Grailhunter’s Corner

Grailhunter · Apr 15, 2020

************************HEADLINE NEWS**********************
*******************Dateline Tuesday April 15, 2020***************
*********************PROOF THAT GOD EXISTS!*****************

Most of us have heard of the books and movies about heaven is real and God is real. But some of us do not need any book to tell us that. Sometimes the real is in our life. Some of us have had real physical experiences with Christ or the Holy Spirit. But people do not always share because it is kinda like seeing a UFO, they are afraid that if they say anything that people will think they’re nuts! But this is an international forum and I am certain that there are stories out there that could be shared. Stories that would be inspirational to others.

But sometimes these events do not happen the way or where some would expect them to happen, or even from the favored denomination. I have had several Divine experiences and not all of them happened in church or with Angels playing harps. I had an Angel kick me in the backside acrossed the bed of a pickup truck that I was sleeping in. This was a visible Angel! I came away from that bleeding. The Angel woke me up to tell me that my mom was dying, 200 miles away. Before that, I had Divine experiences and after that I have had Divine experiences.

I know, around the world that people have experienced similar things. We do not have to share names here, so I am going to start a thread, asking people around the world to share their experiences.

The Marian apparitions don’t mean much to most Protestants but for Catholics it means centuries of divine visitations, miracles, and interactions. As it is to date more than 150,000 people have witnessed the visitations of Miriam and the associated miracles during the visitations. Some of these occurred with large crowds present. Some occurred in war, on the battlefield, protecting children or soldiers. Then there is the large number of miracles associated with the sites and shrines of her visitations that cover the globe, and now with smart phones some of these are being recorded.

Then there are the miracles of the stigmata. St Francis of Assisi the first documented cases of stigmata. Since then several hundred cases have occurred For over fifty years, St. Padre Pio reported his occurrences of stigmata which were studied by several 20th-century physicians. Now we have video documentaries of stigmata and cameras records the wounds forming.

Belief….that is an interesting component of this. Marian apparitions mostly do not occur with people that do not believe and stigmata does not occur with people that do not believe, which rules out a medical condition.

Statues of Christ or Mary that bleed or wept. This has been going on for some time and now has been caught on camera and in some cases the statues were even busted open or x-rayed to make sure that there was no funny business going on.

Most Protestants have problems with all this, but there is no way of helping them. Some are just not going to believe no matter what. Some are going to contribute any divine event as “Of the Devil!” I have been in Protestant churches were people have ran out of the church like it was on fire because the Holy Spirit was moving or people were speaking in tongues. “It’s of the Devil!”
I am sympathetic, but come on! The same thing goes for churches that perform healings. The laying on of hands and anointing with oil to heal people that are ill. There are going to be people that are not going to believe it. Even accuse their fellow Christians of fraud and lying. What can you do? I have been blessed with a little of everything. My son was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and it was verified completely. The stuff you drink and take an x-ray and then he even got the camera treatment lol. Less than a week later he received a laying on of hands….over 200 hundred of them….and was anointed with oil. The symptoms stopped that day or that moment. A couple of weeks later, Children’s hospital in St. Louis reported, no signs of Crohn’s disease. A wonderful blessing for him and one of many for me. But then you will have people that will say, “Well you know, Satan can heal people.” Some people have issues with statues and for them God might as well be a statue because if God moves…. “It’s of the Devil!” I am sad for them.

So Catholics have centuries of miracles and some Protestants have seen and felt the movements and miracles of Christ and the Holy Spirit and that is a blessing for them. I have never been blessed with speaking in tongues, but I have had the next best things, I say things. I have felt the warm wind of the Holy Spirit in the church and I have felt the Holy Spirit pass through me and the people right next to me obviously felt it too. I have witnessed many people speak in tongues and have had a few that have prophesied about me. Greatly honored and blessed. And as prescribed when someone speaks in tongues, most of the time there is a interpreter and sometimes they give prophetic predictions or messages for the church. I have known a few people that prayed a lot in tongues and people that spontaneously receive communications from Christ or the Holy Spirit. During these events I have felt the breeze off the tips of Angel wings. When I am in a church like that, I am pretty much like a kid in a candy store! I am an extravert, so if nothing else I am entertainment! I am so glad that I am multi-denominational …I get blessings from all directions!

Now, not all believe, and supposedly all of these Catholic and Protestant miracles have been proven fake by the hoax busters. So many dismiss them and some are fake and some are true. This is where being a historian and theologian comes in handy. As it turns out, if you read were something has been proven to be a hoax, you might want to take a real close look at it, because obviously someone is interested enough to go out of their way to prove it wrong. Particularly those events that could strengthen faith. Wonder who would be behind that? And there are people that enjoy messing with people’s minds.

After the resurrection of Christ, the Romans and Jews declared it was a hoax. It was not until the 20th century that archeology had to change its tune because they started to find the ruins of biblical cities. In 1980-1990 the Jesus Seminar declared that much of what is in the Gospels, was not spoken my Yeshua. In 2017 David Skrbina PhD wrote a book called “The Jesus Hoax” were he declared the whole story of Jesus was a hoax and the Bible a work of fiction. They are all over the place. At one time the existence of the blue whale was considered a hoax, the existence of the giant squid was considered a hoax, the komodo dragon was considered a hoax, and the existence of the gorilla was considered a hoax….as well as the vampire bat, and the list goes on. So you cannot always believe what you are told either way. As far as Christians, this is the last group you should automatically assume that they are lying. “Who are ya going to trust! Ghost Busters?”

For those that don’t believe, we can say it serves’em right, they get to practice their religion with the deafening silence of God. What is worse? a statue or believing in a God that does not move? Humor / Sadness. I was at a Presbyterian church in Virginia Beach one time and a lady started talking in tongues and the preacher stopped the choir and had the ushers escort her out of the church. I never went back.

What do we do for them? If they do not believe in any of this, all they have is the Bible and the Bible is all they know of God, so effectively it becomes their God. Very sad. Testimonials might help a few, but there are a lot of testimonials out there….books of them, some telling of near death experiences. The Trinity has been very active all over the world for the past 2000 years, but still some have not experienced the Divine. But the proof is there and it is a matter of free will if people are going to believe in something beyond the pages of the Holy Bible.

We can pray for them, and we should pray for them. Like I said I am going to start a thread and see if I can get some of some of the people out there…around the world…. to share their stories of miracles in their life. Maybe it will mean something for those that do not believe. For us that do believe, it will warm our hearts.

Then there is the love of Christ….the hand of God….the application of Christianity. Christianity is not a social club, the church is not a social gathering. But some people treat it like it is. Complacent greetings, handshakes, smiles, and hugs….then God bless you….see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya…In other words fake…..plastic….meaningless.

The church congregation needs to be aware of those that are hurting. It can be financial issues, emotional issues, domestic violence and abuse, issues of the faith….a broken car!….a broken car can be a big deal for a single parent. A lot of times the only reason people want to know things about each other is so they can gossip about them….the sin that keeps on giving. I know the attitude, “Ah, they are wet noodles! Ya stand them up and they fall right back down again.” or “They are a product of their own choices.” Lord help us! If God moved on all our wrong choices! A church can be in a community for fifty years and the community hardly know it is there. “Better not help people! The word might get out!” I say, Ya don’t have to worry about the wet noodles, they identify themselves pretty quick, they keep coming back for money.

Grailhunter · Apr 15, 2020

There are people that go to church that feel alone. They go home feeling empty and crying. There are people on this forum that do not have much use for churches. Do you think the church treated them right? Not all churches are this way, but a lot of them are. True fellowship is rare. We need to be part of each others lives, the church needs to be a family. People need to feel that they can ask for help. That help, may just be attention, a lot of times with the elderly that is really all they need. Committees that visit Nursing Homes, sing songs, hand out stuffed animal and have therapy pets visit. A message board that offer dinners and barbeques. My dad was big into bluegrass and he and his friends would setup in the front yard and fire up the barrel barbeque and put out the welcome sign. People would stop and our yard would be full of cars and trucks and kids. Neighbors, strangers, people from our church and others.

Anybody can go to church, but true fellowship is rare. Some people will not ask for help…for various reasons. You have to know them well enough and be involved enough to know something is wrong. And they have to trust you enough to know you will not look down your nose at them. There are people that are hurting and going to church and know one knows, no one cares, and they feel that God does not care.

You might not think this is proof of God….but if you come to someone’s aid with love and compassion, they are going to feel God. You can be the hand of God! They are going to know that the religion that Christ started, is real and full of God, full of love. Who knows you might be the answer to someone tearful prayers….You might be the difference between a child going to bed with an empty stomach or a full stomach….You might make a difference for a single parent, that because of you, they know that tomorrow will be OK. Miracles come in many forms….Be a miracle to someone. Something to think about.

Grailhunter · Apr 15, 2020

*****************The History of God’s Name*********************

Some of the Paleo-Hebrew scriptures contained God’s written name. At that time, very few copies existed and most were kept in the Temple and were only read my priests. At some point “someone or some group” apparently decided that even the priests should not see or read the true name of God, so they remove it. There are no historical names associated with these modifications. The reason for and who did it is a matter of speculation. The best explanation I have heard was from a professor at collage and he said that at times, more peaceful times, young Israelite men were required to memorize the Torah so they removed God’s name so that it would not be uttered casually. True or not I think it is at least a good guess. But that does not explain the sequence of events that totally erased any personnel identifier of God from the scriptures…

So it appears that God the Father’s name was pulled from scriptures during the copying process and replaced by what is call the Tetragrammaton -- YHWH, written as יהוה in the Hebrew scriptures. The oldest inscription found of the Tetragrammaton is around 840 bc. From there, it slowly made its way into other copies over the following centuries. The ancient copy and distribution process was a very slow process with many differing copies existing at the same time, meaning copies with God’s name and copies with the Tetragrammaton existed at the same time.

The Tetragrammaton was used to represent His name. This is a personal identifier, probably one designed to help the high priests remember how to pronounce His name correctly when it was appropriate. Yahweh intended for His name to be pronounced in reverence. He never told His people not to pronounce His name, just not in vain. It would be an insult to God for His name never to be spoken or written, and then His name erased from the scriptures and then lost from memory.

