Monday, December 11, 2017

From the Encyclopedia

"A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included less agricultural work needing to be done during the winter, as well as people expecting longer days and shorter nights after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. In part, the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations. Most of the most important gods in the religions of Ishtar and Mithra had their birthdays on December 25. Various Christmas traditions are considered to have been syncretised from winter festivals including the following:
Saturnalia
In Roman times, the best-known winter festival was Saturnalia, which was popular throughout Italy. Saturnalia was a time of general relaxation, feasting, merry-making, and a cessation of formal rules. It included the making and giving of small presents (Saturnalia et Sigillaricia), including small dolls for children and candles for adults. During Saturnalia, business was postponed and even slaves feasted. There was drinking, gambling, and singing, and even public nudity. It was the "best of days," according to the poet Catullus. Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and began on December 17. The festival gradually lengthened until the late Republican period, when it was seven days (December 17-24). In imperial times, Saturnalia was shortened to five days.
Natalis Solis Invicti

The Romans held a festival on December 25 called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian (AD 270-274); and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin. Emperor Elagabalus (218-222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.

December 25 was also considered to be the date of the winter solstice, which the Romans called bruma. It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus. "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born," Cyprian wrote.
Yule

Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. Yule logs were lit to honor Thor, the god of thunder, with the belief that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year. Feasting would continue until the log burned out, which could take as many as twelve days. In pagan Germania (not to be confused with Germany), the equivalent holiday was the mid-winter night which was followed by 12 "wild nights", filled with eating, drinking and partying. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan celebrations had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the Germanic word Yule is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in 900"

Friday, December 1, 2017

Hey Grain-iac


At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” -Matthew 12

 I've heard this passage quoted to me as a proof text that Jesus broke the sabbath dozens of times. I've had pastors of churches sit across the table from me over coffee and proclaim that Jesus broke the sabbath completely missing the gravity of  their absurd profession. Does it baffle anyone how many modern pastors are saying the same thing that those accusing the Savior were saying? How can Christ even be the sinless offering to redeem all of mankind if He HAD in fact, violated the Sabbath and was teaching others to do the same thing? It's the 4th commandment in the Big 10 rock legends.
Pastors are in churches every weekend, just like the Pharisees were. They were teaching from the word of God, just as these Pharisees were. Somehow these Pharisees missed this verse here:

When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.- Deut 23:25

According to this verse,  the Savior and His Disciples ARE allowed to do what they were doing.

In the Pharisees were the ones teaching people what the scriptures say then and getting it wrong, could pastors today be teaching things and getting them wrong?
How would you know? You have the scriptures at your finger tips, literally clicks away. Do you know the truth if a man twists it, wittingly or unwittingly?

What else do we have contrasting the Pharisees interpretations of the scriptures and the Savior rebuking them for it?

The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?”- Mark 7

What response does he give them?

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.- Mark 7

Now if these Pharisees, who were charged with teaching the commands of God could be rebuked by the Son of God for NOT following the Commands of God/ God's Law...

... Can the same be said about many pastors? Well:

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths-  2 Tim 4

What if your Pastor says that Christ did away with the Law and the Prophets?
“Do NOT think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did NOT come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called LEAST in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.- Matthew 5, emphasis mine.


Well, does fulfill mean render as to not be observed once we are saved, or does your pastor interpret fulfill as to mean to not be followed?

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ -Matthew 7

Don't be a Grain-iac. Don't believe what someone tells you about certain non-biblical December celebrations that have their roots in pagan practices that the Word says not to learn, but a pastor says is ok. Don't forsake the commands of God/ God's Law, for your own traditions. Don't beat up people that tell you the truth about the word of God because it conflicts with the things you enjoy.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Hey Flatty

Some people get stuck on an idea and then hammer scriptures in to a belief. 
These are the scriptures for flat earth... the "main ones" as it were, or so I've been told. I'm now going to go through them. Thank you for those of you whom I care enough about to put all this together so that I may never have to waste my time doing it again.


Genesis 1:1-5, 14-19

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.


