Living Is Dying

     Life is defined as the time period in which vitality exists. Vitality is simply having the power to endure. Life is two-fold then. Living creatures never cease to exist. Physical life is a person enduring under his own power, and spiritual life is enduring with God's Power. Human beings are alive forever whereas animal and vegetable-kind have only the first phase of life.
     Humans are indeed different than the animals because they were made in the image of God. What makes us different is that the life God breathed life into us which is both spiritual and physical because he made us in His image. What is God's "Image"? Existence! He Was, Is, and always Will Be. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. God was never created but always Existed.
     Because we are in God's image, men and women always existed as well. Before people were born, they existed:

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love. (Ephes 1:4)

     Why are the unborn so important? Because the undeveloped human being always existed! We don't understand how, but everyone was human potential with a soul which needed filling; our spirits lived before our bodies were ever formed! Believe it or not, God knew you not only before you were ever born, but before you were ever conceived! God formed us and knew us in the womb, and even before. God told that to Jeremiah and it applies to us as well:

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jer 1:4-6).

    We all always existed. Our lives are pre-ordained. With His foreknowledge, God knows each decision His independent creatures will make. Each and every lifespan is written in His Book (Psalm 139:16 above). Not only our physical lifespan but our total existence in both phases of life!
     God wills that we all live, and that none ever die. That is the gist of John 3:16 and the Purpose of Jesus Christ - God in the flesh. Just as life never ends, neither does perishing. Those who perish are still alive but torment is so awful that it is living death!
    In phase #1 of life (Let's call pre-conception phase #0), soon after birth, all men begin to die. Mankind was not designed that way. Adam and Eve had immortality until they sinned. Paradise in the Garden was the same Paradise as in Heaven. Upon sinning - rejecting God's authority - they were cast out of Paradise, and there they would surely die. Immediately upon leaving the Garden they began the dying process. They could not detect it, but God does not lie: they immediately began to die for that was the punishment for eating of the forbidden tree.
     Death did not commence with the eating but after judgment and punishment. Adam and Eve thought they would died immediately but did not. They thought God to be a liar, and that death was just a ruse to keep them from gaining knowledge of the world! Death turned out not to be a ruse. It is real! Scripture says: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor 15:22).
    Adam and Eve were judged before they were expelled from Paradise, but we will be judged after our death. Because of God's grace Adam and Eve were made innocent by God's propitiation of His own blood - an innocent lamb belonging to Him. They were alive during life, then phase #1 ended; for Adam after 930 years, and they entered phase #2 - eternal life!
     Phase #1 of our life is a little different. Unlike Adam, we were born in iniquity. Adam missed that because he was created not born. We were born with Adam's sin. Therefore, when anyone breaths the breath of life outside the womb the propensity to sin is born with them. Immediately after gestation, the world begins to kill infants if abortion doctors don't do it first! When life begins, death begins as well. The cells of babies are dying even as they are growing. Sometimes babies braincells begin to die rapidly at birth. Life is a disease caused by Adams's sin. Life is tribulation. We all will die, and begin the process immediately at birth. Life itself is all about dying. Unlike Adam before he ate, we know what death is and we all dread that instant in time when we will die  ("the sting of death").
     The knowledge gained from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is that we know death. The threat God gave was, "You shall surely die."
     After eating of the fruit, Adam and Eve knew death and became afraid. They tried to cover their own sin, but could not adequatel1y do so with vegetation. God killed for the first time, and an innocent lamb died instead of them as God covered their sins! Although the shed blood made them innocent again, they suffered the consequences of their sin by slowly dying. Most of Adam's 930 years was dying. God was not a liar. After that time, Adam felt the sting of death, and then he entered phase #2. He still lives and always will because in his sorrow for sinning, God covered his sins!
     Living is gradually dying. Death ceases that fast process. For those who trust God, in deference to Adam and Eve who at first did not, the dying process will cease at physical death, and life just begins. Paul said death for him is gain (Phil 1:20-23). What he meant by that is that he will quit dying with death! Those who die with Christ in them cease the death process. Phase #2 for them is eternally living with stoppage of the death process.
     On the other hand, those who do not trust God for eternal life will not actually ever consummate death. Just as they did in life, they will continue the dying process. Life is hard enough but forever dying will be in torment and fire. The unpardoned sinner will always be dying but never actually allowed to die. Their phase #1 in life may have been pleasant without even the realization that they were dying as they sin. Phase #2 will be much different. They will always be aware of their sins in phase #1 and suffer for them forever. Phase #2 will have no enjoyment nor pleasure. In a Faustian manner, sinners trade off eternal prosperity for earthly gain. It's a huge gamble to say the least!
     Look at this passage again:  "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Paul was talking about phase #2. Even before we are ever conceived (phase #0), we all have Adam in us. David said in Psalm 51 that he was "born in iniquity". We all are. Adam's attitude is in us, and life is nothing more than casting out into the world as the birth canal ejects the unborn. That newborn child has Adam in him or her. God's grace is that he calls us all to him. Some come; some don't.
     The born-again experience which all Christians must be is when people get a new attitude. Rather than treating God as a liar, we trust God. We come to realize that only by God's death on the cross, can we be immortal - just as God intended for us back in phase #0! He knows who will and won't, even way back then, but it's still us who must choose life or death - whether to eat of the world's fruits or God's.
     Being born again doesn't end phase #1. Like Adam, we must face the consequences of our sins. We can't blame Adam; Eve didn't. We are to blame because like theirs, sin is always a choice. Satan doesn't make us sin. He doesn't have that power. We condemn ourselves when we sin.
    Phase #2 is when life exists without the dying process. Of course, the soul never even feels the sting. For it, it's more like sleeping for merely an instant. It lives on even when the body is dead. The soul never dies. Our forebears misunderstood death, and many still do. However, the souls of those who died in Christ will rejoin their perfected bodies at the rapture. That process of phase #2 is glorification: beginning to live without any dying process, and without sin!
    Scripture doesn't say so, but at sometime after judgment day, the dead will surely obtain new bodies as well. Remember that Book of Life where God placed all names in the beginning? All those who failed to repent and trust God by humbling themselves will have their names blotted out. Worse than beasts who have no soul, the beasts that die in allegiance to the Beast, will be tormented forever. Their souls will be corrupt in a spiritual manner but sort of incorrupt in a physical. Somehow their flesh will always be dying with never-ending death. Torment will never destroy them completely but they will feel the pain of dying always. Rather than a momentary "sting" as with physical death, spiritual death is level-ten in pain and higher without end.
     Adam and Eve failed to understand God's warning not to sin. They had no understanding of death. I have explained life and death. Anyone who reads this commentary knows the difference. Some will reject it. I'm just a Jeremiah issuing a warning. Reject eternal death at your peril. Indeed, you will surely die unless you repent and trust God.

