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THOUGHTS & COMMENTS

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19The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. (Prov 12:)

FORGOTTEN PROMISES

I have a problem. It is not really my problem per se, however the problem does effect me. And I am sure you are effected by such a problem as this yourself, either on the giving or on the receiving end, if not both.

I make it a policy to fulfil my words as best I can. Those "words" or promises I am either unable to carry out, or are delinquent in fulfilling, I feel guilty over. For this reason I try to do what I say I will just as quickly and as soon as I can. I don't like it a bit when I think back and remember something I said I would do, and had forgotten it. It naggs me and causes me guilt pangs.

It is not my purpose here to judge the moral value of remembering promises or other statements of intent. The degree I experience this attribute is more akin to a mania, that is a problem, then it is a moral virtue.


I am fanatical about fulfilling my word. I find that others are not so. In fact I find most people are inclined to say whatever sounds appropriate for the moment, then they forget it altogether.

Perhaps this is natural. As stated above, I am not this way, so I am not one to know if it is natural or not. I have faults that seem natural to me, and I expect them to be natural in others. And the more the fault is embedded in me, the more natural it seems. Only after I have decided to conquer the fault can I see clearly that it in fact was not "natural," but rather a debilitating fault.


We forget promises to one another all the time, and we consider it "natural." And perhaps it is natural. At least after a while it becomes so much a part of us that it, now a habit, seems natural.

That's how we respond to one another. But how about in other aspects of our daily life? Does this natural tendency apply there as well? For instance, that loan you took out with the bank; can you just sort of "forget" to pay it, and suffer no consequences? Or how about those wedding vows, part of which states that you promise to: "Love and obey?" How well are you keeping them?

And, along with your fulfilling your promises; how much importance do you place on others fulfilling their promises to you? For instance, do you expect your neighbor to return the lawnmower he borrowed from you? Or for your son-in-law to repay the money you paid to bail him out of jail? Or how about your spouse's vow to be faithful to you and to honor and obey? Do you expect him or her to back up their promises with deeds?


What seems perfectly natural to us from our perspective, does not always appear the same when that attribute is placed on those we must associate with.

An example of this can be found in prisons. A thief who will rob you blind and think nothing of it will be ready to do great bodily harm to another prisoner who steals from him. A prison thief is considered one of the lowest forms of life. Rules that are not accepted or followed in society are demanded by those very same people when it effects them.

Criminals are not the only people who have this attitude; we all do to one degree or another. Our purpose as civilized human beings (and especially as Christians) is to overcome these human tendencies, and become that which we are least inclined to be. Prisons are established for that purpose, and life here on earth is for just such an intent for the rest of us.


Although it is little known, nor very often taught, when a person becomes a Christian there are certain promises involved. Of course promises God has supposedly made toward us are fully remembered, preached, and demanded. Most of those promises we expect from God were not in fact directed toward us, the every day Christian, but were in fact given to those people who had overcome their own desires and proven their allegiance to God.

And this same "allegiance" and obedience is part of the promises we made to God when we took on the label of Christian. We promised to "Love and Obey." We promised to "Take up our cross and follow Jesus to our death (to self). We promised to be a "shining light" to the World, and giving whatever glory we receive to God. We promised to "Repent" of our selfish deeds and to turn our back on sin. We promised to "Forgive others as we ourselves seek to be forgiven." We promised to "Judge ourselves so that we may not be judged." We promised to refrain from judging others, even our enemies who wish us evil, and instead to "Bless our enemies" and to help those who persecute us. We promised to be obedient to all those put in position of authority over us, and to not speak evil of these "powers." We promised to "Endure to the end" and to "Overcome as He (Jesus) has overcome."

How well are you keeping your promises to God?

How do you think God will react to our "natural tendency" to forget our little promises?


THE DOOR

"I went to the Grand Canyon last week, and was it ever an experience."

"Yes, I know. I been there myself a time or two. What did you do while you were there?"

"Oh, I did plenty, believe you me. I spent all day going through everything there was to see."

"You did? All in one day? I spent a week there and didn't see it all. Did you pay for a guide or something?"

"Oh no. I just took my time and looked everything over carefully. I saw it all."

"You saw it all? Like what?"

"Well, I saw a bunch of figurines of things like American Indians. And I saw pictures of Indians dancing. I saw books with lots of pretty pictures and a history of the Grand Canyon. I even saw a big painting of a huge hole in the ground that must have been a mile deep. It was really impressive, believe you me."

"It sounds to me like you were in a gift shop or something. Didn't you take a donkey ride down the canyon or visit any of the exhibits they have there?"

"I don't know about any of that. All I know is when I got there a man directed me to this door that goes to a big room filled with pretty things. That's where I spent my time. I didn't hear about any donkeys or exhibits or nothing like that."


What would you think of someone who proceded no farther than the entrance of such a great event, and yet was convinced they had experienced it to the full? Yet this is exactly what all the churches are doing when they instruct their congregants to settle into the antechamber of the Temple, telling them they have "arrived" when they have not even begun.


EVIL & CONSEQUENCES

As I was writing on story a thought occurred to me: What is the main difference between the Catholic church and the Protestant church? In this I mean, what is the primary difference in their doctrine? A thought flashed through my mind, which was this:

I suppose since the beginning of the church as we know it, that is since Constantine and what we now refer to as the Catholic church it has been believed that our works, that is to say our deeds will make the difference if we are accepted into Heaven or not. And there certainly is plenty of Scripture to back up such a belief. Jesus Himself, both in the Gospels and in Revelation made it clear that we will be judged according to our works.

So, according to the Catholics there are two requirements that must be met in order to pass through the Pearly Gates:

First you must be a Catholic and follow the dictates of the Pope. If your not a Catholic, regardless of how well you follow the Bible and believe in Jesus and God, you are no more than any other lost sinner. And according to the latest statement by the Pope, this view hasn't changed.

The second thing you must do is perform the works and the liturgies of the church. Let me reemphasize: perform the works and the liturgies of the church! Doing that which the Bible says, and which God and Jesus said to do is not enough; you must do whatever the current Pope says you must do.

But let's say you are a Catholic, but not performing too well: can you be lost like the rest of the unCatholicized world? No, Catholics can't be lost, but they can be punished and tortured until they fit the mold of what the Catholic church teaches God demands of good Catholics. This "Out" is called "Purgatory." Therefore, since you can make up what you lacked here on earth in the "Middle World" of Purgatory, you can do what you will here, and still make it to Heaven.

This means, by stretching the point just a tiny bit, Al Capone and Hitler will be with those of you Catholics who weren't perfect enough to merit the straight path to Heaven.

This "Second Chance" rings clear to me of the Hindu and other such belief in reincarnation whereby everyone will eventually make it to the same destination. The Hindus, of course, do not believe in the Bible, but I don't know how the Catholics get around Hebrews 9:27 because the two Catholic commentaries I own seem to have ignored commenting on that verse.


Then we have the Protestant view. The Protestant view is surprisingly like the Catholic view in many ways, except the Protestants don't know this to be true. Although the Protestants have taken what they believe to be a far run around the blocking line, that is the "Works" issue, they haven't run far enough to completely avoid the issue all together. In spite of the fact that the Protestant doctrine clearly states that our works have nothing to do with whether we make it to Heaven or not, over and over again they emphasize all the things we must not do, or must do in order to make it into Heaven. And how could they not? After all, the Bible has so many verses of Scripture indicating that we will be judged according to our works.

So, although the Protests teach that the Catholics are wrong and that works don't matter, they are really saying that works do matter and that we must perform certain rituals and laws.

Works,, although one of the major dividing lines between Catholics and Protestants, is in actuality only a minor difference.

Where the Protestants have really deviated from the doctrine of the Catholic church is two areas. The first of these differences is in the emphases on Grace. According to the Catholics Jesus dying on the cross, therefore providing us with Grace, was only partially sufficient to save us. That is, along with Grace, me must perform the works as well.

Since the Protestants have taken away works, that only leaves Grace. And through Grace, don't you know, you can make it to Heaven merely by becoming a Christian, that is, saying a few words and taking a dunking. This smacks very near to the Kingdom message and others who preach that all mankind will be saved in the end anyway. In fact, as far as I can see, the only difference between the Protestant view and the "Everyone Saved" concept is in the dunking, the prayer of repentance, and a belief in their doctrine and belonging to their church. Oh yes, and not being a Cult member, or a heathen, or a Catholic.

Oh, one other thing must be fulfilled as well, according to the Protestants, even if you have performed the required rituals - you can't belonging to any of the other Protestant churches other than the one who is doing the talking.

The second area of departure from the Catholic church is in the belief of Purgatory. This is an important issue. By taking away Purgatory, the Protestants have also taken away any "second chance" to redeem oneself and make it into Heaven. But that is a small concern, because according to Protestant doctrine you can't be lost anyway. The only way to be lost is to not be a converted Protestant.

Or to be a Catholic.

Or to be a member of what the Protestants call a "Cult."


Some of the Cults have tried to recreate what they believe to be the original church. They have disregarded two thousand years of tradition and have "reformed" the church. That is, they have re formed, or formed again the church as they see it having been formed in the first place.

In the process of reforming the church they, to varying degrees, have taken on aspects of the Catholic church, and of the Protestant church, and from other sources such as the writings of their founder.

For the most part, I think it is safe to say, the cults are inclined toward the Protestant belief, and if pushed into a corner would say they were Protestant. However, even many of the Protestant churches are disinclined to accept the term "Protestant" for their denomination, saying they are "protesting" against nothing.

Most of the Cults are inclined toward Catholicism in their demands that works be a part of getting to Heaven. They are also like the Catholics in that they believe you have to be a part of their church to pass through the Golden Gates.

But then, this characteristic of demanding servitude to a particular church and set of doctrines is Protestant thinking as well. So in that regard they are all the same.

Then there are those groups such as the "Kingdom" denomination (if it can be called that) who believe hell is not a place for people, and that all will be saved, even if it be through the fires of Purgatory. In this they are like the Cults, yet they are like the Protestant, and still yet, because of their belief in the second chance of redemption through Purgatory they are like the Catholics. Where this group particularly differs from the others is in that one does not have to belong to their church in order to make it to Heaven.