Many scholars agree that it probably sounded like e-yahweh, the Hebrew Y having an “e” tang to it. The Hebrew alphabet does not include most of the vowels, as they say…A, E, I, O, U. So if you take the A and E out of Yahweh you have YHWH, it is that simple. But the Tetragrammaton was not carried over to the Septuagint that was commonly used. The excuse given for the removal of Tetragrammaton; That it was too holy to appear in the holy scriptures. (I recommend that you do not buy that explanation!) Certainly God was not offended by His own name and the Tetragrammaton that they replaced it with was a literary symbol or abbreviation of God’s name and it posed no offence. But still “they” decided to remove that too. Removing God’s name from the Old Testament scriptures was evil! The people of the time period never knew this was done. When the Jewish priests read the scriptures in the temple they never said God’s name out loud anyway, so they would always say LORD or GOD. Then today the Jews even have issues with the word God….writing it as G’d. That is hilarious! So the people never knew that the scriptures were being changed. So after the alteration, God’s name was not there to pronounce anymore. In effect, not only was his name removed but He was given a generic designator….God.

Today, when you read the Old Testament, and you see the word “LORD” or the word “God” you are probably reading a substitute word for the Tetragrammaton YHWH. As it is the Tetragrammaton absorbed several names for God the Father in the Old Testament, including the names that started with “El” like Elohim. As far as the phrase “Lord God” sometimes this is not only a substitution, it is also a rearrangement of the words and an alteration to their meanings. In the phrase “Lord God” the word Lord is the title and God is the person, making Yahweh name God is a huge modification. In the actual scriptures it was either YHWH your God, YHWH, or “Lord YHWH” or “God YHWH”. Where God was the title and YHWH was the person, like President George Washington. Replacing the phrase Lord YHWH with the words “LORD God” caused many people to think that God was Yahweh’s name, not a title or a description. Which does not workout, not only for accuracy but also functionally. The Hebrew word can only be used to describe a position because the word has multiple meanings that designate positions in three categories. The Hebrew word used for false god, God, and goddess are the same word. You make His name God and it can refer to them all. lol

The changes that were made were sweeping as well as the problems and confusion that it caused. For example, to remove God’s actual name from the Old Testament was a huge modification, but then to remove the Tetragrammaton when it was translated to the Greek, they had to remove, substitute, add, and modify, and sometimes change the meanings of the words, as well as rearrange the words, particularly if the word God was already there. For example, if the scripture read God YHWH, they would rearrange the phrase and insert the word LORD. So in our Bibles it reads LORD GOD. If only the name YHWH was there they would remove His name and put the word GOD or LORD there. The Septuagint was in Greek so they used either KURIOS OR THEOS or both, by the time they were done, they inserted these words around 6828 times. When translated to the English Bibles KURIOS THEOS appeared as LORD GOD. So at this point God the Father’s name is long gone from the scriptures, Old and New Testament. Guess who would want God’s name removed from the scriptures? We will discuss Christ’s name shortly.

For example, if you read, For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me. The actual scriptures read, For thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me. They add the and remove God's name.
Then again if the scripture says, I am God and I am the only one. The actual scriptures read, I am Yahweh and I am the only one. It changes the meaning and makes it easier to fit the three persons in one formula into the word God, than if His proper name is present. Of course YHWH was also used.

The problem with all this....besides removing God’s name from the Old Testament scriptures, is that this process required 6828 distinct removals and as it is if you count the removals, replacements, substitutes, additions, and re-arrangements, and the changes of the meanings of the words to the verses in the Old Testament the count can be well over 35,000 specific changes to the words in the scriptures.... all just to remove God’s name from the Hebrew scriptures. Over 35,000 alterations just in the Old Testament alone. This constituted no less than a massive degradation of the scriptures and it took considerable planning and effort. Again the explanation given; God’s name was too sacred to be in the Holy Bible. If you are not buying this and you think it is something that Satan would want....you are right! There was a reason that this was done and I will explain.

Why was Satan concerned about this? It is all about power. The power of the True name of God and the energy and power that the pronunciations of His name possesses and its affect on us, and the world. A world filled with Bibles with God’s name in it…..but no more! God the Father’s name, never to be written or uttered again!

Then when it was time for Rome to take the helm of the scriptures they embraced these changes because it helped validate their “own” definition of the Trinity. Once the God that had a name was removed from the scriptures and the meaning of the word God was changed from a title to a personal name, they could then manipulate the term “God” to define the one person God formula. Since there was no longer a name to identify a singular God, then God could be the name of all the Gods in Christianity, implying that the term “God” had always meant “three Gods in one.” Standard Christian doctrine defines “God” as three persons in “one God” and then defines God as “one” and then “one and only.” If God’s name, Yahweh, was there it would be more difficult to rationalize that the name Yahweh meant, Yahweh, Yeshua, and Holy Spirit. So with His name being God in the Old Testament and it appearing as God in the New Testament it made it much easier to perpetuate a false doctrine.

Since the three person God concept is not a working model in the Old Testament, or in other words, since God does not function as a trio in the OT….nor is He described as a trio…. nor does He describe Himself as a trio, or mention or communicate with the other two Gods in the Old Testament....they needed away of working around the truth...so their term for Him had to be the same in the Old and New Testament “the one and only.” Once the word God was defined as a person rather than a title, all the false doctrine had to do was associate the word Trinity to the word God. The Church knew that God’s name had been removed but they were not about to put it back in there because the word “God” as a name worked much better for them when they were defining the God Yahweh, the God Yeshua, and the God Holy Spirit as one. This way, regardless of what the scriptures said they could twist the truth.

Grailhunter · Apr 15, 2020

In the end the only thing the people had to work with was the word Jehovah, which showed up four times in some translations. It is a deception and a distracter. For one, some of the letters in Jehovah did not exist during the Old Testament period, in fact the word Jehovah did not exist in any language during this period. I address this with the explanation of the “J” slam and also the fact that some modern English words do contain the letter “J” so if we are translating a Hebrew or Greek word into its equivalent English word it can legitimacy contain a “J”, but this can no way apply to persons, places, or things. In antiquity it was a matter of practicality, it did not matter what language you spoke the names of persons, places, and things were generally pronounced the same way. If you met someone at a crossroads and put your hands up and said, Damascus. It did not matter what language the other guy spoke, he knew the name and could point the way. Same thing goes for rivers, if you were looking for somewhere to fish.

So now a days, some people think that God is His name. Kind like having a hall of past presidents and under each picture, just the word “president” is inscribed…like they don’t have names. In this modern age of green and our non-confrontational society, when they read the bumper sticker “In God We Trust” it never dawns on them, that it could mean any god from any religion. This all plays into Satan’s hands because he thinks he is a god too, so this politically correct generic phrase plays into his hands!

Ever watch a commercial and can’t figure out what the point of it was?

Well here is the point.

Yahweh is the name of God the Father.

Yahweh is the name of the only Israelite/Jewish God in the Old Testament.

The Jewish religion is about one God not three. Three Gods would be sacrilegious to them.

God is not the name of Yahweh. God is a Divine Position.

The belief in “one God” is the belief in Yahweh, not Yeshua and the Holy Spirit.

Yahweh wants His name written and pronounced in reverence.

It was wrong and possibly the work of the devil to take Yahweh’s name out of the Old Testament and substitute it with God or Lord.

Yahweh and Yeshua deserve to have their names in the Holy Bible.

Removing Their names skews the understanding and meaning of the scriptures and associated doctrines and beliefs.

Yahweh is the God of the Old Testament Israelites and here are the scriptures to prove it. The scriptures are clear one God and no other and He is alone.

"Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me." Isaiah 43:10

"Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him." Deuteronomy 4:35

"Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!" Deuteronomy 6:4

"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me" Isaiah 46:9

"You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You" 2 Samuel 7:22

"Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other." Deuteronomy 4:39

"See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me" Deuteronomy 32:39

"there is no one like Yahweh our God." Exodus 8:10

"You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You" 2 Samuel 7:22

"For who is God, besides Yahweh? And who is a rock, besides our God?" 2 Samuel 22:32

"Yahweh is God; there is no one else." 1 Kings 8:60

"You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth." 2 Kings 19:15

"O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You" 1 Chronicles 17:20

"You alone are Yahweh." Nehemiah 9:6

"For who is God, but Yahweh? And who is a rock, except our God" Psalm 18:31

"You alone, Lord, are God." Isaiah 37:20

"'I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me." Isaiah 44:6

"Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none." Isaiah 44:8

"I am Yahweh, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God." Isaiah 45:5

"Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God." Isaiah 45:14

"I am Yahweh, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:18

The Hebrew word for one that is used is echad,. It means one, singular, numero uno.

*************The History of the True name of the Messiah*********

Throughout this articles we have found that the names we thought we knew in the biblical narrative.....were in fact wrong, or completely removed from the scriptures. Well, what comes next will be shocking information for even the most well versed Christians! Even though what happened to God’s name in the Old Testament was not initiated by the Christians, they did perpetuate it in their translations by continuing to use the designators of “God and Lord” with no concern for accuracy.

The Church would be the first to preach that it is a sin to tamper with the scriptures.....but apparently that did not stop them. The understanding of God and Faith is based on the scriptures, so small errors can be devastating. But in this case this was not an error......this was an intent to deceive as I will explain. A study of this topic will result in about a dozen explanations for it and there is no agreement on how, who, or when it all came to be, but the larger point is that there is power in the names of the Gods and that power residing in the sound of Their names. Satan knew this and this is why he had Yahweh’s name removed from the Old Testament scriptures. Likewise it was his plan to remove Christ’s name from the New Testament. Removing his name would reduce the power of the scriptures, but also he knew by removing the name of the Messiah, he could possibly stop Salvation! Because the scripture says that only one name could be called upon for Salvation (Acts 4:12) not a mere thought of a God. And by the way, that name is not Yahweh or the Holy Spirit. You are not getting your Salvation through the Trinity. Salvation has a name, and His name, is Yeshua.

As in the Old Testament, having Christ’s name in the scriptures would invoke a power and a presents on Earth that Satan did not want, so he had to get these names erased from the Bible completely! As long as Satan could keep the names of the Gods out of the Holy Bible he could limit the power of the scriptures and have power over the translations of the Holy Bible as well as power and influence over the churches of God and what they preached. So either removing or changing their names was one of his primary objectives. As time went on Satan influenced the Church to remove the True name of the Messiah from the New Testament scriptures! Again he convinced the religious leadership that only the most holy of Christians should know the names of the Gods.

To confuse matters even more, when it came time to translate the Holy Bible to English, he convinced them to make another sweeping change. They changed the Y’s to J’s in the Old and New Testaments. (This required tens of thousands of additional alterations.) This could not have happened before the 1400’s, because before that, the letter “J” did not exist in any language and really was not in use until the 1600’s. This is a unilateral event, because both the Protestants and the Catholics did it nearly at the same time. Conspiracy to deceive? I will leave that for you to decide. Me? I believe Satan had a hand in it. You have to understand, the Bible that you have, does not have the names of the Christian Gods in it! They have been erased! Why would the Holy Bible be written without the names of the Christian Gods in it! Why!

