The Conscience

     Everyone has one but many have learned to ignore theirs. I'm referring to the conscious. Science, generally, ignores what cannot be seen as non-existent, but if psychology is truly a science, but it is not, they acknowledge that which cannot be seen. In that they do, psychology falls into the field of religion: "The service and worship of God or the supernatural" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).Of course, psychology does not propagate the notion of a god, but does the supernatural or things unseen. Since faith is trusting in things unseen, it follows that psychology is a religion because it requires faith.
     The conscious is taken to be a natural process of making decisions according to one's own morality. No one knows what the conscience is, but most agree that people have a conscience because they have experienced it. Some believe that the conscience is an instinct, some a process, others a stage in moral development, and for others that it is merely the knowledge of good and evil, which is something that the soul acquires. To be blunt, no one truly knows what the conscience is, but to operationalize that unknown entity, psychologists attempt to measure it by emotions and behaviors. Regardless, because the conscience is not material, it is unseen.
     The Judeo-Christian religion points toward the first, or original sin, as the time when the conscience was acquired from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Other religions have their own versions, but many acknowledge the concept of an unseen existence whose purpose is decision-making according to people's moral codes. Religions come from the idea that moral codes are from the respective gods, or even the lack of a god. The latter is humanism - the ethical code of human beings coming from the critical thinking of individuals.
     Ironically, that is the religious viewpoint as well. Religions acknowledge another god. Humanism makes man a god because he is the one who does the critical thinking, notwithstanding that cognition must have had an origin outside oneself!  The original of critical thinking was the origin of the conscience, and came from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was endowment with critical thinking, that religionists call the "conscience."
     The psychological viewpoint that the conscience is instinctual somewhat agrees with the religionists version, which it should, because psychology is inevitably another religion. Why so? It is the study of the soul! The human soul is from the doctrine of God. The apostle Paul understood that philosophy, the precursor to psychology, had an "unknown god" (Acts 17:23) that they do not attribute to JHWH (God).
     In Christianity, the conscience came into existence with the new knowledge of acquired from the Tree of Knowledge. Before that, Adam and Eve had been innocent as they were both created in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and that everything about them was "good" (Gen 1:31). Being created in the image of God, mankind needed a vessel for God's Holy Spirit. Only mankind was endowed with a soul; the animal kingdom are without souls.
     God's Holy Spirit existed in the void because he was without beginning nor end (Rev 22:13) because God Is Existence (Exod 3:14). Likewise, the container for the human existence was always there: "He (God) hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world' (Ephes 1:4). Thus, something about mankind existed before creation! Maybe it was our potential, but whatever it is, theologians call it the "soul" and psychologists the "psyche" - Latin for the soul. I look at the human soul as the container for God's Holy Spirit because he placed His Spirit within us before the creation as he already loved us so!
     It appears from the scriptural standpoint that the human soul pre-existed the creation of our bodies. I had my soul before I was created (born) and even as Adam was created. Adam received his body immediately, and much later I received mine. Jesus, I believe, referred to his soul as a cup (Mat 26:39). A cup would also be symbolic of our soul. (It is also proposed that Jesus's "cup" was his purpose. It can be both. We'll save that for another day.)
     Mankind, before the original sin, was good. The Tree of  Knowledge provided evil in their body of knowledge. Good was created, but the knowledge of evil was acquired. It was acquired from the Serpent (Devil, Lucifer, Satan).  After acquisition, evil became genetic (Rom 5:12), and as such is now instinctual and is acted out emotionally and behaviorally, and of course spiritually.
     Immediately upon the first sin, Adam and Eve judged themselves guilty. It would seem that since the forbidden tree was also for the knowledge of "good", that although Satan endowed them with evil, God had endowed them with the knowledge of good or discernment at the same time. Hence, the origin of moral and immoral codes which requires a conscience. I think of the conscience as the relief valve for the soul. When iniquity builds up in stress against goodness, guilt ensues. The conscience to regain spiritual and emotional healthiness  requires relief. Only obedience to the moral code provides that relief. For Christians, that is doing God's will just as back in Paradise, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Mat 6:10).
    Mankind's happiness depends on their will harmonizing with God's will. The conscience measures the disharmony and attempts to correct it. Pleasure is the blockage in the moral code which makes man's will in disharmony with God's. The pleasure principle from both psychology and Christianity, came from the Tree of Knowledge, short-circuits the conscience, and too much will disengage it. Psychology calls that "psychotic" and Christianity "reprobate" (Rom 1:29).
    I have written on the human "will" before. That is a human faculty which again exists but cannot be measured, although it can be observed in the behaviors of people.

