Dear Theophilus: Theologians Just Can't Handle Luke

I just spent the past hour writing this quaint little study on Luke 1-3, and at the end it disappeared into cyber-etherland. So in the true Spirit of the faith once delivered to the saints, I will, begin again.

My son attends a local university, and as part of a philosophy course on Kierkegaard, was required to read the Gospel of Mark. He has somewhat of an unfair advantage, having been raised on the Word for almost 26 years, so his acing the test did not surprise me. What caught my ear though, rang back to the seminary cemetery I once briefly attended, as I heard the walls of Doubting Castle rise, echoing the words of theologians, who heard them from theologians, etc. etc.

My dear progeny began to tell me how the Gospel of Mark was really the first and that Matthew and Luke borrowed off it, and all the other refrains that I had heard and read for over 24 years, about Q documents, late dates on the gospels, and how basically nothing about the Bible can really be trusted as the idols of speculation take forefront. However, there is evidence from the Word, that the New Testament books were written just exactly as one expects even from a cursory reading, and the greatest 'evidence' if one requires it in the realm of faulty human reasoning, is found in Luke 1:1-3.

Luk 1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Luk 1:2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
Luk 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Luk 1:4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Who was Luke writing to? Some say Theophilus was of the household of Caesar, others claim he was a Roman official, and some say he used a rubric, a pseudonym of Theo-philus which means 'lover of God' to hide his identity. In any event, a few things become abundantly clear which shed light on how early there were extant Gospels around:

1. The first verse states "...for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order, a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,..." shows us that A.)Many were writing down what had happened, B.) they were diligently seeking to put the events coherently, logically and implicitly in chronological order, and that C.) they were setting in order the foundation of doctrine and the teaching of the Lord and Savior.

Why is this important? Because theologians today often claim that the Gospels were written much later, as though they were some fable and not a history of EYEWITNESS events, and though some 'oral tradition' circulated over time until after years of playing 'gossip' someone took it upon themselves to write it down. I was taught that several times about the Pentateuch, that the stories just circulated until someone write down, I don't know, thousands of intricate words which all tied in perfectly with one another, and pointed to events several thousands of years later. I guess they think 'oral tradition' is more believable than Moses picking up a pen, or anyone else in the years since the Gan. This first verse though shows that the WRITING started, well, immediately, as all who had seen and heard the most wondrous things, felt compelled to get it down on paper before they died and the next generation and those who had not seen might forget the fullness of 'Teleos'. So even in the first verse, the doctrine is set, the events are set, the order is set, and many delivered their accounts to the leaders/apostles and Luke before the century was out, wrote the whole of the Gospel of Luke and Acts, to his friend, Theophilus.

2. As mentioned about, vs 2 shows they were delivered to Luke, and that the writer, Luke was an eyewitness and minister: they SAW what happened. They ministered the teaching: these were not the result of an oral tradition handed down, like fairy tales which the Grimm brothers collected in many versions: they were eyewitness accounts, put together in order, carefully written which brings us to the next point:

3. It was written with Perfect Understanding.
One would have to be deaf dumb and blind not to believe that Luke had an anointing to write that Gospel, filled with the Holy Spirit, who only can give 'perfect understanding'. Those who walk in the Holy Spirit know, that when preaching or teaching, comforting, prophesying etc, when filled with the Holy Ghost, one just 'knows' what to say, perfectly, beyond our mere human efforts. The test of time has been applied: that 'perfect understanding' and exact rendering of what happened in Luke's Gospel has lasted 2000 years, and without flaw contradicts nothing in the Word, before or written at the same time. Theologians debate theories , they surmize, manipulate details, etc, but seldom take the Word of the most honest men who ever lived. These men were eyewitnesses "from the beginning It also says Luke was a witness of ALL THINGS, and that he WROTE them to Theophilus.

4. Lastly, Luke emphasizes the CERTAINTY of what he writes: the greek word 'asphaleia', the "undoubted truth"[BLB]. Theophilus has already been instructed of some of it: it says so.

Clement of Rome, and later Origen

Clement of Rome lived around 96 a.d. and he in response to a troubled church, admonished believers to read the Word. They had Bibles of a sort. Each church soon received a Gospel after they were written, and withing days or weeks, the Epistles of Paul and others reached every church. Those who could write, would copy the copies, and keep them. We know they did this because even today hidden copies turn up, one found in a hollow rail of a stairway. Origen later admonished the same. By the 300's we know the Gospels and Epistles were down in Alexandria, for Eusebius made 50 commissioned copies for Constantine, though it was a somewhat dissensioned text. So though Canon was not set till much later, the standard Books of the New Testament were in most Christian hands one way or another, and were not an oral tradition collated some years later by an anonymous source.

My doctorate was not in Theology, but in Psychology, and there were similar issues there: we read what people said about theoreticians but seldom went and read source material. Source material is often not at all what gets reported about it. We believed what our teachers taught because 'everyone in the field said so' and taught the same, but it was not always the case. There is a power in a number of austere and educated scholars all agreeing to the same thing, when standing before a young university student, or a businessman with education in some other field, or a housewife with young children. We tend to cower in their presence, thinking they must know more than we do, but the key is to listen to the Logic or 'ill-logic' of the idea. Could it really have come about the way they say? It takes more faith to believe that the same story circulated for years by thousands of mouths and then got written down with perfect synchrony by 4 separate authors, than to take Luke's word for it.

We believe Theologians who may not even believe in God (the oxymoron of centuries), but we won't take the Word of a man willing to lay down his life even against Rome, for the truth of what he had seen and reported, and others with him. Those theological surmizings can be real faith-breakers, if one doesn't walk back to the Word, and a step beyond their arguments. Their positings almost never end in faith and belief and trust: the Word always does. ekbest

4.

That Was Then , This is Now- The Great Modern Error of American Christianity

Of all the things that I have heard in the past 24 years in Christian Circles, that infuriates me most, is the great error of meeting God's commandments, His Word, with the phrase "that was then, this is now". It has been repeated so often in modern American Christianity, that while we may rail against dissensioned faiths such as JWs or the Catholics or Mormons, we have essentially developed for ourselves a 'neo-christianity' that bears only a partial resemblance to true Biblical Christianity. We have done this while we regularly quote the Scripture:

Hbr 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

We consistently use the 'that was then, this is now' excuse to disobey the Scriptures and to pick and choose what we think is 'relevant' and what we think is not really 'modern'. Some will immediately attribute my concern to wanting us all to go back to (as true Christians are often accused) wearing sandals and tunics, a snide remark which really translates to modern pride. Legalism, though, was as wrong then as it is now, but obeying the commands of the Savior was never wrong. And thinking we somehow have an exemption from following the commands of Messiah, just because of the time period we live in is what I coin 'chrono-centrism': a sort of arrogant self-focus on the time period we live in, believing it is more modern, more correct, more advanced and less primitive than former times. It is a deadly argument, and has led to a gutting of the morale and health of the Church of Jesus Christ, Yshua Ha Meschiach in the 20th and 21st century.

