LIP-SERVICE TO THE LORD GOD

Jesus spoke to the multitude, often in parables — a comparison of one thing to another to get across His points.

Today, we shall focus on just one of His points; speaking to anybody who would hear, Jesus asked of those who believed in Him, “Why call you Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Was Jesus puzzled? I think not for He surely knew the answer; that He was certainly not Lord to those who called Him, ‘Lord.’

In the Greek world a ‘Lord’ is ‘Kyrios’ — “a person to whom one belongs,” or at a minimum, “a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master” (Strong 2006).

In a feudal society, ‘Lord’ adequately expresses a master/servant relationship. A Lord is anything from nobility upwards to a sovereign. Generally, a ‘Lord’ is a landowner in a fiefdom wherein the workers are provided all the necessities of life in exchange for both men and women to serve their masters.

If the servants and masters are each satisfied with the arrangement, then that is a good thing. If not, then trouble ensues and often did.

In kingdoms, feudalism was the normative. Even in the colonies of America and the United States, the feudal state was slavery. Slaves were American ‘serfs’ who were to do things to honor their master, the noble landowner and to accomplish the master’s objectives.

Neither serfs nor slaves had the freedom to do as they pleased. Both knew the rules of the master and would do them without questioning the master. For peace to exist in the fiefdom or on the plantation, servants/slaves/serfs were expected to follow the rules, ultimately either obey or die, or at least be sold to a new master.

Jesus also said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat 6:24), wherein ‘mammon’ is whatever else it may be that you trust.

Jesus asked why they called Him, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but did not obey the things He says.

Recalling the meaning of ‘Lord,’ it is a master/servant relationship. Jesus is the Master and as Master, or Rabii, He would expect His servants to obey Him if they were truly His servants and Him their Lord.

Depending on the demeanor of masters and lords, punishment might range from selling the servant, capital punishment, all the way to killing the servant. One thing Masters hated was when servants lied to them! Jesus hated that as well, to the extent that He challenged those who claimed that He was their Lord but were not.

Jesus revealed to those who serve Him, all the good things they received from Him because He is a good Master (Mat 6:26-32). He provided all those things to those who call Him Master, but they still failed to obey Him.

Many were not truly servants. It was ‘lip service’ that they did. They were hypocrites! It was themselves they served, all the while, expecting good things from their Master.

Many parent/child relationships devolve to that condition; to the extent that the child becomes the master over their masters (parents). Too many good things are given to a prodigal child who offers nothing in return, expecting even his or her share of the estate, never improving the estate, nor serving the parents.

Jesus is Lord of God’s Estate and as God, He is ‘LORD GOD’ who made and improved the ‘Estate.’ Hence, the double use of the term, Lord.

God is ‘sovereign;’ as the developer and husbandman of the Estate, God has Supreme Power over His vast ‘Plantation.’ He indeed, He is ‘Lord Of All’ and ‘King Of Kings.’ However, when the Master appeared on Earth, it was not as nobility but as a Servant. Jesus, the Lord and King, was not too good to do what the servants would not do; to the extent that the ‘Son’ gave His Life to the LORD GOD, so that we need not do that.

Jesus was a valiant Servant. He gave His life so that those who should serve, but would not, need not die. All that the Son requested was goodwill toward Himself and the fellow servants. The Lord’s Estate was meant to be a Paradise on Earth, but that would not be! Sinners trying to save themselves are stealing the valor of Jesus.

The world is also the Estate of God, but there came a claimant to God’s property — Lucifer. Lucifer is an easy task master, or so it seems. All that he expects from his servants is lip-service to the real Master. The work on the Devil’s Plantation is easy; one need only to deny the real Lord and Master by failing to do His will. Not doing work is easy work and it is what most people do! Apathy is an easy taskmaster, and all that the Devil expects from you. On his land, you can be a sloth and still inherit a portion of the Estate, or so you may think.

What is missed is that on God’s Estate you are not measured by what work you do, but your willingness to please the Master. He is an easy taskmaster; having goodwill is enough for Him and that task is not burdensome! The work list (The Ten Commandments) are merely having  reverence for the Master, and things not to do.

Master Jesus knew that; He asked, “Why call Me Lord, Lord?” of course, knowing full-well that He was not the Lord of many who followed Him. Each of them had as much as emancipated themselves as if they had the power of the Master. As such, all the while claiming that Jesus is Lord, they were their own masters and lords.

Now for my incentive to write this Lord/servant scenario: This morning events made me anxious, and I sought God to remove my anxiety. I knelt at my chair and prayed for two things: (1) that my anxiety would go away, and (2) that for another person to obey the Will of God.

I ended my prayer to Jesus, saying, “Thank you, Lord.” Scripture zipped through my mind; “Why call you Me, ‘Lord, Lord?”

Jesus no longer speaks audibly but impresses His thoughts into our minds. He asked me the same question that He had the multitude. Was He truly my Lord or is that the ‘lip-service’ which Satan’s demons put into my mind. The Devil, knowing full-well that oftentimes I am my own Lord, that is enough to appease him.  

If the Lord is truly my ‘Lord,’ would I not obey Him with pleasure for the things that He has already done for me? I felt as if I was calling the Lord, ‘Lord’ all the while serving another master!

