Saved or redeemed, the deal is set

Are you one of those believers who is loath to say “I am saved”? On the other hand are you one of those believers who is certain that you were redeemed? These two questions reveal that Christ’s payment for the sins of humanity does not get debated because Christ’s it is the foundation of the Christian message and only an raving lunatic will say atonement has one more step. The questions also help us see that people debate whether they are saved because the message they heard did not stand a chance (see the seedsower parable in chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel) and the salvation of an innumerable crowd is set in God’s personality and perfect plan.

Psalms 107:2

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary

Half-quote that blinds

Is Christ some kind of McSaviour that he does not finish what he started?  Does he deliver a person from sin and not transport that person into the kingdom of his righteousness?  That kind of thinking makes a liar and a failure of God. 

The “just shall live by faith” appears in Habakkuk as a complete prediction standing opposite a puffed up person who is on a crooked path. It appears in Hebrews opposite a wavering person who gives God no pleasure.

Hebrews 10:38

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Hebrews 10:38

Habakkuk 2:4

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

Blood pays: redeemed, justified, saved

THE BLOODWASHED WAY

29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Romans 8:29-30

1 Peter 1:17-19

17. If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18. knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19. but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

1 Peter 1:17-19

Rude, Crude, Reality TV from The White House

Many people in positions of influence need to be recognized for their lack of integrity.   Many of today’s leaders and states have a record of racist and malicious actions, and many are ill-equipped to do the right thing where people of faith are concerned. All people have been deceived.  Many, including the bigot in the White House and many religious leaders have not faced either the fire of the fight for justice nor have personally jumped into the fire of public service.

Public service is far from the hearts of the people stacking the courts with bigots and defenders of fascism, the so-called religious liberty, and law and order.  Truth, as it relates to Scripture and Christ, is far from a lot of pulpits and hearts.  Noise, outdated symbols (flag, tent, gold-plated box) and gimmicky emotional expressions distinguish them from followers of the Way and from gospel interpreters.

Reporters need to learn to bless the bigot in the White House with the truth about his record.   I know that many churches treat simple questions in the same way as potus45. His grades are evidence that anyone can borrow and steal money, just like preachers whose best efforts are borrowed and stolen. Truth, however, cannot be that hard to distinguish. Truth never involved urging people to shut up and die in a pandemic, take dangerous medicines, or support rude, stupid and crude racists.

If relevant and timely questions to a public official are rude that official must be surrounded and supported by stupid and cowardly people.  Maybe they and the leader are lower than farm animals (like Isaiah observed).  Not every human being has the commonsense to say “I think that is wrong” and the few that do are too afraid to step out of the sycophant’s line. The administration of the 45th president is a clear demonstration of shallowness, cowardice, illiteracy and incompetence.

All those amens in church are coming back to haunt us.  Especially now that Google (or whoever) has the church’s meetings from start to finish who is to say “Nope. That ain’t in the Bible” and who is looking at or joining  the church ‘s proceedings unlawfully?   Most of us are not that naive.

Let us watch as the “wild west” criminal spree brought to full force by the bigot in the White House comes crashing down on the Republican party and on all those spineless and practically dumb robots who call themselves Yeshua’s sheep and shepherds.

You have to be a bigot to pay homage to a bigot

The pimping princes of chaos

The state of Israel has been reluctant to achieve peace because Jerusalem is still in the grip of oppression, real estate thefts, bribes, the shedding of innocent blood, and the discrimination against the Palestinians who have been in the land before Jewish people began immigrating.  Even the Beta Israel (disciples of Moses from Ethiopia) have a hard time accessing the benefits of a state that wants to be recognized as a democratic and righteous tower.  The peace accord with the United Arab Emirates is a blank cartridge in the world of neighbourly relations that plays into the hands of the wider Islamic world whose hatred of Jewish people and their election is well known.

Again, the world watches while a state crushes the hopes of its own people.  We can smell the deal-making of the corrupt bigot in the White House and the clever and shallow fables of PM Netanyahu’s party.  Make no mistake!  Love for Israel and the Jewish people cannot soften the blow that is due for the cruel policies, the hateful and sometimes ignorant violence that the plaques all the people of Palestive-Israel.

Capitalism destroys civic society

Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain.

Ezekiel 22:27

2020’s princes of chaos

The people need to be be rescued ftom their leaders.

Jeremiah 1:18-19

18) Now behold, I have made you [Jeremiah] today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19) They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:18-19

The Great Love

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jn 13:35

Some say that this identification is not enough. I suppose that in their book “love is NOT the greatest thing”.

Isn’t that like dumping the cross?

Doesnt that leave one wounded and bleeding, heading upcreek without a paddle?