Some even argue today that we are under no obligation to obey the commands of the Savior who said

If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

There are a dozen twists of logic as to why the Lord really didn't mean that, or why he meant it for back then, but not for now. One of the theological positions which argue the tired old argument is 'Dispensationalism', and sometimes even Covenantalism, who argue respectively either God's different dealings and administrations with mankind under different time periods, or under different 'covenants', as though there were separate economies for each. Those who spend years in study though, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit understand that these are artificial contrivances, man-made and laid upon the Scripture to 'organize information' , but they fall short: there were indeed times when God dealt in differing ways of a sort, but never outside of an Everlasting Covenant, and never outside of the whole of the Word which was always to be obeyed.

Why did Jesus say, knowing that He was bringing through his blood covenant, Grace, why did he say that 'not one jot or tittle would disappear from the Law'? Because he also said that He had come to fulfill the law. The Law did not change: not ever. Its purpose did not change: not ever: and believe it or not, the means to Salvation did not change from the Old to the New Testament: it was just a matter of the depth and perspective of understanding.

For example: Most people think that the imputing of God's Righteousness through Salvation is a New Testament concept, but it is not only. For those of you who read Psalms often, take a highlighter pen, and every time 'Righteousness' is mentioned or 'Salvation', highlight the words and note their context. Far more often than not, it refers to God GIVING or granting Righteousness, not to man earning it. The Law, even then was in its right place and perspective, as Paul teaches in Romans. It was not that the Law had to be obeyed to GET Salvation even back then: the Law was always the mirror of God's Righteousness.

When obedience to the Law is mentioned, it is almost always with regard to walking in Life, and in the reward of God, e.g.

Lev 26:3-4 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

The Law has an effect in this world, and when obeyed yields the effect of Life and God's reward and understanding of "the Way", the "Truth" and the "Life". The granting of Salvation and the Imputation of Righteousness though, is always from the beginning spoken of directly or indirectly as the gift of God.

When righteousness is spoken of as a product of the Law, it is individual 'righteousness' , 'right-ness' , 'goodness':

Deu 6:25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

But the gift of God is rendered thusly, a righteousness we 'receive':

Psa 24:5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psa 40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

When Salvation and Righteousness are mentioned together, it is given of God, and is His.

Psa 40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

sa 24:5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

Those are only a few sample scriptures mostly in Psalms, and one need note that Salvation is not spoken of, even in the Old Testament, as 'earned'. Further, even in the few passages above, God IS Salvation, and deliverer, and He is delivering from 'bloodguiltiness'.

Even this example though is not the main focus of what I mean to communicate here. Arguments against 'dispensations' or such are for another time, although I would point out that the most frequent use of the word in the Scriptures does not indicate a time period at all but means more of an 'administration'. For example, God may teach that a man should be the 'bishop' of a Church, what we call a preacher, but He does not mean that on a mission field if a man is not available that the Gospel should go unpreached. He may give a 'dispensation' for a woman to teach in a place or time, where the right order is not yet available. If I need to get a jar from the top cabinet in my kitchen, the right instrument is a 'ladder' but I don't have a ladder, so I grab a chair. Chairs are meant for sitting, not climbing, but in an emergency, I use the Chair. It doesn't change what ladders or chairs are for, and it doesn't replace chairs for ladders, but a 'dispensation' is given to use the chair until the right thing comes along.

Now, back to the original point, this notion that we have a Bible which only has certain things in it which must be obeyed, is not only nonsense but is dangerous and has harmed the Church. I am saved by Grace. Does that mean that I should not eat shellfish or seethe a kid in its mother's milk?[Exd 23:19 , Exd 34:36; Deu 14:21] People today say, "that's archaic" and most agree. The effect of the Law has not changed, though. Our Righteousness because of God's Salvation has made us free. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty'. We can eat shellfish if we want. Romans 8:28. But when God gave, for example the dietary laws, it was for a reason and the obedience to righteous laws kept Israel (and us) safe. Shellfish have more bacteria and are prone to salmonella. Not seething a kid in its mother's milk, and esoteric point of the law, kept the nation from becoming too cruel. The effect and excellence of the Law did not cease, nor was it replaced, but it was FULFILLED.

A Devastating Theology of 'That Was Then, This is Now'

One of the worst 'that was then, this was now' theologies ever devised, which still exists in the American Church in various 'sects', is that the teachings of Jesus, Yshua, were only for the Millennium Kingdom. Nuts! God put us to shame on that account by having Ghandi, a Hindu, pick up the Sermon on the Mount, use it as the base of his plan of action, and He won India back from the British! Though many fundamentalists consider Martin Luther King a 'liberation theologian', a liberal position, still the basis of his protests were..."the Sermon on the Mount" and he changed a nation. One of the first modern proponents of the teachings of Jesus being only for the Millennium Kingdom were German Theologians of the Deutsche Christen during WWII. The Reich did not want a nation of pacifist 'do gooders' who would passively resist the Reich. They believed it would ruin German morale. Hitler at one point even noted that the German people did not know how to 'hate' properly, but that it was incumbent on them for Germany to become strong, hardly a position consistent with the Beatitudes. They taught, as many in American churches teach that the Sermon on the Mount and the Parables are for the Millennial Kingdom or for Heaven, and therefore they are not obligatory to the modern Christian, but that is simply not the truth.

The Gifts
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are likewise 'explained' away by many of Baptistic and High Church orientations, as being only some kind of 'igniter' for the Church and once it got going, they was not necessary any more. They argue that the Word of God is infallible, inerrant, and that not one word can be removed, but they discard such scriptures as passe, like 'Forbid not to speak in Tongues'I Cor 14:39, and 'despise not prophesying' I Thess 5:20.

We have lost the power of God in the Church, because we ignore or even defame the breath of the bride, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am not talking about the 'entertainment' type of gifts which the big money preachers promote, (the true lost among the false), but the real, daily practice of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to the Word of God, not adding to, but providing light and understanding.

The Way of God

Just as important, today in the Church we are confronted with the idea that 'anything goes' once we are saved. We rail against the 'world' but we do business the way of the world. We decry Casino lifestyles but go to Reno and Las Vegas or Mardi Gras on vacation and gather poker chips for the guys on Saturday. Many years ago, in a Sunday school class, the discussion came up of why whether a Christian should invest in RJ Reynolds, the mega-Tobacco giant. Most argued that if they didn't invest, someone else would , so what difference would it make. I argued that while we are free, its not what we HAVE TO do, but what we GET TO do for the LORD, including refraining from aiding industries which harm and even kill people.

I won't name the ministry, but a few years ago, I ran across a fellow in a well known online ministry who didn't think there was anything wrong with gambling. Well, again, you're a free person, but if you "yield your members to unrighteousness" you are essentially taking the life and hands you gave your Messiah, and giving them over to the 'other' kingdom which leads to bondage and destruction. You are free, but it quenches the Holy Spirit and makes your ministry less effective. If we continue to use such arguments, we could apply it even as far as Christian investment in drug deals and prostitution, or even prostitutes only for Christians! How close are we coming to that satanic logic?

Ted Haggard, Ray Boltz, and the Fruit of "That Was Then..."

There is a point in Ezekiel in which the prophet is led to a hole in the wall of the Temple, and God asks the Prophet to look through and tell what he sees.