Some “know that they know that they know,” who can save them; yet they do not serve Jesus, all the while expecting salvation. Knowing that you are already saved is arrogant; it makes you the Master of your fate.

This very morning, I was humbled; Jesus asked me in my prayer why I called Him, ‘Lord,’ while not serving Him. I was caught red-faced!

Serving Jesus is more than lip-service, treating Him like a ‘genie’ who we can rub the right way and we get all that we desire. I was asking Jesus to serve me more, even while He was providing for me a very good life. I called on Jesus to do His work for me, all the while never taking much time to thank Him for the things that He has already done, nor even fully serving Him.

Ask yourselves, Christians, why you call Jesus, ‘Lord’ all the while really serving Satan. Grace is grace, but to expect grace while serving a different master is so very arrogant.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (Isa 4:10). Was I a good servant? Are you a good servant? Is not asking the Master for things when He is not your Master just lip-service that even devils can do?

 

 

JESUS THE CENTURION

 Satan and his demons work by “torments.” Consider now the case of them against Job: 

·         Job’s servants were all slain as they did their daily chores. (Job 1:15)

·         His sheep and servants were burnt (v. 1:16)

·         The camels were stolen and the servants with them slain by the sword (v. 1:17)

·         A wind collapsed the house and his sons died within. (v. 1:19)

·         He was afflicted with boils, encountering the demons a second time (Job 2:7)

·         He lost his friends who continually vexed him. (Job 19:2)

·         His wife turned against him. (v. 19:17)

·         His spirit was apparently much troubled. (Job 21:4)

·         Those who he had helped abhor and flee from him and even spit in his face (Job 30:10). He is persecuted for the “Name.”

·         Evil came onto him even as he looked for good. (Job 30:26)

·         His bowels boiled (v. 30:27)

·         He was condemned. (v. 32:3)

 Note than Satan nor a demon attacked Job directly. He was troubled by natural occurrences. One curse would have been coincidental, but a series of curses were torments. Things failed to go right for Job and his family.

Murphy’s Law is that if something can go wrong it will. Job’s Law seems worse; even if it cannot go wrong; it still will! I call that “Herrin’s Law” now in jest. In jest because I am really blessed so much more than I deserve!

As it turned out, because Job remained faithful, God blessed him again with more than he had before. Job had been vexed — distressed or troubled. That is “tormented.”

Now consider the servant of the centurion presented to Jesus for healing: 

⁵ And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him, ⁶ And saying, “Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus saith unto him, “I will come and heal him.” (Mat 8:5-7)

 Therein it is unknown whether the afflicted had the faith of Job or not, but the centurion certainly did! His faith was enough that Jesus would heal the afflicted man.

Like Job, the servant was at home. He was laying on his bed “grievously tormented.” It is translated that he was afflicted with the “palsy” because he was paralyzed to such an extent that he could not move and was vehemently vexed in the manner of Job, as it can also be translated.

There was some force that was against, or perhaps, in him that troubled him. Refer to Job’s troubles again. Demonic forces troubled him. God allowed that as a test of faith. Somebody’s faith was being tested; it seems to be the centurion’s faith that was tested. The demon got into his servant just as demons got into the servants of Job to test Job’s faith!

That he merely had palsy seems trivial. However, he was surely paralyzed with fear because of what was in him.

Jesus had confidence… “I will come and heal him.” Jesus seemed to be agreeable to go there and heal the man where he laid. He did heal, but remained where He was. The centurion said, “speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Mat 8:8).

The centurion’s faith was greater than one might think. He knew that Jesus need not go there to heal and needed only to speak the Word. The centurion knew that Jesus was both man and Spirit — the “Son of Man” and the “Son of God.” He understood Jesus, that as God, His Word was sufficient to heal from afar.

Speaking of the “Word,” John wrote, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name” (John 1:12).

The centurion received Jesus and it was his faith that made him a “son of God.” The centurion’s faith was the catalyst that healed his servant.

Jesus said to the centurion, “go thy way” and in that same hour the servant was healed (Mat 8:13). Jesus gave that faithful centurion the Power of healing. Jesus had given some of His Virtue (dynamos; dynamics) to the centurion whose faith healed the man in Jesus’s Name. Note that it still was not the centurion who healed but Jesus who had shared His Power.

Did the centurion do something? He was a soldier of Caesar. Did he strike the man with his sword and the demon come out? Likely, he did nothing but walk home in faith and Jesus did the battle with the demon in the man.

The “Word” spoke, and it was done, just as the centurion expected. The Holy Spirit of Jesus is the Word of God. God need not be there even to battle demons. He is omnipresent therefore time and space are no hindrance to Him. A good guess is that the servant was healed by Jesus even before the centurion got to him.

The centurion admitted his unworthiness and implied that he was powerless against demons because he himself had killed. If he had thought himself righteous as Job was accused (Job 32:1-2), then the demon would not have left the man.

The centurion could have thought, I’ll do that, but not so, knowing he had not the power, he thought, God will do that!

Demons are real. Most believe in angels. Well, demons are angels that can deliver messages as well. They invoke the thought of evil, and the thought of evil within can indeed paralyze a person.

The saying, “scared half to death” applies to the paralyzed man. He was afraid of what was in him so intensely that he could not be healed. He was paralyzed with fear, and probably even knew that his master could not protect him, even with swords. Another good guess is that the paralyzed man, although he could not go to Jesus, that Jesus would indeed come to him. When he regained his motion, it may be concluded that he knew the Spirit of Jesus had reanimated him. Jesus had done battle with the demon, not the centurion.