   

Tribute

     Tribute is payment to a feared adversary to maintain peace. The nation receiving tribute are bullies, and those nations who pay tribute are victimized. Weak victims cater to the whims of tyrants to prevent bloodshed. The outcome of paying tribute is economic bankruptcy, and when that time comes, the victim is destroyed because there is no more tribute. The end result of weak people and nations is that they are destroyed. Usually, the amount of tribute required for safety bankrupts the nation who pays it just as the victim of bullies eventually runs out of fear money. Finally, the victim must stand up to bullies on even less equal footing; they fight hard with little or no wealth.
     King Sennacherib was coercing Judah and King Hezekiah to submit or face the consequences. His representative Rabshakeh dealt harshly with Hezekiah's emissaries (Eliakim, Shebna and Joah) in their own language to make it clear, do not pay heed to Hezekiah's trust in his God. The message from Sennacherib was, "Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria" (Isa 36:14-15).
     That was a bully tactic! Rabsheketh delivered the message that Hezekiah was deceiving them, that their God was weak, and they would surely die. Think on that; it was the flipside of the Serpent's deception technique. As an emissary of Satan, Sennacherib knew how to deceive quite well! In ancient times, war was most often about whose God is stronger. Sennacherib, putting up himself as supreme, actually made himself stronger than Hezekiah's God. He proposed to the representatives of Hezekiah not to depend on God to deliver them from defeat!
     The name Jesus means "Yahweh delivers", and Yahweh is God. Sennacherib was challenging Jesus. Hezekiah knew God first hand, and as such, he knew who "God delivers" actually was. Hezekiah was depending on faith in Jesus to deliver him from his enemies! In 2 Kings 18:17-19:7 Hezekiah stopped the bullying because Isiah delivered him an oracle of salvation. He quit paying tribute to Sennacherib and started paying more tribute to God!
     At first, Hezekiah was depending on the work of his own hands to deliver him from evil (tribute), but after hearing out Isaiah, Hezekiah quit paying tribute to their king and did so to his own God. Of course, Sennacherib had bullied Hezekiah into paying money, and all that God required was to pay him love and respect! Hezekiah was deficient in trusting the Lord, and all he need to do was put his trust in Almighty God and away from his own devices. Hezekiah, for the safety of his people, diminished himself and elevated God. That change in attitude is the same as what Jesus called "born again" using the example of Moses and the brass serpent. Jesus could just as easily used Hezekiah's change in attitude as the example. During his reign, Hezekiah was blessed for his trust in the Lord. He kept the Abrahamic Covenant and so did God. That was a covenant of grace.
     Hezekiah didn't deserve  prosperity. He had paid tribute to another king, but by trusting in the Lord, he was redeemed the penalty of perishing, just as born again saves us from perishing. Sennacherib, then, was a type of Satan, and Isaiah a type of Christ. Hezekiah represents those of us who have changed our allegiance from the world to God, from works of our own to trust in God!

The Symbolism of the Brazen Serpent

      The one "must be" in the gospels is to be born again, so it is imperative to know how to be that. I started to write do that but it is more be that! What is that? Be persuaded:

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31).

    The implication here is that if Moses could not persuade the Hebrews with salvation from the fiery serpents, thus preventing those bitten from dying, how could raising one from the dead persuade them? Regeneration, or being born again, is persuaded that Jesus saves. That event in time is also referred to as conversion (Mat 13:15). Regeneration changes the attitude of those who trust Jesus for salvation.  The old creature is changed into a new creation, existing on earth as will be done in heaven (Mat 6:10).  God persuaded the Hebrews who were bitten by fiery serpents and lived (Those who were not persuaded died.)

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:7, 14-15).

     My first thought, as most theologians, was that the serpent which Moses lifted up on the pole represented Jesus because, as scripture says, "the son of man be lifted up." However, it was not a symbol of Jesus on his pole (symbolic of the cross) but a lifeless brass-colored serpent on the pole. My own interpretation is that the bronze serpent on the pole represented the Serpent on his own tree - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Serpent should have died in the Garden, but instead Adam and Eve spiritually died. They were "bitten" by the first fiery  (cunning serpent) which was Satan manifested as a snake.
     Who and what saved Adam and Eve? God provided a lamb which died, shed blood, and provided the covering for sin (Gen 3). How do I know it was a lamb? Because Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:36). It had to be a lamb!  Jesus - the Word - saved Adam and Eve, and it was by the shedding of innocent blood (Heb 9:22), and we also discover that it must be by the blood of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Thus, back in the Garden Jesus provided the blood to save Adam and Eve from spiritual death. As Creator, the lamb was His blood to be shed!
      We must look at Jesus's purpose. God became incarnated to save mankind from Satan. Therefore, Satan must die! Genesis 3:15 is that covenant which God made with Adam which is that Jesus would someday kill the Serpent. Well, the lifeless bronze serpent on the pole is not symbolic of Jesus, but trusting that Jesus would kill the Serpent to save mankind. As such, the bronze (brazen) serpent, shining like red in the sun, represented Jesus's blood covering the dead Serpent - the future death of Satan! Moses understood that as well:

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Num 21:9)

     The Hebrews, like Adam and Eve, did not understand death. Adam and Eve ate, yet lived. On the other hand, they were sent outside the hedge of safety where they physically died. With the Hebrews and Moses, they lifted up Jesus, and they too lived for a short time, only to die in the wilderness. They failed to understand that when they looked up at the lifeless serpent, it was not physical  death which from which they were saved, but spiritual death. The Serpent was not dead yet but they looked on him as good as dead because they obeyed God when they beheld the dead "Devil" on his "tree."
     That was never unusual. Victors throughout history often beheaded their enemies and held them high on some type of staff. The Hebrews, although still surrounded and bitten by vipers, trusted God for safety. They indeed were safe from those snakes, and safe from perishing eternally. That's what Jesus was talking about!
     As a Christian, I know that I will die, but trust that Jesus will save me in the end. Why that faith? Because I know the rest of the story - Jesus kills the Serpent and provides eternal safety for my soul! By trusting that Jesus has the power to overcome the Serpent, Jesus has overcome the world (tribulations):

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).

     As Prince of the Air, Satan is pretender to God's throne:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isa 14:12-15)

     Isaiah saw the Serpent high in the clouds, and yet brought down to Hell. That's the same reason Moses held the snake high on the pole. He was not high and mighty (in the clouds) but was crucified on his own cross, so to speak! Isaiah is a Christian because he saw Lucifer killed, knew who would kill him, and that he would be saved from Lucifer's cunning, which scripture refers to as fiery darts (Ephes 6:16).
     The lifeless serpent represented Jesus's purpose - to die himself so as to vicariously crucify Satan. Calvary did not kill God; it killed the Serpent. Satan was as good as dead although in God's time that would come quickly. Christians look forward to that time!
     If we don't then are we truly Christians? Looking at Satan crucified on his own "tree" is confidence in the purpose of Jesus's own death. That confidence is regeneration. It's when the snakelike person becomes Christlike! Trusting Jesus rather than trusting the Satan. Original sin was when Adam and Eve trusted the Serpent. The vision of the Serpent's head crushed was what saved Adam and Eve. That too is what will save Christians if they trust Jesus to kill the Serpent. It is no wonder that we must trust that Satan was the one who died on the cross. Jesus had the victory, and we only wait for the sting of death for the Serpent!
     The bronze serpent on the pole showed that the Adamic Covenant would be fulfilled - Satan would die, and the Word would become flesh for that purpose. Do you believe that? Are you now persuaded? If so, welcome into the Kingdom of God!
     On the other hand, with time, the Hebrews lost focus on the symbolism of the serpent and pole. It became the object of worship. Righteous King Hezekiah saw the heresy. The Jews were worshiping the created rather than the Creator. The serpent and pole must be destroyed:

He (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan ("a mere piece of brass"). He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. (2 Kings 18:3-5).

    The Jews had made an icon out of the brazen serpent. It had become the source of their faith. When Moses held it up it was then a mere piece of brass, but those who lived looked at it differently. They saw the dead Serpent, and Jesus the victor!  Like the Hebrews, many Christians hold up the cross as an icon - a mere piece of brass, silver, or even gold.  It was not the cross which offered the gift of salvation (from the Serpent by the way) but what happened on the cross. Perhaps it's time that we break into pieces the cross, not in reality, but spiritually. Some have done that with the broken cross but not for Jesus's sake, but man's purposes. The Christian Cross is the True Cross of Peace. The broken cross mankind's version of peace without God/

Latin Cross (Christian Symbols: Thougthco)

Return to Paradise

     In today's commentary, we can see who wins! My daughter recently asked me about the Islamic terrorists. I told her flat out, they win... then added.... for a spell. For you regular readers, I have previously written that it is not the Roman church that is the harlot Babylon, or the end of time Church; it is many in Christiandom who will come to accept the real "harlot" - Jerusalem - of which Babylon is symbolic. I'm not referring to Judaism but Islam which has fornicated on Zion.

     Zion, although applied to all of Israel, once specifically meant Jerusalem and Mount Zion, or the Temple Mount where the Islamic harlot-house now stands. 