But for the most part the "Cults" are Protestant, although they strongly believe in works, as do the Catholics. However they also believe as do the Protestants in that to make it to Heaven one must not be a Catholic.

Nor a Baptist.

Nor any other denomination other than their own.


In fact, the real difference between the Catholics, and the Protestants, and the Cults, is that each of them believe you must believe as they do or be doomed to hell forever.


And isn't it interesting? This very difference is what makes them all the same?


POLARIZED POLITICS

I suppose the USA is no different than any other country that is allowed to have other than a single dictator. The common practice, as far as I can see, is to have two parties. And these two parties must have a certain thing in common: they must be firmly rooted in their belief that the other party is totally wrong in whatever it chooses to accomplish.

It is more than common to read in the paper that the Democrats and the Republicans are at loggerheads over some project or another, and usually about both the one and the others all at the same time. It is truly amazing to me how we can get so many people in the Republican Party, and they all happen to be conservative; and get so many people into the Democratic Party and they all be liberal. I would say that such a phenomenon is approaching a miracle.

I know there are certain ideals that make up one point of view over another, and that one party clings to one set of ideals, and the other to another set of ideals, and that people are drawn to one party over another because they agree with that party's point of view. What strikes me so strange is that it is not just one or two points that stand at opposite poles with the parties, but just about every topic that can be considered. As soon as one party opens its mouth, the other is wielding a big flag with "NO!" stamped across it. It seems to me that although a party is established because of its disagreement with another's, that somewhere along the line certain points of agreement would exist, if not even overlap one another. Instead politics is like a football game where the whole intent is to crush the opponent, steal the "ball," and claim the field for themself regardless of the expense or consequences.

I guess it's human nature to rebel against anything someone we have selected as an opponent proposes to do. I'm that way, and I have to watch myself that I don't fall into the infantile "no!" syndrome. Of course I don't purport to be edji-cated, or to have the intellect our elected officials do. But they do! And they are getting the big bucks to make decisions that will effect not only us, but future generations to come. Yet they are making decisions, and refusing to make decisions, that any ten-year-old who is paying attention to the news can see is lopsided at best.

This is with two parties. Just two parties can be at polar ends of any subject. It's amazing.

And as amazing as this is, how much more so is the ability of the churches to have over 33,000 different viewpoints, and all of them at loggerheads with one another! And if we and our posterity are subject to the consequences of the decisions and judgments of our elected politicians; how much more so is our eternal soul subject to the correct view of the shepherd we choose to listen to and to follow?


CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION

"Get up George, you got to go to church!"

"But I'm tired, Martha. I worked hard all week and I need a day off. I'll go next week."

"No! It's Easter and you got to go to church. If you don't, God will be mad at you and send you to hell for eternity."

"God won't mind if I miss just one Sunday. I'll go next week, I promise."

"That's what you said last week, and the week before. We got to set an example for the kids. Besides, it won't hurt you to give up a couple hours a week for the sake of the Lord and your eternal soul. Get up before you make us all late."

"What does God want from us anyway? We pray at meal time and give our thanks, we tithe, and now He wants our day of rest besides? It ain't fair I tell you."

"It's not so much to ask considering what you get for it. Besides, you're coming up on a raise pretty soon, and you want to be on God's good side when it does. We need the new car we're going to get with that raise."

"But church is so boring! I have more fun at a PTA meeting than I do at church."

"You're not supposed to have fun at church, George, that's the idea of it. It's supposed to be like punishment, like a sacrifice sort of. If it was fun it wouldn't be a sacrifice and you wouldn't be earning brownie points with God. Get up before you make us all late."


DYING IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

Every time we turn around we hear of something new that is good for our health. And when we're not learning what's good for us, we're learning what's bad for us. And often what we hear is bad, is what they were telling us yesterday was good.

Church is no exception. In fact one of the purposes of church is to show us all the right things we should be doing, and all the wrong things we shouldn't be doing. Some churches have a huge list of things we must do in order to be on the good side of God. Often the reason for wanting to be on the good side of God is that when God is pleased with us, He smiles down on us and showers us with blessings. Earn God's favor and get that new car. Get on God's bad side and a thunderbolt is liable to strike you dead.

One problem God had with Israel is she kept falling away to other gods that, so they claimed, gave them what they wanted. Whereas God's methods were different; unlike the "other gods," He punished them and had their enemies wipe them out on occasion in order to bring them back to him. Go against God's will and temporarily get what you want, but ultimately be destroyed. Follow God's will, accept His discipline and chastisement, and ultimately receive His reward. That was God's plan for Israel. (How many people, I wonder, are calling themselves "Christian" in order to get what they want, and would follow some other "god" if they could get what they wanted from it? And, what is the other god we serve today? Not Baal, or Molech, or any of the other god's the Israelites went whoring after. It's the same as the one Israel served other gods for -- getting what we want.)

Some churches have a clear-cut idea of what it takes to please God and get what they want, not to mention earn a sure ticket to Heaven. Other churches are not so clear, indicating that once you perform a few simple rituals, you are assured your mansion in the clouds. And moving a bit farther in that direction, we have those who believe that everyone will be saved regardless of how they behave here on this earth.

Then there are thousands of other views that run the gamut between these two extremes.

The churches all, to some degree, and in one way or another, teach that God's purpose is to serve those He created. And the churches have Scripture to back up such a belief. In fact Jesus, who even the most liberal of churches, I believe would concede, represented God and was an example of how we are to behave toward one another, washed the disciple's feet demonstrating that God serves mankind. Then Jesus even died on the cross as an ultimate sacrifice for man. At the same time, and through the same event God, sacrificing His only worthy son, showed that He serves man.

Of course, besides the above (or along with it, depending on how you look at it) this sacrifice serves as an illustration of what God expects us to do. It could demonstrate that it is not God's intent to serve man, but that we, following the example of Jesus and the Apostles, are supposed to serve one another, and be obedient to God, even to the ultimate sacrifice of the cross, if we are so called upon.


Rather than expecting to receive for that which we do, we are to count our actions and our attitudes as abandonment of the flesh, receiving no reward in this lifetime, but in the next. We are to surrender all we are and all we have in the here and now, and by doing so, essentially die to the flesh.


In other words, as the health books and the psychologists would say: Dying is good for your health.


GIVING CREDIT

There's an old adage that goes: "Give credit where credit is due."

I think most people would agree with that saying, at least if they are the one's credit is due.

It seems to me there's one Person who is not so well recognized as deserving credit for His efforts. Most of the churches, most of the conventional churches anyway, will acknowledge that God wrote the Bible. At least most such churches will say that God inspired the writings in the Bible. And how can they not if they claim the Bible is the "infallible Word of God."?

And if the Bible is infallible, which it says of itself in Matthew 5:18, then how can we get around it?

Well, many of the churches have gotten around it. They claim that, although the original texts were infallible, the copies are not. And since we no longer have the original texts, the Word is up for grabs.

Then we have those churches who believe the Bible we have is the infallible Word of God, but only the King James version is infallible. Yet the King James was written by a bunch of men, using fallible and conflicting texts that were considered heresy by the church of the day, and instituted by a king who was not much more than a confused idolater, and supervised by the Catholic church who does not accept the same books as do the Protestants who claim the Book to be infallible. To top this off, the original King James version is in a form that none of us could read if our life depended on it. And then there are translations of the KJ that are in foreign languages (such as the English conversions), so how can they also infallible?

And how about the Old Testament? If we are to regard the OT as infallible only in the original text we would all have to learn ancient Hebrew and Aramaic, which is no longer understood for certain in this day and age, even by the Hebrew speaking people and the scholars. And for the New Testament we would have to learn Koine Greek to know what was actually spoken by God.

If all these questions could be answered to everyone's satisfaction, there is yet other ways the experts have gotten around giving God the full credit for the Bible. They say certain verses have either been substituted, altered, misinterpreted, added or omitted by scribes along the way. And since scribes are now the ones who have power over the infallible Word, it is no longer infallible and can be "corrected" by whoever believes themselves to have received special revelation from God Himself.

There is yet another way the theologians have straight-armed the Word. Actually this way is not one, but is rather two or three ways, but difficult to sort out as separates because their edges are hard to define. One of these ways is to say the Word was inspired by God and that all the writer did was write down his experience of what God meant to say. An often used example of this is Paul equating faith and such as the "Armor of God." The preacher or whoever will say Paul did this because he was in prison and was surrounded by Roman soldiers all wearing armor. A fanciful conclusion at best, and it sure takes God out of the picture altogether. By placing Paul's experience as the motivation for the Scripture, any preacher can say whatever suits his fancy because it is only Paul's words, not God's. Now me, being unedjecated as I is would have been more inclined to say that Paul, being highly teached in the ways of the Old Testament was quoting Isaiah 59 where Isaiah said almost the same thing. But then, maybe Isaiah was surrounded by a bunch of Roman guards as well, don't 'cha think? Besides, Paul used this example other times as well. Maybe he was in prison writing those letters a long time!

Well, as I said, attributing the writing of the Bible to the writers themselves is just one of the ways the experts have of beating around the bush of Scripture. For instance, stating that Paul is not Paul, but some other guy going by that name; and that John was not the same John as the one who walked with Jesus; and that the books were written long after the Apostles were dead; and that some, like Mark, was written by some kid who was at the arrest of Jesus and ran away naked (at a time when only the 11 Apostles were there it being such a momentous and secretive occasion) so therefore knew all about Jesus. Or that the Gospels are copied one from another, or better yet, from some "Q" gospel that no longer exists and that there is no evidence whatever of such a book existing.


Like I say, there are lots of ways the churches and the preachers and the theologians have of getting around the Word of God and making the "infallible," fallible, therefore up for interpretation. This ability to mangle the Scriptures is the reason we are able to have so many denominations.


But let us say your church and/or preacher is a stickler for Authenticity. You know he (they) would never alter the Scriptures and tells it like it is. Maybe so, and maybe not so much so. Listen closely, and read the official literature with a critical eye, and count how many times an "example" is given regarding a portion of Scripture that goes contrary to the text at hand. See if you can catch him (or her at some churches, check the Scriptures for that) says: "What the Bible really means is this..." or something to that effect.


Yes, there are a lot of ways to get around the infallible Word of God and still call it "infallible."


