the land." Rather than living carbon being the pollutant as population-controllers believe, it is blood flowing from innocent lives which "pollute the land." Therein lies the war between truth and deception; one believes that life pollutes and the other that death is the polluter. God is Truth, so Christians must always believe God.
     The problem in the United States is not fossil fuels which will destroy life, but the shedding of innocent blood which pollutes the land. America's problem, then, are not carbon footprints but that "footprints" of little humans are destroyed as they gestate. The destruction of those little footprints is inhumane. Strangely, the Democrats take Satan's deception in lieu of God's truth. According to scripture, those murderers who believe that way shall perish.
      The blood lost from innocent lives flows throughout the nation. We can't see it because Satan keeps the spillage concealed as blood goes down the drain and into garbage dumps all over the land. Blood is precious. It carries the oxygen required for life. Greater than that, though, is that God's own blood carries the potential for life itself!  How can America and the world by cleansed of its pollutant? "The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it." Abortion does not clean any carbon footprint, but the blood of Jesus cleanses the innocent blood shed all over the land.
     The land belongs to God, and is for the use of his creatures. The land belongs to the unborn as well as those who actually experience life outside the womb. Life is experiential. Those "carried" experience life, but it is cut short by those who know not what they do.
     The death of innocents, and likewise of the unborn, has a consequence which God addresses: "Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell." The penalty for death is death. America is dying as innocent blood is shed. It dies more quickly as blood is shed without remorse more intensely each day. As the blood gets deeper, the sooner Jesus comes to reward and punish. He said it himself, "Surely, I come quickly." (Rev 22:20). Ironically, the more innocent blood that the world sheds, the quicker Jesus comes. For those who are pro-life Christians, that is for the reward, and for those pro-death, it is for eternal death. That is God's type of justice - a great (for a few) and a terrible day (for most)! (Joel 2:31).

Anne Frank; Frankly Speaking

     My commentary is a blog on Google. My readership has exceeded 700 views per day, but whenever Google develops a new algorithm, the number of views are curtailed immensely, and likely for two reasons: (1) I do not advertise, and (2) my perception is that Christian doctrine is minimized. At this time, I am approaching 200,000 views since I started writing on this blog.
     When the views lessen, I get dismayed. I want to share God's Word, and when it is not read, I feel slighted because God seems to be. Then I think: God is always slighted; He gets used to that. On the other hand, I'm not God and don't like feeling diminished. I must always write for right reasons. For my own esteem is not right!
     Sometimes, the thought occurs to me that I can write for myself. Writing increases my communion with God. If others don't want to understand the Doctrine of God, that is to their disadvantage. I like to understand God, His Will, and His plans for me (Jer 29:11). That God plans for me, makes God a personal one. My study and writing is more for me and communion with God than others.
     I recently finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank. The diary was 2-1/2 years at the end of the life of a then thirteen years-old Jewish girl who was hiding from the Nazis. She never knew if she would live another day, and her living conditions - in hiding - was living in fear. She wrote a diary with honest appraisal of all her thoughts. She never fretted about dying, but lived the best that she could in her isolation. As a Jewish girl, she never knew Jesus, but she was trying to - even celebrating Christmas and Easter.
    Anne seldom shared anything which she wrote. She believed that she was only writing for herself to herself. She named her diary friend "Kitty." Anne wrote the following about her diary: "If I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well then, I can always write for myself." Then Anne wrote for her own self - to exist in those perilous times. Anne and her family were discovered by the Nazis, she spent her last days separated from her family, and died not yet sixteen in a Nazi concentration camp. When her family was arrested, her diary was thrown aside as trash by the Nazi commander, but it was retrieved by a friend. Her father allowed it to be published.
     Anne wrote if for herself. However, according to annefrankguide.com, "Since then the diary had been translated into 70 languages, and published in over 60 countries. More than 30 million copies have been sold." Anne wrote for herself but was read by the world!
     Now back to me. I am not Anne Frank and neither do I hide from those who may kill me. Someday, Christians will hide and an evil government will kill them. Jews were killed mostly by shot and gas, but Christians will die by the socialist/Islamic method - beheading (Rev 20:4). My hope is that I will escape that tribulation which Anne did not. I write so that others can escape the Great Tribulation coming, and the eternal tribulation in Hell.
     Perhaps few will read what I write at the present because they feel secure and safe. The Jews did not! The time will come when people wish that they knew God but don't know enough about Him to comprehend how magnificent and loving He is.
     In this blog, like Anne, I write for myself. I want to escape the "Nazi" types during the tribulation, and the best way to avoid beheading is to miss the train to the persecution. Anne didn't. She was on that train, and I my hope is to avoid that at all costs. Anne worried about those on the trains to their death but she could do little about it. I believe that I can. I write for those who face persecution in the last days. I write for those who at the present, don't believe it is coming! The Jews never thought that Germans could ever be that cruel. In the last days, Hitler will live again, only in the Antichrist's manifestation. He will embody every murderous dictator who ever lived.
     In the end, 30 million people will never get to read what I write today, but perhaps a mere 144,000 will discover my warnings and heed them. If not mine, then others' commentary like mine. Bibles may not be allowed in the apocalypse; perhaps commentary from then "ancient times" will suffice.
     I want to leave a legacy; not for the memory of me, but in remembrance of God who died for spiritual criminals as myself. I love God because He so loved the me. (John 3:16). I so love others that neither do I want that they should perish. That's why I write.
     Anne got excited when she wrote about the joys of living. I get excited when I write about living forever. Anne was dismayed when she was slighted. I am dismayed when God is slighted. Read about Anne and her face-off with death, then, consider your own face off. She didn't know Jesus, and you have that opportunity. Jesus fends for everyone; no one fended for Anne.
     The second birth is the enlightenment, that like Anne, you can't save yourself. But unlike Anne who died, and I hope not eternally, that those who depend on Jesus will never die.

