Flood of Noah: The Rest of the Story

     I am troubled. Scripture is easy to understand. Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:7). There are only three "must be's" in the New Testament and all pertain to regeneration. I have attended many church denominations, and all had one thing in common: they fail to understand what Christians "must be". Like Catholics who do not believe that, to be Christians, people must be born again, most protestants don't even understand what it means! What's more, like the Jews, they fail to understand the entire Old Testament.
     Christians are generally ignorant of the meaning of God's Word. Although most understand the world, they have little understanding of Holy Scripture. It astounds me that many fail to understand the basic tenets of the Doctrine of Christ. They fail to understand that all the Bible is for instruction in being born again! The Old Testament is more than biblical stories or events; they were real things which happened which point toward regeneration. Ignorant Christians may not even know that "born again" means regeneration!
     The Hebrew people were a nation of ignorance. Although having the highest intelligence quotient (IQ) of all nationalities (an average of 116), they lived in ignorance. Why so? They fail to understand that their Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ. Not to be outdone in ignorance, many Christians fail on that point as well! Perhaps only John the Beloved of all the apostles fully understood Christ's full identity although all the apostles did somewhat. Let's read of all the gospels what only John said:

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... 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 bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1-3, 14-17)

     For those who are still spiritually ignorant, let me explain those passages: Jesus is God, was there in the beginning, and is God revealed to mankind in the flesh. If Jesus was always there, where was He? He was the Word who spoke to the prophets and Old Testament Patriarchs. They were not ignorant of that but Jews in general were. Christians are as ignorant as the Jews, failing to understand that Scripture (the Old Testament as written in the New Testament) is all about Jesus! Paul called that the mystery of Christ and the mystery of God for they are the same. Many people are as ignorant of Jesus's identity as the Jews are. Jesus is God! He referred to Himself as God numerous times when he said ego eimai (I AM). God is Jesus and Jesus is Existence for He is God in the flesh!
     The entire Old Testament is about Jesus. For instance, when God spoke to Noah about building the ark, it was the Word - Jesus - speaking to Noah. Why did He instruct Noah? To save the world. Why did He do that? "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16). Those who fail to understand that the cleansing of sin from the world and the ark is all about salvation. What was the flood and the ark really about?

… the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1 Pet 20-21)

    "The like figure" mentioned by Peter is the symbolism in the actual flooding of the world and the salvation of the world's righteous people (only eight of the entire population - a narrow path indeed) by an ark provided by God because of His grace for mankind. Peter likened that actual event to salvation, baptism, and the resurrection. That's what students of scripture should obtain from the ark story. Although it was a real physical event, it had a spiritual purpose as well. Can you not understand the mystery of Christ?

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:  To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. (Rom 16:25-27)

     Paul understood the mystery. Both he and John did clearly. All the patriarchs in the Bible understood Jesus. However, neither the Jews nor early Christians understood fully that the Old Testament is all about Jesus. Most Christians, it seems, fail to understand that! They rely on their denominations writings for learning when it is all there in Holy Scripture. Why do Christians not understand God's Word? They are spiritually ignorant due to lack of discernment! Just as Noah's ark and the flood are all about being born again (the "must be"), the condition of mankind before the flood is indicative of the way the world will be in the end.
     Do people not understand? The New Testament was revealed in the Old! Out of ignorance, Christians don't understand that. Few fail to realize that the Old Testament was not about the Law but all about the grace of Jesus. The Law was written on stone for perpetuity. It was not a coerce for those who are weak in the flesh but a lifestyle for those who love Jesus.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Tim 3:16)

     Out of ignorance is to understand that! Godliness in the Old Testament was the same as in the New. The mystery of godliness is realizing that Jesus is God in the flesh, that Jesus's spirit was one of grace, that Jesus is real, that salvation was always for everyone, and is for anyone in the world who believes. Lastly, the reward for trusting God is glorification - living in the presence of God. Knowing, believing, and trusting that is the "born again" experience described by Christ. There is only one way to Heaven and that is by God's Name - Jesus:

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31)

     The prophets and the patriarchs were saved the same way Christians are today. That is the gist of the mystery of Christ. Abraham believed in Jesus, as did Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, and Noah. Likewise, all the prophets. Regeneration was always by God's Name who is called Jesus. Thus, the story of Noah and his relationship with God is about his belief that Jesus can save!
     The ark's door represents judgment. The world was free to enter if they only trusted God as Noah did. That decision for his children and their wives to enter was when they were born again. The door of the ark represents regeneration, and those few who entered in were regenerated by the gift of a new clean world! Thus, Noah and the flood represents salvation. By choosing to enter the door, Noah and his family were saved. That trust in God's Name is the same way to be rewarded today. There is one gospel and one faith (Phil 1:27). There is one gate to Heaven:

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 17:13-14)

     That straight gate and narrow Way was the entryway and door to Noah's ark. Noah found salvation by entering the straight gate (the Doctrine of Christ) and the narrow Way (the small ramp leading to the door - trusting God Jesus - for salvation.)
     Why is that not known? Because people fail to understand the mystery of Christ. Study of the Word leads to understanding. All the books in the world may only confuse, but those who consider the Words of God will know the truth.
     Does it matter whether the ark has been found or not? That is of no consequence! Noah was saved, not by physical evidence, but he saw salvation. He saw what others cannot see:

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Heb 11:7)

    Faith is in things unseen just as it is today. We don't have to see the ark to believe in salvation! We can have the same faith Noah had. He saw salvation in the ark. He trusted what he could not see (the rainbow) even though it had never rained or bowed before. That was the faith of Noah which was accounted to him as righteousness. Paul recounted the story of Noah and the ark because that event was a picture of Christ's salvation. Noah's salvation was symbolic of what the Christians' will be!
     Where was Jesus in the ark story? He was saving Noah and his household. Jesus was doing what He always does: saving the world he so loves.

Reputation

     I hear this all the time: "I don't care what anyone thinks about me." That is pathetic. First off, I care what God - One of the "anyone" - thinks about me. Also, as God's adopted child, I am a reflection of my Father.
     People at one time cared about what others thought of them. What others think is your reputation: others opinions and beliefs about you. Those with good reputations are reputable. In secular terms, those of good repute are honest, reliable, trustworthy, faithful, sober, and otherwise good citizens. On the other hand, those of ill repute are liars, unreliable, of questionably integrity, faithless; maybe even drunks, and bad citizens. Citizenship is more than civility. It is caring and concerned about the welfare of others. Which would you truly rather be?
     Not caring about your reputation is that it does not matter if you are a good or bad citizen or even a fake or true Christian! Prominent people have dueled with others to protect their reputations: Andrew Jackson dueled and killed a man to protect his wife's and his own reputation. Reputations are valuable. How effective would  teachers be if they had a reputation of incompetence? How could a preacher preach with meaning if they appeared to be ignorant of scripture? On that issue, I am astounded. People who are called to teach and preach the gospel often don't know the much about the gospel!
     The Book of John chapter one identifies Jesus as being there in the beginning. Some preachers never see Jesus in scripture. They don't seem to understand the mystery of Christ which was "kept secret since the world began" (Rom 16:25). A reputation of spiritual ignorance is not conducive to reliable instruction. I am astounded that some who are called fail to have even a rudimentary knowledge of Holy Scripture!
     Christians are to be like Christ: "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). Not caring what others think is not caring about your own "walk" which is to be like Christ's. Of course, that "walk" is mimicking Jesus Christ in manner, integrity, love, and righteousness. Christians should care about that. If you are a Christian, but do not care what others think, what if you look more like the Devil than Jesus? That is a poor reflection on Christ! In fact, sinners say things as, "If that's what a Christian is, I don't want to be one!" Oftentimes Christians are a poor reflection of Christ and consequently diminish God's reputation.
     Why do some not care what others think? Because they know that they are a poor representation of what they should be! Sub-consciously, or even consciously, they know they are of poor rapport, and people see them as bad news. Not caring is a ticket to doing what people want without regard to others or God (Deut 12:8). That is mankind's problem, and not caring is an attitude of rebellion. Adam didn't care what God said. He knew what he wanted. God saw Adam as rebellious which he was. For an instant Adam did not care what God thought of him. When he realized the severity of his sin, all of a sudden he cared.
     As a token of caring, Adam covered his shame with fig leaves because of guilt; he cared what God thought. God saw that he cared, and had grace on him and Eve. He covered their sin with the blood of an innocent animal. Adam and Eve killed that animal by not caring what God thought. People kill God by not caring what God thinks about them.
     What about people? If you are a Christian, you are a temple of God: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Cor 3:17). Should you not care about defiling the temple? Should you not care that others see God's temple defiled? Well, you should care!

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. (Rom 14:3).

     As an image of God, you should care what others think about you. If you don't have fidelity to God's Law, then how could others be convicted of their sins? By not caring about your own reputation, shows that you don't care about others' souls. As a Christian, you present God to the world. If you don't present Him well, others will deny God. The solution is to care! 