Okay, God made the earth.  This scripture says literally nothing about the earth being a flat disc or the shape of a Vanilla Wafer ( Why did I love those so much as a kid. They're not the best cookies.... what was the deal... is it just because they were in the house and we kids were desperate for sugar? Idk but I digress). Flat is a form. Are people suggesting that being formless is the form of a coin? Coins are formed. This is speaking of Earth being formed out of nothing. Strong's H8414 defines formless as to mean :
To lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:—confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness

Nothing about it being basically the end of "Dark City"

Side note, Something moving over the surface of the deep and the surface of the waters doesn't mean anything is flat. When I take a shower every day that water moves over the surface of my skin. This does not mean that I turn into some sort of creepy Dr. Who creature yelling Moisturize me as a flat flap of person.


 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Yes, He made the moon and he made the stars and he made the sun. This still speaks nothing about the shape of the planet. It doesn't state the shape of the lights explicitly. I don't see flat earthers citing this passage for a giant glow stick in the night. I still haven't found anything in this that supports the idea that the earth is flat.

Genesis 1:6-8
(I don't know why we're skipping around, this is literally how the list was given to me so here we are)

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

This has an above and a below. Some would suggest that is a almost spherical shape. (sure I've had many squished burgers but they were still round-y) Top, bottom, middle stuff. That sounds globe-y. how did the gravity hold the bottom water??? How did top water no fall???

Joshua 10:12-13
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day
 
 
 
....so.... God performed a miracle and it resulted in the world being squished pancake style? This does nothing to talk about the shape of the earth. It's a prayer that God do something to help a fight, and is most likely the origins of every sports superstition in the history of ever. Are people trying to say that the sun and the moon never meet in the sky at the same time/ I can tell you that when I work graveyard shift and someone works second shift, we have an overlap of time.



Here we see the sun and moon in the same sky around shift change. This means literally nothing about the shape of the earth. In fact, many mornings when I got off of graveyard shift,  the sun would be in the sky overhead (above, not like noon day directly over me) and the moon would be off in the corner of the same sky waiting to punch out like "Hey, man, saw a lot on this shift, I'm ready to call it a DAY hahahaha amirite?"  None of this says ANYTHING about the shape of the earth.

Isaiah 40:21-23
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless

What's this? A shape? ah we're getting something here.

Circle
Strong's H2328

  1. circle, circuit, compass
  2. (BDB) vault (of the heavens)


He sits above the encompassed earth. He sits above the circuit of the earth, the earth rotates on a circut. This is a picture of God sitting above the TOTALITY of the earth. A sphere is a circle in all directions. 
Job 9:6
Who shakes the earth out of its place,
And its pillars tremble

*facepalms*
Are you guys saying that the earth LITTERALLY is shaken off of a physical pillar? Because if you are, you're going to run into some problems  of the "scriptures are getting a little contradictory" type. Psalms  93:1
The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved


So, Is the earth shaken off of it's fancy stick or is it established and shall never be moved?
Unless you're ready to start ripping pages out of your bible to fit your YouTube tailored theologies... one mindset is going to have to change and you're going to have to understand that certain passages are metaphorical.

Job 26:7, 10
“He stretches out the north over empty space
And hangs the earth on nothing.


“He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters
At the boundary of light and darkness.


Okay, and??? This still doesn't say anything about the disc of the Earth. Again, A Sphere is a circle going in all directions. Let me ask you something really quick.... do you people think that Job is this immortal supernatural mystical being that existed in all space and time???

Job 38
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!
OMG stop the presses guyz, God said that Job iz immortal and ...wait.... no... There is no mention of him in Genesis... God MUST be using imagery to teach something to Job.  Where do we ever see God using a picture to explain something? Maybe Pete-y had some kind of Vision about animals and it WASNT LITTERALLY ABOUT ANIMALS, but instead was about calling FOLKS unclean. Do we then take that isolated passage, trim any context, and then throw a parade for the McRib? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Please stop the bastardization of these texts.


Job 38:13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?


You guys, my nose is gonna start bleeding here I swear. I just posted from this VERY chapter that God is using imagery. Look at verse 29
“From whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

Guys.... ICE DOES NOT come from a ladies nether parts, I don't care how bitter you are about your ex. These are IMAGERY texts to convey concepts.