     After the Great Tribulation comes Christ's millennial reign on earth. (Theologians believe that Heavenly Jerusalem will come down for merely 1000 years. It seems to me that it will endure forever.) Heaven comes down to its place of origin which is Jerusalem. Being the very "foundation of peace", Jerusalem is surely where the Garden of Eden once was. New Jerusalem, or the City of God, will replace the harlot with a clean and pure city. Jerusalem will be God's return to Paradise! Some of us will be there with Him. Isaiah the prophet saw that time, and did quite a good job of conveying what the new "garden" will be:

They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isa 35:2, 4-5, 8-10)

     The Lord Jesus will return with a vengeance. He will clean up the harlot Babylon, surely back to its foundation, so that Holy Ground can be the foundation of the City of God on earth. Vengeance will be taking his "bride" back so to speak, at least the wedding place! The Lord will replace the "harlot" city with a pure and holy one. Why would he do that?
     To "recompense the faithful".  We know from scripture that God will prepare for us Christians a room in his mansion (John 14:2). That room will be in New Jerusalem on the foundation of old Jerusalem, or earthly Paradise. Then Isaiah describes the way to get there: It's by a highway, or the Way, and that Way is "the way of holiness". Isaiah spoke of Jesus his Lord:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

     Obviously, Jesus is the Way to Zion or Paradise which is referred to as Heaven. The "highway" is the "narrow way" through the straight gate", or the Doctrine of Christ.  (Heb 6:1). Isaiah was describing what Jesus said centuries later! That Doctrine is "the way of holiness" which is toward Christian perfection (again in Heb 6:1).
     Of course, perfection will not be achieved on earth but it is the Way toward it. Perfection is obtained through glorification, or living in the presence of God. Christians will be perfect in Zion. How so? "Fools shall not enter therein" and besides that "no lion or beast shall be there." We know from scripture that the beast is Satan, and the lions are his demons (Nahum 2:13). The king of the jungle is of course the beast - the lion king Devil (1 Pet 5:8).

     Mankind will be saved when the Devil is destroyed as Christians live safely in Zion. "The ransomed of the Lord will return." That is of utmost importance! Regeneration - or born again - is a return to the Designers intent - man in the image of God. A re-genesis occurs as the Garden returns to its foundation, and those redeemed by Jesus re-enter the gate, which we know is guarded by cherubim (Gen 3:29) to keep the unclean from entering.(Isa 35:8).
     "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion."  That passage refers to those who are redeemed by Jesus. Of course, God's death on the cross was for everyone, but when a ransom is offered, the recipient must accept it. Those who are ransomed of the Lord, are those who work the gift of faith because it is by faith that Christians are saved (Luke 18:42). Zion is the very place of salvation, and it is on earth! If you remember the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Mat 6:10), that's what Jesus was talking about; these very passages from the Book of Isaiah. (Salvation is eternal, thus my belief that New Jerusalem will be on earth for eternity.)
     Christians like to think of us going to some invisible place somewhere in the cosmos. That is temporary. When all is said and done, our home will be on earth. The story ends with Heaven on earth. For those of us who like where we are, this is to where we shall return - exactly the same place Adam was made from dust is where our "dust" shall return (Gen 3:19). 
     We know that our dust will return to the grave, but that is temporary. The dead in Christ shall rise. Those who are redeemed shall have their dust removed form earth. However, God said that it shall return. Possibly, it is to Zion that the dust finally returns. Perhaps we don't think deeply enough that when God says things, it happens specifically as written. 
    Jewish literature identifies the foundation stone under the Dome of the Rock as the navel of the world, and the creation place of Adam. It seems God planned that mankind return to our origins all along. He never created Paradise for just a short time, but a place to exist forever.
    I mentioned that when Zion comes down after the beast is destroyed, that mankind will finally be saved. That is corporate salvation for mankind for no one ever again will be in danger. The beast, his caliphate, and their god will be destroyed and the Temple will be ready for use again. Personal salvation is when Christians are no longer in danger. Life is tribulation but for those who live for Christ death is gain (Phil 1:21). Death is the commencement of salvation, and rapture a trip to the heavenly Zion.