Eze 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. ....
Eze 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
Eze 8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

Indeed, in the end, when 'Babylon' , Mystery Babylon falls, the Great 'Emulation' of the Bride of Messiah, who is portrayed as a Whore, John notes

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Condemnation never saves or heals anyone. So what I am about to say, is with concern for healing of the Church and individuals, but it must be said. We have become so 'allowing' and discounted so much of the Word of God in the practice of our faith and understanding, that we have developed our own moral Relativism while negating the World for theirs. We are at war, folks. No one ever told you when you accepted Christ, accepted the Messiah that you had just entered a war zone. Principalities and powers war against the believer and against the Church always, until the end. I thought when I gave my life to the Lord that all would become steady and even and peaceful, but instead, I found war after war, that I never started. We really should not be so naive: we are admonished to 'put on the whole armor of God' and that the devil roars about seeking whom he may devour, and that we 'wrestle not against flesh and blood ' but

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

It's a war out their. We are not to be as some in history wish, the 'Church Militant', but the Army which loves, but is well prepared for battle. Equipped, armed with the Word, and Faith, and praying for ourselves and each other daily. Not just showing up for the latest concert, or wanting greater entertainment etc, etc.

The TV Churches are vying for audiences, so they have turned into the Circus Maximus. Dry Ice, booming bass and sound effects, PowerPoint presentations on one side, Youtube or Godtube videos on another, and no teaching on living the Christian life, or more than 'what God will do for you'. The result has been tragedy after tragedy.

Last night, although I am about a year late in finding out, I read that Ray Boltz, the great Christian singer, has come out of the closet and announced he is gay. I always thought one of the best Christian songs ever written was 'Watch the Lamb' but also loved 'When others see a Shepherd boy', or 'Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb' and almost all of his were tops. Thirty three years married with 4 children, and in Church and ministry that long, and he is trading out the Lord of Life for a satanic lifestyle: sorry, but it is, it is utter bondage. Ted Haggard, the king of Evangelicals for awhile, traded out for a teen prostitute, while Evangelicals who lifted both to leadership railed against all those 'worldlings' who do such things or allow homosexual rights.

I am not advocating condemnation: these men were up against a war they did not understand (if their salvation was real) and the greater the heights, the worse the warfare, and it is real. Even now, the sin must be condemned and fellowship is to be suspended, but they are to be prayed for, for deliverance, for healing, for their families, for restoration, etc and for the vail to be lifted from their eyes to see how wrong those actions are, since hearts become seared over time. We are reaping though the effect of letting go of the doctrine delivered to us, and dismissing the need to obey the commands of the Savior.

Lest I sound accusatory, I have found the war close to home, raising kids for over two decades daily in the Word and in live, but 3 or 4 years in a secular university, one around unbelievers daily, one in the Army, and I have two young adults uncertain of what they believe, because neither they nor I were prepared for the degree of warfare we encountered. I am not judging anything but one thing: we have to get back to the Word of God, and we have to start obeying the commands which are taught, and seek the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit, or we are going to lose all we have worked for, our families, and possibly even our faith. We watch 4 or 5 hours of tv a night, but 'don't have time' for the Bible. We consider all exhortation criticism. We allow 'bored' housewives to ruin ministries or interfere in the raising of our children, and some of them are deadly. (Study it out: busybodiness is a demonic spirit). We promote businessmen to positions of deacons to aid in the 'corporation' of the church without any regard for their character or even knowledge of the Word. The Christian Music Industry is about as bad as the Secular Music Industry and we all shudder and point at celebrities who fall, not taking responsibility for putting them on precarious ledges.

There is no "That Was Then, This is Now". That is an Error, and a deadly one. We had better very quickly get back to what the Church is and how it is taught, as a living breathing body headed by the Savior, or in the near future, we will be virtually no different, than the Compromised Church of the Third Reich where anything went as long as the Pastor's pensions were paid by the State. This is NOW. This is where the Church begins again, with Her Messiah as Head.

Apostle Paul's Bones found Just in Time for Tourist Season

I love the Apostle Paul. He started churches, but other people took over, he loved the Lord Yshua and could not forebear telling people about Him, so much that he was constantly beat up, imprisoned, stoned, rioted against, shipwrecked, bitten by vipers, and run out of town. Over and over. He never could hold a position in the pulpit for very long. One longstanding 'joke' letter in Christian circles is a letter from Paul applying for a job with the following credentials:

"Gentlemen:

Understanding that you need a preacher, I would like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications that I think you would appreciate. I have been blessed to preach with power and have some success as a writer. Some say that I am a good organizer. I have been a leader in most places I have gone.

Some folks, however, have some things against me. I am over fifty years of age. I have never preached in one place for more than three years at a time. In some places I have left town after my work caused riots and disturbances. I have to admit that I have been in jail three or four times, but not because of any wrong-doing. My health is not too good, though I still get a good deal done. I have had to work at my trade to help pay my way.

The churches I have preached in have been small, though located in several large cities. I have not gotten along too well with the religious leaders in different towns where I have preached, and I am sure that they will not recommend me. In fact, some of them have threatened me, taken me to court, and even attacked me physically. I am not too good at keeping records. I have been known even to forget whom I have baptized. However, if you can use me, I shall do my best for you, even if I have to work to help with my support."
The Apostle Paul

HE kept on preaching though. Unlike preachers today, he had seen the Lord up close and personal and he was anything but the kind of man who went for any sort of fanaticism. Trained at the feet of Gamaliel, (Acts 22:3), he was in his own words, a "Hebrew of the Hebrews",

Phl 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, [of] the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

He was a man among men. So zealous of the faith of his fathers, that when the new sect of 'little christs' came about he got a legal order to persecute and arrest all those radicals who refused to go along with the status quo, you know, the big money ministries that were ruining Israel and giving Judaism a bad name. They saw the little band of believers (then) as dangerous, nutzy , hellenized, and threatening Israel, possibly bringing trouble with Rome like their leader Jesus, Yshua, that rebel slave from Galilee. Zealous Saul Paulus of Tarsus got his order, mounted his horse and took off with a band to do some real damage, that Scholar of Israel, zealous for perfect Judaism. He wasn't opposed to a stoning or two, maybe even a roundabout here and there, if these rabblerousers were put in prison and their light put out. On the road to Damascus though, something so drastic happened, that it turned that Israeli Sanhedrin-bound scholar, into a shivering child, asking Yshua, "Lord, what would you have me to do?". The rest is History.

The Bones in the Tomb of Paul

While legend surrounds the Apostle Paul and other disciples, regarding where he died and how, it is known that his last letters were written from Rome, although some argue he travelled in between to Spain and Portugal, and then back to Rome where he was either burned, beheaded, or otherwise killed. One legend has it that Nero, setting Rome on fire attempted to blame Paul and the Christians for it, a great tradition of world leaders even in this day and hour. They all fiddle around with the truth.

However he died, though, this scholar of the Law turned itinerate preacher in love with the Messiah of Israel and filled with the Holy Spirit of God, however he died, Rome is now claiming that the bones in the tomb of St. Paul outside the Wall, are really Paul's, just in time for tourist season.