(picture credit; geocities)

 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE YOU GO, I WILL FOLLOW

  Because illicit drugs are so commonplace, I always taught my children to never follow the crowd. In fact, even following Christians to be like them is dangerous for we are not to follow Christians, but to follow Christ. Why so? Because even Christians have iniquity in them.

  David, a man after God’s Own Heart, was a Christian in Spirit because God’s “Own Heart” is His flesh, manifested as Jesus. David, even though he was in Christ even before Christ, he still sinned. Because of Adam and his conflict with Satan, David was born in iniquity. [i]

  If the prophet Nathan had followed David rather than God, he would have perverted justice because David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to hide his sin.

  By the time of the last king (Zedekiah) in Judah, Jeremiah remained righteous and true to God. If he had followed Zedekiah in his iniquity, Jeremiah too would have followed Nebuchadnezzar to have his eyes blinded, and cast out of his country to Babylon.

  Most of the Jews followed Zedekiah to a foreign land because they were as blind spiritually as Zedekiah was physically. There were no Jewish zealots as in the days of Christ when the Jews would stand up for their country, but not for their Messiah.

  Now, consider what God said to Moses about being a follower:

“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment” (Exod 23:2), or perhaps easier to understand, the New King James Version: “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.”

  First off, Moses was not a follower. He was a leader. He had the audacity to stand up against the evil Egyptians by killing one, even though he was himself outwardly a royal Egyptian. [ii] He did not kill the Egyptian out of hatred, but because the Egyptian was beating a Hebrew. The typical Egyptian would have followed the pattern and beat the Hebrews alongside of him! Moses stood up for what is right in the eyes of God.

  There is no Mosaic Law for the capital punishment for beating a slave, at that time. According to the Law, slaves that survived a beating had no rights against the person doing the mistreatment. [iii] God told that to Moses, yet Moses still wrote that God condemned him.His “punishment” was to rescue the Hebrews from slavery.

  It is implied that if they were not slaves, then they could fend for themselves, not with the help of Moses, but by preservation from God. In effect, Moses played God, and his punishment would be to do as God would do, and that is to make men free from sin.

  Perhaps because Moses was the only one with the courage to stand up for right that God used that imperfect man for His purposes. Ultimately, God’s plan for the death of His only Son was to make men free from Satan and sin. God made Moses His Antitype to do His own Will.

  God later chose another leader to be zealot for Him. Paul, at that time, Saul, persecuted and killed Christians. Not that he “pulled the trigger” but he wounded them to meet their death.

  God almost always chose leaders but seldom followers. Leaders will not follow just anybody but only those who are true leaders. In the case of Moses, he was a leader, yet he was wise enough to follow Yahweh.  Likewise, Paul was a true leader, but he was “humbled” as his name suggests, and he followed Jesus.

  God chose leaders, even theretofore evil ones, to be zealots for His cause. They followed God alone to do good and certainly did not follow anyone to do evil.

  God told Moses two significant things: (1) You (plural) shall not follow a crowd to do evil, nor (2) join others to pervert justice.

  I will continue my warning against vaccines. Not that this specific vaccine is the mark of anything, but that it teaches people and conditions them to follow their leader wherever he shall go.

  The lyrics for the song, “I Will Follow Him” are as follows (Songwriters: Norman Gimbel / Arthur Altman / Jacques Plante / Marius Pourcel aka  J.W. Stole / Paul Mauriat aka Del Roma):

I will follow Him…

Follow Him wherever He may go.

And near Him, I always will be

For nothing can keep me away

He is my destiny.

 

  You cannot follow Jesus and follow others because the ways they go are much different. Even if you follow Christians, no telling where you will go! Only Jesus is the Way, and He is the One you are to follow.

  In this age, following Jesus is of specific importance. After trying everything else for nearly 6000 years, perhaps Lucifer is endeavoring to change the blood of Adam’s kind. What goes into the body is of great significance. Examine these verses:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom 12:1-2)

  He asks his brothers in Christ, for God’s sake, to present your bodies acceptable to God. In other words, do not present defiled bodies nor impure blood to God.

  To avoid being defiled, resist conforming to the world, or as Moses wrote, “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil.”

  Look how easy it was last summer. Antifa came to destroy cities, and immediately the crowd followed them and the Black Lives Matter organization to do evil.

  Perhaps the Deep State knew that with the so-called insurrection of January 6. Leaders were placed, likely from the government, knowing in advance that followers would follow. That was to do evil.

  Before they were led, most of the protestors would never have thought of breaking and entering, but they surely all had played “Follow the Leader.” Those behind the insurrection knew the nature of human beings. In a crowd, most people will do what they normally would not do! A crowd kind of “camouflages” people so that they are no longer individuals but the “herd” ready to follow.

  The serious crises right now are the COVID pandemic and its variants. Not only do the number of deaths grow but also the number of vaccinations. The pandemic is the “evil” that men follow and the vaccinations how they follow. How long will the herd follow for the “green grass” until they no longer trust the “bull”? (A double-entendre intended here).

  They are expected to follow until they conform to the world just as Paul wrote. So long as there is a COVID variant, there will be mandates until everyone that will, will conform to the world.