   

God's Paradox of Tolerance

     Tolerance is the ability to indulge those having different beliefs and behaviors than your own. Thus, tolerance is allowing others to have opposing beliefs and practice them. To have more breadth, tolerance is not being bothered by deviations from standards. Therein lies the problem: Who determines the standards? What is normal?
     Most often tolerance seems to be about racial characteristics. To be certain, intolerance for different races is unfair by any standard because no one can change their racial inheritance. At best, people can only change the makeup of their offspring. Is it fair to want your children and grandchildren to have your own characteristics? That is debatable. Who can decide fairly what is meaningful to each individual? Thus it seems that it is unfair to be intolerant of people of different color, but maybe not so clear for interracial marriage. Thus, toleration for that decision process is best left up to the individual.
     Racial differences are from God. In the beginning everyone was alike - possibly not black nor white but a earth-tone color. We do know that God scattered the races because of sin, and as they dispersed, races of people developed. The cause of racial differences cannot be determined, but it was either by genetic mutation or environmental adaptation. People of different races have different genetics. However, the genetics of all humankind are human. Thus, the accusation of one race being less human is foolishness. Who, without prejudice, can determine what is the original DNA of mankind?
     Not only were there a change in skin colors but language groups as well. Thus different races have different languages. Although not specified in Holy Scripture, it seems that the different races came from three different people: Ham, Japheth and Shem, all sons of Noah. Perhaps their wives carried the dominant color gene. They were certainly products of the intermarriage between the "sons of god and the daughters of men" (Gen 6:4). If genetics were the cause of racial differences, it could be because of the intermarriage of Seth's line and Cain's. Cain, because of sin, received some type of "mark" (Gen 4:15-16). The mark could be anything including color. If so, the resultant race of that intermarriage would have been what we think of today as Mediterranean - swarthy and not black nor white. To be honest, like Jesus.
    There are dominant genes and recessive. Fair people can have black children, and black people can have fair children. Black is the dominant color and white recessive. That in itself creates prejudice because since we are "as gods" we all want others to be as us! Intolerance is not handling that very well. Because people are different incites hatred. After all, we're the true gods (sic)!
     Racial intolerance is not a white problem; all races of people can be intolerant and are! Last night I saw the intolerance of one black woman on Survivor who wanted favoritism from her black "brother" just because she is black. Using race for an advantage is prejudice. She showed intolerance by using her race as a bargaining chip. That type of prejudice is as wrong as one person using their race against another.
     Like it or not, God cursed mankind for disobedience. Intolerance is mankind's curse on himself because Adam (Man) caused it by disobedience. Tolerance is God's way of testing mankind? Can we tolerate each other? Love is hard work manifested by how much people tolerate others who are different from the normative. Unfortunately, the world has no norm! However, God assigned the norm. He chose the Jews as His people. "For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be His own treasure out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth" (Deut 14:2). Because God favored this race, perhaps a non-race because of their mixture, both white and black people have always hated the Jews.  It is because of jealousy that people hate Jews so badly.
     On the other hand, God gave His "chosen race" a greater burden to bare. They had 613 commands whereas the rest of mankind has only one: to love God and show it by loving others (The Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it).  Sometimes, there is a handicap in being special or peculiar people! Because they were special, God had special requirements for them. They were required to obey the laws of Moses. Many of those laws influenced the other races. One specific one was to not marry "foreign wives" (Deut 7:3). That seem to be institutionalized intolerance by God. People often hate God because of His favoritism for the Hebrew people.
     God's Purpose was to provide a way for Himself to take on flesh. He chose the Jews because Abraham made a deal with God. By circumcision of the flesh, Abraham signed the covenant. It could have been any race of people, but God chose Shem's line as "special" because Abraham had faith. You see, racial favoritism on God's part wasn't racial at all, but spiritual. By having faith in God, anyone can  be "Jews"! There was no difference between Judaism and Christianity because faithful Jews believed in the Messiah. They spoke with Jesus before he was ever born!
     Sinners hate Jews because they are not Jews in race nor spirit. Hatred is jealousy of not being favored. I am a spiritual Jew and so is the black man who accepts Christ as Savior. It's not the color which sinners hate, but the spirit within those who covenant with God. Ultimate love is wanting that "none should perish" (John 3:16). Love is what happens toward the souls of other humans. Wanting that some should perish is hatred. Haters don't really care about skin color; it is about the colorlessness of the soul. Haters use color, nationality, gender and other physical characteristics to hate the soul.