But, what then?? If the Bible itself can't be considered as absolutely infallible, and there is no way that it can be for us English speaking people in this day and age; than what did Jesus mean by saying:

17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5: also see Luke 16:16-17)

(Note the rest of the Scripture following verse 18 and see how it has been twisted until it runs backwards into nonexistence.)

And this:

18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Rev 22:)


Now, perhaps when Jesus was alive (Matthew's quoting Jesus) God didn't know that His Word was going to be so badly corrupted when He declared it infallible; but this last portion of Scripture is John writing maybe 60 or 70 years later (unless you want to attribute it to another John, or some prankster scribe's interpretation) and according to Paul (if you want to attribute his writings to him) the Word was already well on the way to being mishandled, what there was of it, while he was alive and preaching.


Ok then, if the Bible can't be fully believed, and can be sorted and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle, what can we believe? and what is the Word we are supposed to listen to and follow so faithfully?


Try this on for size:

15If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:)

26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:)

7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. 14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 15All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. (John 16:)

[For more, see the studies on the Holy Spirit.]

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THOUGHTS & COMMENTS

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10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mat 24:)

CIVILIZATION IN A SEWER PIPE

I have been experiencing the frustration so many others are having (according to my search of the web). My "Parental Control" has turned itself on and won't allow me to turn it off or change it. I am able to work through the problem on a moment-by-moment basis, but it is a tedious endeavor.

Parental control. Interesting. This causes me to think: "Just what kind of controls do parents have over their children?"

Parents have responsibility for their children. If a person's child acts irresponsible it is the parent who must pay the consequences; this I see. And for this reason parents bother at all to turn on things like "Parental Controls" that keep even the adult from accessing their browser, their connection to the outer world, because it has the possibility of displaying a naughty word.

But the child?

If the child wants to view sexual, violent, obscene and other such material we all know they shouldn't see, all they have to do is watch TV or go to the movies. If the child doesn't have a TV or the money for a movie ticket, then all they have to do is visit a friend with a computer or TV. If the child has no friend with a computer or TV, then all she or he has to do is use the school computer. And should all this fail, the Public Library is just a few footsteps away.

At school the child, from the time he is old enough to enter school, is taught and had demonstrated on film the advantages and pleasures of all forms of sex, including the benefits of participating in deviant sex.

Then at the library the child, without fear of being restrained by some adult or "Parental Controls" can browse through all the books displaying in graphic detail what they learned in school. And should they wish more detailed and graphic depictions, such as motion pictures, the computer is at their disposal.

In our institutions of learning there are no restrictions, except to insist that you partake of your inappropriate and illegal activity q.u.i.e.t.l.y. It is imperative that the child indulge in their inappropriate activity in such a place as the school and the library, because if they were to be given such instruction by you, the parent who objects to such learning; you would be arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, or worse.

Fair is fair.

When the logical consequence of such an education expresses itself, in the form of transmitted disease and/or childbirth (or school shootings if it is violence the child is inclined toward), the child is instructed in "Family Planning" and other such Government sponsored and approved means to deal with the problem. Here the child learns about abortion and birth control that allows them to continue practicing all they are being taught at school, the library, and by the media, without having to pay the consequences of such practices.

Of course medical treatment for disease, birth controls, and abortions are expensive. And it is unlikely that the teenager or pre-teenager is going to be able to pay for all the required peripherals necessary to keep them active in their chosen field of youthful activity.

Who pays for all this? The Government who allows it and sponsors it? The school who promotes it? The Media who broadcasts it? The Libraries who support and provide it?

Of course not. It would be foolish to assume that people with the ability to create and promote such a situation would not also find a way to keep from having to suffer the consequences for it as well. After all, look at what they are providing already? Isn't that enough?

Then, if not the child with the problem; nor the agencies who caused the problem; then just who is it that will be expected to pay?

Why, the parent, of course.

But, not to worry. You, the parent only have to deal with the final end of your child's endeavors that you try so hard to prevent. For you are not allowed to know about, nor restrict, the school's right to show pornography, nor the Library's right to contribute to the delinquency of a minor, nor the government's right to instruct, and perform, that abortion you and your church opposes so vehemently.

No. none of this is your responsibility nor your right. It is your responsibility to pay the doctor bills, raise the baby(s) your 12 year old daughter produces, and to continue to buy the birth control pills she needs (as well as the cigarettes you can't give her, and she can't buy, but she has a perfect right to smoke all she wants).

The "Free Love" movement of the 70's has come a long way, Baby.


CHRISTIANS WITHOUT A CHURCH

I would venture to speculate that there are more Christians who do not attend church than there are Christians in church.

I have no doubt but that such a statement is going to draw a lot of flack my way. Regardless, such has been my experience.

Elsewhere I have written about attending several different churches in effort to detect the presence of the Holy Spirit. Of course you might well ask who I think I am that I could tell if the Holy Spirit is in a church or not. And that question surely deserves an answer. I am merely one who has recently received the Holy Spirit and find that I can tell if He is with me at various periods of the day or night. If I feel His presence before I walk into a building, and again after I leave that building (or person I am talking to, or activity in which I am engaging), but I have to struggle to communicate with Him while I am in that building - then I conclude the Holy Spirit is not in that building. That is only my assessment; but my assessment is all I have to go by.

I have yet to attend a church where I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. There have been moments I felt He was there, but then I could feel Him leave.

There have been occasions when I would attempt to enter a building, even a church, where I could feel the Holy Spirit revolt. I knew full-well that should I enter, I would have to do so at my own risk, because I would be totally alone.


Watch people in church. Speak to them about their life. Consider your own experience and be honest about your feelings and your experiences. Do you go to church because it is expected of you? Or do you thirst to be closer to God and that is why you attend? Do you find yourself listening closely to the Pastor's message, and wish he would tell you more? Do you find yourself speaking to God and reading the Bible during the "dry" parts of the service? Do you find yourself analyzing the words of each song being sung in effort to extract from it the Biblical message that it purports to present?

Or do you watch the clock during the sermon, plan the evening meal while your mouth sings, and judge the clothing and hairdos of the ladies in attendance?


What about Pastors and the Pastors' wife? Surely they are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. That would be the assumption. But I fear there are very few who even know (or believe in) the Holy Spirit, leastwise are being led by Him.

But let's say they are in possession of the Holy Spirit. The chances are the Pastor and his wife are just like everybody else. They have their lives to lead - household and family duties to perform, current events to follow, and entertainment to pursue. On top of this they must plan and prepare the upcoming service as well as midweek activities. That seems simple enough to those who have not partaken in such endeavors. But consider that, like yourself, the parishioners who attend services are difficult to keep entertained and attentive. And to prepare something new each week is a near impossible task at best.

Fortunately there are books and web sites available to help Pastors and their wives plan a service. But this also takes time and effort. And there is Bible reading that must be kept up with in order that the Pastor can continue to impress his congregates with his knowledge of the Scriptures.

The Pastor and his wife are lucky to find the time to get in a quick prayer before meals and at bed time - just like his parishioners.

The Holy Spirit, if not completely forgotten, ignored or disbelieved, has little space and time to move among those who attend church.


On the other hand, those who say they do not attend church but prefer to venture into nature for their Spiritual rejuvenation say they find it easy to communicate with God. Of course many non-believers express the same, saying they are able to: "Commune with nature."

For myself, I find my mind almost always communing with God. Of course the conversation is a one-way activity with me doing the talking, but I know He is there. I don't know if He listens to all my jabbering; and I doubt He cares a wit about what I am saying - but the fact I am there jabbering keeps me close at His heels and out of trouble. It's a lot like the mother who would prefer that her small child who has just learned to walk and to talk stay by her side muttering his gibberish than to have him off wandering into no-telling-what in the next room.


I do not feel the presence of the Lord in church. All I feel or experience is the presence of many people attending a meeting just like they would a PTA or AA meeting. They're there because it's expected (or in some cases demanded) of them.


People will spend their hard-earned money and stand for hours in the cold rain in effort to obtain a ticket to a concert or a show where some famous person is performing. They will risk life and limb to get just as close to that person as they can in hopes of but a fleeting glance in their direction from that person.

This is the way it is in the World.

This is proof of the fact these people think a great deal of that performer, perhaps even to the point of worshiping him or her.

Rock concerts and sporting events attract adherents by the thousands. Those in attendance throw every bit of enthusiasm and energy toward their favorite team or player (or performer). There is no doubt in the mind of anyone who any one of these spectators are there to see. The look in the eyes of each of them radiate an energy akin to a warrior in the fit of battle drawing the life's blood from all those who oppose him.


Watch in church.

Watch as people fight to keep their eyes open and gaze at their wrist, trying to force the hands on the dial to move.

Notice that people do not come alive until the Pastor proclaims those famous and anticipated words: "You are dismissed."

This is church.


The World throws everything into having a chance glimpse at their favorite fleeting star.

Consider the extreme anticipation and excitement a person might feel waiting to finally be once again with the parent they had been separated from at birth.

Notice the reaction of a small child when she is being removed from the protecting arms of her mother.

Now, once again, look around the church and try to find any of that same enthusiasm and driving lust to be with the very God and Father who each say they have come there to be with.


Is it any wonder God is not in the churches?


WE'RE SORRY, BUT

Do you ever tire of the recorded robotic voice (or printed computerized form letter) that expresses deep emotion like sorrow and repentance?

Imagine, if you will, having to reprimand your child for some serious offense; then have the child say, while picking his fingernails and watching TV: "I'm yawwn sorry."


SAY THE WORDS

That's all it takes to get your ticket to Heaven and Eternal Life. Say the Sinner's Prayer and you're in. After that you can do whatever you want and it's up to God to make you into what He wants you to be.

Hmmm.

Let's see how that works in life outside the church.

"Just tell us you will be a good boy and that you're sorry, then you can do whatever you want. Remember, we're your parents and we love you, so we will forgive you over and over for anything you do."

"Just tell the judge your sorry for your murders and he will let you go. It's his job to forgive and forget. Just remember that for all your future murders...."

"You say you're part of a group that is against this nation and all it stands for and that is why you blew up our buildings and poisoned our water, killing many thousands of people. But you are also a citizen of this country having taken the pledge of allegiance. Well, that's different. As long as you have said the words I guess we will have to set you free to do as you will."

