GODISNOWHERE

 

GODISNOWHERE

 Read that one more time? How do you understand that series of letters?

One thing so hard to understand is the omnipresence of God; unlike Satan who is limited to one place at a time (Job 1:6-7), God is everywhere, He is “Existence,” thus His title; not that God is in the trees, the earth, nor in evil people but that His Spirit is everywhere available.

In Hinduism, there are in a similar manner to Christianity, three main gods and Vishnu is the “immanence” — the divine presence. As such, considering all the tenets of Hinduism; it seems to be a corruption of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; which it seems most pagan religions may be. Their main tenet is that there are three “gods;” Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi and the three together are the invisible reality. Again, you can see the corruption of the Holy Trinity. However, their God is invisible in all three forms.

On the other hand, the Christian God has three forms each with a different substance. God is Mind, Body, and Spirit. Only the Body of Christ is physical substance, so His Mind and Spirit is ever present. Prayer is having close contact with Jesus as His Mind and Spirit are nearby. Jesus is right here! He is not three gods but three substances of one God. His throne in heaven is not far away but just the other side of the “door,” or literally the portal to another realm (Luke 13:25; Rev 3:20).

You cannot see the portal to heaven, heaven is not a great distance away, but right there wherever you may be. In other words, Jesus is right outside your door wherever you are and hence prayer is the near the portal to your reward that can only be entered by death; “For me to live is Christ; and to die is gain,” as Paul said it (Phil 1:21).

So, the idea of “doors” in scripture is the entryway to another realm that is called, “heaven.” Jesus said how to pray but He also indicated where to pray: 

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Mat 6:6)

 There, by that “door,” is God Himself — Jesus on His throne in Paradise in heaven, not that Jesus sits by His right side, but is exalted as God (Acts 2:33).

The “door” in verse six above is that portal between here and there; “the door of the kingdom of heaven denotes the conditions which must be complied with in order to be received into the kingdom of God” (Strong 1890).

Prayer is that invisible portal and prayer brings the prayerful closer to the entrance and to God in all His three images. That door, or portal, makes God’s omnipresence more rational. It’s not that God is everywhere, but in every place is a portal, implying that there are multitudes of portals, each close to God, and the portal is as near as a closet (Greek; tameion) — an inner chamber (ibid).

Think now of the Holy of Holies. The throne of God was on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark traveled everywhere that the Israelites went, and God was always present. God was present because the people transported God everywhere they went. He was their “Essential Being” — the True “Immanence,” not the Hindu one who is everywhere and in everything!

With that said, God is wherever Christians go. They must go the Way of Jesus, so God is wherever the bodily shape of the Holy Ghost exists (Luke 3:23).

Christians have the Holy Ghost as a “Comforter” (John 14:6). Christians are “filled” with the Holy Ghost of Jesus, but do not consider that as some amount like water. In the Greek, it is “tameion” (furnished; ibid).

Adam and Eve were both furnished with coats of skins (Gen 3:21) to protect them from the fiery darts of the wicked ones (Ephes 6:16). Those coats were their “Comforter” and were the material substance symbolic of the Holy Ghost. God furnished them with His Spirit, so that He was there in Spirit at all times and the task was preserving them from spiritual death after He made them safe.

Just like the Mercy Seat, God was with Adam and Eve wherever they went. The Garment of Adam was God’s Mercy Garment and it fit Eve as well because she too was an “Adam.”

The Holy Ghost that was furnished to Christians on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), are our “Coats of Skin” that makes God near us. We are not gods and God is not in us, but with us all the time, so long as we wear the “Comforter” that He provides.

For instance, “Noah found grace” (Gen 6:8). The Book of Jasher says that grace was the Garment of Adam that he found. After he was made safe, Noah felt comfortable. He removed the Garment of God and Ham stole it, according to Jasher (the “Book of the Righteous”). No longer was Noah safe nor humble because he became the husbandman in God’s place (Gen 9:20).

Christians are not Hindus; God is not in us but always near to Christians. The Father furnished His Holy Spirit for that purpose. The Holy Spirit is the “Whole Armor of God” that Christians wear, not that the Spirit of God is apparel, but that God is always with us in Word (Ephes 6:17).

That is my feeble attempt to explain God’s omnipresence and why He hears our prayers. As such, Christians are as near to God as the Word in scripture. The portal, or door, is always available so long as we do not blaspheme the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:29). So, God is not everywhere but everywhere there is a Christian.

We have mercy on us, and mercy is available so long as we are merciful. We are the mercy seat that we carry; Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mat 16:24).

What Jesus was saying that if we trust Him rather than ourselves; there He is; He as God is with us (Emanuel). Jesus is as close to us as we are to Him.

The “closet” is our walk with Him, and we do not always find Jesus in public because there the world is, but Jesus is to be found in the solace of your own prayer. Like Jesus, the prayer “closet” is where Jesus can be found right beside you. It is a place with no distractions wherever you are alone with God.

For the Chief Priest, that closet was the Holy of Holies and therein was God on the Mercy Seat. The same goes for us. The curtain of the Holy of Holies was torn when Jesus was crucified (Mark 15:38).

Now the prayer closet is wherever the Christian is, and we, not the chief priests, are of the royal priesthood who can approach God in our prayer closet.

The curtains were always carried along with the Mercy Seat because only the righteous Priest could approach God. That curtain was the “closet, “or portal to the presence of God in heaven. God was not on that Mercy Seat, but He was present, but because of His Mercy, each Israelite in each their own tabernacles were as near to God as the chief priest. Unknown to them, the Mercy of God made them royal priests just like the one that cleansed himself before entering.

Each Israelite made themselves clean for that ritual. The unclean were required to remove themselves from camp. The ones remaining were physically clean, but God was looking at their inner man. Was he clean enough to be in the presence of God?

If he was faithful enough to obey the hygiene laws, he was clean enough inside. Now, we can come to God as we are on the outside, but we must be clean on the inside.

Now consider how you pray since you understand just how near to God that you are: 

⁷ When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him. (Mat 6:7-8)

 Since God is right there, immediately on the other side of the portal to heaven, then He hears you.

Jesus is perfect; He is not hard of hearing. He hears everything, so why constantly repeat our prayer?

