Christian

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: who is truly being “ignorant?”

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So the other day I posted about the new equivalent of the “master/slave” relationship, which if you did not read that post it is the employer/employee dynamic [ The new master and slaves association ].
So anyway. This became a topic in a discussion. When this correlation was shown to be a problem in someone’s live. This person became angry and stated that I was being “ignorant.”
Now here is the dilemma. Since I was directly paraphrasing from Ephesians 6:5-9.
Who is being called “ignorant?”
Before I go further in this. I feel it is necessary to mention the teaching of 2 Timothy 4:1-5
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
Since we are to help those that profess to being “Christian” by reproving, rebuking and exhorting. This was done in full accordance to the Bible. What was shown to this person was Biblical teachings.
So, with that in mind, the person was not calling me “ignorant,” but the Word of God ignorant. Since the Word of God is God, then this person had just called God ignorant.
So we are back to the question:
“Who truly is being called ‘ignorant?’”
From what I have just shown. It is God that is being called this.
I will let it lie there.

The light

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To be the light to the world is to be a living example of the teachings within the Bible. These teachings, many of which come from Jesus Christ Himself. Are a code of ethics that those that call themselves “Christian” must come to know, accept and follow.
Here is the kicker. They do so willingly because they know and follow the greatest commandment. That being to love God with all their heart, mind and soul.
The ethics of living taught within the Bible causes those who truly follow it to be kind and considerate. Not because they are forced to do it, but because they wish to do it. They live their lives without even thinking at times on how to behave. It just happens.
The way they treat their family. The way they treat their work, co-workers and bosses. They even desire to obey the laws of the land, which do not go counter to the Bible.
This is what it is like to be the light unto the world. A walking, breathing, example of the Word of God. However to do this they must know the Bible accurately. They must not just read the Bible they must study it. Why?
Because humans translated the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic into whatever language you read. So this is why studying and reading are two different things. But I have become side tracked.
As we seek to be a true reflection of God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. His light shines brighter through us, and those that hate the light run from it. They seek to quench that light like the way Scrooge did to the Spirit of Christmas Past. He could not bear to hear the truth. Those who live in sin cannot bear the truth, the light.
This is why being the light is painful at times. Even to the point of torture and death as many in the Middle East are experiencing today. Yet even in the face of torture and death those who truly are the light stay this way unto death. For they know that this temporal plain of existence is a test, and they have passed that test.

Only one

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Different denomination. Different interpretation. Different individuals. The cause of divides, of division. Why? Because they do not see that there is only one God. They see different gods of their own creation. Each formed in their own image. Be it in each denomination and each individual.
Since there is only one God and there is only one Bible then there must be only one way to understand. Yet too many come to different destinations. Most of which do not lead to a true image of God.
The Bible teaches that God is to be the center. That we are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Yet most never truly accept this. They mouth the words, but never take it into true context.
To love Him with all our heart, mind and soul is to place none before God with these three. Yet most seek after their own glory, their own reward, their own way to see the Bible that allows them to think they are pure and holy when they are dirty with sin that may have once been washed away but no longer. Living a life formed of a lie by their own version of the Bible.
If you take the Bible literally you can only come to one resolve, one conclusion. Yet when this one version is shown to them it does not match their personal view that allows them to not only hurt other humans. It allows them to think the world revolves about them. That they are the center and all must bow to their view of God that allows them to not care about their employers, their co-workers, and people on the streets, the police, and the government. With this selfish mentality they come to work late, speed down the highways and care for nothing but themselves. This is not the true version of the Bible.
The true version of the Word of God states that the person that follows God is the least amongst everyone else. That they must place all others before them. This means that they must be honorable and dutiful employees, they must esteem their fellow co-workers as well as the people on the streets and must respect the police and the government. With this selfless mentality they come to work on time, obey the speed limit and care for everyone and everything.
There is only one God. There is only one interpretation and that can only be found by studying the Bible and reading it in context. Not taking this line and applying this meaning when the entire context comes to a different meaning altogether.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
If we ourselves do not correctly and on our own come to learn the true meaning of the Bible then we are to be accursed, and all we can blame is ourselves and no others