"This document says your name is Adolph Hitler and that you grew up in the church and was baptized. I guess there's nothing we can do but release you and forgive you for whatever you might have done. You've said the words, what else can we do?"


Does this work for you?


God forgives: If we truly repent and earnestly work to change our ways and follow Him.


MISSED BY THAAAT MUCH


"Mary is such a wonderful person, and so talented too."
"Yes, I know. She is an honor student and was voted president of her class twice."
"The boys sure have a thing for her. I guess she's just got everything going for her."
"Yes. Almost everything."
"Almost?"
"Yes. She's got everything except her diploma."
"You mean to tell me Mary didn't graduate?"
"That's right."
"But she was top of her class. She got better grades than anyone else. Did she quit or something?"
"Not exactly."
"Then, what happened?"
"She didn't pass her final exam."


"Sam's got to go to court tomorrow."
"Sam? You mean ol' goody-two-shoes has got to see the man?"
"Yep. He got a ticket for driving with a broken tail light."
"Aww, that's nothing. He'll beat the rap, you just wait and see."
"I don't think so. Not this time."
"What are you talkin'. Ol' Sam's the Mayor and has got the finest reputation of anyone I know."
"Wouldn't matter if he was the President of the U S of A. Not even if he was Mother Teresa. He's put his foot in it this time."
"Aww, come on. A little thing like a broken tail light? What judge is going to point a finger at him?"
"He drew Judge Rutledge."
"Uh oh! He's history."


Do you think God judges on a curve, Maybe?


BANGING ON THE DOOR

"Easy come, easy go."

You've heard that expression before. And I highly suspect you know just what it means because you have experienced it, both as the recipient and the giver.

Those things that come easy to us, we care little about. We seek those things that are elusive, that try to avoid us, that we have to struggle to attain.

That girl (or boy as the case may be) who has a "crush" on you and follows you around like a lap dog, you stay just as far away from as you can. That one who seeks your attention might, under different circumstances, be the one of your dreams. But because they are easy, and available you look down on them and wish for them to disappear.

But the cheer leader who every boy pants after. The football hero who every girl would give her eye teeth to have as a Bou - that person you treat the very same way the one who chases after you treats you. And with the same results.


We want what's just beyond our grasp. Something almost attainable has a powerful draw on us, like a magnet to steel. If something is too far out of our reach, we may very much want it, but not desperately so. It either requires too much effort, or it is outside our sphere of obtainability.

So we concentrate our efforts on those things that are close enough to give us a feeling of satisfaction without our having to make a supreme sacrifice.

47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:)

One who is forgiven the most will love the most. Is this true in your experience? Like the lovelorn suitor above, this does not always hold true.

Matthew 18: tells the story of someone who had been forgiven a great debt, then turned around and persecuted someone who owed him but a little.

I have (and I am sure you have as well), had occasion where I have done what I consider a special kindness toward someone, only to be "spat upon" in return. And even in the best of situations, I find it is not in the nature of Man to be appreciative. We are a race of egotistic, self-centered creatures. The more someone does for us, the less we appreciate both the gift, and the giver. But should someone give us a tidbit, we fawn over them and shower them with appreciation.

This is not reasonable, but it is our nature.


The policy that Jesus stated does not hold true in our experience - as a rule. In other words, for the masses of people it does not hold true. But there are a few with whom the principle does hold true. Obviously the woman at the feet of Jesus was one of those few.


Jesus, in His wisdom, has created two directions by which we may seek Him. The first of these directions is the brightly lit and broad way of the church. It is easy to find, easy to follow, and appealing to both our eyes and our ego. This way is without resistance in that it is a highly accepted way. All those in one's acquaintance will stamp upon your decision their seal of approval. This broad way might require next to nothing from you; or it might be fairly demanding, but it will be easily within your capability and desires, and be easy for you to follow. Gifts, pleasures and promises are strewn along the easy way.

But so was it with those who followed Baal. And so is it with those who follow the various cults and communities of the World today. Is there anyone more "blessed" than those who delve into the realm of witchcraft and other such mystic practices?


If you want someone to come to you in sincerity and with dedication: you don't make it easy, you make it difficult.

To select from the finest and most dedicated: you don't advertise for the Many, you call for the few and the chosen.

The Army desires the best, but will settle for those who are unfit for the other branches of the service. They will, if all else fails, enact the draft where all have to serve.

The Marines, on the other hand, calls for the "few and the chosen." When you enlist into the Marines you expect to serve, not be served. You are promised nothing but hard work with little rewards, and possibly death. You know what is expected of you, and the chance of disappointment is slim.


Jesus was the best of the best, the créme de la créme. He was special in both the eyes of God, and in our eyes.

Then there's the Apostles. They were just ordinary men with faulty natures just like you and me. Yet they took on the nature of Jesus.

Jesus is calling for the best of the best. But like David, the one chosen by God to be king, who chose for his mighty men those from the low ranks and the slums, so does Jesus look for His "Mighty Men" from the low class and the lost.

Jesus' call is in two directions. He calls for the "whosoever will," in hopes that they may later see the need to join the ranks of the "few and the chosen." And few there are who choose to leave their feather bed and follow Jesus into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. They go as far as the door of the sheepfold where the grass is tall and plenty; and there they settle, listening to the pretty music while growing fat and lazy.

The other call of Jesus is to the dedicated, the brave and the thankful. It is a call to arms that those in the green pasture cannot hear because they haven't had their ears trained toward His voice as have those who have put on their armor and joined the fight.

Two calls. Two directions. One call leads to God, the Holy Spirit and Eternity.

The other call leads to self-satisfaction and destruction: "Wailing and gnashing of teeth."


Do not be deceived. All through the Gospels Jesus tells us about the judging of servants. When Jesus says "Servants," He means "Servants."


Do you say: "Why can't I have....?"

Or:

Do you say: "Thank you for the little..."?


TALKING TO YOURSELF

When a child talks to herself, we ask: "Who are you talking to, Dear?" And the child replies: "I'm talking to my doll." And we think: "That's cute. I used to talk to my teddy bear all the time when I was a kid."

The child grows, and is still talking, but there is no doll nearby. You ask: "Who are you talking to Dear?" to which she replies: "I'm talking to my friend." "I used to have an invisible friend I always talked to and confided in." Perfectly understandable and acceptable behavior - for a child.

The child is no longer a child, yet is still talking to herself. "Who are you talking to dear?" you ask. "Nobody, I'm just talking to myself." Now we wonder. If the young lady is just "thinking out loud" we accept her behavior as normal, as a momentary occurrence. However, if she is seen often in dialogue with herself, or with some invisible friend - we start to wonder, perhaps even worry a bit.

Why do we wonder if someone is speaking to themself? Well, we think, it's not normal behavior. Everyone knows that talking to oneself is a sign of emotional instability. It might be time to see a shrink.

Talking to an invisible friend, though all right as a child is not considered sane as an adult.

Again. Why?


We all talk to ourself. Our mind is always going, even in our sleep. If we ask someone: "What are you thinking of," and they reply: "Nothing," we know they are either keeping their thoughts a secret from you, or they have forgotten what it was they were thinking of. We know this because our mind is always thinking, although not often thinking of anything important.


Talking to oneself is perfectly normal. Talking to oneself out loud raises red flags. And if we say we are talking, not to ourself, but to someone else, people tend to shy away from us.

So when asked: "What are you thinking of?" we either say we aren't thinking of anything, or we are just thinking. We certainly would not admit to thinking to someone.

Yet thinking to someone else, that is, directing our thoughts toward another person is much more "normal" than directing them toward ourself, which is nothing but a closed circle, a dead-end street.


Talking to ourself or to someone else who is not around is a no-no. Admitting to such behavior can cause one trouble as they relate to the world.

But talking to ourself or to imaginary friends is far more acceptable to "normal" people, even those in one's church, than to reply to the question: "Who are you talking to?" "I'm talking to Jesus" (or God, or the Holy Spirit).

And why is this?


The doll or the teddy bear the child talks to is real to us, although not as real as it is to the child. The invisible friend is real to the child, though again, not real to us. Even the "invisible friend" the adult talks to, at least we accept as real in that person's mind.

But to talk to God? To walk down the street talking to God? To consult God as to which cereal to purchase while shopping at the corner grocery? To talk to God while sitting in your car waiting at a red light?


"Hey, buddy, who you talking to? They's nobody I sees in your car wit' you? You crazy or somethin'?"

"I'm just singing to myself," you reply. Or: "I'm talking to my buddy. He's bent down trying to find something on the floor." Or (which can be used nowadays) "I got a cell phone in my ear and I'm talking on the phone."


"I'm talking to God." This is not a reply you would want to give, even if you were sitting in the living room of your friend's home who is a devout Christian, or even in the pew of your church if it isn't "prayer time."


Is any of this I have said true in your opinion? If the answer is: "No, I can talk to God and admit it any time I want to at home or in my church," I am pleased for you; although I tend to doubt that what you say is absolutely true. Try it. Say you're talking to God, or to Jesus as you sit in the living room of your friend's house, or in the pew of your church. Talk out loud as if you were talking to someone, not just in your mind. Speak as a child would to her doll; as you would if you were sitting next to Jesus - and see what reaction you get.


You won't do it. There are two particular reasons why you won't do it.

The first reason is that you are afraid your family, friends, or church members will think you're nuts.

The second reason is that you would figure you must be nutso to do such a thing.

Why?

The child's doll or invisible friend is real, or at least real enough to be accepted and spoken to.

The invisible friend the man who talks to himself loudly as he walks down the street is real, or at least real enough to be accepted in society.

Jesus is not real. God is not real. The Holy Spirit is not real. Even though people speak of Him, and acknowledge Him to those who are "believers" themselves, and pray to Him on occasions when it is acceptable to do so, people do not believe in Him.


In the past ( and still now in some cultures) people sacrificed to the god(s) they believed in. People even dedicated their lives, and sacrificed the lives of their children or other loved ones to the god they believed in. Although the gods were not real, they were real enough to these people to do something in sacrifice to that which they believed in.

In this culture, though we say we believe in the real and living God who created us, we do not even believe enough to talk to Him!