Multiple repetitions, as we found out in the book, Brave New World, “do not make one truth.” If we are confessing our sins, we confess them once. One confession is the truth! Repeating it in many ways does not make it more the truth.

“Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” God need not hear or voices. It is the will, called the “heart” in scripture that the lips speak. God looks not at the words that are spoken but the human will. Is the prayer for the Will of God be done or the will of the one who prays, to wit: “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:10). Not my will, but His Will!

In effect, praying is asking God to harmonize our wills with His Will; to remake us in His Image. We are not in symbiosis with our Creator since original sin. We ask that to come again. We ask that our will not be that of the Wicked One but to be engendered again with the Will of God in whose Image we were created glorified.

We need not scream our will to God because He knows what’s the matter before we ask. God is all-knowing (“omniscient”) as well as omnipresent because He is “Existence.”

Language is nothing but a barrier to the portal to God. He confused the language of mankind so that we can get nearer to Him without going anyplace. Nimrod thought God could be found up there, but the tower was torn down because God was right there!

Nimrod attempted to make a portal to God when no portal was needed. Abraham got grace because he knew that there was a portal to heaven wherever a man after God’s own heart would go.

Perhaps since Nimrod built a tower on the “plain” rather than on a mountain closer to the heavens as the pagans often would do, that he was building, not a tower to heaven, but an archaic “rocket” to God, not even realizing that God was already close by!

Why a rocket?

“Ur” from where Abraham was from means “fire.” Jasher says that Abraham was saved in a fiery furnace in Shinar (Ur). Was the furnace for making bricks or was it for propulsion into heaven? Did Nimrod have a vision of modern spacecraft?

Ancient objects of what appear to be rockets have been found. Certainly, alien beings did not build them and bring them from the heavens, but dark forces may have revealed the technological “stairway” to heaven that mankind would someday use to “kill” the idea of God.

God does not come and go. He is omnipresent wherever Christians go. That is because “heaven” is not in the heavens but another realm as near as you are to God.

How would Nimrod have gotten closer to God? Prayer changes things. God is just an instant away wherever a Christian goes.

Is God close to sinners?

Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. (Isa 59:2)

Again, God is not hard of hearing, but He is hard of answering meaningless prayers. Iniquity is what separates people from God. Iniquity is “depravity.” God does not answer the prayers of depraved people. We all are sinners but those who have not been born again (John 3:7) are as depraved as the Wicked One.

The prayer that God hears, is “Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven.” He hears that, because it is a request for the nature, or will, of the prayerful to be changed to be like God’s. He even knows that before it is asked because He hears the will rather than the mouth!

(picture credit; iStock)

 

 

 

ACTING OUT

 I started to omit commentary on hypocrisy this morning because I think that I am the “real McCoy,” so to speak. God had other ideas; He pointed His Holy finger directly at me! Now for the commentary that I intended to gloss over:

Jesus had a problem with those who were play-acting — the “hypocrites.” Why would anybody act as if they are Christians when they are far from it. The Ten Commandments as I have written in the several previous commentaries were attitudes to have, or what Christians are to be — they are to be attitudes, and those who named the blessings got it right!

There are various reasons that those who call themselves “Christians” are actors in a play. Most of us have been “actors” at some time or another. Perhaps the most obvious reason for hypocrisy is so that sinners can still enjoy sinful acts all the while expecting eternal life. (I know that from experience, and most of you do as well.)

Some are righteous in public but sinful when alone, as if God is blind, or at least blind to sin. Although God is God, many act as if He is either an ignorant God or a liar. We all shall be judged, and He has all the evidence, to wit: 

¹ O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. ² Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. ³ Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. ⁵ Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. (Psalm 139:1-4)

 Verse one therein is what theologians call, “omniscient” — all knowing. God even knows our thoughts… all of them in all of us. How He does that, we do not know, but He is “Almighty God” who is everywhere at once — “omnipresent.” His ability to know all things is “omnipotence.”

Even Christians remain sinners because of imperfection — we are not Jesus; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and his Word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10).

That is what hypocrites are… those to whom Jesus was speaking in Matthew chapter 6. The Jews to whom He was speaking were religious, even righteous, but they were still not Christians. They followed Jesus wherever He went but they were not doing as Jesus was doing!

Later, Jesus told His followers, by then many Jews, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mat 16:24).

Jesus carried His own Cross to His destination. Why Simon the Cyrene volunteered, no compelled, to carry the Cross of Jesus remains unknown. Perhaps the soldiers thought that Jesus was too weak to do His work for mankind, or perhaps to take away His Glory. Or it could be that Simon the Cyrene was the example to take up the Cross of Jesus and follow Him!

Simon the Cyrene did just that. On the other hand, the hypocrites did what? They were among those who said, “Crucify Him… Crucify Him!”  They followed Jesus all the Way to the Cross, but once they got there, none of them were found to bear the Cross.

As it turns out, because Simon carried the Cross, and because he is a Cyrene, he had never been a hypocrite. Indeed, his two sons also became disciples of Christ (Rom 16:13) indubitably because Simon their father carried the Cross of Jesus.

Pilate thought that he had the power of life and death over Jesus. Pilate could not compel Jesus to do anything because God, the Father, was who sacrificed Him. The point therein is that Simon was not really compelled to do anything. He was “conveniently” there, near Jesus on the Way to the Cross, and Simon was part of God’s plan and not an afterthought of the soldiers.

Simon picked up, now his cross, and followed Jesus. Jesus still carried the sins of mankind, and as such, Simon brought his sins to Calvary to be dealt with by Jesus. Simon the Cyrene could have been called, “Simon the Hypocrite,” if he had not followed Jesus all the way to the Cross!

As it turns out, God did not choose a hypocrite to carry the Cross to Calvary, but the real deal — a true disciple of Christ who was following Jesus as if He was an apostle chosen by God. God did choose him, and nobody “compelled” Simon to do anything. God planned that Simon walk the Way alongside Jesus and all the Way to the holocaust. He followed Jesus from Cyrene in Libya across the Sea to be there to carry the Cross.

Simon could have dropped the Cross. He had followed Jesus from Cyrene thousands of miles. He could not stop short of the Calvaraie Locus – the exact place of the cranium — to stop short of carrying the Cross for Adam as well; he had to go all the Way with Jesus to redeem the sins of mankind (Adam’s kind.) [1]

Even Peter denied Jesus. The others stood silently by and saw Jesus suffer the Delorosa Way. None of them were near Jesus to be selected.

