The Freedom Blog

Bible Timeline

2010-11-29T10:00:00.001-08:00

This timeline shows the complete biblical history from Genesis to Now. I would invite you to comment about what you see here. What does this timeline tell you?

Interacting with Brian McLaren Ten Questions in A New Kind of Christianity: The TheOoze Interviews

2010-02-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

First let me admit that I am still in the process of reading A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren. Overall so far, I find it a thoughtful and thought provoking book and, I think that the questions are very necessary. In fact, a few years ago, I began to look at essential questions that would help recover the apostolic doctrine spoken of in Acts 2:42.

I am especially interested in the narrative question coupled with the authority question but, I see them as interlinked and interlocked. In the above interview with Spencer Burke on TheOoze Brian explains that the narrative as we understand it today is a foreign narrative and I believe that he is correct there. I do not have to rehash what he said as you can watch it for yourself and I suggest that you do several times.

What I would like to suggest is that rather than starting the narrative with Abraham… the rabbis have done that and... the new perspectives on Paul has done a lot of good work on changing the narrative… at least to a degree. But, I would actually like to see us begin our understanding of the narrative from Jesus perspective. Since we are Christians, followers of Jesus, then, what he taught about the narrative and biblical authority should in my view, be the driving force in determining our narrative.

One of the places where Jesus differed from the rabbinical line of thought about the narrative was in the definition of the word of God. In the New Testament writings He defined the word of God as the gospel of the kingdom and his followers defined it as either the gospel or Jesus himself. This gives the narrative a solely redemptive purpose. I am interested in what all of the critics of McLaren think about the totally redemptive focus that Jesus taught. Certainly, there is plenty of room for asking the questions and it would seem to me that the critics would be interested in the answers.

Holism; In the individual and in community

2010-01-26T09:36:00.000-08:00

I think that holism is crying out to be adapted and adopted in Christianity. First, it should be adopted and adapted by individuals and, secondly, it should be adapted and adopted by believing communities. I acknowledge that there are groups across the country that are developing in this way. However, there should be many, many more and I think that this should be an important focus.

I went to the dictionary to find the definition of holism before I wrote this post because I wanted to be sure that I had a handle on the meaning and not just a connotative meaning that missed the mark. I don’t know about you but I have to look up terms that I have taken for granted from time to time and occasionally I am surprised to find that the connotative wide spread meaning that I have always accepted is not the real definition…but I digress, this should be the topic of another post.

Here is the dictionary definition: Holism; the theory that whole entities, as fundamental components of reality, have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts. What I get from this definition is that when all of the parts are combined, acknowledged and working together the result is an entity that is more than the parts combined…it is an organism.

Therefore, in an individual the combination of the social self, the psychological self, the spiritual self, the economic self, the recreational self, the political self, the scientific self, the ethical self, the ritual or religious self and, the physical self should be integrated in a congruent manner….yet is it? Many people separate their spiritual, ritual and religious self from all of the other selves. Spirituality is isolated and not allowed to cross over into the economic self for example. We are different at church, different at home and, different at work. I have come to believe that the more we can totally integrate these separate selves into a harmonious whole, the better and, healthier we are.

Likewise, if the community is able to facilitate this harmony and not discourage it the better it is for the individual organism. We would do well to begin to dialog in each of these communities, i.e., our homes, work places and churches that can bring about the ability to interface each of our selves.

The two communities that inhibit this the most is the workplace and the church. We tend to try to hide our true selves in both of these settings to avoid being judged and criticized. Yet, I believe that to the degree that these communities can foster an open tolerant environment the easier it would be for the individual to incorporate his or her multiple selves into a single healthier whole.

Employers and pastors should be made aware of this so that the environment can be altered.

I love this song and always have

2009-12-27T08:20:00.001-08:00

Desperado, enjoy!

I just launched a new blog today; A Paradigm Shift For Thoughtful Evangelicals

2009-12-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

I just launched a new blog today. It is called A Paradigm Shift For Thoughtful Evangelicals. It is a blog that will unfold my paradigm shift five hundred words at a time. This is a shift that I have gone through over a period of time and I think that it could have an important effect on Christianity if enough people would grab a hold of it. At this point I am hopeful...that is cautiously optimistic. I hope you would pass it on to as many people as you think would be interested.

Check it out.

Is the Hotel California the Saga of Organized Christiantity?

2009-12-17T13:25:00.001-08:00

Is this the woman of Proverbs nine?

Holism; the future begins now

2009-11-06T21:37:00.001-08:00

It is interesting to me that we humans fragment our existence. We compartmentalize so to speak. Thus, our lives are compartmentalized and fragmented. By this I mean that we have a certain way to be at work, another at home, another in our spiritual pursuits and it is not often that we are able to be a whole natural person. This is especially true with what I should like to call our practical selves and our spiritual selves. This is in my view the most compartmental and fragmented part of our existence. It seems to be quite difficult to merge our practical and spiritual selves. To be certain that I am communicating, I will define as precisely as possible the practical self and the spiritual self.

First, I define the practical self as the self that engages in commerce, politics, education and, socialization. It is the self that cooks meals, cleans the house, mows the lawn. It is the self that writes letters and communicates and eats meals. In other words it is the self that advances living day by day. The spiritual self then is the self that wonders about why we exist, that senses that there is more to life than what meets the eye. It is the self that is religious and superstitious. It is the creative self that seems connected to the muses. It is the self that senses the presence of God.

In many people, all too often these selves are separated and, as I have written in previous paragraphs they are fragmented and compartmentalized. This is not natural; children are not this way naturally. They are far more comfortable uniting the two. They are more holistic by nature and it seems that as they grow up and learn the ways of the elders they become more and more compartmentalized less holistic. I would like to suggest that we would be better off if we were able to have a more holistic approach to life. Connecting the natural mind and the spiritual mind brings about a level of creativity and problem solving that is not possible in a fragmented model of being.

This is one of the things that I am discovering as I do holosync. Without going into the workings of holosync technology, it seems to me that this type of meditation works toward allowing the practical and the spiritual to work together. This can be especially helpful in working the law of attraction. This allows me to bring affirmations of creativity into the practical realm. I guess what I am saying is that it is a good thing to take our awareness of the presence of the divine into the work place. I do not mean in the judgmental ways of condemning or approving of ones behaviors and mannerisms; not in an evangelical way of trying to get another person to think a certain way or be a certain way. I mean rather that it is good to realize the holistic nature of our selves and to allow the communication of the spiritual nature to interact with the practical. I am confident that it will add to success in very dynamic ways.

If you would like to comment it would be appreciated. This is an idea that welcomes discussion and disagreement.

Perfect love casts out fear

2009-10-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a lot of fear mongering these days on every front. People are fearful of the economy, of the government, of gangs, of terrorists, of national debt and, the list goes on and on. From my evangelical circle connections come warnings of impending judgment and doom. It seems that fear is prevalent and, a driving force in day to day living and, yet those who are spiritual from many different persuasions have a message of the unconditional and undying love of the God of the Universe. Many are afraid, (here is fear again ;), of the connotation that the term God has received by various religious groups and, thereby are fearful to use the term; Yet, Bill Harris, in his Longevity CD, presents the following affirmation. “You are vibrating with energy, perfection and love,” What an interesting phrase; energy, perfection and love describe God. In other words, he suggests that we are vibrating God; that God indwells us at a molecular level. The New Testament says something very profound and I quote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1John, 4).

As I meditate these days, I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that I personally must allow myself to be made perfect in love and this realization casts out all fear and brings peace. In other words, being in the presence of God casts out fear and being in the presence of God is as easy as acknowledging his presence in all things. It is living in the present moment, in the now (thanks Eckhart Tolle). The present moment is the presence.

I am tired of the fear mongering. If you are fear mongering, don’t share it with me. On the other hand, if you are vibrating with energy perfection and love, I will take all the encouragement I can get. I want to reclaim some of the terms that have been co-opted and corrupted by evangelical Christianity. The indwelling Christ, the Christ within is this vibration of energy perfection and love. If you want to thump the bible, claim a specific revelation and, demand that a certain meaning is absolute then go ahead, but I for one am going to begin to use the combination of terms and allow them to have a new earth meaning. There are ways that we can be far more inclusive and remain true to an abiding faith in Christ. I am hopeful that over time more and more people of all faiths will embrace this ideal.

Finally, if this post seems to be scary remember that perfect love casts out all fear and that the one who fears has not been perfected in love. I am trying my best not to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to my Christian walk and faith. I know, a good writer shouldn’t use so many clichés but sometimes you have to

The Forty Day Rule

2009-10-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Remember the scene in the movie the secret where they were explaining why things don’t manifest immediately when you think them; it was an elephant in the room and the aftermath of what that may have meant….big smile. I have come to realize that there is a specific time lag in the manifestation of intentions. It is the six weeks rule or more accurately the forty-day rule. Why forty days you ask? Well we can find that forty days is an important period of time in the bible. After all, Jesus went into the desert to fast for forty days after receiving the Holy Spirit. It essentially took forty days before he returned to manifest his spiritual power.