Compromise

     Compromise has positive connotations. It is considered an indicator of mutual respect. Compromise is a tool of those who are at odds, settling disagreements by making concessions. The pre-requisite for compromise is that each of those in disagreement hold their position as the correct one.
     The most notable compromise was the Missouri Compromise of 1820 between those in congress who favored slavery in new territories and those opposed to it. As a result of that compromise, Missouri became a slave-holding state and Massachusetts's a free state, It seemed to be a good compromise because all other territories in the Louisiana Purchase would be free states.
    There were two diverse opinions: (1) those who hated the institution of slavery, and (2) those who held slaves as property. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually held that slaves were indeed property in the Dred Scott Decision.) Slavery is inhumane, but the abolitionists relented and slavery remained legal in Missouri. On the other hand, slaves were legal property but only in slave states. Both sides were firm in their beliefs, but when opinions are so divergent one, the other, or both are wrong opinions.
     Let's assume that either opinion is correct. The outcome of the Missouri Compromise was that both factions did something outside their belief systems: (1) abolitionists, believing slavery was wrong, allowed slavery in Missouri, and (2) property holders in the other territories gave up their right to own "property'. In hindsight, most humane people fail to understand the idea of humans as property, but it must be remembered, slavery had been an ancient institution. (Look how the inhuman abortion industry in a few short years has become institutionalized. Then consider 4000 or so years in addition to that!)
     Compromise is two or more parties agreeing to do what all sides believe is wrong. In other words, compromise is negative, but is presented as positive. The abolitionists were considered radical for the times. They demanded no more slave states but agreed to one. They made their demands profound and radical. In the end, they settled for less, and when the Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of the slave-holders, they no longer compromised. They demanded and a war in which 70,000 lives were lost to support their version of right. Compromise didn't achieve anything, but only delayed war.
     In the war against abortion, pro-life people compromise with radicals. They want that no babies be killed but settle on babies in the first trimester be killed. Mark my words, there is a war going on, and the radicals are bound to win. If they fail to win by compromise, there will be killing! Life is not sacrosanct to them, and human life is disposable in their eyes.
     Socialism (aka progressivism) uses compromise to achieve their goals. With continual acts of compromise, they get closer to what they want until they are near there. When the last ounce of democracy is left, socialists then incite violence and "peaceful socialism" turns to murderous communism. Compromise is their tool to get their will. That process is "creeping socialism".
     Usually, bad things gain traction by compounded compromise. In scripture, one sin leads to another and each succeeding sin is more grievous than the one before it. Eventually, throughout history, the Kingdom of God has turned into the realm of Satan, and the houses of God into dens of iniquity. It has been a gradual process, and its conclusion is eminent. Of the seven church-types of Asia, it seems from Revelation, that only two will endure to the end. The other five will be destroyed by compromising beliefs.
     I have witnessed that in my lifetime. Early on, I was a Methodist. It struck me one day when they united, that it took compromise to unite. With year after year of compromise, many Methodist Churches are now heretical. Compromise made them that way. (I only mention them because they were once dear to me, and some of my favorite memories were with Methodists.) However, most denominations have compromised! The Church overcome the world according to the Great Commission. Instead the world has overcome the Church, and that is through compromise - parties trading off their principles in return for unity. Although unity seems to be achieved, much of the time faithful followers just leave as my family did.
     Few Christians in modern times have strong principles. Seldom are Christian soldiers out marching for Jesus. It is always the mobs who are indignant enough to march for evil. They may compromise, but knowing full-well that compromise is merely a convenient tool to grow stronger. If Christians were as principled as the world, the nation would be more Christ-like. In that Christians are peaceful, and compromise seems to be positive, it is Christians who lose ground one issue at a time.
     It has been said by Rahm Emanuel, "Don't let a crisis go to waste." Each crisis is a moment for compromise. When a crisis comes on, the mob demands profound and magnanimous action, then settle for a little less. For instance, with time, gun rights have essentially been lost until if there is a corrupt government intending to destroy our rights, we will be limited to pea shooters. Compromise will negate the second amendment. It may still be there, but be sure, it will be gutted to meaningless jargon to appease those who welcome compromise.
     The Church is everlasting. It will endure to the end. Most of the denominations will succumb to compromise. That is in scripture. Those who endure to the end, are THE Church. The key to endurance is not ever to compromise what's right for feeble attempts for peace. Jesus did not come to bring peace but dissension.(Mat 10:34). We are not to compromise but to dissent. At one time, "dissenter" had positive connotations because those who stood firm against established denominations would not go along with their ritualistic charades.
     It is better to die for what's right than live according to wrong. Compromise causes death. Eve surely thought, this one sin won't hurt. Instead with one deviation from God's will - mankind compromising the tenets of God - killed her, Adam, and mankind spiritually.

