Duh! Duh! Duh! Someone with open ears, eyes, and an understanding heart has returned to his God. No question about that. Why parables are popular is mysterious because they are not for believers or converted people. It is mysterious until we realize that they lend themselves to abuse and pride. If you love parables that says something about you that you may not want to admit.

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 .’

Matthew 13:15

The gospel ain’t some parable

… it is God’s power resulting in salvation for the one believes…

Romans 1:16b

People like to parade their knowledge instead of living out their identity, making their authority and generosity meaningful to others. So if parables are for people who are doomed by their resistance to the Christ Event and in the consequent unbelief who do you think is impressed by our knowledge of the parables of our Lord God God Yeshua?

I read parables and move right along

Duh! Duh! Duh! How very sad that we – adherents of the Way – find ourselves drinking up someone’s treatment of a parable when the reality is that they are not for us in the first place. If you are one of us, parables are a passing interest. There is a morbidity involved in digging into parables since they were intended to operate in an environment of unconverted people. Straight talk is where we live and the only inner sanctum I can think of where the truth is under wraps as in the old order with its most holy place, ark and tables of stone, is the competent interpretation of the intent of the writers of the Bible. Christ used parables for a specific reason. The Speaker and the situation are no longer with us.

Revivals have been local, sporadic and suspect. A nice feeling, a number of baptism or rebaptisms are not the stuff of returning to first love.

2 Kings 23:26

However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

2 Kings 23:25

Let us be careful that our revival is not an emotional high or a returning to a festival or some practice. Revivals have lasting effect when they come from a wholehearted return to the God of the Covenant himself, in our case, the Son of Man.

Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2. The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

2 Kings 23:1-2 1.

What are the chances of a movement like this in modern Christianity or Judaism?

American marketing practices have turned the faith into a partisan venture: pick your party, Jesus allows variations of what he left for our safety.  There is one interpretation of any given text.  You cannot make up doctrine.   Doctrine is either in the text or it is not.  Today’s leaders are incapable of calling their own faith communities to unity.  They cannot even rally all the sects and denominations to a fellowship meal.

He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

2 Kings 18:5

He trusted ( betach בטח ) is not merely a thing the king did. His trust is a life condition, a career status.

Getting governments to say they regret actions and neglect is a big deal these days. The individuals who voice the remorse and sorrow of bad actors are often despised and villified. The good guys on the global scene today are all yesterday’s villains. Let me remind everyone that where nations and courts have failed to make amends God will impose his will.

Do not ask me to shush about my African heritage

The vast majority of nations have two levels of public service: one documented, righteous and on display, the other secretive, underhanded and evil.

Hear now what the Lord is saying, “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice.

Micah 6:1

Heritage is painful, especially when it is imposed without popular consent. The greed and ignorance that we see in Brazil, the UK, and the US are due to monolithic belief systems and corrupt public officials. The destruction of the Amazon and the pollution of North American lakes has a price. Guess who pays?

They want us to forget how they raped and are now shaming Africa. Christ does not approve of American colonialism or slavery. The Africa that gave us spiritual champions is long gone but that is no rational to find solace in the arms of evangelical hit men and covetous moneychangers.

Who Pays?

And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Revelation of John 11:18

Those who want us to be quiet about the ravages of imperialism, capitalism, nationalism and perverted religion will be punished if they do not commit suicide. Our children will have a clean world. The bigot and habitat destroyer will soon be gone. They can keep their apologies. We only want to see justice done. Do not play me with talk about reconciliation. Pay up!

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalms 34:8

Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions

Once we have tasted we want others to have the same experience, but mere talk can be cheap and ineffective.

God bless your fornicating, imperial serial rapist, lazy, obese and idle mother and all her sisters.

The last thing most Christians want is to know what the Bible really says.

Reading someone’s comment on Scripture is likely to be a watering down of what the writers intended. The result: a long distance relationship with God, hearts that are far from God and lips that have a great deal to say.