COUNT THE COST

When I was a young teenager I went to the same school as my cousin. At that time I had a very poor self image, and was trying hard to maintain whatever good impression I could make of myself.

My cousin was just as nice a fellow as you could ask for, but the image he presented was of one who was not too bright. The truth is he was smarter than most of the rest of us. But what teenager pays any attention to the truth of a matter?

My cousin was inclined to stay around me when he was able. This caused me much embarrassment. I was "ashamed" of my cousin. I wasn't ashamed of him for who he was, but for what others seemed to think he was.

When we were very young adults, and we hadn't seen one another for some time, my cousin was killed as he was driving across a railroad track.

I didn't think too much of it at the time, since I was busy leading my own life as almost all youngsters are inclined to do. But many years later I went through intensive therapy. At this time I was able to get in touch with a lot of feelings (in fact, get in touch with feelings - period) that I never knew I had. One of these feelings that really took me by surprise was a very deep affection for my cousin. I don't know where it came from, I hadn't even much thought of him for all those years. But for a long period of time (and even now on occasion) I would begin to cry when I thought of him. It wasn't his tragic death that caused this feeling, but rather the fine person he was. And with this I realized I had missed out on what could have been a good friendship, if I was up to the call.


Embarrassment causes us to do things that we know we shouldn't. And it causes us to not do things we are sure that we should. I'm confident you have your own stories you could tell on this very subject; times you wish you had not followed your fear of loss of self image, but rather had followed your heart and better judgment.

It's one thing when we look back on those times of lost opportunity; it's quite another to realize that we still continue to do the very same thing. No longer in ignorance do we follow our fear of being looked down on by others rather than follow our heart; we now do the very same thing with full knowledge of what we are doing, and the possible consequences of the same.


Jesus said to count the cost. His meaning, I take it, is that we must know what we will be giving up, and what we may be facing for having chosen to follow Him. Most of us say: "What cost?" since we are told being a follower of Jesus means giving up nothing, yet being given all our little heart wants and desires.


WHAT COSTS?

One of the "costs" it is clear that Jesus wants us to count is our Ego, that is our self-image. He says that by following Him we will likely be treated the same as He was, and the same as the Apostles were. We don't see this happening, at least not here, at present.

Yet it is happening here, now, and every day. But of course you and I do not put ourselves on the firing line where we have to face the slings and arrows of the enemy. We hide behind the safety of our doors and our fellowship of like-minded people.


Above I spoke of talking out loud to the Lord. Do you talk to your friends? Are you embarrassed to be seen talking to your friends? Are you perhaps ashamed of your friends as I was of my cousin?

We don't want people to associate us with someone they consider "beneath" them. We want to be part of the "in" crowd, even though we know we are only allowed on the outskirts of that crowd because we have something they want from us.

Yet the "In crowd," when the facts be known, is often made up of people that if we knew them as they know themselves, we would want no part of them. We certainly would not want to be like them!

Yet there we are, trying to impress those who we don't like, and following footsteps that lead to oblivion, just because we are told it is the "thing to do."


Would you, or do you do as I did and avoid those you should be closest to in order to impress those you should care the least about?

Do you count the cost for such behavior?


Talking to Jesus.

Talking to Jesus can be very costly. If you are caught talking to Jesus you might very well be ostracized, not only by the "in" crowd, but by your family and church as well.

Of course there are those who talk to God in your church, and speak of Him often. But are they really talking to God, or are they talking about or at God? I have heard ministers preaching to their congregation in the form of prayer, that I know was not even directed toward God. And there are those who bang a tambourine and set siege to the bars and the brothels demanding that the sinners thereat redeem their sorry souls. But this is again directed toward "Man,' not toward God.


Talking to God is a sign of insanity. There are those in prison for terrible crimes who say they were told to commit the crime by God. They not only talk to God, but apparently God talks to them!

History is full of events that are heinous even to the Worldly mind that were performed in the name of God. The Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Salem witch hunts are but a few that come to mind. These were executed by supposedly Godly people seeking to do God's service, but were obviously only satisfying their own lusts. There were no costs to be counted by those performing the "Godly" act; but a great deal of cost to the "heathen" who was being "chastised" by these "Godly" people.


Count the cost. Let's say you decide to talk to God out loud. You decide that a little backbiting talk about you won't hurt you in the long run. So what's the harm?

Count the cost. Years from now a situation arises were you must go before the judge and give testimony. Perhaps this is a battle over the settling of a will, or some other such legal matter. In any case, someone wants to compromise you or your testimony so they can obtain what you feel is not their right to have.

"Your honor," the lawyer who is opposed to you says, "this man talks to God just as you and I talk to one another. Is this the sort of man whose testimony you want to base your judgment on?"

What do you think the outcome would be?

"You say you want to marry our daughter. And you say you....talk to God?"


If you were to say you talked to the devil you would be given more credibility than if you say you talk to God. Why? Because even those of the World believe in the devil. His power is seen every day in the form of tragedy and violent acts of nature, or so it is supposed. But the concepts that the Bible presents to the World and the church are so fantastic that they are considered unbelievable. And so they are. Consequently, people do not believe in God, leastwise do they believe in a resurrected Jesus, or in a Holy Ghost. The concept is so incredible that even gods riding chariots through the sky and hurling thunderbolts at us is more believable.


People do not believe in God, nor in Jesus, nor in the Holy Ghost. The only way to believe in these Three is to have a personal relationship with Them. And the only way to have such a relationship is to...talk to them.

HITS

Isn't it impressive so see the counter spin to ever higher numbers at the bottom of the websites you visit? Or to see the report they display: "We have had X thousand visitors since 1892." It causes me to wonder: "How many people can be interested in Tibetan hooked rugs?"

Hits mean popularity and having something important others want to learn or know about. We like to think of ourselves as having many people interested in us. "I have just loads of friends. Why my email box is so full I can't respond to them all. And my phone is forever ringing with people who want to ask something of me."

Sounds impressive, does it not? Of course, if you have a computer, you have just tons of mail, and your phone won't stop ringing with people wanting to talk to you.

Spam and telephone solicitors are not selective. They will contact any one. Why even I receive an occasional call and get an email or two.


Hits are impressive. No doubt about it, when that register rolls around it shows that someone is interested in what is presented on that website. It's not like spam or other such junk mail.

Or is it?


I have over 500 pages on my website. And my website is new. If I check to make sure the links are working properly once a month, just for the pages I will be recording 500 "hits" in that month. Of course all my pages have at least 5 links, and some ten times that many. You do the math. I'm too tired.

I do not have counters on my web sites (I have three domains). I was going to get counters, until I discovered that the counts don't mean a thing. For one reason, as I stated above, unless I record how many times I access my own website, the number would mean nothing.

Then, on top of my flooding my own mailbox, so-to-speak, there are others who make it a practice to go through just as many of my pages as possible, and as often as possible.

One of these is Google. Google sends out what they call "spiders" that crawl the entire web collecting information. I was amazed to see on a report that Google and my domain host puts out how many hits I had on my new website. I didn't even have it up and running and it looked like I had one of the most sought after sites on the web! Did I get excited? Yes, I did. And I also got suspicious. So I checked further and found that these "hits" were from Google, myself, someone who was looking for pornography and who's browser presented "Whore" from the great whore Babylon, a quote from the Bible, and there were hits from domain name stealers looking for secret information and codes.

To say the least, I was not very impressed with all those hits I had received.


Some people will do anything to give the impression that they are popular. They will say whatever pleases whoever they are talking to; they will dress exactly like those they want to impress, and they will run a screwdriver through their nose or tongue if that's what it takes to "fit in."

On the web, some people are so desperate for attention that they will cycle their webpage. I have no doubt you've come across these. You somehow reach their page, and no matter what you do, you can't back out of it. Well, each time you try to leave, you are actually turning that meter over, indicating a new hit. And the more hits, the more "value" that web page has, and the higher up on the browser ranking it gets.

What people won't do for attention and approval.


We are born with an ego. And from the day of our birth, we do all we can to satisfy that ego. Adam and Eve met their downfall because of their ego. And all through the Bible it is recorded that the only ones who were accepted by God are those who were able to set their ego aside and do just the opposite of what one would expect them to do.

Jesus and the Apostles are perfect examples of such behavior. On the human realm it makes no sense what they did. They gave themselves over to God for Him to make of them what He wanted them to be. This is not our nature. We want God to turn Himself over to us so we can make Him into what we want Him to be. We want to be in charge, not let another be in charge of us.

Yet God seems to not be listening to us. Jesus said we are to not only obey God, but all the other officials and lowlifes that come our way (not saying that officials are lowlifes, but representing two ends of the spectrum). We are to be obedient to all, even to giving up our shirt, and turning the other cheek to those who would wish us ill.

This is not pleasing to our ear. We want "hits," but not on the cheek.


EXAMPLE, NOT REPLACEMENT

In the churches today it is taught that Jesus took our place on the cross, dying for our sins, so that we would not have to pay for what we've done. We are told that because of God's love for us, and His willingness to take us into Heaven in spite of the miserable creatures we are, all we have to do is give credence to Jesus' work on the cross, and we are in like Flynn.

If you've been in the church very long (Protestant I'm referring to) you have heard this message preached a thousand times, maybe more in one form or another. That is, if you bothered to listen to the message at all.

And I'm sure you've heard what I'm going to say what must seem like a thousand times, and in a thousand different ways. If you do feel that way, you're not alone. I feel the same way. This gives rise to two questions: What is it going to take for me to get my message across to you, since you have been so indoctrinated into the thinking of the established church. And the second question is: since this is about the 150th page (some "pages" being more in the order of books than pages) I've written and published for the Bible section, which means you have likely read at least a few of the others I've written - why do you bother? I mean, if you agree with what I am saying, or if you are trying to figure out what I'm talking about, or why I'm talking about it, I can understand why you would endure thus far. But if you dis agree, and consider it hogwash and heresy, which is most likely, then why?

Well, that's my question, which is far afield of the subject I am writing on.


Jesus took our place so we are free to do what we will. That's the belief, and so it is. However, what is not so is that we are now free to enjoy life, with God's blessing, being mollycoddled by our Father God.

Jesus died as a substitute. Again, this is true. Because He died, we will live. This is all true and clearly laid out in Scripture.