Millennial outreach #5

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New Testament history

There are elements out there that call the Bible a lie, a myth. Most of those in your age group have listened to these inaccuracies. What you are about to read is to help you see facts very few know or even care to know, which I find very unfortunate, but I have come to expect it in the way people are raised and taught in this time.
From the moment the four gospels and the letters of the apostles were written they have been studied, debated, analyzed and questioned. Commentaries have been written and studied and again debated from early in the second century to today. Men like Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, Epiphanius, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeous, Jerome and Justin Martyr to name the most notable of these early scholars.
All twenty seven books of the New Testament have been copied into different languages not only by professional scribes but by average and devoted followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Many have been lost, many others have not. In fact out of all historical documents the Bible has the most surviving copies that date back all the way to the first century when they were originally written, even though an original version has not been found that I am aware of.
The gospels and the letters can be dated to a range of twenty to twenty five years after the resurrection of Jesus. If you do not like the word “resurrection” please see last week’s outreach. (Millennial outreach #4) Now as I have stated before those that say that an item can be called a “myth” is when it is written 150 years after the original event. This as I have just shown does not apply to the New Testament. The first I have just shown, which is the date the gospels and letters were written. Well within the range for survivors of the actual events to have questioned any inaccuracy within them. The second is something the Jewish people have prided themselves for centuries. That being the oral tradition. The earliest oral tradition that is known within the letters of the apostles is within 1 Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 15:3-9), which is dated to have been taught within eight years after the resurrection (38-41 A.D.).
Now as I mentioned above what we call the books of the New Testament were copied into different languages. Two languages become the dominant ones, Latin and Greek. There are many factors for this, which is an entire history lesson in itself, but the basics is due to the split in the Rome Empire itself when it broke in two. The western empire based in Rome, the eastern empire based in Constantinople, which is now known as Istanbul, Turkey.
As Islam spread violently throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East it finally threatened to overrun Constantinople, which in fact fell into their hands in 1453. As a result the Biblical scholars, priest and monks fled this area as the threat become more and more obvious. They carried with them their copies of the New Testament books to the west. Here they fell into the hands of the western scholars, like Martin Luther (1483-1546).
It is due in fact to the Islamic conquest that caused what we now call the Reformation to take place, in addition to the creation of the printing press (1440). For men like Luther saw the difference between the Latin versions from the Greek of the gospels and apostolic letters that led him to question and challenge the Catholic Church. For those within the Catholic Church has changed and perverted these documents for their own glory and riches. So Martin Luther called them out for it which was shown to be in the right. This is the main reason that when you seek to learn the original meaning of the words within the New Testament you must look to the Greek not the Latin.
The first fully “approved” English version of the Bible come into being in 1611. There are those that point to this date as the creation of the Bible and say that since it was made at this point that the resurrection of Jesus is a myth. But as I have just shown above this is the furthest thing from the truth. As I also have shown that since this idea was made even after 1611 it is those stating this theory are in actuality the ones creating their own myth. A myth that God is not real and that His Son did not exist nor raise from the dead.
So this is a brief overview of the history of the New Testament. It is now up to you to think and decide for yourself what you wish to think and believe. For that is something that can only come from each person on their own to decide. You cannot depend on what others or even I say. You must look, think, challenge and learn what is real and what is true on your own. I challenge you as those early scholars did all the way to the point these books were written in the first place.

The siren song of the false prophets and teachers

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So I learned something recently. Appears that we have been in the tribulation since 1998. Funny, this is the longest seven years I have ever encountered.
Wow, another tidbit I didn’t know. The “select” are all that will be redeemed, the rest are screwed. No others even have a change to make things right between themselves and God. Interesting, so the uncountable number that stands before the throne of God dressed all in white are not the “select.” I am flabbergasted. These “select” can even be a friend to the world and God will not see them as the enemy. That is just amazing.
This is the most surprising thing of all. God broke His promise. The Creator of the universe who has never broken any promises, broke one. I ….. I ……. I …… just don’t know what to say. What is even more shocking, that shattered promise was to Israel. I am speechless.

