Month: May 2019

Too close for comfort and too false for living

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Ephesians 6:12 tells us that:

… our struggle is not against flesh and blood (human individuals), but

  1. Against the rulers,
  2. Against the authorities,
  3. Against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
  4. Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Many believers have taken a position that looks like humility and conscientious cooperation with all entities in authority. In the current climate of government handouts to charitable organizations one can imagine that government has infiltrated our places of worship. There is not enough money to provide deterrent security for churches, mosques, and who knows what else.

Guess how close to battle comforts we have come? When did I last see or run into (a) a ruler or (b) an authority (c) a cosmic power or (d) a spiritual force of evil in the heavenly places?

Light years separate us.

How often have we

Next to never

• τὰς ἀρχάς

• τὰς ἐξουσίας

• τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ ⸀σκότους τούτου

• τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις.

It is because they seek that authority for themselves that they do so. They want priestly power, and they want the power to punish heterodoxy. When there is no exegesis of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament people invent visions and work out times and seasons, and try to enforce compliance with their views.

Much of the deliverance ministry wave and the in the we got the true church/groups are mostly people who are not interested in the proper interpretation of the scriptures.

Power over demons and other distinctions as food and marriage are good sign that there is nothing going on between Christ and the powerbrokers.

We are proving that we are standing near the sun but no heat has been able to reach us.

All that Wisdom: poof

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All that wisdom: poof
Is it a coincidence that the books at the center of Hebrew wisdom are often lacking in the grand themes of divine excellence? Wisdom, righteousness and greatness seem locked up in the Law, but the winds have never found the sails. Like the choice offerings in the sanctuary, the great wisdom has vanished in a flash.

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deuteronomy 4:8

Wisdom that comes and goes

The nations of the world were impressed with Israel’s holy things, but the covenant lay in ruins from Moses to John the Baptist. Wisdom and understanding were supposed to be manifested in performance

… do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Deuteronomy 4:6b

What about that great law lends itself to people everywhere? Mercy, justice, and faithfulness appear as God’s priorities in every age.

  1. Job gets dragged through the wringer of adversity to reveal, apart from the Law, that people cannot save themselves. He leaps on and rejoices in the coming resurrection, God’s covering righteousness, and a philanthropic lifestyle.
  2. David is all over those things that are both mysterious and material to the salvation of all people. His vision is not of Moses law as primary. It is a king who saves and rules by extreme righteousness
  3. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, says nothing about salvation, endurance, worship, idolatry, faith, and forgiveness.

Slinging maxims and proverbs is no way to build a spiritual life

But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. Matthew 12:6

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Matthew 12:42

Leadership under scrutiny

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The company of believers who wrestle with authority pales in comparison with the number of us who blindly. The pendulum swings between being loyal moments and tuning out, not between perfect relationships and no business with God. There is no room in relationships for claims of ultimate authority. We have noticed that leaders who strive to ensure loyalty to themselves are often people who do not understand leadership and would quickly be exposed as shallow and deserving of professional scrutiny.

When scrutiny came to the door of the priesthood (Numbers 16:11) Yahweh had a swift response: wipe the plate and turn it facedown.

Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?

Is this not also a rejection of authoritarian elitist rule? Who really was Aaron, that he should be the object of concern or respect? Would you follow a man or woman who told you a piece of metal was your saviour?

  1. Aaron did not bring the Hebrews out of Egypt
  2. Aaron led the worship of the golden calf.

Not really in touch

Many Christians are following a levitical policy when they bend to every slogan, and enjoy every whooping and hollering preacher/teacher. Our leaders are not highpriests; many have little to show that they have been with Christ. The outcome of the three years our apostolic fathers spent with the Saviour and our decades of “Holy Spirit” guidance can be likened to eating corn on the cob versus eating corn-fed calf.

Levitical counterfeit

Levites were literate. They inherited their office and had no land inheritance. The economic system provided food and clothing for the Levites. Tithing was the means. The church of God is neither Levitical nor Sinaitic. The church God is a priesthood, and our leaders are slowminded and uninformed because they think that disguising the clergy as levitical works glorifies God. Many leaders believe that Sinai covers everything. Most believers know this is false.

The counterfeit works for people who inquire the least and say “yes” to authority, even when the authority shows every sign of being light years away from the everfresh gospel.

All the spiritual manifestations and shenanigans – prophesy, speaking in tongues, miracles, and exorcisms – do not amount to a molehill when the goal and strategy depart from the doctrines and practice of gospel light. Gospel light is in Yeshua’s face and in the words of his founding stones.

Are we ready to demand a zipped lip the next time someone demands 10% of my earnings? Maybe not, but when churches charge people with robbing God the light years between truth and mistake is clear. Next time there is an urgent need in one of the families (do not even think of doing this for the normal needs) try asking your tithing church to chip in a few hundred dollars and see how your leaders melt like wax near fire.

Doesn’t anyone dare ask “Where does Yeshua say what you just said?” Maybe not, but nothing else matters. There is no guarantee that commentaries and books will deliver the truth to our seeking minds or shield us from the flood or earthquake. Only the teaching (sayings) of Christ can do that.

Levitical leadership is outdated and practically irrelevant because levitical practice and its laws represent the childish and incarceration phase of humanity’s journey.

Have you not heard them saying “the law saves after Lamb’s blood does”.

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Hebrews 7:11-12

Only one salvation

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Does your leader act like a messenger from heaven, recommending a messenger from this planet? That is not only confusing, it is demonic. Neither a messenger from heaven or earth can add to or subtract from the gospel: Christ, all by himself, is Saviour.