To begin with, it is a non-issue: whether they are or not, proves nothing and adds nothing to faith: we all have bones, all have a few left or at least ashes years after our death, and though today we can do DNA traces, then we could not. However, I had to wonder and even marvel at the constant lack of logic that comes up lately at the new hobby of finding Jesus and his apostles' bones, and how odd a hobby that has come to be.

First of all, buried in St. Paul's tomb, by the Roman Catholic Church automatically means that there is at least a 5% chance it might be Paul. The RCC wasn't around back then to collect bones or build tombs. Perhaps there was a note in his pocket that said, "Not John Mark, anybody but John Mark"---addressed to Barnabas. Maybe there were viper bite marks. Just a little first century humor here folks. Maybe it had enclosed a bookbag full of scrolls. Who knows? The article though said one thing, that makes me doubt completely that it was ever Paul's remains: it had a gold brocade wrap of some sort, and all of Paul's teaching is to the contrary.

Paul admonished women not to wear broided hair, and bangles, but to be adorned in the inner spirit.

1Ti 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

and his constant theme was humility and surrender, dying to self. He himself surrendered the fine things of this life for the finer things of the next. Gold brocade wasn't on the list.

What are they going to do? Get DNA samples? Even if they could, the most they could tell is that the bones were possibly Jewish and male. How many Pauls were there in Tarsus? Or Rome? Thousands. The Vatican loves its icons and tombs, but most are idolatry, and our faith does not need to rest on the 'seen' but on the 'unseen', that being the substance of faith. Two thousand year old bones don't often tell very much when there are only fragments. Scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists and Bible scholars of the Curia may be brought in, but for all their observations and tests, they will be guessing, theorizing, and still will not be able to prove whether or not the bones really belonged to the Apostle Paul, who does not need them anymore, save for perhaps one day in the near future when God will decide which bones belong to whom, and what to do with them.

Some think that finding St. Paul's remains will 'prove' the Gospel, but belief in God and His Messiah is an issue of faith for Jews and Christians: all the authenticated bones in the world will neither cause faith nor destroy it. The Shroud of Turin, if anything, has been 'unauthenticated' but it does not prove Jesus and His Resurrection was not real, only that someone produced by whatever method, an icon to entice faith not in Jesus but in the Catholic Church. The recent controversy over someone thinking they had found Jesus' bones, rested solely on the name Joshua (yshua) scratched on the side of a stone ossuary, in a time when the name was very common and He is reported no where to have left bones.

Large religious organizations often feel the need to manufacture faith, objects, icons, statues, etc to entice or confirm belief. The ones that do it, feel they have real proof, and atheists argue that those inauthentic objects make faith inauthentic but neither is correct. Our faith does not hinge on objects or even on historical or anthropological 'proof'. We teach constantly that John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence and nobody doubts it, and we have his signature, but we were not there. Our belief that it is his signature rests on our FAITH, the belief in the unseen, that there was a John Hancock, and that the signature was his. Why then, do we think we apply a different set of rules to faith in Yshua, or Jesus, or God in General?

Chariots drowning in Reeds

A few years back, theologians, who may be known by skeptism more than wisdom, argued widely that when Moses crossed the Red Sea and the Waves allowed God's children to go through, that they were actually referring to the "Reed Sea" a shallow swamp, assuming that they , the million or so sloshed through mud and yuck to get to Canaan, and then the mighty Egyptian army, the greatest army of the day, experience in all forms of warfare and mad as heck, got to the 'Reed' sea, and what, got stuck in the mud? What a God.

A story was told of a little boy returning from Sunday School who was asked by his grandfather what he learned. He replied, Well we learned there was this general named Moses, and he was being chased by an army, so he got helicopters and hand grenades and bombs, and threw them in the water and it blasted the waves apart so all the people could go through and be safe'. His grandfather said, now is that really what they taught you? The little boy replied, Well, no, but if you heard it they way they taught it you would never believe it.

That's what our theologians are like. They can't believe the God who created the waves could roll them back for the purpose of the Salvation of the Jews, the Messiah and mankind. They have however been stuck in the mud before, so they use a whole different location than the one mentioned because they HAVE NO FAITH. Only the paltry thing called human reason---NOT DIVINE REASON. They argue that Mary, the virgin of Galilee could not have borne the Messiah of Israel in a virgin birth, because they cannot conceive (ahem) of it, so they say that a Roman soldier probably raped her, not knowing that this particular slander came from a Nazi theologian arguing for an Aryan Christ. They argue that the Word of God cannot possibly have been preserved over the years, but they have no problem with the writings of Josephus, or anyway lesser problems. They see miracles and they make archetypes. They want dead things for proof like bones, tombs, ruins, and artifacts, but when they find them, they still do not believe. Imagine their surprise at the finding of chariot wheels embedded in the sand under the RED Sea, or the body of Pharaoh, at least one of them! That is because faith has a different economy, comprehension and conversation than human reason and logic which fails us often, and especially about every 5 to 10 years.

The Catholic Church did not rest on the shoulders of Peter, the man with the keys to the Kingdom, nor Paul, the servant of God who gave up all for the high calling of Yshua HaMeschiach, Jesus Christ. It had its underpinnings in Paganism, including the worship of Ashtoreth, and Diana, and it was no surprise that Paul's preaching caused such a stir among the Diana worshipers who made their living off the sales of statues and idols. The solidifying of the emulation came in 313 a.d. not in a steady succession of Popes, but in a steady succession of Emperors from Rome who persecuted Christians, but because of the nagging of his mother, Constantine gave clemency to Christian worshipers ending severe persecution, but doing it even worse damage by making it a State religion and integrating pagan practices such as the worship of the sun god in what would become not the breaking of bread Messiah commanded, but the Eucharist and perpetual altar, instead of the one and for always sacrificial atonement. The nature of the beast was a "Holy Roman Empire" partly political, partly religious, ruled by the same persons, which has contrary to popular opinion never really died, but waxed and waned through the centuries. The Roman Church is the only religious body with declared and recognized ambassadors, the Apostolic Delegates and Pro Nuncios, which regularly influence world politics and defend the interests of the Catholic Church with embassy status. The Holy See and Vatican City is a Nation-State, though undeclared as a nation among nations, and has fought Israel at every turn for their right to Statehood. It is far more political than religious and has always been.

So the bones of poor Apostle Paul are no doubt not resting easy, as it is probably for political purposes that they rise up this one last time to speak to the Goyim.
Perhaps they are not his real bones, but the bones of some poor priest who decided to really preach the Gospel and got shown the Apostle Paul up close, say in the 15th century. How about enough of trying to find forged Copies of the New Testament at Mt. Athos like the Sinaiticus, or the bones of Jesus (since not one of his bones were broken, that would be hard) or the bones of Paul, or the miraculous radiated impression of Christ's face on a napkin which couldn't have been either since it was rolled up separately in the tomb, or Jesus' image on toast, or buildings, or in the photo on eBay, or the weeping Mary who only weeps blood when a little woman puts red dye in the faucet around Easter, etc, etc, etc, etc. Give it a royal rest.

Paul is probably not the body in the tomb of St. Paul. No one is going to be able to absolutely tell, in any event. Old and New Testament are strong in their admonitions against idolatry. And Paul will live on, through all of us who love him for his great work in the Gospel every time the Word is preached in love and rightly spoken, but his remains can bjavascript:void(0)e nothing more than one more political ploy or religious fascination, assaulting real faith.