Psalms 75:3
“The earth and all who dwell in it melt;
It is I who have firmly set its pillars.

You know who I feel bad for if we take pillars as literal things instead of a symbolic thing? I feel bad for the dude in Song of Songs. In 5 They talk about this dude...
“His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl;
His abdomen is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
15 “His legs are pillars of alabaster
Set on pedestals of pure gold

If we take Psalms 75:3 as a literal interpretation, then that means that there was some dude with gold stick arms poopin out sapphires from his elephant tusk midsection. I would have difficulty inviting that man to a dinner party as he would certain freak out the guests. how is there not entire volumes of the tin man? No other mention of the biblical Cyberman? ( I need to cool it, I that's two Who references in one post)

Psalms 96:10
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity.”


The Earth will not be moved?


Oh NO!!! The Bible's a lie!!! See this here Earth mover??? It.... MOVES EARTH!!!

Unless that verse is talking about something else...

 

Psalms 104:5-6
He established the earth upon its foundations,
So that it will not totter forever and ever.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.Oh, you mean like say... if the earth has an AXIS that it spins on?

1 Chronicles 16:30
Tremble before Him, all the earth;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.

yes, it is firmly established in its rotation and in its orbit. If the earth went say, spiraling out of it's place then everyone would either freeze to death like some mountain house dehydrated foodstuffs, or burn to death like the molten hot center of a pizza bite right out of the microwave ( I don't use the oven, it takes too long, don't judge me)

Matthew 4:8-10
Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus *said to him,
“Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”



I MIGHT consider taking that literally if you can show me a video from the top of any mountain that contains an ACTUAL view of EVERY kingdom of the world.

I work at a building that has 18 floors. I have keys to the roof. I have gone on the top of that roof.

I CANNOT SEE MY HOUSE THAT IS 15 MINUTES AWAY.

I dunno what kinda devil powers he's got, but I know that on the top of my work, I as a man, cannot show you where my house is. I also can't show you where the Olive garden is across town. The building is plenty tall and the earth is NOT flat

It's worth noting that the same people that bend over backwards to take specific verses as being literal, do not apply that same standard to texts like say, This:

The man said,
This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh- Gen. 2:23-24

Nobody, and I really mean nobody, believes that the moment that moment that a man and wife say the words "I do" at a wedding, that their guts start some sort of fusion process and they stop being two individuals but become this one sort of humanoid mutant glob of elbows and organs. That is not a real thing.  
 

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Testimony

 
Here's Septembers post a full 28 days late. If you're someone who follows this blog and is looking for consistency, I apologize and would encourage you to stick around while not looking for that kind of consistency.

Without further ado, Here's most of my testimony.
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

To Boldly Go..

Last month I posted about boldness in standing up to "authority" in regards to safeguarding the Truth. I mentioned that would tie in to this months post. I have been wanting to write this months post many times over the past few weeks but I haven't as, the conversation I've had with God went something like this:

God: Your next post is going to be about being bold in regards to having the courage to search your own heart in regards to sin.

Me: Oh, yeah lots of people have that problem. That is a great idea for a post.

God:....

Me: Totally, more people need to search their hearts because everyone tends to get so calloused you know...

God: *sternly looks directly at me*

Me: ... you know... ... they...  ... because... ... them.

God: Get to work.

Me:*looks at heart*  I am so so so so so so so flawed.


I often have it in my mind, " I know I'm flawed, but maybe I'm not that flawed"  That is such dangerous thinking. It puts me in a mindset that is to look at others and judge myself better than they are, and that isn't right. I should be comparing myself to the Savior, because then I am at least without illusion of my flaw. I am not very Christlike. I know a lot of scriptures, and I can be very generous... but what of it? There is no verse that commands by our Master's breath that I be better outwardly than my neighbor, while inside I slowly lose perspective.  I do sometimes, lose perspective. Sometimes I carry with me the pains that others cause me when I am supposed to forgive regardless. Forgiveness...  just the word brings up in my mind a dozens of clever talking points and conversational loopholes that I have heard said or said myself.