Jesus died and freed us - to do as we will, and be rewarded for the same, if what we "will to do" is lay down our life in total sacrifice as did Jesus and the Apostles.

Jesus died so that we may live - if we give up our life as did Jesus and the Apostles.


Jesus died as a substitute. But more than a substitute, Jesus (and the Apostles as well) is an example of what God expects and requires of His "children."

Jesus was the first of many Children of God. Jesus is the first, and the only to fully overcome the flesh and give complete obedience to the Father. And, of course, the Apostles where the second to the thirteenth to surrender.

But they are not to be the last to take up their cross and follow Jesus to Calvary. There have been, and there will be others to follow that "narrow road" to salvation.

Will those others, those few, include you?

I

Page 24

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS

page 24

19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. (Mat 13:)
28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:)
9If any man have an ear, let him hear. (Rev 13:)

READING WHAT YOU LIKE


"Here is today's weather, brought to you by Smutz seltzer water, the seltzer water that says 'Smutz to you!' The weather according to all whether charts, satellite pictures and computer analysis indicate the weather may be bright and beautiful without a cloud in the sky; or on the other hand the weather could be drizzly, wet and just plain lousy. We'll just have to wait and see."


"Did you hear that, Jack? The weatherman said it's going to be a good day for you to paint the garage. Bright and clear, he said."

"No he didn't, Marge. He said distinctly that it was going to be wet and miserable. Not a good day at all to paint the garage, but a great day for me to go with the guys bowling, don't you think?"


We hear what we want to hear. Is the glass half full? Or is the glass half empty?

The Bible is certainly a good example of this rule. For instance, is it all grace and no works? Or is it works and no (or only partial) Grace?

If you desire to serve God, you will read "Works" all through the Bible. In fact, the more your heart is inclined to serve the Lord, the more indisputable references to Work you will find.

But if you are inclined to have God serve you, you will find a myriad of Scripture that will seem to clearly back up your stance. And to be sure, you will find a multitude of preachers and theological writings to support your view.


DIETERS AND RUNNERS

Have you ever known someone who just started a new diet or exercise program? So far they haven't lost a pound or learned to touch their knees, leastwise their toes, and they are already insisting that you and everybody they see convert to their program. By the way they talk they have studied the matter thoroughly and are absolutely convinced it is not only the best, but the only program worth a hill of beans.

The next time you see that person (perhaps it's the next week), they have gained five pounds and have another program they are just as, if not more so, convinced on and enthusiastic over.

Or perhaps it's not diet or exercise the person is excited about. Perhaps it's a new car, or a new dishwasher, or a new girl or boy friend. Whatever it is, while it's new, the person cannot get enough of it, or talk about it enough (in their eyes, not yours). But wait a week or so and it will die out just as has all their other first loves.

Perhaps it's the enthusiasm and the excitement of new things that causes such people to jump from one thing to another. Do you think?

Have I described someone you know?

Have I perhaps described you?


DOCTOR INTEGRITY

Have you ever had a dishonest doctor? I don't mean a thief or a cheat, but a doctor who just did not care if he told the truth as long as he made his money.

Of course the doctor you have now is an honest doctor or else you wouldn't be letting him practice on you. But perhaps in the past?

I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but I would assume that doctors are pretty well a class of person who takes his job seriously and cares about his or her patient. I doubt a person would go into the field of medicine without some regard for humanity at large. I am excluding those who are just after the big bucks, of course, who I assume would not be a family practitioner but some highfalutin specialist of some sort.

That doctor you trust, where do you assume he got his information about the problem you go to him for? Do you think he just instinctively knows your problem and the cure for it? Perhaps you know a mechanic like that, who seem to have an "ear" for hearing and solving problems with your car.

There are doctors like that, that is to say who have a knack for finding and curing certain illnesses. The chances are this "knack" did not come by birth, but by many years of experience with such problems, and many errors in judgment along the way. The chances are strong also that the doctor you find so marvelous was not so highly thought of by your parents or your grandparents who he first "practiced" on.

Doctors are the end product of a chain of scientists in the field of medicine. The doctor you see is the tip of the iceberg you deal with, but he is not the one who is actually "creating" the cure or the procedures by which to discover the problem. This doctor first had to spend many years in school having that information poured into his head. And when he had accomplished this, he had to serve as a doctor's assistant in order to learn what has already been established by the profession.

Even then, with all this experience, learning and practice under his belt, he must continually read up on what is expected of him by those scientists who work behind the scenes adding and subtracting from that knowledge base he has acquired. Some of the "firm foundational" cures he had learned will have been discovered as deadly poisons by "new studies."

Auto mechanics experience the same each year. As the new model car comes out, the mechanic is sent back to school to learn the idiosyncracies of that car. And I am sure that with these newfangled gadgets they put on cars, that don't work, it is doubly important the mechanic be sent back to school so they can know just what it is they don't know what they are doing with. [Did I say that right?]

If a doctor discovers that what he is being told by those above him (for instance that a certain drug is not helpful, but is in fact harmful, or that high cholesterol is good for a person rather than bad), can he just refuse to go along with the AMA program? Not likely. There are doctors who have done just that, and they are no longer allowed to practice in this country.


Consider the field of Law. We know that a person has to be of a high moral fiber in order to practice Law in this country. That is, if a person was dishonest he would be disbarred immediately. (Pardon me while I chuckle.) The truth is a person can be just as crooked as he likes, and break all the rules and laws he needs to in order to win the case. It is not integrity that wins in the game of law, but craftiness and cunning. (And money is what buys this craftiness and cunningness.) The field of Law is the same as the field of baseball. The goal is winning and making the bucks. How often do you hear a pro ball player say: "Yeah, were losing something terrible, but at least we're in there playing fair and honest."?


Baseball players, lawyers, mechanics and doctors are not the only ones who must play the game following strict adherence to the rules laid out for them. (That's right, as hard as it is to believe, there are some rules a lawyer must abide by, or at least not get caught violating.) There is another field of trained doctors who have even a tighter field of regulations and restrictions they must abide by. And whereas your medical doctor has some leeway in his call, these doctors do not. Every doctor in this profession must absolutely agree with his teacher and his fellow practitioners or be ostracized and disbarred from fellowship.

I know you have already guessed what I am going to say; the field is that of Religion. And the doctors are Doctors of Theology.

Preachers, Pastors, Evangelist, Pastors and Theologians must absolutely agree with everyone else in their denomination, or be cast out in the cold as a heretic. So, without considering any alternatives, these Pastors, Preachers and the lot follow one-another in their thinking and their beliefs like lemmings on their journey to the sea.


And so do you.

Without a thought one way or the other, you just accept that which you are told by your Pastor. You do not bother to question all the verses that completely contradict what your Pastor says, you just close your eyes and move on. It's much easer that way.


Compare that to your doctor. Your doctor says you have cancer and you will need an operation. What do you do? Do you just say: "Oh well'" and move on without giving it another thought? Of course not. You do just what is suggested. You get a "second" and a third and a forth opinion. You read up on all sorts of alternative medicines and cures. Your life becomes dedicated to getting that cancer out of you just as easily and as quickly as possible. And besides dedicating all your time, energy and attention to this project, all the money you can beg, borrow or steal is dedicated to the project as well.

Can you see the cancer your doctor has told you about? Maybe. Can you feel this cancer that is waiting to ravage your body? Maybe. If your doctor hadn't told you the cancer was in you, would you even know it was there? Maybe, maybe not.

It's very possible that, like so many heart diseases, you have nothing to confirm the fact that the cancer even exist. But! You dedicate everything are, have, or ever will possess to the banishing of that which you have no real clue even exists. After all, look at all the times someone has been diagnosed with cancer (or some other disease) and the diagnosis was wrong. Or consider the multitude of times people have been diagnosed with something that was either wrong, or did not exist in the first place.

But you do not consider those alternatives. No, you choose to fully believe the doctor is right. And because you believe the doctor, you are not only doing something about it; you are doing everything about it!


That which you believe to be so does not leave room for doubt. And if there is no doubt, there is no hesitancy to pursue it with all your might.

If you believed your child was getting involved with drugs, or the wrong company, or spending money unwisely, or living an unhealthy lifestyle - would you sit back and say: "Oh well"? Of course not, you would worry and fret over it. You would do all you could do, even to becoming a "nag" in order to correct the problem.

If you believed the brakes on your car were bad, and you were preparing to take the family on vacation. Would you just say: "Oh well" and do nothing about it? If so, it might be a good idea to make an appointment with a psychiatrist real quick like.


Yet! You say: "Oh well" to the Bible and what you are taught at church, just as do the elders and the Pastor. Why?


Because you don't believe.


BOTH; AND NEITHER

So, is it Works that will get you to heaven like the Catholic church teaches? If you fulfill a list of required actions and behaviors, are you assured God's favor?

Or, is it like the Protestants (most??) say, that it has all been done by Jesus and all you have to do is recite a few words, take a dunking, and you will be waltzing past St. Peter at the gate?

Is it: Do this and live; or is it: Do nothing and live?


Neither, and both.


Works won't get you in, no matter how faithful you are to those works. Nor will Grace get you in, no matter how much faith you have in that doctrine, nor how much Works you add to that faith.

There is only one thing that will get you through the gate: the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, He will instruct you as to what Works to perform, and He will be the evidence that you have the Saving Grace you are taught that you need.


WORKS DON'T COUNT

Is that so? I certainly think so. And, if you are a Fundamental Protestant, I suspect you think so as well.

Then, why pray tell, do we judge others by their works?

Even non believers who make no profession of trying to work their way to Heaven we judge according to what they do. For instance, how often do we judge someone because they drink, or they smoke, or they overeat? Is any of this a sin? According to the Bible it's a sin. And so is most of everything else even "Believers" do a sin. Yet we see others as sinners for their self-serving behavior, and excuse ourselves and those of our acquaintance for our self-serving deeds.

The Bible tells us that if we do that which we believe to be a sin, it is a sin, whether it is indeed a sin in God's eyes or not. If (since) that is so, then it seems to me that as we judge others for their misdeeds, we are actually heaping truck loads of coal on our own heads.

And, as an added thought, it appears to me that the one we are condemning may not even be sinning at all, if their action is not seen in their own eyes as a sin.

Kind of a boomerang accusation, don't you think?