Think about it; it is said that it takes between thirty and forty days to create a habit, and personally, I intuitively go with the idea that it takes forty days. In fact, I would encourage you to test out this theory. Anything that you can put your attention towards for forty days will begin to manifest. Often, when it appears that the law of attraction is not working for people they tend to give up rather quickly and I know that I have been guilty of this myself. How often do we put our attention toward any kind of an affirmation for forty days straight? There are ancient calendars that have the years broken into forty day segments.

You can find this explanation at creation-answers.com “A quite exact cross-reference between the cycle of the solar day and the cycle of the solar year can thus be recognized in the rate of a 40-day cycle--where the rate of 1 day in 40 days is equal to 2.5 percent of time and the rate of 3205 days in 9 years is equal to 97.5 percent of time. (The combination of these two rates of days--when extended perpetually throughout time--can be used to effectively account for 100 percent of the passage of each annual annual circle on the average).”

There are other sources that speak of forty days and you can find out about it at the creation-answers website. Numerology and the cycle of nine relates nicely to the forty day period.

I would like to have a group of people test this theory. If you would sincerely concentrate and focus on affirmations for forty days, and give me feedback it would be greatly appreciated. You can give me the feedback at joe@rijenterprises.com. Here is what I propose you do. Mark the calendar and begin to concentrate with your full intention for forty days. I would appreciate a detailed report of your findings. You should develop affirmations for the forty-day period. You should concentrate, meditate and put your full present intention on this for forty days. I am believing that you will be amazed with the results and will be able to give positive feed back.

Remember. Email me with the results in forty days.

Freeing Your Mind by Roy Heeley; A book review

2009-10-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

I recently read an e-book written by Roy Heeley entitled Freeing Your Mind. It is an excellent read that will help you evaluate your thinking and provide you specific steps to alter your thinking which in turn will help you have a more positive outlook which will bring more positive outcomes in your life. Roy writes about “life sentences” which, is a play on words meaning that we often speak and think things that become self fulfilling prophecies that act like “life sentences” to us. These “life sentences” keep us bound in deleterious thought patterns that continue to manifest things that are not in our best interest and, end up causing us trouble in life.

Here is Roy’s own words about life sentences: “So what are these Life Sentences that I am talking about and affect our lives so significantly? Well as you can imagine from the name, just like a lifetime jail sentence, it’s something that that places you in bondage, holds you captive and controls your life. It’s every bit as confining and limiting as a jail cell but, resides in the confines of the mind, the sub-concious.”

He goes on to provide details that are very helpful in understanding this phenomenon. He helps you identify some of the “life sentences” that may be operating in your mind. Things that people say when you are a child often form these things very deeply. You may have been told that you cannot carry a tune, or you’re no good at math; they can be sentences that adults say to you that keep being repeated until they become a belief that your subconscious mind believes and acts upon.

He also offers techniques that will help to free you from these life sentences ergo, the title Freeing Your Mind. The method that he recommends and uses as a life and motivational coach is EFT by Larry Craig. If you are inclined to look at books like the Secret, The Power of Now and A New Earth, you will do yourself a favor by reading Freeing Your Mind. You can find it here and you can check out Roy’s blog and website. Thanks Roy!

A New Story for a New World: Post III; Atonement 2

2009-09-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Moving on with post three of this series, let me remind you of the genesis of this project. Frank Spencer of KedgeForward challenged, invited as many as would be willing, to blog a new story for a new world. His hope was that the collective story would begin to frame a new way of being and thinking in the twenty-first century.

I have been blogging about how personal mysticism and atonement fit into the new story…at least, my new story. I look at atonement as at-one-ment, i.e., being at one with the source of all that is, God the Father. I think it will be beneficial for me to look at the way the “old story” viewed atonement and contrast that with the way I see it today.

I grew up among fundamentalist Protestants and was introduced to the penal substitutionary theory of atonement for much of my life. Simply put, it posits that mankind fell through Adam and Eve, and that Jesus paid the penalty for the fall and all sin. As I advanced theologically, I began to adopt the Christus Victor theory of the atonement which, basically acknowledges the divine conflict between good and evil that holds humans captive, and looked to Christ as the victor or liberator. Now however, I do not accept either one and look at it a little differently.

The phenomenon that has been called sin by the church is really a condition that is the result of greed. The ego, the alone separate self…the self separated from awareness of the divine connection, is subject to death. Death through the survival instinct brings about the condition of greed. Further reasoning, the knowledge of good and evil, brings the ability to judge into existence and, humans can judge between right and wrong. The problem is that the survival instinct breeds greed. Individuals that are unaware of their eternalness or at the very least not sure about it, feel alone separated from the source of all that is, God the Father. In reality at a deep subconscious level, they judge themselves as inferior and try to avoid it by dwelling on the past or hoping for the future…but never really address the present moment, the place where eternity resides. Outwardly, they judge themselves right and others wrong. In this way, the knowledge of good and evil and mortality work together to create human suffering via separated egos.

So then, Jesus had perfect faith in the source of all that is, Father God. He was able to set aside his ego/self because he was connected by faith to the source. The bible states that he was the first born of many brothers and sisters. He was the first born, the first human that was certain of his eternal connectedness to the Father. He was so sure of this fact that he could completely lay his ego aside even to the point of willingness to die. His death and resurrection demonstrated his eternalness. He realized that he was at-one with God. He was the pattern that would allow us to set our egos aside and believe in our eternalness. Though faith in his story we can have that same faith in our connection to the source of all that is, God the Father.

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs in this project and if you blog, take up the challenge yourself and share your new story for a new world.

A New Story for a New World: Part Two; Atonement 1

2009-09-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

I think that it was fitting that I began this series with a post about do-it-yourself-mysticism because it implies that we jointly and severally, are able to receive creative ways to look at things from the source, the mind at large…i.e., the spiritual eternal oneness. In the past, and especially within Judeo Christian tradition, this has been referred to as revelation. It is a connection with something outside ones self that brings clarity of thought and purpose to the story. It allows the story to be reframed and retooled to be a benefit to a specific situation or occasion. Thus, the scripture as we Christians know it, was as Luther stated, occasional. While I am not trying to be bold and say that I think that I or anyone else is writing scripture, I would argue that the Apostle Paul et. al., did not think that they were writing scripture either…although there is an obscure passage in 2Peter that suggests that they were but, that is more than likely a reflective comment made by some well meaning editor many years distant from Peter.

I want to get back to the point at hand but the previous digression was/is important for framing the ideas to be set forth. The word atonement is rich, perhaps smothered in connotation from the “old story.” It shall be my purpose in this series of posts to create a bridge between Christianity and its view of “a new earth” and Eckhart Tolle’s. Hopefully there will be a connection or a synthesis that will allow a meaningful dialogue of interested parties and so, I hope for a rich reaction, interaction that is made possible so readily in the social media setting. In other words, I think that atonement is an important part of one’s relationship with the source, the mind at large, God, The Father. I list all of these because I think that a more inclusive way of story telling is absolutely critical to synthesis. It will allow diverse belief systems to dialogue and perhaps find common ground that is the experience of all people and will lead toward a “new world” new earth kind of thinking.

Atonement….at-one-ment, being one with the source, God, is “the” necessary ingredient for a personal relationship with deity. In fact, I would argue that it is impossible to have a relationship of any kind with the source without this at-one-ment. It implies a reconciliation between a person and the eternal. In traditional Christian doctrine, the atonement, is the remedy for the fall. I would like to try to create a word at this point and label the fall as the atmanyment, (at-many-ment.) It is the birth of the ego which separates one from the source. Any of you who are students of Tolle recognize this quite readily. In reality the fall is aloneness awareness.

Now in Christian thought, Jesus of Nazareth is the source of at-one-ment. He is the reconciler, that bridges the aloneness and brings one into the realized awareness of being atoned, at one with God. I am going to divide this into digestible chunks as I go along. My first purpose is to demonstrate that there is potential for a common description of how this story can be made a part of our new story for a new world.

Next time, I will begin to look at the historical view of atonement, how it formed the old story and will try to weave ways in which we can see it as a fresh story that will help our spiritual development. I have already run over on this one…I try to keep my posts at the 500 word essay limit. Don’t forget to keep watching the other blogs in this project. KedgeForward, Zoecarnate, Transmillenial Blog and, The Sensual Jesus.