This event is not done arbitrarily, there is a pattern, the “J’s” are not just distributed throughout the Bible, they mostly target the first letter of the names of people, places, and things, but the most important target was names of the Gods. Any person or place that had a “Y” as the first letter of the word, was changed to “J” This constituted tens of thousands of alterations to the Bible, for no other reason than to deceive. To make this clear, the letter “J” nor its sound, ever appeared anywhere in the True scriptures. Then to reiterate, some modern English words contain the letter “J” so if we are translating a Hebrew or Greek word into its equivalent English word, it can legitimacy contain a “J” but this no way applies to persons, places, or things. In other words if you find the Greek words for jump or joy, they do not have J’s, but it is correct to translate them to the English words jump or Joy. One to one translation. Now some try to explain that this was due to the great consonant shift...but this does not fly because of the pattern I just explained.

So then they removed the name of the Messiah and replaced it with a substitute name. At that point the Messiah’s name was completely removed, this was not just a replacement of a “Y” with a “J” this was a completely different name! They erased Christ’s name from the entire New Testament and replaced it with a name of unknown origin. A name with no historical or literary history. Of course the Holy Spirit was never named, so what was left was two wrong names for the first two Gods and a non-descript designator for the third deity, the phrase Holy Spirit is not a name...and even that causes confusion because anytime the word spirit occurs, people think it is referring to “the Holy Spirit.” Satan was attempting to separate us from our Gods.

Grailhunter · Apr 15, 2020

No literary history; This is a fact, at the time the protestants were writing their Bibles, the word Jesus did not appear or have an intrinsic meaning in English or in any other language. The name Jesus came out of nowhere and before the 1600’s was never known as a word or a name. The first time that name ever appeared anywhere was probably in the publications of King James Version of the Bible that were printed after the first fifty years. Before that the KJV used the Greek word for Yeshua. The Bible before that, the Geneva Bible, did not use the word Jesus. Christians are taught that Jesus was a common name in the Old and New Testament. That is a lie! The word Jesus did not exist in these time periods. Christians are told that Jesus is the English translation of the Messiah’s name, that is a lie too!

Historians and linguists are not even sure where the word Jesus came from. Some believe it is a more modern derivative of Zeus to English with the added J. Its closest phonic similarity in the Greek, is Gesus which means Earth pig or dirt pig! The translated Greek or Latinized names for Jesus are Iesous or Iesus, Iesus is pronounced “hey-soos” meaning “hey horse or hey beast.” There is no reason for this! The English language contains the letter “Y”. It is just as easy to say and spell Yeshua and Yahweh as it is to say Jesus and Jehovah. Considering the importance of Their names, and the devastating effects, satanic influence is the most probable cause. I know this sounds alarmist, but the only other explanation would be the total break down of the competency of the translators with an intent to deceive over a period of millenniums. Still back to the same conclusion….evil! Even the Romans knew Christ’s name and on that sign above Christ’s head on the Cross was written; Yeshua the Nazarene, King of the Jews. Written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And the name Jesus could not have appeared on that sign.

Actually the only legitimate debate is if Yeshua was sometimes called Yehoshua because these names are kind of like Ed and Edward. Yeshua means “he-rescues or saves” and Yehoshua literally means “Yahweh is Salvation.” This makes a little more sense then hey horse or earth pig, and it is no mystery, that Yeshua appears several times in the Old Testament. (Just look for Yeshua with the Y replaced with a J...Jeshua.) But the bottomline is, His mother yelled “Yeshua!” when she called Him to dinner and unlike hey-horse, the name Yeshua has Divine power.

The Truth was lost due to Satan’s influence, because he wanted the names of the Gods out of the scriptures and he wanted to erase the one name that could be called upon for Salvation. So when translating the scriptures the Church interjected an alphabetic symbol, sound, and pronunciation that did not exist in the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek alphabet, language, or phonics. The insertion of the Letter “J” was a sweeping corruption of the scriptures, and we can see the extent of this deceit because it affects any person’s name in the Old and New Testament that was mistranslated to start with a “J.” Jehovah, Jesus, Jacob, Joshua, Jesse, Job, Jeremiah, John, James, Joseph and even cities like Jerusalem and Jericho are all mistranslations. Just ask a Jew how Jerusalem is pronounced. For centuries Satan’s deception was successful but today none of this is really a secret, just not noticed by those that are “taught” their religion and are really not interested enough to care. These facts regarding the names of the Gods, Yahweh and Yeshua, as well as all of those that had their names changed by the substitution of the letter “J” can be easily verified in any popular Exhaustive Concordance or Biblical Dictionary and the Lexicons will give you more information. Look it up for yourself! Christ’s mother never heard of a name pronounced Gez-us, unless someone sneezed. So now, when they shake that Bible at you and say that it is the inerrant Word of God, you know that between the removal of the names and the “J” slam that it has over 45,000 alterations, but what it does not contain, is the names of the Christian Gods!

It is this topic and others that nails down that fact that the one God formula for the Trinity is not only wrong, but a deception. “Three Gods United” not “Three Gods in one person” ….the study of theology will reveal that it does not take much to skew the truth. In this case it took an extreme amount the effort over millenniums to get the job done. People do not live that long so it cannot be a plan of any human or human group. The Truth is that the Trinity is Three Gods United. Now how does this effect Salvation? Is knowing the True names of the Gods important? I would say so, and now you know. The fact that the names of God the Father and God the Son were erased from the scriptures does not mean that the Holy Bible you have is useless. Personally I write the names of God the Father and God the Son at the top of the some of the pages.

Now a short blurb of How the name Yeshua appears in the Holy Bible of other countries.

You can check for yourself but the name of the Messiah in most other countries appears as some close spelling and pronunciation of either Jesus or Yeshua. So again, the name of Yahweh or Yeshua can be phonically spelled and pronounced in most languages.

Polytheist, I know I am going to here this. It is irrelevant when they are all on the same team….lol….God the Father is not Pagan….God the Son is not Pagan…..God the Holy Spirit is not Pagan….God the Father, Yahweh conceived His only began Son, Yeshua. Yeshua is the real Son of God the Father. Father and Son….1 + 1 = 2…..plus the Holy Spirit = 3 …none of them are Pagan and they are united, no one put them in a blender and hit Puree. The concern for monotheism is only applicable if there is only one God with one name. The Trinity lives! But the three sit on thrones next to each other, not in each others laps.

Grailhunter · Apr 17, 2020

***********The Evolution of Christianity and Gnosticism*************

The twelve Jewish Apostles were teaching and practiced the merging of Judaism and Christianity, particularly the Gospel of Matthew, but all Gospels were a ministry to the Jews. Paul’s ministry was not. Paul is teaching a form of Christianity that was quite a bit more sophisticated. But there is a third group of Christians that was promoting a different form Christianity. They went by different names… Gnostic as to referring to religions of secret knowledge existed before Christ with the Greeks and Jews. Gnostic as a term for Christians did not occur until the Gnostic formed and developed concepts of salvation through secret knowledge or rituals and that was a little towards the end of the first century and mostly in the 2nd century. As far as the term Gnosticism denoting a specific religion…that does not happen in writing until Henry More coins the term in the 17th century in a commentary on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation, where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in Thyatira.

But still in practice, Gnosticism as a concept existed for centuries, back with the Greeks, At first, during Paul’s time they had beliefs that many Christians found to be true.

So there are similarities in the scriptures, like Yeshua was pre-existent, Yeshua was God Almighty, Yeshua was the Creator God, the God of judgment, the God of Salvation, that all authority of heaven and earth had been turned over to Yeshua. The book of Revelation describe Yeshua as the Alpha and Omega.

In effect much of this would appear to take the Godship away from God the Father, Yahweh….. not much left for Him. In deed according to the Gospels, Yeshua said some of this Himself….but He also said and did other things that put things into perspective.

Early Gnostic beliefs…
The concept of pre-existent Yeshua as the supreme creator God is one of the main themes of early Gnosticism, and that being that Yeshua is considered Alpha and Omega and this appears in the Christian scriptures also. Although the Gnostics believed in the three Gods in one person formula for the Trinity, it was not that simple. They believed that the Trinity was not the god of the Old Testament, which they considered cruel and evil. The concept of the pre-existent Holy Spirit is a theme of the early Gnosticism and this appears or is suggested in the Christian scriptures. They believed Yeshua and the Holy Spirit were secretly or subtly active in the Old Testament and this is suggested in Christian scriptures. Obviously secret! The Jews did not know about it. lol The theme of downgrading the Old Testament God is one of the main themes of early Gnosticism. In Christianity God the Father is demoted by Yahweh giving everything over to Yeshua. In Gnosticism the God of the Old Testament was a lesser god that was somewhere between evil or insane. They completely denounced the Him.

The Gnostics saw Yeshua as the logos, the Word of God presented on earth as an illusion of the physical, but not physical and as such the birth was not natural but saw Miriam as a spiritual portal, virgin before conception, virgin during her pregnancy, and virgin after the delivery of Christ. The reason for this was that they saw Miriam’s womb as a spiritual portal.

Christianity also saw Yeshua as the Logos, the Word of God, but does not elaborate on what the Logos means in regard to spiritual and physical aspects of Christ. The Christian scriptures refer to Yeshua as the light and light has many esoteric meanings in Gnosticism. As far as the conception of Christ, the Christian scriptures describe it this way. Luke 1:35 “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Now interpretations of this scripture varies, but the one thing that most Christians agree on, is that this scripture does not describe a sexual act or natural conception. But then what it does describe is not agreed upon. The only thing that is agreed upon is that sex is not involved, they are not going to get into the concept of Miriam’s womb being a spiritual portal. But the Catholics imply this by preaching that Miriam was a virgin before Yeshua’s conception and after His delivery. So they are implying that He was somehow spiritual placed in her body and then spiritual exited her body. The phrase Virgin Mary does not appear in the scriptures.

Now whether it is Gnostic or Christian beliefs, most of this does not come from the Old Testament. The Jews believed in and still do expect the messiah to be a human warlord king. The Jewish religion itself is strictly monolithic. Anyone that suggested or believed in or worshiped the Son of God or the Holy Spirit would have been stoned to death in accordance with the Mosaic Law. So the pre-existent Christ or Holy Spirit is strictly against the Jewish beliefs and the Mosaic Law.