All these shocking things I have just mentioned. The “select,” the broken promise, the long time frame for the so called “tribulation.” These are the words of a false prophet, a false teacher, and these are real words that have been spoken, and there are those that believe and feel they are these “select.”
What we are warned to be alert for and to avoid, yet there are those that do not know the word well enough and have fallen prey to these teachings that are leading them into damnation.
The Bible when read in context and the correct research is a wondrous book. It teaches to humble ourselves and to love other, but at the same time it does not tell us to just allow them to live in sin either. That is unless they fully reject God and are unwilling in any form to hear the truth.
Are we nearing the end times? The Bible states that there will be signs that as we come near to the soon return of Christ, and at this time as in no other time in history, it is pointing to His soon return. One of these signs will be the flourishing of false prophets and teachers.
Are we in the Tribulation? There will be clear signs when we are in the Tribulation. None have come to pass as of the writing of this article. Nor is it something I wish to be in. for there will not be “spiritual death” as one of these false teachers states, but physical death of around 3.7 billion people. Due in large part to the earth itself violently changing as well as other events that will take a long time to explain, so that is a topic for another time. If you wish to get some insight I suggest you pick up the commentaries by John F. Walvoord on the book of Revelation, Daniel and Matthew.
As to this “select” issue. The Bible does mention 144000, people who will receive a mark from God. This is what the Bible says:
Revelation 7:1 (NLT) – Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3 “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.” 4 And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel: 5 from Judah 12,000, from Reuben 12,000, from Gad 12,000, 6 from Asher 12,000, from Naphtali 12,000, from Manasseh 12,000, 7 from Simeon 12,000, from Levi 12,000, from Issachar 12,000, 8 from Zebulun 12,000, from Joseph 12,000, from Benjamin 12,000.
These as you can see come from Israel. So to say that God broke His promise to Israel is evidence of a false teaching. These 144000 are to be witnesses to the events that are to befall the planet earth and they shall see it all. So once the Tribulation is past they can teach those that survive, and the survivor’s offspring the truth of those that rejected God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. These sealed Israelites could be called the “select,” but not to separate them from the world, but to see to learn, and to show that God always keeps His promises.
As I mentioned before. What of those in the white garments before the throne of God? White robes of the redeemed, those who turned to God and His Son and are called blessed. Their number is beyond counting, yet they are not all that walk the earth. For if this were true there would be no need of a Tribulation and this death of billions.
Revelation 7:9 (KJV) – After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
These are those that saw the light and turned to God, yet they are not the “select.”
The Bible states clearly that you cannot live within the sins of the world and be a friend of God. In fact you are called the enemy of God if you befriend the world and those within it.
James 4:4 (NLT) – You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
So read the Bible. Come to know the Bible. Come to understand that all are welcome, but they must stop living in sin, to repent. They must humble themselves to the point of weeping for the same they must feel for living in sin and defying God Himself. Then they must ask Jesus into their heart, mind, and soul and to honor and love God by following the teachings of the Bible.

It is not time to celebrate

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The presidential race was close. Too close. In many ways this nation has suffered and will continue to suffer. Why?
Because people for the most part are lost. Today, the day after the election I came into work. Many were happy, excited. Counting upon a man to do the work of God.
Humanity cannot cure what ails this nation. A few have awakened to the truth due to the events that led up to the election, but I fear not enough and that those that did awaken will fall back into their slumber of ignorance.
That those that did see the light and turn to the one that can help, but will they stay focused? That is the question I must ask myself. Only time will tell.

