Author: eejoseph
Hotel California Blessings
“Bless me Father because I have sinned” was commonly thought to be the intro to priestly pardon while we have no specifics on exactly what the blessing(s) might actually be. No matter how hard we try it is difficult to avoid the spectre of immeasurable blessings coming out of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and arising out of a sin experience. No speculation! Human nature equalizes the field of blessing seekers. It is one thing to seek blessings to which we have no right and another to pretend that we’ve checked in to Hotel California and can leave anytime we wish.
We are certain that God blesses sinners, hears their cry, and does not accept human performance of duties as evidence of purity or reliability.
And if you faithfully obey voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2
The idea that we can pay for God’s blessing, or put on a performance of appreciation that is equal in value to His blessing is attested as desolate and futile in the history of the Jewish religion (which the Arabian tribes and their allies have tried to outdo with fables and intensely corrupt violence). Friendship with God is on his terms: grace through faith. No speculation!
We are blessed because he is supremely generous
Deuteronomy is known for its quid pro quo, so believers with the notion that the blessings named in the 28th chapter are simply to be claimed as faith inheritance have some explaining to do. It is hard to imagine a cogent explanation beside shocking and shameful avoidance of divine instruction.
Incredible patience with lies
God has favored Israel to be today head of many things in the world. The Jewish people, to whom the blessings and curses were spoken, have kept their faith in God, and many have honoured God in their pastoral functions and equally in their loyalty to Moses.
When the rubber hits the road however
- Christians say “Ask Yeshua”
- Muslims find Christians so they can learn
- Jews still talk about Moses
In Christ we find no shadow of turning. Our anointing and blessing do not come and go. In Christ we are not blessed because we are perfectly obedient. checking in to the House of Bread is permanent.
Psalms 132:11-16
The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne. For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.
You cannot not be blessed
Save me often lest I wither
Where I am most of the time is surprising and instructive.
Not only am I
Blessed in giving
Secure in trusting
Confident in delays
but I
walk on water and find it
easy and way more frequent than I imagined.
So is slipping beneath the waves
(easy and frequent).
Then I know omnipotent saving power
Matthew 14:30
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, Lord, save me.
Rocky or Rickety
It is not an accident that the bottom line of Christian faith is an old dead and shallow maxim from Solomon. Since the law is the instrument of death you would have to be out of your mind to take Solomon’s word over Christ and John the Baptist. Faith and works are not partners in salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. Faith is not works, because our work is to believe in the Beloved Son and to believe him.
Not so smart after all
Ever heard that saying “believe by faith”? Who says stuff like that? I suppose it is time to start talking about loving by love, and being patient by patience. So ridiculous!
Jewish people had no incentive to follow Solomon, why should I? The will of God is not “wrapped up” in shady human performance, even when we think we have done our duties. First and foremost is eyes for Gid alone. Neither Solomon nor his people made it past the first commandment.
Self deception
Obedience is an outcome that succeeds only when we due to our illustrious pedigree and profession. Whether you are Jew or Gentile (there is no 3rd identity and all were born into sin), it is treachery, adultery, and demonic deceit to put the upward call of God on the same level as any heritage whatsoever.
Yeshua is not one of those guys
Few of our contemporaries in the 21st century find the grace and courage to say like Paul that the life in Christ to which we have come makes all the great and marvelous stuff we’ve known up to that point of meeting Christ seem as rubbish.
Consistent with Sinai and temple theology is death and desolation. Consistent with Golgotha and the throne of grace is life and abundance. To be grounded in Christ is to have his words as the source of life. Do we know that lifegiving saying of Christ? or are stuck with prophets, kings, and sages? Yeshua could not be psyched by the smartest of his contemporaries, and the high priest, oh man, he was woefully ignorant of God’s design. There is a lot of information in the Bible but the only there is the there of the stone refused.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. John 8:51
Is your house a rickety shack or a something built on the Rock?
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: Matthew 7:24
Big Red Dragon Justice?