"They haven't  acknowledged what they've done, so I can't forgive them until they do"

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. - Matt 18

Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering- Matt 5

Either way you slice it, if you have something and you're not seeking to make it right, or you know of something you should be seeking to make it right. It takes courage and boldness to look in your heart and stab your own pride. It takes courage to allow yourself to be uncomfortable and experience vulnerability in seeking restoration. When we avoid take a hard look at ourselves we're like someone who was stabbed and pretends that we aren't. In order to heal, we need stitches, and in order for that, we need to remove the knife. In order to remove the knife, we have to acknowledge that we've been stabbed in the first place.  Love is a hard and dangerous thing that kills parts of us. We grow back, if we grow, stronger because of it. There is this quote by C.S. Lewis:

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”

We're called to love each other, Like the Messiah, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Bridegroom does.
I don't even know what else to say this month because I've just been... not great.

Suffering produces character. There is some hope in all this.

To run from things because they might hurt is like a plant that chooses to die rather than be pruned by the gardener, for its own good, to flourish, and to produce fruit.







...lemons are fruit...




Friday, July 14, 2017

Bold Flavor

Sunday morning I heard a sermon dealing with Acts 4 and it seems to have tied all the various things that I wanted to talk about this month into one. Starting with verse 13

"Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. "

Having observed the confidence of Peter and John. Lets back up a second and get the audience that Pete and John were talking to in verse 5

On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;  and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”

Rulers, Elders, Scribes, high priests, relatives of the high priests.


These are people that have wrongly imprisoned John and Peter. These are people that had just arranged and carried through with the death of the Savior. Now, standing before them, Peter doesn't cower and apologize. He doesn't shy away from anything. By the power of the Holy Spirit he tells the truth regardless of the consequences

"Rulers and elders of the people,  if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone.  And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Peter who was arrested for proclaiming Christ and performing miracles in His name, testifies to the men that did the arresting, the men who offered up Christ, that Christ in the Messiah.. AND THEN points out their wrong doing. Peter, a regular dude, is pointing out to the educated and studied men of the church that their hearts and doctrines are wrong. Peter didn't pause and calibrate "Am I coming against the Lords anointed?" He told the truth to men that were 'of a higher position/authority' so to speak.

So, they're rebuked and what is the next line?

"Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

 
In my pro-torah position I've had a handful of experiences where pastors or leaders in a church will believe that they have a right doctrine because they have studied the teaching of men. Some of them went and paid money and did a lot of hard work to study flawed men's interpretations of Biblical text. Some of them have degrees that essentially state "This person has learned everything that we flawed people, think that they should know about how other flawed people understood the Bible and therefore since they have paid the money and spent the time studying the thoughts of people... they should be trusted to learn what the Bible says" This is a parallel that I've come to understand in my walk and Peters. My life has a few parallels. Times when I've said things like "I'll never deny you lord" and then felt the weight of my own strength and will crushing me. Yet this, this boldness... to go before these men and women who were instructed in only a specific flawed line of thinking, having no formal instruction myself, God has used me to amaze and silence some. Why do so few people have that sense of boldness to speak on the matters of Truth in God's word? Many times, the people I discuss with have the same types of reactions that the Council did:


And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.  But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.  But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.”  And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus."

True story. Having discussed things with certain "men of learned degrees" and having contradictions not addressed within their doctrine, I have experienced the meetings where I am asked to not teach what I see or ask the questions that I ask, other times... it is requested that I leave.  Thanks be to God who sustains me that I have held to His boldness and try to hold to the response as Peter and John saying:
  Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;  for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

.There is a saying that "if you do not stand in times of peace, you will fall in times of battle"  Which brings me to my next point... which I might just save for the next post.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Among Papal Potshots...