It should be understood that after Christ’s ministry, but before the Gospels were actually written and during Paul’s ministry, Gnosticism was not really an organized religion, but rather Christians with varying beliefs. It is not until the first part of the second century that Gnostic beliefs become too klondike to be compatible with “mainstream Christianity” Mainstream being mostly an erroneous term because like a said, during the next 260 years of Christian history, there were several variances to Christian beliefs, some as nearly off center as the Gnostics.

After the twelve Apostles and Paul had died, and toward the end of the 1st century, the Gnostics become unbearable and Gnosticism falls from favor with most Christians. The early leaders of Gnosticism, Valentinus (100-160_and Marcion of Sinope (85-160) who were initially popular with Christians were then proclaimed heretics. But the Christian text had already been written, so Christians had to contend with what had already been written. So between around 65 AD and the first council of Nicea in 325 AD, Christians argued about these points and there were differing beliefs. The opposition to Gnosticism and these arguments can be seen in the letters of the Early Church Fathers like Epiphanius, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. Polycarp (69-155) started early and was responsible for converting many from Gnosticism. His only existing writing was a pastoral letter to the church at Philippi.

Once Gnosticism developed into an organized religion there was no problem denouncing it. The problem was the early Gnostic beliefs that had made their way into the scriptures. The texts were written, nothing they could do about that, all that was left was contending with them. So as it was when the time came, Constantine invited the Christian leaders…the Bishops to attend the council at Nicea on May 25th of 325 AD. All expenses paid and comfortable accommodations but it still took a lot of courage for the Bishops to attend. Some of them still limping, crippled, and appendages missing from the Roman persecutions.

On their plate and some of the councils that followed were these questions and varying beliefs that they were tasked by Emperor Constantine to unify. Here is a short list.

1. The beliefs that Yeshua was the Supreme Creator God.

2. The beliefs that Yahweh was the Supreme Creator God.

3. The beliefs that because Christ called Himself the “son of man” He was half God and half human.

4. The belief that Christ was 100% God, no human side. Monophysites… Coptic.

5. The beliefs that Christ was pre-existent.

6. The beliefs that because Christ was born, He was not a God.

7. The beliefs that since Christ was born, He was not pre-existent.

8. The beliefs that Yeshua and the Holy Spirit existed and participated in the Old Testament era.

9. The beliefs that Yeshua and the Holy Spirit did not exist during the Old Testament era

10. The belief that the Holy Spirit was a God.

11. The belief that the Holy Spirit was not a person but a Spirit that emanated from God the Father.

12. What was the spiritual nature and substance of Yahweh and Yeshua?

13. What day was Christ born?

14. What day did Christ resurrect?

15. What did it mean that Yeshua was born but the Holy Spirit was not?

16. What did belief mean? An idea? Or did it included baptism and communion.

17. What happened to the bread and the wine during the ritual of communion. (The first known written use of the term Eucharist was in the 1st century document called the Didache.)

18. The question of why the nature of God seemed to change between the Old and New Testaments?

19. The question of why would Yeshua have such an a bad attitude toward the Jews?

20. Address the Arian controversy.

19. The question of why would Yahweh want to kill all of the Pagans in the Old Testament but invite them in to the New Covenant?

20 The belief that that the Jews were evil and enemies of Christianity because they instigated the crucifixion of Yeshua.

Grailhunter · Apr 17, 2020

The more difficult and decisive disagreements are 1 thru 12. The discussion and debates at the councils included heated arguments with no real good solution. (A lot like what you see on the forum here.) The representatives and Bishops had good arguments with scriptures that supported their individual positions. The council did not want to pick a side, because in doing so they would be picking one scripture over another. In effect picking one belief over another. The intent of Emperor Constantine and the ecumenical councils was to unify Christianity into one belief. So their decisions were more or less a set of decrees that would nullify most of the disagreements so as if you believed the decrees there was no room for disagreements. Not that they were harmonious with all of the scriptures. Here is a summary of their decrees.

1. Jesus Christ is described as "Light from Light, true God from true God," proclaiming his divinity.

2. Jesus Christ is said to be "begotten, not made," asserting that he was not a mere creature, brought into being out of nothing, but the true Son of God, brought into being "from the substance of the Father."

3. He is said to be "of one being with the Father," proclaiming that although Jesus Christ is "true God" and God the Father is also "true God," they are "of one being," in accord to what is found in John 10:30: "I and the Father are one." The Greek term homoousios, or consubstantial (i.e., "of the same substance) is ascribed by Eusebius to Constantine who, on this particular point, may have chosen to exercise his authority. The significance of this clause, however, is extremely ambiguous as to the extent in which Jesus Christ and God the Father are "of one being," and the issues it raised posed more questions than specific answers.

1. The view that "there was once when He was not" was rejected to maintain the coeternity of the Son with the Father.

2. The view that he was "mutable or subject to change" was rejected to maintain that the Son just like the Father was beyond any form of weakness or corruptibility, and most importantly that he could not fall away from absolute moral perfection.

From all this the Nicene Creed was produced.

Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

In effect, These decisions nearly neutralized all arguments and disagreements. So then, God the Father is not minimalized, they are all equal. All three are pre-existent, all three created the world, all three made the Mosaic Law, all three brought salvation to man, and all three were nailed to the cross, and all three were resurrected. One person, so nothing can be contributed to any one of them and not any one of them are left out of any event. The Old Testament could not be criticized because it was the work, spirit, and character of all three in one person. The council was made up of Gentiles, and an indication of how they felt about the Old Testament is what was not discussed about the Old Testament and the fact that the first Bibles, which was the first time ever that the New Testament was bound together as a book, was ordered and financed by Constantine, called the fifty Holy Bibles of Constantine, of which did not include the Old Testament.

Further councils….
The First Council of Constantinople (381) also decreed that, "This is the Faith of our baptism that teaches us to believe in the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. According to this Faith there is one Godhead, Power, and Being of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

According to the Eleventh Council of Toledo (675) "For, when we say: He who is the Father is not the Son, we refer to the distinction of persons; but when we say: the Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, and the Holy Spirit that which the Father is and the Son is, this clearly refers to the nature or substance"

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) adds: "In God there is only a Trinity since each of the three persons is that reality — that is to say substance, essence or divine nature. This reality neither begets nor is begotten nor proceeds; the Father begets, the Son is begotten and the holy Spirit proceeds. Thus there is a distinction of persons but a unity of nature. Although therefore the Father is one person, the Son another person and the holy Spirit another person, they are not different realities, but rather that which is the Father is the Son and the holy Spirit, altogether the same; thus according to the orthodox and catholic faith they are believed to be consubstantial.

Council of Florence (1431-1449), further commented on the formulation: "These three Persons are one God and not three gods, for the three are one substance, one essence, one nature, one opposition of relationship [relationis oppositio]

At first the initial decisions of Nicea did not stop the beliefs and arguments outside of the councils. But since at that time Christianity was the state religion of the Roman Empire, those that did not conform to the decisions were considered the enemies of the Roman Empire and at times were killed.

Agree with the decisions or not, it may have been the right set of decisions at the time. There were Christian beliefs that went in every direction. 260 years of severe persecutions and estimates vary but probably thousands of Christians were being martyred nearly every year of the 260 years. Constantine brought an end to the persecutions (Edict of Milan) and adopted Christianity as the state religion. It is clear that under his direction Christianity was unified. Christianity had many enemies and competitors. The strength of the Roman Empire held all of that in check and insured the survival of Christianity.

Although some of the decisions of the council were not accurate, or even biblical, the argument can be made that those decisions were highly beneficial, that the truth would have continued the arguments and may have prevented Christianity from unifying. If the Church would have split back then, we could have ended up with tens of thousands of denominations by the 1500’s, and no telling what beliefs would exist by now. The Protestants would not have had one Church to protest against, but tens of thousands of denominations to take exceptions with and they could have produced millions and millions of denominations. You know what they say about a house divided. It is bad enough as it is. Still to that point, the multitude of Protestant denominations have differing opinions regarding the ecumenical councils and there decisions.

It is one of the reasons that I am multi-denominational. I think it is time to identify and agree on some central points. I believe we can be more united and still retain our own beliefs and fellowship with each other and support each other while having the unified power and strength to stand against our real enemies.

As far as my beliefs….I certainly believe in the unity of three Gods, just not that three Gods in one person…God….being formula. I believe that there are some Gnostic beliefs imbedded in Christian beliefs. I believe that…..

1. God the Father is the Supreme Creator God of heaven and earth.

2. I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

3. Although the third member of the Trinity was called the Holy Spirit. I do not consider this a name and it has caused much confusion. I believe that the Holy Spirit is as much a God and a person as God the Father and God the Son and is no more a Spirit than God the Father and God the Son.

4. The Supreme God gave Yeshua all the authority needed to save humanity.

Grailhunter · Apr 17, 2020

5 I believe God the Father gave His only begotten Son.

6. I believe the concept of sacrifice, as in Yeshua’s sacrifice was His and His alone. Sacrificed to atone for the righteous demands of the Father. He alone redeemed us, justified us, died for our sins, and made us perfect through His Grace to be perfect before God the Father.

7. I believe that if,Yeshua and the Holy Spirit were pre-existent, They were nearly dormant in the Old Testament scriptures.

8. I believe that, the Trinity is the unity of three Gods, details of which cannot be comprehended in the human mind or expressed in our languages. Three Gods, with separate presence, minds, and wills. That Christ could say, "The Father is greater than I." Such that, God the Father holds authority over the other two Gods. That one God can know something that the other Gods do not know. That all three can discuss their perspectives with each other. That Yeshua can accurately say that God the Father was in heaven while God the Son was on earth. That God could beget a Son and love Him as a Son. That the Son can ascend to the Father and sit on a throne to the right of His Father. That Yeshua alone was nailed to the cross and cried out to the Father, and according to most of the scriptures, rose His Son from the dead.

9. Son of man and Son of God. I believe that Yeshua was 100% man and His Spirit-essence-being was 100% God. And some could argue that this is still true. When Yeshua died on the cross, He did not die as you and I die.

10. The Mosaic Laws for good are bad were constituent with the time period and environment.

11. But the Mosaic Laws are not part of the Christian religion.

Now all things in perspective. The one thing you should believe is that I am a walking speech…can you tell? Alright perspective, here it is, what does it hurt to believe that Yahweh, Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit are one person? Not a lot. It skews some understandings of theology and scriptures, and does not go along with the storyline of the Gospels…But I would not call it a heresy. The belief of the one person God formula for the Trinity and that Christ’s name is Jesus are the most popular beliefs. Most the churches I attend, Catholic or Protestant believe in the one person God and pray to Jesus. I just smile, nod my head and have a wonderful time fellowshipping with them! And as a reward, I get to receive all the blessing of these denominations and fellowship with some great Christians!