Prophecy Validated by Gospel

    When I was a child, Isaiah's foretelling of Jesus' birth was quoted so often that I thought Isaiah was there! I have written below what Isaiah saw, and compared it to what Luke wrote:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14)

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

     First off, Isaiah saw his vision about 700 BC.  The angel told Mary the same "story" about 5 BC, and the story came true about nine months later. Isaiah prophesied. Prophets are aware of things long before they happen.
     Time is not a barrier to prophecy. Jesus himself said that he would come soon (Rev 22:7):  "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Jesus even referred to prophecy because the Book of Revelation is end-of-time prophecy.
    How long is quickly? "One day is as a thousand years" (2 Pet 3:8). That may be rhetorical because God is not tuned to earthy time. But let us say that is an equation, just to test: 1 day = 1 thousand years, so if the time (t) is 700 years what is "T" (cap T is God's Time). Well, T=24 hrs/1000 yrs x T/700 yrs; T= 16 hrs and 48 minutes. Isaiah's prophecy came true in less than seventeen hours in God's time!
    Isaiah also beheld Jesus's death:

And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. (Isa 25:7-8)

    And Paul reported on what already occurred, just as Isaiah prophesied:

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor 15:54).

     What are the odds that anyone could accurately predict Jesus's birth and death? The odds are very low, but there are at a minimum of hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament which accurately foretell New Testament events! The Jesus Film Project, on their webpage (Jan 4, 2018) presents 55 events in Christ's life which came about.
     Some say that Jesus merely re-enacted what had been written. In other words, Jesus died to present a fake gospel? What would be his motive in doing that? And how would he fake being born in Bethlehem as prophesied (Micah 5:2)? Zechariah prophesied that Jesus would be sold out for thirty pieces of silver (Zech 11:12-13). How did Jesus get Judas and the Pharisees to negotiate those terms, then get Judas to kill himself in shame?
     Oh, yes: Jesus surely asked the centurions not to break his bones (Exod 12:46), as was the custom, but pierce him in the side which was not!  Did Jesus really give instructions to those who crucified him in order that prophecy would be fulfilled? Death by crucifixion was not the method in David's time but the psalmist foresaw Jesus on the cross: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm 22:16).  Surely Jesus said, do not capitate me, but nail me to a cross until dead! Of course, Pilate would do his bidding (sic). (That scenario is silliness; it was not staged but planned and prophesied.)
     I could go on and on, but an absurdity are the centurions discussing the part they were to play: Oh, now, we should be gambling for his clothing. Who's got the dice? Ernest... did you remember the dice? Of course, that was prophesied years before, and the centurions did gamble for Jesus's clothes.
    I am not a gambler, but if I was, what are the odds that Jesus would be born of a virgin just as predicted? Then to be preceded by John the Baptist? Even two events are astronomically improbable, but just look at all fifty-five presented by The Jesus Film Project from Scripture. Surely, when Paul was convicting Agrippa, by the use of statistics and probability, the king was almost persuaded (Acts 26:28)! (Many in the New Testament were persuaded by prophecy from the Old Testament.)
     Well, Jesus persuaded me! He validated what the prophets "saw" long before they saw it. Perhaps they saw Jesus's life in a vision; that could be, but better is that Jesus gave them the gospel story in his own words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

    Where was Jesus in the beginning. He was the Voice in the Garden who walked in the cool of the day. He was there restoring Adam and Eve to their original condition - performing a re-genesis just as he does now. The reason Old Testament prophecy is so accurate is because salvation was planned. Jesus was there informing godly people of the Plan. It's not that the prophets necessarily "saw" God incarnated, but that the Word - Jesus - provided the gospel to them directly. Jesus was speaking to those righteous men about his purpose to come. Jesus was born to die, and died to live, thus providing death to those who live, and life to those who die!
    I believe the gospel because the prophets believed it. It's not really a faith thing, but logical. Why would I not believe in Jesus and that he is Creator and Savior if the numbers failed to validate that? The prophets could not possibly all be excellent liars, because their "lies" were all the same, and they all came about. The "players" in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection could not be play-acting even with Isaiah's script. People are not that reliable, and definitely not that good of actors!
     The apostles would not have been willing to die to purvey a lie. In what acting school would they have been trained? They died for Jesus. Would they have died for a lie? I think not! Jesus died for us, would all those apostles have died for us if Jesus wasn't truth? I think not. You see, my faith is based on truth. People just won't go to the pyre, cross, or sword for the sake of narrative (lies). They died for the truth.
     Probability and statistics support the creation story, and also supports the gospel story. How could God save us - "Yeshua delivers" - if God could not create us? Be realistic! We did not just happen. Face the truth, or you will die quickly. As I have shown, maybe not today, as Adam and Eve failed to understand death, but quickly in God's time!
    As a side note, I accept the timing in sacred literature. I believe that eternal time is divided into eight days: the first six "days" in which God works on our behalf, and on the seventh "day", God "rests" which seems to be Jesus's Millennial reign. The eighth "day" is longer and is eternal. Each of those seven "days" are a thousand years according to both sacred literature and Holy Scripture.
     I also accept that the Adamic Covenant will end in 5-1/2 "days" or 5500 years. That is when Adam will arise from the grave and be glorified - brought into God's presence again. Today is 5779. Adam lived to be 930 years. 930 plus 5500 is 6430. That is the "sixth" day on God's calendar. 6430 - 5779 = 651. Perhaps, though, that the 5500 years covenant was from the time Adam sinned. Using Holy scripture and the ages and times of the births of Adam's children, Adam must have sinned before he was 130 ( Bodie Hodge; Answers in Genesis;  April 20, 2010). The, 651 - 130 = 521. In other words, within the next 521 years we can expect the Rapture of those dead and alive in Christ, but it could be tomorrow. That is 1/2 "day" in God's time, and indeed is quickly as the Revelation of John indicates!
     Note that I do not predict neither the day nor the hour but the timing. Jesus will come as a thief does in the night, and it shall be as in the days of Noah. I have written in my book, Killing God: The Tree of Life, an excerpt from sacred literature how it will be in those days. The point is that we must be sober and vigilant as if it will be quickly!