  How long will the threat of COVID exists? Until nearly everyone has conformed to the mandates. Why would there even be mandates if the vaccines worked as claimed? They are suspicious; to be sincere, any sane person would fear a doctor holding a needle with an unknown substance in it, knowing full well that many in white gowns do not hesitate to slicing and dicing unborn babies for the “Greater Good.” (Yes, the Democrat Klan still wear white gowns!)

  The data released by the CDC demonstrates what Paul warned against: “Be not conformed to this world.” Just what has the numbers revealed? That 70% of the populace in the US have conformed to the standards of the world — to trust the science, and to Hell with God!

  Paul also issued another warning: “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The constant barrage of acclamations for the vaccines are propaganda. After thousands of slogans, people have already been remolded enough that they have conformed to the standards of the world. They have become “Scientologists” of sorts whose faith is in the science.

  Ironically, Catholics transform those who are born from the possessed to the unpossessed, and when they are of age, their transformation is confirmed at their “confirmation.” About all that is confirmed is that their priest poured water on an innocent baby’s face, and it had nothing to do with the renewing of their minds.

 Renewal, in that passage, is testing things for truth, and if it is truthful doing them. Renewal consists of rejecting the narratives and seeking the truth in its stead.

  Who cares that the media continually chimes all the “dogma” of the ideologues? Repetition does not make a lie the truth. In fact, repetition is an indicator that the message contains deception. When people continually repeat anything, in the minds’ of the people, it must be true.

  Non-discerning people will follow the leader and the messengers of evil understand that. Paul wrote about himself, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.” (2 Cor 12:7). Buffeting is striking again and again. Paul was not struck by a fist by any means, but another narrative. Just what was the narrative? That Jesus was not God in the flesh but a phantasm. That is why Paul continually preached on the Resurrection — to prevent so many others from following the Gnosticism of Simon Magus.

  Since January 2021 we all have been “buffeted” to deny God and trust the science; buffeted so many times that people now trust the alchemy of big pharma and deny the chemistry of God.

  People can only inject things into the flesh. Good things result in natural antibodies from God. God does the preservation and healing. So, who should people credit; the doctor or God? Few now credit God for His antibodies but many exalt Dr. Fauci for his “medicine show.”

  So, what is the point? That most people will follow the science wherever it shall go. THEY know that! Some have even written where we are going — to the New Age of the Great Reset. And where are Christians destined by following the crowd? Let God be the judge of their destiny!

  Dr. W. Edward Demings, speaking of the masses, asked, “How would they know?” referring to the consumers and manufacturers. They were doing what they always had done and accepted the past as reliable because the customers had been conditioned to accept things which are not okay.

  The FDA has conditioned consumers. They have been reliable quite often, so why not trust them now?

  Moses found out from God because people are prone to, “turn aside after many to pervert justice.” God knew that most people will flow with the crowd even when justice is perverted. They will go with the wrong when so many accept the fallacy as truth. Admit it, perhaps you have been vaccinated because so many others have been! Perhaps you have been vaccinated because so many others have given you advise that is partially true. Perhaps you are like Adam who saw Eve eat the fruit and not die, that you cannot perceive the gradual withering yourselves.

  Adam expected Eve to die right then after she ate. Sin killed her so slowly that nobody noticed. For those who have taken the vaccine, how do you know that it is not killing you? The point is that you may be dying from the vaccine right now and do not know it!

  How would you know? When someone who is vaccinated dies, how can it be detected which killed them; natural death, COVID, or the vaccine?

  Just as the pigs with demons in them jumped over the cliff in the Gadarenes, were there others that jumped over the cliff just because some did? How many times have you said, “You go first,” when tempted to do things? If you have said that, then you may be just following the multitude.

  It has been written by the FDA that the vaccines do not produce antibodies. If so, why take the vaccine? Vaccines are to create antibodies. So, what do you do? One did not work, so you took two. When two did not work, then you begged for a third! Einstein’s theory on that is what? “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

  The entire world has gone insane! They are doing the same thing over and over and still are expecting positive results.

  For the world to all go insane at once means that somebody out there has as convincing a distortion of truth as Lucifer. You are a herd of followers and all the while the “treat” is never forthcoming, you still act as if it is in hand! Pavlov would have packaged your saliva and sold it as a vaccine against reality!

  So, beware of what goes into your flesh because it may change you inside. I have seen many kind people now treat the unvaccinated as if they are lepers. The vaccines worked… all of them. They have already changed you inside! Was that not what they were really designed to do?

 

 

 

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[i] Psalm 51:5

[ii] Exod 2:11-12

[iii] Exod 21:20-21)

SPILLED BLOOD ALWAYS THE WAY

  Oftentimes scripture says more where it does not outright cry it out. Paul called that “The Mystery of God.” All words and phrases in scripture means things. For instance, that it mentions Eve as “the mother of all” but not Adam as the “father of all.” Perhaps the reason is that Eve was the mother of all, but not Adam. If Cain was “of the Wicked One” who was Abel of? My hypothesis is that Abel is the Son of the Righteous One. After all, he was called, “The Righteous One” (Mat 23:35).