Humor and miracles….As it stands today, Christianity is like that giant ball of twine featured in Ripley’s Believe it or not. It sat out in the weather for years and it is wound, knotted, and tangled, and it would be practically impossible to untangle or bring unity to all of the beliefs. The conversations on this forum are a testament to this. But the talent of stepping back and looking at that ball in the big picture puzzle that we call Christianity can give you true perspectives.

The scriptures have survived the test of time. No matter how badly men translated the scriptures, no matter how many changes they made, no matter how badly the scriptures have been interpreted, no matter how many beliefs or denominations there are. No matter how many bad things that Christians have done. After all of that, the bottom line and the full miracle is that the Holy Bible can lead a person to salvation. It is like God pierced the Holy Bible with an unbendable, indestructible rod of salvation that man could not twist or destroy. One of the best proofs of God is that the living Word of God, Saves!

Enoch111 · Apr 17, 2020

Grailhunter said:
I believe that if,Yeshua and the Holy Spirit were pre-existent, They were nearly dormant in the Old Testament scriptures.

This is hilarious -- "nearly dormant".

Since God is always active, so is the Godhead. Which means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were vigorously active after creation. Obviously you have not searched out the OT Scriptures properly.

Prayer Warrior · Apr 17, 2020

Grailhunter said:
For those that don’t believe, we can say it serves’em right, they get to practice their religion with the deafening silence of God. What is worse? a statue or believing in a God that does not move? Humor / Sadness. I was at a Presbyterian church in Virginia Beach one time and a lady started talking in tongues and the preacher stopped the choir and had the ushers escort her out of the church. I never went back.

This is sad--that a woman would be escorted from a church for using a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Grailhunter said:
What do we do for them? If they do not believe in any of this, all they have is the Bible and the Bible is all they know of God, so effectively it becomes their God. Very sad. Testimonials might help a few, but there are a lot of testimonials out there….books of them, some telling of near death experiences. The Trinity has been very active all over the world for the past 2000 years, but still some have not experienced the Divine. But the proof is there and it is a matter of free will if people are going to believe in something beyond the pages of the Holy Bible.

Here's the thing. People who reject the gifts of the Holy Spirit are also rejecting portions of the Bible where the gifts are explained and encouraged by Paul. He told the Christians in Corinth, "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy" (1Cor. 14:1). This covers it all. We are to love one another as Christ has loved us! We are to use the gifts of the Spirit to minister to one another!

Grailhunter said:
Then there is the love of Christ….the hand of God….the application of Christianity. Christianity is not a social club, the church is not a social gathering. But some people treat it like it is. Complacent greetings, handshakes, smiles, and hugs….then God bless you….see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya…In other words fake…..plastic….meaningless.

The church congregation needs to be aware of those that are hurting. It can be financial issues, emotional issues, domestic violence and abuse, issues of the faith….a broken car!….a broken car can be a big deal for a single parent. A lot of times the only reason people want to know things about each other is so they can gossip about them….the sin that keeps on giving. I know the attitude, “Ah, they are wet noodles! Ya stand them up and they fall right back down again.” or “They are a product of their own choices.” Lord help us! If God moved on all our wrong choices! A church can be in a community for fifty years and the community hardly know it is there. “Better not help people! The word might get out!” I say, Ya don’t have to worry about the wet noodles, they identify themselves pretty quick, they keep coming back for money.

This is a good word. We should all be ready to help those in need even if it means getting out of our comfort zone. Right now our comfort zones are being shaken up, and I think it's good.

Grailhunter said:
There are people that go to church that feel alone. They go home feeling empty and crying. There are people on this forum that do not have much use for churches. Do you think the church treated them right? Not all churches are this way, but a lot of them are. True fellowship is rare. We need to be part of each others lives, the church needs to be a family. People need to feel that they can ask for help. That help, may just be attention, a lot of times with the elderly that is really all they need. Committees that visit Nursing Homes, sing songs, hand out stuffed animal and have therapy pets visit. A message board that offer dinners and barbeques. My dad was big into bluegrass and he and his friends would setup in the front yard and fire up the barrel barbeque and put out the welcome sign. People would stop and our yard would be full of cars and trucks and kids. Neighbors, strangers, people from our church and others.

Several years ago, I used to leave the church I was attending in tears because I felt so alone. There are few worse feelings in the world than to feel totally alone. It shouldn't be this way for Christians!!

Sometimes I ask God to show me if there are any people around me who are lonely and need fellowship. Sometimes He does....
.

Grailhunter · Apr 17, 2020

Enoch111 said:
This is hilarious -- "nearly dormant".

Since God is always active, so is the Godhead. Which means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were vigorously active after creation. Obviously you have not searched out the OT Scriptures properly.

Well, riddle me this: If Grailhunter and Enoch told the Jews of the Old Testament, Excuse us, we are going to go out and worship the Son of God and the God Holy Spirit....what do you think would happen to us? Better yet if we decided to start a religion about worshiping the Son of God and the Holy Spirit...what do you think would happen? You need to get real!
So what would happen if King David or Solomon spoke of the Son of God the Holy Spirit...in Psalms or Proverbs, how do think the one God religion of Judaism would have taken that?

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

***********The Living Word Still Has A Message For Us***********
What is the Bible? It may sound like an obvious question. But not only that, but what isn’t the Bible? It is a valid question? The Holy Bible is not a God. No matter how you slice it, it was written by men and men will tamper with things and make errors. Then again, it is not the ink on the pages that makes the Holy Bible so special. It is a one of a kind book written by men about God, but inspired by God to be written. To know God, you have to know more than the ink, you have to know the Spirit.

I will find people on this forum that are in a heated debate on one topic or another and just for the fun of it, I will provide each side with 18 valid scriptures that clearly supports each side of the debate. But they do not realize what that means. The first thing that should occur to them is that, it might be a good idea to find the knowledge or understanding that brings these scriptures into harmony. That understanding could be very important. That understanding may come from a perspective that was not fully explained in the scriptures. But picking a side is very short sighted.

No matter what is written in the New Testament, it is still a very abbreviated testament of all that happened, all that was believed. They did not immediately start writing the Gospels because Christ never told them to write anything down and they believed that they were living in the last days, that He would return soon. Eventually they wrote the Gospels and it comes acrossed as sayings, pieced together in an abbreviated storyline. It is better to study the Spirit of the Gospels because it can give understandings about things not written and a better understanding of the things written. The Holy Bible start out in Geneses with a secret, the secret of good and evil and ends with a book called Revelation…. revealed knowledge….knowledge that was secret? But was it really a secret?

The Apostle Paul starts out his ministry stating that, women should remain silent in church and should not have authority over men, that they are save through childbirth, if they remain sober and wash the feet of the saints. He also states that, Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and the same wording went for wives. Ephesians 5:22-23 By the time it is all over Paul has deaconesses in his ministry, and praised them for their work. In Romans, the Apostle Paul refers to a woman named Phoebe as a deaconess, a helper or patron of many. Then in Romans 16:7 Paul showed appreciation for Andronicus and Junia, “Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.” But as scholars looked more closely at that text they realized that the name there was actually Junias….a female apostle, who walked with the original twelve, and they were relatives of the Apostle Paul. What happened? Well there is going to be stories behind the stories that we cannot recover with ink and letters. There are understandings of the scriptures that are beyond the letters on the paper. So how do we get there? How do we find these understandings?

So then with regard to debates, I do not expect the scriptures to be flawless but, if you have a large list of scriptures that seem to be contradictory, that is not the time to get all defensive. You can proclaim, “The scriptures never contradict each other!” It may make you feel like you are defending the scriptures, it may make you feel like you are holy. But none of that accomplishes anything. If you do not acknowledge the contradictions then you are in a perpetual struggle to defend your side of the contradictions, pretending that they are not contradictions and never acknowledging the other side as valid scriptures. The art of explaining away the other person’s scriptures. Believing that your scriptures are clear and valid and then use fussy logic for the other person’s scriptures to come up with a meaning, other than what they say. Ergo….the spinning of wheels and chasing of tails that you see on this forum. People growling and nipping at each other, but never winning a battle.

In Matthew chapter 5, there is The Sermon on the Mount and in chapter 25 The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Yeshua is talking to the Jews and or a mixed crowd. In neither case is He talking about the belief in Him. He is not talking about baptism. He is talking about obtaining eternal life through conduct…Good deeds and good character. People need to understand that there was a reason why He was talking about such things. Why was He sighting character, compassion, and good deeds as the sole requirement for eternal life? AND it is probably not what you think. Here is a hint, in the following scriptures Christ says, “Do not think that I come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say, until heaven and earth pass away, no the smallest or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now some of this would seem to contradict Christ’s other teachings and certainly Paul’s teachings about salvation as a whole. But if you understand…it does not contradict. At the Sermon on the Mount and in the Parable of Sheep and Goats, Yeshua was preaching eternal life through good character and adherence to the Law. The thing to do is not to explain it way….you need to find the reason.

But then in John chapter six after performing a couple miracles it appears that Christ was talking to a mixed crowd, which included some Jews and His Apostles. In this discussion He is talking about belief in him. Then He goes on to say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

Now this is not a short or vague set of scriptures. Everyone present understood and many objected to it, including His Apostles and verse 66 says that, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore." He is not just talking about belief, analogies, or symbolisms here, because He actually conducts this ritual and does not give His Apostles a choice….except to leave. Verse 67. Why do you have to eat His flesh and drink His blood in this ritual to have eternal life, and will He not raise you up on the last day if you do not conduct this ritual….Truly, truly means something in the scriptures. No life in you, no eternal life, and you are not raised on the last day. Not solely a concept or a belief. Many of His disciples walked away and He gave the Apostles no choice and then He performed this ritual. The question is, why is it important? There is more than one lesson to learn here, more than one truth. The Living Word of God…. that coexists with the pages, the letters, and the ink, can still talk to us and teach many things.

There is a reason why there were some of the Jews (sects) that knew and believed about Angels, the devil, resurrection, and heaven as a reward, and hell as a punishment. Most of this did not come from the Old Testament and or Judaism. For most Jews their beliefs and concept about Angels and Satan were different, and Judaism did not teach them about heaven as a reward or hell as a punishment. There were things about Daniel that they nearly ignored because the concepts were so alien to them. It is hard to put stock in something that is that different, so they did not understand.