A New Story for A New World: Part One; “do-it-yourself-mysticism”

2009-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from the KedgeForward Blog and Frank Spencer. It’s a great idea and fits in quite well with my goals here on the Freedom Blog. Simply put, Frank is encouraging and challenging as many as will participate to begin to create a new story for a new world. This assumes the obvious. The old story is tired and spent. It is told in yesterday’s language with yesterday’s ideas and quite frankly, it lacks relevance for us today. I know that is what I have experienced in the past as I tried to live out and practice my faith in community. I have shifted, changed course and, am heading to previously unexplored vistas. Well, that is not entirely true…in the earlier college days and for me, that was quite a while ago, I explored these vistas to a degree but without a focus on my personal relationship with Jesus and the Father. Let me state right from the beginning… I have a personal relationship with Jesus and the Father but, do to the old story narrative, and connotation, you will find that my meaning is different than the classic evangelical meaning but, in the ways that are important, it is the same.

So anyway…let me move forward with the sub title/theme, “do-it-yourself-mysticism.” Let me state plainly in the new story context, mysticism is for everyone that wants to develop it. In the old story, it is often relegated to the elders and those that have been given the public approval for spirituality but, I have found over a relatively long life that mysticism has always been something that I could practice if and when I chose to. By mysticism, I mean to partake of the divine nature or to be one with the source of all that is. It means to participate in supernatural healing and deliverance from the snarls and snags of life. While others, influenced by the old story say that one must be prayed up, confessed up and all other kinds of ups, I have found that the source of all that is…Father God, is accessible to all, at all times if we but believe. There have been so many times that I have witnessed the power of God move in and on my behalf when if the truth was known, the elders of the old story would have said it was impossible.

So then, the new story for the new world must emphasize this fact. It is an empirical fact as I can testify of its efficacious reality. It works in the midst of meditation and many other things frowned upon by those married to the old story and the old world. The new story will be far more inclusive than the old story. The new story will unite where the old story divides. But, the new story cannot evolve without a willingness to embrace new ideas……..I hope that the language I have chosen will alert my evangelical friends to the fact that I am still a staunch believer in Jesus…..and that my new age friends will be less afraid of the term Jesus and Father God, and allow old connotations to melt away. You can see other post on this topic at the following blogs: Kedge Forward, Zoecarnate, The Sensual Jesus and, the Transmillenial Blog.

While you are at it check out this video; Frank Spencer

Holosync, The Power of Now, the Law of Attraction, and Christian Faith.

2009-09-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

Looking at the big picture spiritually, there is a way in which all of the above title aspects fit together very well. My wife and I just began the Holosync Program from CenterPoint Research. Essentially, this program uses tones to bring about a deep meditative state. I must admit that after just a few sessions, I am inclined to sing the praises of holosync’s effectiveness. I have never found an easier way to meditate and it produces a deep relaxing state. It is explained in the material that the tones themselves bring about the meditative state. I began to try some experimentation as I use the holosync program and the results are amazing in my view.

Here’s what I have begun to experiment with. During my time of meditation, I make audible affirmations that coincide with the ideas of The Power of Now, A New Earth and the Law of Attraction. I use the meditative state to become aware of me the observer, that is the self that can be aware of the connection to the source in the present moment. I literally become aware of my connectedness to all that is during this time. It is an “I and the Father are one” kind of moment. Likewise, I become acutely aware of the nowness of all time, or to put it another way, of the fact that in reality the only time that exists is the present moment. There is a grand lucidity in all of this that makes me realize that this can be a perfect time of creativity in my thought processes. The affirmations state the positive aspects of what I have in the now. It is more real than the experience outside of the meditative state and, it is the place where I can call into existence or attract those positive aspects that I am seeking.

I speak to health issues, financial issues, business and success issues as I dwell in the meditative state created by the holosync CD. Interestingly enough, I am beginning to be far more comfortable with my Christianity, that is, my relationship with Christ and the Father as I am in this process. It is an integration of the parts of a whole. My faith in Christ is not separate from all of the present moments and when I acknowledge the now, the connection to the source, I realize that it is a connection to the Father.

I have been freaking out some of my evangelical friends and they fear for me…afraid that I am dipping into demonic or satanic practices. This could not be farther from the truth. Actually, in the beginning there was a slight anxiety that I could feel in combining holosync with my faith, but then, I began to remember biblical phrases like “perfect love casts out all fear” and I realized that this is just another vehicle for bringing me into the presence of God. The power and effectiveness of this comes from being able to bring the aspects of the Law of Attraction into this time of great connectedness to the source of all that is. I hope that as time goes on, I will be able to express this in a vocabulary that will really communicate what I mean. I will keep you posted so keep tuning in.

Thinking and Feeling the Combination for Success

2009-09-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

I watched The Secret again last evening. One of the main focuses that I saw running through out the entire video was that it is not enough to just think about your success. You must feel it at the core of your being. Thoughts and feelings must work together to create the great reality you deserve. In the west especially, we are taught and conditioned to be thinking people. If the truth is told, we have established an unwritten law that feelings are bad and should be avoided. We should be rational and think things clearly. But, as Tolle so succinctly points out, the ego has kidnapped the thought process to be focused on non real issues aimed at egoic survival. We think of the past and the future and rarely think about the now, the present moment. We fear the present moment and often see it as our enemy or a means to a future end. It makes sense then to me that ,the visualization (attracting) that we do must be in the present and it must involve both thought and feelings. It must be focused in the present moment. We must see the possession of what we desire now. We must realize that time is not really existent in the eternal nature of absolute spiritual reality.

This will allow us to think about the fact that we have this success (whatever it is, car, home, money) now, and it must be linked to the good feelings that are caused by the realization of this fact. We must visualize the thing that we are attracting to be a reality right now and we must then acknowledge how it makes us feel. The feeling will be joyous and peaceful. One thing that I am finding in writing this is that it is difficult to put into writing a spiritual awareness. I just spoke with my wife while writing and she said that the reason is that we, humanity, are on the verge of awakening. It is only in the now that one can be the observer of the self. In the present moment you can be set apart from your ego and view all of your thoughts and feelings in an objective way. This is the place where you should do your visualization and affirmation, seeing it as a present, now moment and then allowing you the observer to think and feel about the thing you are attracting. This will greatly strengthen the attraction.

Awareness is just the first step on this journey to becoming completely conscious and a participant with the source in the creation process. It is an important step and I think that the combination of thought and feeling will make the law of attraction work for you.

The Law of Attraction and Social Media Networking

2009-08-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

If any of you business owners are interested in the Law of Attraction or, if any of you Law of Attraction enthusiasts are interested in being entrepreneurs, consider this. Social media networking is a perfect way to allow the universe to bring your positive affirmations to fruition. I don’t want to downplay the role that hard work plays in success but, one must also acknowledge that positive thinking and affirmation are a big part of success also. If any of you are interested in the word of faith or prosperity movement, just so you know, positive confession is affirmation. In fact, it should be obvious that the individuals who used “The Secret” so well were masters at networking. So then, it should naturally follow that since social media has become the powerful networking force that it is, it only makes sense that one who is trying to take advantage of thought creativity should use the social media networks as an important tool. I guess one could call it spirituality 2.0.

Since we see at the molecular level that all that we come in contact with, all that we own and participate in, where we live and work, what we drive, where we sleep, and all of our recreation including the beautiful scenery we enjoy on vacation is merely vibrating energy; It may behoove us to consider positive thought process in all that we say and do. The “law of attraction” guru’s all tell us that we can create our success in life. They state that we can bring positive vibrations into our energy fields that create reality for us. If this is true, and I believe that there is a lot of truth to it, then, it makes perfect sense to incorporate a social media strategy in all that we do so that it will make it easier for the universe, the source, to create prosperity and success.

Next time you form a connection with some one think about how you can benefit them in creating success and likewise how they can help you to bring about the success you desire. I think that this kind of a “what can I give” attitude will go a long way toward bringing prosperity and success your way. So then, socialize your self all you want….it has a “Secret” purpose.

The Pain Body and Demonology; The Cure Redemption

2009-08-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

In re-reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, chapter six, “Breaking Free,” the story that he tells about counseling a woman with a dense pain body and the events that followed remind me a lot of what Charismatic Christians say about demons and exorcism. The conclusion one would have to draw is that the collective pain body as Tolle refers to it is a spiritual entity with a maleficent mission. He even suggested that when the woman was able to release some of it, that it perhaps followed along with him to a restaurant and found a willing participant there.