  Before the generations of Adam are continued, look again at the three sons and what the Bible says about the birth of all three: 

 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord." (Gen 4:1)

 

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. (Gen 4:2)

 

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Gen 4:25)

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth. (Gen 5:3) 

  Not much is said about the birth of Abel. His characteristic was his occupation. He was “the keeper of the sheep.” Abel’s birth was not the focal point but his death. Nowhere does it say that Adam knew Eve with Abel; only that Eve bred Abel. Could it be that perhaps, like Cain, Abel was not Adam’s son? Could it be that Abel is of the Holy Spirit just as Cain is “of the Wicked One” (1 John 3:12)?  Paul wrote this about Abel: “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb 12:24).

  Jesus was the “Second Adam” and like Adam was the Son of God. Jesus was without sin, and Adam was the cause of sin. Why Jesus? “Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Heb 10:11-12). Jesus shed his blood, died, and was the perfect sacrifice for all mankind. The first Adam propitiated his only son for his sins, much as Abraham was willing to do. The Second Adam was the propitiation for all sins that are past (Rom 3:25). Adam, like his Father, had the second “son” sacrifice his blood as both God and Abraham would do,

  Adam’s sins were in the past. Abel’s blood was not enough. Jesus had to die for the sins of all the children of Eve but by grace, his blood was available for all the sons of the Wicked One, to wit: “I (John) write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:13). Abel was the first to overcome the Wicked One by the shedding of his own blood. He shed it for Adam, himself, and all who would come after… even for evil Cain.

  The conception of Jesus was the Spirit of God overshadowing a virgin who carried Him to term. Abel, perhaps, was conceived by the Spirit of God hovering over the repentant Eve who carried Abel. Cain had Satan in him whereas Abel had God in him.

  Cain admitted that he is not his brother’s keeper. He was no keeper of the sheep, nor his brother. He was more like sinful Adam who had not dressed and kept the Garden. Abel was more like his real Father. Perhaps Abel was of God just as Adam was of God! God breathed life unto Adam without carnal knowledge. Perhaps the reason Abel was more like generated  Adam was because God breathed life unto Abel as he had Adam.

  In the case of Adam, it was the clay from the ground that God molded and breathed upon. Eve was of Adam. Abel was of Eve but received his spirit from God, through at that time, righteous Adam. Adam would have breathed the Breath of God unto Abel just as he did Eve.

  That raises the question: Was carnal knowledge the intended way to multiply, or was it spiritual knowledge? Was Adam and Eve ashamed of their nakedness because they sought to use carnal knowledge where spiritual knowledge was intended? What does “knew” mean in the above verses? The Hebrew word is yada’. That means both “carnal knowledge” and “made himself known.”

  Only with Abel did Adam never make himself known with Eve (Gen 4:2). Like Joseph long after who never knew Mary (carnally), it seems that only Abel of the three sons wherein Adam was not involved. (I contended that Adam knew Eve, but after she was known by Satan. Not by carnal knowledge per se but like an incubus where the spirit of Satan entered her, leaving the Serpent until his child was born.) There is the evidence that righteous Abel was the Son of God just as his Father was. Both had God’s Spirit breathed unto them.

  Jesus was the Appointed One: “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me (Luke 22:29). Most often Jesus is called the “Anointed One” because He is appointed. Prophetic of Jesus, Isaiah wrote, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me (Jesus); because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isa 61:1). That same information is written in Luke 4:18, referencing Jesus.

  Abel, just as Jesus long afterward, was appointed by God to be the propitiation for sins that are past. Abel’s blood cried out from the ground just as Jesus’s, to wit: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40), obviously from the blood that Jesus would lose on the stones holding his Cross.

  Why is Abel lost to oblivion… or was He? John wrote that Jesus was there in the beginning. Was He Abel? That seems silly until one considers Melchizedek: “And (Jesus) being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb 5:9-10) What was so peculiar about that specific “Priest?” Paul wrote of Him as, “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Heb 7:3). Melchizidek was the Image of His Father. Perhaps Abel, was also the Image of His Father, not Adam, but Father God.

  Melchizedek is believed to be the Image of God who appeared to Abraham. He was without father or mother. If Abel was conceived by the Holy Spirit, then Abel was without father, and his “mother” was like Mary, a mere carrier of Abel.

  Abel not only presented the acceptable sacrifice to God for the sins of Adam, Eve, and Cain; but as Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice for all ‘adam-kind. Was Abel a foreshadowing of Jesus or a real cameo appearance of Jesus to make Himself the sacrifice for all mankind, and like Jesus, for sins that are past.

 Abel died for the past sins of all mankind, but mankind rejected his sacrifice. With a new world after the Deluge, Jesus would be the sacrifice for all the sins that are past, from Adam to Noah to Calvary were Adam was finally reprieved. [1]

  Is it sacrilegious to infer that Abel is the preincarnate Jesus? Not any more than the theological viewpoint that the King of Peace, Melchizedek, appeared as the Image of God long after! Does the blood of Abel still cry out from the stony ground? Perhaps it does.

  How plain can the Bible be? Abel was the keeper of the sheep!  Who is Jesus? “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (john 10:11). What did Abel do as a priest of God? That “good shepherd” tended the sheep, ostensibly Adam and Eve as well, and Abel gave his life for his brother. The brotherhood of man (‘adam-kind) were the “sheep” kept by Jesus. Who did Abel die for? Adam, Eve, and Cain — all mankind.