Since “The whole of man is fearing God and doing what we are told” (Ecc. 12:13) the example that of doing God’s will that permeates the spiritual world is the Word of God becoming human so he could give his life as a ransom.  One act of love by God illustrates his expectation and execution. 

We who tell people to be obedient to the law or God or parents do we have a record of compliance? Isn’t there a whole lot of blasphemy, childish folly, and idolatry in our history? Isn’t there enough evidence to plug our trashy megaphones?

Nay-sayers and evildoers

21. you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? 22. You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23. You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

Romans 2:21-23

When God’s love touches us on the inside we love people without distinction.

You, Canadian Taliban, do not allow a woman!

I have never believed that women are somehow inferior or inadequate (lacking the capacity) to lead. My God, you Euro-American Taliban, I have a mother who knew sonething about Bible power. She could read it. She understood it. She taught me to read it. I have not gotten past “If any person (tis, τις) desires the office of bishop…” being treated as “if one of the boys wants to be a bishop…”, or how mothers can excel at home in nurturing and training both boys and girls to follow the Saviour. Paul’s message to Timothy about the quest for bishop’s office is a great eyeopener but it takes a less than thoughtful apostle or prophet to put up road blocks to the usefulness of women in church.

Focus on the function of the word

The Bible was not written for men. Forget that junk. Its message for the human race in every era never settles for the theory that males are the only heroes of faith. Take another look, please. Dare we say that God wants to equip only men (males) for every good work? Who does God want to to teach, reprove, correct and train in righteousness? Who does he want to be adequate (artios, άρτιος, fit for the time)? Males? Not a chance, Taliban.

People are people to God

Anthropology eludes the elitists in religious circles. They believe, without evidence, that the ancient world had two kinds of people: the elect and the disrespected. They do not care about people, all people. People who are themselves shorthanded and nearsighted will want to find someone to help show their elite standing by way of contrast. Leaving women out of anything has never been successful. Ask Moses and the scribes and Pharisees of New Testament times. It has to be that people who think Paul was following Christ by putting restrirtions on women are less than human. The man of God (the anthropos, ανθρωπος) can be any gender.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, anthropos is “person”

16) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17) so that the man (ανθρωπος) of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Paul to Timothy 2:3:16-17

A HISTORIC TEAM FOR A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY

Eyes are on the White House again with respect percolating for the institution! An election to compare with the upcoming contest is hard to find and the Democratic ticket is a far cry from the frenemic duo of the last 3 years.  Former Vice-president Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris are individuals shaped by the common struggles and by their distinct embrace of public service.

The wild fantasy of a land free of the influence of non-Caucasian peoples just took a hit as the man who witnessed firsthand the evil heart of the Republican Party and the poverty of the newly invented Christian alliance as they insulted and opposed potus44 Barrack Obama for eight years.

The first woman of colour and the first person of South Asian descent to be on a presidential ticket gives a boost to the pride of people who have always looked to the United States. The American dream was part of my cosmos for a very brief period but I have so many strings attached to family and friends that my interest in America’s progress never falters. As a Canadian I can only watch with glee as the very fine racists and crooked businessmen hear their wakeup call.

The chances of another adulterous adventure with a half-dead businessman or some other unlikely hero stands at zero.

Thunder Throne Tricked out Like a Bordello

When we confront people with what the Lord Yeshua taught they run for cover behind the prophets, sometimes even a contemporary phony one, and even a New Testament writer who is a known contortionist.   When people are exposed for having a kindergarten prayer life they say God speaks to them audibly saying things that can’t be checked. Prayer, as taught and modeled by God’s Son, is a rare communication phenomenon, because the throne room thinder has been hijacked and turned into a merchandising enterprise resembling bordello exercises.

When a prayer, offered on behalf of a congretation, gets answered we can rest assured that God does not exclude the congregation when he answers.

Typically we do not pray to get announcements. We pray for answers to the situations beyond our control. We pray, just for the record, even when we know that the answer is in the works. If the prayer – the exchange of thoughts- is like a department store transaction no believer should get excited about someone asked to pray decreeing the things he requested.

Prayers are not applications for permission to decree. Practically though, does anyone ask permission to love one’s neigjbour? Who asks for permission to heal the sick, raise the dead, or cleanse lepers? Does a chiid of God need permission to announce what God’s answers to prayer are without evidence of the answers?

There is one instance where the thunderous utterance from the throne is secret, private for the one hearing it (Rev. 10:4). If prayer is not being abused the voice of God puts the solutions we seek into motion, or shows the solutions in progress as is the case for the utterances from God’s throne. Shall we say that things sought in prayer in Christ’s are due for a factual yea and amen? Where God has not spoken we tend to prostitute the prayer and everything else.