The Great Illusion of the Christian Church in the United States

I became a Christian 24 years ago, this year. I was a university professor at the time, teaching in a College of Medicine in Behavioral Sciences. Contrary to popular opinion, I was successful in my career, and becoming well known in my field at the time, working on the national and even international arena in Grief and Bereavement. I was young, a single parent with two children, age 7 and 1 1/2 at the time and my daughter had recently been diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. While my professional life was filled with research, publications, teaching and conferences, my home life was a struggle, as any single parent can attest. While fighting off the barracudas of academics, I was trying to be the perfect mother (and father) at home , wrestling with new meal schedules, my daughter's three shots of insulin a day, rushed trips to the Children's hospital 16 miles away, blood tests, finger sticks, buying and remodeling a new home, juggling daycare for my son, and trying to deal daily with critical bosses who had no sympathy.

I had grown up Catholic, although I had believed very little in anything since I was a teenager, although with the birth of my children, a troubled marriage, and the other trials of life, I had at least suspended the question, thinking there might be a God somewhere, of some kind, but the question was left 'till another day'. I had met during that time Christians who ran in two extremes: either very remarkable loving human beings who testified to the Lord without even speaking, or zealous argumentative people who wanted me and everyone else to read the 4 spiritual laws, or right on the spot accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, (they didn't understand that as a first sentence to a college professor it often does just the opposite), and would walk away tiffed if one did not. Still, I did not make any kind of decision until life sort of fell apart. One can be even at the 'top of the world' so to speak, looking to all the world as young, progressive and successful and face quite another world personally. In 1985, one exhausting afternoon, after fighting off alot of grief, one child in school, one taking a nap, I was at home, and picked up a red Bible on the bookshelf which my daughter had been given.

The Red Bible

Now, this Bible had been through better times: it got accidentally dropped in the washer once, and the pages were swollen and wrinkled, but true to form, I don't throw away books, so it rested on the top shelf. I reached for it, the way one reaches for anything at all to read, and started turning or 'peeling' pages, curious about what it said,although I thought I knew. My academic arrogance was no less than anyone else's so I did not have alot of respect for God's Word, yet,but as a Psychology professor, I thought to myself, that one never knew, there might be something there that was at least wisdom about human beings, given that it was so old, and so many wise men had had a hand in writing or studying it. The first chapter I started to read, was 'Proverbs', and I know laugh at God's providence in acquainting an Assistant Professor with a doctorate in Psychology with Proverbs: the book of wisdom about how human beings are and the reasons they behave like they do. It was enough to be fascinated, and I started to talk to Christians at work.

When I got tired of hanging around the Behavioral Sciences department, I would go talk to the two artists in the Graphics department one of whom was designing a cover for one of my conferences. She was a born-again Christian, and working while we talked, she shared her knowledge and wisdom with me, and suggested I start reading the Gospels: I think she suggested John first, and I read Matthew around that time also. I got to the passage where Jesus is speaking with his disciples and asks them what others are saying about them. They reply

Mat 16:14 And they said, Some [say that thou art] John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

Following though, Jesus puts forth the question of centuries to his followers:

Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

and Peter answers:

Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This is the question I had to confront, which in all my years of religious upbringing, never missing a Sunday, I had never considered. Who was He? Why did this one particular man, if a man at all, turn the world on its heel 2000 years ago so that even the calendar and worship changed? Why would He even bother dying for all of us, and what did that mean? I did not believe in a six day Creation back then, or the Garden of Eden, but that was not foremost in my thoughts: I was at least preoccupied with who Jesus was. As I read the next verse, though, I cannot explain, why or how, but I just understood absolutely that Jesus, Yshua, was exactly who he said he was, and that if that were true, then the whole Word of God must be true too.

Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

It was especially the passage about flesh and blood not revealing to Peter who Jesus was, but God himself. I knew it was true and was overwhelmed with that truth. Over time I read more, and in my living room, I knelt down, and as I had heard to do before from Christians along the way I 'asked Jesus to come into my life and heart'. I have just finished writing about why, that is not the fullness of Salvation through Messiah, but it is a starting point, and it was what I knew to do. It was a short time later, after reading the Scriptures and talking to Christians, that I began to fully comprehend exactly what Jesus, Yshua had done on that Cross that dark afternoon, when even the sky wouldn't look on. My first understanding all those years ago, was that sin was real, I could not ignore it in my life or others' having the seen the world for what it is, but that His death and blood, literally, not metaphorically, took away my debt of sin before God, and imputed to me the very righteousness of Him, of Yshua (the Hebrew for Jesus, meaning 'He saves'), the perfect Holy One of Israel, as though I had never sinned. Not to be understood with human reason, that paltry thing that has failed us so often, I understood instead with the faith He had given me.

I will not belabor 24 years of learning to walk with the Lord, that is another thing, except to say, that I felt His guidance immediately, and could no longer stand to even tell a little white lie. A week or two later at a church daycare I was asked who opened a door ( I had), and I did not want to get in trouble so I said 'I don't know'. My conscience was so pierced that I went back 20 minutes later to look for the person who had asked the question, so that I could apologize! I wish we all stayed at that point of First Love of Messiah, wishing to be taken away from this world rather than to lie or create any harm to Him , his or anyone else. Sometime later, praying heartily for God's will in my life, I received no other answer than 'Follow Me'. There were some serious 'Isaacs of obedience' I had to lay on the altar, including my success and career, in order to begin along a path that became far more difficult than I had ever imagined, but caused me to know and love Him more than I ever would have otherwise.

The Walk in The Way, The Truth and The Life
The modern American mind, does not receive any longer the cost of discipleship. We have a myriad of excuses, handbooks full of them as to why we do not have to suffer like the Christians of the centuries prior to the past one. One hears 'you cannot live like that, this is now, that was then, or what do you want us to do, all go back and live in the catacombs and wear sandals?' Well, I heard a sermon once in my early days of being His, that said what we need to do is to take a blank sheet of paper, and sign it at the bottom, and let Jesus fill in the terms of His contract with us. We do not merely receive an insurance policy against the day we die that gets us into heaven, which is every thing we carnally wish for, we enter into COVENANT, in which Yshua, Jesus suffered to gain eternity for us, and the Great Exchange of His life for ours, our life for His takes place: that is what has been forgotten. We would like His healing, His comfort, His blessings, and His wisdom and protection, but we do not want these days to even leave our hands off other people's lives and work.

I had envisioned early in my walk with the Lord that my life would be somehow easier: I kept hearing teaching after teaching on Christian radio or tv about how God was going to bless financially, and about how people turned from careers or other things in their lives and ended up a the head of ministries, Christian businesses, radio programs etc, and looked expectantly for that event in my life. I had after all given up so much already: I did what I was burdened to do, turned away from even social drinking (hadn't been much of a drinker anyway), from all the other things young people do that aren't particularly healthy, from teaching what I knew wasn't true no matter the consequence, and yet instead of immediately becoming rich and successful in some other way, I met with trouble and controversy, the borderlands of the divine conflict. When we believe that God owes us something for our sacrifices, we do not understand the Great Exchange. We are not yet made perfect in love. We have received a gift so great, that wherever He leads, and whatever the consequence, no matter how frightening, we have one reaction: Yes, Lord.

