Question of the day
Who benefits when one embraces the tree planted by the rivers of water identity but surrenders the fadeless leaves and seasonal fruit outcomes?
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Psalms 1:3, NASB
I get the impression that New Testament scenarios are replaying on a loop. There are few new things happening to the human family and the information pipelines keep delivering packages about the extremes of life on the planet: the first this, the biggest that, the largest number of people dying tragically, the longest stretch of scorching temperatures, and the oldest stars and astronomic objects. Meanwhile the inhumane, the hypocritical, the racist, the xenophobic, the militaristic, the greedy capitalist, the selfish, the rebellious, and the corrupt continue to prey on gullible populations with stupid and senseless storytelling.
What’s with all the storytelling anyway? The Lord Christ used stories – parables – because his sovereign knowledge of his contemporaries included peculiar insights. There is high value in story telling when people are locked out of the mysteries of the kingdom, and there is an ample supply of stories in the Bible if one thinks there is a need to illustrate a Messianic teaching.
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled , which says , ‘ You will keep on hearing , You will keep on seeing , but will not perceive ; For the heart of this people has become dull , With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes , Otherwise they would see with their eyes , Hear with their ears , And understand with their heart and return , And I would heal them .’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10-17, NASB
The hypocrite blind guides of New Testament times are still around. There is a Pharisee in your community; and I am not talking about Jewish persons. People pretending to be solid examples of integrity and accountability all the while the blood of their victims can be seen dripping from their mouths. In the USA, China, and the islands of the sea people are desperately creating narratives to keep people from asking diagnostic questions and from discovering the water of life.
The superlative goodness of creation gets a mixed review. No amount of spin can alter the fact; the Genesis narrative does not end well. The journey to fulfillment of God’s will comes after thousands of years and a variety of arrangements. There is no person that we have to believe or believe in but GOD. Every faith group (religion) is currently a caricature of itself; instead of watering people’s innermost needs, they pander to age-old mistakes, deadly conflicts, and scores of idols. We have seen the evidence: that as soon as we stop looking at the Son of David we end up in the grip of stupid and senseless storytelling, following myths, fables and genealogies.
The practice of reciting is impressive but pretty dangerous, and memorizing Bible sayings along with their book, chapter and verse references has been taken as secure wordwork. Both practices often overlook what the writer intended and the Psalms, being a source of popular expressions are often part of the phenomenon which I liken to “never done like toast”.
The actions in a sentence fall into two simple categories according to Hebrew grammar. We like to think of them as time-stamped, which results in the recognition of English tense; past, present and future. Hebrew verb tense grammar, being only two, resolves more into TYPE of action than into TIME of action. Perfect tense resolves the business of action into a condition. We can call this the way things are. Imperfect tense resolves the business of action into incomplete and repeatable events. We can call this the what’s going on model.
For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. But You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah
Psalms 44:6-8, NASB
Toast, cracker, or untoasted are the simple choices for the translator, but the reader is often robbed of this currency.
Question of the day
How could God fix the problem his son Adam unleashed with just another son?
“…Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God…”
Luke 3:34b-38, NASB
“therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:23-24, NASB
The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
Romans 5:16ķ
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:17
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:45-47, NASB)
“Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;” (Psalms 66:1, NASB)
God is so powerful that his enemies and his works so awesome that his enemies turn to deception (Psalms 66:3). They lie about their thoughts and allegiance. At some point everyone will worship Yahweh, will sing praises (play music) to him; they will sing praises (play music) to his name.” (Psalms 66:4) One might think that this global view might be the beginning of a new mindset in Israel, but not even Solomon’s father, the monarch of sacred music, was ready to put some distance between real life and fantasy. Shout everybody but wring your hands in despair because the Levitical system is still front and centre.