Right then, Peter’s hypocrisy was revealed, and to his credit; no longer would he be a hypocrite but a true follower of Jesus. Peter, as it turned out, died on his own cross, but upside down. The “Antichrist,” Nero, crucified Peter. Peter, after all, had went all the Way with Jesus! [2]

Jesus called many of His followers “hypocrites.” They followed Him around but not because He was God in the flesh. Many thought Him to be Elias (Elijah) and others the legitimate contender to the throne — the King of Judea, the King of the Jews!

They would follow Jesus to His throne and go part Way, but they would never follow Jesus to His kingdom in another realm. All the apostles did that! All but John died for the Name, Jesus, and was boiled in oil (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.)

Now look at one possibility: Pilate, as acting “Caesar,” could have gone so far that he anointed Jesus, King of Judea, and essentially, he did just that when he posted the sign, “King of the Jews.” Pilate found no fault in Jesus in civil law. He was designated by Roman Law to be king, even if for one day.

Pilate was following God. Jesus had to be a king for scripture to be true, and Pilate, unawares, fulfilled scripture… “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2:2). In that psalm David revealed that Jesus was already king in waiting, as the “Anointed One” (Messiah) in his time. That Jesus was “the Son of David,” made Him the legitimate king of the Jews (of Judea).

The Passion of Jesus was a “Passion Play,” but it was more than acting out a scene. It was the real deal, and the players in the play were chosen by God to perform the play live. Nobody knew what was happening, but each played their roles to a tee. However, as it turned out, they all were chosen for their roles before the foundation of the world, and on the day that Jesus died, the Father brought them all together.

The hypocrites were really hypocrites, Pilate was really “Caesar” for that day since he was the right hand of Caesar as Tiberius was isolated on the island of Capri at that time.

Judas was really the Antichrist with Satan in him and once he was dead, Satan surely found a new body in the person of Caiaphas.

Anyone who endeavors to kill God is perhaps the “Antichrist.”

Note that Longinus, the centurion, had nothing against Jesus except the sword. He had only goodwill for Jesus and consequently, Jesus revealed to him that He was indeed God (Mark 15:39). Longinus did not kill just a king, but pierced God Himself. That was all that it took for him to be a believer. 

Christian legend has it that Longinus was a blind Roman centurion who thrust the spear into Christ's side at the crucifixion. Some of Jesus's blood fell upon his eyes and he was healed. Upon this miracle Longinus believed in Jesus. (Godwin 1994)

 I had never read that, yet I concluded the same thing in my numerous commentaries and books; that Longinus became a Christian because he saw the Holy Ghost leave the body of Jesus, thus revealing the Nature of God in the man’s body. He surely got blood in his eyes when he pierced Jesus, and even if not physically blind before, he saw some Thing that the others could not see — the Holy Ghost of Jesus leaving the Person just like Luke saw the “bodily shape” of the Holy Ghost entering the Person, Jesus (Luke 3:22).

That seeing Jesus as God in the flesh is the hallmark of the Christian. An early example of this was when Greeks came to Philip to worship God, and said one thing, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21). That one thing made them disciples of Christ and Christians.

On the other hand, the hypocrites saw Jesus, not to worship Him, but to magnify themselves (Mat 6:1:7). Now, you should turn there to discover Jesus’s standards of hypocrisy.

Many people of this age read the Word but still cannot see Jesus as God in the Flesh. Their “God” is a “blind” Jesus who fails to see all the evil that we do. Jesus, as God in the flesh, sees all that we do, and even though He is merciful, He is neither ignorant of our sins nor blind.

Jesus sees it all! On judgment day, Jesus will confront hypocrites of all times, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Mat 7:23). Your acting, nor mine, is so good that Jesus is fooled.

The first thing that hypocrites must do is to admit that we are “bad actors” in a real drama and that all things may not end well unless the “acting” is more compelling to God as reality.

Sometimes I act up and often God confronts me. He desires the real thing, and therefore the “Comforter” remains with us to make the Way easier to follow.

(picture credit; Catholic Say; "St. Longinus")

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] “Cavaraie Locus” is Latin for “place of the cranium” and is from where “Calvary” comes in English. Jewish thought is that Adam is buried beneath Calvary and his bones were brought there by Shem and Melchizedek. (See my book, The Skull of Adam, for more.)

[2] There are many antichrists, according to scripture. The author believes that they are many but since there is one Devil, then antichrists are sequential; that the Serpent was the “Antichrist” and so were Nimrod, Herod the Great, Judas who had Satan in him, perhaps Caiaphas, and as most believe, Nero Caesar. There seem to always be one and only one person around all major irreligious events that has Satan in him. Those, I believe, are the many Antichrists. Who is the current “Antichrist?” He has yet to reveal himself.

THE EXPECTATIONS OF JESUS

Jesus was speaking to the multitude; that is those who followed Him and others who were just listening. Perhaps he started with the blessings because the multitude liked positivity. They would love the idea that they were among those who were blessed.

Just who or what are the blessed? Jesus explained that; “Blessed are the poor and spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:3). Hence, the blessed are those who would be rewarded in heaven. That agrees with the dictionary meaning.

Who would not want to be blessed? Paradise is in heaven. Is that not what everyone seeks; a Utopian Paradise wherein all things are good?  Those who are to go there are “poor in spirit.” It seems that those rich in the Spirit of God would be the Way, so that contention needs some examination.

Poor in spirit means devoid of the things of the world. Perhaps better said, Blessed are those who esteem not themselves; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Of course, that self-estimation would be by the standards of the world. Some of those standards are highly educated, the wealthy, those who have no power in the world, and those who must depend on others for their livelihood.

In America, the poor in spirit have a practical knowledge of what is important in life. The Great Depression of the 1930s produced and abundance of the poor in spirit. Even a vast number of the rich became poor in spirit. In the United States the destruction of our institutions made people poor in spirit, and rallied them, for awhile anyway, around God. It gave them a right perspective of what has value in the end.

Right now, ask yourself, Just what is important to me? If you answered that with heaven in the presence of God, then you have a right perspective on life.