  After Abel died, he did cry out from his grave just as the Word of God (Jesus) cried out from the tomb. What did Abel’s blood cry? You will see my Blood again! If so, then Abel, as the Priest of God, cried out the Way from Adam to Jesus.

  Why does Abel merely warrant a few lines of scripture? Perhaps because the entire Bible is about the Blood of Abel. If Abel is, indeed, pre-incarnate Jesus, then that would explain where Jesus was in the beginning with God. It also makes sense that if there was a son of the Wicked One outside the Garden Paradise to cause tribulation, that there would be a Son of the Righteous One outside the Garden to preserve mankind.

  It is known that Adam was created in the Image of God. Cain was created in the image of the Wicked One. Seth was created how? “A son in his own likeness (Adam’s), and after his (Adam’s image). Never was it said that Cain was created in Adam’s image or even Abel’s. Abel was created as the Image of God. Why was Jesus both the Son of Man and Son of God? He was created in the Image of God as a Man. What about Abel? He was born in the Image of God as a man.

  Then what about Seth? He was born in the image of his regenerated father, Adam, who was at that time covered by the Flesh of the Lamb as Adam was regenerated in Spirit.

  Did Abel’s job end as “keeper of the sheep” when he died, or was he the Good Shepherd who tended God’s “sheep” until He would come again? Certainly, the blood of Abel cries out throughout the Old Testament and continued to cry out in agony for all ‘adam-kind until Jesus spilled the last drop of saving blood once and for all!

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[1] See my book, The Skull of Adam, for details.

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( Picture credit: Manchester Ink Link; "Cain and Abel")

MEN AS TREES

 Notes for Sundays Facebook Live presentation (9:00 am CT)

Garden of Eden, a Garden of Metaphors

Bartimaeus, “I see men, as trees walking,” as he was face to face with Jesus.

As his vision was gradually restored, he surely saw that Jesus is the Tree of Life.

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev 2:7)

On either side of the river (of God), was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev 22:2)

The twelve fruits of the Tree of Life were: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, gentleness, faith, modesty, self-control, and chastity (Gal 5:22-23; Vulgate).

Those who bear “good” fruit are Christians and are symbolic of trees of the Garden.

Adam was assigned to “dress and keep” the Garden or serve and preserve the trees. (Gen 2:15).

God would do that work; all that Adam needed to do was serve the Tree of Life and Preserve the other trees from destruction.

Luke wrote that Jesus was hanged on a tree, meaning the Cross: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree” (Act 5:30).

Jerusalem is “in the midst” of what once was the Garden of Eden wherein were two trees: Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Surrounding them were numerous other trees and vines of the Garden.

The Tree of Life (Jesus) was crucified on a symbolic Tree of Life — the Holy Cross.

The Tree of Death was also in Jerusalem in the valley of Gehenna. That tree is symbolic of the Tree of Knowledge of Evil. It is called the Judas Tree because Judas hanged himself from it. “He (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Mat 27:5).

Judas tried to pay the price of his own sin by his own works — hanging himself. Judas was cursed because, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” but “Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law” by being hanged on a tree (Gal 3:13).

Judas tried self-redemption and was cursed. Jesus redeemed us all and ended the curse of the Law. That curse was that mankind always thought that they could save themselves by the works of their own hands, Adam and Eve covering their shame with aprons of fig leaves of their own making. (Gen 3:7).

In other words, each man carries their own fig tree. Obviously, the Tree of Knowledge was a fig tree and each man carries a branch of it.

Jesus is the Vine (the trunk of the grape tree) and people are the “branches.” God dresses and keeps the Vine and the branches and is the Husbandman: 

¹ “I am the True Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman. ² Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:1-2)

Olive Trees are planted around grapevines to shelter the grape vine from the world. Olive Trees then preserve the vines, and as such serve them. Adam was to be the “vine” in the Garden, but shirking his devotion to God, Jesus became the True Vine, and mankind the branches.

One Tree had good fruit, and the other evil fruit: ^“19 The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰ Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹ Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Gal 5:19-21)

Men are the branches and have either the twelve fruits of the spirit or many of the fruits for the flesh. Judas had evil fruit, silver is the root of all evil, and Jesus the good fruits of the Spirit.

Around the Tree of Life were two malevolent “trees.” They branched off from the same ground that Jesus was rooted in. “And when they (men as evil trees) were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” (Luke 22:33)

“Malefactors” are those who commit an offense against the Law. Stealing is an offense against the Eighth Law. The two men were thieves: unrepentant thief, Gestas (left) and the repentant thief Dismas (right) (Gospel of Nicodemus).

Dismas means “death,” but he received life. Gestas likely comes from Gestus, meaning “carried.”

So, there on Calvary were two other trees: The Dismas Tree and the Gestas Tree. For Dismas, “To live is Christ; to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Why was that? Dismas saw Jesus as the Tree of Life.

On the other hand, the other thief would see Jesus as the Tree of Death in that they all would die that day.

³⁹ One of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” ⁴⁰ But the other answering rebuked him, saying, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus,” Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” (Luke 23:39-42)

“If thou be the Christ” showed that Gestas doubted that He was! Dismas called Jesus “God” and called Him ”Lord.” He recognized Jesus as the Lord God the One and only One who could save him.

 Ironically, Jesus carried the repentant thief to heaven whose sin he had borne, and the one who He could have carried was still-borne.