ONE, TWO, THREE

I don't know about you, but I have a problem when it comes to instructions. This problem became ever so clear to me when I was in the Army. When I was given an order, I resisted with all my inner being. Of course I carried out the order, but I hated having to do so. I'm sure my father would heartily agree with my self-diagnoses.

But even in the little things I have trouble with instructions. For one thing, when I am being instructed it is an indication that someone thinks I don't know that thing. This rides hard on my ego. Once I work through my resistance to listening to advice (which usually happens long after I had denied the advisor's right to give it) I am able to absorb it quite freely.

There's another form of instruction that I have difficulty with; those little (or huge) booklets they send along with everything we purchase. It's as if they think we are all dummies and can't figure out how to put their product together without their help. Insulting, isn't it?

Well, they're right, at least on my part they are right.

After I misspend half a day trying to put together that object that says it should take a ten-year-old a half an hour; and after I had bent or broken half the pieces - I read the instructions.

Of course, by this time it is too late because I have either lost or destroyed the pieces needed to assemble the thing and make it work.


Of course I am sure you are not this way. I would never presume to think such a thing. But if you are this way, then you can now know that you are not alone.


As I have said elsewhere, I am a teacher of sorts. That is to say, I have taught. And I have taught those who are like myself - a most frustrating and infuriating experience.

The hardest to teach are those who think they already know the answers, and/or think they know what you are going to say, therefore do not listen. A full cup is difficult to place anything into.

Also difficult to teach are those who want the answers, that is the bottom line, without having to learn the major steps that make the bottom line understandable and workable. I am this way myself, so I understand that person's frustration and impatience. But I also know that it just plain doesn't work that way!

Imagine a doctor who just wants to know how to take a patient's heart out, sew it up, and put it back in again. He didn't want to spend the years required to learn how the heart works, what causes it to malfunction, or how to heal it. Would you like him to operate on you?

But, that's what we do. Correction. That's what I do.


And that's what we do to God.


Day by day we Christians (as well as non believers when trouble strikes) ask God to give us this, or show us that, or sometimes even tell us what He wants us to do. Yet we pay no mind to what He has already told us, or is trying to tell us. We distort His Word so it fits our desires and not His. We want Jesus to follow us around as we go about our daily misadventures, and call on Him when we make a mess of things.

Jesus died so that He could give us a Teacher whereby we can understand the Book of Instructions He wrote for us. But do we listen to those instructions? Do we even bother to read the instructions and apply them to ourselves? Do we take the first baby-steps laid out for us to take? Or do we ask to be carried in one great leap to perfection and to be comforted in some Mansion in the Sky?


Should we expect God to help us with step two, when we haven't even bothered to apply step one?


SATAN AND THE CHURCH

We assume that Satan has been around from the beginning, egging on the World, trying to get all of God's creation on his side. And we assume that those of us in the Church, that is "Christians" are beyond the reach of Satan.

The Bible makes it very clear that this is not so.

To begin with, in the Old Testament Satan was rarely mentioned. And all through the wilderness flight of the Hebrew children, there is no mention of him trying to lead any of them astray. And surely, if old Satan had been after all Mankind, he would have been after Abraham, Joseph and Moses!

Yet, there was nothing said of him.


It is assumed by all (as far as I know) that Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Yet nowhere does the Bible say so. In fact, wherever the incident is mentioned in the Bible it is a serpent that did the tempting (2Cor 11:3). And where is that serpent today? He is crawling around the ground on his belly. Because the New Testament calls Satan a "serpent" it is assumed that Satan is the serpent in the Garden. The Bible does not say so. The Bible also calls Satan a "dragon," and a "Prince" (of darkness), and an "Angel" (of the abyss), and a "god" (of this world). Theologians have also called Satan "Lucifer" (Isa 14:12 Light Bearer or "Morning Star"), which Jesus says He is, and we are to be (Rev 2:28; 22:16; John 8:12; 12:46; Mat 5:14). The Bible does say something about Satan being an angel of light: it says Satan "Transforms himself" (disguise, masquerade) into an angel of light (2Cor 11:14).

Was Satan in the Garden? I believe he was. I believe he was doing the talking for the serpent, just as he spoke through Judas, and as he will speak through the Big and the Little Beasts of Revelation. But none of these are Satan, they merely serve as agents of Satan.

God uses agents as well. Jesus was an Agent of God. Angels are certainly used as agents, as were the Apostles, and as was a burning bush to Moses; and Moses stood in the stead of God to the Israelites; and a donkey served as agent to Balaam; and Jesus said that even the stones would be an agent of God if the Jews hadn't cried out at His Triumphal Entry.

And, more to the point, we are told that we are to be the agents of God to the World. That we are to be, and certainly will be: "Light Bearers" (James 1:17; John 1:4-10; 12:46; 8:12; Mat 5:14Phil 2:15).


Is there any place in the Old Testament where Satan specifically tempted someone? Yes, there is. Of course we have the experience of Job as a classic example of Satan's tempting those closest to God. And because of this temptation, Job gained, both in Worldly goods, and in his relationship to God.


Another example we have is one not mentioned very often, but it is none the less an important incident. It not only caused great problems for another who was closest to God, but for the nation of Israel as well, since they had to pay for this person's failure to overcome Satan.

In 1Chronicles 21:1 we find that old adversary planting ideas into the head of "a man after My own heart," says God Himself. And David is overcome, refusing to listen to council. There are other incidences of David failing to live up to God's standards, but there is nothing that says Satan had anything to do with those failings. They were, as it seems, his own weaknesses and lusts that caused his downfall.


Other references to Satan have to do with his relationship to Jesus and the Church, rather than to the Old Testament period. Here are all the references to Satan, including the temptations of Job and David. (For a much broader study on Satan, see Fantasies, Fables and Traditions -- Satan. I started the study a year ago, so it should be finished within the next year or so, surely):

Isa 14:4-23; Ezek 14:1-18; Chron 21:1-3; Job 1:1-12; 2:1-6; Psalm 109:4-8; Zech 3:1-7;

The following are from the New Testament. The word Satan is the same in the Greek as it is in the Hebrew with the added connotation of "devil' or "accuser":

Mat 4:1-11; 12:22-37; 16:21-23; Mark 1:9-13; 3:22-29; 4:13-15; 8:32-33; Luke 4:1-13; 10:17-19; 13:13-17; 22:1-4; 22:29-32; John 13:21-30; Acts 5:1-3; 26:14-18; Rom 16:17-20; 1Cor 5:1-6; 7:3-5; 2Cor 2:6-11; 5:3-5; 11:13-15; 12:7-8; 1Thes 2:17-20; 2:3-12; 1Tim 1:18-20; 5:11-14; Rev 2:8-28; 3:7-9; 12:1-17; 20:1-10


For those who like to believe that Satan can't touch them if they wear the "Christian" name tag, consider that it was the ones closest to Jesus who were tempted, not the World. Judas, of course was overcome by Satan; in Revelation the True Church has to handle the full force of Satan's wrath (I know, you've been told you'll be eating chicken in the sky. But some body is here standing up for the Lord!); and Jesus Himself was led by the Holy Spirit for no other reason than to be tempted by the old tempter. Jesus and the Apostles had to endure temptation by Satan - and we don't?? Hmmm.


As I see it, the churches are teaching everything backwards, especially when it comes to Satan and his purposes. Satan is not out there after the unconverted sinners. That is not his job. (And he is doing his job. He is not opposing God, but us.) His job is to try the faith of those who claim to be followers of Christ. The closer we get to Jesus and being like Him, the harder Satan will work on us to try and block our progress. Satan is the "Smith" that tests the jewels that are to go in the crown. He is the "Pruner" who cuts off the dead limbs of the Church. He is the "Forge" that tempers the pots so they can be used (Isa 54:16; 28:16; Rev 3:18).

Those vessels that break in the fire; those jewels that melt or explode in the furnace; those dead limbs that had no life in them - in other words, those "Christians" who fail to overcome, to endure to the end, will not be placed in the service of our Lord. It is the trying fires of this life that "try our mettle" and "Prove" us. We are to be thankful for these trials, just as John and Peter where when they stood before the Sanhedrin; or as Paul was in his many trials and persecutions, occasions that proved their worthiness to be in the presence of our Lord (Acts 5:41; 2Thes 1:11; Luke 14:28).


In the Old Testament there were but a few to be tried by Satan. That is not to say that Satan was not busy during those times, we can't say, but he certainly was not a key player in the scheme of things as he is now. In former times Man had all he could do to resist his own lusts and temptations. He did not need a devil to help him. Those who rose above such tendencies, such as David and Job, faced their Adversary.

Today Mankind is in the same dilemma. As in the Old Testament times, Man has all he can do to fight off his own lusts and desires. And for the unconverted Man, that is not even an issue since all he has is his lusts and desires; and he sees no reason to resist them.

As Christians this situation should no longer exist. Although in the churches we are taught that, like the World, we can do as we please and still be acceptable for Heaven (some add some "works" to this doctrine), the Bible does not tell us so. We, as Christians, possess a power far beyond that which the Old Testament Saints had. That Power is the Lord God Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. And like Jesus, those who possess this Power will be lead through their valley of temptation in order to prove the quality of the vessel that houses this Power. Those with the Holy Spirit will welcome this trial "with joy" (James 1:2) because they see it as evidence that they are worthy to suffer with their Savior. Those without the Spirit, or who have been told that suffering means they are not in possession of the Holy Spirit, will resist the trial and plead to be relieved of it, rather than pray for the strength to endure it (Luke 22:31; John 17:15).


Satan was rarely mentioned in the Old Testament because he was not intended for that age. Yet he is spoken about and warned against many times, and strongly so for this age, because he is for this Church age.


PROMISES

The churches like to grasp on to every little promise offered to anybody in the Bible. This should not be so. What was promised to Abraham, was for Abraham. I should not expect to see my seed become "As the sands of the sea."

The same for the promises to David, or to any other of the Old Testament Saints. Theirs was a physical promise, that is a Land, and a long life if they followed the Lord.

The promises often spoken of in the churches, redirected toward us, were specifically given to the faithful Disciples who followed Jesus throughout His ministry. They were not to us! There are some promises made to us, if we overcome, as Jesus overcame, and endure to the end as Jesus and the Apostles did. The other promises that Pastors Cut Off their sermons are those that speak of burning dead limbs and "Wailing and gnashing of teeth" that is in store for the non-productive "servants."