Millennial outreach #4

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Let’s talk about Jesus

Now this is not going to be a sermon. This is just a look at who Jesus is.
Here are known factors that come from outside the Bible. Historical governmental officials mentioned in the Bible have been documented in addition there is physical evidence of their existence.
Two Examples: Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas. The latter of which the remains of his body were official unearthed and identified.
Furthermore we know also of Jesus brother James, a son of Mary as well, who was stoned for professing his brother to be the Messiah.
There is also archaeological evidence which corresponds to areas said to have been visited by Jesus.
So we have several points of evidence that support history and it can be said due to these facts that Jesus lived and was crucified. In fact there is none that truly study history that question the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. So Jesus as a human being is not doubted in any form.
What does come into question is the resurrection that confirms Jesus as the Son of God.
Now what I am about to state is an actuality you have to come to accept. A keystone of the Jewish community in the time period of Jesus was the use of the oral tradition to pass on religious information accurately. It is so solid that a Torah written in 600 B.C. matches a Torah from 10 A.D. that in turn corresponds to a Torah of today.
In the first twenty to twenty five years after the resurrection this was the main component of early Christians as well. This is due mainly to the fact that most in this time frame were Jewish.
One such tradition can be traced to within eight years after the resurrection, 38 – 41 A.D. Which in turn is included in 1 Corinthians which is dated to have been written in the mid 50s A.D., so within 20 to 25 years after the resurrection.
One of the myths out there is that it was a hallucination that those who say they saw Jesus after his death. Now why I say myth is the last key element of the tradition I am referring to. Five hundred (500) seeing Jesus post resurrection at one time. There is no way this is a hallucination. It is physically impossible. On top of which those hearing the tradition or seeing it written to the Corinthians are literally challenged to find those that still live and saw Jesus and ask them. No one could refute it. None.
So here is the Jesus that is supported by facts.
He existed 2000 years ago. He died either in 30 A.D. or 33 A.D. Three days later he came to live again with his wounds received upon the cross still visible. He walked several miles the day he came back to live. He then vanishes, He then appears in a locked room with all the living apostles. Thomas touches his wounds and he eats food. He then disappears again. So this is Jesus. If you wish to know more. Just ask.

The love of the myth

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Why are they so enamored of the myth? The superhero, the fairy tale, the science fiction.
Because they have nothing else that fills the need to be better than how they see that they are. They hate the mundane, for that is all that they have ever seen or ever expect to see.
Yet this is not all.
They do not need to look for the excitement and release they find upon the screen or within a novel. Some have been told you can find satisfaction within a church. Yet it is not there. So when they are told to look to the Bible they don’t believe and so laugh and turn away from those that say this.
Instead many turn to the sci-fi and the fantasy. Dressing like their favorite character and wishing to be that very being, yet never able to make it. Never able to fully feel they have accomplished their desire. Then they must return to their dull and how they see it empty life. Not seeing that they are living a test. An examine to see if they are worthy to actually in away live their fantasies.
Here are the things that the perfect body is promised to us:
It is immortal
It can travel great distances in the blink of an eye
It can enter lock rooms.
Yet it will be able to walk and talk and eat just like we do now.
However when you tell them the way to achieve this perfect immortal body they call you a liar and someone who is living in a myth, a fantasy, as they go to learn Klingon and Elven.
The language of the Bible is something worth to learn and to understand. But to them it is a pariah, a blasphemy.
For them it must be the alien, the super being, the vampire for that is where reality is. It can’t be in the Bible and they must do what it says to achieve their glory and satisfaction in that which they seek.
They call the Bible a myth yet it has been shown to be the most factual historical document ever written. But still they would rather accept the myth they have been told for it allows them to live their lives as they want to. They can seek after their lust and pleasures as they want to. Not realizing all they are doing is enjoying the moment instead of planning for the eternal life that we will all live.
The only difference being that those that accept the true myth, the true fantasies will have an eternity of pain and sorrow, not joy and happiness.