These days one can have discussions with all kinds of people in the church and many of those people would tell you pretty much the opposite of Psalms 1. They'll probably say something to the effect that the Law of the Lord ( of God) is bondage and slavery. They might say that by following it, you're entering into a covenant of death. Yet in this passage it is the one who delights in the law of God that is given the imagery of life, being planted firmly with strong roots and nurtured... bearing fruit. It says that the one who meditates on the Law of God does not wither.
Yet, when you are in many churches today you might have coffee with your pastor and relate what the scriptures say... but get scoffed at. Perhaps they counsel you to not be obedient to the Law of the Lord that is the Law of God.
What of the pope in his bubble car? If he makes his way to a podium with his fancy hat and robes and says things that are contrary to these passages, should we follow what he says? What authority do they derive this doctrine from? Many attend Bible schools and pay lots of money to be told things that are contrary to what the scriptures report. Should we believe them because of the money they paid?
Think for a moment about this passage

 "When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them,  saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”  But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them"  -Acts 5

These men were before the HIGH PRIEST!!! The high priests didn't have their doctrine right and when they were called out, they were angry. In that day, we might be tempted to put our faith that the high priest and the Council. We might have been tempted to say things like " they know more than we do so we should obey them expressly. After all, they've sat at the feet of rabbis and they have studied more than I have" But from this text in Acts is that knowing texts doesn't mean that you're teaching the right doctrine. Sometimes, I'd venture to say that many times... standing up for what it true means that you're going to be mocked and often ridiculed by people, even people that you expected to be on your side.

Am I saying that there is something wrong with Bible school? Absolutely not. Am I saying that all pastors are wicked? By no means. Am I saying the Pope is hogwash?  ... well yeah, kinda... but I'm trying to do it lightly. Talk to your doctor and see if the scriptures are right for you. If they says no, ignore them and read the Bible anyway.

I guess what I am trying to say is that you have to be mindful to those who you rely on to bring you the Word of God. One of the rebuttals that I encounter from time to time when sharing the Scriptures and the applicability of the Torah to the life of believers is a form of a phrase:
" How come the Spirit didn't tell me any of this" or " I prayed a little about it and the spirit didn't tell me to follow any of this." They're dangerous words.

1 John 4 starts out with a charge for believers to test the spirits to see if they are of God
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

From this passage and others like it we can see that there are a number of people that are listening to a spirit, and attributing it to the Holy Spirit. Many of them justifying passions and fleshly desires that are contrary to God. Some times people in these positions of "authority" and "shepardship" may even tell you that they have no desire to discuss the scriptures with you. This is particular problematic as, their position is to correct your doctrine if it is wrong according to the totality of scripture, or to receive correction humbly if it is they who need doctrinal correction. If they're unwilling then perhaps one has to shake the dust from their feet and ramble on.

"As you enter the house, give it your greeting.  If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.  Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city".- Matthew 10

"Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’  But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.  They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.  And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts "- Zechariah  7
 

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Little to Big Things

 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. - Gal 5

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. - 1 Cor 6

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death" - Rev 21


Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.- Rev 22




That's quite a list.

Yet if you talk to anyone off the street they might tell you that they're going to heaven because they're a good person. It's pouring into the church with people that if they haven't out right endorsed certain sins as acceptable, they don't have the strength in their convictions to speak against them.
When I look at this list, I know there are things that I need to change and that there are more than one thing that could bar me from heaven. I'm holding to God's grace as I work on them, but I also know that it's important that they be worked on. I have evidence of the working of God's Spirit in my life as when they heave their insults and they pour out the hatred, I'm slightly less quick to anger than I used to be. I still have a ways to go.

In the past week I have been told that I am not a believer because I quoted Leviticus 11 in regards to a cheese stuffed lobster carcass. I was told that it was judgment and these "other believers" said that I was going to burn in hell and wasn't following God because he said " judge not". Never mind the part where he says to judge with righteous judgment or the fact that in the context of what I was speaking about, I've removed the log from my eye and am able to speak of the speck in others in that regard.
I was also treated to a fury of insults ranging from very light to quite vulgar because I had the audacity to say that homosexuality isn't an identity, it's a sin. I was called a bigot and was told that I was filled with hate, even though I stated that I am quite tolerant of those who struggle (or don't even struggle) with homosexuality. I stated one biblical truth, cited one scripture, and that was enough to illicit a heinous response.