This brings me to the idea of spiritual evil and pain. It certainly seems, if one looks at the nightly news or the cable news channels, that humanity is encumbered with a strong influence of evil. Further, when you look at road rage and, the apparent rage that is generated on both sides of the political spectrum within the health care debate, one must wonder if we are improving or digressing. It seems rather apparent to me that there is definitely a spiritual entity in this world that could be labeled evil or bad. And, it seems that this entity has the capability of taking people over at times. From the earliest times of western civilization it was called demons or the devil. Most all societies have a belief in evil spirits.

So then, it appears that there was at some point in time, some kind of a spiritual fall in humanity that begat the evil that we experience. Tolle explains it as being the development of the ego. In his view, although he does not state this to my knowledge, the devil, Satan is the ego. I like that definition. The survival instinct is the driving force of greed and, greed is the source of all pain and suffering. It was when we inherited the survival instinct coupled with the knowledge of good and evil, or in other words, the ability to judge right from wrong in our minds that the ego began. It came into being to justify why our efforts toward surviving was right and just, and, why when our survival came in conflict with another’s survival it was this ability to judge ourselves as right and the other as wrong that caused the development of ego.

This is why redemption is so important. Whether one can regain the relationship with the source through believing in the cross of Christ, or if they can become present and realize that they are an intricate part of the source, in other words, an intricate part of God, it does not seem to matter. This however is what is necessary for eliminating the pain body and exorcising the devil/ego. This must come from a sure knowledge that we are eternal, that we are considered okay and loved by God, the source and, that we have a purpose and, that purpose is to bring consciousness of the God within into the natural world. Our absolute faith in our eternal state, in our acceptance with God is the very thing that will overcome the greed and thereby help us release the pain body that the ego has caused.

Emergent; Emergent Church, Emergent Creativity, Emergent Marketing: The Emerging Age

2009-08-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

There is a radical shift taking place in all of humanity. This awareness comes from a knowing deep within. It is reflected in the hopes of many people in various walks of life with varying focus but, it all points to the fact that on the horizon, just ahead there is great change coming. It comes with the millennial shift as a new age is dawning. It will be an age where the whole person, the whole brain, the whole of society will rise to a heightened awareness with a shift to wholeness of being and wholeness of purpose. It is under way and irreversible.

In the former age, people, families, governments and businesses were compartmentalized. We as individuals have/had one way of being at work, one way of being at home with family, another way of being in church or social groups. I believe that all of these ways of being are becoming merged into a whole. This is certainly suggested by Eckhart Tolle in The New Earth, but as I explore the emerging scene, I find that there are those on the radical front that are already incorporating the spiritual with the natural in new areas, especially in business and marketing. They are suggesting that one, anyone can tap the creative source, the mind at large, God if you will allow that term. While they do not use the term, they point toward the intuitive in a way that validates the idea of the muses.

This shift, as Tolle points out is a shift in awareness of being. We are more than the sum of our parts. It will be interesting to watch how our institutions will react to this shift. I am sure that some will radically oppose the shift and will fight against it every step of the way. In the end however, it will only be those who surrender to the shift that will find that the change will happen painlessly and quietly.

This is a critical time. It is a time to reflect and reevaluate. It is a time to learn and grow and mostly, it is a time of incredible opportunity!

Nuance VS. Tradition

2009-08-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

I was a speaker at a conference over the weekend, one of several. It was a conference on evangelism. The setting was an inner city ministry in the San Francisco Bayview District. My goal was to give a fresh perspective on evangelism and discipleship as I see the two inextricably linked. They are two sides of the coin of church/kingdom growth. Since it was a mixture, it seemed to me that the topics sort of canceled each other. In the past, I would have been angry and would have tried to fight against those ideas that I thought were counter productive. Since reading A New Earth by Eric Tolle, I see things differently.

Instead of being up tight, I readily accepted the conference for what it was, i.e. all that it was. An interesting thing happened as a result of that. The course of events evolved to the point where I was able to connect with someone who could really benefit from my understanding...point of view. So, when I was able to recognize my ego getting up-tight and then by simple awareness let go and relax, it all worked out miraculously.

The problem I see with much of evangelical Christianity is, many people cannot distinguish between nuance and tradition when interpreting the bible. It seems that so many think that they can literally understand the bible and that its message is plain. I say that it is only really plain when one looks through the lens of tradition...and then, it is not really plain, but it is easy to pick out the plain traditional message. Furthermore, when people find the Spirit of God, whispering an idea that does not square with the traditional view of interpretation, they discard the voice of the Spirit and sometimes even credit the Spirits promptings with the voice of the Devil.

I believe that the Spirit is showing me by nuance, a slight difference that ends up making a drastic distinction in interpretation. The bible in my view is solely redemptive in its message. It is designed to bring the individual to the point of understanding the great love of God and the lengths that God went to have a relationship with humanity. In the nuance, I see that it does not really support the egoic group constructs that divide so many. I have also learned that I need to let go and allow God to change the situation. He acheives that through me at times one person at a time.

Health Care Reform WWJD

2009-08-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

From time to time there arises a political issue that I cannot pass up. The healthcare issue is it for me right now. I cannot believe that there are any people who object to a public option for healthcare. It seems so obvious to me that the politicians who are against the public option and, healthcare reform in general are indebted to the insurance companies. I guess I shouldn't get started on the subject of large corporations and what they are doing to us. One thing is certain, they are not interested in benefiting us common people. They are interested in making as much money and building up as much profits as is possible.

The truth is that we should have a government operated single payer plan here in our country but, I guess we will have to settle for a public option. I would think that the middle class would rise up with anger at those who are trying to thwart the advancement of significant healthcare reform. My goodness gracious...did I say it was obvious that the insurance companies are trying to maintain their profit at the expense of the poor, the uninsured and finally the middle class. Certainly we pay the price for all of the people that insurance companies will not cover. We pay it in higher health care costs.

Next, when the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats claim that health care will hurt small businesses I think to myself...give me a break! You cannot be serious! A public option would allow small business employers to forget healthcare all together. They would not have to pay for the insurance of their employees period. I suggest that we all look at who is receiving money from the insurance companies and then reach the reasonable conclusion that they are not looking out for us!

Finally, what would Jesus do? Well, read Matthew 25:31-46 and I think you will see that Jesus was all about making sure that we take care of the underpriviledged and less fortunate. In fact, it was selfishness that would cause one to not make it into the kingdom (Matt 25:46). And, for the law of attraction, generosity begets prosperity.

The Self, The Flesh, The Ego

2009-08-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Eckhart Tolle, in his book A New Earth writes about the ego...egoic mind and explains how that keeps us acting in an unconscious manner. According to Tolle, and I believe him, the ego...egoic mind prevents us from experiencing a greater sense of our purpose, of our connection to the source, God and, to the peace and fulfillment that we were created to have. In my view, from a Christian paradigm, it is the ego that keeps us from being aware of the Christ within each of us and, keeps us in what Paul called the flesh and what we have come to call the self.

The ego, the flesh, the self want to be in control of all situations. In fact, we feel helpless and anxious when the self/ego is not in control. The self/ego is our seperateness. It is what distinguishes us from others. It is part of our survival instinct. The ego does not want to surrender to God and his ultimate goodness. It keeps us fearful of what may happen when we are not in control, but, as Tolle points out so graphically, our ego/self/flesh is an illusion. It is really not in control at all... not really.

Therefore, dying to flesh is really dying to the ego...egoic mind, the self. In the beginning of our transformation, it is merely recognizing the ego whenever it shows itself. It is recognizing that there is no past or future but really only "right now." It is in the "now" that we begin to experience the Christ within us. One has to be focused on the Christ within right now. Now, whenever now is for you is really the only time you can experience the Christ within. Tolle points out that we cannot rid ourselves of the ego by our actions or by our doing anything. There is no solution except to be aware that we are connected to the source, his words, I would choose to say the Christ within but in any event, there is no way to be transformed by our connectedness to the Christ within except for seeking it and communing with it in the present moment. We can do this in every present moment. As we recognize our ego, self, flesh for what it is, acknowledge it and then transfer our attention to the Christ within, this is the mechanism for transformation.

So then listen you Christian, you disciple of Jesus Christ, you cannot transform yourself by conforming to written rules and regulations. You can only be transformed when you recognize the self, flesh, ego and surrender it to the Christ within in the present moment. The more consistantly you do this the greater the outward transformation will be and the sooner self, ego, the flesh will die off.

Meditative Prayer

2009-07-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

I have recently found that what I call meditative prayer is a very effective technique for my personal prayer time. I call it meditative prayer because I use some of the meditative techniques to prepare for and participate in the prayer. I begin by taking deep breaths and talking my way through the process. Initially, I take three deep breaths to concentrate on my breathing. I instruct my self and my wife as she often participates with me in each of the steps. I will say, "take three deep breaths.....inhale....exhale" and I will repeat this all three times. Next, I tell myself and who ever may be participating with me to stop the dialogue in the mind. I will say just cut off all of the thought chatter and concentrate on your breathing. These techniques tend to bring one into awareness of what is happening right now...at the very moment.