So, there it is; the multitude were gathered around Jesus as he explained the attitudes that He expected of them to qualify for heaven. As you read the beatitudes, surely you thought that you met the qualifications for eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Then, Jesus provided His expectations to be among the blessed: 

·         Reconcile with those who have something against you (v. 22-24),

·         Be in accordance with those who differ with you (v. 25).

·         Do not even think about sexual activity with one other than the one to whom you are married (v. 27-28)

·         Discard anything that would put your reward in danger (v. 29-30).

·         Do not divorce unless for fornication on the part of your mate, and even at that do not remarry (v. 31-32)

·         Do not swear (take an oath) at all (v. 33-37).

·         Be charitable and generous well beyond what the world expects of you (v. 40-42).

·         Love even, or especially, your enemies (v. 44). That you may be like God (v. 45).

·         Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect (v. 48). 

Before listening to all that Jesus had to say about who deserves heaven, perhaps we all were thinking, We all deserve heaven! The list above is the intentions of the commandments; the extra effort that Jesus expects from those who follow Him. Each one of those, as Jesus pointed out to the multitude, exceeded any of the commandments. Christians are not only to do what the Law expects but have such a good attitude that they go beyond the minimum standards; they are to show good attitudes for the beatitudes!

Those metrics for blessings go well beyond what Moses expected of the pagans from Egypt. The Ten Commandments were the minimum expectations to approach God. To be like God, again in His Image like Adam was created, takes perfection as Jesus said, even more than God wrote in the beginning, to wit: “very good” (Gen 1:31). Jesus said outright, not just very good; nay, perfection!

So, antinomianism (the doctrine of against the Law) says that the Law is apart from grace and can be ignored. Not so, Jesus expects more than the Law. He expects exceedingly great attitudes about, not just following the Law, but excelling it in all respects. The blessings are therefore beatitudes and the metrics that followed are the attitudes the multitude should have.

We are to seek moral excellence, not the things of the world. Those who are poor in spirit are those who have attitudes not of this world. The world dismisses the Law as non-essential but Jesus asks us to go further.

For instance, we are not only to love our enemies, which exceeds loving our friends, but reconcile even those who may hold animosity toward us. We are not only to make things right that we have done but to forgive the things that they have done against us. That is the “Way;” that is going beyond expectations and walking with Jesus the extra distance; doing what He has done with us.

All those attitudes fulfill the Law, as Jesus said was His purpose.

Christians are not to look at the Commandments as things that we must do, but things that we have the privilege of doing. In other words, those with perfect attitudes are privileged — the Law does not pertain to them because their new natures go beyond the Law.

But we Christians cannot even follow the Law; how are we to follow Jesus all the Way with that intensity? Not because there are laws but to please God. To love God is not to follow the Ten Commandments but these extra “expectations” that fulfill the Law (v. 17).

Surprise Jews! You thought you could make it to heaven while even disregarding the Law, but here is news for you; your attitudes must be changed.

How can we do that? By ourselves, Christians cannot change who we are. Sin is genetic since the “original sin.”

Jesus said, “Marvel not; ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Born again is literally engendered from God above. He changes our nature and removes the iniquity (depravity) that is inherent in mankind. How can a Christian know that he or she has a new nature? By their attitudes; by seeing that list above, not as legal requirements for the kingdom of God, but the attitude of those seeking rewards in heaven.

Can we do the list of Commandments? No. Can we do the extended list that Jesus expects? No, again. Just what does He expect then? That we are willing to be like Him — perfect. Will we ever be perfect? No, again. We all will “come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and His “Glory” is His nature with a perfect attitude.

(picture credit; Shutterstock)

THE GOD OF ATHEISM

The following account is written because I prayed for and love another human being, whether he believes as I do or not. I do not want him to believe as I do but to believe the truth; that nobody need not die without a just cause.

Justice comes down to in whom you trust. Why would any god preserve a person if that same person does not believe in Him?

One atheist revealed some truth: If a Christian is truly a Christian, he could not sleep at night for the burden of those going to Hell. Last night, I could not sleep. I prayed for a friend, not that he would not die soon, but that he would never die. That is how much I love that man just because God considers him worthy of eternal life.

Is Hell for real? The bet of the atheist is that it is not just because Hell has yet to be discovered to their satisfaction. (Luke 16 may help with that.)

An acquaintance of mine who I consider a friend is a truly nice guy and there could not be a much better neighbor. Just yesterday, he revealed to me that he has cancer and is being treated by radiation. As most know, radiation can be devastating, but the fear associated with malignant cancer can be horrifying, especially when it is stage four.

His as of now may not be that advanced, but the fear of stage four would be tragic indeed. Although my friend seems calm, fear can be concealed. Hope is what keeps cancer patience afloat; their hope is that cancer will not be their end. My belief is that the soul is immortal and there will be no end. Those who do not believe in a god believe that death ends it all and they will just cease to exist.

In my childhood and once in my maturity, I had a vision; that I would die and just cease to be anymore. Philosophers call that “fatalism;” that all the living inevitably face extinction and there is nothing that can be done about it.

My friend has hope, or he would not seek treatment. He is not ready to die. So, to delay the inevitable, he relies on medical science to delay his death. Some go so far as they might turn to gene editing to prolong life indefinitely.

An atheist, according to the dictionary, is “a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods” (Merriam-Webster Dict. 1828-2022). Gods are noted for what? Creating, nourishing, preservation, and providing all the necessary things for mankind to exist.

My friend has been diagnosed and turned to the physicians for treatment.  They have turned to intense energy, not to create life, but to kill cancer cells.

On the other hand, theists turn to God not to kill any cell but to preserve all cells. That point is made to provide evidence that my friend is not an “atheist” as he claims, but a “theist” who believes in a scientific god; he trusts the science, hence he trusts his fellow man for his well-being. That is little different than Christian theists who trust Jehovah God to prolong life, and specifically His identity as the “Doctor” called “Jesus” whose blood can transfuse the cancerous blood of all of mankind.

I will avoid scripture here because the Word from the Bible scares theists, albeit the deterministic word of science sooths them. Whereas science says, you will not die, God says there is a way to never die. It is your choice; believe the science or believe God. Rational people would trust God who has the better promise, even if there is not a heaven or a hell.

Confess now; your body will indeed die. There, however, is hope that your mind and inner being might not. Science says that all that you see is all there is — that is the entire “existence.”