One of the things that stands out to me louder than the rest is cowardly. I often wonder about how many that encompasses. I know in our culture we're conditioned to not offend others with beliefs and that Christianity is offensive to the culture. In the scripture we're taught that to have friendship with the world is to be an  enemy with God
 "You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God"- James 4
Yet, we go out of our way to not really teach or preach the Truth, but kinda poke at it with a stick with tracts or neck ties with scriptures on them. Cowardly. Many of us are too timid to pray in public. Why? Why would we be so self conscious about speaking aloud to the God that gave us life and redeems us from our own lusts and selfish destructive ways?


A.W. Tozer has a line that says Christians don't tell lies – they just go to church and sing them” We say things like "I surrender all" and "God have your way in me" then the moment Church lets out we drive to the nearest burger place and tell them to pile bacon high on our meal in contrast of Leviticus 11:7 where God says expressly to the people who He made the New Covenant with, Don't do this.
We say we love God but we don't even keep the Sabbath, which is by design a day off to hang out with God and love Him, given to us as a gift. We wont even stand up to ourselves... but what are we supposed to do with the world starts getting really bad?
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.- 2 Tim 3


Would you hold up in China where there are raids on Christians for being believers?
Would you lay down your life for the love of God and your faith?


... how are we ever going to get to those places when we refuse to be obedient in the small things as not sticking some gross abomination in our face and eating it?

Friday, April 14, 2017

Passover Musings.


I forget how to start blogs these days. I try to start them like I am talking directly to you, but for some reason I get a few lines in and scrap the entire conversation. I doubt you appreciate that since, in real life it would be as if you were starting to say something and I glanced at my phone and walked away.

What I want to talk about this month is Passover and unleavened bread. I was privileged enough to be asked to help throw a Passover dinner with some friends and it was awesome. This was the first time that I had lamb and it tasted delicious, the only time before that was in a gyro so, now I don't know what to believe. It gives me hope because for me, I consider myself a symbolism guy and to say that "Lamb just isn't my taste" always made me a little uncomfortable theologically. I did a clean on parts of my house and removed (ate) the leavened things before they were Biblically off limits for Unleavened bread. This lead to an interesting predicament.

There are those who clean out the leaven out of their house and they usually give it away to those that do not observe the feast. I've done this in the past, but over the last few years I've adopted the mindset that if it's sin, it's sin. Aren't we as believers supposed to be about 1) removing sin from our lives, and 2) teaching others how to be that example of Christ?  If it is a sin for me to be eating unleavened items during unleavened bread, then it would be a sin for me to give unleavened bread to another person and therefore contribute to their sin. This is the conclusion that I have come to in my walk.

This post may be a little scattered and hazy, on account of my being Italian and not having full bread or pasta, it's taking a greater effect that I'd like to admit. Where was I? Oh right. So, I did a clean on parts of my house and knowing the time was approaching I didn't buy more things with leavening in them as to not be in a situation where I am purchasing things to just throw away.  Some times I attend a bible study with a well meaning guy who brings a teaching that is somewhere doctrinally comparable to what I believe being like Baseball, and what he believes being like Cricket. Might be a weird analogy, because the guy isn't British, but I think he is Jewish. Either way, we both have hearts to keep God's times. So I'm trying to get my house squared, but I've got roommates. They're believers, but compared to the theological analogy of Baseball vs Cricket, they're probably more Softballers.  Teacher guy decides to clear out his leaven and pass it over to my roommates. Now the leaven is in my house, with Softballers who I've been talking about major league stuff with. It's in my dugout.

This got me to thinking about other sins. Do we do this with other sins? Do we excuse certain sins because the players aren't in the same sport? I, am a terrible example of righteous living... but in my defense, which is no defense at all, I do tell people out right that when I am in sin, it doesn't excuse the sin. The sin doesn't cease being as such because I am in rebellion. It's still sin, and I should be a better example of resisting it. I don't think I have ever told someone that something in the Bible that God has defined as Sin ( not issues of personal conviction mind you, but God laid text) wasn't a sin to them if they did it because of  X_________. This is something that I have mused over, and researched some, but could stand to study more you know?  I'm getting that conversational rhythm back, you know. Yeah, you know.  I'm not trying to be unfair to the Cricket players standards because he's still working out his stuff and in fairness he hasn't been doing this for as long, and probably hasn't' had anyone on his wavelength that knew enough to check him on some of the things that he's brought about. Is that MY place? probably not. Do I do it anyway? Like a compulsion. I do limit my attendance for both of our sake.