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

They were exposed to the spiritual side of religion in Persia. They had spent a few centuries with the Persians. Whether it was Zoroastrianism or one of the other religions, there were some Jews that understood the basics of heaven as a good place and hell as a bad place, and the occurrence of the resurrection for judgment. (Not that I am endorsing Zoroastrianism or that they did.) By the time of Christ, some Jews understood and believed in Angels and a devil. They did not learn this from the Romans. The Greco-Roman mythologies were about gods that had their own lives and were there to be worshiped. As a whole the Jews did not pay much attention to the prophecies of Daniel, so many of them did not believe in the resurrection. Because of the Persians, some of the Jews came forward with a better understanding of the spiritual in general. Did God intend for Persians to prep the Jews for Christianity? The King of Persia, looked upon the Jews and their God favorably and accredited Yahweh for his kingdom saying, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’” Ezra Chapter 1

So they looked back at Daniel and then what he had prophesied made sense to some of them. So when Yeshua is speaking to the Jews about Satan, Angels, heaven, hell, judgment, and resurrection there were some that understood more than others. The funny thing is, that if Christ would have told them He was there save them, some would have turned to Him and said, “Save us from what?” This was part of the problem because the prophets taught them that the Messiah would save them from their oppressors, not save them from hell and offer heaven as a reward. They were looking for a Jewish man that would be a warlord king. That would establish his kingdom forever and the 613 Laws of Moses would be written in their hearts and animal sacrifices would continue forever in a marvelous Temple. And besides their serious attitude problem this is the crust of the issues between Christ and the Jewish leadership. Someone claiming to be the Son of God would be extremely sacrilegious to the Jews, ergo the High Priest’s reaction when he tore his clothes and the drive to Crucify Him!!!

Christ was a disappointment to many Jews. The idea or realization that their long awaited Messiah was preaching peace and love and telling them to obey their masters was extremely disappointing to them. If you look into the history of it they had fought the Romans time and time again, they were praying for a messiah that would help them with that. So His declaration of being the Son of God was the last straw.

What is the point of this? If you understand the time period, history, circumstances, the scriptures can come alive for you and you can have a better understanding of what went on.

As I said, on some topics I can supply both sides with lists of equally opposing scriptures and they still seem to miss the point. Sin is one of those topics. I can provides two dozen scriptures that say you cannot sin or sin has no affect on you…really. I can give two dozen scriptures that say sinning is horrible and can prevent you from going to heaven. And I have already done so on this form. So like I said earlier what does that mean? I can tell you that most people don’t get it.

Under the Mosaic Law one sin separated you from God. You could sacrifice a whole flock of sheep and still, forgiveness was not possible, justification was not possible and you were not going to heaven. Sin ruled the Jews. A tally of sins against the people and the nation of Israel that were transgressions against God the Father. Christ’s death on the cross not only forgave our sins, not only paid for our sins, but redeemed us from that Mosaic system of sin and tally. From that point on, our sins were between us and Christ as children of God…a family.

To put this into perspective if your son robs a bank, it is a federal crime and an orange suit is in his future. If your son steals a 20 from your wallet, you may reprimand him, but his life does not come to a halt and he is not going to prison. His offense is between you and him, because you are a family.

Sin is bad and morals are morals, but there is a shift in the scriptures. You are no longer a slave to sin, it does not rule over you. Where there is no Law there is no violation. The ministry of death engraved on stones, saved no one. But the truth will set you free from the ball and chain of sin. So then Yeshua set us free, what are we suppose to do with that freedom? What is our new focus as free men and women? Look at what Christ did. He got things done and technically He broke a few Laws, as they understood them. The focus shifted from hunkering down and not doing things to prove your righteousness, to putting Christianity in motion to show your righteousness….not that we are holy, but what Christianity is like. This is imbedded in the concept of light.

If you put the Jews in motions as they walked and thumped their chests and pointed out the sins of others. Likewise the Christians that are legalists have taken over their jobs. “I am a good Christian because I do not sin!” So in time they added more sins! "I am a good Christian because of what I don’t do.” The question is, What good are they to Christianity? What service are they to Christ? The don’t doers approach to Christianity is certainly the lazy man’s way to Christianity. The don’t doers are generally linked to the legalists that condemn while thumping their Bibles…. Same thing as the old Jews except it is the Bible instead of their chests.

Morality is only part of it, and even at that it is not the focus, because Christ, our savior was the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believes in Him. Which means that your righteousness and our relationship with Yeshua is not based solely on obey...obey...obey.

Your measure to Christ is not how perfect you are, but what service you are to Him. Thank God it is not about perfection, because we would all fail. “I am saved! I made it! I will bury it! So I don’t do anything that might be a sin!” We all know what happened to the guy in the Parable of the Talents. Sinlessness is impossible, and it does not define our righteousness anymore. Christ freed us from sin so we could concentrate on doing what we should do… doers….

People go to church with all the badges of honor of the things they do not do. The don’t doers are of no service to Christ, they serve themselves trying to prove their righteous among men and congregations. The holiest person in church is the guy that lives in a closet. If a person exhausts themselves doing what they should be doing, they won’t hardly have time to sin. This sort of person that is in the service of Christ and Christianity, when they fail, and they will sin here and there, Christ will pick them up, dust them off and watch them march off smartly to continue His work. And you know why? Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1st Peter 4:8 In the military when you are walking with the Admiral, it is impossible to be late, because you are walking with him. When you are walking with Christ, He is likely to point out the pit falls of life, so you can avoid them.

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things display the Christian way to others.~~For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.~~Once you have declared something a sin, you have written a Law.~~You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?~~ But for those that have entered into the New Covenant with God….where there is NO Law, neither is there violation ~~ For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.~~ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace Being then free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness.~~ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ~~ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. ~~The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.~~ for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not implied when there is no law.~~ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.~~ For if we go on sinning willfully (not too many sins occur by accident) after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God…..really terrifying! ~~ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. ~~ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

No, I am not trying to give you a headache. But the preacher on TV this morning gave me one….”You must fear God or you are going to hell!!! An everlasting fire!!! So brethren if you sin hell awaits you with a never ending fire!!! The Holy Bible tells us this in…1st Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” Then he said, “There is no mention of forgiveness in this scripture! Forgiveness is not possible for Christians that sin like this!” Pause. What do you think is going to happen? Are you going to try to crucify Him again!”

WOW!!! It is like Christ never came. Are you noticing a pattern here? “The Bible never contradicts itself!!!” It is no wonder that some on this forum fight like two cats with their tails tied together and thrown over a clothesline. The Holy Bible not only contradicts itself, there is a message in the contradiction.

The answer to the equally opposing meanings of the scriptures regarding sin is that it is a dualism of a physical life and the eternal life in regard to the light. The dualism is the futility of a life without the light and the certainty of hell. Hebrews is talking about sinning under the Law after receiving the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. The misunderstanding is between Judaism and Christianity, in that they were two different ministries conducted by Christ. Mostly Christ was not expecting the Jews to believe in Him because during His ministry He was not telling them He was the Son of God. They understood that the 613 Mosaic Laws were still in force and they then understood heaven and hell and that good behavior would afford them an eternal reward….alternatively Christians were not to look at Judaism or the Old Testament Laws for religious guidance. As Paul severely warned, to do so would cause you to be severed from Christ and would fall from Grace. It is a done deal, you step into the Old Covenant and you step out of the New Covenant and you will be in a worse condition than when you started because without Grace you will not last as long as a snowball in hell and Christ is not going to be crucified again for you. Adam and Eve only got one warning, Paul gave dozens, listen up!

Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Leave it to a cousin to steal your thunder. Christ’s plan for the Jews would be through conduct. As per His teaching in the Parable of Sheep and Goats and the Sermon on the Mount, He was not asking most of them to believe in Him or telling them to be baptized or describing the ritual of communion to them. They would always be under the Law until all things were fulfilled, His death on the cross fulfilled that and removed the teeth from the Law so that the Jews would have a chance. Not to say that at times Yeshua would not cross the line for some of them to give them an insight to Christian beliefs.

When Christ was on earth, His ministry was not about legalism, as His Father, Christ so loved the world. When the woman came to Yeshua with a hemorrhaging condition, He did not whirl around before she could touch Him and before He healed her, to check to see if she was a virgin or ask if she was a lesbian. “Ever have sex out of wedlock?” He did not pull out a check sheet to see how sinless she was. He said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” Right after that they receive a Message that Jairus’ daughter had died. So Christ pulled out His check sheet and asked Jairus, “Have you been registering with the synagogue every Sabbath? Was this child born in wedlock? Have you or your wife ever been drunk? No, He went straight away and rose the little girl back to life…..The feeding of the 5000….Do you think Yeshua had the Apostles go around to count the many sins that the multitude had committed. If they found some sinners, do you think that He would have let them go hungry? Maybe they were going to hell anyway….why feed them?

Certainly Yeshua was concerned about sin…doing wrong things. If you were to count up all the documented time in the Gospels over Christ’s three year ministry, it might add up to three or four months. Maybe for the rest of the time Yeshua and His Apostles sat around doing nothing, because not sinning would be the most important thing. So if they sat around and did nothing it was less likely for them to sin. And maybe being in one place, people would know where they were and could come by and see how holy they were. What do you bet that, that was not what happened?

What do you bet at some point they sinned during the three year ministry….You know what they say about doers…..they get into more trouble than the bumps on a log. 613 Mosaic Laws…some would argue that they were impossible to keep during the biblical era and today if you tried you would probably end up in an insane asylum or a federal penitentiary. There were things that Christ did that would definitely appear to be breaking the Mosaic Laws on the Sabbath, to the point that it was a death sentence. He would explain them away….not too well ….but ultimately the best explanation was that He was God and He could do what He wanted.

The point, as far as sin goes, it is easier to be a bump on log or live in a closet than actually be of service to Christ. lol The closet could be your Lazy-boy. Just as easy to judge, criticize, and condemn from the Lazy-boy, call it your throne. Maybe you prefer to condemn from the computer keyboard. While you are at it condemn science on your computer…the web…cell towers and the communication satellite that is in orbit 22,000 miles away. Because science knows nothing!

The service to Christ, does not end with getting dressed up and going to church to look all holy for your friends or on your computer telling people you are sinless! Oh my! Sure we worship God, but what did Christ say about just saying Lord Lord to Him. In the service of Christ you might find yourself with the dregs of society and risking your life….Not a past time for cowards. Christ went and drank with the publicans and preached the Gospel. Would you go to a tavern and drink with them and sing hymns, buy a round and talk about the Gospel. Are you too holy to do that? He got down with the sinners. He came for the sinners.

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

After the Jews rejected Him and instigated His scourging and execution, when those nails were being driven into His hands, was He doing that for the perfect or the sinners? Was He doing it for the Gentiles? God so loved the world….and Yeshua was the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1st John 2:2 He loved us as we were and as we are…The Trinity wants a relationship with us as a family. They want to save us and teach us to be better people.