Gosnell the Movie

     Finally there is a pro-life movie! Gosnell is the most barbarous of doctors for which the Hypocritic Oath is meaningless. For those who don't know of Dr. Gosnell, he, a few years ago, was arrested for atrocities in his abortion clinic. His was the most inhumane, but any doctor who would end the life of an innocent human being are. For me, abortion is the worst of the worst crimes against humanity. What makes it even more barbarous is that for some people, the legitimacy of killing their own offspring is considered a constitutional right.
     For most, biblical arguments are ineffective because even Christians diminish God's authority. They rationalize how tolerant God will be, and do their own will. The Deceiver clouds their thought processes with all types of delusions. There is a particular one which I find abhorrent: Some believe that ending life in the early stages is alright. For instance, the star of the movie Gosnell, who professes Christianity, admits to being pro-choice before viability.
     I had respect for Dean Cain before I learned that from his own words. He has appeared in several Christian movies. What I did not know was that his version of the doctrine of Christ is compromise. The Sixth Commandment is simply, "Thou shalt not kill." There are no exceptions nor stipulations beyond that. In the original Hebrew, it meant "dash into pieces" specifically (Strong's Dictionary). That is even more strongly against abortion than mere killing since most abortions are cutting and crushing into pieces.
     There are two lies within Cain's choice of words: pro-choice and viability. Let's address pro-choice first. A gestating woman is not one person. There are two human beings when a woman is pregnant. The woman is obvious. Within the woman is another human being. It is demonic to believe that an unborn baby is anything less than a human being with personality and life-blood. Of all the creatures who are innocent, unborn babies are foremost. Humans are shapened in iniquity (Psalm 51:5). Since the person in the womb is not born, there is no iniquity in the early stages especially.
     The unborn child has personality. That is the "state of being a person" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). That personality is a system which develops congruently with the other systems in the body. The personality is just as real and developed as the circulatory system. Babies have heartbeats in the womb; they also have personalities within the womb. They are persons! 
    To deny that personhood is the ultimate deception. Unborn human beings think! Psychologists suggest talking and even reading to unborn children. That would mean that cognition is another system as developed as all the others. Unborn babies can think. They fear for their lives. Videos have been made of the unborn shirking from invasive procedures. A video called Silent Scream was made showing a terrified unborn baby when instruments of destruction attacked it.
     When the unborn shirk out of fear, that is more than instinct. They actually compare threat to safety. Unborn babies think! Out of fear, they choose safety. Their choice is life! It is now established that an unborn baby is a separate life. The Revolutionary War was fought for one reason:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence). 

      Thus, the right to life is not only fundamental but self-evident. It needs no proof for sane people. To believe otherwise is spiritual insanity which is either totally deceived or totally depraved! People died that others may have the right to life! In fact, Jesus died that all should live. God's will is that all of his creation have a right to life whether it is a right to be born or a right to live. That right is not only declared in the Declaration but also in the Sixth Commandment and the following passage:

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Exod 21:22-25)