I continue then with relaxation instructions beginning with the feet. This technique can be used either by one sitting down in a chair or by one lying flat on his or her back. I will say, relax all the muscles in the feet and feel the stress of the day and life begin to flow out of the feet. These verbal instructions tend to cause a heightened awareness of the body part spoken of and it begins to tingle and feel very alive. Step by step, the instructions move on to the ankles, thighs and up the body torso to the tip of the head. It is important to mention the neck, forehead and cheeks.

Next in the process is instructions to begin to feel that the Holy Spirit will quicken (bring life) to the physical body. I actually acknowledge this out loud and the awareness comes into being. Of course we realize that this is a scriptural reality promised to all believers but, it helps immensely to become aware of it. You can really begin to feel your body come to life and you can feel a pulsing sensation through out your body and overall you become more and more aware and in tune with the present moment, the now. This is a good time to openly acknowledge the forgiveness that has been received via Christ and furthermore, it is important to recall the things forgiveness is needed for and acknowledge that you also forgive yourself and others. Forgiveness is very important in spiritual growth.

The idea behind all of this is to reduce the thought process and begin to commune on a spiritual level. I find that it really works. The next step that I often take, not always but often is to encourage my spirit to begin to praise God in tongues. The Spirit has allowed me to see that one of the major benefits of unknown tongues is to stop the thinking process and allow the spirit to commune with the Father in the now, i.e., the present moment.

Finally, I begin to thank God for all of my blessings and his goodness and love. I thank and worship him for his kingdom and all that is happening in the realm of spiritual growth. I have felt the anointing rush in my hands and course through my body. It is at this juncture that I totally allow the Spirit to take over and sometimes I will pray for others, sometime I will pray for healing...whatever the Spirit directs that is what I do.

One thing I can say for certain is that I find it to be a powerful experience!

New Age

2009-07-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

I find that many of my Christian friends are fearful of the term "New Age" and see it as something to be avoided at all costs. That seems a little curious to me from a group that were the original "new agers." The ushering in of Christianity two thousand years ago brought to fruition a new age that has lasted for two thousand years. It was a shift in worship and awareness of God. It was a major shift in who could worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. It was a shift that brought about a new kind of mysticism and relationship with God. It was the "age to come" that was spoken of so often in the New Testament writings. It was prophesied by the great prophet Isaiah who speaking for God wrote, spoke, "behold I do a new thing." Still, when one considers any of the ideas that have come to be labled "new age" many Christians become mortified fearful that hell and damnation is at the very door.

A new age is just that it is a new age. It is a shift in spirituality and awareness of our connection to the God of the universe the ONE creative source of all that is. We are on the dawn, will I scare you if I use the term cusp of a "new age." It is dawning right now! It is so ripe that one can smell it in the air. It is a fragrance of change and the transformation of humanity yet again. Even among some of the most calcitrant evangelicals there is blossoming a new awareness of the Christ within. You can hear more and more of them acknowledging that they can be just like Jesus in this world. There is a longing for the kingdom to manifest in greater power.

Correct me if I am wrong, but one of the main focuses of Christianity is the Holy Spirit and therefore, it is a focus of spirituality and spirit. I think that we can safely embrace the spirit to guide us into all truth. There is much of the truth that is still shrouded from our awareness. Light will illuminate it. Sometimes it takes explorers to uncover new frontiers to later inhabit. There are many explorers that are venturing out into new awareness of spirit and connectedness to the source of all that is. I celebrate this and continue in the spirit of exploration. Maybe we should lighten up just a little with some of our fears. We could possibly miss out on a new land flowing with milk and honey.

One with the Father

2009-07-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." He also said, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Now then, what does it mean to be one with the Father? Well, for Jesus it meant that he had prefect communion with the Father. Jesus meant for us to be one with the Father just as he was. Yes, that means being one with God; one with the source. That is what we were meant to be. We were meant to have total communion with the Father and to be one with the source. Not disconnected but one with him.

It also means being one with the Father now. Not in the sweet bye and bye; Not someday but right now and always in every now. When we commune with the source we are timeless. In the now with the Father there is only timeless eternity. There is a lot to be gained by reading Eckhart Tolle's *The Power of Now.* The book is devoted to explaining why and how one should be connected to the source in the now. Paul wrote now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Unfortunately, all to often, we allow our minds to keep us in the past or day dreaming of the future.

We tell ourselves that tomorrow we will be successful; we will be happy if only we have this or do that. Friend, the time to be successful and happy is now. In the presence of the Lord there is complete peace and it is something that you experience now. You may remember that you experienced it yesterday but to have peace one has to have it now, in the present moment. Being one with the Father is acknowledging the presence of God; feeling that presence now. Not tomorrow or when you get your life straignt but you must feel the presence of Him now. I encourage you to take time for meditative prayer. Not a prayer where you are asking for something but, a prayer of silence where you are acknowledging the presence of God in the now, in the present. That is what presence means it means that you experience God in the present because he is present.

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part III

2009-07-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

In Part II we discovered that faith is the only way to overcome the greed brought about by the survival instinct. It is in this that Jesus of Nazareth became the first born among many brothers/sisters. If we can truly believe, rest in the certain knowing that we are eternal, then and only then can we transcend the ego and become selfless or unselfish. This was Jesus true obedience. He had perfect faith and, his perfect faith was his obedience. He was able to completely transcend ego. We are told in John's gospel account that Jesus didn't do anything unless he was told to do it by the Father. In this way, Jesus was completely connected to the source. He achieved this via the Holy Spirit, that is to say, the Spirit of God had connected perfectly with his spirit. That was the Christ nature that Jesus had. It is the same Christ/anointing that is promised to the believer. It is the Christ that indwells us and is our hope of glory. Faith in Jesus is what gives us the Christ anointing. If we will truly accept with a deep knowing that we have this Christ in us, the Christ will give life to our natural body.

If we stay connected to the source at all times via the Christ, then we are made alive in the spirit and it is this spiritual life that will bring healing and deliverance. In fact, this is the only place in which humanity can receive true deliverance. It is a deliverance that enables us to transcend the ego just as Jesus did. The scripture also states that as Jesus was in the world so are we. We are if we stay connected to the source by acknowledging the Christ in each of us. It is truly the hope of our glory. It is the hope and the source of the transformation that is approaching. This transformation is a shift in the spirit. It is a shift from the ego to the spirit. It is a shift from greed to selfless love; the agape love of God the source. It is all by virtue of the indwelling Christ which is another way of saying the indwelling ever present spirit of God; our connection to the source.

Herein lies deliverance, healing and the transcendence of the ego. Herein lies the kingdom of God and the shift from ego to anointing. Jesus is the pattern. Let us acknowledge the ever presence of the source, God and thereby we connect to it.

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part II

2009-07-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

In part I we found that the knowledge of good and evil, coupled with mortality or death was/is the cause of most of the suffering in the world. This is at least true of all of the suffering caused by humanity against members of the human race. And furthermore, a future discussion could prove that we, via the same fallen state, are responsible collectively for the suffering caused by nature but, that is another article. This suffering stems from the greed that results from human mortality. This greed is merely the survival instinct left unchecked. This condition creates faulty judgment of what is good and what is evil in the world. Therefore, many times, when people think that they understand good and how to achieve it, they actually are clueless as to what true good is. True good is found in absolute justice and fairness. All of the great religions teach that God is good and just. Jesus stated that there is none good but God. So then, if one is to determine what is truely good, one must be in communication with God or the source of creation. Some people call it the mind at large or collective consciousness. What ever the case, the true knowledge of good can only come from the source. One finds that goodness is the nature of God.

What is the nature of God you may ask? Well, the apostle John stated that God is love. God is selfless love. The apostle Paul describes this love with the following definition: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." It seems that human nature is the opposite of these things. There is no way that natural humanity can fulfill these statements by nature, unless, they gain the qualities of God or the source. If we are made in the image of God, if we are inhabited by the divine, if the divine nature is our true nature then it should be possible for us to have these qualities.

This is where redemption comes into place. Redemption brings us back to the state we enjoyed before we were born into this world. If we are part of the eternal, and I believe we are with all my heart, then we have these timeless qualities. We need to connect with them however. The way to do that is to be able to transcend our mortality. We must be convinced, i.e., know for certain, that we are eternal. This can only be accomplished by faith. We must have faith in the eternal goodness and purpose of God. Furthermore, we must be convinced that we are children of God with a direct connection to the source of creation and the ultimate creating power of the universe and finally, we must rest completely in this knowing. It is not a mental assent. It is not an intellectual knowing. It is a spiritual knowing at the very base of our spiritual existence. It must come from the indwelling Christ/anointing.