The Appeal of Socialism

      Most young people worry me. If you're young, don't quit reading or turn me off for I too was once young. Older people called me "young and naïve". Wisdom, similar to economic affluence, is time dependent. Most of the younger set endeavor to live at the same level of prosperity as the older generation does. It took time for us to accumulate wealth, and likewise to accumulate wisdom.
     Intelligence and wisdom are not to be confused. Wisdom is the intelligent use of knowledge. Those who are uneducated can be wise as well as younger people if their body of knowledge is great. Older people have experienced hardship and self-sacrifice to support those younger than themselves. My own children don't remember, for instance, the eight days in college where I was without even a slice of bread. Neither do they remember that nobody paid for my college education, but I paid my own way by hard word by not even borrowing. However, this commentary is not about me; it is about those who came after me. Even I am far removed from the Great Depression which both my parents experienced. I admire them for their own sacrifice on my behalf and my six siblings.
     One of my favorite sayings is my own: "Poverty is a great motivator for success!" Of course, I was more successful on paper than were my parents because I was further removed from deep poverty. On the other hand, I was less successful at raising my children, and one reason, was that they never experienced poverty. They were born into an affluent home. I was molded into the image of my father who I admired. My children are very different than me. Why so? They never had my poverty experience. That doesn't make them awful, but with a lesser body of knowledge. They are naïve to the real world; not entirely so, but more naïve than I am, and I was more naïve than Dad was.
     Poverty would destroy the ideas of most of the younger generation. They could not deal with constant hunger and many times horrible unrelenting pain. My most profound memory of my childhood was continual horrible toothaches. There was no money to even get them pulled, and we never even heard of filling teeth because a dentist expense was beyond the dream. I finally paid for my dental work by my own hard work. Nobody did it for me. I was not entitled to painless teeth, but I recognize that hard work paid for a relief from pain.
    I have been fairly well self-sufficient since I was about six when I started working all day long in the tomato fields to buy my own school clothes. I never dreamed of, nor even considered, spending my hard own money on toys. Toys were for those born wealthy. It is that attitude which I contribute to a somewhat successful life!
     Socialism appeals to three types of people: (1) Those who only marginally escaped poverty,  (2) those who never experienced poverty, and (3) those who use socialism for personal gain. None of those groups have a comprehensive body of knowledge. However, many are intelligent, even too smart, but lack wisdom. They were seldom required to apply wisdom, not using their intelligence in a productive manner. Just as Adam and Eve, who were extremely intelligent because they were made in God's image, young people have intelligence as well. Adam and Eve had a limited body of knowledge, but to gain increase they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree - discernment between good and evil. Evil disguises good. Adam and Eve became blind to truth; seeking more knowledge, they decreased in wisdom. Even before they ate their naivete showed - they believed the liar Serpent!
     Satan manifested himself as a snake. Adam and Eve even though they believed it was a snake, still thought themselves wise.  They ignored the warning God gave, do not eat or you will die, and ate anyhow, thinking themselves smarter and wiser than God.
     They were naïve because they had never experienced pain, malnourishment, nor ever seen death before. Why should they care of they died if they knew not what death was? How could they know the consequences of sin - hard work and pain - if they had never before experienced pain nor hard work? They were naïve because they weren't experienced, and the Serpent found it easy to beguile them!
     Have you ever thought, why were they even listening to a snake, and why were they not more in wonderment as to how a snake was talking?  They trusted their own limited knowledge and failed to ask the Author of wisdom what they should do!
     Young people have listened to serpents for many years. The educational system ceased even concealing their identity. Most of them are socialists to some degree whose "serpent" is Karl Marx. Marx knew Christianity, Judaism, and even capitalism. He knew the love of a good family, and was himself affluent. Marx was privileged from a privileged family. He had never experienced poverty, and thus was poorly trained to have the solution to poverty.
     Karl Marx, unlike the real Serpent, was naïve, but he was able to use the stupidity of those who knew poverty to his advantage. The poor working people were only pawns for Marx to see his vision come true! Was it exploitation and poverty he sought to eliminate, or was his intent to gain respect, money, and power?
     The failed Marxist systems of the world have demonstrated time and time again, that the poor only make moderate if any gains while the leadership becomes wealthy dictators. Socialism is merely the restoration of feudalism under a different name. Marx, as did the Serpent, used his cunning to tempt the masses to eat of the fruit of the forbidden "tree".  His "tree" was godless socialism, wherein the government became the god, and Marxism the antithesis of the Law of God which Paul called "the law of sin".
     Marxism is the written law of sin. It is contrary to the written Law of God. Marx was one of the first to put the law of sin on paper. Marx constructed socialism in the same manner as the Serpent did his ideology from the Tree of Knowledge. The Serpent made his fruit sound good. The tree did have good fruit - knowledge, but its bad fruit had never been discarded - evil. The problem Adam had with the fruit of the tree, was lack of discernment; the Serpent misled them which fruit was good and which was evil. It seems they ate of the wrong fruit. God had warned them because he made them innocent. They had no knowledge of evil!
     Young people, especially today, are chocked full of knowledge. What they know seems good to them! On the other hand, for the last fifty years mostly bad fruit has been eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. Young people don't know that socialism is evil because their teachers have deceived them. They teach mostly about the benefits of socialism without mentioning the consequences of socialism. Young people tend to favor socialistic ideas because that is all they know! Because most everyone is now nourished from cradle to grave, they perceive their prosperity as coming from socialism. They don't seem to care that the financing from socialism comes from the hard work of capitalism, and that someday the "good fruit" will all be consumed by those whose knowledge comes from the evil fruit.
     Socialism promises only "good fruit". Satan did much he same as he tantalized our ancestors to eat:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen 3:4-6).