We are Judas

    

     The most often quoted (and misquoted) verse in scripture is "judge not." Most often, the misquote is, don't judge me! You, just as I, have already been judged. Because God has foreknowledge, although we're free to judge ourselves and seek relief, he knows our hearts. Redemption was provided by the propitiation of Jesus's own blood and death, but as with any gift, his sacrificial blood can be rejected. None of us had anything to do with the giving, but much ado with accepting and using the gift. 

      Many, after they receive the gift, become haughty: I've been forgiven but you have not! Nah... nah... nah. Many Christians are not merciful to others as God was merciful unto them. Although Christians are Judas's as well, many look at others as Judas's. How can that be? Did not Jesus die for the sin(ner)s of the world (1Cor 15:3)? That includes everyone, for all have sinned and deserve death (Rom 3:23). Thusly, everyone, just as Judas, deserve death! Et to Jude?

     Read John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Substitute for "world", the name "Judas." Substitute again with your name: For God so loved Judas and Herrin, that he gave his only begotten son, that if Judas and Herrin believeth in him they should not perish, but Judas and Herrin shall have everlasting life. The point is that we are no better than Judas; we all were accomplices in killing God. The centurions "pulled the trigger" for Pilate, but Jesus said that the sins of others were greater than Pilates'. (John 19:11). That means Judas's, Caiaphas's, Herrin's, and your sins were greater than Pilates's because we are the reason Jesus had to die. Pilate washed his hands of the dirty deed. We have not until we are born again!

     Everyone has prejudged Judas. His name is synonamous with "traitor" as he committed sedition and mutinied against God. For what? The love of money - thirty pieces of silver. Just as Faust bargained away his soul to the Devil for money, Judas did the same thing; he "covenanted" with the Jewish officials for the silver. (Refer to "JUDAS" below.)

^JUDAS:

14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, ¹⁵ And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. (Mat 26:13-14)

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. ⁴⁷ And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. ⁴⁹ And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. ⁵⁰ And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him. (Mat 26:46-50)

 3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. ⁵ And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. (Mat 27:3-5)

     Jesus knew Judas's heart, and he knows yours. Christians can act innocent, as did Judas, but the acting is farcical. Judas role-played just as many Christians still do, and just as Romeo and Juliet, he could not bear living, but in his case, that he had betrayed his friend. Judas was the "first blood" in Satan's plot to kill Jesus. Satan used Judas and he can and does use us! 

