jesus

You have a set of terminal whatabouts

eejoseph, , , , ,

When asked to verify the accuracy of their soundbytes some people see an opportunity to sling accusations at the questioner and/or compare traitors and heroes, felons and innocents, and even Moses to Yeshua. If you compared my sins and crimes to yours  if I confronted you, it would prove you have more than one terminal disease. If you think that there are no incurable diseases you are incontrovertibly in the school and care of an illiterate scholar and a medical quack, certain to wail when the whirlwind of ineffective remedies, bottomless research and development funding, and empty promises of healing stops spinning fatality.

Well, what about dining with strangers and aliens?  No, we dare not.  Well, what about criminal tyrants at the helm of nations and mega corporations? There is nothing to see here. Well, what about God and country as equals?  We swear that there is no power to control our lust for power and curb the exercise of our military. Well, what about the idols we create, and revere daily, weekly, monthly and annually? They might swear that they are idolatry-proof, all because they say they keep the Ten Commandments, or they are convinced that they have checked all the boxes that make them eligible for divine approval. But what about those things that lurk inside both the sinner and the saint? Do you know the thatabout?

What a whirl! Get ready for the last twirl

Empires are typically the result of the forcible gathering of discrete languages, peoples, and nations into a functional whole. That is the principle behind family, village, town, nation. I suppose the expectations are that the rape and plunder of the pirates we love to idolize will continue until every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a kick at the colonial can or empire bucket. Sometimes the bucket comes first, as in the case of Syria trying to overrun Canaan, or even the great Egypt exercising control over trading routes into Palestine and the maritime lanes of global commerce. Note how the successors of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome are still active in global affairs, without actually calling the shots everywhere, as they did when they each dominated the world they knew. They are going to kick the bucket at the same time. But note how Russia and China have cobbled together a number of Asian and East European nations respectively, with no empire emerging. A quick crash is all there is, and it happens without fanfare. Russia and China are past life support, waiting to kick the bucket because, like the great harlot who thinks herself to be beyond poverty and mourning, these will fall in quick time, and people will not know of the descent of these powers into irrelevance because the narrative of “my crime is no worse than yours” will have lulled the global population into accepting mediocrity as greatness and crime as nationalism and patriotism.

Perhaps the best example terminal whataboutism is the rampant self-talk by the very fractured UK and USA about strength when the only whiff of unity is the conspiracy to rob national treasuries, deny the essential movements of migrants, when in fact they have made their fortunes through the monumental forced migration of peoples and the unequal immigration policies they have encouraged.

It may seem that we can all tolerate one or two limitations on our ability to function, but having more death-dealing companions than we have fingers is pretty much the end of the road physically and the beginning of glory if we absorb the daily cross-initiated dying. We have no authorization to observe musch less decide when one of our fellow travellers no longer feels God’s prompts or no longer accepts the divine judgment on unbelief.

Internal and fatal whatabouts

  • evil thoughts
  • sexual immorality (prostitution, porneia)
  • theft
  • murder
  • adultery (Mark 7:21)
  • coveting
  • wickedness
  • deceit
  • sensuality
  • envy (evil eye)
  • slander
  • pride
  • foolishness. (Mark 7:22)

Terminal whatabouts are essential to the hypocrite’s toolkit. A spiritual physician might say “the prognosis is devastating” and “the patient’s inside is caput”.

“Everything is a spirit” is dangerous hype

eejoseph, , , ,

Blaming a demon for sickness, moral failure, spiritual lethargy, blindness to God’s way, financial and professional mediocrity is a cop out.  It may sound cute, and may work for the benefit of those who like to conduct exorcisms, to blame every problem on a spirit.  There is no easy proof the demons cause sickness, moral failure spiritual lethargy, blindness to God’s way financially professional mediocrity. Almost all of the shortcomings of the human race begin with the individual. You don’t need a demon to tell you if I hit your neighbor. When you have prophets like Moses and scribes like Ezra telling you that God wants you to do it, who needs a demon? Blame a spirit for everything and every  Christian is the active victim of an opposing spirit, and there being only one divine Spirit, then the other spirit must be demons.  Play that game and enjoy your repeated catastrophic tumbles

Why are demons so prevalent among redeemed people

The only places where demons get elevated attention are the places where demons have prevailed to snare people with unique doctrines.  The doctrines so named in the Bible are not many, but they are a rude awakening to the careless.  Here are four from 1 Timothy 4:2-3.

  • speaking lies in hypocrisy
  • having their conscience seared with a hot iron
  • forbidding to marry
  • commanding to abstain from meats (foods)

When were the movements of religious practitioners ever free from errors

  • hypocritical lies are inevitable when people try to claim perfection
  • People burn out their consciences and conflate good and bad
  • Irrelevand and discredited racial and tribal purity become a priority
  • discrimination over food is a symptom of juvenile sensuality

We might ask which of the movements – reform or revival – is not the victim of deception that results in one of the four malfunctions of 1 Timothy 4. This is a question that mamy will refuse to answer, either because they are so mired in error, or embarassment prevents the leaders from acknowledging deadly errors. What spirit could possibly have moved people to habitually lie hypocritically, burn their consciences, forbid marriage, and demand dietary scruples?

Deadly imitation of powerful Christians

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Acts 19:13

Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. Acts 19:14 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” Acts 19:15

And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Acts 19:16

Abyssal rabbit hole

If what GOD has not given is to be understood as a particular sprint then by all means what he has given is to understood as particular spirits, namely, (1) a spirit of power (2) a spirit of love (3) a spirit of mental discipline

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7, NASB

It ought to render you sleepless

eejoseph, , , ,

It does not occur to all the supremely endowed colonial and religious movements that it is a crime and utterly immoral to occupy land in God’s name, disenfranchise any part of the population, slander foreigners,  allow the abuse of  children, bully a superpower to fund terrorism, to flip the terrorist label over onto people who resist an illegal occupation and a crime to use a veto to shield criminals from accountability at the United Nations.

Conveniently there’s no 11th commandment that outlaws racism and bigotry

Being strictly textual, the United States and Israel can do whatever works to affirm their right to kneel on the necks of citizens and loudly proclaim the right to affirm themselves as law and order reformers.  What a load of hogwash!  That Israel has violated the rules of war and occupation in plain sight for seven decades does not give people pause is not surprising.  Perhaps people are pausing now that Israel is having to face the music over its superior defence systems, open discrimination,  corrupt leadership, and excessive sectarianism.  There may well be a political party for every territorial and theological interest.  The Holy Land is one of the last places one would expect to find violations of both human rights and humanitarian conventions. What would Moses say, if anything?

God’s law is not shelter from philanthropy and the pursuit of justice

Listen carefully and you will hear certain groups placing themselves beyond the reach of international law as if there was no single human race, no single planet of which we are caretakers.  We Christians can be charged with pie-in-the-sky fantasies but you will not find us denying our humanity, because in the final verdict of the divine tribunal every person relies on divine mercy, and many religious people will be decisively silenced by the conscientious conduct of non-religious people getting God’s approval. Justice for religious people will always be tainted by tribalism and self-interest.

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

John 5:45

Gratefully our passions are in check when we see opportunites to look down our noses at our fellow-citizens. We are not interested in indicting, condemning and destroying anyone. We are certain that Christ and Moses part ways in this arena. Injustice can be disguised as righteous indignation but God is neither mocked nor deceived,