In conflict with themselves, scientists have explored what can be seen to its limits, and now have engaged in exploring the unseen — antimatter. They believe that there is an unseen realm in parallel with this cosmos that can only be detected with technology and its advanced instrumentation. It has occurred only to few that science has merely discovered what God revealed to theists long ago; that there is much more than meets the eye.

Science is “such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena” (ibid). So, you trust the science but not any god? The Judeo-Christian God claims to be all “Existence” — the seen and the unseen. Even the branches of Vaishnavism identify their god as “Existence” — all of it whether it can be seen or not.

The Judeo-Christian God is the Invisible God. So many were skeptical (“agnostic”) that God manifested Himself to be the provenance for them. He refers to that manifestation of Himself as “Jesus,” but mankind still does not believe that science; that Jesus is more than a god that cannot be seen but the evidence of the Invisible God. Jesus is the “Science” because mankind must always have evidence.

Hope is for those who believe the evidence. The evidence is that radiation may or may not extend life. God claims that he can extend it forever. Who are you betting on? The least positive outcome.

If God had not revealed Himself as Jesus, there goes the science. Allow me to explain. Jesus worked miracles and restored the life of Lazarus, restored the sight of blind Bartimaeus, and healed the woman with a genetic blood issue. He did all that to prove that He was God in the flesh, and the Bible is a legal deposition to the truth of that, and for all practical purposes, the Bible is essentially a “scientific journal” of medicine; yet people who believe the science do not believe the results reported in that “journal.”

Because of their unbelief, Jesus willingly submitted Himself for the ultimate scientific experiment. He claimed to be God. The null hypothesis is that if He is God, then He would not die since gods claim to be the author of life. (Jesus did what Ephraim McDowell did in the early 19^th century — he “operated” on Himself to prove His claim.)

Jesus suffered death but he did not die. His body remained in the tomb as evidence that He was indeed dead, but His Inner Being that only Christians could see, was active. When Jesus was resurrected after three days, life returned to his stinking flesh. He overcame the world. He did the scientifically impossible! He proved to ancient “scientists” that all they see is not all there is. Luke for one, saw the Ghost of Jesus — His soul — enter Jesus, and even Pontius Plate saw the same soul leave Jesus at His death. Many could see Jesus in spiritual form on the road to Emmaus. They saw a living soul that looked like Jesus but was not of the same substance as Him.

The evidence presented that this new person who appeared as a living soul was indeed the man, Jesus, He showed the nail marks and scars to prove it!

The gospels are a scientific report, all four in concurrence, that Jesus is God, that there is a living God whether He can be seen or not, and that He still Exists. An atheist believes the science but disbeliefs the greatest scientific evidence ever presented! That is irrational, is it not?

A scientific theory must be internally consistent to be credible. Science is dynamic; what is truth today, for them, may be denied tomorrow. Science, therefore, is not internally consistent. On the other hand, Judeo-Christian theism is and has always been. There has always been an Invisible God and He showed Himself for thirty-three years. Jesus is the evidence of the Invisible God in whom theists believe.

Now, who is the god of science? Christians know. The Invisible God made the science, and inferior men are just now discovering what was, is, and will be forever.

The god of those who trust the science is an “unknown god” as Paul argued with the Greek philosophers. We all have gods, but just a few of us know who their god is. Atheists deny they have a god or gods, yet all the while trust the invisible god called “science.”

Two of the smartest men in the world changed their viewpoints. Both Albert Einstein and Michio Kaku, the most pre-eminent theoretical physicist, trusted the science, but when both concluded their exploration, both credited all things to an invisible god.

However, neither explored the experiment of all times; that Jesus was the evidence presented to the world that there is a True God that could be seen, touched, heard, smelled, and even tasted, if they dared, but the elements of communion — the wine and the bread — are how mankind savors the “taste” of God.

How do we Christians know the truth? What is truth? The truth is that there are things unseen because Jesus showed His Invisible Self to prove that. He revealed God within His flesh when the Holy Spirit left Him and was revealed to the world.

How do Christians detect the Invisible God? By trusting that Jesus is Truth; that He is the evidence that there is a real God.

With Jesus gone; how can we be certain? The New Testament is a written “deposition” by those who were so sure that there is a living God that they refused to recant. Eleven of the twelve died for the truth — that Jesus is the evidence of the Invisible God — and John was boiled in oil to force him to recant. He never did!

Recently, there was a pandemic. We all were told that the vaccine would prevent the spread… to trust the science. Most people trusted the science. Whether it worked or not is beside the point, but people clung to life so much that they obeyed the science to prevent their bodies from dying.

Mankind is the most foolish of the species. Given the chance to live for a spell, they will stand in line, but given the chance to live forever, they won’t even kneel.

Just what is it that is so hard to do? Christianity is you doing nothing! All that it takes is to look toward Jesus for life.

So, you credit the science for radiation? All they have done is used the radiation. Who created the isotopes? Who causes them to decay so that they can be beneficial?

Like some believe about the source of electricity; you just plug the cord in and voila, power; they have no idea what is on the other side of the wall and don’t care!

The same goes for radiation and any therapy. The doctor just plugs it in, and you never care from whence it came and what it took to get into you.

God had a plan for you, and if you are to live; that doctor and those isotopes were His Plan that science used.

So, never say that you are an atheist; just admit that you don’t know who your god is because you fail to recognize your unknown god.

Who is the god of science? There are many, and we ask each other Who is the best doctor? Many say that our doctor is best. Yet inquiring people do not even consider any god; they reject them all and go with their invisible existence that has never proved himself itself. You just do not know who your god is. It is whomever or whatever you trust for longevity.

This is not meant to insult, just things for non-believers to ponder. Einstein and Kaku considered all things; they concluded that there is a god. Which one, they do not know, but they are part way there, and many atheists, on their deathbed, realized God. Among them some of the greatest minds ever — Peter the Great, Thomas Hobbs, Thomas Payne, Charles the IX, David Straus, Josef Stalin, and even the Satanist Anton LeVey, but for them it was too late. It is not to late for any who have yet to lie on their deathbed.

Some of the greatest minds in history believed in God. How about you? Is your mind greater than theirs? I doubt it.