Next week, the Barabbas Tree.  Our question to ourselves: Is there a Larry Tree… a John Tree,…or a Susan Tree?

In that day (The Rapture) shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them (the branches) that are escaped of Israel (Isa 4:2).

There is hope of a Tree (Tree of Life), if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender Branch (Jesus) thereof will not cease. (Job 14:7)

The Tree here is Jesus and He was cut down on the Cross, but three days later, the Tree of Life sprouted again with the Resurrection. He is the tender Branch who shall not cease, because Jesus is the eternal God. As we are in the image of that Tree, even if death cuts us down, if we are in Christ, we shall never cease. Death shall be our gain!

(picture credit: dreamstime.com)

SAUL REBORN AS PAUL

KEY VERSE: Marvel not; ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

  Saul was a Pharisee. As such, he knew the Law of God quite well. However, he had little love in his heart. That is known because he hunted down, persecuted, and killed the Jews, at least under his authority. The first thing to always examine in scripture is what names mean. Saul means “Questioning.” 

  What did Saul question? Whether Jesus is God in the flesh. Of course, his questioning was quickly answered; Jesus was not God in his viewpoint. As such, he could kill Christians with impunity because to him he saw heretics. God selected Saul for a reason, and surely it was because Saul was a zealot – a religious fanatic. He was a fan of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not a fan for the Lord of all!

  Jesus used a method he had used before, only partially opposite. Bartimaeus could see Jesus because he was blind, likely from birth. [1] Bartimaeus saw Jesus as the patriarchs saw him which was with his mind’s eye. He didn’t need to actually see Jesus to believe. He saw the unseen! Bartimaeus did not need to see Jesus’ flesh to know Jesus. On the other hand, Saul saw Jesus but didn’t recognize him. What did Jesus do? Make Saul like blind Bartimaeus for a few days:

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. (Acts 19:11)

  Why was Bartimaeus given his sight? To better follow Jesus. Why was Saul blinded? So Jesus could lead him! The blind man, in John’s account, gave a reason for sight being given: 

Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. (John 9:25-28)

  The crowd around the blind man gave a distinction; the man was a disciple of Christ, but they were disciples of Moses. Perhaps as disciples of Moses they were under the leadership of Saul. Saul was a disciple of Moses but not one of Jesus. Saul needed to be blind to see Jesus in the Mosaic Laws. (He came to fulfil the Law.) 

  Bartimaeus, when he saw, responded as such:

Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he (Bartimaeus), casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. (Mark 10:49b-50)

  On the other hand, blinded Saul did not come to Jesus, but was led to Jesus by Ananias, albeit willingly led because he was blind for three days. There is no record of Saul being taught the truth. It can be assumed that truth was revealed to him by Jesus himself in those three days. What Saul saw was that the God of Moses is Jesus Christ. That was a hard thing to concede because Jews considered that heretical. They had learned their lesson about false gods, and they believed Jesus to be no more than a false prophet as they had experienced many before and even in Jesus’s day. 

  The way God works is to turn darkness into Light. Saul questioned the claim of Jesus. After he saw the Light in darkness, Saul was born-again. 

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:19-21)

  Saul was in the dark because he didn’t understand the truth. He was comfortable in the darkness, failing to recognize the truth when he heard it (that is Jesus’s “Ghost” speaking with him.) It can be assumed that although Jesus was not there in the flesh, that Saul saw his flesh when he was blinded. His deeds (persecutions) were reproved, and when he saw Jesus from his mental tomb, his bad deeds were shown to him. His persecutions were agitated in his mind because he finally understood God.

Surely, Saul came to understand what Numbers 21 was all about. Jesus used that situation to explain what born again means (John 3:14). Saul understood that he had been focusing on himself – killing all the “snakes” who followed Jesus. He came to understand that the brazen serpent was the Serpent dead in his tree (Judas Iscariot who Satan entered), and understood that the blood of Jesus was propitiated for the Serpent to die!

  With that understanding and trust in Jesus for safety, Saul was born again. That implies change. He went from trusting Moses to trusting Jesus, remembering that the Hebrews generally cried out to Moses who interceded with God on their behalf. Usually when the Hebrews cried out to God, it was in condemnation of their predicaments. The saved Hebrews finally understood that it was not Moses who slew the Serpent, but God Himself by shedding His own blood on their behalf. That finally occurred to Saul, and he was safe from the evil one, although he then would be persecuted for God’s Name sake!

  Saul thereafter followed Jesus, not Jesus in bodily form, but in Spirit. The Holy Ghost revealed to him the meaning of life and the Way of Giver of life. It didn’t stop there; Saul walked as Jesus walked. Saul changed. No longer did God see him as “questioning,” but convinced. Brilliant Saul who knew all the Law of God, so he thought, was humbled. Jesus renamed him “Paul” because of his humility.

  Hence, “born again” is humbled. The meek shall inherit God’s Kingdom in heaven and in earth. Saul knew that he could not save himself from persecution by powers, principalities, and the Serpent; but God could. When he recognized his weakness, he was humbled. His total dependence was focused on Jesus and what happened in Jesus’s three days of darkness where his Holy Ghost deposited all the sins of mankind of all ages, Saul’s inclusive, and deposited them on the shoulders of Judas’s “ghost” in Hell. 