We do not have a promise of land, nor of long life as was given the Saints of old. This was, and will once more (during the Millennium) be fulfilled for the Jews. But those Jews who were promised long life and land were not promised Eternal life, nor to Rule and Reign over the Jews and the other nations. This promise is reserved for the Church and the Overcomers (the "Seed of David"). And after the Millennium, that is, the completion of this age and the fulfilment of God's promise to the Jews, the earth will once more become as a Garden of Eden with only those who have proven themselves worthy to stand in the presence of God, who are in the "Image of God," and are in fellowship with Him.


UNCERTAIN SOUND

On the walls of the city there stands a watchman. This watchman's job is to keep a close eye out for invaders and other such forms of danger.

This watchman carries with him a shofar, that is a ram's horn (or silver) trumpet that he is to blow when danger approaches. But times of danger is not the only time he's to blow the shofar; he is to blow the shofar to call an assembly, to announce a celebration (or Feast Days), and as a call to worship.

The shofar was not only an instrument of war and merriment, but is also (and perhaps primarily) an instrument for the use of priests.


On our walls, that is the walls of the church, there are many, many watchmen. These men are there, supposedly, to insure the safety of those within the walls. We call these watchmen: Pastors, and Priests, and Elders, and Clergy. There are also assistant watchmen we call Theologians, and Teachers, and Commentators of the Word. And there are a multitude of other names given for those whose responsibility it is to assure the safety of those sheep within their fold.

The citizens of these cities (churches) are counting on the watchmen to know their stuff, and to keep a clear eye out for dangers such as false doctrine. This is certainly understandable. These watchmen have taken on the responsibility, and under normal circumstances have professed, to be fully competent and capable of the job.


But what if the watchman is not watching as he should? What if the watchman does not believe an enemy exists? Or if one does exist, that enemy could not possibly do his city any harm? What if the watchman is not as qualified as he supposes himself to be? What if the watchman has read the Manual he is to be fully acquainted with, but he has dyslexia or some other disability that causes him to misinterpret the Manual?

Or what if the watchman, although fully qualified and watching in earnest, finds he is without knowledge regarding the shofar, and when danger approaches he either can not blow the alarm, or sounds the call for celebration by mistake?


I see the churches as either being laxidaisycal in their duties or sounding the wrong call. I believe the churches, all of them, are either playing the trumpet like as if it were a toy, or, those who do blow the alarm do so without knowledge and have created: "The boy who cried wolf" syndrome where no one will pay any attention when there is real danger is at hand.


And the Citizens love it!


CHRISTIANS & CHRISTIANITY

I was just listening to a sermon, a very good sermon I might add, on sin in the congregation. As I listened I wondered why this Pastor was not responsive to my writings since it was obvious we are on the same path and working toward the same goal. This Pastor, it is clear, is not afraid to call sin for what it is, nor to confront his parishioners with their shortcomings. This is something I harp on in my studies, that is the falling away from the Gospel message and the watering down of "Christianity."

This Pastor, it appears to me, is reaching for those who are truly making an effort to live the life of a Christian. Here is one working hard to do just that, and dedicating his life toward that purpose. He and I, the Pastor, have the same goal - so why is it he seems to completely ignore my efforts?

Long after the tape was finished, the understanding as to why came to me. The difference is not in the message he and I publish. It's not in the words. The difference is in the understanding of what being a Christian is all about.

This Pastor, as with all Pastors and ministers, believe he is preaching to a room full of people who have been saved so therefore going to Heaven in spite of the sins they are blatantly committing. He believes, since these people he is trying to motivate to do the right thing have said their Sinner's Prayer and been baptized, they can not fall away from Grace, so therefore cannot be lost.

What else can this or any other minister believe? That is all they hear except from the Catholic church and the Cults, which any Protestant assumes has to be wrong on every doctrine from the get-go.

Protestant equals Grace Alone, Eternal Security and Avoidance of any kind of Works. Mess with any of these doctrines and you'll find a chip on the shoulder of the Grace Aloner Protestant.

And there lies the conflict.

This Pastor, along with all others who are sincere and are truly wanting the best for their church and their congregation are not working to keep their listeners on the Straight and Narrow in effort to preserve their souls; they believe the Straight and Narrow has nothing to do with their souls. The consequence of sin isn't in question with these ministers; in their mind that issue has forever been settled and irreversible. No, the problem as they see is it is in the appearance of the Christian. It's not that sin makes the "Christian" a non-Christian in their eyes; it's that the "Christian" who acts Worldly is giving a black eye to the church, causing those of the World to look down on Christians thereby giving them reason to not perform the simple rituals that will give them the same "Eternal Salvation" the sinning "Christians" have. "If only those Worldly sinners could know that they can enter a church, say a few words, get their ticket to Heaven - then they can go back out into the World and continue their sinning." This is the view of the Protestant church. And those blatantly sinning "Christians" are keeping Heaven from filling up with self-serving people we all full-well know God is longing for.

Does the Bible support such a stance as that which I just mentioned? What did Paul say regarding sinners in the church? Didn't he tell the Corinthian church to put their unrepentant sinners out of the church so they wouldn't contaminate the Church? When someone is out of the church, therefore out of the Body of Christ where they are turned over to Satan, are they not separated from Christ? Wouldn't that indicate that sin is a barrier to God and fellowship with the sincere servants of God?

I have hundreds of pages of Scripture and writings supporting this view, it's not my purpose to try and prove anything here, just to point out the problem as I see it.


I am very glad I got to hear this tape, because it provided impetus to my search for the division between "Christianity" and being a Christian.

"Christianity" is something you sign up for and you are forever stuck with whether you like it or not. It is directed toward serving the man, the church, and the appearances of Godliness.

Being a Christian, on the other hand and in an Eternity sense, is not a matter of appearances, or of rituals, nor is it a safety net for man. Quite the contrary. Being a Christian is abandoning one's self and one's interests. It is something that overwhelms and devours you until there is nothing in you that can sin without feeling sick, repenting in a flood of tears. Appearances and other people's opinions mean nothing any more; only God's opinion matters to the Born Again Christian. Being a Christian means following Jesus the Christ into battle against the enemy, which is our own soul, in effort to serve Him.

The difference between Christianity and Being a Christian is a matter of direction. Whereas "Christianity" is directed toward self ("Become a Christian and save your soul"); Being a Christian means feeling totally inadequate for the service you have been elected to, and undeserving of whatever rewards that should happen to come with that service. Being a Christian is service, not self-serving. Being a Christian means doing all the things you always wanted to do, being the person you always believed you should be; but was never able to do or become except with the aid of the Holy Spirit.


When the churches and the minsters of the church start fulfilling the admonitions of Jesus and the Apostles as to what a Church should be, and stop worrying about the size of the church, or hurting someone's feelings - then the Church will become that which Pastors desire - a body of people the World can't look down their noses at and will desire to have what Christians have obtained.


PLAYING CHURCH

It appears to me that God, rather than being the strict Dictator of the Old Testament, is allowing the World to "Play Church" in what ever manner it chooses to do so. He allows us foolish mortals to make up rules and doctrines and apologetics that suit us and our fancy.

God has laid out His expectations for us very clearly, both by direct statements and commands, and by example. These examples include not only the Old Testament Saints and sinners, but the New Testament Apostles, as well as the theologians and ministers of their day - the Scribes, Pharisees, Priests and Sadducees. And to make sure we fully understand what He means, He came down here and led a life (and death) that perfectly portrayed His expectations of those He desires to be with Him in Paradise throughout Eternity.

As is the custom of Man, we, all of us, seek out that which satisfies ourselves and our comfort level. Some people are comfortable, and therefore satisfied with a backpack and a sandwich (daily bread). Others, especially in our Western culture, are not satisfied unless they have a fine house and car, the newest computer, the largest screen TV available, and servants bringing them seven-course meals on a silver platter. And this, I am afraid, is what we as a culture are teaching our children to expect.

Jesus said that only those satisfied with their daily bread are acceptable for Heaven. When a rich young ruler came to Jesus to find out what he must do to enter Heaven, Jesus told him his fine works were not sufficient, or even necessary, but that he must give up all he had and become like the riffraff who were looking for nothing more than to follow Jesus and be totally dependant on Him for their sustenance.

We want to feel secure. We want to make sure our needs and our wants are not only supplied, but secured for our future.

We seek out our comfort level.

Some people's comfort level is climbing ever higher mountains or struggling to be more proficient in whatever their endeavor. Others (almost all) find their comfort level lounging in front of their wide screen eating potato chips.

Myself, I am most comfortable riding my bicycle on long distance tours. But the rest of my family are not so, but rather feel more comfortable with sufficiency and stability. I don't say this to indicate that my comfort level is better, just different.


I suspect God is allowing us to "Play Church" down here on earth, allowing us to seek out our own comfort level, whatever that might be. I believe He is letting us function like mice in a maze, all trying to find the way to the "rewards" we seek, which for mice would be the cheese, each running here and there looking for the easiest way to get to that which pleases them.

There is a church realm, which for this purpose includes all the religions, cults and denominations. Each segment of that realm hangs out a sign indicating that theirs is the right path, and often the only path that leads to the goodies that brings one what he or she desires.

I believe that God is not really interested in any of the "boxes" we mice create and designate as "It." Nor does He care which "Box" we enter. I believe there is not a single box with the right answer, or even looking for the right answer because they have all built walls around that which they have already settled on as "truth," and will allow no one to alter or criticize that which they have embedded themselves in.

I believe that in each one of the multitude of boxes man has built there are individuals who are not content with reading the signs on the walls, or listening to the cavalier teachings from the pulpit or instructional material; but are looking for a Truth that comes from within that is blocked out from all the boxes.

I believe that God is looking for those souls who are courageous enough, and believe in Him enough to climb over the walls of doctrine and learn to follow Him by listening to Him through the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

I believe, when all is said and done, those who have listened to and followed God through the course He and His Apostles chose to follow will be "Caught Up" to His presence and His similitude.

And I believe this maze called "church" will be scraped along with the World into the pit reserved for Self-Serving humanity.