Hope is believing that there exist things that cannot be seen or detected. What harm is hope? Many hope the radiation helps or they would not take it; but refuse the hope offered so graciously; that you need not die; that there is a place where you never die!

I have now written my thoughts about science and theism. Science can force-feed itself through mandates. However, God encourages free-thinking. It is you who must decide the best way for you to go! Herein was my evidence, now you must judge its veracity and your frame of reference is what science is able to do for you.

(PICTURE CREDIT; Alliance Technologies)

 

 

 

 

JESUS REVEALS HE IS NOT CRAZY

 Sometimes when scripture is read, the message does not click. It seems out of place and maybe self-contradictory. In those cases, the passage(s) cannot be glossed over. Such is the case with the key verse for this commentary: 

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. (Mat 5:25)

 Jesus is speaking. The topic began with blessings, but now it has been gradually changed to what seems an unrelated topic — agree with your adversary and quickly. Jesus, in the previous passages, seems to be talking about His crucifixion would be to reconcile the sins of the world. Now the topic is agreement with His enemies. Surely not! That requires expository study.

First off, let us examine the word adversary. In the Greek — the textus receptus — the word is “antidikos.”

Adversary is an appropriate translation, especially, the “Adversary,” the Devil. Would Jesus say that a person is to agree with the Devil at all, no less quickly? Probably not! The other meaning is “an opponent in a suit of law” ( (Strong 1890). Jesus was tried several times in mock courts before He was sentenced to death. He said nothing in His defense other than to agree with the accusations. You see, Jesus knew the Father was in charge and this day was God’s day.

Pontius Pilate, the prelate, and acting on behalf of Caesar who was in seclusion on the island of Capri, judged Jesus in the absence of Caesar. Pilate asked a direct question, “What have you done?” Jesus quickly answered, without further ado the thing He had done: 

³⁶ My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence. ³⁷ Pilate therefore said unto Him, “Art thou a king then?” Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:36-37)

 The ”adversary” in this case were the Jewish leaders — the two chief priests (verse 35). Pilate asked of them, what is this man accused of? They never answered the question! One of them said, “If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee” (verse 30). They believed Him to be guilty of something, of what, they were not sure (In the manner of Donald Trump.) [1]

A malefactor is an evildoer, but the priests would dribble on: “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” (verse 31). Jesus, if He had been trying to save His life, would have agreed with that for He had done no evil, and they had jurisdiction only if Jesus had broken their Law. Jesus would have agreed with that statement of fact!

As it turned out, the accusation changed. The new accusation was that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews. The Jewish kingdom, Jesus knew, was not to be in this world but another.

When the Abrahamic Covenant was made, perhaps only Abraham knew that the “Promised Land” was in another realm, and the Book of Jasher placed Abraham king of that realm; the one that Luke called “Abraham’s Bosom” (Luke 16:22).

It was God’s intention to deliver His own Person to be the Holocaust. Jesus quickly agreed. He was indeed King of the Jews, but not king of them in this world but in another realm. He was the successor to Abraham as the “Seed of Abraham,” hence the genealogy of Matthew chapter one. If it had been the Davidic Kingdom, like David, His people would have fought to retain the House of David with Jesus as King. As such, the Father was the One who judged the case, and the Father found Jesus guilty as charged!

“Guilty?” you ask, but Pilate found no fault in Him (John 18:38).

Yes, Pilate found no fault in Him, so the Jewish leaders changed the accusation’ they said, “He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” (John 19:21).

Jesus never said that; they said it! Jesus was a legitimate heir to the Kingdom of Judea, but never did He contend for that empty throne, just like Abraham who was comfortable living in the same land and being king of another realm.

Looking back at the key verse, Jesus never denied even false claims about Him because He trusted the Father. He was born to die, and that was the truth. If they had accused Him of that, Jesus would have quickly agreed. The Jewish leaders seem to be the accusers, but who really was?

Pilate reminded Jesus that he had the power of Caesar with him; that he could either condemn Him or release Him. To which Jesus responded, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11).

At first glance, those that delivered Jesus to Pilate were the chief priests. They did sin a greater sin, but was Jesus speaking of them?

Who delivered Jesus to the Cross? Was it one of the leaders to which Jesus could have appealed? Was it the chief priests? Judas? No! It was the Power from above who delivered Jesus.

Paul knew the answer to that; “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Father God was responsible for the death of Jesus. He made Jesus sin; not in a verbal sense because Jesus never sinned. Jesus was made the scapegoat (Lev 16:10). He never sinned but carried the sin of all mankind.

God broke His own Law. “Thou shalt not kill,” but then He reconciled that sin by resurrecting Jesus. God was vindicated because Jesus died so that others might live (John 3:16).

So, in this case, Jesus, and Him alone, agreed with His adversary, but it was God to whom Jesus succumbed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mat 27:46). He had not forsaken Jesus because soon, it is revealed that the Father resurrected Him (Mat 27:53).

God is in charge. If it is your time to die, then it is God’s decision. Arguing with the adversaries may seem to delay the time but death comes with God’s timing. There was nothing that Jesus could say that would change the Plan of God, so He just agreed with all the accusations made by all His adversaries.

Satan — the Adversary — had nothing to do with the death of Jesus. The Holy Ghost of Jesus had put Satan in his place and deposited him in Hell with sin after the darkness subsided. For one time, Satan was not responsible for this. The sin of Judas was great; and although He had Satan in him, God is greater than Satan or sin!

Continuing with the key verse, Jesus was cast into a “prison.” We think of bars and jails as prisons, but Jesus was confined to the Cross. His prison was when all movement was contained, and He could do nothing!

Some Jews believed in Jesus, even while the Cross made for Him a prison of sorts. Jesus said to them, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

What made the believing Jews free? They too saw that Jesus is God when the Person Jesus revealed His Inner Self — the Holy Ghost. Most could not see it, but Jesus was revealed as God when He gave up the Ghost in a sort of second transfiguration.

Jesus, in a sense, was “crazy” as He was beside Himself, finally as accused by His friends, “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, ‘He is beside Himself’” (Mat 3:21). The governor Festus agreed with that (Mark 3:22). The Greek word “existemi” is translated both as “beside Himself” and “crazy.”

Let’s take that word literally… “To stand out of wits.” (ibid) — to stand beside the Intelligence, or Jehovah, the “Existence.”