     To be honest, because of geography, in my youth, I saw Christianity as the religion of white people because I knew mostly white people. I doubted that a Oriental could be born again because that is not what they did. Now, South Korea, for instance, is the hotbed of Christianity. They are quickly becoming spiritual "Jews". I admire them for that, and their acceptance of the same God as I have allows me to love them more!
     Our "race" is Christ's race. He died for all mankind. Gentiles (non-Jewish people) can become "peculiar people" (1 Pet 2:9), and become equivalent to the Jews. Jews were not any more chosen than we all were, but they were first chosen because they were to be the "womb" for the Messiah. When Jews quit being peculiar people, God expanded His chosen to include Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Gentiles became "chosen people" as well. Jesus died to remove intolerance toward and from the Jews but Gentiles became intolerant of them!
    In spiritual matters, God is intolerant and tolerant in that His patience is tested. If God uses His own advice, and He does, He tolerates "seventy times seven" (Mat 18:22). That is rhetorical for God tolerates us until we die! On the other hand, we kill ourselves when we fail to consider God. He is not the judge... people decide their fate when they either choose iniquity or not. Of course, failing to choose life, is acceptance of death by default. In other words, God is the epitome of toleration!
     On the other hand, God has standards. He is extremely intolerant of those who don't live up to them! He gives every chance in the world, but when people choose the law of sin over the Law of God, they damn themselves. Jesus - God manifested - will judge. That seems unfair because God will not tolerate sin and we sin. People desire salvation but on their own terms. God is intolerant of that! My point is that God is tolerant (grace) but is intolerant as well (judgment and punishment). However, each person, because of their attitudes toward God determine whether He is tolerant or intolerant.
     God tolerates sin. He understands our flesh because He created ours and His own. That's why "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Mat 26:41) has so much meaning.  He tolerates us because of our will to please Him even when we fail. God is intolerant when we aren't willing to love and respect Him and His Laws. Thus, tolerance and intolerance depends on the reference.
     Who sets the standard for intolerance? God does. Scripture is all about hating sin and loving sinners. That is the theme of the entire Bible! Hating even sinners is intolerable, but hating their flesh is tolerable. I'm not writing of the color or beauty of their flesh, but whether people live for the world or not. It's okay to hate sin, but it's hateful to hate sinners. We just need to be careful what it is we hate!
     Using the extreme, we aren't to hate Hitler or Stalin. On the other hand, it is perfectly Christian to hate socialism because socialism is based on sin. My desire should be as God's; that none should perish. That includes Stalin and Hitler. We must love Marx but should not tolerate Marxism. Why? Because Marxism and socialism diminish God as they elevate the state to godhood. Sometimes I err in hating Hillary. I don't truly hate her; I do hate her ideology because it is unrighteous. It is not intolerant to defend God's Law but pragmatic. We should want that all love God and correct them if they don't. That is the purpose of scripture.
     The worst brands of socialism may be neither Nazism nor Communism. Democratic Socialism is a mix of fairness and injustice. People buy into democratic socialism because it seems the right way. That seeming-ness is deception. It is not what it is claims to be! The most prominent man in American socialism is George Soros. If you do not know who he is, you need to learn about him. He is the de facto leader of America's socialist shadow government. His mentor was Karl Popper.
     His type of Democrat Socialism is based on the philosophy of Popper. Why should you know that? Popper's philosophy of tolerance was based on intolerance of those who are intolerant of his world view. In my own words: It is acceptable to hate those who disagree with you until their viewpoints are insignificant. Then it is easier to tolerate because there will be no one with which to be intolerant. Wikipedia says this about Popper's Paradox of Tolerance: "Although Popper was an advocate of toleration, he said that intolerance should not be tolerated, for if tolerance allowed intolerance to succeed completely, tolerance would be threatened."
    According to that paradox, it is okay to be intolerant of those who are not as "tolerant" as yourself. The problem with that is by whose standards are used. I submit the propagation of hatred is right out of the law of sin. The Devil authored Popper's Paradox. It is never okay to hate people!
     That paradox is as important today as when it was written. Popper thought it up, but Soros uses it. He propagates hatred, and the left in America are his fools who do his bidding without understanding why. Christians are hated because we seem to get in the way of pleasure and take all the fun out of life. That's how we are perceived. I once thought that way. Now, after a new attitude, my idea of fun has changed: It is having joy rather than ecstasy; happiness and contentment rather than chaos.
     The Bible teaches judgment. It's okay to judge people, but it must be done with tolerance:

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. (Jas 5:8-9)

     Tolerance does not mean acceptance but patience. If change is not forthcoming, we are to wipe the dust off our feet and let God do His judging (Mat 10:14). God will not tolerate those who are not willing to love Him and others. The penalty for that is death! You see, tolerance is time dependent: God is patient but will not tolerate sin forever. God's Paradox is that he is tolerant and intolerant. It's not doublethink but grace and justice!

Bullies: Cry Uncle or Enough

     I have a memory where a class bully had me pinned to the ground with one knee on each of my shoulders. He implored me time and time again to say "uncle". That is the word expressing the "white flag" of surrender. I never would say uncle, but after I tired of the bullying I would scream out "enough"! The only other choices I had was for the bell to ring or the bully to get tired. I consider the bell or him tiring as defeat. I would lunge high and flail to the last breath until freed from bowing to those big bullies. My slogan has always been, never give up!
     For meek Christians the world is the bully. Yes, we are to be meek, but not to submit. Life is a tribulation and that is the bully Devils' way to pin us to the ground. He doesn't wait for "uncle" to be expressed; with us pinned to the ground he is king. The Devil is like a roaring lion waiting to devour the weak. He has little taste for firm meat, and is just waiting for the world to tenderize to his liking.
     Christians cannot even say, "uncle". Satan knows when he is king is when people do his will. That's why bullies are bullies - to have people do their will. Weak people know the tactics of the bullies and do their will without being bullied. They actually may enjoy having the bully as their friend, and are always ready to do whatever the bully commands or even desires. Many of us have seen gangs led by bullies. Obstensibly, some people keep the company of the bully because everyone seems to enjoy the pleasure of his company.
     I hope the reader sees where this is headed: Eventually, someone comes along to stop the bullying. The hero in white, although low-key and patient, steps on the bully's toes, grabs his fingers and twists him to the ground. The hero humbles the bully, and the in the end, the bully is revealed as the nothing that he is! Well, Satan is nothing, and in the end, our Hero will make him bow before humbling him in a fiery pit. When the bully fails to  change, which he won't, our Hero will destroy him. That's what bullies get - destruction!
     Of course, our "Hero" is Jesus Christ, and the bully is the Devil. The Devil has a gang as well: they are two other beasts and legions of dark angels who do the Devil's will. They too will die! We don't think much about it, but Satan's children - sinners - are cheerleaders for the evil team. They like what the world has offered and want to continue the way it has always been. The Devil has even made bullies of humans: to be like their father the Devil, they bully for Satan. We see that everyday now as in the days of Noah.
     We are there! The world is just as in the days of Noah. Sacred scripture reveals those days well. (See my latest book: Killing God: The Tree of Life.) The description provided of those days are much like a modern-day rock concert where everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes: Every type of wickedness was evident from drunkenness, revelry, lasciviousness, wild music, and all sorts of worldly pleasures. The plain of Cain became Hollywood. Satan wrote the script and his children acted the parts, including real sex, and they were proud.
    With transparency, I reveal my attitude about Hollywood and most of the entertainment industry: They are the "bullies" doing the Big Bully's will. Hollywood and the rest of the pleasure industry have their "knees" on the world. Each day the bullies become more brave, and it seems that no authority is there to reign them in. People bow to their will for just a little more pleasure. We can expect that from sinners, but the Entertainment demon has his knees on meek Christians as well. Unlike other bullies, they don't care if  Christians ever say "uncle"; they are satisfied if we just lay there and submit because we enjoy what they put out.
     Christians everywhere have become soldiers of the Devil without ever knowing it. Of course, they don't necessarily serve the Big Bully but enjoy his company. The Big Bully is satisfied with that! Some Christians do say, "uncle"; they just give up and stay at home. Hollywood seems too powerful to have a feud with them. "Good" Christians just sit at home, and let the Devil have his way with the world. They don't realize that neutrality cannot exist in the world. It's either God's Way or Satan's law of sin. By keeping quiet they are sacrificing their children to Molech.
     Of course, they don't toss their children into the fire in the belly of Molech, but let entertainers do it for them! Those overly meek Christians are apathetic and pathetic. They give their "seed" to the Devil to grow his crop.
     Sincere, dedicated Christians, and there are few, say, "Enough!" They realize how devouring the Devil is, but as Daniels in the lions' den, they depend on God to fight the battle with them. All they need to do is have no fear in the face of the "lion" and his legions of black "panthers". God does the battling
     Daniel had no choice: God selected him to fight the lions. Daniel merely had to be brave a nd let God tame His beastly creatures. That's what Christians need to do as well: Call (pray) for God to destroy the "lions" which are all about us. Unlike Daniel, we don't have to go into the den to fight. We can fight the Entertainment demon by keeping him out of our dens, living rooms, and entertainment rooms. It's easier to fight those demons at home. However, if we go to them, for most, the battle is already lost. Christians sit complacently in movie seats and stand at rock concerts allowing the Entertainment demons to fill their souls with sin, the very place where God dwells!
     We Christians seem to forget that we are God's Temples. Inside us somewhere is what should be as holy as the Holy of Holies. Unless the priest is spiritually and ceremonially clean, the priest would die in the presence of God. As "royal priests" we take the offering to God ourselves. We place our sacrifices in the temple of God - ourselves. We are like Cain, in that what we bring to the altar is brought in with a selfish attitude. we don't want what's holy but all we offer the Holy Spirit is worldly pleasure. Christians who do not provide the temple with an acceptable sacrifice will die! Satan uses entertainment to provide the unholy and impure sacrifices to billions of souls. Satan smiles as Christian sit there taking it in, and going where the evil reigns.
     Also, in my book, I discuss that holy children of God sit high on the Holy Mountain in the days of Noah, and wanted what Cain's people had. They wanted to be entertained and pleasured. They did not bring the world to holiness, but the world brought down the Church - Seth's line. Christians are to be righteous as Seth was. However, contemporary Christians, just as in the days of old, leave the Holy Mountain to come down on the plain of iniquity. Seth's become Cains just to be entertained!
    Entertainment and pleasure are the most effective "fiery darts" which Satan has in his arsenal. He hardly needs to take out his heavy weapons of tribulation because weak Christians are easily defeated.
     Just as Pavlov's dogs, the Entertainment demon conditions us to salivate at the very thought of being entertained by the world. Those who cheer for rock musicians are too enslaved by Satan to raise out stretched arms to God. Can you not see which "tree' you stand under? God cries for us as Satan cunningly smiles. He may not have you yet, but at least God agonizes. That's what Devils do: because they cannot kill God, they make him sad. God is not happy at all with us Christians. Satan is!
    We all have the Devil's knees on our shoulders and are imprisoned by sin... just some more than others. I will never cry "uncle" nor just lay there in defeat. I say, "Enough!"