Controlling the narrative

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I just encountered an article which stated that those in power in Catholicism were hiding and rewriting history. Since the Catholic Church is the largest Christian based religion at 1.2 billion people. The person’s prospective was an Atheist one as well as nor fully informed of the facts. However they did cause me to think, which is what we are to do.
As I stated to a friend that had commented upon the article, I do not doubt that those within the Vatican have strived to pursue their own agendas and goals. This was proven and as a resulted the Reformation took place. It must also be noted that we use Greek when translating the New Testament. Since Catholicism uses Latin this begs the question of why? The answer to this also confirms that it was those in power within the Catholic Church to control the masses. A majority of the Latin variation of the book of the Bible were found to be flawed and inaccurate. So it became the consensus of the scholars of the Bible to stick to the eastern Roman Empire manuscripts instead of the western empire or as it came to be known the Roman Catholic Church.
This fact destroys the articles premise that the Bible has been doctored and is still flawed at this time. However it doesn’t remove suspicion from the Vatican, which is documented to adding things never found within the Bible and requiring rituals that again cannot be supported by the Bible.
Now that it is shown that the Catholic Church has done things in order to control those that follow their rules, this does not leave the person that wrote the article free and clear since it is shown that the article is flawed.
Within the article we once again hear the mythology of ancient aliens. I always fall back upon the liberal academia’s own wording of how a myth comes to be. Per them a historical event can become a myth if it is written about 150 year after the event took place. We know that the flood, which is the key element of the person article took place between 3000 to 2800 B.C. So that is well beyond 150 years and the context of the article dealt with the pre-flood culture. The person even mentions giants. Well it is shown that when angels mated with human females, giants were the result and it is said they did exist in great number before the flood. This person’s myth of aliens is design to remove God and the Bible from the narrative. Why?
This is all part of the progressive agenda, which wish to control their own version of the narrative so they can promote their own myths to control the masses.
This is why those within the Democratic Party have been caught showing a total dislike of the Catholic Church. For they are in conflict with each other. Not for God, but for those within the Catholic Church. They encourage false and uniformed narratives like ancient aliens for this displaces God and cause humans to look to humans to rule and control them.
What is needed is that people need to learn the Bible for themselves. To think for themselves and not let anyone from the person on the dais to the person in an oval office to dictate to them how they are to live, act and feel. There is only one being that deserves to be listened to and that is God who created the entire universe. Nature is God. Time is God. The Bible is God.
God gave us a way to commune with Him and that is His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. If we should listen to anyone or anything then we should listen to the one book that was written in under 150 years after the event took place. That is the Bible. People still lived when the letters that form the New Testament were written that saw Jesus. That knew the apostle and were and were the apostles. Yet people say the Bible is the myth? When did they start saying this? After the 150 year mark. So it is they that are making the myths, not the Bible. That is the narrative that needs to be listened to and controlled.

The works dilemma

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Understanding how to know you are on the right track toward eternity in the services of God is something those that choose Jesus ask. It is something that is addressed by Christ and the apostles. What it boils down to is we must have faith and do works. Now it is the “works” that causes the problem. At the time of Martin Luther and the Reformation, the Catholic Church had turned into all works and introduced things like Purgatory, which is nowhere within the Bible. The Reformation itself set many down the road to the other extreme of all faith but no works. Many still today adhere to this view of belief in God. Neither of these extremes is right, and both of them will lead to a place none wish to get to be they saved or not.
The reality is we must meet in the middle of both faith and works as I first mentioned. However this does not answer the question of what is “works?”
Many will give you different answers, but these answers are so many because they come from humanity. God made it simple, yet few key in on the truth. Christ said we are to follow the commandments, yet he also added two more.
Matthew 22: 37 Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Also Jesus explains in John 15 that we are to bear fruit. This fruit is works. Though if we do not bear fruit we are broken off of the vine of Jesus Christ and thrown into the fire.
The apostles also gave examples of works we are to do. Marry one man to one woman. If we do devoice yet we live in sin due to this action we are to remarry. Follow the laws of the land we live in as long as they do not conflict with the Bible. These are just a few examples of works. Yet many ignore or are unaware of these works and become lost within the world once again. Totally unaware that each day brings them further and further away from God.