     Jesus is the Almighty God. Satan had no power to kill Jesus. God allowed Satan to hatch the plan, which, unknown to Satan, was his own demise. Satan vicariously committed suicide when Jesus was crucified. Jesus allowed himself to die, not that Satan had him killed, so that Judas's would not perish! Satan was self-delusional, thinking that he killed Jesus, and he still thinks that way as he continues the treason.

     Judas, just as David had centuries before, condemned himself, then was sorry for what he had done, made restitution as best as he could by submitting that he valued Jesus more than the money, confessed to his sins, and lastly made himself a sacrifice. It seems that Judas did what any sinner must do! 

      Most Christians take issue that Judas was redeemed because he hanged himself; that violates the Sixth Commandment. Killing can be justified for right reasons. For instance, fighting just wars to save lives is considered legitimately taking lives because God often commanded the Jews to war with ungodly people. Was there justification for Judas killing himself? I believe that Judas did the honorable thing compared to Peter who denied Jesus three times. Judas seemed to have presented himself a living sacrifice just as all Christians are to do. (Rom 12:1). 

     Was Judas a Christian? Jesus selected him, and Judas followed him. Like many Christians, Judas did not follow well. He lived and died what Paul said: "The Spirit is willing but the flesh was weak." (Mat 26:41). God allowed Satan to tempt Judas just as he was allowed to tempt Job, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand" (Job 1:12). God did not kill Judas because he did what God willed, and Satan could not. Therefore, Judas convicted himself, confessed, then punished himself. God may have honored Judas's day in court. 

     Imagine if you will, when we sin we know it's sin. Righteous people, as David did, can convict themselves. David depended upon a merciful God to live, but Judas depended on a merciful God to die because of this: "To live is Christ; to die gain." (Phil 1:21). Perhaps Judas gained that day because he no longer need suffer the guilt for not living "Christ."

     I have presented the evidence for the case, God vs. Judas. God does not condemn us; we condemn ourselves by sinning. (John 3:17). Jesus did not condemn Judas; it's just not there. His next acts were dying to redeem Judas and all the Judas's of the world!

     The Christian community long ago condemned Judas. He is the Benedict Arnold of the Spiritual Revolution - the one to make all men free. I have examined the evidence, and do not condemn Judas, for if I do, then I condemn myself because et tu Herrin. I must use the same metric of judging Judas as I do myself. How merciful am I toward me? Immensely merciful! How merciful must I be to Judas? Immensely merciful. That is from the passages below, under the sub-heading "YOU":

YOU:

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Mat 7:1-3)

37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (Luke 6:37-38)

24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (John 7:24).

     I just judged Judas. I thought I must not do that; after nearly everyone emphatically says that I must not do that! Read on: We can judge however we fairly judge ourselves. (Mat 7:2-3). I see the "mote" in Judas's eye (mentally), but not the beam in my own - that I deserve more mercy than Judas!
     Then it is seen that judgment is complemented by no condemnation (Luke 6:37).. If anyone condemns Judas to Hell, they condemn themselves. If they forgive Judas for his horrid sin, then Jesus will forgive us for our horrid sins -  we abetted with Judas in the plot to kill God. We all should want to be judged fairly and squarely (Luke 38), and to be judged fairly, we must judge others with the same metric. We all want eternal life; we must want that Judas have eternal life. 
    It appears that Judas committed the greater sin than we did. That judgment is according to the appearnce (John 7:24) of the events in scripture. From the depositions written and left behind by the apostles, there is not enough evidence to condemn Judas to eternal punishment. Therefore, for lack of evidence, fair-minded people must acquit Judas, just as we acquit ourselves based on Jesus paying the penalty for everyone's sins!
     We are always ready to judge harshly; that is true, but God softens the heart. I had already condemned Judas in my heart, and wondered how many others I had condemned. I discovered that I had condemned Adam and Eve for their grievious sin when it was right there in Genesis chapter three that God covered their sins because they could not cover their own. I had been unmerciful, and for some, I still seem to be! I still hate Hitler and want him in Hell! My sins are as grievous as his because I, with simaliarty to the German Chistians, just sing a little louder at the "train loads" of aborted babies. 
     Some hold grudges against me, and have for years. Rather than forgiving seven times seventy, they may resent me that much. The same for me. On the other hand, I let it go. I am willing to judge others with the same metric that I use for myselves; we all are sinners who deserve death, but God is Who judges on eternal issues!