    The Serpent says, eat of the pleasing fruit and you won't die. Marx says, partake of socialism and you won't die... you will prosper. The appeal of the forbidden tree was nourishment, pleasantry, and wisdom. The New Testament refers to those as the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Marx, just as the  Serpent, inevitably promised the same things. In fact, socialism seemingly allows the masses to be the "gods", thinking they are really in charge when they are not! Socialism rewards the people with crumbs as if they are dogs while the princes of socialism live as kings. Just look at the $20,000,000 worth of Nancy Pelosi and compare to your crumbs. Who are the deceivers? The one-percenters who present themselves as guardians of the masses! Their wealth comes from the poverty of the people, all the while teasing the poor and downtrodden with great fruit from their evil tree!
     Socialism appeals to naïve people because it appears to be good and pleasing to the eye. People lust after what they don't have. Socialism's main tool for deception is envy - coveting what belongs to others. Marxists don't care because in socialism God has no role. The trust of naïve people lies in the leaders and the government, all of which numerous times, have proved themselves as untrustworthy. Marxists say that religion is the opiate of the people. Indeed, socialist leaders are the opiates of the duped!
     Remember, that to Adam and Eve, the fruit of the forbidden tree looked good and was pleasing to consider for nourishment. The Serpent is somewhat wisdom deprived but is cunning. The same goes for Marxists. They use their limited knowledge to outwit naïve young people. Millennials... you are no match for the Devil nor his emissaries. They are taught to be as lions and to devour the naïve. Be sober and vigilant so as not to be devoured (1 Pet 5:8).
    My warning is not of death in this world but spiritual death - the same reason God warned Adam and Eve. The end of time government as described in the New Testament is called the Great Tribulation. Without going into detail, scripture describes the first 3-1/2 years as socialism, even seeming to be Christian socialism. However, the last 3-1/2 years is full-fledged Marxist socialism - communism. The transition from Marxist socialism to communism is only the amount of force which is required. In the first half, the government and church uses merely deception. In the latter half they behead those who will fail to understand what socialism and anti-Christianity truly are! Buyer beware of wolves in sheep clothing. Young people, be sober and vigilant to deception because you are the easiest deceived!