Better people are people that love God and love one another. Morality is important but it would be hard to get Christians to agree on what is a sin. Some would say you would buy a ticket to hell with having a beer and cigarette with your barbecue to even that Hitler could get forgiveness. So keeping things in perspective the focus on being a better person based on morality is generally simple. Do all things in love, is a good gauge for morality. Of course that is love…with respect. So that would drive morality and love and compassion for one another.

Salvation is about making us better people. The storyline tells us a lot about the character of the people. People talk about salvation being the free gift of Christ…and that is correct, but if you ask Him, He will tell you that it came with a price, and the Apostles would agree. Thank God that Yeshua did not believe in the bump on a log approach… play it safe approach to Christian application. Christ and the Apostles faced controversy, adversity, arguments, and they did a bit of name calling, and broke a few rules along the way, they faced danger and death head on. Saw a lot of blood, most of it their own. Meek was not their nature. What do you think Peter and Paul were saying to each other when they were taking their strips together?

So looking at Christ’s example of the Christian walk, a few items stick out, the Parables of the Talents and the Sheep and the Goats. In the Parable of the Talents Matthew, 25:14-30 He is telling us, if He gives us talents, He expects us to use those talents, and in someway for the good of Christianity. In the parable of the Sheep and Goats, Matthew 25:31-46 He is talking to the Jews, and it has a specific meaning for the Jews, but for Christians it gives us an idea of how important compassion is and how important it is to Christ that we get involved with each other and help one another. The same is true of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37. These are the most important instructions of Christianity, because they fit very well with the actions of Yeshua. You want to love and worship Yeshua…live these instructions. You want to make Yeshua smile…live these instructions.

The focus of Christ’s teachings, was not the attempt to be perfect. Christ made you perfect when you believed in Him, but there is no possibility of you making yourself perfect. In the story of the adulterous woman, John 8:1-11 if Christ was gun-hoe on punishing sin, He could have stepped back and just watched as justice was carried out according to the Mosaic Law. There is no indication in the scriptures that this woman asked for forgiveness. He did not lecture her on sin. Likewise in the story about the time a prostitute came to Yeshua while he was reclining at a dinner with the Pharisees, Luke 7:36-50, Again the scriptures do not indicate that this woman asked forgiveness for her sins. This story defines the cliché that “actions speak louder than words.” He said, “Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much, but he who forgives little, loves little.” A very interesting statement and again no lecture and no condemnation. “Your faith has saved you, go in peace. What would you do if a known prostitute sat down next to you in church? Would you look down your nose at her? Would you get up and sit somewhere else? Would the words dirty, nasty, and sinful, cross your mind? Do you think those words occurred in Yeshua’s mind when she was kissing His feet? In the end….action speak louder than words….In the end a God, took His clothes off and knelt down and washed the Apostles feet. “Do you know what I have done to you?” He told them, and told them that they would realize it later, but maybe not, because we do not see the Apostles washing feet. What that God did was show the foundation of Christianity, the body of Christianity, the attitude of Christianity, the love of Christianity. A God washed their feet! We are too good to do that usually.

What I am saying is that the focus of many Christians is wrong. Wrong thinking, wrong perspective, wrong attitude, wrong understanding. That prostitute, that sat down next to you, she could be in better standings with Christ than you. Dirty, nasty, and sinful is a judgment. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:26-38

When you judge others, you erase all your self-righteous don’t do’s. Your “don’t doer religion” is for you…for you to get to heaven…Are you going to be surprised when He says, I don’t know you. You are not doing what Christ would do. You are not doing what He taught. You are not understanding the Spirit of Christ. That prostitute….You and the church should be celebrating her presence with loving fellowship. Maybe she was that lost sheep or the prodigal daughter.

Good deeds do not save you, Christ does, but good deeds can store treasures in heaven, And the one that saves a Lost Sheep will bring a smile to Christ’s face. My brethren, if any among you stray from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins. James 4:19-20 It is the right thing to do and it is worth the effort.

By the time she leaves that church she should know in her mind and heart, that she made the right choice to enter that church. She should be pleasantly in awe of the love of God. How do think that prostitute with Christ felt? For many Christians, this would be very difficult because their beliefs are more focused on sin, having a hair trigger for condemnation. Christ shows us with His words and actions that He has never been focused on sin….it was always love. You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. John 8:15-16 He loved us before we were saved and loved us while we were sinners and it was sinners that He died for, and heads up, there is no such thing as a perfect person. So guess what….He still loves sinners, those that are saved and those that are not saved, and both are still sinners, Christians are just on a diet.

The Holy Bible has a lot yet to tell us, but if you read the scriptures with a condemning heart, a legalist fervor, and desire for self-righteousness, you have poisoned the Spirit in the scripture and you will never understand the truth. Christ removed us from the 613 Mosaic Laws but because the scriptures needed to point out what we should not do….many have seen that as a different set of Laws, the thou shalt nots….It is near the norm….when the Bible designates something as a sin it is seen as a Law, and the trigger is set for condemnation.

When people think of the Laws of Christ, they think of the Law of sin, most don’t think that the Laws of Christ are more about what you should be doing and the loving compassionate application of Christianity. “I am so holy because of what I don’t do!” The Laws of Christ are not like the ministry of death in condemnation. The Laws of Christ are about the positive. They are about what you should be doing. You should be thinking, “I am right with Christ because I walk in His footsteps, because I express His love to others by what I do.” There are Christians that think that condemning is showing love… First you have to get those blinders off your eyes! Wrong thinking has gotten so prevalent in Christianity that good deeds have been cast aside as something that does not matter or is not important….sorry I gave at the office….The Living Word of God is not a slogan....if you are full of hate, judgement, and condemnation, the Living Word of God will judge your character and lead you to believe in all the negatives of the Holy Bible. The Living Word will lead you to those scriptures and they will speak to you. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 6:7

Good deeds do not save you, you were saved by your faith in Yeshua. Good deeds are just the love of Christ, just what He wants us to do. Good deeds are just the salt of Christianity, Christianity in motion and practice. What good is a doctor that graduates summa cum laude of his class, if he does not practice what he has learned? If he does not go on to help people? If he just posts his degree and certificate of summa cum laude in a gold frame? Sons may love their fathers, but the sons that take up the apprenticeship of the father and they work with him, they carries on his legacy, and have a tendency to be closer to their fathers. By doing their fathers work they honor their fathers. Likewise, you show love and respect for Christ by walking in His footsteps, you honor Him and do more than worship, you make Him smile. Proud of you He is.

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

The thing to tell young Christians is that they should study what Christ did, and what He wants us to do. It takes all of 15 minutes to go over what Christianity says are sins. Learn what to do and start doing. Emphasize that they don’t want to be a don’t doer Christian. Teach them do…do….do what is right. A young Christian might make mistakes, do wrong, when they thought they were doing right, but if that is what is in their head all the time….doing what is right, love God, love one another….as time goes on they will get better at doing right….and they will not have much interest in sin. Because in time, doing right becomes a habit and sinning is doing wrong. The correct way of thinking.

We all have our talents…if you are rich, invest in some young person(s) and send them to college. Help those that have their lives devastated by storms. For us that only have a little extra….help someone get their car fixed….invite people over for the holidays….do some wonderful things at a nursing home. If you have little to spare, help the elderly with their homes. Time and fellowship are important too. Check with your local food pantry. Prayer lists at church are a good source of information. When you meet their needs, do it in fellowship. Don't look down your nose at the people you help. I have replaced roofs on houses for the elderly and made it party. God food, good music, good fellowship, praise the Lord! We left them smiling, giving hugs, and a warm feeling in their heart.

Important it is to give to the church....if you have only a penny, give it. If nothing else it lets the Lord know that is all you have.

The light, the light, the light…light…light. Do you know what all the talk in the scriptures about light was about…..this…To show the Way….to be the hand of God…to come to someone’s aid….to make people feel the Spirit of God….to inspire and encourage people….light….to show the Way….Just for reference I have about 50 scripture listed below about light in the scriptures….just for reference….I am not expecting you to read them all.

*******************Be the Light to the World*******************

The concepts of light in the biblical period is intensified, as opposed to modern concepts. In this period when it was dark, it was dark. Criminals would hide in the darkness. Wild animals! They saw evil being in the darkness. Superstitions existed about darkness. Traveling on a road on horseback or walking was dangerous at night. People along the road would group and sit around campfires, particularly around crossroads at night.

Light removes darkness. To remove evil, darkness shrivels from the light of truth. Light provides safety. Light removes despair and suffering and gives hope. The concept of light as truth, removes false beliefs, the light of truth works against evil. The concept of light also as a guiding beacon is used in relation to Yeshua… to guide people to the truth, to guide the world to the truth, and to lead them to salvation. The truth of the Gospels leads to salvation. It comes acrossed as analogies of Christ, Christianity, and Christians. It tasks us to remove the darkness of the world and be Christ’s example to the world. Simple concepts but back in that time period, they hit home very clearly.

Scriptures pertaining to light…read or glance through….

Christ as the light

Luke 1:79
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

Luke 2:32
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 1:4
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Goodness)

1st John 1:5
[ Walking in the Light ] This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

John 1:7
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 1:8
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 1:9
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 3:19
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 3:20
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 3:21
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 8:12
[ I Am the Light of the World ] Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 9:5
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 11:10
But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 12:35
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth ~~learn while you have Christ)

John 12:36
While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

John 12:46
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

Act 26:18
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

Acts 26:23
that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Good knowledge ~~ Truth)

1st Timothy 6:16
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Christians as the light

Matthew 5:14
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (example of good and truth)

Grailhunter · Apr 21, 2020

Matthew 5:15
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (example of good and truth)

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (example of good and truth)

Matthew 6:22-23
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Luke 11:34
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. (If your beliefs are right then you will do good)

Luke 11:36
If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” (If your beliefs are right then you will do good)

2nd Corinthians 4:4
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2nd Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Luke 8:16
[ A Lamp Under a Jar ] “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (be the promoter of the Gospel of truth)

Luke 11:33
[ The Light in You ] “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (Promote the Gospel truth)

Luke 11:35
Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (Believe the True Gospel)

Act 13:47
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Romans 2:19
and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Romans 13:12
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

1st Corinthians 4:5
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

2nd Corinthians 6:14
[ The Temple of the Living God ] Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Ephesians 3:9
and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

Ephesians 5:8
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Ephesians 5:9
(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

Ephesians 5:13
But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,

Ephesians 5:14
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Philippians 2:15
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Colossians 1:12
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

1st Thessalonians 5:5
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1st Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1st John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1st John 2:8
At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

1st John 2:9
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

1st John 2:10
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

Now we have Christ as the light, a guiding beacon to show the way to the truth, to guide the world to the truth, and to lead them to salvation. Then we have Christians and Christianity to continue that work of the light…Christ desires that all be saved, so He entrusts us with the flock….concept of shepherds with the light to show the Way. We have the light of truth to preach and minister to people and share the Gospels.