When Jesus died, He gave up the Holy Ghost and soon was at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). Jesus was finally at His death, “beside Himself” as His Holy Ghost was revealed. He was not crazy but did have a second “Person.” To this day, schizophrenia is thought of as craziness with the sick person having delusions of grandeur. Jesus proved that God is for real when He showed Himself beside Himself!

Can that key verse be applied to us? We all shall die, and it will be in God’s time. Anything we say cannot change God’s time because when the death angel is due, he shall come for us.

(Picture; "Christ Before Pilate")

 

 

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[1] For a comparison see my book, Trump and Triumph.

THE GARDEN OF GOD ON NEW GROUND

Yesterday the commentary was about anger with a brother without a just cause. As it turns out, it seems that Jesus was previewing their own judgment of Him with them having no cause. Today, judgment will be explored further, to wit: 

KEY VERSES: ²³ Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; ²⁴ Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Mat 5:23-24)

 The topic of conversation was judgment — that someone is angry with their brother, from the previous passage, specifically if someone is angry with you, even without a cause. In other words, you have not judged wrongly, but must reconcile with another person who judged you wrongly.

Again, let this apply to the case of the multitude vs. Jesus. Jesus is their spiritual brother. At best, they would be adopted of God; Paul wrote, speaking of the firstfruits of God, “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23).

Converts are the seed that are planted; some mature and the others do not, as is learned from the parable of the seeds: 

And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. (Mark 4:15)

 The ”Gift” in the key verses may apply to Jesus Himself! The Holy Spirit is the “good gift,” according to Jesus (Luke 11:13). When Jesus was crucified, He gave up the Ghost (Mark 15:39), revealing that Jesus was indeed the Son of God since the Spirit of God was the Gift from God (2 Cor 9:15).

Those who heard and believed had received the Gift, but Satan quickly stole the God-given Gift.

In the case of Jesus, it was Him that bear the Gift. He gave up the Gift for his “brothers” — all who would follow Him; “brothers” in the sense that they gave up their “father the Devil” and came to the Father of all — the Invisible God — who adopts all that call on His Name.

Jesus was the supernatural child of God, having the Spirit of His Father. Everyone else were “bastard” children of the Devil some of whom were seeking Comfort in the bosom of Jesus. [1]

The point here is that Jesus was speaking of brothers in a spiritual sense; He was perhaps not speaking of reprobate pagan enemies as “brothers.” As the “Last Adam” Jesus was the eldest “brother” of all of Adam’s kind. He surely was not only speaking to only potential Christian “brothers” in general, but possibly Himself!

Referring again to the key verse, Jesus brought the Gift to the altar; the “altar” being the sacred Cross. There He remembered that a brother had something against Him. There were many there who before had not been “brothers” at all but adversaries: Pontius Pilate, the repentant thief Dismus, and the centurion who pierced His side. Each of them saw Jesus as God in the flesh as He shed His Blood for them. All three of them became “brothers” as they realized that they were witnessing God in the Body of Jesus.

Jesus remembered them as He was dying. He said to Dismus, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). “Today” would be soon after He gave up the Ghost because the Jewish Day would end about fifteen minutes before dark. Jesus made it dark at the sixth hour and it lasted until He gave up the Ghost three hours later. Dismus went to Paradise as it was dark, not in body but in Spirit. The Gift that Jesus gave Dismus was the Holy Ghost who accompanied the still living soul of Dismus to Paradise.

Pilate and Longinus, the centurion, at the very time Jesus gave up the Ghost, received the Gift. They too would be part of the reconciliation, “There rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee.” Jesus remembered them because they believed that He was God!

Jesus followed through with what He had preached to the multitude, “Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way.” Jesus left His Holy Ghost — His Gift — at the altar, and He went His Way to the sepulcher.

What had happened in the three hours of darkness? His Spirit emerged from Him on the altar and seeded the “crop” of spiritual brothers all over the land. Jesus, without even a moon to sow under, sowed a new “crop” as the Father had done in the beginning: 

⁶ There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. ⁷ 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. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Gen 2:6-8)

 You may have missed it before, but Adam was the first “plant” in the Garden of God, and Eve was of the shoot of Adam. God took a piece of Adam and planted it alongside Him, and the two were meant to grow good fruit.

Eve was trespassed upon and she too made a bastard child and named him “Cain.”

Adam and Eve were of the same “tubular” (root) and were made for each other and no one else. The Devil, cleverly disguised as another image (nahas), made all of Eve’s kind bastard children since she was the “mother of all living” (Gen 3:20), implying that Adam was not their father. Cain’s father was the Devil, the same as ours.

As Mark wrote, Satan (that image in the Garden), “Taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

The word, “word” should be capitalized. The “Word” as John wrote is God in the flesh, or Jesus (John 1:1-14). Satan ravaged the Garden of God once in the beginning and many times thence. He can ravage it again to destroy the crop that Jesus sowed when He shed His Water and Blood (1 John 5:6). The “water” was the “Living Water” the Holy Ghost that He shed for them… the “Gift.”

The Blood that He propitiated was for “sins that are past” (Rom 3:25) — the sins of Eve (the First Adam; not the male Adam), for she, not Adam, was the progenitor of all the living. The Blood of Jesus would fix Eve’s original sin — adultery — and with even another kind of being. The Blood of Jesus had the genetics of God within it. Those genes were the new seeds sown to improve the crop fit enough for God to harvest!

And not to forget the key verse, “First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

Jesus reconciled with all his brothers past, present, and future. He opened the ground wherein His Blood flowed and planted His seed to reconcile with all mankind. He fixed Eve’s sin, David’s, Moses’s, and all the patriarchs who came before Him. Then His seed was left in the Earth for all future generations. Indeed, God planted another Garden with the glorious Seed of His “Son,” not in the sense of the “son” being the offspring of the father, but having the gens (genetics) of God, the Father.

Jesus gave His Gift directly to Dismus and left His Seed in the earth on Earth for all mankind for all generations in perpetuity. Dismus was engendered from God above (“born again:” John 3:7) by His “Seed” — the Son.