Paul was on his way to persecute, imprison and maybe even kill Christians in Damascus when he was met by a divine light, knocking him from his horse, blinding his eyes, and instead of questioning who it was, or interoggating God about whether he lived up to the Sanhedrin's standards, his response was short and to the point..."what would ye have me to do". After that, Paul never had a moment's rest in this world, and instead of banquets at the Temple and lecture series with a nice wife, home, and leadership in Israel, his life became beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, viper bites(more than one kind of viper in this world), quick escapes, running from murderers, trials, conflicts with the brethren, churches he started taken over by insincere incompetents, etc. He died upside down on a cross, or possibly in an arena with Nero trying to hold him accountable for the burning of Rome. He penned these odd, peculiar letters in the cold dark, without any funds or budget, thinking they might never be seen beyond a few months, I suppose, and died victorious in Messiah, not leaving "St. Paul Ministries Inc" behind but knowing he had done one thing: kept the faith. That is the battleground and victory, not mega institutions, beating each other out of contributors, tv spots, publications or the like.

Modern US 'Christian' Barges

I will probably be hated by some for what I am about to say, but what else is new. What we call the church in the United States today, is not the church at all. It is alot of vain puffery, and although it is a multi billion dollar industry, it has become vain, cold, cruel, flat, and powerless. Every insidious interest has been able to get in the churches these days because we forsook church doctrine and discipline about 50 or 70 years ago, and infused an 'anything goes' policy with regard to belief, practice and self sacrifice. One church today has the motto: No doctrine but Christ, and accepts any doctrine as long as you name His name. That's like saying, "No truth but whatever you believe" which fits nicely in the modern world but not in faith of Yshua Ha Meschiach, Jesus Christ of heaven.

We have married our churches to the State: they are the head of the church in the US now, and we like Red China and other oppressive countries have a State registered church through the invention of the 'non-profit' corporation, the 5013c. We answer ultimately not to Christ but to the FBI and the IRS. We place flags, declared living things, on our altars where we are not supposed to entertain idols, and we curtail our speech and sermons so as not to be arrested, or worse, to lose money. We look for certain kinds of people we want in our air-conditioned padded pew churches, with two working parents and salaries with 2.5 children families. We mock those who question whether Jesus would have done something one way or the other, and the only time the question "What Would Jesus Do" came up in this past decade or so was on several million bracelets and teeshirts on sale.

We have set our congregations up 'entertainment' style: one guy lecturing in the front, only with major 'pizazz' with video screens of his image, hundred voice choirs, drums, guitars, synthesizers, sequins, banners, dancers, confetti and anything else. 'Bring em in " Sundays, with costumes, prizes, ...I won't go to churches like that anymore. It is not Messiah, not Christ. He is joy, He is Peace, He is worth praising in truth in sincerity anywhere any time, and I am not criticizing types of music, or dress, or dancing: all those things can be all right, but they are not for entertainment. We pray very little and our churches sit empty in many places for all but Sunday services. When people pray now, more often than not it has nothing to do with love, but with getting their way in the world. Some even pray hatred, in little passive aggressive 'snipering' such as 'O Lord, show so and so this isn't the right church for him or her...', or one pastor even said, that when people got to him he prayed, "Lord, Get 'em". Blessing your enemies or walking the extra mile, so central to the Christian walk is not really taught anymore. One church bible study I attended many years ago was discussing whether Christians should hold stock in RJ Reynolds. Why would that even be a question? I got funny stares when I suggested it was not that we have to refrain from those investments but whether we get to: for the sake of loving Him more. I was called naive, but I am not: it is whether money is really the deciding factor or faith is.

I have called mega ministries, 'the great iron barges' of Christianity. Many do not teach more than certain peripheral sections of doctrine, usually not the blood covenant, and most are prosperity gospel, even the ones who teach against that , live it. I was not prepared for what happens when you begin to write, teach or publish things people want to read in Modern Christianity: the Great Iron Barges begin to line up like the pirate ships they are, to take whatever they want, without regard for the truth, the law, civil rights, or lastly any teaching in the Scriptures. Work for years to stay 'near to God' and not quench the Holy Spirit, and in the US today this is what you will get: the Great Pirate barges and their ensigns hacking your computer, breaking into your house, trying to steal copyrights, cheating you out of jobs, ministries and opportunities, soliciting your children against you, calling you crazy and trying to prove it, setting you up any which way but loose if they can walk away with all you have ever done, using your name, playing with your bank accounts or mortgages, and even resorting to physical violence. Some of the best known and richest ministries have so beset my little but since one, that I can hardly work anymore, hardly getting anything online or out before it is stolen or ruined.

Criminal attention and theft is rampant. Put out a Bible study called "The Passover Blog" and there will be 20 out tomorrow morning. One ministry for 20 years has over and over shown up with books or other materials using the same titles or concept of my little non commercial ministry, even talking openly about how nobody will ever believe me if it comes to court, they think, because, well, they are who they are and I am nobody. They will call in the dogs: hold mighty prayer wars which may have some effect because they do not tell their prayer warriors they are stealing and slandering. Some will buddy up with people of very ill repute who will do anything to get their way in the world. There are big names in Christianity, or more accurately Christian business, who do 'unspeakable things in the dark', and only a few ever come to light. It is not the faith delivered to the saints at all. It is not the same thing: it is an unholy illusion that has to be abandoned before the power of God can work in this country.

Red China and Home Churches
to be continued

The Cross in the Middle Should have been and Was His:Modern errors in thinking about Salvation

It is never easy to conduct discussions of doctrine in the modern Church, of whatever brand. The other day on youtube, I found even a seething, volatile launch against a subgroup of hyper-preterists complete with star wars effects and music. Much of doctrinal disagreements come from one overriding problem: a lack of Bible Study in the House of God which is profound, mixed with erratic study using several hundred 'versions' of God's word. No one knows what is taught outside of what their Church creed or most recent Sundays sermon .

Many disagreements also come because we try in human reason to understand what only the Holy Spirit can shed light on. How many of us profusely pray for the teaching, guidance and direction of the the Holy Spirit, the 'Ruach Ha Kodesh' to open our eyes to the Word : instead we pull out our commentaries, encyclopedias, concordances and go to war outlining what other authors tell us the Word says, failing the God given precepts for the study of His Word.

There are a few main doctrines though, especially regarding Salvation, so central a topic, that need to be clarified. We say things we hear at every rally, festival and church service without even going to the Scriptures to be the 'Bereans' we should. Below are a few common 'misconceptions' or 'partial' conceptions:

Jesus Died in Our Place

Guess what? While this has been repeated over and over, in songs and sermons, (e.g. 'the cross in the middle should have been mine) it has a serious error in it: even if Jesus had never come, incarnate God that he was, our dying on that cross would have made no difference whatsoever in the salvation of mankind. We say the above all the time, grateful for salvation, thinking of Him as taking the place of the ones who would have suffered that fate if not for him. There is of course a kernel of truth here: He died FOR us, no doubt, but He was the ONLY one who could have held that place. No mortal person could have accomplished the finished work of the cross. NONE. They had to be a one unique nature, God made Man, never before and never again. Is this nitpicking? Not really. Jesus was not the 'great martyr of the First Century': He was the Lamb of God, sacrificed to put an end to the curse of sin, and reunite God with man, after the Fall. He died to fulfill the great Covenant promised since Genesis 3:16: but in His own Sovereign place and divine person: he did not merely 'take our place', but offered the one great gift of the history of the world.