Christ is the example set for the light, that we use as an example to be that light to others. It is not only shepherding it is being that example while shepherding. To demonstrate what Christians looks like in motion. Am I moving away from the topic? No. A light attracts attention, unless you put it under a basket. A light is about seeing….seeing is believing. Christ was using an analogy of a fundamental concept of how we should think. A lighthouse shows mariners the way to safe harbor. A light can guide the way. As Christians we are that lighthouse, we are that cast of light so we can show others the way or inspire others. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. 1st Timothy 6:18

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that slavery was wrong.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that women are not property.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that Polygamy was wrong.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that marriages between men and women should only occur by mutual consent.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that women should be equals in the church and society.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that the dinner table is the family table and men, women, and children should eat and pray together and eat together.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that we would have to defend ourselves.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that education is not so bad and leads to technology. Hey the world is not flat! The Sun does not rise, the Earth rotates and orbits around the sun! And there are things that we can't see that make us sick. Today there is only a few Christian denominations that rejects technology, like the Amish. The lives and homes of most Christians are filled with technology as well as churches.

As time went on the Living Word of God taught us that Freedom and Liberty is what God wanted for His children.

What else has the Living Word of God taught us, what more will it teach us.

Rita · Apr 21, 2020

Great verses , and good posts - thank you x
Rita

Grailhunter · Apr 26, 2020

The times, they are a changing.....But when did the times change?
When will they change?

About the end times
Hebrews 1:1-2
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

1st Peter 1:20
For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.

Matthew 24:34
Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

1st Corinthians 7:29
But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;

2nd Thessalonians 2:2
that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

1st John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.

Revelation 1:1-3
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Yeshua.

Considering these scriptures there can be no doubt that the Apostles believed they were living in the days. Last months or years or centuries is not what they believed or what they were preaching in regard to the last days or judgment day. This followed through with the Early Church Fathers, who believed they were living in the last days. There can be little argument that by this time, 2000 years later, that they were not living in the last days and what they said was going to happen, did not happen….

As a whole Christianity went on with the status quo, every generation thinking that they were living in the last times and dozens of people trying in secession to calculate the end of time using the scriptures and other methods. At least, all of this has caused confusion and was certainly a distraction. Then around the 1st millennium the Church came to the conclusion that the reason that Christ had not returned was because they had been too tolerant of sinners, too tolerant of other religions and evil in general; This very much contributed to the atrocities of the witch hunts, inquisitions, Christian warring against each other and then the crusades. Overall millions and millions killed.

The scripture that states a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. Is another way of saying, “Right now” That is why the scripture goes on to assure them that God is not slow about delivering on His promises. The premise that God cannot tell time, is not aware of time passing, or cannot relate to us because He is so far removed from time….is absurd.

Of course you are not going to get this through to most and I am proposing that it is near to irrelevant. Yeshua will come back, when and how He wants to….or when God the Father tells Him to, and they are not going to check with us first, on when or how it is going to happen. I recommend that you do not throw the Bible at Christ and tell Him that He did not come back as you expected. Nor should you command Him to go back and do it right. In the meantime, rather than hunkered down in fear of the impending doomsday, we should be busy about doing the Lord’s work. Exhaust ourselves doing the right thing…in the process sin is reduced and you are ready for the Lord’s return with the talents He gave you in full in abundance and He will smile. Do not live in fear, do not hunker down.

Here I am going to try to offer a better explanation. We do start off with some questions.

1. Why did the Apostles think they were living in the last days?

**Answer…Because all or nearly all of the Apostles understood this to be true, odds are good that Yeshua discussed the end times with the Apostles in detail. About the only scripture we have of Christ discussing the timing of Judgment day is… Matthew 24:34 Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. The word truly means it is not part of storyline, He is making a statement to the people He is talking to, and He is referring to the generation that stood before Him. This is why the Apostles are not preaching that judgment will occur in the distant future….to a generation in the distant future.

2. Why didn’t judgment day occur?
**Answer…There is no biblical answer for this. So the common reaction of most Christians is to think that the end times sequence will occur soon in each rotation of generations….Either there was a significant misunderstanding or something happened that changed things.

3. What to expect in the future?
**Answer…The sky is the limit. People interpret prophecy and or Revelation differently but, people have been seeing signs of the end from the very beginning. This actually started 700 years before Christ with “the terrible day of the Lord is at hand” prophecies. Best advise …regardless of your beliefs, do not live your life dreading something.

Thinking the end is near can change how you live your life in a negative way that does not help Christianity nor is it a service to Yeshua. And believing they were living in the last days changed what the Apostles preached and can be seen in the actions of the some of the early Christian leadership. Some of them lived in trees, towers, isolated inner chambers, in caves and in desert monasteries. Today some separatist Christians build bunkers, store food and arms and keep their children terrified with various end time scenarios.

The end is near beliefs are one of the reasons that the NT did not have a focus on the family or marriage. The Apostle James did not want the other Apostles to marry. Celibacy was not only preferred but defined as a more righteous state. Within a few centuries it was said that marriage was a crime against God and that married couples should be ashamed of themselves. Virginity has always been linked to purity, then celibacy was linked to purity, righteousness, and the right way. Marriage was only given up as a concession to prevent various sins. This is all about the belief that the persecutions and the end of time were at hand. Paul was not concerned that celibacy would cause Christianity to die out because he did not think there was enough time for that. Marriage and children were seen as a liability. Why would you want to see your wife and kids killed in the most horrible ways in the Roman coliseums?

The preference of celibacy preached in the NT, which was mostly due to the belief that the end was near, carried on into the early Christian Church, but the side affect of that was that sex was linked to sin….an internal temptation. But in a male dominant religion, when you link sex to sin you also link women to sin and we are right back in Eden. So as Christianity evolved women were treated as second rate persons in and out of Church. If women did not know their place, they would be shown their place….It is quite the shame that society had to correct this wrong thinking.

Today, in some ways Christianity has worked its way out of this concern even though the end is near beliefs are still preached from the pulpit. It is a juggling act of beliefs. As time went on the Church embraced marriage and families as the preferred state. Children’s Sunday School is a relatively new addition to the Churches. Husband and wife teams as pastors and junior pastors have been such a blessing to the church. Worship services with beautiful songs of worship and blissful choirs include young adults and children bring a smile to Yeshua’s face.

The realization that there is a future and young Christians are that future has caused the Church to have more of a focus on young people, more of a focus on the family. All in all the church has moved to the positive over the recent years…..fear and damnation replaced with love, worship, song, and fellowship.

Grailhunter · Apr 26, 2020

Wealth

Matthew 19:16-30
"And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false WITNESS; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

1st Timothy 6:9-10 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

1st Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Then there is the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Reading through these scriptures and parables, there appears to be not only a negative view of wealth but even an anti-religious view towards wealth, because it is leveled as a sin to even want better. I will get into the details of this, but first I need to put something into context. Let say you have a 40 year old house, which is modestly furnished, a 10 year old car, and enough finances to get by week to week to feed yourself and your family. Which would be much below the “middle class” in America. You are among the wealthy persons that these scriptures are talking about.

Why? Most of the Jews and many Gentiles lived in a one room dwelling with a dirt floor with no chairs or beds. They were lucky to have more than two changes of cloths. Hunger and disease was rampant, one meal a day was a luxury and a full stomach was considered gluttony.

So why would it be a sin for someone that is hungry living in a one room dwelling to want more? Why would scriptures speak against those that had the finances to live comfortably? Why would it be considered a sin to be wealthy in the biblical era? The answer is simple, because there were so many that had nothing, and were hungry and suffering. How could a person horde wealth while watching children go naked and starving to death? Particularly when they could not take the wealth with them anyway because the ends of things were upon them.

This belief is not just a religious thought it is seen in their actions. One of the first things that the Apostles did when organizing their group was to form a commune. Most people understand that the commune concept is about people living at the same material level. People that joined this commune were required to sell all they had and give it to the Apostles. This was a serious thing because non-compliance could mean death. You can read the story, if people were not honest and tried to keep some of their money …..according to the story, the Holy Spirit would kill them. The killer Holy Spirit thing is not consistent with the rest of the NT scriptures, or even if it was the Holy Spirit, or was it the Trinity in unison, or did they just die in fear. True or not…right…wrong….good…or bad it illustrates their attitude toward material things. Either way, as with any communist construct, it did not work out and the community did not last long.

Still a very consistent theme through the NT. Part of this is because they believed that they were living in the last times. Part of it is due to the fact that so many were suffering in poverty. And part of it had to due with the fact that in order to be wealthy you had to be part of the Jewish religious leadership or be part of the Roman society. Hellenistic Jews or Hellenistic Christians are a modern term, but it means that you befriended the Romans, adopted various elements of their culture and prospered in their employment or commerce. The concept of the mark of the beast could very well be referring to the Hellenistic Jews or Christians that had a “mark” that identified them and those that did not, could not buy or sell anything. John certainly had reasons for having misgivings about Rome, early tradition says that John was banished to Greek Island of Patmos by the Roman authorities. He himself confirms that He is on Patmos.

The overall answer to why there was such a negative view is not that complicated. If Christ’s return and judgment day was to occur very very soon, the need for wealth was not necessary and there was no reason to horde wealth. Then because there was so many suffering, it would just make sense, and it would be compassionate for the wealthy to distribute their wealth to fulfill the basic needs of those that were poor. All things understood at the time, this would be correct, compassionate, and practical. But the practice of everyone giving all their money way for 2000 years would not be practical in the long run….the concept was not intended for an extend period…. “a long time.” It was proposed on the premise that they were living in the last days, time was short, Christ’s return would occur quickly. That did not happen.

As time went on things changed, the Christian commune disbanded, Christian beliefs regarding the benefits of communism did not carry on. Christian communist communities are very few and short lived in history, if not ending in tragedy. The conditions of which they lived in and the economics of the world changed but the scriptures are static. Christ did not return, but the scriptures are static and an update would be considered sacrilege. Once Christianity merged with Rome, and the Christian community stabilized… the flowers in the field might not have toiled, but Christians did. Hard work became the character of Christianity and you deserved what you earned.

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