Was Jesus, in the key verse, speaking of His own (God’s) reconciliation with His creatures? Perhaps so. It seems that the crucifixion was God’s Reconciliation with mankind, and that it was:

⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. (Rom 5:9-10)

 The multitude to which Jesus was speaking were not “brothers” but those elect who would hear Him. Some would believe on Him, and some would not. Some would believe for awhile but later turn on Him. However, they were all brothers in a spiritual sense because even the evilest had potential to survive the Garden of God on new ground that Jesus would plant.

It was Him that was the Vine that would produce new creatures from the husbandry of God, and they were the “branches” who could either grow or wither (John 15:1-2).

At first glance, I was ready to dismiss the key verse and gloss over it as an example or human reconciliation. Reconciliation was in the Plan of God and I almost missed it!

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls refers to “bastards” as the mixed breed resulting from the sons of God coupling with the daughters of men.

A VERY SIGNFICANT FINDING

 In studying the Bible, we often gloss over what we do not understand. Many times, what is glossed over is the most important! Now let’s examine the “Council” and “Raca.”

The Jews had laws (six-hundred and thirteen of them). They were laws that God revealed to Moses for various reasons: health, righteousness, civility, respect, and so forth. The scribes transcribed the laws so often that they became the legal experts, and they often accompanied the Pharisees to determine the Law, and the latter who judged about everybody, including Jesus.

In addition, there were two councils: (1) The Lesser Sanhedrin which was made up of twenty-three judges in each major city, and (2) one Greater Sanhedrin made up of seventy- one members, including a “prince” or “president” (nasi) and one chief of the court. The latter was much like a supreme court and the former district courts.

Their jurisdiction included all the six-hundred-thirteen Mosaic Laws many of which were regulations to strictly enforce the Ten Commandments — the Law of God.

This commentary considers the second part of the key verse for today: 

KEY VERSE: But I say unto you, “That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:” but whosoever shall say, “Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Mat 5:22)

 During my many years of learning, I have heard only one teacher or preacher who explained the word “Raca” and it was still vaguely defined. Admit it, you have skipped over “Raca” as well and perhaps even neglected to ask, What council?

Raca is not translated from the Greek because it was an Aramean word which in turn was the common language of the day that most of the Jews spoke. Few Jews spoke Hebrew and because of Hellenization and Romanism, most turned to the Aramaic Language of the surrounding area, greater Syria. Aramaic was the commercial and governmental language of its day, so no wonder the council would understand “Raca” and no wonder the legal term was non-translated from the Greek.

Raca (rhaka) means nonsense (Strong 1890). If one person accused another of nonsense, perhaps they would have their day in court. Many duels were fought in colonial America because of frivolous words that offended people, and surely it was the same in Herodian times.’

Raca was essentially accusing someone of being brainless or mindless. Their thoughts were so worthless that they were nothing more than provocateurs. It appears that such flippant accusation could be taken to a council to sue for justice.

Unknown is which council… the Lesser or Greater Sanhedrin. It is known that it was the Sanhedrin because the Greek word translated as “council” was “Synedrion” which was first and formally the Greek Council in the Hellenistic era (Wikipedia 2001).

The Sanhedrin may have been Judaean copy of the Greek Synedrion. Therefore, whether the “council” in question was Greek or Jewish is ambiguous, but in the Roman era, a good guess would be the Sanhedrin of the Pharisees whose membership included their political opponents, the Sadducees.

If so, then the council would indeed judge on Mosaic Law but which one? Perhaps it might have been this one: The court must not kill anybody on circumstantial evidence, to wit: “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked” (Exod 23:7)

“False matters” would be mindless lies that are uttered that might cause injustice. They would be frivolous contrivances, or misinformation that could be made up. They would be lies that had no continuity. George Orwell would say something like this, a multitude of lies do not make one truth.

The council, whichever it was, would decide the case. They would judge the circumstantial evidence whenever there was no firm proof and decide the fate of the accused. Whether it was factual or not was up to the members of the Sanhedrin. They all had biasness and judged each using different metrics because they were not only an ecclesiastical body but a true political body that was a shadow government in those times.

If decided wrongly, the council could either favor the false accusation or deny the truth. The outcome could either doom the innocent or exonerate the guilty. The mob trial of Jesus was a case of “Raca” wherein misinformation on the part of political partisans doomed the real King of the Jews. No wonder Jesus said, “Raca”!

The mob that judged Jesus guilty was nothing more than a mindless lynch mob that cared nothing about truth, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), but feared their kingdom of Judaea was in jeopardy, and did so without evidence!

In the key verse, Jesus added, ““Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Perhaps Jesus was not speaking to the formal Sanhedrin but to the rule of the mob who were enforcing the Law of Moses — that because Jesus claimed to be the Image of God, that He broke the Law (John 14:9).

Not “Raca” (mis-informers) but fools (moros). Even the friends of Jesus testified against Him: “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, “He is beside himself (Existemi)” (Mark 3:21) — “to be out of one's mind, besides one's self, insane” (ibid).

That seems strange! Jesus is God. He is the “Existence.” To say that He is besides himself, would be that He only thought He was the Father (Existence — I AM THAT I AM, Jehovah). He is crazy, thinking that He is JHVH!

Jesus was issuing a dire warning… Those that thought that He is not God were in danger of the fire of Hell! The “lynch mob” who hanged Him on the “tree” (the Cross) were in danger of hell fire. He was warning the multitude who would eventually listen to the mindless thoughts of the accusers.

Is that what happens to this day? Are not minds made up? Trump is crazy; he must be impeached. Trump is crazy; he must be imprisoned. All the while those who testify to that are the mindless “Racans”!

Of course, this commentary is not about Trump nor even specifically Jesus. Jesus is referring to the general M.O. of the masses. They are the mindless that today’s Democrats depend upon for injustice, or as Jonathan Gruber said about Obamacare, “We depended on the stupidity of the American voter.”

That’s what happened to Jesus; the council (the mob) depended on the stupidity of the Judean “voters” who voted mindlessly and needlessly for misinformation to be accepted… “Crucify Him; crucify Him!” Perhaps Jesus was speaking of His near future trials by several different councils, one as mindless as the next.

For myself, I now see that Jesus was speaking about the multitude when He was falsely accused by mindless people who had no evidence. That is a very significant finding in the pursuit of truth.

Who broke the Law? It was certainly not the accused, Jesus, but the council at the crucifixion that became the law that day.

(picture credit, Getty Images, duncan1890)