Did David not know that he can sing and play anywhere with God’s eyes, ears and heart focused on him? Of course he did. These wishes regarding the levitical forms of worship are that part of his psyche that wants to demonstrate his utmost in a regal and megalithic way. Remember when he said he would not sleep until he found a place where he can build a place for Yahweh’s worship to be front and centre. Have you not wondered why this monumental worship is not happening any where in the world?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed…
Psalms 2:2, NASB
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB
This single verse from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church (2:3:18) is a stiff rebuke to the narratives produced by people who want to take credit for the progress of believers. What gives them away is the fact that they are repeatedly roadblocks to what Christ wants to do in believers’ lives. We can try to show how we have “outchanged” other believers but we consistently fail. It is Christ who pardons sin, gives life to the repentant, gives the Holy Spirit to his elect, and brings them to glory. A changed life has everything it needs and it needs no standard bedside the Lord Christ. It is his absence from the human agenda that brings people to the fully changed scam.
This tower of seismic contrasts goes further than veiled Moses and an unchanged people. If a person choses moonlight over the sun so they will never see. Reading Moses a certain way amounts to treachery. “But to this day”, said Paul, a cream of the Jewish crop, “whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;” (2 Corinthians 3:15, NASB). It comes down to discerning the apostle’s intentions when he talks about:
The attempt to subvert the gospel with lies about being “fully changed” on account of a claim to be commandments-keepers is a miserable failure. The apostle is unequivocal: we are being changed. If anyone want to say that Christ has finished changing us we know that a demon is involved, and hypocrisy is the outfit and jewelry of that crew.
Any comparison of the faces of Christ and Moses has to conclude with a resolute contrast. Furthermore and without a doubt, face to face with the Lord Christ is not an end of the age business. A changed life has eternal rationales, gracious departures and arrivals, and God does not admit claims by human to be those things that God cannot transfer to us. Moses is a partial picture of success. Even though he had a unique kind of burial it is obvious that I recall having a tough time convincing students that repentance is neither a behavioural u-turn nor a river of tears of sorrow. It seems that the popular view of repentance is a mock up of John the Baptist’s “make the fruit that speak repentance’s language” (Matthew 3:8). Within three years of John’s call for repentance fruit there were thousands of witnesses in Jerusalem to the fact that only a handful of his contemporaries had sincerely changed their minds about what God was doing in the interest of all human beings. John did not live to see it, thanks to faded temple and law talk.
Careful analysis of the priorities of credentialed operatives in the religions of both east and west shows that leaders and those aspiring to lead only need to make outlandish claims that no-one can prove or disprove. It is perfectly fine to believe anything at all. The goals that we say we have achieved are not the ones that reflect the growth everyone who is on a journey of infinite dimensions should expect. The conquest of land and the provision of immense wealth are poor signs of face-time with divinity. Did not Gautama renounce life’s comforts and traditional rights so he could focus on spiritual values? So did Moses, John the Baptist. It seems that people are convinced that they can achieve more with anything less than a moment by moment mindfulness of the vast gap between themselves and the God of the universe, then we can fully explain the shallow pits we have dug for ourselves with our religio-political constructs. How little we have learned about real face-time with God!
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
So let us continue to paint the picture of contrasts, bearing in mind that one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. My glory might be my neighbour’s shame. Take the use of bacon (with eggs) as a staple for breakfast and its use practically everywhere to add flavour (and God knows what else) and compare that to the near outright ban on swine in some lands. Glory, hope, permanent values are going to make sense only in the light of shame, despair and fads.
This saying pins light transmission to the Incarnate Word, the world’s light. Perhaps when we actually love our sinful neighbours as God the Father does we can say we have been fully changed. That is not happening anywhere most human pride in achievement rises and quenches the Spirit’s work.
The face of Christ is specific and exclusive. People cannot just turn it into a wisdom of the prophets thing or a faith is obedience thing, and especially not a love God priority with xenophobic food, drink and festival things.
Finding a criminal label for so many behaviours that one begins to suspect that societies will not hesitate to criminalize the very foundations of human survival affirms the junkie factor among many religious people; Christians included. The superficiality of achievements without honourable and reasonable efforts, the shameful audacity of public leadership without service, and religious of religious We do not exaggerate putting out the headline: the watchmen and architects sleep and rase.
Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Psalms 127:1, NASB
Now that everything around us is crumbling we have to begin to see those facts in the light of what was said before they happened. That will prove that honest people are not rare by accident. Foxes in the henhouse, polices services oppressing the people they are supposed to serve, and spiritual leaders desperately trying to insert their “faith” into the secular power-grid are all one tribe. No sane person will accept the intrusion of any faith into their community. None of the populous faiths have a record of either genuine humanity or genuine divinity and none have improved the welfare of their people, and I have to tell you, the truth of the Christian message is that if you treat people outside your faith as less that deserving of their food, drink, play, clothing and housing, you have forgeited the respect of most people as a genuine associate of a God who, among other things, created the world and all our processes on this planet.
Someone is sleeping where we need a watchmen, and the architects of the USA, the UK, the PRC, the many socialist rebublics are workers of vanity. They have all thought that their ideas, to which they have a “sacred” right, can replace those things that God have kept under his own power and authority. Pure vanity meets pure confusion and despair. They wrote their constitutions, set up defence systems, and built their nations apart from God. Now they want to play God, calling earth a washed up mansion, looking for a new planet home in those places where only death prevails. The PRC, the UK, and the USA have not only soiled their garments they are fairly satisfied that they can walk around naked thinking that they can sufficiently manipulate the media to keep the illusion of their thriving business and economy policies front and centre, and eventually demand allegiance at the point of their swords. My recommendation to the city builders and defenders: go with your 30% or 3%, because the die is cast, most people know that governments of any stripe are vanity, puffs of smoke, that do not transform into rain clouds. Any other eventuality is sure to be a media and social media concoction. Wakey, sleepyhead.
Rapid and resolute denials of facts are the symptoms of a city whose watchmen are busy handing the keys to the city’s enemies. The builders think they can fool society by trying to maintain and repair the broken down structures of society all the while ignoring the blueprints that apply. None of the nations in the Americas or Europe are levitical systems, neither are they monarchies that are built on the pattern of David. People are not that blind. Despite the bravado about God’s law, commandment-keeping as righteousness and God’s future government underpinned by a law for bad actors. I suppose that God’s kingdom is going to be no different from the world described in Genesis. How many persons in God’s kingdom are going to be lawless, rebellious, ungodly, sinful, unholy and profane? I cannot imagine how intelligent persons can pretend to make a case for God’s kingdom needing regulations for and threats against those who kill their fathers or mothers, against murderers, immoral men, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching…” (1 Timothy 1:9-10, NASB)
The kingdom of God is never likened to prophets and the law. One has to decide whether the kingdom being described is destination or God’s rule. The undisputed king stated what the kingdom is like.
How simple it would be for the king to say that his kingdom is like people doing what he says without fail. He never did and we know who dares try to put those words in the king’s mouth. Sleepy watchmen who wake only to give the keys to the enemies breaking in and only builders who see their duty as razing the only authorized foundation: cross, Spirit, service, and suffering in preparation for glory.
“About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.” (Acts 19:23, NASB)
It was obvious that someone wanted to stir up the business world and use the courts to cripple the disciples’ effect on the whole of Asia. In the 21st century we have seen a lot of religious posturing by governments to the point where many are beginning to think that there may be crediblity to various examples of religion-dominated societies. Take three or four Asian examples, a couple more from the Midde East, a dozen from Europe and the Americas and the case closes. There is nothing more than a muffled whimper from religious governement. God will never consent to humans (especially exclusively males) being the arbiters of what people should think. The difference between God and humanity is too stark for thoughtful people to tolerate even the smell of thieves, robbers, blasphemers and religious artifacts and rituals.
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. (Acts 19:37, NASB)
But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.
Acts 19:39-40, NASB
Civic society has not learned how to appreciate the difference between God’s domain and human government. We can see this in the attempts to solve problems with religous laws and practice. The histories of Judaism and Islsm have taught us nothing. Along with a full embrace of the message from the Bible people remain slow to save themselves from their crooked and adulterous generations. It is no wonder that people find church, even the African thievery, Joel Osteen delusionary, and John Hagee shallow pool type sideshow, wholly unappealing and no blip.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 