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (Jam 4:3-10).

     Right now, as always, the entertainment industry is bullying Christians. They offer little of which we can have pleasure, so we go to their turf and gulp up evil. Entertainment is not bad and neither is pleasure.  On the other hand, worldly entertainment (unrighteousness) is, and too much pursuit of pleasure and entertainment is wrong. The Church has become little more than a place to be entertained. Even too much clean entertainment is distracting if it excludes hearing the truth from Holy Scripture.

Beatitudes and Platitudes

     Beatitudes are blessedness - rewards from God for bliss. Platitudes are being insipidness, which is devoid of spirituality or character (Meriam-Webster Dictionary; paraphrased). Jesus enumerated the beatitudes- Blessed are:

1. the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
2. those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
3. the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
4. those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
5. the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
6. the pure in heart, for they will see God.
7. the peacemakers , for they shall be called children of God.
8. the persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

     Some of those beatitudes (three) are tribulation, and for enduring those tribulations, Christians will be blessed. The remaining beatitudes (five) are rewards for righteous attitudes. For each of the attitudes, God will show gratitude. There are eight in number. If we would bless God as He has blessed us, there would be merely two beatitudes for Him:

1. Blessed is God because He is the only God who blesses.
2. Blessed is God because He died for us all!

     My point is that God blesses us in so many ways, perhaps enumerable, and all we need to do is bless Him for blessing us by dying for us. Blessing God is gratitude, and those who have righteous attitudes bless God. What is it, if a person professes Jesus but lacks gratitude? Theirs are platitudes. They have little gratitude for God, and fail to love Him. Failing to be grateful to God for his gift of grace is having a platitude. Thus, Commandment Three is a sin of platitudeness - taking Jesus's death as a minor thing.  Platitudes result in a Plato-tonic love for Jesus - platonic. Of course, I'm not referring even to non-sexual love, but ungratefulness for the spiritual romance we are to have for Christ.
    We Christians, in unity, are the "bride" and Jesus is the "Bridegroom". As mates, we are to have a "romantic" type of relationship, not with any sexual implications, but the extreme friendship and admiration lovers should have for each other! Jesus loves us; he doesn't want unrequited love; he wants us to love him back! Platonic "Christians" are those who fail to love Jesus back. With those who fail to love him,  his love is unrequited - not reciprocated like he loves us.
     How does God loves us? That he gave His only Son in our place. How much should we love Him back? To be willing to do what God did. He gave Himself. God died for us as he gave up His own Flesh. We are to love Him that much as well or else our love is a platitudinal. Our "reasonable service is to present our bodies as a living sacrfice" (Rom 12:1). Although God resurrected Himself, His death was a dying sacrifice. He made our sacrifice so much easier, we are only to give up our fleshly desires, but God died in the entirety of His flesh. Jesus - God's Flesh - died for us!
    In Shakespearean fashion, with Jesus as our "Romeo", God wants us "Juliets" to die with him; not at the same time, but with the same love and devotion. That devotion fulfills the love God expects from his Bride.
    We have all seen faux marriages: The bride pledges herself to the Groom, then when a paramour comes along, she lusts for the other, and may even fornicate. Regeneration (born again) is the marriage between the brides and the Bridegroom - repentant sinners and Jesus. He takes the harlot as his wife because she promises to be faithful and serve him only. Soon afterward, she fornicates emotionally or even spiritually with other gods, most often with self-abuse. With that sin, the marriage becomes spiritually platonic just as marriages become without romance. The attitude of the bride - the Church - is platitudinal.
     There are repercussions for platonic marriages to Christ - those without admiration for and with unwillingness to serve the Husband. They are the platitudes: Not blessed or cursed are:

1. those with a superior spirit, for they will not be in the kingdom of God.
2. those who cannot mourn for the lost, for neither shall they find comfort.
3. the arrogant, for their inheritance is nothing.
4. those who are gluttons for unrighteous pleasures, for their soul will become emptied.
5. the unmerciful, for God will not show them mercy.
6. those with impure attitudes, for they will not see God who bestows beatitudes.
7. those who bully and provoke, for they shall be called children of the Devil
8. those who are rewarded for unrighteousness, for their reward is already obtained.

     Christians are to make their marriage to Christ sacrosanct. They must remain faithful and true to God to obtain mercy. The marriage contract is one of love and is written on stone for perpetuity. God requires devotion and fidelity. When that faith is received, He is no longer a jealous God; He wants and demands that we love others just as we love ourselves because he trusts us. Are you worthy of His trust?

Gratitude

A change in attitude, as was said in the previous commentary, results from being born again. That, to be a Christian, everyone must be. People say, I am saved, but the hard part is yet to come. Satan and his demons never need to waste time on those not born again; a more optimal approach for them is to shoot their fiery darts at those who are. Regeneration results in safety. God protects demons from killing his adoptive children. Tribulation – principalities testing faithfulness – is ongoing until death. Remaining faithful is the condition for salvation. It is the narrow Way.

Rebirth means that you are not on your own. God has a protective “hedge” about his children which is called the armor of God. Wise Christians put on the whole armor of God because they will indeed face spiritual Goliath’s continually. The sword of the spirit which is the Word of God is what slays those Goliaths. Thus, God protects the faithful in keeping the faith. For this condition of spiritual safety, Christians must love God in return. That is not a suggestion nor optional. It is commanded! We think of love as something emotional, and it can be, but is work as well – hard work!

Surely if God is protecting anyone, they should be appreciative. Appreciative people show gratitude. Therefore, with a change in attitude, if regeneration is efficacious, there is a response of gratitude: Christians must empathize with God; He gave His own life that we not perish. He keeps us safe until we are saved in the end. If there is no gratitude, perhaps the “Christian” did not have a change in attitude!

Peter was asked by Jesus thrice: “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Peter affirmed that he did. After Jesus was arrested, Peter denied him three times. God did not leave nor forsake them, but Peter forsook God. To his credit, Jesus’s resurrection restored his faith. Was Peter, before Christ’s death, born again? Perhaps not, but soon Peter became a zealot for Christ. He had a new attitude, and for that he had gratitude. When he was set to be crucified himself, he desired for it to be upside down so as not to dishonor Jesus. That was his gratitude showing!

His change in attitude brought on gratitude. Peter had a change of heart. He knew that Jesus died in his place. That changed Peter. He now loved Jesus. Before, it was lip-service. Afterward, it was true. He indeed did love Jesus and was willing to be crucified himself than deny his friend and Savior a fourth time.

Jesus would have taken seventy-times seven denials. With foreknowledge, he knew what would happen. He knew when he asked Peter, “Do you love me?” that soon Peter would love him! He knew that Peter would finally understand and have gratitude.

Most Christians are like Denial Peter. We profess Christ but deny His purpose. God came in the flesh to die for us. Christians believe and accept that. However, there is something missing. Do they have gratitude for Christ’s self-sacrifice? As a Christian, “Do you love him, ______?” (Put in your name there.) Do you have enough gratitude to crucify yourself in similar manner? God’s flesh died on the cross; has yours?

God’s sacrifice of his only Son was gracious, and painful. Jesus agonized for us before the cross but seemingly on the cross, His Father in Heaven had abandoned him. Jesus had a feeling of abandonment when he died for us; should we not at least show gratitude for his agony? Most do not!

Crucifying our own flesh is giving up the things of the world. Scripture refers to self-sacrifice as works. Christians are to work real hard to love Jesus and others. It is not only a work but an obligation because it is commanded that we love God.  The work of love is showing gratitude to Jesus by doing God’s will! That was and is what Jesus desires in return for sacrificing himself. He said to pray this way: “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:9-10).

Jesus is imploring that Christians have a change in attitude: from not doing His will to doing it! The gratitude is hallowing His Name - set apart God’s Name for holy use.

Do you remember the third commandment? “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

Gratitude is not taking the Lord’s Name in vain. That is more than using the Lord’s Name to curse…  much more. It is not taking Jesus’s death – his very purpose in life – frivolously by failing to show gratitude by loving him back! Just as he commands that we love him to show gratitude, there is a penalty for not loving Him: he will not be held guiltless for not having gratitude.