2. Asking Jesus into our hearts, brings Salvation.

So often on TV Christian shows, in pamphlets and at rallies one hears 'ask Jesus into your heart right now..." etc. Asking Jesus into your heart and life, may very well bring the Sovereign Lord into your world and awareness (as if He had not been), but the working of Salvation, is by BELIEF, in the finished work of a blood Covenant on the Cross. Leave out the blood? So many churches try, but the whole Word from the first pages of Genesis to the last of Revelation teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Even when condemned by their sin, Adam and Eve were given coverings of animal skin, necessitating a blood sacrifice. Priests made intercession and blood sacrifices for the sins of Israel from then until Messiah came. One sin, one blood sacrifice until One Sacrifice, covering all sin. Believers and unbelievers get hung up on why it had to be that way and here is the reason: we are not told. Faith and mystery require trust. We are told it IS that way, and that those who 'look and believe' are saved. When our children are very little we say 'don't touch that, it's hot'. We do not explain how heat works or coils and energy transfers work, or what electricity is: we say 'don't' and it only takes one burn on a little hand, and the child knows that the parent told the truth. We are not told why the blood completed the Covenant, only that it had to be applied. We are told to BELIEVE. Over and over, that is the command: believe. When we believe in all sincerity we are given the earnest of redemption, the Holy Spirit. You are not saved without God's earnest deposit: the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, 'pneuma' as in breath or wind, or 'parakletos', the comforter or one who walks beside, the Holy spirit of God comes to live IN us. There is a difference between believing there was a Jesus, or that you can call on his name, and trusting in the blood as the finished work of salvation. The second exacts salvation, the first only admits He is probably real.

"Jam 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. "

3. Mere belief does not require trust.

this point is a natural outgrowth of the point before, that once we truly believe, we TRUST. I believe that there is tightrope 70 feet in the air. Will I walk on it if someone tells me I will not fall? The second involves TRUST. Believing in the Lord, well, millions, billions of people of marginal belief do that. TRUSTING few do. I knew someone once who described trusting the Lord for a parking space. Its not that its wrong to trust the Lord in the small things, no trust in the Lord is wrong, but that is where most believers leave their trust: small stuff. Jesus said though that we could move mountains, He said his followers could do greater works than the ones they saw him do when He returned to the Father.

Jhn 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

The first trust though, and many 'charismatics' and 'pentecostals' have to get ahold of this also: is in the finished work of a blood Covenant wrought by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Yshua HaMeschiach, on Golgotha. He defeated death. He conquered and removed the curse of sin. He imputed His righteousness on us through faith. He paid the price of our sin we could not pay. And he literally, not figuratively, rose from the worst death imaginable, showing that the power of God was not encumbered by mere corruption and death. Do you really trust that first? All else is merely watching God work in this world in our defense and in defense of His Word, the Gospel of God.

4. The Resurrection and Miracles are not archetype and Metaphor.

When I first came to the Lord, my 'modern mind', trained in psychology at the University of Florida, had two great difficulties: Genesis and origins with a six day creation, and the resurrection. I had no real problem trusting that they were true, because I found all to be true that the Lord taught, but having been schooled in Evolutionary thought, and being a very pragmatic person, while I trusted, it was sometimes a struggle. Further down the line, though it is not only not a struggle, but I wonder why he decided to take 6 days. And resurrection from death, while the most remarkable thing that has every occurred also is not difficult to see when one gets ahold of God's sovereignty. A potter forms the clay any way he chooses. And the power, healing and miracles of God I have seen firsthand. Its not archetype!! I laugh now at the TV theologians who speak of how there were 'christ-figures' or archetypes of saviors or virgin births in all cultures as if that discounted the real thing! When I was an unbeliever, I used that to dismiss the reality of Christ. When I became a believer, I realized it was the Lord pointing even in other cultures and times who did not yet have the Word of God to the event that would occur. How foolish to think that because stories and myths which were untrue had elements of the forthcoming Gospel that it did not mean the Gospel was true: it was god preparing the minds of pagans to comprehend His Word when it was delivered to them at a later point in history. We teach 1/52nd of the time on the resurrection, and a little more on the Cross and atonement and most of the time on something else. We have become backwards in our views.

I will continue in the next post with more undetected 'errors' in modern belief.
Visit Judah's glory at www.judahsglory.com for more bible studies and information.

Modern Errors in Thinking about Salvation

It is never easy to conduct discussions of doctrine in the modern Church, of whatever brand. The other day on youtube, I found even a seething, volatile launch against a subgroup of hyper-preterists complete with star wars effects and music. And much of doctrinal disagreements come from one overriding problem: a lack of Bible Study in the House of God that is so profound, mixed with several hundred 'versions' of God's word that no one knows what is taught outside of what their Church creed or Sunday's sermon .

Many disagreements also come because we try in human reason to understand what only the Holy Spirit can shed light on. How many of us profusely pray for the teaching, guidance and direction of the the Holy Spirit, the 'ruach Ha Kodesh' to open our eyes to the Word : instead we pull out our commentaries, encyclopedias, concordances and go to war outlining what other authors tell us the Word says, failng the God given precepts for the study of His Word.

There are a few main doctrines though, especially regarding Salvation, so central a topic, that need to be clarified. We say things we hear at every rally, festival and church service without even going to the Scriptures to be the 'Bereans' we should. Below are a few common 'misconceptions' or 'partial' conceptions:

Jesus Died in Our Place

Guess what? While this has been repeated over and over, in songs and sermons, (e.g. 'the cross in the middle should have been mine) it has a serious error in it: even if Jesus had never come, incarnate God that he was, our dying on that cross would have made no difference whatsoever in the salvation of mankind. We say the above all the time, grateful for salvation, thinking of Him as taking the place of the ones who would have suffered that fate if not for him. There is of course a kernel of truth here: He died FOR us, no doubt, but He was the ONLY one who could have held that place. No mortal person could have accomplished the finished work of the cross. NONE. They had to be a one unique nature, God made Man, never before and never again. Is this nitpicking? Not really. Jesus was not the 'great martyr of the First Century': He was the Lamb of God, sacrificed to put an end to the curse of sin, and reunite God with man, after the Fall. He died to fulfill the great Covenant promised since Genesis 3:16: but in His own Sovereign place and divine person: he did not merely 'take our place', but offered the one great gift of the history of the world.

