Blogs

How can we best have good neighbors in community?

If we see ourselves as good or righteous (even though Jesus asks who is good) we lose sight of the fact we are self serving humans who often seek gain at the expense of others. In remembering who we are by nature until death, we see what a futile world we have made in our own image, and can more readily accept the counter-culture of the Kingdom as the proper 'Way', swearing our allegiance to that instead as the better system. It was purely by the grace of God that He gave us an alternative...

Exclusion comes from man, not from God …44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?… Berean Study Bible-Matt 5:44-46 God does not exclude. That is a human attribute I believe. When I judge in the way that...

[In response to those world leaders, past or present, who believe themselves to be God] Thus sayeth the Lord. Mark 9: 34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. These men (Pharoah to Mao) did not know God nor what is the nature of God. They thought God is an authoritarian who...

Matthew 11: 25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal. Matthew 16: 15 He said to them, But who do you say...

Mark 4: 21 Also He said to them, Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lamp stand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. 1 Corinthians 3: 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is....

The Emmaus and Damascus event There is the Emmaus experience that many Christians have. The story in the New Testament is an interesting one. Two men, followers of Jesus, walking away from Jerusalem, leaving behind a life that was filled with hope in their expectations about Jesus and what they thought he would accomplish. They were discussing what just happened, no doubt with great sadness and maybe even despair over the dashing of their hopes that they placed in Jesus. They also heard of...

misheard song lyrics. The term for where a person mishears song lyrics is Mondegreen, first used by Sylvia Wright in 1954 after she misheard "laid him on the green" for "Lady mondgreen" Famous examples include "'scuse me while I kiss this guy" ('scuse me while I kiss the sky) from Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, "The ants are my friends, the're blowing in the wind" by By Bob Dylan, "and I know that the hotdogs go on" by Celine Dion, "scare a moose, scare a moose will you do a fan tango"...

Mysterious, the Holy Trinity; miraculous, Heaven even hears me. Spirit, Father, Son—One, Tri-manifestation; the Body—my requests among a million orations.* Whence this openness to the One God? Christ is greater than my conscience!** Thus, by grace the blessed Root of Jesse calls me to reverential renderings …of words, proclaiming God is good, …of offering up of servanthood, …of attitude and deeds of dedication, …of zeal for Adonai in this new nation.*** ___________ *LUKE 18:1 And he spake...

It is hard for the world of man to admit that we have it all backwards, so it foolishly just keeps trying to improve itself while driving in reverse. Luke 16: 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from...

Before ending my night I thought I should also include a final visual aid for the numbers I ran in my blog post Biblical Chronology: From Adam To The End Of The World (5017-5500 Anno Mundi - Babylon To Cyrus; Cyrus To Christ) which mentions the Olympiads and the A.U.C. (Ab Urbe Condita "From the Building of the City") Years and how they connect to proving that Christ died at 30 AD/5500AM. And because this is another large chart I couldn't get a nice screenshot...so...you guys will have to...

After sifting through the Bible to see if I missed any other major timelines I came across this final one in Ezekiel 4:1-17 about the 390 Days and the 40 Days that Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his left and right sides. These represented the 430 Years for Israel's punishment. As pondered on where this would fit Ireasoned that this couldn't fit the destruction of the 1st & 2nd Temple...and after reading the prophecy carefully I understood that these foreshadow the destruction of the 3rd...

Alright so this will be the second to last major biblical chronology I will be posting and I am done covering the major chronological events of the Bible. This covers the time from Ezekiel being 1 Years old to 62 Years old, I chose to cut his age off there as the text isn't clear how long he lived, so I just guessed that he may have died around the time Jehoiachin was released from prison otherwise I couldn't recall any apocryphal text having him live alongside Daniel after Cyrus freed the...

What good is all the theology in the world if we don't show the contrast between the 'self' serving will of man and the 'other' oriented will of God... the clash and counter-culture between Kingdom and world of man? What is the good of talking of all sorts of sins when the only and original sin is putting our selfish will ahead of the will of God? What good is exchanging God's Gospel of the Kingdom for a salvation gospel of man? What good is it in making it about ourselves rather than about...

Bittersweet (written about 15 years ago) Sometimes when I awake in the middle of the night, and can’t go back to sleep, memories often rise to the surface, that I usually don’t revert to in my normal waking life. I guess when just awakening, and lying there doing nothing, allows thoughts from the unconscious to present themselves to my waking mind, and perhaps are asking to be dealt with, or to just simply be remembered. They are often very powerful, surprisingly so, since like I said I do...