Look east, far east. The wall is still there and both Chinese population and goods keep pouring westward. An inroad into the west seems to be characterized increasingly by interference, greed and the shedding of innocent blood. We are looking for the signs that Chinese justice rises to acceptable human norms.
Kill any Canadian and we smell a kangaroo court.
Mr Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, should know that the wisdom, courage, and endurance of the Canadian people is behind him when he takes a stand against misogny, economic bullying and manipulation, and espionage. The Saudi government and the People’s Republic of China are probably hoping they can skew the reporting of the true sentiments of Canadians.
These two have been getting away with abusing their own people while profiling themselves as the champions of decency and wisdom. The powers at the UN Security Council who ought to be bringing the hammer down when humanity’s collective security is theatened are mired in currying favour with and selling weapons of war to racist, totalitarian, and murderous regimes. The sudden arrival at a death sentence for a Canadian in China ought to wake a lot people.
Can China do the human thing?
THUS … purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. Deut 21:9
We are waiting.
Honest Dialogue
Go AFN! Go Canada! We have heard many of the heartbreaking stories. We have acknowledged the injustices. We have set off on the highway to be reconciled to in a just and lasting partnership. The air is thick with hope and our observations have to include the entrenched bigotry that has stymied Canadians’ dreams of a North American continent that is the envy of the world.
Some provincial official is bound to step up with some niche interest that makes the First Nations’ dignity look like an inconsequential. I guarantee it. Doug Ford of Ontario has set his sights on gutting language rights. He has also pretended that the federal government did not lay out its plans for the legalization of cannabis, claiming that the whole program has been hurriedly downloaded onto Ontario. Doug Ford is an example of why Canada’s First Nations are still demanding justice.
In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Isaiah 59:13 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Isaiah 59:14
Having worked alongside First Nations peoples in the labor movement, I am sure that their honesty will lead the way without the baggage of a political system that has failed us repeatedly, not only in Canada but across the world. Westminster governance is a whitewashed wall that needs fresh paint. All the law and order champions are happy with reepresentative parliamentary government because it has served giant manufacturing entities, stark raving mad bigots, racist police and military cliques, and xenophobic religious wizards (sorcerers). That is the start reality of honest dialogue. Seome one has to listen with a heart and reveres the injustices and abuses of power.
Let’s go. Our children deserve better than the last 150 years
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them. Isaiah 1:23
Finally, that one viral plug
I have wondered to what extent the people who set out to make a global impact on human behavior are themselves convinced that one viral video or picture generated in the 21st century is relevant to every tribe and language and people and nation. If there was though that KO saying or account, isn’t it likely that it has already been delivered by one who has been approved as the messenger of the true God and in such a manner as to be without controversy? That one viral saying that humans need desperately has been spoken and remains in writing.
No controversy
God was
- manifested in the flesh
- vindicated by the Spirit
- seen by angels
- proclaimed among the nations
- believed on in the world
- taken up in glory
All Gospel
Every weekend we gather to refresh ourselves and move forward into the light. The vast majority of us endure Christless messages and endless dramatic gestures and gimmics. During the week, Christians handle perhaps a hundred messages with supposed spiritual value. Sadly, most have nothing to say about the Anointed. There is more distraction than there is instruction. The African diaspora, for example, is hopelessly mired in singing Zion’s song in a strange land, instead of calling Babylon by its right name. Most of the churched people, as another example, are playing dance to my music and let us see who get a standing O. There is a lot of talk about God, blessing and victory, but not a word of the gospel. This has to be resisted!
Amercan does not want to end slavery and there is no life from the Bible except from GOD-INCARNATE.
Where are the notes?
Potus45, the gloating genius bigot, sat like a schoolboy beside Russian dictator Putin in Helsinki and showed himself a toothless warrior just like the evangelicals who have been laying hands on him hoping for a character miracle. A president who hides his conversations with peers or representatives of other powers is a mobster with lots to hide.
We do not allow our pastors, heads of service associations, or unions, to do what the gloating bigot did in Helsinki. Hide the notes.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 