The circumcision and the mutilation

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But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses”.

Acts 15:5

Some men from  Judea, tried to paint the Church Jewish. In verse 5 it is the Pharisees who voice the madness of marginalizing Gentiles. Circumcision is now known to be be mere mutilation. It has no bearing on women and God’s acceptance of human beings.

Juvenile bodyworks vs reasonable service

They had the audacity to compare Moses to Messiah.  People are still doing it two thousand years after the Christ raised up his church as a separate entity, distinct from Abraham’s descendants, distince from the Aaronic legacy, distinct from the submission to Moses’ mediation.  Yeshua, creator and saviour of the world and Moses, prophet between Yahweh and the Hebrew people are not like figures. 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Romans 12:1

Playing word games instead of mining the gold of God’s word

Billy Graham’s son appears in an ad on television labeling politicians as less than reliable when they make promises to the population and he introduces Jesus as completely reliable. He inadvertently makes Jesus a politician and makes American politics the same kind of venture. It is no wonder that American preachers are silent about the corruption of politics and the political scene is dominated by abject poverty of mind and unrestrained racism, lies, hypocrisy, the speech and actions of violence.

Might a catastrophic end be in America’s destiny?

“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”

Genesis 6:11-13, New American Standard Bible

Ripe for correct handling

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So many verses in the Bible graphically display the need for correct handling that it boggles the mind why there is still so much false teaching and fig leaf solutions to the human problem. I suppose fear has overtaken love and Christian leaders lack the diligence to interpret the word of God because they do not see the need. Here are a couple of questions Moses put to the people in his care as Yahweh prepared them for their possession of the land of Canaan. The questions contained in the two verses are concerned with (a) what kind of God do people have and (b) what kind of governance that God provides for his people. The difference between the two is striking and the call for correct handling (rightly dividing or cutting straight) is seldom clearer.

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:7-8, NASB)

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15, NASB)

This verse contains another of the Greek words with ORTHO prefixed, but this one is the vector for a great deal of shenanigans, bogus instruction, gimmicks and elementary interpretation of the Scriptures.

 

I cut straight…

Orthotomeo, ορθοτομεω, has to be with reference to CHRIST, because noone else could be the measure or straightedge for confirming God’s will and testimony.

The close God and his gift of guidance

God gets no closer than living inside of human beings, and that is a fact established by the holy spirit being poured out and received by those who believe at Pentecost and every case thereafter where Christ gives his approval and acceptance to people who come to God through him. The image however of God giving statutes and judgments to the church to make it the distinct entity from the world has no basis in fact it is that very Holy Spirit who gives to the believers who God accepts the guidance into all truth and the delivery of the excellent things that are in Christ. It is not acceptable written rules and regulations such as were put before the Israelites in Moses’s day.

This is not my covenant

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“Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other.”

Exodus 32:15

Appreciation of God’s covenant cannot come without a page-turning.  The two-sided writing indicates that a change is necessary for anyone to be found in compliance with God’s will.

“For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.”

Hebrews 7:12, New American Standard Bible

Common and Corporate Chastening

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“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord, “For I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations Where I have driven you, Yet I will not make a full end of you; But I will correct you properly And by no means leave you unpunished.”

Jeremiah 46:28, New American Standard Bible

In view here: chastening without condemnation and punishment that excludes death (the usual consequence or sentence for sin). If Jacob (Israel) was not named in this consolation we would not be able to identify the means of the chastening (correction), and that agent is Babylon.   In the case of believers the agents of correction are those put in charge of us (pastor-teachers and other administrative officers), more precisely,  those whose oversight we accept. 

“But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.”

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Enduring lovingkindness

If God loves us we are going to be okay and the gospel is bigger than any person, practice or doctrine. Once we become part of the leadership our responsibilities (to God and our peers) have a new foundation which provides a new perspective.  That perspective is an accepted level of maturity. 

“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.”

(Hebrews 6:1-2, NASB)

“I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” (1 Corinthians 9:23, NASB)

Where else does the arms and legs of state get disconnected?

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An excruciatingly long suspension of answers on demand punctuated the usual Texan pride in the mechanics of law and order.  When judges, safety officers, and heads of state try to excuse their lack of literacy by acting out against the vulnerable and defenseless we knew the day when the plug gets pulled on all of them could not be far. The Uvalde, Texas, police department, at least, should have been fired a long time ago.

Send more officers with spines

“More” is becoming a discredited response to recurring problems.  What government officials need is not more staff and more equipment.  We do need more critics, reports and commissions of inquiry. The world only needs more disciplined, energetic, fearless, generous, and honest officials.

It is too bad governors and military types are not always equipped with hearts and minds tuned to the people they are supposed to serve.  Increasingly the people in civilized society are getting more leaders who are woefully uninformed about what public service is. 

Murdering Mullahs and cowardly rangers

From the mullahs to the sherriffs in rural America there are fewer  discernible links between the safety people deserve and what they actually experience. We should not be surprised that violence is the answer to the cry of Iranian women for relief from the decrees of religious extremists, telling them what to wear and how to wear it. Thank God, the mullahs and their supporters can now conclude that the minds of the Iranian people are not the property of Islamic scholars and misogynist theoreticians.