     There are two cases here: (1) accidental causing a miscarriage and (2) miscarriage by mischief (abortion). Both have a penalty. The woman's husband defends and punishes the aggressor. He decides if it was accidental or mischief. In case two, if there is mischief, then the murderer is to be punished with his or her own life. I submit that according to the Sixth Commandment that taking the life of an unborn child is the ultimate mischief! Thus, punishment for those who take the life of an unborn child is death because the crime is against humanity.
     What if the woman causes the death of her own child? That too is mischief, and the murderous mother deserves death. However, God is graceful. He can forgive mothers because they may be deceived, but to be forgiven, the mother must have contrition. I believe most mothers who abort their children do have remorse and even depression. Confession and repentance will heal the mother if done sincerely to God.
     Returning now to "pro-choice". There are two persons, truly five, involved in the decision to murder or not to murder: (1) the mother, (2) the husband,  (3) the child, (4) God, and (5) Satan. If the husband or male gets the blame (credit) for impregnating,  he should be involved in the decision process. In unity, man and woman procreate. Drastic decisions should be made in unity. Satan is against unity and even marriage. Thus, the woman making such a decision without input from her mate is in itself wrong! Feminists who insist on the so-called "right to abortion" are not noted for religiosity as they propagate the notion that it is only the woman's decision. (Note: God has already decided who should live when he endows the soul with flesh.)
     Not only should the male have a choice but the unborn baby as well. It is evident (shown by their fear of destruction) that the unborn babies' choices are life. Therefore, "pro-choice" does not include the one in the most danger! That is in itself is wrong.
     The very word "pro-choice" is deception. That "choice" concludes that it is not wrong to murder. A more descriptive word is "pro-death: for that is what it really is. It's not pro-choice because choice is not the outcome. It is the cause. The focus should really be on the outcome of choice; those who decide favor death. If they even consider abortion as a legitimate choice, they have already murdered in their hearts. I am guilty of that with the unexpected conception of my first child.
     Some threw out the word "abortion" and it sounded innocent enough to me because I did not understand the importance of life at eighteen years old. I thought on that, and considered it a reprehensible choice. Because God influenced me by diminishing deception, my choice was that my son should live. My little "abortion" is now a six-feet two-inch robust man!  God convinced me that murder for any reason is wrong, even for my inconvenience because that's what abortion is.
    You might think that I made a choice. We both listened to God. Like the Declaration says, it was self-evident that the unborn baby is human life. There was only one choice for two people who cherished life; that was to allow the unborn baby to live. My son's mother should be commended for obedience to the most obvious value in the world!
     Now for Cain's excuse of viability: That is the ability to love without assistance or with independence from his or her host - the mother. Man's job is to provide. The mother's job is to nourish. That has historically been the case until feminism created chaos with their redefinitions of the gender roles. (See several of my commentaries on feminism,) Feminism is not God's will. Of course fairness is, but women have taken feminism so far as to be unfeminine in their thinking. Psychologists would at one time suggested penis-envy in that they want to be like men. Of course, that doesn't mean that women should not be treated as equals, but that men should not be emasculated. The sole decision on childbirth is emasculating to the mate. Rabid feminism is destructive to the manhood of the man.
     The unborn baby is indeed dependent on the mother for nourishment. They are not viable on their own. The woman's foremost responsibility is to nourish her young. Not to do so makes her like the beasts. I remember as a child a mother cat eating her living young kittens. I was appalled, not at her appetite, but for the lack of respect and love of her offspring. When I learned that "human" females do the same thing, I again was appalled, but even more so! It is so inhumane that it seems beastly.
     Beasts are without souls. That's the difference between mankind and animals. It is heartless to take a life! Think on the profundity of life: it is physical existence. Abortion ends another's existence. That is fatalistic and inhumane. That is why the right to life is so important and supersedes any other right!
     Not being viable does not make an unborn baby less human. Millions of people died under the Third Reich because the personhood of the Jewish people was considered parasitical. Society now considers babies without viability somehow parasitical as well. That type of thinking is Nazism revisited which many said, "Must not happen again!" Anyone who has seen the piles of Jewish "parasites" piled high should know of the same thing with unborn babies. Gosnell is about those piles of "sub-human parasites: which those who claim to be humans pile high. It indeed is happening again!
     Spiritual viability is when men are endowed with a soul. Birth is when the soul puts on flesh to interact with the world. I now repeat yesterday's verses:

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)

     Humans are viable from before they are born! People were made "people" at the foundation of the world.  They were spiritual persons before their parents conceived them for God already had. Bodies can be killed but the human soul cannot be. Created in the image of life, we too are spiritual existence.
     Souls have a right to a body. God commanded that Adam and Eve multiple: Their jobs were to provide flesh to pre-existing souls. Nowhere did God command or even suggest that they take the life of anyone especially unborn babies! Those who do are like Herod's; whose greatest sin was the slaughter of the innocents.
     Human souls are always viable and live on even when their flesh dies. However, denying people's souls their flesh is denying them the experience of life - the same experience which you enjoy. What if you had never been born? Many scream that, but no one really means it! Non-viability is rationalization for murder. Dean Cain has been deceived! He is more like Eve than Adam and should be ashamed and repent.
     People cannot be half-Christians. They either are, or are not! They either believe the whole truth or reject it. Rejection of truth was Adam's sin. Being so easily deceived was Eve's. Adam's sin was worse than Eve's but both suffered the same penalty. In other words, deception is not a viable excuse.
     I would assume that Dean Cain is intelligent enough to know the difference between a person and a mere parasite. I suggest that he knows that a human being is destroyed even with early abortion. A human soul is being denied its right to exist in bodily form. That is a travesty! What would he say if we decided to deprive him of his own right to exist? It would be another story.
    I wonder why the producers of Gosnell would select an actor who did not believe in the right to live. I believe that is tacit approval of first and even second trimester abortion. Babies do not become more human with growth; they only become more loved. I suggest that we should love the little humans from the time of deception because they are already endowed with souls. Souls don't develop, they exist. Every soul has a right to a body. That is God's will.
    Unborn babies are not parasites, sub-humans, nor fetal tissue. They are unborn people who existed in spiritual form long before they were ever planted in the womb. To usurp that at any stage is sinful. God cries and Satan smiles.
     It seems to me that selecting pro-abortion Dean Cain to star in a pro-life movie is in itself destructive to the message the writers are trying to purvey. Will it cause others to rationalize early term abortions as acceptable? It could. That's surely not what the writers intended.

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?