Salvation is Christ

Paul repeats it to rebuke the foolish and bewitched.

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. Galatians 1:9

There is no foundation beside the one laid when Yeshua sent the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal event.

And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Amos 2:11-12

People are still being intoxicated to deny their prophetic individual identity and mission by messengers and prophets. They recognize everyone’s demons except their own.

Many burdens with no real rest

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, Colossians 2:20

So-called simple truth is nothing more than childish brainwashing. People who cannot relate to Christ alone are bound, bewitched and baptized into something else.

We can pretend that our food for life comes from Christ and others, but all we digest is the proceeds of larceny.

All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. John 10:8

The thief (robber too?) refuses to use the door. My God, who do these guys think they are fooling? The difference between Christ and all preceding messengers will dawn on us only when we commit to the TRUTH, our Lord Messish Yeshua. We are nothing more than pervert agents if our boast (our hallel) is about things and not the Saviour-God.

Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? Romans 2:23

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

No doubt about it: I am a baby

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Believers are a new thing: babes no less.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 1 Peter 2:2

1 Peter 2:9ff expands this new infancy of ours from nursing infants to mature servants serving others.

I guess we do not want to be babes for too long: babes are totally and rightly self-centered.

  1. chosen generation
  2. royal priesthood
  3. holy nation
  4. peculiar people

Purpose

As to the purpose of this Peter is graphically honest. We ought to have a message to others.

  • that ye should shew forth the praises ( aretas αρετάς from arete αρετή ) of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

We message Christ’s excellent things because we have tasted, we have migrated from darkness to light.

Straight-up, no guessing translation

If (SINCE) so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:3

Since you tasted (did taste) ⸀εἰ ἐγεύσασθε ὅτι χρηστὸς ὁ κύριος.

Move on from baby things soon!

Dressing up for Jesus

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Intriguing wear for the road

It is fascinating to reflect on the nudity in humanity’s debut (Genesis 2:25, And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed) and the many absurd developments in secular and sacred clothing. Our ideas of shame and confidence get sprinkled across the millennia and over the very territory where clothing is front and centre. In full solidarity with humanity we need clothing like Adam, Eve, and Aaron did, and like all saints do. Dressing up can be a futile venture like the figleaf choices of Adam and Eve, but it can also be found among the highly recommended and urgent activities we need for the life God gives us.

More than clothes

Even though our destiny indicates a genderless – angelic – condition we have been focused on clothing to the detriment of the quality of life.

For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:25

Our Lord evaluated the contemporary attitude towards clothing (plus food and drink) as not sustainable (Matthew 6:25). Life is definitely more than the clothes and other things we accumulate.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Naked humans, all eligible for a new wardrobe

Some parts of the human race did not seem to have latched on to the clothing practices from Eden, and those parts remains a rebuke to the parts of the world where clothing is high on the list of priorities and an integral part of culture and commerce. All humans are exposed and vulnerable in the spiritual and natural realms. We have interdependence hooks and handrails that we do not acknowledge. Amid all our insecurities and adversities we can easily forget that we are all in God’s care. In our Lord’s work he was interested in helping us understand that clothing indicates the interest of caregivers

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:28-29

Just as the ancients had God as tailor and seamstress so we moderns have our wardrobe taken care of by the Heavenly Father.

A sprint or marathon

Imagine that God had adopted us into his family – pardoned us and given us the Holy Spirit – would people not be justified in calling him out if he asked us to go out and purchase our own clothing sporting the family crest? If that was not strange enough there are people who are designing their own wardrobe.

We are pretty sure that priests, and the high priest in particular, dressed and undressed as required in performing their duties. The Christian priesthood, all believers, do not have that dynamic.

We put on Christ and no change is required. Christ is our righteousness. Armour and Spirit-fruit are the benefits of our wardrobe. The things of Christ and God only reach us via the Holy Spirit.

We recognize our clothing in the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49)

We recognize our clothing in the baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5)
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

We recognize our clothing in the power the Holy Spirit brings (Acts 1:8)
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

None of these are loans, therefore our dressing up for Jesus is far from being a lifelong pursuit of right things. Getting dressed is no marathon. It is not even a sprint, because no labour is involved in Christ sending the Holy Spirit to those who believe that God’s Son died and rose for the benefit of humanity.

Fire Sacrifice Discontinued

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Another example of the demise of the Mosaic system appears in the consecration of the priesthood. Moses organized the consecration and cleansing of Aaron’s clan with the usual animal sacrifice, including the burning of the carcass. The bull sin offering and its burning is a manifest type of Christ, but we are not able to find its fulfillment in the salvation of the world.

But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. Exodus 29:14

The way of salvation (and holiness) was prefigured in the tabernacle services. Blood, altar, fire and the mercyseat were the working parts. These all represent a roleplay of creation in service of sin and they seem to have no part in the real thing.

Salvation in Christ completely bypassed the tabernacle. Its detailed processes do not stand the test of effectiveness and reliability

  1. There was no altar upon which was Christ offered
  2. His death did not occur near the temple
  3. His body was not burned
  4. The atonement was outside the camp (city)
  5. Christ was priest and sacrifice

Change Rejected

Change is hard to do, even when the terms are stark and the facts are unveiling in plain sight. People talk a good game of courage and compliance but they seem to put on blinders when the neccessary shifts arrive.

For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Hebrews 7:12

If there is one law that the Hebrew people acknowledge what madness could bring Christians to keep trying CPR on a corpse centuries after its death was announced?

Hebrews 7:28 is graphic about the law’s inadequacy as is Hebrews 8:6 about the difference between old and new.

For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

What wisdom beside demonic strategy says choose the old and not so great?