The question still stands, If sin is the transgression of God's law, and God's law is His self disclosure to the world, Then should it matter if you're Jew or Gentile, Saved or not, Man or Woman, Child or Adult? Shouldn't Sin be opposite of God and therefore be avoided by all of mankind? I have a hard time seeing it not. If we look at it as some sins for one race and others for another, I think that fosters a sense of elitism and division between nationalities and it turns the Commands of God from a position of "living like the Savior" to a position of elitism.  If Galatians 3:28-29 is to be true that we are all believers in Christ and therefore descendants of Abraham, then we should be looking out for other believers in trying to keep them from sin regardless of birthright.

Chocolate covered matza is the best way to eat matza. I saw a video wishing people a happy Passover and they used Matza as like, construction material. It made me laugh because of parallels. Never fails though, I get two days into unleavened bread and every time I turn around, I am punched in the mouth with a longing for doughnuts. I've also learned how easy it is to live off of lunchmeat, honey mustard and a tortilla.  The tortilla is really just an eatable plate.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Sons Of Abraham

Some of the things I hear often, usually when talking about scripture relating to not eating pork, is something like these comments:
 
 
The OT is for the Jews? The Law was just for the Jews? How many times have you heard this argument?  Yet is it found that way in scripture?
"But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him’” Numbers 15:30-31
So an Alien ( that people say isn't part of Israel) who blasphemes (the God of Israel) Is to be cut off from his people ( isn't he already cut off from his people, and an Alien in Israel, unless this means from his people ISRAEL) because he broke a commandment ( Aren't the commandments only for Israel? )


What about the commands for keeping the feast of Booths?
 You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns. 15 Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.


Leviticus 24:22
22 There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.’”
 Numbers 15:16
 As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. 16 There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’”,

Perpetual statute means forever and it's echoed here in Galatians 3

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise


So, lets recap, Who left Egypt?
Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.
39 They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.- Exodus 12

Sons of Israel and Mixed Multitude

Who were the sons of Israel?
These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.- 1 Chronicles 2

12 tribes and a mixed multitude of people.

What did the Mixed multitude of people and the 12 tribes do?
All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. - Exodus 19:8

Just to be clear, Deuteronomy 29:9-15
So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, 15 but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today
The Torah is for
Chiefs, Tribes, Elders, Officers, All the men of the 12 tribes of Israel,  Little ones, Wives, Aliens,
Those who are sons of Abraham, those who are in Christ, Those who were there at Sinai and those who weren't.

Of all of those people, why do we say that it is only for Judah?

A perpetual statute with the Alien is a perpetual statute. A perpetual statute with ones not there, is still a perpetual statute. 
We hear things like "Christ came to free us from the Law" and then we say "The law was never for us because we aren't' Jews"
We whom are saved by Grace through Faith are just the same as all those listed in Hebrews 11, who were saved by Grace through Faith... and it results in obedience, but is not a pre-requisite of Salvation
The Idea that the Law or Commands of God were to be kept in order to be saved was a NEW heresy that was springing up in Acts 15. Never before was such a doctrine in place and it was never the case that God had laid out in the "Old testament" To believe that in the "old testament" people were saved by adhering to commands and then Jesus came to discard the antiquated system is to trample on God's standard of Holiness, and to paint Him as disastrously inept. The same ideology paints Christ not as an obedient Son and Savior reflecting the goodness of His Fathers will, but instead makes Christ to be a violent over thrower of the kingdom of God, diminishing him to the likes of the Greeks on Olympus.

Neither Jew or Gentile, we are one in Messiah, the Savior, the Christ, to walk as HE walks.