In Part III we will look at the role Jesus of Nazareth played in this redemptive process and find out what is meant by the phrase, "the first born of many brethren."

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part I

2009-07-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

When one looks at the violence in the world; at wars and man's inhumanity to man it becomes obvious that we humans suffer from some sort of pathology. I actually prefer the word pathology to the term sin. the term sin has developed a religious connotation over time that I do not think was intended in its original use. Both of the scriptural words translated as sin have essentially the same meaning. CHATA, the Hebrew word translated sin and HAMARTIA the Greek word translated sin have similar meanings. CHATA means to miss the way and HAMARTIA means to miss the mark. In my view this means that one misses the mark or way in terms of God's intention; It means to miss the intention of the creative source of the universe whether one calls it God, the creative source, or the collective consciousness. I like to think of it and describe it as humanities pathology.

So then, how did this pathology enter into the life and affairs of humans? It appears that there was/is some kind of fall. It was/is a falling away from the intention of God. It seems an obvious conclusion to draw whenever one looks at the local or national news broadcasts. The symptoms and results of our pathology seems to be everywhere all the time. Certainly it is not the result of the prototypes eating a certain forbidden fruit. That is a metaphor and the story is an allegory. The creation story however has some interesting truths about it. The fruit is the knowledge of good and evil and the punishment for partaking is death. It would be fair to characterize the reason for the fall, as the combination of the ability to discern good from evil, along side the ever present fact of mortality. These seem to be conditions brought on by the four dimensional universe and self awareness.

Further, it seems that the knowledge of good and evil coupled with mortality are responsible for most of the evil in the world. Death creates the need for the survival instinct. The survival instinct promotes greed. In the animal world this is merely a fact and the strongest deadliest predators triumph over the weaker species. But, when you add the element of the knowledge of good and evil, and one realizes that living is good and death is bad; that abundance is good and scarcity is bad, judgment comes into being. Judgment is a good thing if one judges fairly. However, humans with the survival instinct tend to judge erroneously in favor of themselves. They use the knowledge of good and evil to justify themselves over others. Therefore, the knowledge of good and evil, combined with the human ego controlled by the survival instinct, causes humans to exercise faulty judgment. We end with the situation where those with power judge and, by virtue of the power can cause their judgment to stand. This is the source of much of the suffering in the world. We have looked at the pathology, the sin. Tomorrow we will look at the redemption and a possible cure.

The Mystery of Christ in You

2009-07-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

The Apostle Paul wrote about a mystery that was being revealed in his day. It was the concept of Christ dwelling in the saints. We all have that ability to connect directly to the source of all that is. The creative source of the universe. It is the Christ, anointing that dwells within us. It lays dormant only because we do not recognize and exercise it. All of the power we need for life is found in this source, It is that part of us that is divine. Peter explained that we become partakers of the divine nature. I personally don't think that we fully appreciate and understand what that means. We, are too often guided by religious connotations imposed by the thinking and thought processes of men and women.

What it really means is that in each of us is the essence of the Christ or anointing that Jesus of Nazareth had. It will not be manifest unless we truly believe we possess it. We need to exercise the gift and realize that it is ever present and that we by virtue of this connection to the source are ever in the presence of God. Jesus demonstrated the way to access this. He completely set his ego aside when he died on the cross. The concept of dying to self is dying to ego. It is dying to being right and defending our rightness. Jesus surrendered his ego to those who wanted to do him harm. He was able to do this because of his unique connection to the source. Through him, we have that same connection to the divine and we can set our egos aside through faith.

Faith is the action that allows us to set our egos aside....to completely trust in a loving Father that wants the best for us always. We can surrender to the source.... Surrender to the source means setting our ego driven world aside. We may not be tested to the point of death, but connecting to and, believing in our connectedness to the eternal source will enable us to face the trials of life and emerge victorious.

God loves his creatures.....He loves us and wants us to acknowledge the Christ in us, knowing that it is our source of glory. The Kingdom of God is within us and at hand! Celebrate!

The Primal Dream

2009-05-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

the primal dream

energy, thought, inseparable,
conceived the primal dream
substance gave it life
thus, physical existence was born
at first, hydrogen
clouds swirling, condensing growing warmer
warmer still, heat rising
fusion
birthing helium,
the heavier elements the same
ever so slowly, so slow
exploding, condensing
exploding, condensing
building blocks of stars and planets
enjoying a rhythmic dance
thought, the catalyst
energy of the universe
thoughts from the mind of God
perfection of knowing all
limited
limited by choice,
flowing from the center through stages
growth and learning
striving for perfection in corporeal reality
advancing, growing tired,
resting in the mind of God
cyclical
circular
the dance of life
God’s dance!

The Primal Dream
How the diagram and poem came about

One evening, in the seventies, I dreamed and it was a particularly vivid dream. During the course of the dream, I walked on thick dark green carpet, ate a piece of birthday cake and conversed and touched several people. When I awoke, the details were vivid in my mind and I was struck with this thought. During the time that I was dreaming, I was locked in the reality of the dream. I could actually taste the birthday cake. I felt the plush carpet. It was thicker than anything I had experienced. In other words, my mind had created corporeal reality.

Now then, had anyone observed me during the dream, no doubt they would have reported that I was lying asleep next to my wife and was not eating birthday cake. I had not just been to a birthday party so it was not something that I was rehashing. I then realized that since I was locked into that reality for the duration of the dream, that it was quite likely that my life and existence was a part of God’s dream, and that further, I was a limited part of God dreaming my own existence yet locked into the dream for the duration of my life.

I then began to examine the reasons for my existence. It came to me that God, being all knowing and eternal was confined to perfection in the state of being God. I reasoned that this existence would in fact be boring. There would essentially be no challenges. Within an eternal existence there is really no morality. God is not immoral or moral. God is amoral. God cannot die. God is eternal.

However, if God were to limit a part of itself, and create a corporeal reality within a multi-dimensional universe, and set for itself a problem to solve, then boredom would be alleviated. One such problem could be to try to advance through many lives, trying to create the perfection in corporeal reality that exists in the eternal God realm. Within this realm, this dream world, God would create linear time and bring about a finite time for existence. To make it even more interesting, God could completely limit the knowledge in the first pass through corporeal reality. This would make this life quite primitive and not very godlike. God would also provide challenges that would cause the lifetime to be interesting. First, many of the challenges would be linked to survival.

Slowly over time and many life experiences, the part of God locked into a specific dream cycle would learn things. Knowing that the goal was to create the perfection of the eternal in the physical the things learned would be carried over from one life experience to another. This would readily explain why some people are more evolved spiritually than others. I had reasoned that in my family, i.e., my siblings, my brothers and sisters were at different places on the evolution of awareness. We all had the same environment so there must be a different explanation for us being at different stages in spiritual development. I reasoned that it could be that we were at different stages in the progression of God’s dreams. Some had more experience and depth than others.

Finally, after many, many, many cycles of trying to obtain the spiritual perfection of God in the corporeal world, one would realize that it was impossible. At that point of surrender, one would be willing to re-enter the center of all knowing rest and relaxation; But not for ever, just to catch the spiritual breath, and then to plunge headlong into another cycle of dreams.

President Obama’s budget and Proverbs 29:2

2009-03-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

In the reversal of Reaganomics, and “greed is good” economical thinking, President Barack Obama, is reminding me of the substance of Proverbs 29:2. The verse states that “when the righteous, i.e., (just) increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”

What does it mean to apply the biblical meaning of justice today? Let’s look at some passages of scripture. Isa 3:13-15 The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples. (14) The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: "It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. (15) What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of hosts. And Amo 5:10-12 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. (11) Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. (12) For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

It is obvious that it is just to be concerned about all Americans. It is just to want to set aside money to fund universal health care. It is just to fund education and a safety net for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own. I am greatly encouraged, as I hear news commentators, all agreeing that the Obama Presidency is advocating an economic sea change. It is refreshing to hear that we are embarking on an era of compassion, responsibility and concern for others in government policy.

I also find it strange that the bulk of evangelical conservatives have bought into the idea that Reaganomics and “greed is good” economical thinking is just in the eyes of God. I think it comes from their twisted interpretation of scripture. Funny, I don’t see where the bible favors conservative individualistic economics. This should be especially true in view of Amos five and the first six chapters Isaiah. These passages condemn Israel for their injustice against the poor and the fact that they have acquired wealth at the expense of the poor.

They conveniently overlook the purpose of scripture with its totally redemptive focus, and furthermore, they disregard the multitude of scripture aimed at justice and mistreatment of the poor.