People cannot be half-way Christians. Belief is half the doctrine. The other half is gratitude; we must all be willing to sacrifice ourselves on our spiritual crosses by having gratitude for the greatest gift ever to be given – eternal life! Gratitude is circumcision of the heart. As Paul Harvey always said, “That’s the rest of the story!” If you believe, and do not show gratitude, do you really love him ______?

Attitude

Attitude makes the difference! Probably it is your attitude toward God, His authority, and the Law of God which will make the difference. Attitude is a psychological construct of thought and emotion and is acquired through life experiences. Attitudes are a predisposition of thoughts which people have toward others, things, and events.  Attitudes formulate how we behave and think toward the world and its inhabitants. People even have attitudes about God!

Mankind’s attitudes are predisposed toward Narcissism in that our inborn nature is toward the magnification of ourselves. Thus, our attitude toward God is that we too are gods and deserve appeasement. Since pleasure is foremost desired, and God’s Law de-emphasizes pleasure, people reject God’s Law and His authority. We do what is right in our eyes. Our attitude is that if God is even real, then He is secondary to us. We elevate ourselves and diminish God.

The old creature has an attitude of self-importance, what psychologists call self-esteem. We indeed were created with love of self because that is the metric God uses for loving Him and others. The problem occurs when people love themselves first, and before God. The first commandment indicates that we are not to have other gods besides God - in God’s face. Mankind has an attitude – our desires come before God’s will. That attitude was developed with original sin as Adam did his pleasure rather than God’s will. Ever since, that supremacy has been our will. Why so? God says no man hates his own body. I accept God’s Word over man’s all the time!

People commit suicide, I believe, because they love themselves so intensely that they cannot take tribulation. I contend that life itself is tribulation. To end the self-persecution or bullying by others, the suicidal person takes his own life to stop cognitive dissonance.  He or she loves themselves even more than life. They don’t think of others they hurt but only of themselves.

We all experience that sort of tribulation, but normal people love life because it rewards them. Abnormal people hate life because their “god” is not rewarded sufficiently. Pleasure does little to change their attitude.

I believe that the primary attitude of people is that there is no afterlife. Personally, it would be troublesome for me if I thought there was nothing in the hereafter. There are certain obligations people must meet to obtain eternal peace. Some believe that they can do nothing toward those obligations and continue to sin. They inherently know that sin is wrong but do it anyway, rationalizing that they will have peace in the end anyway. In other words, they have an attitude about themselves: that their spirit is willing, but their flesh is weak. They know that is not good enough in their hearts.

They must adjust that attitude; the flesh must come to obey the spirit. That is peace, and God helps with that! A bad attitude is that people cannot change their doublethink: that they are children of God but do the works of the Devil. Their attitude is fatalistic: I can’t change so I won’t even try. Their new attitude returns to the old; they are apathetic to God’s will. The positive attitude Christians must have is I must care about God’s will. Why? To demonstrate appreciation and love for Him!

We have all experienced giving a loved one gifts when there was no thank you. We are disappointed. Well, God gets disappointed too! He so loves the world (us) that he desires that we love Him back, and to show God love, we are to show His other creatures love. Because God will save me, because He covenanted that with me, I want to please Him. It is that attitude which is my safety. If I cease wanting to please God, I am no longer safe!

It is not strict obedience which impresses God but the attitude of willingness to please Him. We can easily quit much sinning, but that is not the solution. God’s will is greater than that: He wants us to have a new attitude about sin. He wants us to no longer desire to sin. Knowing our flesh, God helps us with that. His grace continues! Unlike most churches, God doesn’t take us into His household and forgets us; He is always there with Fatherly advice and Divine assistance!

I’ve written about the difference between a salvation experience and born again. The second birth or regeneration is discarding the old selfish attitude for a new reverent appreciative one. A new attitude that I want to do things God’s Way, not my way. Regeneration is that change in attitude to diminish oneself and elevate God just as the Hebrews did with the poisonous snakes in the wilderness in Moses’ time.

Before Moses lifted Jesus up, the Hebrews tried to kill the snakes on their own to no avail; and  they died. When they diminished themselves and looked up at Jesus on the “cross”, they returned to God His Purpose: to guide and protect- to keep them safe. Their attitude changed from I am in control to God is totally in control. All they needed to DO is trust Jesus. All we need to DO ourselves is trust in Jesus. It is that new attitude which is saving. God didn’t expect the Hebrews to hone their skills to kill the fiery darts of the snakes; He only asked that they trust in Him. (They put on the whole armor of God.)

The attitude that trusting one time is sufficient for salvation will allow the dragon to devour. Trusting must be persevering. When one gets the attitude that I’ve trusted once, that is enough, Satan is half-way there to devouring those with that attitude. Christians must continue trusting God. They must keep the faith: “By grace you are saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves; it is the gift from God” (Ephes 2:8). If salvation was only for the present time, trusting that one time would be enough.  Salvation is at the end of life, and faith must endure to the end to be saved. 