 

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Ayin Tova

The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.- Matthew 6

Time is the only currency we truly have. We trade some of it for money, which we trade for food and shelter so that we can spend other time on things more enjoyable. We spend, aptly put, our time. 
These principals caught my eye lately when I confessed to a roommate of mine that I've been lacking spiritually lately. I do not spend enough time in prayer, and I do not spend enough time reading the Bible.  I do God stuff, like go to church and serve. I attend a Mens Bible study where I do what I can to be transparent. It was at that Bible study that I was prompted to investigate my heart.

The other day someone ate my lunch. I'm not talking like, they chowed down on a $1.99 sandwich that I was left in the fridge for a week, no. I'm talking one of those $3.99 premium mac and cheese dinners that are even better than restaurant style mac and cheese. Now, I had had some tension with this person before, and this set me further on edge. They ate MY lunch.  This injustice was the subject of a lot of my thoughts until it's resolution, a week later. Yeah, a week later it was dealt with. that was a lot of time, a lot of life, that I spent on being upset over something stupid. I was hung up on it. My eye was not full of light. My heart was not where it should be.

At that Mens group Bible study the men said that they'd pray for the whole situation. When they said they'd pray for "the situation" what I am sure they were saying was " we pray that everything works out for peace" but what I heard was "we pray that you pull your head out of your butt".  That caused me to take a step backward.

That is when this passage came to mind:

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.  When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’  But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.  So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.  Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’- Matthew 18


Anger and gratitude cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Had I had more of a discipline focusing on the gratitude that I have for God's mercy and patience and gracious giving in abundance, I probably wouldn't have been so indignant about $3.99.  How much of my life looks dim because of a darkness in my eye? How much of the world looks bleak, not out of reality but out of our perception.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.- Philippians 4


Sunday, January 1, 2017

The Breakdown








Things wrong with this by paragraph:
Paragraph 1
The Laws of God pertaining to His standard of righteousness and holiness are not just some set of rules to be followed. Granted obedience is credited to people as righteousness but this is only in response to their faith as stated in Hebrews 11. Hebrews also states that the blood of bulls and goats was never to take away sins in Hebrews 10:4 so the claim that that is how adam and eve got into heaven is also wrong. They put their faith in the coming Savior just like anyone else in the history of ever being saved by the redemption of Christ. Sacrifices were for a few reasons, but none of which were salvation oriented. If you wanna get really technical in Acts 21:17-26 Paul performs sacrifices after the death and resurrection of Christ for the express purpose of teaching people that this line of thinking that is being espoused in this post is categorically false.

Paragraph 2

Yes, Christ came with the express purpose of redeeming mankind by his sacrifice and pay the debt of the penalty of violation of the Law of God. his sacrifice is to free us from the bondage of Sin in our lives, allowing us to overcome sin. His words "it is finished" are not evidence of a destruction of the immutable words of God in the rest of the Bible, but rather a statement that the debt is paid. There are entire books of the Bible that discuss the returning of Christ and what that entails, this is by no means written off so glibly by the "it is finished" interpretation. This cites that Christ's death means that we no longer follow the law of God or the Prophets, but again that is EXACTLY what the FALSE teachers said of him Acts 6:10-15, and Matthew 5:17-19. Why do you think Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Paragraph 3

Falsely they make the claims about Christ. They make the same claim the false teachers said about him. The idea that they are saying is that if you are obedient to the very WORDS OF GOD as a RESPONSE to your FAITH in CHRIST, then you are invalidating the Cross. This is heretical garbage. What paragraph 3 is trying to say is that God was too weak and that he set up a faulty system that his son had to do a rush patch job on and nothing of that was the case. God's standard of Holiness is exactly what Christ lives. We, as followers of Christ are called to live the way Christ lives. Luke 6:40,Luke 24:27,John 5:46-47.
The irony of all of this is that it's capped off with a condescending message about actually reading the scriptures, when most of these paragraphs are talking points handed down or maligned from posts of sermons taken out of context. They're not what the Bible says. 
 
Now as to the Meme itself, Jesus says that He and the Father are one and He says that He is the Way the Truth and the Light, When he says that He is the word made flesh, that does mean that Leviticus 18:22: and Leviticus 20:13are from Him as well.

Breakdown of Jude

What is Jude talking about ? For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, un...