What are the three main focus messages of the bible? Redemption, Redemption, Redemption!

2008-12-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Is the bible a rule book, an ethical treatise, or is it the story of redemption? My answer is it is the story of redemption absolutely! Forget what is stated in the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy and its adamant assertion that the bible is not solely redemptive. It depends on whose view one takes. Jesus view was that it was solely redemptive and he passed this view onto his followers. By redemptive, I mean that it explains God’s desire to have a restored relationship with humans who were redeemed back to the status that mankind had when God looked at the human creature he created and stated that he/she were very, very good.

There are many proofs of this and it would take a dissertation to prove the thesis. What I want to acknowledge here is the fact that Jesus and his followers always defined the word of God, as one of two things. It was either the gospel (good news of redemption) or it was Jesus the living incarnate word of God. Further, it was never the scripture. It is amazing to me that Christian theologians have defined the bible as the word of God.

Under the old covenant, it is true that the Jews saw the Torah (first five books of the Law) as the word of God but not the entire Tanakh (thirty-nine book Old Testament). The fact remains that in the new covenant era, Jesus and his apostles referred to Jesus and the gospel alone as the word of God. This gives a strictly redemptive purpose to the bible as seen by Jesus (John 5:39-40 & Luke 24:27;44-45) and a quick search of the phrase word of God in the New Testament and it becomes clear that the focus is the gospel of redemption.

I cringe every time I hear an evangelical call the bible the word of God.

A Warning to the Evangelical Church:

2008-01-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

A Warning to the Evangelical Church:

Today, John Edwards left the presidential race and for good reason. He did not have the support needed to win. Why was that? I believe that it was because the causes he was fighting for are not really important to most Americans, especially the evangelical church. I realize that John Edwards did not represent himself as an evangelical, but the issues that he emphasized are the issues that Jesus emphasized

John Edwards was a champion for the poor and disenfranchised and so was Jesus. John Edwards spoke of the hunger and lack that we have in this country. He said that he was looking for one America, not a divided America, and that one of the signs of One America would be “One America where no child will go to bed hungry because we will finally end the moral shame of 37 million people living in poverty.”

To me, it is a moral shame that the evangelical church finds it necessary to take a moral stance on abortion, homosexuality, and the family, and then, completely ignores the moral shame of poverty in our midst. This is especially in view of Jesus words in Matthew 25:31-46, “when you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it unto me.”

This is an even further shame, when the basis for judgment is whether or not one feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, gives shelter to the homeless, refreshes the thirsty and visits the sick and prisoners. The fact that a man like John Edwards can be completely ignored speaks of the moral shame of America the Beautiful.

Jesus Mission Statement; Isaiah 61:1-4

2007-11-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

According to Luke chapter four, Jesus Himself saw this passage as His mission statement:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

(Isa 61:1-4)

There are many facets to this declaration. First, there is a way in which this must be seen spiritually for each person who will put faith in the redemption wrought in Jesus Christ. That is, good news for the poor in spirit, brokenhearted because of sin and its consequences, and the announcement of freedom from Satan's prison.

Still, it is more than that. It is a call for social justice. I think of the inner city and the ministries that serve this population.

Certainly the cities have been ruined by the devastations of many generations, certainly there is ample opportunity for repair. It is sad that the focus of evangelical Christianity has been only spiritual. Again, I am not diminishing the importance of rebirth of each individual but, that should not be pursued at the expense of the natural life.

If one reads the Prophets, Psalms, and Proverbs, it should be glaringly clear that ancient Israel's greatest sin, aside from idolatry, was mistreatment of the poor. Justice was subverted from the poor and the rulers and judges were open to bribery. Financial status, could buy justice. There was no justice in the gates. We must remember that the gate was symbolic of the government. Ancient Israel was ruled and judged by the elders in the gate. The gate was the seat of commerce.

Let us not forget the words of Jesus, I was hungry and you fed me, naked and you clothed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, homeless and you took me in, sick and in prison and you visited me. We should begin to take better care of our Lord!

Learning a Theology Lesson from Dr. King

2007-11-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

On August 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, delivered his epic “I have a dream” speech on the mall in Washington D.C. I would like to offer a quote from this speech that shows the brilliant, if not so subtle, criticism of Christianity at the time. It was a reference that he made in the speech. Here’s the quote:

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only."* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹”

The scripture passage that he used in the above quote is from Amos chapter five. The exact clause is “until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” I would like to include the scripture passage where this quote is taken from, so that I may give it the context, that no doubt Dr. King, wanted it to have.

They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: "In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, 'Alas! Alas!' They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

(Amo 5:10-24ESV)

As you read the above passage, it should become clear that Dr. King was showing any and all who would listen and hear, that the white religious establishment in the south, was truly hypocritical, and that if they would in fact read the warnings that God had given Israel through the prophet Amos, they would have been given pause considering their treatment of fellow African American Christians. The gate is symbolic for government and commerce. Amos was telling Israel that their national sin was injustice.

As I look at the current situation here in the richest country in the world, we have not made much progress since the days of Dr. King some forty-four years ago. There is little concern for the poor and disenfranchised. Taxes are still exacted at the expense of the poorest Americans. Most of our charity efforts, allows too much of the finances meant to help with the distribution to the poor, to be consumed by unnecessary administrative costs. All to often in our courts, justice is not available for the poor but can be bought by the wealthy. If God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and I believe He is, then we as a country, as Christians, should reflect on the fact that God brought judgment to Israel because of the warnings of the prophet Amos.

When will we let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a might stream?

Faith Working Through Love

2007-11-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be good to explore what the phrase *faith working through love* means. How does faith work through love?

It begins with God's LOVE/AGAPE. It is summed up in this verse and thought.

Rom 5:20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

The concept that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more shows the Father's unconditional love for His creation. Forget the retort "should we sin so that grace may abound? God forbid" for a minute. The fact is this, to the one who is truly SEEKING the Lord, there is NO LIMIT to the Father's mercy and grace and this translates into AGAPE/love.

Now then, where does faith come in? Well, when one TRULY GRASPS the Father's unconditional love, this causes them to genuinely love the Father and Christ Jesus. In other words, when one apprehends by faith, trust and confidence, this causes a love for God to well up inside them producing Love for God. This love for God begins to constrain the individual to begin to do the works prepared before the foundation of the world. The Spirit has told me that as we busy ourselves with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving shelter to the homeless and visiting the sick and prisoners, we will be too busy and tired to do so much sinning. :)

Again, using David as an example, David believed in the mercy of the Father and knew that God was a forgiving God. God then testified through the Prophet Samuel, "David is a man after my own heart."

Death Swallowed By Victory

2007-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

I would like to share a partial preterist reading of First Corinthians chapter 15. To begin with, I am positing that this would be a way of looking at it with respect to national Israel and the Old Covenant. I want to point out that I am leaving the door open for future spiritual fulfillments.

1Co 15:23-26 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (24) Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. (25) For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (26) The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

I believe that when he speaks of destroying every rule and authority and power he is speaking of the Jewish system, the Sanhedrin and the temple complex. The temple complex was the center of all rule, authority and power. Now then, within the context of this passage, the last enemy, death, is the ministry of death, the Old Covenant.

Paul is speaking here of the TORAH of sin and death. When the Jews rejected Jesus the Messiah, they in effect rejected the TORAH of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Certainly, in Jesus ministry, his only enemies were the ruling Jews. They are the ones who crucified the Lord of glory. The great symbol of the TORAH of sin and death was the temple.

Further, Peter declared; "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers."

(1Pe 4:7) It was the expectation of all the apostles and disciples of Jesus, the expectation of the rabbis, the expectation of the Qumran community that in fact, the END OF ALL THINGS was at hand.

1Co 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

We find in Colossians, that in the glorified Christ, all of the fullness of the God Head dwells bodily. Jesus was in the "Son capacity" during the incarnation only. In fact, the concept of the trinity is only applicable during the incarnation. Following the reasoning in Col 2:9 and John 17:21, God is in fact the all in all.

1Co 15:35-37 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" (36) You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. (37) And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

1Co 15:50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

The two above passages demonstrate that it is a Spiritual existence that we are transformed into. In fact, the kingdom will NOT be operated by those of flesh and blood. It was a spiritual kingdom during the book of Acts prior to the judgment of the Jews and the end of the Old Covenant and it will be a spiritual kingdom after that also.

1Co 15:54-58 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is

written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." (55) "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (56) The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (57) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

How was death swallowed up in victory in 70AD? Well, the TORAH of sin and death, that is the sacrificial system was done away with never to return. The only TORAH left was the TORAH OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus. Death was swallowed up in victory. It has no sting.

The strength of sin was the TORAH of sin and death.