  Saul to Paul – questioning God to humbled by him. Saul changed. All disciples of Christ must change after being born again. Just as a baby is born with crowning from the darkness, those born again are crowned with a new purpose and a new Christian name. Just as babies mature into adult people, those born again mature from babes in Christ to zealots for Jesus! The new life is all about Jesus, as Paul’s was. Like Job before him, Satan and his demons persecuted Paul for Jesus’s Name sake. The desire of Satan was for Paul to be Saul again, and love the spiritual darkness in which he had walked before. Just as Job, Paul was not remolded back to Saul because of his enduring faith through it all. 

  Jesus foretold Paul’s death. Humble Paul lived up to his name. History indicates that Paul requested to be crucified upside down so as not to dishonor Jesus who was crucified right side up. 

  Paul’s death was gain. He said that! He lived in Christ, and to die was gain for him. (Phil 1:21). Why was that? For he inherited God’s Kingdom as an adopted brother of Jesus - Rom 8:15, wherein Paul indicates that the Father adopted him and His Son gave him a new name corresponding to his new attitude! What’s your attitude? Do you still depend on yourself, or do you trust Jesus to protect you from perishing? It’s your choice. How blind will you be? 

  It is to be noted that partially blind Bartimaeus during the miracle saw "Men as trees walking" (Mark 8:24), and Saul saw Jesus as the Tree of Life talking!

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[1] There are stories of Jesus healing a blind man in all the gospels, The assumption is that each account of versions of the same story. The stories differ in many ways. Perhaps Jesus healed several blind men. The account in John indicates that that blind man was blind from birth.

THE MEEK

KEY VERSES:

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (Mat 5:5)

But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. (Psalm 37:11).

  Jesus said the first blessing. David, inspired by God, observed the same blessing in the psalm. Each have two parts. Part one in each are the promise of blessings, and part two are the blessings. The blessing is for the meek (part one), and the blessing is inheriting the earth. The Psalm explains the inheritance: delight in the abundance of peace. “Peace” is bliss!
  “Blessings” are things which further complete happiness. Such a state is one of “bliss.” Blessings, then, are a promise of bliss, and that state only exists in Paradise.
  Jesus indicated that the meek will have bliss, obviously in Heaven. Where does the part about “earth” come in? “Earth” without the capital “E” refers to “land” according to Strong’s Dictionary for Psalm 37:11 and is not necessarily on the planet Earth. In the Greek, in Matthew 5:5, the meaning is “soil.” Therefore, the blessing is not necessarily for Paradise on Earth, but ownership of land some place.
  Jesus included his blessing on meekness in a list of several others. Jointly, they are referred to as “The Beatitudes,” each representing states “of utmost bliss” (Merriam-Webster  Dictionary).
The key verse is for one particular attitude which is blessed – meekness, which is possessing humility, meaning not prideful nor arrogant. Meekness very well describes rebirth. Jesus said, “Marvel not; you muse be born again (John 3:7), then referred to the story of Moses, the vipers, the Jews, and the brass serpent on its pole (Num 21).
  With the example of that occasion long ago, Jesus meant to explain meekness with Old Testament symbolism. The Jews who looked up at the dead serpent realized that God had the power of life, and that they did not. They diminished themselves and elevated God. That is meekness – knowing our place relative to God. He is Supreme; we are not. He can save us; we cannot save ourselves.
David used some other “lyrics” to define meekness:

·         “Depart from evil, and do good” (Psalm 37:27), and “Trust in the Lord, and do good” (Psalm 37:3)

·         “Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (Psalm 37:3)

·         “Delight yourself also in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4)

·         “Commit your way to the Lord” (Psalm 37:5)

·         “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7)

·         “Wait on (perhaps “serve’) the Lord” (Psalm 37:9)

·         “Shows mercy and gives” (Psalm 37:21)

·         “Delights in His (God’s) Way” (Psalm 37:23)

·         “The righteous shall inherit the land” (Psalm 27:39)

·         “Speaks wisdom” (Psalm 37:30)

·         Is just. (Psalm 37:30)

·         Obey God’s Will willingly (Psalm 37:31)

·         Endure to the end (Psalm 37:31)

  That is quite a responsibility; no - a proper attitude; a beatitude. David wrote:

·         “They are preserved forever.” (Psalm 37:28)

·         They “shall inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:29),

·         And “dwell in it forever.” (Psalm 37:29)

  That’s sufficient. The promise of the bliss for meekness in “the land” called Heaven wherein the meek is “preserved  forever.” Just as with Abraham who was looking at the land of Paradise, and not really Israel, the “earth” or “land” to be inherited by the meek seems to be in the City of God.
Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The meek shall inherit a mansion from their Father in Heaven. Our focus must not be on the Earth, but on obtaining Heaven. I believe that’s where Abraham, Moses, and David looked, not so much at the land of Israel. In other words, “The Promise Land” is in Heaven, not on Earth.
  However, “Earth” can also be taken literally:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev 21:1-2).

  The “mansion” in the City of God will come back to its foundation in Jerusalem. Ironically, the meek are blest with “land” in Heaven and on Earth, but it will be the same land! I believe that New Jerusalem will sit on the same foundation as the Garden of Eden, but with a large population, it is no longer a “garden” for two but a City for those who follow the Way through the Straight Gate!