2. Asking Jesus into our hearts, brings Salvation.

So often on TV Christian shows, in pamphlets and at rallies one hears 'ask Jesus into your heart right now..." etc. Asking Jesus into your heart and life, may very well bring the Sovereign Lord into your world and awareness (as if He had not been), but the working of Salvation, is by BELIEF, in the finished work of a blood Covenant on the Cross. Leave out the blood? So many churches try, but the whole Word from the first pages of Genesis to the last of Revelation teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Even when condemned by their sin, Adam and Eve were given coverings of animal skin, necessitating a blood sacrifice. Priests made intercession and blood sacrifices for the sins of Israel from then until Messiah came. One sin, one blood sacrifice until One Sacrifice, covering all sin. Believers and unbelievers get hung up on why it had to be that way and here is the reason: we are not told. Faith and mystery require trust. We are told it IS that way, and that those who 'look and believe' are saved. When our children are very little we say 'don't touch that, it's hot'. We do not explain how heat works or coils and energy transfers work, or what electricity is: we say 'don't' and it only takes one burn on a little hand, and the child knows that the parent told the truth. We are not told why the blood completed the Covenant, only that it had to be applied. We are told to BELIEVE. Over and over, that is the command: believe. When we believe in all sincerity we are given the earnest of redemption, the Holy Spirit. You are not saved without God's earnest deposit: the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, 'pneuma' as in breath or wind, or 'parakletos', the comforter or one who walks beside, the Holy spirit of God comes to live IN us. There is a difference between believing there was a Jesus, or that you can call on his name, and trusting in the blood as the finished work of salvation. The second exacts salvation, the first only admits He is probably real.

"Jam 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. "

3. Mere belief does not require trust.

this point is a natural outgrowth of the point before, that once we truly believe, we TRUST. I believe that there is tightrope 70 feet in the air. Will I walk on it if someone tells me I will not fall? The second involves TRUST. Believing in the Lord, well, millions, billions of people of marginal belief do that. TRUSTING few do. I knew someone once who described trusting the Lord for a parking space. Its not that its wrong to trust the Lord in the small things, no trust in the Lord is wrong, but that is where most believers leave their trust: small stuff. Jesus said though that we could move mountains, He said his followers could do greater works than the ones they saw him do when He returned to the Father.

Jhn 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

The first trust though, and many 'charismatics' and 'pentecostals' have to get ahold of this also: is in the finished work of a blood Covenant wrought by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Yshua HaMeschiach, on Golgotha. He defeated death. He conquered and removed the curse of sin. He imputed His righteousness on us through faith. He paid the price of our sin we could not pay. And he literally, not figuratively, rose from the worst death imaginable, showing that the power of God was not encumbered by mere corruption and death. Do you really trust that first? All else is merely watching God work in this world in our defense and in defense of His Word, the Gospel of God.

4. The Resurrection and Miracles are not archetype and Metaphor.

When I first came to the Lord, my 'modern mind', trained in psychology at the University of Florida, had two great difficulties: Genesis and origins with a six day creation, and the resurrection. I had no real problem trusting that they were true, because I found all to be true that the Lord taught, but having been schooled in Evolutionary thought, and being a very pragmatic person, while I trusted, it was sometimes a struggle. Further down the line, though it is not only not a struggle, but I wonder why he decided to take 6 days. And resurrection from death, while the most remarkable thing that has every occurred also is not difficult to see when one gets ahold of God's sovereignty. A potter forms the clay any way he chooses. And the power, healing and miracles of God I have seen firsthand. Its not archetype!! I laugh now at the TV theologians who speak of how there were 'christ-figures' or archetypes of saviors or virgin births in all cultures as if that discounted the real thing! When I was an unbeliever, I used that to dismiss the reality of Christ. When I became a believer, I realized it was the Lord pointing even in other cultures and times who did not yet have the Word of God to the event that would occur. How foolish to think that because stories and myths which were untrue had elements of the forthcoming Gospel that it did not mean the Gospel was true: it was god preparing the minds of pagans to comprehend His Word when it was delivered to them at a later point in history. We teach 1/52nd of the time on the resurrection, and a little more on the Cross and atonement and most of the time on something else. We have become backwards in our views.

I will continue in the next post with more undetected 'errors' in modern belief.
Visit Judah's glory at www.judahsglory.com for more bible studies and information.

Judah's Glory: New site format

After 22 years of Judah's Glory, with 12 on the internet, I have finally gone to a new format. While a few pages still have a colored background, we have succumbed to the constant request for a 'white' site, so our odd little site with Jesus comforting a holocaust child/children is now in a white easy to navigate style. While I tried a variety of styles, over the years, additions became cumbersome and hard to find, so we have tried an easier format. It is not quite done yet, so please be patient! Recently also, someone got on the site quite ruinously and took off files which have been on for years, so please if a link is down or does not yield what you expect, contact me, and I will repair it as soon as possible.

A few new additions include: www.judahsglory.com/ang.html called "Jesus Was No Angel". Before I am tarred and feathered, please read it and you will understand. Two large groups, Mormons and JWs often teach that Jesus was the head of angels and having an angelic form, misusing the Old Testament Malak and NT angelon. Many born again Christians can be deceived by slick sophistry if they do not know the Scriptures, and this slide presentation introduces the Scriptures which negate false doctrine very clearly. Feel free to use with appropriate credit: as always, no charge.

I am redoing most of the coloring books listed to bring them into a less amateurish form but it is taking time. "Feasts' is finished and "Jesus Was Jewish" is a page or two away as is "Boast Not" and "Hebrews" and "Promise". For years we have had a coloring book called "Jesus Is" which can now be ordered by writing to judahsglory@gmail.com in the form "Yshua Is" for Messianic congregations. May be used freely in Sunday school or even to give to children to color when they get restless during a sermon. Better than scribbling on your bulletin!

We have had two main problems driving us proverbially insane, so please include us in your prayers. The problems are interferences from some less than dear folks who think because our materials are free and not commercially 'slick' that they should be able to take over thousands of hours of work with any regard for our hard work or ownership. They need prayer also. The other group(s) are people who do not like Messianic studies or worship/materials at all, and they are people of 'dissensioned' faiths and the site has been under non stop hacking and ruin. Recently someone got in the editor and took down music and publications which had been on almost since the beginning. The music is home recorded and there is no pretense about it being for professional use: it is to show how the music goes in case anyone would like to use any of it in services or for children's groups. Also someone has continuously taken down my recent updated pages and artwork and replaced them with copies of very old pages: it is deeply troubling that they would even have those early copies, and more that years later they would be so ruinous. Those folks need prayer too.

Judah's Glory is not a national TV ministry, but I am starting to teach by audio and soon to come video, not for money but for the edification of the body of Christ. My son, daughter and myself have funded all the expenses of providing this material for free, and keeping it on the net, and have done all the work. As it comes into a higher quality through updates (still a way to go), unfortunately some folks want to take years of our hard work and study which we already made available for free, and market it, like everything else, and pocket the money after 'slicking it up'. That was what Jesus, Yshua drove out of the Temple, folks.

As believers, we are taught not to defraud one another, not to lie to one another, and to freely give as we have been 'freely given'. I don't want to hear again about how that was then, this is now, not possible , or how 'dissensioned' I am because I choose to do this amount of work for free. I have no ulterior motive except serving the Lord. As the site finally becomes more usable and more 'acceptable' over the next year or two, please remember that the work was done to heal the Church and souls and not to make a whole lot of money for other people.

In the Love of Yshua Ha Meschiach,
Elizabeth K. Best
director.