Perhaps the reader can now see the difference: born again and salvation are not the same thing. Regeneration is a one-time event during life, and salvation is a one-time event at death (for some). In between, God keeps the faithful safe. No one can ever be “unsaved” but they can indeed return to unsafety! In fact, the word “unsaved” does not even exist because it would contradict itself!

The point is that doing things for merit has no efficacy for salvation but having a change of attitude from coercion to willingness is saving.

Time of Salvation

     Prophecy validates truth. Some claim that the "man" Jesus" merely acted out prophetic events. If that was so, then how did he get others to act out their parts? How did Jesus get soldiers to gamble for his clothes and not break his bones as normal both in fulfillment of prophecy? Logic supports Jesus's godhood. Prophecy validates that Jesus is God who appeared on earth to save mankind!
     Furthermore, Christ warned his followers that they would be persecuted for his namesake. That is true. It is the world against righteousness, and that hatred will become more intensive as it lingers to the end. Finally, Christians will be beheaded for trusting in Jesus. On the other hand, God always promised to keep his people safe if they had faith. Isaiah spoke of the protection that all true Christians will have at salvation:

In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in... Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth... Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. (Isa 26:1-2, 15, 19)

     "That day" is sometime in the future. We see from the passages that the future event is when dead men will live and their bodies rise with his. Of course, Jesus's name is not mentioned, but the event is. In the New Testament that same event is mentioned again:

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:15-17)

     Theologians call that event "the rapture"; it means to snatch up. The dead and living in Christ will be snatched up and escorted to Heaven to be with "the Lord" (Jesus) forever. Paul referred to this event as awakened from asleep.  The dead have no conscience but the spirit does. It is the human soul. The body sleeps in the grave and is awakened and rejoined with the soul. Afterward, the Christian is glorified, having incorruptible flesh. That event is also spoken of:

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom 8:10-11).

     Thus, awakened from asleep is when the dead shall have quickened (alive) bodies.  To be direct, Christians will be resurrected from the dead just as Christ was. When Isaiah wrote his words long ago, he saw the general resurrection of Christians! Because Isaiah saw that and Paul saw the same rapture, I have great faith that I will be resurrected and glorified! Prophecy reinforces my belief!
     I was talking with a Muslim one day who was doing a medical procedure. I told him about prophecy and that it revealed truth before it happened. The procedure only took about fifteen minutes but he questioned me further about prophecy. I believe that like Agrippa, he was almost persuaded. He asked where he could learn more. I got his phone number and passed it along to my pastor. The preacher never followed up, and I failed my responsibility to take the gospel to the world. Almost persuaded is not enough and this man may be destined to Hell because I failed to dress and keep God's "trees".
    Referring back to the verses from Isaiah, it is apparent that salvation is for those raptured - both those dead in Christ and living for Christ at that time. Hence, salvation for most of us (the norm) will be at death. Our souls will immediately go to Heaven to be reunited later with our bodies. If you remember the miracle of the dead girl, she died until Jesus revived her, and her spirit returned (Luke 8:55). With her, scripture says that she had just been asleep. That is not physical sleep but without conscience, or being unconscious. We all fear death but it is only the body waiting on resurrection or death. Hence, the second death is what people should fear!
    Isaiah also says that "salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." It appears that before ultimate salvation with walls and bulwarks, God keeps people is safety. Walls and bulwarks are fortifications around glorified Christians, to keep make safe from the Devil (salvation) after death comes and relieves them of danger. What is the danger? That they will perish in Hell. Salvation is from Hell, and that event does not happen until the time of physical death. Salvation or victory will come when those who "keepeth the truth" and enter in. Into what? Heaven with it's city with strong walls. 
    We find from Job chapter one that he was kept safe by a hedge which God had built around him for protection. It was not walls and bulwarks but a hedge. That hedge is safety, and Job was as safe from death as was Adam and Eve in the Garden which seems to have been surrounded by a hedge of protection. The Serpent could not kill the two there, only create chaos with them, That's what they did with Job. The Serpent slung his fiery darts at Job, and the whole armor of God protected him (a hedge not walls and bulwarks; the City of God will have walls whereas the Garden surely was hedged.)
     Just as Adam and Eve left the safety of the Garden and was exposed to sin, Job could have as well. As a Christian "nation" as Isaiah calls us Christians,  we too can leave the hedge of safety. However, after the rapture, salvation will have walls and bulwarks. Christ snatched Christians there from death. Satan can no longer snatch them away! Death is the time when all people's decision process ends. They go to sleep from consciousness. Those who are dead have made their decision either by choice or default. Isaiah says that salvation are for those who trust in the Lord by "keeping the truth". Indeed, Isaiah knew that it is the truth which sets us free (John 8:32).
    What is the truth which Isaiah shares? That there will be a general resurrection of the dead and a taking away to Heaven for the living. Isaiah validates that there is life after death. I believe in salvation -  the resurrection and glorification - because Isaiah and Paul did. Not only they but many others. Jesus believed in his own resurrection and it happened! I have strong faith because truth throughout the Bible has continuity. Prophecy increases my faith. It can yours as well.