Election Reflection

2006-11-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

I can recall when Newt Gingrich and Dick Army stood on the Capitol Steps with other republican congressmen and pledged a contract with America. The promise was to reduce the debt and to bring the federal bureaucracy under control. The contract took many of its promises from the State of the Union Speech, Ronald Reagan gave in 1985.

It was the mid-term election of Bill Clinton’s first term in the White House. They seemed to be what they presented themselves to be; they were Washington outsiders. They had witnessed abuse of power by the Democrats and were determined to clean house so to speak. This came on the heels of scandal with the speaker of the house Jim Wright and the house ways and means chairman Dan Rostenkowski.

Twelve years have come and gone and in that time, Tom Delay, Republican speaker of the house left his office because of scandal. The Republicans have participated in the same thing that they accused the Democrats of back in 1994.

I once again am reminded of the swinging pendulum. I have watched the pendulum swing in every facet of life. I have seen the pendulum phenomenon in corporate America. I have watched the pendulum swing within the public school systems. It seems that no one can ever stay on a middle course.

What will the change of power mean this time? Will it help the plight of the working poor? Will it bring control to the greed of the multinational corporations? Will wages go up? Will gasoline prices go down? Will the future be secure for our children and their children? Or, will the pendulum keep swinging eternally?

A Fishing Trip To Remember

2006-11-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

In nineteen eighty three I was living and working in Phoenix Arizona. I had been raised in Michigan with all of its lakes and streams, and oddly, I didn’t fish very often. So after moving to the desert, of all places, I decided to take up fishing. Who would think of such a thing in the desert? But, the truth is, that within a short distance from Phoenix, there were several great fishing lakes, all man made from damming, either the Salt, or Agua Fria Rivers. My favorite was Lake Pleasant. It was just thirty miles north of Phoenix.

In January, I invited a friend to go on an overnight fishing trip. He had never been fishing before, and had not been camping in a long time. We packed up on a Tuesday morning, and drove out through the Giant Saguaro. It was a cold overcast gray day. The temperature was in the mid forties. This was typical of Phoenix winters, and this particular year had seen an exceptionally heavy rainfall. The lake level was very high.

Jeremy was my best friend, and while we had worked, hiked, bicycled, socialized together, neither of us had been camping in years. I had recently bought a tent and so it was set; we were going to fish and camp and have an all-around good time or else.

It was an uneventful trip traveling to the lake. There was absolutely nothing that would suggest the events that were about to happen. Finally, off the paved highway, we were traveling down a gravel covered two track that encircled the lake. The gruel gray sky, the tan and brown colors of the earth and the chaparral made the lake look exceptionally blue grey. The land surrounding the lake gave way to rock ledges that made for convenient shoreline fishing. The rocks dropped off into the water so the lake depth was immediately deep right at the shoreline. One did not have to cast his or her line far to be in fishing water.

We found a clearing designated for camping within fifty yards of the lakeshore. We pulled the car into the clearing and began to set up camp. The shore was down a hill that descended at a steep angle and then leveled off to a rock ledge that was twenty-five or thirty feet wide. You couldn’t see the ledge from the car and camp. This was the place of focus. This was where we would catch the fish.

We fished without incident all day long. We were fishing for large mouth bass using “waterdogs” (baby salamanders) as bait. We would cast the line in with a sinker and a bobber and would then wait patiently for a bite or an nibble. There were none. We sat there in folding camp chairs watching our bobbers and discussing everything from fishing rods to women and business investments.

Along about four pm, we decided to go up to the tent site and cook our evening meal. This is when the unexpected would begin. Yes, it would begin with a surprise and it would culminate with and even bigger surprise the next morning.

We cooked hotdogs and chili and settled on the picnic table to eat and carry on more conversation. I hadn’t been camping for at least ten years and never in the winter. The reason is that no one in Michigan went camping in the winter time. It was way too cold and snowy. I had not stopped to consider what time it would get dark.

Well, we had barely finished our supper, when it began to get darker and darker. We were stuck out in the wilderness with nothing to do except talk, no radio or anything for entertainment and it was getting very dark. This was poor planning on my part to be sure. At about seven o’clock pm, we decided that we would try to go to bed early, get some sleep, and get back to the fishing the next morning.

We crawled into our sleeping bags to settle in for the night and all at once, we heard a blood curdling scream!
“Oooouuo Oooouuo Oou”
“What the heck was that?” Jeremy whispered?
“Coyotes” I replied

Sure enough, all night long we heard that same sound. There must have been a pack of them close by. I would shine my flashlight to look at my watch and then Jeremy would shine his to look at his watch. I could not imagine that a night could last so long, 9:00, . . . 10:00,. . . 11:00, . . .12:00, . . . 1:00. . . I think that it was two am before we finally went to sleep, but still there was to be a finale.

The morning brought another overcast, chilly, day. We heated the water for coffee on the Coleman Stove, and cooked some eggs and bacon in an aluminum frying pan. It was good to see daylight and I was thankful that we were going back to Phoenix before it turned dark again.

After breakfast, I decided to go down the hill to the fishing spot and try my luck again. I had put the line in the water and was waiting for a bite. Jeremy stayed at the camp site for a few minutes. It seemed as though my line was caught so I walked close to the edge of the rock ledge and was pulling my fishing rod pulling on the line holding it out over the water. I was stepping sideways slowly. As I went to take another step, I looked down at my left foot to make sure that I was not missing the ledge and then I saw it. There, coiled up, not more than six inches from my left foot, was the biggest Diamond Back Rattle Snake I had ever seen. He was coiled at least three times around, and was at least three inches thick in the big part of his body. He wasn’t moving at all.

I screamed, threw my fishing pole on the ground and ran up the hill as fast as my feet would carry me. I have always been afraid of snakes. This one scared me so much that it had put me to flight.

I hollered to Jeremy, “I almost stepped on a rattler!”
“Naw you didn’t”
“Yes I did Jeremy, go down there and look.”

Jeremy went down the hill to the to check it out for himself.
I stayed at the top of the hill by the campsite and the car. I was on the picnic table and looking all around that the ground. Suddenly I heard Jeremy.

“You aren’t lying Machuta”
“Holy Moley that’s a big rattler!”

On the way back to Phoenix, we discussed the incident. I was still frightened. We reasoned that the rattler was hibernating in a crack in the rocks. The rain had caused the water level in the lake to rise and so the snake crawled just far enough to keep from drowning but was too cold to move. That’s why he didn’t strike. I am really glad about that.

We never caught one fish the entire outing, but, still, that is a fishing trip that I will never forget!

The Source of Rest

2005-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to publish my thoughts, promote the kingdom of God and provide a place to express ideas.

Holiness; Motive Matters
By Joe and Sonya Machuta
This work is copyrighted © by Joe and Sonya Machuta April 15th 2005

You will find in our teaching and writing that the gospel of grace, which is justification by faith in the blood of Jesus and nothing else, is the focus of our message. We believe, like the apostles of the first century, that this is the gospel. But, like the apostles of the first century, we believe that the reason for the gospel was to develop a reconciled relationship between man and God, which would result in a transformation of the saint, into a life of increasing personal holiness. This is born out by Paul’s writing in Ephesians, at the very end of the discussion of the five-fold ministry. In fact, we believe that it is the purpose of the five-fold ministry.

Eph 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Here is where motive comes into great importance. If the motive for personal holiness, by this we mean controlling the flesh, is to gain acceptability with God or to insure salvation, or for any other redemptive reason, then it is a law to observe and kills the spirit of the individual. This is precisely what is wrong with ninety-nine per cent of Christendom. Those who teach personal holiness as a mandate that one must perform strip it of its real purpose and make it null and void.

2Co 3:2-6 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: (3) Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (4) And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (6) Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

The apostolic teaching is this; The gospel will transform the heart. One must rest completely in the gospel and the decreed salvation of God before they can begin to become an epistle written with the Spirit of the Living Christ. So then, we see here the proper motive for personal holiness. It is to be a witness, a living epistle of the glory of Christ Jesus. This can be the only motive.

Current church doctrine teaches that personal holiness is a form of fleshly obedience. It sees the bible as a rulebook. This is not the case. The scripture is the written revelation of the heart of God. The heart of God is revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of God is perhaps best stated in the following scripture:

2Co 5:18-21 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Therefore, after properly teaching the gospel, and bringing the saint into the Sabbath Rest of the redemption that was decreed by God, there is nothing wrong with encouraging the saint to begin to walk in holiness for the sake of their witness to the world. Keeping in mind, that bondage needs deliverance measures and failure needs continual forgiveness.

The absolute bottom line is this:

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We must insist that the saints realize, that the conscience can only be cleansed or purged, by leaning on, clinging too, and having settled confidence in the blood of Jesus.