Massacre with hundreds of safety officers on site

The world has seen what safety officers may have as their priority when prescribed actions are called for when a known massacre of preteen children in their classrooms at school is in progress a dozen or two steps away. We shall soon discover what the ruthless governor of Texas calls justice.

Saviour and Lord

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Christ said he did not come to be served but to serve. He therefore does not become “lord” as an outcome of the mission to serve, and he does not save as a result of being received as “lord”. The two are not compatible even if they become part of the conversion narrative.

Forget the family, house, and country

Abraham’s experience of call and promise are expressions of Messianic interest and process. Loyalty to one’s family, household and country are secondary values and contrary to the kind of intervention that is necessary.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Matthew 10:34, New American Standard Bible

As for people becoming servants of God, there can be no skating around the invitation to become children of God. Christ is Lord whether people confess or not. He goes to the cross to become Saviour. His mission to serve assures that he seeks no lordship, no estate, and no corps of servants. All through his life he showed that he was Lord and affirmed the fact.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:28

13) You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14) If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:13-14

If he was not and did not become Lord of people who have been the keepers of oracles and recorders of interventions for thousands of years how could one by saying it become servant to him? How does he become Lord as a result of a few doctrinal commitments or a pledge at the baptism pool? It is sufficient for him to be Saviour, and imposing lordship is just another shot at cheap authenticity and self-righteous. Where do we get the idea that we can tell another man’s servant how to behave?

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Authority and prophecy

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And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

(Revelation of John 12:11, New American Standard Bible)

LAMB’S BLOOD AND THEIR TESTIMONY

Can we suppose that the testimony of those who are accused by Satan night and day is not “testimony of Jesus”? Is not the witness common to all believers the gift of the Spirit? If there is one thing that marks Christ’s possession it has to be the Holy Spirit, because (a) the world cannot receive HIM (b) those who receive HIM have passed from death to life, hence they are no longer the world and (c) the Spirit reverses the effect of the flaming sword at the gates of Eden.  The testimony of Jesus is common heritage as prophesied and verified(Acts 1:8, John 7:39, Romans 8:9, Acts 19:2, Luke 24:49).

How we got from every believer testimony to charismatic exclusivity

The devil is accuser (prosecutor, like Moses), deceiver, and thief. He is occupied night and day with throwing accusations against God’s people. The term diabolos, the source of our word DIABOLIC, signifies “thorough slinging”, from dia διά, and ballo, βάλλω, respectively through and throw. This is why Peter exhorts believers (1 Peter 5:8) to be vigilant against the roaring lion seeking prey.

John and his brothers possessed the prophetic Spirit

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation of John 19:10)

“of thy brethren that have” does not refer to one individual, but several; in fact we affirm that John and his brothers had this same Spirit, not a thing, but the very God himself.

We and the believers of New Testament times go from reverence for all believers to reverence for one with exclusive gifts due to the immature patterns of the levitical system and the exclusiveness of male priority in the patriarchal age. Moses did not buy it. He thought that all God’s people should have the Spirit that gives them authority to speak God’s word (Numbers 11:29). Paul did not buy it (1 Corinthians 12:29, 14:5).

At least be human and humane

Man up therefore (Joshua 1:9) and recognize that the Spirit of prophecy is the believer’s living hands-on assurance, every hour of every day, divine presence is assured. You are not without God if you went to a theatre to see a movie or to an untimely grave. Immanuel means exactly what it sounds like and human arguments cannot change the fact. You know if you are faking sonship or not! Sonship such as the Heavenly Father offers cannot be successfully faked.

The Spirit of prophecy is Jesus’ evidence

  • The spirit of truth, is God’s Spirit, is God, not a thing or aspect of divine operation
  • The spirit of life, is God’s Spirit, is God, not a thing or aspect of divine operation
  • The spirit of grace, is God’s Spirit, is God, not a thing or aspect of divine operation
  • The spirit of Christ, is God’s Spirit, is God, not a thing or aspect of divine operation

The surefire evidence of all things Messianic is the Spirit – given first at Pentecost – who continues the help Jesus brought to his generation. God’s truth, life, grace, and anointing are Spirit-driven.

Apostolic affirmation of Christ’s cohabitation

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Sometimes we are not aware of all the ways in which people try to twist us into pretzels to prove that we belong to Christ. They call up a host of external things and even a few internal ones. They try to make you think that you need to be perfect in everything you say and do. They make you feel guilty as if sin is always clinging to you. Paul makes it really simple. We know we belong to Christ because Christ is living with us Christ is in us.

Exhortations to the believers, 2 Corinthians 13:5ff

  • Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith;
  • examine yourselves!
  • (Or do you not) recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?
  • (But I trust that you will) realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.
  • (Now we pray to God that you) do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved,
  • (but that you) may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.

For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. (2 Corinthians 13:5-8, NASB)